Cops Realize The Killer Is Still Inside The House

[00:00:00]What you are watching is the moment a 29-year-old killer and his retired police officer father enter the Grand Rapids Police Station in Michigan. They approach the front desk and the father explains that his son was the last person to see 31-year-old Ashley Young alive and he would like to provide a statement regarding her disappearance.

[00:00:18]The only catch, the father is requesting that the police provide his son with an attorney. With a complete lack of awareness, the clerk at the front desk blatantly refuses this request and sends a cold-blooded killer back into the streets. The father-son duo leave the facility, head straight back to their car, and drive off.

[00:00:38]Just 4 hours later, a 911 call is received by the same police station. The caller, a Grand Rapids local named Mario Nelson, noticed a putrid smell coming from his basement. When he went downstairs, he found a bloody tarp-like bag at the bottom of the staircase.

[00:00:54]>> 911, what is your emergency?

[00:00:55]>> Uh, our house has been having a real bad smell, like, so I just went in the basement, opened the basement door, and there's a tarp and what looks like it could be blood leaking from it. And I want the police to come here ASAP right now and look at it.

[00:01:08]>> All right.

[00:01:09]>> Officers were immediately dispatched to the residence. When they arrived, Mario met them on the driveway.

[00:01:15]>> Did you call?

[00:01:15]>> Yeah.

[00:01:16]>> For the last couple days, our apartment just had this real bad smell, you know what I'm saying? So, I go in the basement to check the pipes, see if the sewage had flooded or something.

[00:01:25]>> Yeah.

[00:01:25]>> There's nothing, but it's a tarp at the end of the stairs that I stepped over.

[00:01:29]But, when I come back, I'm shining my flashlight and it looks like some blood is leaking from it. And I ain't going to touch it cuz I don't want to lift that [ __ ] up and see none of that.

[00:01:38]>> After hearing these details, officers rush inside the home and go straight to the bottom of the stairs. They see the bag Mario was talking about and take a peek inside.

[00:01:48]>> And it all wrapped I can see uh some skin in there. So, let's have everybody back out.

[00:01:54]>> Inside the bag, they find the dismembered torso of Ashley Young, who had been missing for three full days.

[00:02:00]Officers promptly taped off the crime scene as others continued their conversation with Mario.

[00:02:05]>> I know you probably can't tell me, but is there Is that >> It's a crime scene.

[00:02:10]>> Yeah, all right.

[00:02:11]>> Did you happen to touch that tarp? Did you touch that >> No, no, that's No, she didn't go down there. It was just me.

[00:02:16]>> Okay.

[00:02:17]>> Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. When I >> Who's this? Who's this Jared Chance?

[00:02:20]>> That's the guy who live upstairs.

[00:02:21]>> You live upstairs?

[00:02:22]>> Yeah, this is Is Jared Chance. This him.

[00:02:24]>> With a potential suspect now on their radar, Mario's upstairs roommate, Jared Chance, the officers wondered if Mario had any details about the victim.

[00:02:33]>> Have you ever seen the person that they're talking about?

[00:02:36]>> I've seen her like a couple days ago when he I went up there. Well, like he told me to come up there and smoke with him so I just remember his wife female.

[00:02:43]>> Look, maybe like blue matte, maybe like brownish red.

[00:02:48]>> Did he say how he knew her?

[00:02:49]>> He said, "What I say?" I was like, "I You know what I'm saying? Like, are you going to hit it cuz I ain't never seen her before."

[00:02:54]>> Right.

[00:02:54]>> He like, "No, I I just want to woo her.

[00:02:56]She's going to leave in a couple seconds cuz I got somebody else coming over."

[00:03:00]>> Did she come in in that Focus?

[00:03:01]>> Yep.

[00:03:02]>> That was her car?

[00:03:02]>> Yep.

[00:03:03]>> Did you see her leave or did you You left first?

[00:03:06]>> I left.

[00:03:06]>> Did you ever see her leave?

[00:03:07]>> Nope.

[00:03:08]>> Not only did Mario confirm that the Ford Focus in the driveway belonged to Ashley, but he also said that the day after he saw her at the house, his roommate asked him for help getting into her vehicle. Apparently, Ashley had locked her keys inside.

[00:03:21]>> You notice anything weird in the car?

[00:03:22]>> Man, it was messy. It was like, you know, I Man, I'm a person. I try to mind my business, you know what I'm saying?

[00:03:28]So, I try not to be all, you know, my girlfriend, she be, you know, out the window all the time. So, so like I never I was going to if it wasn't for her, I never would even cuz like when he called when he knocked on the door, I don't even answer. I just let them like, "Forget it." cuz he normally high off weed and Xanax, you know what I'm saying? I can't have a conversation with nobody like that. He sent me a message a couple days ago like if somebody come looking for me, don't tell them I in here.

[00:03:52]>> Okay. He said that to you?

[00:03:53]>> Yeah, he told me that.

[00:03:55]>> A couple of days ago he said that?

[00:03:56]>> Yeah.

[00:03:57]Yeah, can y'all check and see if he in the house cuz he do got a gun.

[00:04:00]>> Taking this statement about the roommate being armed very seriously, lead detective Kelly Brate called in backup to execute a search warrant on THE HOUSE.

[00:04:14]>> POLICE WITH A SEARCH WARRANT, COME TO THE DOOR.

[00:04:17]YOU HAVE TO LET ME SEARCH ON ANYBODY ON THE SECOND LEVEL.

[00:04:20]>> AS THEY make their way to the second level where Jared lived, officers find a garbage bag in a cardboard box. Inside, they found Ashley's arms and legs, but her head, hands, and feet were still missing.

[00:04:31]>> PUT YOUR HANDS UP. HANDS UP.

[00:04:33]HANDS ON YOUR HEAD.

[00:04:35]>> HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD.

[00:04:37]>> ON TOP OF YOUR HEAD, MAN.

[00:04:38]>> Jared was arrested and immediately thrown into the back of a police cruiser. During the drive back to the police station, Jared sat silently the entire time. Upon arrival, he was quickly brought to the interrogation room.

[00:04:50]>> Let me take them off, the cuffs.

[00:04:52]>> Yeah, you going to be decent with us?

[00:04:53]>> Yeah.

[00:04:54]>> Okay.

[00:04:57]Hi Jared.

[00:04:57]>> Hi.

[00:04:58]>> By this point, the detectives had figured out that he was the same person that visited the police station with his father earlier that day.

[00:05:05]>> We appreciate the fact that you came in earlier and I'm sorry you got turned away.

[00:05:09]>> Yeah, no, I just came in just to cuz I read on Facebook that the last person that this person was with is was me, so I was just concerned. I'm trying to get some information about it, but I mean, they just told me recommend me to just ask for the advice of attorney and >> [snorts] >> cuz I don't really know what the hell's going on, so I I don't want to like sit here and talk about [ __ ] that >> May may incriminate me or what what whatever in any kind of way cuz I don't know what's going on. So, I just don't want to say anything right now.

[00:05:41]>> The only other information that Jared gave the detectives was that he and Ashley had been friends for years and just recently reconnected. On the night of her disappearance, they finally decided to meet up and went to a pub called Mulligan's. However, he claimed that they eventually parted ways because Ashley lost her phone somewhere, and that was the last time he saw her. After providing this little tidbit, Jared froze up and refused to speak with the detectives any further. While he sat behind bars, investigators continued to build their case against him. The police first sat down with Ashley's mother, Christine, to break the tragic news.

[00:06:15]Christine was not happy that it took the officers this long to speak to Jared about Ashley. You see, Christine knew that Ashley was headed to Jared's house when she went missing, and she had already reported this to the police.

[00:06:26]Ashley's family had even been posting all over Facebook that Jared was the last person to see Ashley, and Christine had been bombarding him with phone calls from the moment her daughter disappeared.

[00:06:37]>> Hello, Jared. My name is Christine Young, and I'm looking for my daughter.

[00:06:41]She was last with you. Is she with you?

[00:06:45]She needs to contact me. Tell her that I'm going to contact the police department to do a missing person.

[00:06:52]>> Still, upon hearing that her daughter had been found dead, she refused to believe that the body was Ashley until the police did a DNA test.

[00:07:06]So, the detectives gathered Christine's DNA and sent it to the crime lab to compare it to the victim. At this point, the detectives still hadn't established a timeline between Ashley's disappearance and the discovery of her body. So, they asked Christine and some of Ashley's friends if they had any information that could help. According to Christine, the last time she heard from Ashley was on November 28th, 2018.

[00:07:27]When Ashley left her mommy voicemail saying she was driving and would get back to her soon.

[00:07:32]>> Um I cannot listen to your message right now. I'm driving. When I get to my destination, I will listen to what you have to say. I love you, and I will talk to you later, okay? Right now I'm driving.

[00:07:43]>> But after leaving this voicemail, Ashley went radio silent. A full day and a half went by with no response from her. This lack of communication was extremely out of character for Ashley, who was always on her phone. So, Christine immediately went to Facebook for help. That's when Christine learned that Ashley was with Jared right before she disappeared. So, she began calling him relentlessly.

[00:08:04]Jared eventually answered one of Christine's calls and told her he was with Ashley on the night she disappeared. ended up going home with his friend Demetrius. When Christine called Demetrius, he said that he had no idea who Ashley was and nobody was at his apartment. Christine knew Jared was lying. Three days went by with no sign of Ashley and the police still hadn't stepped in. So, on December 2nd, 2018, just hours before Ashley's body was discovered, one of Ashley's close friends named Eva Molina went to Jared's house to do some investigating herself.

[00:08:37]Unfortunately, nobody answered the door.

[00:08:39]But while she stood on the porch, Eva noticed a horrendous odor coming from a nearby mop bucket. She then noticed a garbage bin on his porch with work boots sitting on top. She began digging through this garbage bin and discovered several heavy-duty cleaning supplies, including latex gloves and lemon-scented ammonia. She also found firm grip work gloves and a broken saw blade. She then went to speak with Jared's downstairs neighbor and Mario's girlfriend answered the door.

[00:09:08]Eva explained that Ashley was missing and asked if they had seen her. But Mario and his girlfriend said they had no idea what she was talking about. So, Eva left.

[00:09:19]However, Mario soon realized that Ashley was probably the girl that visited Jared a few days earlier. So, he finally decided to investigate the horrible smell that was coming from the basement.

[00:09:31]After assembling this timeline, investigators decided to look into Jared's bank records and learned that he had gone to a store called Tracy's Market several times following Ashley's disappearance. There, he purchased heavy-duty cleaning supplies, including the latex gloves and ammonia that Eva found in his garbage. During one of his trips to Tracy's Market, Jared can be seen placing an orange bag into the garbage bin right outside the store. The detectives went to the store themselves to dig through the trash, and they found more latex gloves, two pairs of Jared's pants with Ashley's blood on them, and several items belonging to Ashley. The detectives also extracted the data from Jared's phone, and in his most recent conversation with Demetrius, Jared tells him to answer Christine's calls and tell her that Ashley just left for work. As we mentioned earlier, Demetrius told Christine that he had no idea who Ashley was. This response clearly got on Jared's nerves. "You're stupid, bro. You just me. Bro, delete all these messages." It seemed that Jared had lied to Christine about Ashley's whereabouts.

[00:10:35]In fact, the investigators gathered surveillance footage near Mulligan's, the pub that Jared and Ashley went to before she disappeared. The footage made it clear that Ashley stuck with Jared the entire night and definitely didn't go home with Demetrius. The detectives also learned through Jared's location data that he had gone to his parents' house around the time that Ashley went missing. So, the police immediately executed a search warrant for their home. In the living room, they found a reciprocating saw peeking out from under one of the couches. The saw blade had been snapped off, leaving just a small piece behind. This matched the saw blade found in Jared's garbage bin. It also appeared that there was still some hair and rotting flesh jammed into the saw.

[00:11:16]The crime lab confirmed that the samples of flesh and hair stuck in the saw belonged to Ashley. Jared's parents, James and Barbara Chance, were both brought into the interrogation room for questioning. Barbara said that the last time she spoke with Jared was on December 1st.

[00:11:31]>> When was the last time you spoke Jared?

[00:11:33]>> He called me to say he lost his job and he said you got to get over here right away, Mom. Please come.

[00:11:38]>> And what day was that?

[00:11:39]>> That was Saturday [clears throat] morning.

[00:11:41]>> After hearing that Jared was having a mental crisis, the whole family, including Jared's mom, dad, and his brother Conrad, all hopped in their car and made their way to Jared's house.

[00:11:50]>> Jared's house?

[00:11:52]>> Right. He said I got to put stuff in the car. I got to put stuff.

[00:11:56]>> Did you even go out?

[00:11:57]>> Mhm.

[00:11:58]>> Okay. Did Mr. Chance go out?

[00:12:00]>> He might have to help.

[00:12:01]>> I thought that stuff he was getting was some some stuff from work because there were boots and and one item that looked like work clothes.

[00:12:09]>> Jared's work stuff included several cardboard boxes and garbage bags, the dirty mop bucket, and a garbage bin filled to the brim.

[00:12:16]>> Did you notice a smell in there?

[00:12:18]>> Yeah, there was a smell.

[00:12:20]>> That smell?

[00:12:21]>> Yeah, I thought it was the mop.

[00:12:23]>> You're in the medical field.

[00:12:25]>> Right.

[00:12:26]>> Did it smell like >> Smelled stinky.

[00:12:29]>> Like possibly um like like a dead little body? I mean, is that I mean >> Like well, kind of like I don't know, like blood or like stinky. It would be with that mop in there. It smelled stinky.

[00:12:44]>> Apparently unaware that Ashley's body parts were in the car with them, the family drove straight to the police station. As you already know, Jared and his dad went in to speak with somebody and demanded an attorney, but they got rejected. So, they left the police station, walked around a Costco for a bit, then eventually made their way back to Jared's house. They unloaded the items that they packed into the car earlier, then drove Jared back to their house where he spent the night.

[00:13:10]>> But then Sunday morning, he drops this bombshell on you.

[00:13:14]Can you tell me what he told you?

[00:13:16]>> He said there was an accident. They they'd been drinking and they were playing with the gun and she got shot in the face.

[00:13:23]>> And he cried and said >> He cried, he said I said, "Well, what did she do?"

[00:13:28]And he said, "Yeah, I shot >> Who was holding the gun when it just went off?

[00:13:32]>> She was.

[00:13:33]>> That's what he told you?

[00:13:34]>> Yeah, I guess it was what I said that she didn't kill her. He said no, mom, I would never kill anybody. I would never kill anybody. She was my friend. And he panicked. He didn't know what to do.

[00:13:45]>> And he blew his mind, you know.

[00:13:47]And then and then he just didn't know what to do. And instead of sticking with her and calling 911 or or whatever he needed to do to get her to in fact first aid he didn't do it. He had this label on his head, you know, I'm a felon, I'm going to just this is going to happen.

[00:14:01]But he couldn't think that straight. And what you did Oh god, man.

[00:14:05]>> Mhm.

[00:14:06]>> [clears throat] >> Did he tell you what he did after this?

[00:14:08]>> Cut off her feet.

[00:14:09]>> Feet?

[00:14:10]>> Feet and her hands and her head.

[00:14:12]>> So you asked him if he cut the body up and he he indicated to you that he did?

[00:14:17]>> Yeah.

[00:14:18]>> Did he say what he did with the the parts of the body? Well, it sounded like he distributed them all over.

[00:14:24]>> He said I drove around with them.

[00:14:27]I drove around and then I got rid of them. So put them in garbage or trash cans or something. I said where?

[00:14:35]He didn't know.

[00:14:37]>> Since the detectives still hadn't found Ashley's hands or head, they didn't have any hard evidence to disprove that the gun was in Ashley's hands when it went off. But considering how far Jabard was willing to go to cover up Ashley's death, the detective was certain that everyone in the Chance family played a part in concealing this crime.

[00:14:55]>> I think there's more to this story.

[00:14:59]And I think I think you know more and that's what >> You don't think I know? You tell me.

[00:15:03]>> We both know that woman didn't shoot >> I don't know. I don't know. I really don't know that. I'm going by what he told me.

[00:15:10]>> He told you more. I know he did. I know he told you more. And I know you're trying to be a dad and you're trying to put >> I don't care about being a dad, man. I will tell you what he told me if I can remember it or recall it. And I'm gathering that [ __ ] with this damn gun. And he pointed he said she took the gun.

[00:15:29]>> Okay, let me stop you. You just said he pointed and then you stopped yourself and you >> No, I said they >> You said he >> I meant she.

[00:15:34]>> I know, but you're making these slips.

[00:15:36]>> Suddenly, the detective dropped the news that both James and Barbara were going to be charged with perjury and as accessories to a felony after the fact.

[00:15:45]>> The prosecutor's office has decided to charge you with perjury and I believe an accessory after the fact.

[00:15:53]>> I just don't know what to do.

[00:15:55]I want to be cooperative because I don't feel like I perjured myself.

[00:15:59]But at the same time, I don't hell no.

[00:16:02]>> I'm a victim of this, too. And I'm offended I've been charged with felony because because of the the way the system is set up. Oh, you're trying to find this young lady's body parts? And if I could help you, I would. But I I don't know where they are.

[00:16:19]>> I will never forget this experience.

[00:16:21]>> This is absolutely atrocious.

[00:16:23]>> What's being done to us?

[00:16:24]>> We didn't commit this crime. Our son committed the crime. We did not help him in the commission of that crime. And now we're being persecuted because of a a system that's being used against us.

[00:16:37]And to me it sounds almost like communism.

[00:16:41]>> Oh God, [clears throat] what did I do?

[00:16:43]>> Following these interviews, James and Barbara were both thrown behind bars.

[00:16:46]But not long after, they were able to post bail and were free to go while awaiting their trial. Media outlets immediately reached out to Christine Young to get her reaction to this news.

[00:16:56]She was furious. She agreed to participate in an interview, but requested to do it right outside of James and Barbara's home.

[00:17:04]>> Why have you decided that you want to speak?

[00:17:07]>> Because I want to bring my daughter home. The parents know something. There are people out there that know something.

[00:17:16]I just want my baby. I really do. I want her home.

[00:17:23]Ashley no longer has a voice and I have to be I have to be her voice.

[00:17:30]>> What do you want to say to the Chances who are now out on bond? What do you want to say to them?

[00:17:35]>> You don't deserve to be out. You need to be behind bars with your son. You knew.

[00:17:42]I want my daughter home. Barbara, as a mother, as a mother.

[00:17:49]I just want my baby home.

[00:17:51]>> What is it like going through this?

[00:17:54]>> I would never want anyone to ever ever have to go through this.

[00:18:01]No one. Not even them.

[00:18:04]>> Jared was confronted with clips from this report during a jailhouse interview the next day, but he still refused to tell Christine where her daughter's head was.

[00:18:13]>> Ashley no longer has a voice and I have to be I have to be her voice.

[00:18:19]>> Was Ashley's mom last night? She just wants to bring the rest of her baby home. There are pieces of her that are missing.

[00:18:26]>> Where Where is she?

[00:18:31]Can you just give her some kind of peace and just tell her where she is?

[00:18:35]>> love to give her some kind of peace. I really would. Um but I don't I don't even I don't know what to do here.

[00:18:43]>> I mean you were friends with Ashley. She seemed like a lovely girl, a bright girl.

[00:18:50]What did you tell your parents about this?

[00:18:53]>> I can't do this. I can't do this. I'm sorry. I can't do this. I'm sorry, Ashley's mom.

[00:18:59]I apologize. I can't do this right now.

[00:19:01]>> Do you have anything else to say to Ashley's mom?

[00:19:04]>> Jared was initially charged with mutilation of a dead body and concealing the death of an individual. The plan was to upgrade these charges to include first-degree murder. However, since the investigators had no evidence to prove premeditation, Jared was ultimately charged with second-degree murder as well as tampering with evidence. For the next 9 months, Jared remained behind bars experimenting with a new hairstyle before chopping it all off on September 6th, 2019, just 4 days before his trial was set to begin when Jared was offered a plea deal. Jared would have to admit his guilt and provide details of Ashley's murder, including where he disposed of her missing body parts in order to get a lesser sentence. However, Jared denied this plea deal.

[00:19:48]>> What would you like to do?

[00:19:49]>> I'd like to go to trial.

[00:19:50]>> All right, we'll do that.

[00:19:51]>> His trial began on September 10th, 2019, and the prosecution kicked things off with their opening statement. Despite the overwhelming evidence against Jared, the challenge for the state was to prove that Ashley's death was not an accident and Jared committed this murder with intention.

[00:20:08]>> This brown cardboard box, right beside that box is a pair of women's boots, and inside that box, wrapped up, are two arms and two legs. There are no hands.

[00:20:21]There are no feet. Whatever killed Ashley, killed her from the neck up.

[00:20:28]Uh no wounds on her torso, no wounds on her arms or her legs that would have caused her death. It was likely blunt force trauma to the head and gunshot wound to the head.

[00:20:41]>> Although the prosecution did not point out a specific motive for Ashley's murder, they claimed that Jared's meticulous attempt to cover up her death was a clear indication of his guilt. For the defense's opening statement, there was no denying that Jared mutilated Ashley's corpse, but they argued that without Ashley's head or hands, there was zero evidence to prove that Jared had intentionally caused her death.

[00:21:03]>> Everyone wants justice for Ashley. No one can tell you how Ms. Young died.

[00:21:08]Problem is is that some people want vengeance and vengeance makes people act hasty and not use reason. Your job is to think critically and to make the state prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Jared committed murder in the second degree. At the end of the day, this is how much evidence you're going to hear that Jared caused Miss Young's death. Zero.

[00:21:32]>> The state's first witness was Christine Young, who was handed a photo of Ashley and was asked to describe the type of person her daughter was.

[00:21:39]>> Miss Young, I know it's very difficult.

[00:21:41]Do you recognize the individual in State's Exhibit 1?

[00:21:44]>> Yes, it's my daughter, Ashley.

[00:21:47]>> What kind of person was Ashley?

[00:21:48]>> Ashley was kind. She was loving. She was infectious. Everybody wanted to be around her. She was caring. She was giving. She would go without to help somebody else.

[00:22:01]>> She also detailed the lies Jared told her before the police got involved in Ashley's disappearance.

[00:22:07]>> Did you ask the defendant if he knew where Ashley was?

[00:22:11]>> Yes.

[00:22:11]>> And what was his response?

[00:22:13]>> He said she was going to pick up her phone and then she was going to back to Kalamazoo, the city, because she had to work at uh third shift.

[00:22:23]>> Did that make any sense to you?

[00:22:25]>> Not at all.

[00:22:26]>> Why is that?

[00:22:27]>> Because Ashley works first shift.

[00:22:29]>> Demetrius Taylor, who Jared initially said was the last person to see Ashley, explained how Jared asked him to lie to Christine as well.

[00:22:37]>> He said that uh his his friend mom was going to call me and tell her that she came by my house, used my phone, and left.

[00:22:46]>> Jared's brother, Conrad, also took the stand to describe the day of December 1st, 2018, when he and his parents picked up Jared in their vehicle and went to the police station.

[00:22:56]>> What do you remember being put into the car?

[00:22:58]>> Uh specifically a mop and a and a cardboard box with a with a black bag with something in it.

[00:23:04]>> However, most of Conrad's memory was hazy because apparently he was intoxicated on that day.

[00:23:10]>> You're sitting in the backseat, mop and bucket.

[00:23:14]Um, did your brother get into the the vehicle?

[00:23:17]>> Yes.

[00:23:17]>> Okay. Is he sitting Is mop between you and your brother?

[00:23:21]>> I don't remember that.

[00:23:22]>> Do you remember traveling southeast on Kalamazoo Avenue down to the 44th Street?

[00:23:29]>> No, I don't remember.

[00:23:30]>> Do you remember going past Costco?

[00:23:32]>> No.

[00:23:33]>> Were you drunk or high that day?

[00:23:36]You were?

[00:23:36]>> I was not.

[00:23:37]>> He did remember an incident that happened weeks before Ashley's death where Jared was being extremely reckless with his.22 revolver.

[00:23:45]>> That night when your brother and Ashley came home, and the two of you were smoking weeds, uh did your brother take the gun out?

[00:23:52]>> Yeah.

[00:23:53]>> And Ashley was with you when the gun comes out?

[00:23:57]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:23:58]>> What did your brother do with the gun?

[00:24:00]>> He pointed it at me and >> You're making a motion like you're pulling a trigger.

[00:24:04]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:06]>> And he pointed the gun at you and he pulled the trigger.

[00:24:10]Is that correct?

[00:24:11]>> Yeah.

[00:24:12]>> Did you see him check that gun see if it was loaded before he pointed it at you?

[00:24:18]>> No.

[00:24:18]>> Jared's sketchy behavior while handling a deadly weapon made everybody uncomfortable, including Ashley, who was very familiar with gun safety.

[00:24:27]>> What was Ashley's reaction to this?

[00:24:29]>> She said you're never supposed to do that.

[00:24:31]>> The state also called Mario Nelson to the stand, and he described in detail how the smell coming from the basement developed over time.

[00:24:39]>> When a house first starts stinking, it's like somebody was maybe cooking, I don't even know. It was like a terrible burning smell, like something was burning. And then it started to smell like like sewer. Like maybe the sewer was overflowed or something Something that.

[00:24:56]>> He then described the moment he found the bag containing Ashley's remains.

[00:25:00]>> Once I come back up to the to the stairs, there's a tarp but a tarp laying there and it's like it was just a stream of blood out of it.

[00:25:10]>> What did you do when you see a tarp with a stream of blood?

[00:25:14]>> I ran upstairs. I had my girlfriend call the cops.

[00:25:17]>> He said that right away he had a feeling that Jared was responsible and remembered a disturbing conversation he had with Jared just a couple of weeks before the body was discovered.

[00:25:27]>> Do you remember a conversation you had with the defendants that involved him talking about killing someone?

[00:25:33]>> Yeah, he told me his dad used to be in the Irish mob that he knows if he ever got into a situation that he he knows how to clean up blood and things like that.

[00:25:44]>> Throughout this entire conversation, Jared was once again casually playing with his.22 revolver.

[00:25:50]>> While you're watching the defendant handle this gun, how did you feel?

[00:25:55]>> Uh, uncomfortable to say the least. You know, it it just made me nervous cuz I know what a gun is capable of, you know what I'm saying? And I know him but I don't know what he's capable of.

[00:26:06]>> The defense, however, said that even if Ashley's death was caused by Jared's reckless handling of a firearm, it still doesn't prove intent. One of their witnesses, the bartender from Mulligan's Pub, said that Ashley and Jared seemed to be having a great night with zero signs of distress, which also seemed to be the case in the surveillance footage from that night where Ashley can be seen happily talking on the phone. On just day three of the trial, it was already time for the closing arguments.

[00:26:33]>> Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is not an easy task that we have asked of you.

[00:26:38]>> I do not have to prove how he killed her. I don't have to prove that he shot her. I don't have to prove that he hit her in the head with a baseball bat or a hammer. What I have to prove is that he caused her death.

[00:26:51]>> The prosecutor then pulled out the saw that Jared used and asked the jury, "If a fellow juror died right beside you and you had nothing to do with their death, would you chop them up?"

[00:27:02]>> I plead guilty if that's what the evidence shows.

[00:27:05]>> We we sat through heaps of evidence that really blow my mind or sight, sound and fury signifying nothing. There was a lot of things presented, but the one question remains, did Jared Chance actually cause Ashley's death?

[00:27:24]>> The jury deliberated for 3 hours before coming back with their verdict.

[00:27:28]>> Counsel, may I have your client, please?

[00:27:31]>> We, the jury, in the above-titled cause find upon our oaths that the defendant Chance is, under count one, guilty of second-degree murder, guilty of tampering with evidence, guilty of mutilation of a dead body, guilty of the concealing of the death of an individual. He will be remanded without bond. Sentencing in this matter will be set for October 10th at 1:30 in this courtroom.

[00:28:00]>> Directly following Jared's trial, Christine spoke to the media about what this guilty verdict meant for her and the rest of Ashley's family.

[00:28:07]>> It is a hollow victory for us. Our daughter is not here.

[00:28:12]>> He needs to tell. He needs to talk and tell us where the rest of our daughter is. We got a verdict of guilty, but it's kind of hard to celebrate when we don't have her. He's a coward to not tell and not to speak at trial and tell us where and why.

[00:28:29]>> For the past year, Ashley's family had wanted one thing: to bring all of Ashley home. But even after a guilty verdict, Jared still wouldn't fess up. So on September 10th, 2019, at Jared's sentencing hearing, Christine unleashed all of her built-up anger onto Jared during her impact statement.

[00:28:47]>> Jared Chance, I hate you. I want TO RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB and discard you like trash, like what you did to Ashley. THIS IS WHAT'S LEFT OF my daughter. If I want to hug, I HAVE TO HUG A BOX, close my eyes, and pretend that she is hugging me back. You do not deserve to breathe.

[00:29:10]Ashley was your friend.

[00:29:12]Right? She was your friend.

[00:29:15]You chose to execute her.

[00:29:19]You chose to dismember her. You chose to scatter her remains. You will never tell me where she is.

[00:29:26]Because you like to torment people.

[00:29:29]You like to hurt them.

[00:29:32]You enjoy it. I cry seven days A WEEK.

[00:29:37]SEVEN! MY MIND NEVER STOPS. NEVER!

[00:29:43]I am left with nothing but voicemails and videos that I play over and over just to hear her voice, just to hear her laugh. But we will not let her spirit die. She is always with us.

[00:30:01]The one thing you are never going to take from us is Ashley's spirit.

[00:30:05]>> Thank you, ma'am, and I'm very sorry for your loss.

[00:30:08]>> Thank you.

[00:30:09]>> Everybody in the courtroom seemed to be affected by Christine's statements, including the judge who handed down a merciless sentence to Jared.

[00:30:17]>> You are clearly a monster without any conscience whatsoever, and you are someone who is a danger to society and should never be allowed free.

[00:30:30]Accordingly, it is the sentence of this court with regards to the second-degree murder that you be committed to the Michigan Department of Corrections to serve a minimum of 100 years to a maximum of 200 years.

[00:30:45]I am purposely doing this so that you will not be eligible for parole until you are at least 130 years old. This sentence is concluded. Take him to prison, please.

[00:31:01]>> There should be the death penalty. Laws have to be changed. Things have to change. These people should not be allowed to just kill and keep going.

[00:31:12]They should all be bad.

[00:31:13]>> What did you think about the judge's sentencing? 100 to 200 years?

[00:31:16]>> I'm happy that he won't see the light of day.

[00:31:21]He won't be out. He won't be free. He can't do this to anybody else's child cuz this could have been anybody's child.

[00:31:29]>> Now that Jared's fate was sealed, it was time to shift the focus to his alleged accomplices, his mom and dad. A few months later, in January of 2020, Barbara Chance played no contest to accessory after the fact and perjury.

[00:31:43]James Chance, on the other hand, denied taking a plea deal. He continued to maintain his innocence and went through with his trial.

[00:31:50]>> That shows that he helped his son avoid discovery, arrest, trial, or punishment.

[00:31:57]He brought his son to the police department. I'm going to walk my son, who I believe has committed something, some crime, I'm going to walk him into the police department and ask the police to take care of it? How is that indicative of a person who's trying to help somebody avoid arrest, trial, punishment?

[00:32:16]>> Although the defense claimed that this trip to the police department was the noble act of turning his own son in, the prosecutors believed that it was all a part of James's calculated plan to improve his son's defense in court.

[00:32:29]>> I'm going to bring him in.

[00:32:31]I know cops can't talk to you once you lawyer up, but I can say, "Oh yeah, no, I brought him in." And when it doesn't go his way, he's out of there in less than 2 minutes. And what does he do? He helps his son by returning Ashley Young's body parts, returning Jared to his crime. Go ahead. I put you back to where all the body parts have been chopped up. You can go back to work. I'm not going to turn you in even though I know she's dead and I know she's dismembered.

[00:33:01]>> James Chance did nothing wrong. He did nothing wrong. He didn't help his son dispose of a body. He didn't help his son evade capture. He didn't lie to try to throw off an investigation. He did nothing wrong.

[00:33:22]>> By the end of his trial, the jury found James Chance guilty of being an accessory after the fact and perjury. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 1 year of probation. And Barbara Chance was sentenced to 45 days in jail and 1 year of probation as well.

[00:33:38]>> This is not a joke. You had my daughter's body parts in your car. You drove them around. I pray. I pray every night that you are tormented by everything that you and your wife and Conrad and Jared have done.

[00:33:58]>> To Ashley's parents, and parents, I'm so sorry everything happened and I wish if I could change it, I would. I would do anything to undo what's been done.

[00:34:12]>> [clears throat] >> Very sorry.

[00:34:14]>> Jared's parents have already served their sentences and are moving on with their lives. As for Jared himself, he continues to carry out his sentence at the Muskegon Correctional Facility. His earliest release date is December 1st in the year 2118. To this day, he has still not admitted what he did with Ashley's head.