The trial for three suspects charged in the brutal beating death of a gay Phoenix man has been scheduled for July 22, as a grim chapter continues to unfold. According to Arizona's Family, one of the defendants, Cory Young, is linked to neo-Nazi groups and could face enhanced sentencing due to this association, even if his white supremacy ideology isn't directly tied to the crime.
Found left unconscious last August on a driveway, victim Jake Kelly was carried back into the house and placed in a bathtub by his roommates—the Youngs—where they changed his clothes and neglected to seek immediate help. The Youngs only took him to a hospital the following day, and Kelly succumbed to his injuries a week later. Holding a violent white supremacist ideology, Cory Young, now faces charges of interference in the police investigation, as detailed in an Arizona's Family report. Co-defendant Shannon Young has since been released from custody, while Young and Angel Mullooly, charged with second-degree murder, remain behind bars.
In a tragic testimony to how hate can persist and corrode the soul, Jake’s mother, Jan Kelly, enduring her own inexhaustible sorrow, believes her son was brutally singled out because he was gay. She told Arizona's Family, "Since Cory was 15 years old, Cory has hated since he was a teenager. That hatred didn't go away.” The investigation has shed light on prior convictions and Young's insidious ties to supremacist groups, which may play a crucial role in the trial's outcome.
His son was remembered by his loving mother as a smart and beloved figure, whose passion for music touched many lives. Yet instead of seizing the critical moment to dial 911, Kelly was cloaked in chilling indifference by those who laid him down, after being beaten, in a tub rather than an emergency room. “Shannon, do I have this right? And she said, 'Yes, he was just in his room.' Well, they could have helped him and saved him but they didn’t," recounted Jan Kelly in a wrenching Arizona's Family interview.
Jan Kelly has remained in the Valley since the incident, resolved to see through the pursuit of justice for her son. As stated by Arizona's Family, she said, "I know this is just the beginning but I'm happy and they should be arrested."
