Son, Parents Face Life in Prison in Dismemberment Case

Cops say concealing Ashley Young's death was a family affair
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 13, 2018 10:10 AM CST
Hiding Death, Dismemberment Was a Family Affair: Cops
Jared Chance appears on a monitor during a video arraignment at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Dec. 5.   (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

It's not only a Michigan man who could face life in prison after a woman's mutilated body was discovered in the apartment building he owns. Jared Chance's parents—including a father who worked as an Illinois police officer for 25 years, per WWMT—could face the same fate if convicted on charges that they hid knowledge of their son's alleged efforts to "cut Ashley Young's body into multiple pieces," per police statements. Chance, 29, was the last person seen with the Kalamazoo woman, aged 30 or 31, at a Grand Rapids pub on Nov. 29, according to a Facebook page about Young's disappearance, per MLive. He was arrested on charges of mutilating a body and concealing a death on Dec. 2, when Young's torso was found beneath a tarp in the shared basement of his Grand Rapids rental unit, reports the Holland Sentinel, describing other body parts as found in Chance's apartment.

A day earlier, Chance told his parents he cut up Young's body "and hid some of those pieces," according to an affidavit. Despite appearing for a police interview on Dec. 6, James and Barbara Chance "failed to inform the proper authorities of Ashley Young's death and dismemberment ... with the intent to aid the offender in avoiding or escaping detection, arrest, trial, and punishment," the complaint says. James, 76, is accused of lying to prosecutors about when the couple, their son, and a fourth person departed Grand Rapids for Holland, where Chance's parents live. Per WWMT, Barbara, 63, allegedly made false statements about the last time she'd spoken to her son. Each were charged Wednesday with one count of perjury and one count of accessory to murder after the fact. No one has yet been charged in Young's killing. (Cops in Mexico found body parts in a baby stroller.)

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