West Allis man charged in butcher knife stabbing of ex-girlfriend day after court order

Crystal Leopold was on her way to meet another man Friday night when she was confronted in her south side home by her ex-boyfriend, who the day before was served with a court order that he stay away.

Emmanuel Sanchez, 27, stabbed Leonard in the chest with a red-handled butcher knife, according to a criminal complaint, and even the immediate rescue efforts of Leonard's housemate could not save her.

Sanchez, 27, was charged Wednesday with first-degree intentional homicide and knowingly violating a domestic abuse injunction, a misdemeanor.

According to the criminal complaint, a 20-year-old man who had been trying to save Leonard when police arrived told them that he and an 18-year-old woman had moved in with Leonard at her upper unit in the 1500 block of S. 25th St. to provide her extra support and protection against Sanchez.

That night, he said, Sanchez was on her way out to a date with someone she had recently met. As she walked out of the living room, the man heard her scream then ran to find Sanchez leaning over Leonard in the bathtub. The roommate pulled Sanchez off and threw him down the stairs and began to chase Sanchez before he escaped out a window.

When he returned upstairs, the man told police, Leonard, 24, was standing with the knife protruding from her chest. She asked her friends not to let her die. The man got her to lie down on the floor and began putting pressure on the wound to try to stop the bleeding.

Paramedics arrived soon, but Leonard had been stabbed in the heart and died at the scene.

Sanchez was arrested a short time later near S. 38th St. and W.  Lincoln Ave., after his brother called 911 to report a mentally disturbed person.

Two days earlier, a judge had granted a domestic violence injunction against Sanchez, ordering him to not have any contact with Leonard for four years. He was served with the order on Thursday.