By John Agar, mlive
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The parents of a man accused of mutilating a Kalamazoo woman’s body were aware he had “cut Ashley Young’s body into multiple pieces” but failed to tell that to Grand Rapids police during interviews, police said in court records.
The allegations are contained in a probable-cause affidavit used to obtain felony charges of perjury and accessory after the fact against Barbara Louise Chance, 63, and her husband, James Howard Chance, 76, of Holland.
Their son, Jared Chance, 29, of Grand Rapids, is charged with mutilation of a body and concealing Young’s death.
No one has been charged in her death. Young, 30, went missing early on Nov. 29 and was last seen with Chance at Mulligan’s Pub in Eastown, according to a Facebook page set up to find her.
It showed photos of Chance and Young together.
The son has been jailed since his arrest Dec. 2 when a tenant in the lower level of Chase’s rental unit, at 922 Franklin St. SE, found blood leaking from a tarp or bag in their shared basement.
The parents are to be arraigned Wednesday, Dec. 12, in Grand Rapids District Court.
The parents learned the day before their son’s arrest that Young had died and their son mutilated her body, Grand Rapids police said in the affidavits. Investigators had to identify Young as the victim through DNA testing.
The parents “learned from Jared James Chance that Jared cut Ashley Young’s body into multiple pieces and hid some of those pieces. After learning of this, (the parents) failed to inform the proper authorities of Ashley Young’s death and dismemberment,” the affidavit said.
The parents were at police headquarters on the day the remains were found but did not tell authorities about the death or dismemberment, police said.
“After leaving GRPD, (the parents) left Jared Chance at Jared’s residence at 922 Franklin and then … returned to Holland, making no effort to contact the authorities in any way to inform them of Ashley Young’s death and mutilation,” the affidavit said.
James and Barbara Chance are both charged with being accessories after the fact for allegedly knowing that their son “had committed the felony and with the intent to aid the offender in avoiding or escaping detection, arrest, trial and punishment,” the felony complaint said.
They also committed perjury, a potential life offense, on Dec. 6 by making false statements under oath during questioning in a prosecutor’s subpoena, court records said. The father allegedly committed perjury in testimony about the time of day that he and his wife and son left Grand Rapids and returned to Holland.
The mother allegedly committed perjury regarding the last time she spoke with her son.
Police searched their home at 122 W. 20th Street recently, the Holland Sentinel reported.
[Source]
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