The Chilling Story Of Ezra McCandless, The Wisconsin Woman Who Kept Stabbing Her Ex-Boyfriend Even After She Killed Him
In 2018, Ezra McCandless fatally stabbed her ex-boyfriend Alex Woodworth 16 times — likely in an attempt to get back with a different ex.
Ezra McCandless initially claimed that her ex-boyfriend Alex Woodworth had attacked her, but her story quickly fell apart.After McCandless had pursued relationships with three different men around the same timeframe, leading to dramatic breakups, she set her sights on getting back with one ex in particular, Jason Mengel. Authorities believe she sought Woodworth’s help in getting back together with Mengel, and when he refused, she responded with violence. At the same time, she also tried to make herself look like a victim, likely to gain Mengel’s sympathy.
McCandless, for her part, claimed that she only killed Woodworth in self-defense after he attacked her and attempted to rape her in the Wisconsin woods, but the crime scene told a very different story.
Ezra McCandless’ Early Life And Relationships
Ezra McCandless wasn’t born Ezra McCandless. She started her life as Monica Kay, the daughter of a 14-year-old mother and a father who was never in the picture. Her early years were unstable, but she found a sense of family when her stepfather adopted her at the age of four.
Even after her parents divorced when she was 12, she stayed close to her adoptive father (and kept his last name, Karlen, for the time being).
By high school, she began experimenting with different names, at one point questioning her gender identity and considering that she might be gender fluid. She landed on the name “Ezra McCandless,” in honor of the infamous adventurer Chris McCandless, who inspired Into the Wild. She felt that legally changing her name was her way of becoming someone new, and after dropping out of college, she moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, for a fresh start.
It was there, in the summer of 2017, that 19-year-old McCandless met Jason Mengel, a 33-year-old medic in the Army Reserve. Despite the significant age difference, they reportedly clicked instantly and soon began an intense romance, even calling each other “husband” and “wife.”
Ezra McCandless and Jason Mengel purportedly considered getting married before their relationship unraveled.The couple often spent time in the local Racy’s Coffee Shop. That’s where they met and became friends with Alex Woodworth, a soft-spoken, 23-year-old barista and substitute teacher. Woodworth had dreams of becoming a philosophy professor someday. Mengel described him as the kind of guy who was a deep thinker and always had a book in his hand.
Later, the three of them became entangled in a twisted love triangle.
As time went on, McCandless and Mengel’s relationship began to shift as McCandless grew closer to Woodworth. Eventually, McCandless and Woodworth developed a secret romantic relationship. Mengel said that he found out about the affair and then confronted Woodworth, asking him, “You’re my friend. You know, I love you. How could you do this?”
But the situation was about to become far more ominous.
Love, Jealousy, And Murder
By March 2018, the love triangle between Ezra McCandless, Alex Woodworth, and Jason Mengel had grown increasingly volatile. Though McCandless had ended her relationships with both men, tensions remained.
Around the time of the breakups, McCandless claimed that one of Mengel’s other friends had sexually assaulted her. At first, police believed McCandless’ story, but her narrative became murky after the authorities uncovered suggestive texts that McCandless had sent to the friend.
Woodworth also spoke to police about those allegations, saying that McCandless’ encounter with Mengel’s friend had been consensual, which was part of the reason why McCandless’ case was dropped.
Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf later remarked, “This relationship wasn’t even a love triangle — it was a love square… those relationships began and stopped with Ezra McCandless.”
Just a few weeks after McCandless made the allegation, she had a brief, bizarre encounter with Mengel at Racy’s Coffee Shop on March 22, 2018. McCandless, who had been trying to get back with Mengel since their breakup, appeared to be extremely agitated. She also said she was going to visit Woodworth and share some of her recent writings with him.
Authorities believe Ezra McCandless initially tried to convince Alex Woodworth to say their affair was a mistake.Mengel, sensing that something was off about McCandless’ behavior, followed her to Woodworth’s house. He arrived to find McCandless’ car outside, and he began to pace around the neighborhood. A bystander called the police after seeing him pacing, so officers arrived and spoke to all three.
Then, Mengel told authorities that he was concerned about how McCandless was acting: “She gave me a vibe today, man… I don’t know, it doesn’t feel right, something feels wrong.” But the police didn’t see anything of concern. Mengel briefly spoke to McCandless and Woodworth again before parting ways. It would be the last time Mengel would ever see Woodworth alive.
McCandless and Woodworth eventually took off in McCandless’ car, supposedly to talk, in the nearby woods. Authorities now believe McCandless’ original plan was to get Woodworth to say their relationship was a mistake and convince him to help her get back together with Mengel, who she had been texting hundreds of times the day before.
When Woodworth refused to go along with her plan, police believe she decided to stage an attempted rape so that she could portray herself as a victim, gain Mengel’s sympathy, and eventually get him back as a boyfriend.
Later that same day, McCandless turned up at a dairy farm near Eau Claire, covered in mud and blood. She claimed to the dairy farmer she’d been assaulted, so the farmer quickly called 911. McCandless was taken to a local hospital, where she initially told police she didn’t remember much about what happened during the assault. She did say that she recalled being afraid of Alex Woodworth. And she also kept asking for Jason Mengel.
A Gruesome Discovery In The Wisconsin Woods
An aerial shot of Ezra McCandless’ car, where Alex Woodworth’s body was found.Near the dairy farm, police found Ezra McCandless’ car in the mud. Inside was a horrifying sight: Alex Woodworth’s body, partially hanging out of the back seat. The 24-year-old had been stabbed 16 times, according to The Pioneer Press. Some wounds were inflicted on him after he was dead.
When detectives later told McCandless about the crime scene, her memory seemed to return, as she told them that Woodworth had attacked her with a knife that he found in the car and tried to rape her, prompting her to defend herself with the knife before she fled to the dairy farm to seek help.
But her story quickly began to unravel, thanks in part to her most prominent wound: the word “boy” carved into her left arm. According to McCandless’ original narrative, Woodworth had scratched the word into her skin to mock her for previously questioning her gender identity.
The word “boy” carved into Ezra McCandless’ arm.
But police quickly determined that the story didn’t make sense, considering that Woodworth was right-handed and McCandless said he was in the driver’s seat of her car at that point during her version of the “attack.”
Also, McCandless had claimed that she stabbed Woodworth in self-defense inside the car, but most of the blood evidence at the scene was found outside the vehicle. There were almost no defensive wounds on Woodworth, and police later said they believe McCandless took him by surprise during her attack, allowing her to weaken him enough so he couldn’t overpower her. Woodworth’s phone was also found smashed nearby.
Just a couple of weeks after Woodworth’s death, McCandless was arrested and charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
Ezra McCandless’ Murder Trial And Conviction
Ezra McCandless’ story continued to change. Her initial self-defense narrative had her grabbing the blade of the knife from Alex Woodworth’s hand, but at trial, she said she kneed him in the groin, which caused him to drop the knife before she grabbed it and “defended” herself with it. Prosecutors didn’t buy it, especially since the knife turned out to be McCandless’ father’s knife and it was already in McCandless’ car.
Dr. Robert Tillotson, who treated McCandless, also said that her knife wounds appeared to be self-inflicted. Eventually, McCandless did admit to carving the word “boy” into her arm, but claimed not to know why she did it.
The prosecution argued that McCandless staged the attack to make herself look like a victim. Police believe her motive was to make Mengel feel sorry for her after the “assault,” and eventually win him back as a boyfriend.
Ezra McCandless, pictured after her incarceration.
“The day before Alex’s murder, she sent over 600 messages to Jason, and during that time frame, she was begging to get back together with him,” Ryan Prock, an Eau Claire police officer, explained. “She was saying anything she could to make herself look like a victim. She thought Jason would maybe look at getting back together with her if she was a victim.”
Meanwhile, the defense painted her as a normally meek woman defending herself from an enraged Woodworth, who supposedly attacked her after her car got stuck in the mud. “As Alex was grabbing me, I started stabbing him anywhere and everywhere I could,” she testified.
On Nov. 1, 2019, Ezra McCandless was found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide. She was then sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 50 years. She is currently serving out her sentence at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.
What began as a love triangle (or love square) ended in tragedy, and a jury ultimately found that McCandless wasn’t a victim after all, but a murderer.
