GALAX, Va. – “I just want to know why; why it all happened,” said Sean Lester, the former boyfriend of Chelsea Snider.
Snider, a 31-year-old mother with ties to the New River Valley, was found dead in Colorado on Dec. 1.
Abbas Abdal Kathem Abed is accused of killing Snider at a hotel in Sheridan, Colorado.
Lester is pleading for answers from Abed and police.
The past three weeks, Lester said, have been awful for him and Preston, the son he shares with Snider.
He’s been raising 12-year-old Preston for the past five years since Snider moved to Colorado.
“I’ve tried to get him to talk about it. We’ve had to go to counseling already over it. I’ve tried to get him to tell me how (he) feels about it. You can tell he doesn’t know, he just doesn’t know how to feel," Lester said.
Lester said Snider and Abed knew each other, but to what extent, he doesn’t know.
Police have not said why Abed has been identified as the suspect or how Snider was killed.
In an interview with KUSA, Snider’s father said he is also struggling to cope with his daughter’s death.
“I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. All I can do is sit and cry at night and think about her,” Curtis Snider said.
Snider was living in Colorado to be close to her father and brother as she tried to get her life back on track.
“She had substance abuse issues and she wasn’t well mentally," said Lester. "She had made tremendous strides in bettering herself.”
Lester said her memory will live on.
“Preston will know every little thing about her. I’ll make sure he knows how awesome she was and how hard she was trying lately to make things right and integrate back into the family. I’ll keep her memory alive and I’ll keep doing stuff like this if I have to," Lester said.
If you have any information about the case, contact the Sheridan, Colorado Police Department.