CLEARFIELD – Two of the people responsible for the murder of Chase Anderson in August of 2017 were sentenced Monday morning.
Denny Bailey,41, of Woodland, who was found guilty of first-degree murder after his trial ended in November, will be spending the rest of his life in prison for killing Anderson.
Chantell Demi, 30, formerly of Woodland, who signed a plea deal that included a condition that she testify in Bailey’s trial, also received a lengthy sentence this morning.
Initially, in 2017, Anderson was reported missing by his mother, but the investigation turned into a murder case after it was reported that Bailey’s co-defendant, Kenja Kasheem Tew, 26, formerly of Clearfield, was telling people that Anderson was not coming back.
After being questioned, Tew took police to a remote area of Pike Township where they found Anderson’s body, which was partially burned.
Both Tew and Demi, Bailey’s ex-girlfriend, had testified previously that it was Bailey, who plotted to take Anderson to the clearing in the woods to scare him, beat him and leave him to find his own way home.
Instead, Tew said after putting Anderson in a choke hold as Bailey asked him to, Anderson got loose and fought with Bailey, who stabbed him in the back several times.
Two women impacted by Anderson’s death, his mother and grandmother both gave written statements, which were read into the court record prior to sentencing by Margie Rosselli of the Victim/Witness program.
His mother explained that the last four years have been the hardest of her life as she had to adjust to living without her “baby,” which she explained is how she thinks of her children, no matter their age.
She wrote about Bailey, “I listened while you made up stories. . . watched as you made a fool of yourself.”
He lied when he said he loved his family, she commented, because “these are not the actions of a good father.”
She described Chase as a “loving, caring person” who would have forgiven Bailey.
“You took a part of me I can’t get back.” She went on to say Chase was taken from his siblings and father, too. “You don’t deserve a life.”
His grandmother also stated that Chase “had a beautiful heart.” She described Bailey as being “full of hate.”
She said Chase’s only downfall was his choice of friends. “He was not perfect, but he was definitely not evil.”
District Attorney Ryan Sayers noted that murder of the first degree has a mandatory sentence of life but asked Ammerman to give him consecutive sentences on the other cases to “ensure he stays behind bars.”
Sayers commented on the various stories Bailey told about his crimes without showing remorse.
He thanked the jury, his staff, police, the sheriff’s deputies and court administration for their work on the long trial, adding “justice has been served here.”
Bailey was sentenced by Ammerman to life in state prison without parole on the murder charge, 20 to 40 consecutive years for conspiracy/murder, 72 months to 12 years consecutive for kidnapping and 60 months to 10 years consecutive for conspiracy/kidnapping.
He gave concurrent sentences of 16 months to three years for abuse of a corpse and nine months to two years for tampering with evidence.
The additional counts of aggravated assault and conspiracy/aggravated assault merge for sentencing purposes.
Bailey pleaded guilty in a related case for his part in the burning of the vehicle used to transport Anderson to the crime scene. For conspiracy/arson, he received a concurrent sentence of 18 months to three years and for conspiracy/tampering with evidence, he got another concurrent period of nine months to three years.
He also pleaded guilty for assaulting a corrections officer at the county jail. For this, he was sentenced to 27 months to five years which will run consecutive to his other sentences.
In a fourth case, he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with the number altered. Ammerman gave him a concurrent period of 72 months to 12 years for this case.
Demi was sentenced to nine to 18 years in state prison for conspiracy/aggravated assault, kidnapping, conspiracy/kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy tampering with evidence.
In the second case, she pleaded guilty to arson, conspiracy/arson and tampering with evidence for which she received a consecutive term of six to 12 years.
She will serve a total of 15 to 30 years in prison in addition to her current sentence of two to five years for felony possession of drugs and firearms.
The case against Tew, who also testified against Bailey, is pending.
For more information on the trial, click here.