{"id":794120,"date":"2019-03-20T23:19:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T05:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=363212"},"modified":"2019-03-20T23:19:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T05:19:14","slug":"avon-stabber-sentenced-to-20-years-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/avon-stabber-sentenced-to-20-years-in-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Avon stabber sentenced to 20 years in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
Andrew Young, 19, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for stabbing an Avon woman while she was jogging.<\/strong>
Randy Wyrick \/ Vail Daily<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EAGLE \u2014 A local woman is not dead because she acted quickly.<\/p>\n

According to police, Andrew Young tried desperately to kill her on the morning of May 31, 2018, on a recreation path in Avon. He hit her on top of her head with a Pinnacle Cutlery kitchen knife, then stabbed her five times so hard the blade broke. When she ran for her life, sprinting while gushing blood and praying to see her children one more time, he chased her.<\/p>\n

Police know the facts of what happened, but why has been much harder to pin down. Avon police determined it was a random attack.<\/p>\n

Young will spend the next 20 years in prison, sentenced Tuesday afternoon by District Court Judge Russell Granger. Young was 18 when he carried out the attack in May. He turned 19 in the Eagle County jail.<\/p>\n

The victim bravely speaks<\/h2>\n

The victim, who wishes to remain anonymous, spoke bravely through tears in the courtroom on Tuesday, recounting in more than 20 minutes of testimony what Young\u2019s attack put her and her children through \u2014 so far. She says she doubts she\u2019ll ever fully recover.<\/p>\n

She was on her early-morning jog along a recreation path in Avon when she sensed that things weren\u2019t right.<\/p>\n

She continued running. Maybe everything would be OK.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very, very far from OK,\u201d Deputy District Attorney Stephen Potts said.<\/p>\n

She jogged past Young, skulking beside the path. She could hear above her earphones his heavy running behind her.<\/p>\n

He passed her and she stopped for a moment, but soon she started her run again.<\/p>\n

As she began to move, he plunged the knife all the way through her shoulder and out the back. Then he kept stabbing her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a dark and frightful determination, on his face,\u201d the victim said through her tears. \u201cThe only reason he stopped is that he broke the knife while he was penetrating my chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach stab was as powerful as the first,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When he stabbed her in the arm, Young broke off a chunk of her humerus bone. The surgical repair was one of five surgeries in six months, two within hours of the attack to stop internal bleeding caused by bone fragments the man had chopped loose.<\/p>\n

Even stabbed, shocked, gushing blood, she managed to break free and run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran for my life and he chased me down. He was showing no mercy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While she was being stabbed, the woman said she thought of her children, hoping that she would like to see them one more time, she said.<\/p>\n

She sprinted for 75 to 100 yards. Young ran after her, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran with all of my might. He was right behind me. He was not lethargic and the only reason he stopped was because we reached the Westin hotel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Two \u201cnice men\u201d at the Westin helped her. Avon Police Chief Greg Daly says their quick actions helped save her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called 911 to make sure someone knew what had happened to me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I lost all quiet moments\u2019<\/h2>\n

Young claims he has faced some adversity in his 19-year life, but nothing that would lead to this kind of violence, Potts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a case where he was abused and locked in a cage by his parents,\u201d Potts said.<\/p>\n

Before the brutal murder attempt, the victim said she was living like everyone else: juggling school, her children and a career. Her physical and emotional damage is with her constantly, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe joy was crushed in my grieving tears. I lost all quiet moments, the quiet and peace. I\u2019ve lost my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her children are profoundly impacted<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart breaks at the sadness in their eyes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When she looks in the mirror, the \u201cred, ugly scars\u201d look back at her.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day when I see and feel the lumpiness across my chest, it\u2019s like the scars are taunting me; physical signs that I will never be the same again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her nights are haunted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exhausting existence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The blood so visible during the attack returns to her mind when she sees the scars, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI resent that I will never be able to enjoy the outdoor activities that we once had, and that I will never be able to enjoy basic experiences with my kids,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her morning workouts have been replaced with trying to generate the courage to walk to her front door, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery sound, every sudden movement, even a stranger\u2019s casual glance are terrifying triggers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She left a career she enjoys because walking through the parking structure to the hospital is too terrifying. She constantly scans everyone to validate her safety, she said. Even seeing a hooded sweatshirt \u2014 like the one the man was wearing \u2014 can be a trigger.<\/p>\n

\u2018I would have supported him\u2019<\/h2>\n

Young was someone his neighbors and friends would have helped through whatever he was facing, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have supported him. Instead, he hunted me down and attempted to kill me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

He left his hometown of Red Bank, New Jersey, and moved to his mother\u2019s Avon condo, just a quarter mile from the victim\u2019s home and immediately began planning a murder, the victim said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis mother knew something horrific had happened but attempted to conceal it,\u201d she said, referring to Young\u2019s mother washing her son\u2019s bloodstained clothes.<\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s what he is\u2019<\/h2>\n

The victim was a world-class gymnast and coach. Now there is rarely a day she doesn\u2019t cry, a friend said during Tuesday\u2019s sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sweet woman is experiencing a nightmare that may never end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The attack wasn\u2019t robbery or rape, it was a premeditated murder attempt, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis coward \u2026 that\u2019s what he is \u2026 viciously stabbed her several times, then ran away leaving her for dead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat morning he was a predator on the hunt for a kill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The man turned and spoke to Young directly at the defendant\u2019s table, where Young sat quietly with his head down, his long dark hair shorn and short.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndrew Young, you\u2019re a failure. You\u2019re a coward. There is a lot I would like to do to you, but don\u2019t need to. I\u2019m going to let the prison population take care of that. You\u2019re a coward and you deserve everything you\u2019re gonna get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three members of Young\u2019s family were in the courtroom. His father, Andrew Young Sr., spoke to Judge Granger and the victim during Tuesday\u2019s sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of my entire family how sorry we are and that we pray every day for your recovery. I hope, I pray that we can begin to heal as a community and a family. God help us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s 20-year sentence is longer than he has been alive, public defender Thea Reiff said.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s sentence will end. His victim\u2019s may not, her friends said.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Young, 19, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for stabbing an Avon woman while she was jogging.Randy Wyrick \/ Vail Daily EAGLE \u2014 A local woman is not dead because she acted quickly. According to police, Andrew Young tried desperately to kill her on the morning of May 31, 2018, on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-794120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 23:18:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}