Molly Young could have been any young woman. She could have been your daughter, your sister, your cousin, your friend. In fact, Molly Young is representative of nearly thirty percent of the female population, who have experienced some type of abuse at the hands of their partner. Women ages 16 to 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner abuse, almost triple the national average. It could — and does — happen to anyone. Women who are victims of abuse are eight times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner in cases where the partner owns a firearm. It happened to my sweet, beautiful friend Kim. And it happened to Molly Marie Young.

Molly's family isn't sure when or where she met Richie Minton. It's one of the many questions no one has been able or willing to give them a straight answer on. But what is clear is the fact that over the course of their year-long relationship, Minton was not a loving and supportive partner. Friends of Molly's (who have asked to remain anonymous) witnessed many instances of Minton being verbally cruel and mentally manipulative to her. Molly's counselor recalls that while she could at times be somber, Molly wasn't depressed — Minton was just abusive. Their relationship was passionate and incredibly volatile. They were often caught in a vicious cycle of dramatic break-ups and make-ups. But by March of 2012, the couple had split and Molly was ready to distance herself from Minton once and for all. She had started opening up and talking to other men, and seemed to be interested in pursuing a relationship with one. She was spending more time with her friends and making plans for her future. None of those plans would come to pass.

Richie Minton spent the evening hours of March 23rd and the early morning hours of the 24th out drinking with friends. After the bars closed at two, Minton's friends gave him a ride home where, according to several accounts, the drinking continued. At 3:28 am, Minton texted Molly, "Help me." Molly called him at 3:47 am. She came over soon after. Though Minton would later say he was home alone and there was no party going on, his friend Bree Burns--who had been drinking with him at the bar--messaged Minton's roommate Wesley Romack at 4:20 am to say "Quit baking and come party with us." By the time Romack got home from his shift at Panera Bread, Molly had already been killed.

Romack said in police interviews that he arrived home from work around 5:45 am. He said he noticed Molly's purse and shoes when he came in, and he poked his head in Minton's room and saw him asleep in bed. For some reason, Romack texted Molly: "He's asleep now, I just got home." This strikes me as unusual considering the fact that he saw her personal effects in the apartment, meaning that she was presumably asleep in Minton's room as well. At 7:00 am, Minton was supposed to have reported for his shift as a police dispatcher for the Carbondale Police Department. Between 8:30 and 9:00 am, Minton woke Romack and asked him to call 911 because he had misplaced his phone. At 9:02 am, 911 was called and Molly's death was reported as, for reasons I can only speculate, a drug overdose. CPD arrived at 9:15 am.

However, several witnesses in Minton's apartment complex allege that this was the second time police arrived at his apartment that morning. Two tenants in particular--who did not know each other--said they saw squad cars pull in without lights or sirens and an officer at Minton's door between 7:30 and 8:00 am. The CPD denies this.

Paramedics also arrived around 9:15 that morning. At approximately 10 am, both Minton's parents and his lawyer arrived. Molly's family wasn't contacted until around noon. Minton and the CPD tried to pass Molly's death off as a suicide, but forensic evidence and the facts of the case make that a difficult sell. CPD botched the investigation from start to finish, and that alone makes their credibility regarding this case extremely suspect. Before the crime scene had even been secured, Minton was allowed to wash his hands and change his clothes. He had deleted all his text messages before handing his phone over to police--and though he actually had two phones in his possession, only one was taken into evidence. None of the tenants of the apartment complex were ever interviewed, even though various witnesses came forward to say they had seen and heard strange things early that morning. Even the police reports varied, with different officers detailing different accounts of where and how both the body and the gun were found. Minton had two fresh, six-inch scratches on his back, and the police didn't even raise an eyebrow. Minton explained that he must have gotten them while trying to give an unresponsive Molly CPR. Tests are done to analyze the content beneath Molly's fingernails turned up positive for Minton's DNA.

On the 911 call, ( you can hear it here ), Minton says that Molly intentionally committed suicide by overdose and that she bled out through her nose. This is despite the fact that Molly had a large and noticeable bullet wound to the top left of her head. When you start taking stock of the evidence, Minton's story is particularly sketchy. Molly was right-handed and unfamiliar with firearms. The bullet entered her head from her non-dominant side at a downward angle, with no exit wound. An independent pathologist found that the trajectory would have been impossible for Molly to have accomplished herself, stating that "based upon the angle of the victim's wound, the suspect was either standing over the victim when she was shot or standing on the bed." Even more compelling is the fact that Molly had no blood spatter or gunshot residue on her hands — unheard of in suicide by firearm cases. The only GSR on Molly's body was a small amount on her sleeve. Minton, on the other hand, had GSR on his pajamas as well as a shirt and a pair of shorts found in his kitchen. As noted previously, he had over four hours in between Molly's death and the time the 911 call was placed, and he had been allowed to wash his hands after police arrived. The gun itself surely should have provided some evidence as to who fired the fatal shot, but no fingerprints were found anywhere on the gun. It was almost as if it had been wiped clean.

The lack of fingerprints on the gun and GSR on Molly's hands were not the only troubling aspects of the scene. Despite the claims of overdose, Molly didn't have drugs or alcohol in her system. The state of her body also seemed to indicate there had been a struggle of some kind. The sides of Molly's head were bruised, as well as her left foot, knee, and thigh. Both her hoodie and her underwear had been torn, and her right hand had remained in a tightly clenched fist. According to independent forensic analysts, Molly's body had been moved immediately after her death. She had been positioned on the floor of Minton's bedroom with her head leaning up against his closet doors. This was evident from the blood transfer patterns visible on the base of the doors and the floor. There were also several swipe patterns across Minton's floor, originating from the transfer pattern near the closet and extending out in a southeast direction toward the position of Molly's body. Meaning, simply, that someone had tried to tidy up. But Minton wasn't about to sit down and explain himself. After his lawyer arrived, he refused to be interviewed and wouldn't consent to search. He hasn't spoken to police about Molly's death since his unusual 911 call.

What happened next is a story blatant nepotism and the attempted assassination of a victim's character. The CPD went out of their way to try and paint Molly as a dark and morose figure, all the while ignoring the demons Minton was hiding in plain sight. In Part 2 of The End of the Rainbow, we'll take a closer look at the strange and sinister character that is Richie Minton, and attempt to understand his motivations.

If you have any questions or comments, or you think that you can help with Molly's case, please email me at theblackswanbooks@outlook.com.