‘You took an old woman and used her’: Tarrant County man sentenced for girlfriend’s murder

A Tarrant County man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Wednesday for killing his 65-year-old girlfriend, officials said.

Anthony Shaw Young, 45, pleaded guilty in February to murdering his girlfriend, Laurel Schick, in January 2021, according to a news release from the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office. Police showed up at Schick’s apartment in Hurst for a welfare check and found her body, bruised and bloody, under a couch.

Schick and Young met at Narcotics Anonymous and planned to get married, according to her family and prosecutors. Schick used her money to buy illegal drugs for the couple, the release said, and they called off the wedding when Schick’s money started to run out.

Sam McElwee, one of Schick’s sons, said he had asked Young to do two things — keep his mother safe and keep her away from drugs.

“You lied on both,” McElwee said at the sentencing hearing Wednesday. “You took an old woman and used her ... beat the hell out of her”

Young killed Schick during a fight on the weekend they had planned to marry.

Assistant Criminal District Attorneys Dylan Morgan and Allenna Bangs prosecuted the case.

“I am happy to get justice for Laurie and her family,” Morgan said. “This was a team effort.”