By Mike Fletcher
The family of Michelle Renee Young can rest a little easier now that the man who killed the 42-year-old woman in 2006 is dead.
Robert R. Roe killed himself July 5 while serving a 47-year prison term in Pendleton Correctional Facility for the strangulation death of Young.
“I feel great,” Sade Young, Michelle’s daughter, said of the death of Roe.
“I’m at rest knowing that man will never get out of jail.”
Neal Potter, public relations director at the prison, said information on how Roe committed suicide will not be released and referred questions about the death to the Madison County Coroner’s office.
When contacted, the coroner was unavailable for comment.
Initially charged with murder, Roe pleaded guilty in 2007 to voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 death and was sentenced in Howard Superior Court IV to 47 years in prison.
Kokomo police found Michelle Young’s body Aug. 2, 2006, in a shallow grave on the banks of the Wildcat Creek near downtown Kokomo. Roe told police he strangled the woman and dumped her body near the creek.
Young was reported missing May 6, 2006. Roe led Kokomo police to her decomposed body Aug. 2, when he was arrested on an unrelated warrant for burglary.
“I’m happy that he’s gone,” Sade Young said. “I don’t have to worry about him in prison, bragging about what he did to my mom. I don’t have to worry anymore. My heart is at ease now.”
• Mike Fletcher is the Kokomo Tribune crime reporter. He can be reached at (765) 454-8577 or mike.fletcher@kokomotribune.com.
