‘I have to hug a box’, says mother of woman killed, dismembered in Michigan

Ashley Young’s torso was found in December in the basement of Jared Chance’s Grand Rapids rental home. Other remains of the 31-year-old woman haven’t been found.

A Michigan man convicted of killing and dismembering a woman was sentenced to at least 100 years in prison Thursday after the victim’s mother carrying her daughter’s cremains shouted at him: “You threw her out like trash.”

Kristine Young, mother of Ashley Young, gestures to a box containing her daughter's ashes during the sentencing of Jared Chance in Kent County Circuit Court on Thursday. (AP Photo)

Jared Chance, 30, had turned down a plea deal that would have made him eligible for parole after 31 years. Instead, he chose to go to trial last month and was found guilty of second-degree murder and other crimes.

Ashley Young’s torso was found in December in the basement of Chance’s Grand Rapids rental home. Other remains of the 31-year-old woman haven’t been found. Chance and Young knew each other and were last seen together at a Grand Rapids bar in late November.

“Jared Chance, I hate you. I want to rip you limb from limb and discard you, just like you did to Ashley. ... You threw her out like trash and she was your friend. Why?” her mother, Kristine Young, said while giving a victim impact statement.

Holding the box of cremains, Young said, “If I want a hug, I have to hug a box.”

The 100-year minimum sentence exceeded state guidelines and will be appealed. But Kent County Judge Mark Trusock said the guidelines don’t account for the “level of brutality” in Young’s death.

Chance declined to speak in court. His attorney, Andrew Rodenhouse, had argued during trial that no one really knows how Young died.