Former children's pastor who attempted to murder his family sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Thursday, March 27, 2025

Just over a month after pleading guilty to attempting to murder his family in Kansas because he didn’t want them to discover they were being evicted from their foreclosed home, former Crossroads Christian Church children's pastor, Matthew Lee Richards, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly 30 years in prison for his crime.

Richards, 43, who initially faced four charges of attempted first-degree murder, one charge of attempted capital murder and one charge of aggravated arson, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder last month.

He received two consecutive terms of 188 months each for the attempted murder convictions, KMBC reported.

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Investigators said they were called along with the local fire department to the family’s home about a report of a disturbance and a house fire at 3:47 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2023.

They later discovered that the pastor's children and wife suffered "laceration injuries of varying degrees." Richards’ wife and two of his children were hospitalized at the time. His 19-year-old son and two of his other children were treated and released.

Police statements cited in an affidavit said they received several 911 calls about Richards’ attack.

“One of the callers said their dad [was] chasing them with a knife and the dispatcher could hear a fire alarm sounding in the background,” the affidavit said. “An additional caller stated she had been stabbed.”

Prior to the attack, the family had lived in their four-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home in Shawnee since it was purchased in December 2016. Civil court records cited by the Kansas City Star show that in November 2022, a foreclosure petition was filed for the home.

Richards had been working as a seventh-grade English teacher at Christ Preparatory Academy since 2020, according to his staff biography. His wife, Stephanie, was the director of Crossroads Christian Preschool and Parents Day Out. They owed $155,429 on their mortgage at the time. Public records indicate the home was sold in June 2023.