Why was the word "boy" carved into the arm of an accused killer?

[This story originally aired on  aired on February 15, 2020. It was updated on January 29, 2022.] DISPATCH: Dunn County 911 EZRA MCCANDLESS [police dash camera]: I'm so scared … COP [police dash camera]: Where all are you hurting from right now? EZRA MCCANDLESS [police interview]: He kept telling me to be quiet, like, "Shhh." He kept shushing me. EZRA MCCANDLESS [police interview]: I started getting really, really, really tipsy. EZRA MCCANDLESS: It was really scary. JASON MENGEL [police dash camera]: She gave me a vibe today man … I don't know, it doesn't feel right, something feels wrong. MALE COP [to Jason Mengel on police dash camera]: OK, everything's good. They're OK. EZRA MCCANDLESS [police interview]: I'm trying so hard. I'm trying to get things to come to me but it's like it just keeps getting blocked out, blocked out … EZRA MCCANDLESS: He started like carving something into my arm. EZRA MCCANDLESS: He used to call me, like, "boy" a lot and stuff like that … and I was just kinda like "I don't really identify that way anymore." DET. RYAN PROCK: He didn't do that to you, did he? EZRA MCCANDLESS: He started cutting my pants open and stuff and I didn't know what to do, and it was really scary … DET. RYAN PROCK: You said you had the knife? Where were you cutting him? EZRA MCCANDLESS: He just kept grabbing me and grabbing me and grabbing me. EZRA MCCANDLESS [police interview]: He kept trying to grab me in the back of the car so I just started to defend myself as best as I could.  PETER HAHN | PROSECUTOR: Ezra McCandless, are you familiar with her? PETER HAHN: On March 22, 2018, why did you go looking for the defendant? EZRA MCCANDLESS [testifying]: I tried on a few names, but I found ultimately that Ezra fit perfectly for who I am. DEJA VISHNY | DEFENSE ATTORNEY: How much do you weigh? EZRA MCCANDLESS [testifying]: I approached him, and I said, "What are you writing about?" EZRA MCCANDLESS [testifying]: He caught me right away because I thought it was quite a peculiar subject — cannibalism — and I was interested in what he meant. EZRA MCCANDLESS [testifying]: Alex and I started slow. We held hands, we hugged, and we shared a few kisses and then eventually we became partners. EZRA MCCANDLESS [testifying]: I encouraged him to explore himself and things he might want, and we started – we started practicing and doing these new things that he wanted. DEJA VISHNY: Was there ever a time, back in your relationship in January or February, where Alex used a knife when having sex with you? EZRA MCCANDLESS: He enjoyed to blind fold me. … I took the role of submissive. … It turned into a what could be considered a BDSM relationship. DEJA VISHNY: As you were driving, were you paying much attention to where you were going? DEJA VISHNY: What were you hoping to do when you saw Alex? EZRA MCCANDLESS: I was breathing heavily. I was-—my anxiety was heightened at that time. EZRA MCCANDLESS: Alex positioned himself above me. You could say "straddled." EZRA MCCANDLESS: I could feel the knife start to graze and cut into my skin. EZRA MCCANDLESS [hospital interview] And I cut my hand, because I kept trying to grab him … And then I finally got free, and I finally got the knife away from him. EZRA MCCANDLESS: I decided then to knee him in the groin … and he drops the knife at that point … Instantly, I grab the knife … I started stabbing him anywhere and everywhere I could … EZRA MCCANDLESS: And he pulls me very close and tight to his body. EZRA MCCANDLESS: I kept saying out loud, "what's happening, what's going on." … I couldn't get the feeling outside of my head … the visual of the horror of seeing Alex and seeing the blood.   EZRA MCCANDLESS [testifying]: I don't know how to process this … EZRA MCCANDLESS [chokes up while testifying]: I was panicking. I couldn't breathe. EZRA MCCANDLESS [testifying]: I just remember stumbling down a road … I wanted to call the police, I wanted to get help, I wanted to do anything I could do. EZRA MCCANDLESS: When I fell … I had hit my hand very hard. DEJA VISHNY: Everyone wants to know … why did you scratch boy into your arm? DEJA VISHNY: Was there a point in the hospital where your memory began to return to you? DR. JAMES HOPPER: After a crime, a person can be really stressed … and that can make it hard for them to tell the police officer about things that are actually in their brain. … People's ability to retrieve information … can improve over time … if we become less stressed over time. AARON NELSON | DEFENSE ATTORNEY: She wanted to live. She fought to survive. She's innocent. EZRA MCCANDLESS [testifying]: He can't get out of the car and he's still grabbing for me and this is when I began to stab Alex. JUDGE JAMES PETERSON: All right. Members of the jury have you reached your verdict? EZRA MCCANDLESS: I want to say how sorry I am that they have lost their son. But sorry doesn't cut it in my mind.. … I loved Alex very much. And I also feel a great loss. And I am so sorry.

A young Wisconsin woman told police a harrowing story of how her ex-boyfriend carved the word "boy" into her arm and then attacked her. Was she really a victim, or did she intend to kill ex-boyfriend Alex Woodworth? DON SIPPLE |FARMER: I have a young lady that just came to my house and somebody attacked her. EZRA MCCANDLESS: Everywhere. DETECTIVE RYAN PROCK: OK. MALE COP : OK, you have a good day. DET. RYAN PROCK: Can I see it, by chance? EZRA MCCANDLESS: No. EZRA MCCANDLESS [emotional]: He just kept trying to attack me and attack me, and I didn't know what to do. EZRA MCCANDLESS: I just was going anywhere and everywhere I could … JASON MENGEL: Yes. JASON MENGEL: Something did not seem right. EZRA MCCANDLESS [LAUGHS]: I roughly weigh between 115 and 120 pounds … EZRA MCCANDLESS: Yes. He had cut a pair of my pants EZRA MCCANDLESS: No, I was just driving EZRA MCCANDLESS: I was hoping we could be friends still, after everything that happened between us. DEJA VISHNY: What is going through your mind DEJA VISHNY: Are you trying to kill him? DEJA VISHNY: What are you thinking? EZRA MCCANDLESS: It felt like I was in a tunnel, like I could only see so much around me. … I feel dizzy and faint, like I can't catch my breath. EZRA MCCANDLESS: I've thought about it, and when I think about this, I don't know. It was just a reaction. EZRA MCCANDLESS: When I finally was able to take a shower that night and … I could see my hand was cut and I could feel everything start to come back. JUROR: Yes, we have, your honor.

On March 22, 2018, McCandless turned up on the doorstep at dairy farmer near Eau Claire. She was muddy, bloody, bruised and shoeless, asking for a doctor. She said she was a victim of an assault. Details of the attack recounted by McCandless were initially hazy, but eventually she said it was ex-boyfriend Woodworth who attacked her. The case turned when police found Woodworth's body on a desolate dirt road near the farmhouse. It was a brutal scene. He had been stabbed 16 times. COP: Everywhere? OK. DET. RYAN PROCK: You carved "boy" into your own arm. Is that right? DET. RYAN PROCK: OK. DET. RYAN PROCK: OK. PETER HAHN: Is the person you know as Ezra McCandless in the courtroom today? Mengel tells prosecutor Peter Hahn how he saw Ezra on the morning of the murder and sensed something was off: EZRA MCCANDLESS: What was going through my mind is, he's gonna do what he wants, he's gonna take anything he wants … I'm afraid he's going to kill me. EZRA MCCANDLESS: No. EZRA MCCANDLESS: He's going to kill me … I reached around and just quickly stabbed him in the side, hoping he would let go. JUDGE JAMES PETERSON [reading verdict]: We the jury find the defendant Ezra J. McCandless guilty of first-degree murder, intentional homicide.