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Molly Marie Young – April 15, 1990–March 24, 2012

Molly Marie YoungThree words to describe Molly Marie Young would be unique, compassionate, and talented. Molly had a great passion for the arts. She loved photography, music, and films. She had a fun whimsical side to her personality. For her twenty-first birthday, she decided to play hide and seek in the park with a group of friends instead of doing the typical bar scene. Molly was the youngest in her family; however, she often gave her sisters advice because she was wise beyond her years. She had a fondness for rainbows and animals and she saw beauty in ordinary things. She was very interested in politics and current events. She was also interested in many different cultures and enjoyed traveling.

molly2She graduated from Marion High School in 2008. During her high school years, she won several art competitions and her artwork was featured on the cover of a local college’s magazine. During her junior year of high school, Scholastic chose Molly’s photographic art among 77,000 entries and she was flown to New York to receive her award on the stage of Carnegie Hall. The next year, Molly’s photograph,
which was titled “Time Out” and depicted a chair in the corner of a dilapidated room, was chosen alongside only thirty others nationwide to be displayed in the U.S. Department of Justice. Molly was given a private tour of the White House and received a personalized letter from Senator Barack Obama commending her for being the only student from Illinois chosen for this honor. Three weeks before her twenty-second birthday, Molly was killed in the Carbondale, Illinois apartment of her ex-boyfriend by a gunshot wound to the head. A coroner’s jury ruled the cause of death “Undetermined” due to lack of

evidence. If you have any information related to this case, please contact the lead
detective, Aaron Cooper of the Illinois State Police at (618) 542-2171.