Woman Arrested In Connection With October 2021 Murder Of Man At Kentucky Extended-Stay Hotel, Police Say

A woman was taken into custody over one year after police claim she killed a man at an extended stay hotel in Kentucky.

Officers with the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department arrested Chelynda Howlett, 28, on Dec. 5 and charged her with the murder of 40-year-old Poncho Young, WLKY reported.

On Oct. 2, 2021, Young was found shot to death in a room at the InTown Suites.

Detectives recovered surveillance video from the property and interviewed multiple witnesses. The investigation determined Howlett went into the room with the victim and several other people, court documents show.

According to police, video shows Howlett carrying a purse when she entered the room where young was found shot dead, but she later left without it. Police claimed the video shows she then later returned to the hotel and broke the room window, went inside and then left again with her purse, which was hidden under a sheet.

Detectives also learned Howlett had been released from jail for weapons- and drug-related charges when Young was murdered, WLKY reported.

In addition to the murder charge, Howlett also faces counts of burglary, tampering with physical evidence, and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.

She was being held in Louisville Metro Corrections.