Man sentenced to 81 years in 2019 shooting, dismemberment of Greece man

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — A judge sentenced the man convicted of shooting, dismembering, and burning the body of a Greece man to 81 years to life in prison Wednesday.

In June, a jury convicted Aries Ash, 32, of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, two counts of first-degree robbery, and second-degree kidnapping in connection to the 2019 death of Maximillion Cook. Ash was also found guilty of three counts of criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of marijuana.

Prosecutors say Ash shot and killed Cook after an argument in March 2019. Investigators found some remains in the basement of a house in Syracuse. They say Ash burned the rest of the body and evidence.

Ash was also charged in connection to the assault of a jail deputy in Livingston County in December 2020. Ash was originally being held for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in relation to the 2019 case.