Friction Powered

Jason Young Trial

2012-02-05T23:30:00.002-06:00

For the second time, Jason Young will be tried for the 2006 murder of his pregnant wife, Michelle Marie Fisher Young. The first trial, which was conducted last summer, ended in a mistrial. Opening statements are set to proceed at 9 a.m. EST tomorrow. WRAL.com will be live-streaming from the courtroom. Click the link below to follow the trial on their website.

WRAL.com's Jason Young Trial page.

LINK to Live-Stream of trial, courtesy of WRAL.com.

Join the discussion at the FPX forum: LINK

Jason Young Trial: Back to Square One

2012-01-17T12:44:00.000-06:00

Jury selection begins today in a Wake County courtroom for the second trial of Jason Young in the murder of his pregnant wife, Michelle Marie Fisher Young. Jason Young's first trial ended in a mistrial when twelve juror were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. As such, the prosecution begins anew; jury selection is expected to take several weeks with opening statements due to follow on February 6.

With the prosecution back at square one, I think it's an appropriate time to revisit the way in which Michelle Young's murder was discovered and the investigation began.

Michelle was bludgeoned to death in the bedroom of her Raleigh, North Carolina, home on November 3, 2006. Her body was discovered by her sister, Meredith Fisher, who was sent to the house by Jason Young to retrieve a printout of Coach purses for sale on eBay which he claimed to have forgotten on the printer when leaving for a business trip the prior evening.

Meredith arrived to find things in an unusual state to say the least. The pillar lights at the end of the driveway were on; the backyard gate was standing open; a water hose was trickling in the backyard; the Youngs' dog, Mr. Garrison was whining plaintively from within the house, Michelle's car was in the garage; tiny bloody footprints dappled the floor of an upstairs bathroom. In the master bedroom, Michelle's battered body lay on the floor next to the bed in a pool of blood; the walls and furniture were spattered with blood; and Cassidy, Jason and Michelle's 2 1/2 year old daughter, was hiding beneath the covers of the bed. Meredith promptly called 911 to try to get help for her sister, though she feared that Michelle was already dead.

I have previously posted on this blog a transcript of the 911 call which I typed while listening to the recording on WRAL.com's website. However, during the trial last summer, a more complete version of the 911 call was played. What follows is a transcript of the call as played during Meredith's testimony. Please note: This is not an official transcript.

DISPATCHER: 911 State your emergency

MEREDITH: I need an ambulance. It’s an emergency.

DISPATCHER: What address are you at Ma’am?

MEREDITH: Um Birchleaf…5108 Birchleaf Road

DISPATCHER: Okay and your phone number?

MEREDITH: Oh my God

DISPATCHER: Ma’am, what’s your phone number in case I lose you

MEREDITH: Um…832-…um, hang on. Let me look at the phone. 832-8939. 8939.

DISPATCHER: Alright, what’s the problem. Tell me exactly what happened.

MEREDITH: Um…I…I…I think my sister’s dead.

DISPATCHER: Okay, tell me what happened, ma’am.

MEREDITH: I have no idea. Oh my God.

DISPATCHER: Alright stay on the phone with me please.

MEREDITH: Um.

DISPATCHER: What’s your name?

MEREDITH: Meredith Fisher

DISPATCHER: Alright, Meredith.

MEREDITH: And this is the Young address. Oh my God.

DISPATCHER: Meredith, listen to me please.

MEREDITH: Yeah.

DISPATCHER: Are you with the patient now?

MEREDITH: Yes and her daughter. And…she’s…

DISPATCHER: Okay, how old is the patient?

MEREDITH: …and there’s blood everywhere. She’s 28…29

DISPATCHER: 28?

MEREDITH: Should I try to move her?

DISPATCHER: Listen to me, ma’am.

MEREDITH: Yes sir.

DISPATCHER: I’m gonna tell you what to do…

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: …but you need to calm down so we can help her. You said there’s blood everywhere?

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright. Is she conscious?

MEREDITH: N..., I don’t think so. Should I try to help her?

DISPATCHER: Listen to me, ma’am.

MEREDITH: I’m listening.

DISPATCHER: Is she breathing?

MEREDITH: I don’t think so.

DISPATCHER: Have you checked?

MEREDITH: Michelle? [pause] She’s cold.

DISPATCHER: Okay. Listen to me. Did you see what happened?

MEREDITH: I don’t know. Cassidy, come here, sweetie. I’m here with her daughter.

DISPATCHER: Okay.

MEREDITH: There's...there's like blood footprints all over the house from her daughter...like her daughter's little footprints.

DISPATCHER: Okay, listen to me. What's your first name?

MEREDITH: Meredith

DISPATCHER: Alright, Meredith...

MEREDITH: Yes sir.

DISPATCHER: Did you see what happened?

MEREDITH: I..I..I just came here on a fluke. I usually, you know, don't come here during the day.

DISPATCHER: Okay.

MEREDITH: She shouldn't be home. She should be at work. Like...

DISPATCHER: Okay, listen to me.

MEREDITH: Yes sir.

MEREDITH: I...I...[inaudible] right now.

DISPATCHER: Did you say...Can you tell me why she looks dead...looks like she's dead?

MEREDITH: I don't know. I have no idea. There's blood all over the place.

DISPATCHER: Okay, did you say she's cold?

MEREDITH: Sh..uh yes.

DISPATCHER: Okay.

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright, stay on the phone.

MEREDITH: Okay

CASSIDY: [inaudible] there's blood. Can you see my...[inaudible]...get a washcloth into my...[inaudible]...?

MEREDITH: Yes, sweetie.

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

MEREDITH: Sweetie, do you know what happened to Mommy?

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

MEREDITH: Did she fall?

CASSIDY: Um...um...she gotta boo...She got boo-boos everywhere and...and...she got…

DISPATCHER: Alright, do you think she's beyond any help?

MEREDITH: I don’t know. Honestly, um…

DISPATCHER: You don’t know? Alright

MEREDITH: I’m normally very good under pressure.

DISPATCHER: Okay, we’re gonna tell you what to do then. Okay?

MEREDITH: Yes, sir.

DISPATCHER: Are you right by her now?

MEREDITH: I...I’m keeping her daughter out of there.

DISPATCHER: Okay. Alright, so you’re not with her?

MEREDITH: I’m right outside the bedroom.

DISPATCHER: Can you get her daughter secured s…Can you carry the phone to where she’s at?

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright. Can you secure her daughter?

MEREDITH: Cassidy, sweetie, can you stay in your room for two seconds, okay?

CASSIDY: Okay.

MEREDITH: Okay, can you close the door for two seconds and I’ll be right back in here, okay, sweetie?

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: Meredith.

MEREDITH: Okay, yes sir.

DISPATCHER: Okay. You got a cordless phone?

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright.

MEREDITH: Stay right there, sweetie. Okay.

DISPATCHER: Alright, is…I want you to…is she laying on her back?

MEREDITH: No, she’s laying on her stomach.

DISPATCHER: She’s on her stomach? She’s face down?

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright, can you…can you get her on her back?

MEREDITH: [deep breath] okay…oh my God. Michelle? I don’t think so. She’s so heavy.

DISPATCHER: Alright, see if you can get her on her back.

MEREDITH: I just really think she’s dead.

DISPATCHER: Pardon?

MEREDITH: I really think she’s dead.

DISPATCHER: Okay. Are you certain?

MEREDITH: Hang on. Cassidy, sweetie, please go in your room. Okay, honey?

MEREDITH: I um…I um…I’m pretty sure.

DISPATCHER: You are?

MEREDITH: I…I don’t know…I don’t know. I’m…

DISPATCHER: Okay, we need to make sure.

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: Can you get her on her back for me?

MEREDITH: She’s kind of…twisted in a way that I can’t do that.

DISPATCHER: You can’t roll her over.

MEREDITH: Not…not easily.

DISPATCHER: You’re gonna have to try.

MEREDITH: Hang on…let me…I’m trying to see if I can get her pulse.

DISPATCHER: We gotta try to do CPR if we can get her on her back, Meredith.

MEREDITH: No, she’s ice cold.

DISPATCHER: She’s cold?

MEREDITH: Yeah.

DISPATCHER: Okay, alright.

MEREDITH: And her body is stiff.

DISPATCHER: Okay, then don’t try. If she’s cold then just…

MEREDITH: Oh my God, I (inaudible)…

DISPATCHER: …there’s probably nothing much you can do.

MEREDITH: Should I not touch anything?

DISPATCHER: Alright, try not to touch anything more than you did. Was anything out of place or unusual when you came in?

MEREDITH: This place does not look like what it normally looks like.

DISPATCHER: Okay, what’d it…

MEREDITH: There’s blood in the bed.

DISPATCHER: Okay, alright. Try not to touch anything else, okay?

MEREDITH: Okay, I just moved a pillow.

DISPATCHER: Alright. Just leave everything exactly where it is then.

MEREDITH: Okay…okay.

DISPATCHER: Do you see anything else?

MEREDITH: Um…

DISPATCHER: Do you see anything else that looks unusual?

MEREDITH: No. Cassidy, was anybody here? The dog was freaking out when I got here. Was anybody here, sweetie?

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

DISPATCHER: Alright, Meredith…

MEREDITH: Yes, sir.

DISPATCHER: Alright, I’m gonna…I’m gonna get the sheriff’s department to pick up on the line with us.

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: ‘Cause they’re gonna need to talk to you about what you’re seeing. Okay?

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: Now, I’m gonna brief them on what’s happened, and you just stay on the line.

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: What’s your last name, Meredith?

MEREDITH: Fisher.

DISPATCHER: Fisher?

MEREDITH: Her last name is Young.

DISPATCHER: Are you her relative?

MEREDITH: I’m her only sister.

DISPATCHER: Okay. Alright, Meredith. Stay with me just a minute, okay?

MEREDITH: Okay.

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

[series of clicks and tones]

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

MEREDITH: Okay.

[ring-tone]

CASSIDY: [inaudible] { some people believe they hear the words, “Daddy did it.”}

MEREDITH: Okay.

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

[ring-tone]

[ring-tone]

DEPUTY: Sheriff’s office. What is your emergency?

DISPATCHER: Hey, this is uh Brent.

DEPUTY: Uh-huh?

DISPATCHER: Look, I’ve got a lady named Meredith Fisher on the line from this address.

DEPUTY: Okay.

DISPATCHER: We’ve got EMS en route to Birchleaf.

DEPUTY: Okay.

DISPATCHER: And she…she’s in there with her sister. Um, she’s gonna tell you about what she’s seen, and it’s apparent it might be a Code 7 and there may be…there is evidence of trauma.

DEPUTY: We got deputies already en route.

DISPATCHER: Okay, but you need to talk to her. I’m gonna let her talk to you.

DEPUTY: I will. Thanks.

DISPATCHER: She’s on the line with you.

DEPUTY: Okay.

DISPATCHER: Meredith, go ahead.

DEPUTY: Meredith?

MEREDITH: I’m also here with her two-and-a-half-year-old, so it’s kind of difficult for me to pay attention.

DEPUTY: Okay.

MEREDITH: Okay?

DEPUTY: Where are you at now though Meredith? Are you on Birchleaf?

MEREDITH: [inaudible] downstairs. I’m at Birch, um, 5108 Birchleaf.

DEPUTY: Okay.

MEREDITH: Um, I…I typically handle myself very well under pressure, but I…I…I don’t know what to do.

DEPUTY: Okay. Now, tell…uh, is Rescue there yet?

MEREDITH: No.

DEPUTY: Okay.

MEREDITH: Should I go outside to wait for them…[inaudible]?

DEPUTY: Now, what have you found when you walked in the house?

MEREDITH: I don’t kn… I almost thought it was a practical joke. There’s just blood everywhere.

DEPUTY: Okay. And who lives there, and are they there?

MEREDITH: Okay. It’s my sister’s house.

DEPUTY: Uh-huh.

MEREDITH: Um, and she has a husband that travels quite a bit.

DEPUTY: Uh-huh.

MEREDITH: And I spoke with him last night. He’s out of town; he’s on his way to his parents’ house. And her daughter [inaudible] still in pajamas. [inaudible] Like normally, my sister goes to work early and takes her to daycare, you know, like…something’s not right. And I…when I first came to the house…[exhaling sound]

DEPUTY: Could you hold on one second for me, Miss?

MEREDITH: Yes, sir.

DEPUTY: Mm-hmm.

**Transition—Call transferred**

MEREDITH: Yes, sir.

DEPUTY 2: Okay. Are you…are you out at the…the deceased person’s…Birchleaf?

MEREDITH: I’m sorry.

DEPUTY 2: Are you out on Birchleaf?

MEREDITH: Birchleaf. Yes, sir.

DEPUTY 2: Okay. Okay. What I need you to do if possible… Who…who all’s there with you? I can hear a child.

MEREDITH: Yes.

DEPUTY 2: Okay. EMS and I got some deputies en route. What I need you to go ahead and do is just…is walk outside.

MEREDITH: Okay.

DEPUTY 2: ‘Cause I don’t know what’s going on yet. Just have everybody walk outside. Stand…[inaudible]

MEREDITH: Come on, sweetie. Let’s take a ride. Okay? Come on, Garrison. Let’s go, buddy.

CASSIDY: Where we going?

MEREDITH: We’re going to go outside and wait for the nice people to [inaudible]

DEPUTY 2: And if you want…if you want to, yeah, if you want to, go ahead out…go out to your car and sit in your car. That way…until we figure out what’s going on, okay?

MEREDITH: Okay. I don’t know what I did with my keys. I can’t even think.

CASSIDY: Where we going?

MEREDITH: [inaudible] We’re going to wait outside for the nice people to come talk to us. Okay, sweetie?

DEPUTY 2: Who’s this…who’s this person you…

MEREDITH: Um, this is my niece that I’m holding right now.

DEPUTY 2: No, I mean…I mean the person who’s in the house? Your sister?

**Cassidy chattering in background**

MEREDITH: Oh my God.

CASSIDY: [inaudible] your car?

MEREDITH: Yes, sweetie. That’s my car.

MEREDITH: I’m trying.

DEPUTY 2: Yeah. Just do the best you can. I know…I know it’s difficult. I really do.

MEREDITH: My niece is very smart for her age. She’s two and a half. And I think she’s saying that there was somebody in the house. I don’t really understand, ‘cause I know she doesn’t understand.

DEPUTY 2: Okay. How old is…how old is, um, your sister?

MEREDITH: My sister’s twenty-nine.

DEPUTY 2: Twenty-nine? [inaudible] have any problems?

MEREDITH: What?

DEPUTY 2: …that you know of? Do you have…Does she have any personal problems that you know of?

MEREDITH: Um, not really. I try to help them fight a little bit, but nothing too ridiculous. She’s pregnant; I know that. She’s about four and a half months pregnant.

DEPUTY 2: Okay. Try to…try to keep calm.

MEREDITH: [inaudible] I’m trying. There’s a fire department truck here.

DEPUTY 2: Okay.

MEREDITH: I don’t know why, but…

DEPUTY 2: Yeah, they…they respond as well because of the nature of the call.

MEREDITH: [inaudible—crosstalk] I’m trying. Oh my God. Oh my God. I can’t even believe that this is real. Like, they sort of play jokes on each other, like, [inaudible] her husband. Like, I almost thought it was a joke; that’s how over the top it just seems in there. Something’s not right.

DEPUTY 2: The fire department’s going to talk to you now. They’ll probably go in the house to go check on her. Okay?

MEREDITH: Okay. Thank you.

DEPUTY 2: Okay. So just…they’ll let me know if there’s any problem. Okay? Just stay out of the house as best you can.

MEREDITH: Thank you. Yes. Thank you.

DEPUTY 2: Okay.

Jason Young: Verdict Watch

2011-06-23T14:33:00.004-05:00

Testimony in the trial of Jason Young for the first degree murder of his pregnant wife, Michelle Marie Fisher Young, wrapped up yesterday. Defense attorneys and prosecutors presented their closing arguments to the jury today, and the fate of Jason Young is now in the hands of twelve jurors.

As fate would have it, the forum we have been using to discuss the trial is down for maintenance. In the meantime, I've opened a Verdict Watch thread at our original forum.

Original Forum: Friction Powered Information Exchange
Alternate Forum: FPX II (temporarily down for maintenance)

Update:

FPX II is back online. We'll continue the discussion there. Sorry for any confusion.

Jason Young Trial

2011-06-08T09:43:00.004-05:00

Discussion of the trial has been moved to FPX II due to ongoing technical difficulties at the original FPX.

Jason Young Trial: Opening Statements

2011-06-07T15:51:00.002-05:00

The FPX forum is on the blink and WRAL is having some technical difficulties. I'll post updates in the comment section of this blog entry.

FPX Forum Poll

2011-06-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

The original FPX forum is still having technical difficulties. Vote at the following link whether to remain at the original FPX and hope the problems are worked out or move permanently to the Alternate FPX:

http://frictionpowered.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/fpx-forum-poll/

For those of you not already registered there, it is NOT necessary to enter a phone number. Just click the PASS button a few times until it stops asking you. I will activate your account as soon as I see your registration, and you will be able to log in and post.

Jason Young Trial: Jury Selection

2011-05-31T10:29:00.001-05:00

Jury selection begins today in the First Degree Murder trial of Jason Young who stands accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Michelle Young, in November, 2006. The process is expected to take about three to four days with Opening Statements to follow. WRAL will stream live coverage of the trial on their website.
I have begun to assemble a dedicated page to facilitate following the trial as it progresses. The page will be updated as necessary. Click the link below or in the sidebar to access the Michelle Young Case page.

Michelle Young Case

Discussion of the case and trial coverage is being hosted at the original Friction Powered Exchange forum.

http://frictionpowered.hqforums.com/

If you are still having trouble accessing the forum, please leave a comment on this blog entry.

Jason Young Arraignment

2011-05-19T08:33:00.001-05:00

Jason Young will be arraigned in a Wake County, North Carolina, courtroom today for the 2006 beating death of his pregnant wife, Michelle Young. Also on the agenda is an evidence hearing regarding a witness sighting of Jason Young at a King, North Carolina convenience store during the early morning hours of November 3, 2006. Proceedings are scheduled to begin at 2:30. Local poster, RPD, plans to be at the hearing and post his observations.

Because of problems at our regular forum, Friction Powered Exchange, I've reopened the alternative forum, Friction Powered Exchange II. If you haven't already registered there, I would encourage you to do so. There have been so many problems with FPX lately that I'm not sure we'll be able to rely on it for the duration of the trial.

The original forum appears to be back up and running, although some people still report having trouble accessing the threads. Hopefully, all will be resolved soon. In the meantime, some posters are still using the alternative forum. There are links to both in the sidebar under "Discussion Forum" and in the second paragraph of this blog entry.

Alternative Forum

2011-05-18T22:57:00.000-05:00

I don't know what the problem is with FPX, but if it's still down tomorrow, we'll use the alternative forum.

Link to FPX: http://frictionpowered.hqforums.com/

Link to Alternative FPX: http://frictionpowered.freeforums.org/

Brad Cooper Trial Verdict

2011-05-05T22:38:00.000-05:00

Michelle Young Murder: King's to you, Jason.*

2011-04-27T23:03:00.005-05:00

The trial of Jason Young for the 2006 murder of his pregnant wife, Michelle Young, is quickly approaching. Yesterday, a status hearing was held in preparation for trial. Normally, this would have been a rather mundane event. However, yesterday's hearing produced some interesting news. Jason Young's defense counsel used the opportunity to raise issue with a witness for the prosecution. Gracie Bailey, a convenience store clerk in King, North Carolina, identified Jason Young as a customer who made a cash purchase of fuel at her store at 5:27 am on November 3, 2006.

The significance of this is that it places Jason on the route between his Raleigh home and his hotel in Hillsville, Virginia, during the hours that he was supposed to have been innocently spending the night at the hotel halfway to his business meeting destination of Clintwood, Virginia. Until this piece of evidence was made public, we knew only that there was surveillance video from the hotel indicating that he had left his hotel around midnight and a witness statement describing the presence of a vehicle similar to Jason's 2004 Ford Explorer in the driveway of the Youngs' home between 4:00 and 5:00 am. And we knew that, in order to make the return trip to Raleigh in the middle of the night to kill Michelle, he would have needed more fuel than provided by the documented purchases at the Handee Hugo in Raleigh at 7:32 pm on November 2 and the Get-It Market at 12:06 pm the following day. With this witness's testimony, the State will be able to show, not only that Jason Young could have returned to Raleigh in the middle of the night, but that he did, in fact, make that murderous drive.

Clicking on the map will link you to the interactive Bing map for greater detail and exploration.

According to RPD, a Raleigh local who attended yesterday's hearing, the defense's motion to suppress Gracie Bailey's testimony will be heard on May 19. The defense alleges that WCSO procedure was not followed in procuring the witness's identification of Jason Young. The trial is scheduled to begin on May 31. Thanks for your updates, RPD.

The timeline calendar has also been updated with this new information. Click the following link to direct your browser there:

Michelle Young Murder Timeline

*With my gratitude to the Count of Monte Cristo.

Nancy Cooper Murder Trial

2011-03-18T20:20:00.000-05:00

I've never blogged about the Nancy Cooper case, but I've followed news reports of it since Mrs. Cooper was reported missing in July 2008. Her body was discovered in an undeveloped cul-de-sac a couple of days after she went missing in Cary, North Carolina. Her husband, who claimed that she went out for a run on July 12 and never returned, was arrested about three months later, on the heels of lengthy depositions he gave during a custody fight for the couple's two daughters, Bella and Katie. Mr. Cooper's trial began on March 9, 2011, and is expected to last several weeks.

WRAL.com is providing a live stream of the trial, archiving the recordings, Tweeting about testimony that cannot be aired per judge's order, and maintaining well-organized case coverage on their website. You'll find links to all on the Nancy Cooper Murder Trial page on this blog. Additionally, there is a forum for discussion of the trial at Friction Powered Exchange.

Jason's Journey: Extra Fuel and the Lost Highway

2011-02-02T19:42:00.010-06:00

Note: For those of you already familiar with the case, pardon me while I recap. For those not familiar, there is a great deal more to read about this case in the search warrants and in previously posted blog entries on this site.

Michelle Young was murdered in her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, on November 3, 2006, sometime between midnight and 6:00 am. The pregnant mother was attacked in her bedroom and beaten to death with a blunt object. Cassidy, the Youngs' 2 1/2 year old daughter, was left unharmed in the home. The murder was discovered by Michelle's sister, Meredith Fisher, who was sent to the scene on an errand by Michelle's husband, Jason. Jason Young's alibi is that he was out of town on a business trip when his wife was murdered. Nevertheless, a grand jury indicted him on charges of first degree murder in December of 2009, and he is due to stand trial in May of this year.

Jason Young left home on Thursday, November 2, 2006, stopping at the Handee Hugo convenience store where he fueled up his Ford Explorer at 7:32 pm before setting off. His meeting was scheduled for 10:00 am the following morning at Dickenson Community Hospital in Clintwood, Virginia. After driving about 80 miles, Young stopped to eat a late supper at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina. At approximately 10:50 pm, Young rented a room for the night at the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Virginia. About an hour later, Young is seen again in the hotel lobby, this time in different clothing than he was wearing upon arrival. Search warrants indicate that investigators believe Young tampered with a stairwell security camera, a side exit door, and the door to his room before leaving the hotel around midnight to return to Raleigh and commit the murder.

As previously stated, Jason's Thursday morning meeting was scheduled to begin at 10:00 am. However, he arrived more than half an hour late at 10:35 am. A cell phone ping indicated that he was just southwest of Wytheville Virginia at 7:40 am -- approximately 112 miles from his destination. Using Bing Maps calculations, he should have arrived at Dickenson Community Hospital by 9:50 am -- a couple of hours later, yet it took him nearly three hours. Reportedly, Jason told friends the reason that he was late was because he got lost. This lost time translates to perhaps 30-50 additional miles of driving.

The following images show a possible scenario for Jason's lost time and mileage. On the map, the route A-E-C is the route Jason should have taken from Abingdon, Virginia, where he left I-81, to Dickenson Community Hospital in Clintwood. Missing the left turn at marker E would have sent him off his intended route. Depending on how long it took him to realize his mistake, he would have had to work his way back toward Clintwood on the E-D-C route.

[Click to enlarge]

The missed turn

As you can see from the above image, it would have been easy for someone unfamiliar with the area to mistakenly continue on through the intersection rather than turning left here, as it appears that turning left would have resulted in traveling southwest whereas the direction (as the crow flies) to Clintwood is northwest.

Credit card receipts found in Young's vehicle indicate that he purchased fuel at the Handee Hugo in Raleigh on Thursday evening and again at the Get-It Market in Duffield, Virginia, on Friday at 12:06 pm. The route that Young would have traveled from the Handee Hugo to Dickenson Community Hospital and on to his fuel stop in Duffield is approximately 363 miles. You could argue that this distance is doable on one tank of gas in a 2004 Ford Explorer, but you would have to ignore both the mountainous terrain that would surely have reduced his fuel efficiency and the extra miles Jason would have added to his route during the time that he was lost en route to Clintwood. This gas mileage discrepancy supports investigators' belief that Young made at least one additional fuel purchase between 7:32 pm on Thursday and 12:06 pm on Friday for which there is no documentation.

Now, if you're doing the calculations in your head, you've probably figured out that he needed only a few extra gallons of fuel to complete his route. However, it would have taken almost an entire extra tank for Jason Young to drive back to Raleigh from Hillsville in the middle of the night to murder his wife and return again to the Hampton Inn the next morning -- approximately 344 roundtrip miles. The question arises, where and when did he refuel? It probaby won't surprise you to learn that I've been studying maps and satellite images and have come up with a theory.

Question: How do you purchase fuel without investigators being able to track down the secret fuel purchase later? There are four things that you would need to consider:

Use cash or a prepaid card to avoid producing records that could track the purchase to you.
Purchase the fuel at a location where you aren't likely to be recognized by someone who knows you or remembered later by someone who happened to see you there.
Pick a location that wouldn't be immediately checked by investigators. In other words, don't buy gas near the murder scene nor near your hotel.
Cover your tracks. Your cell phone pings will tell on you.

I've long been bothered by Jason's late evening stop at the Cracker Barrel restaurant. It's always seemed odd that he declined to eat with Michelle, Cassidy, and Michelle's friend, Shelly Schaad, prior to leaving home, opting instead to stop and eat at a restaurant little more than an hour down the road at such a late hour.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Restaurant

I've come to believe that the real purpose for the Cracker Barrel stop was to mask an extra fuel stop. If investigators later wondered why his cell phone records indicated that he stopped in Greensboro, his meal at the Cracker Barrel would have been a reasonable explanation, and investigators would have had no reason to suspect that he bought more fuel again so soon after the Handee Hugo purchase. Mind you, it would have taken only about five gallons of gas to top off his tank at that time. However, it would have enabled him to get at least that far away from Raleigh after the murder before he needed to refuel again. That's the important part. Keep in mind that during the post-murder fuel stop, Jason would not have needed to worry about covering his cell phone tracks because he had either turned off the phone or left it in his hotel room ... perhaps both.

Greensboro stop: (1) Cracker Barrel, (2) Sheetz

Incidentally, if Jason had left this location with a full tank of gas after the murder, he would have had enough fuel to make it all the way to his meeting in Clintwood and on to the Duffield fuel stop even if he had gotten lost and added an extra hour onto his drive. At exit 124 in Greensboro (the exit Jason would have used to get to the Cracker Barrel) there is also a big convenience store that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Sheetz convenience store

Sheetz convenience stores offer a prepaid gift card in denominations of $10 to $100 in $5 increments. The Sheetz Z-Card can be used to pay for fuel at the pump. Being able to pay at the pump rather than going inside to make a cash purchase would have been to Jason's great benefit in covering his tracks. Recall that Jason's mother, Pat Young, relayed to Wake County Sheriff's investigators that a wallet with $500 cash was missing from Jason's closet after Michelle's murder.

Z-Card can be used to pay at the pump 24/7.

If my theory is correct, Jason would have made a small purchase of gas at the Sheetz store some time between 8:45 pm and 9:30 pm on Thursday evening and a much larger purchase the next morning between 5:00 and 5:45 am. There are a few alternatives to consider regarding these purchases:

He used cash at the register on Thursday evening to pay for the gas and also to buy a prepaid Z-Card to use for the post-murder refuel.
On both occasions, he used a Z-Card at the pump that he had procured prior to November 2.
He used cash at the register on Thursday evening but reserved the previously procured Z-Card for the post-murder refuel.

Store records should be examined to look for cash and Z-Card purchases during those times. If the same Z-Card was used to make both purchases, it would add to the pile of circumstantial evidence already in the hands of prosecutors. If a Z-Card was purchased with cash at the time of the 5-gallon refuel and then used the next morning to purchase around 20 gallons of gas, this would also be evidence that would implicate Jason Young. And if the Z-Card was purchased on another date at another location, it's possible that other records -- credit card, cell phone, etc. -- could be used to place Jason at that location on that date thereby tying Jason to the Z-Card purchases.

Forum temporarily down

2010-11-08T17:38:00.004-06:00

I've received a few emails expressing concern about the discussion forum being currently unavailable. The reason for this is that HQ Forums (the hosting service) is changing servers. FPX should be back online in a day or so. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

Scout

Update: I expected the forum to have been back online by now. Until it returns, everyone is welcome to post at the alternate site: FPX II.

FPX is back in business. Thanks for your patience, everyone!

Jason Young: Rule 24 Hearing

2010-08-26T13:39:00.002-05:00

Today at 3:20 pm, Jason Young will learn whether or not he faces the death penalty for the 2006 murder of his pregnant wife, Michelle Marie Fisher Young. Anyone interested in the proceedings can follow timely updates on the FPX forum courtesy of two forum members local to Raleigh, namely RPD and gorealtors.

Click HERE to proceed to the FPX forum.

Update:
In case you haven't already been made aware, the prosecutor announced today that the death penalty will not be sought against Jason Young. With that decision, the most severe sentence that can be imposed is life without the possibility of parole. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on May 16, 2011. In the meantime, expect more hearings to address motions to suppress evidence, change of venue, etc.

FPX Now Open

2010-07-31T14:33:00.006-05:00

The hijacking issue at the original FPX appears to have been fixed. The forum is now open to posting. Please notify me of any problems. You can post a message in the comment thread of this blog entry or send me an email through the contact form by clicking the small envelope in the sidebar of this blog.

Scout

Kyron Horman: Missing for 8 Weeks

2010-07-30T16:43:00.039-05:00

I hope to write a blog entry about this case soon. In the meantime, I'll just provide video to the latest press conference held by Kyron's parents and hope that someone out there will respond to their pleas for information.

The first one is a better video quality, but the reporters' questions are edited out. The second one includes questions -- helpful for getting the full gist of the responses.

LINK to the Oregonian's story.

LINK to KATU's story.

Forum Temporarily Closed

2010-07-25T13:26:00.004-05:00

The Friction Powered Information Exchange is closed until further notice due to intrusive ads and hijacking problems. I apologize for the inconvenience and any frustration it has caused. In the meantime, everyone is welcome to post here at the blog in the comment section of this entry. As an alternative, there is another forum available to anyone who wishes to register.

Click to go to the new (perhaps temporary) Friction Powered Exchange forum. If you choose to use it, be patient with me while I get accustomed to the Admin panel which is more complex than the one I'm used to using.

If the original FPX reopens, I'll post a notice here and at FPX II.

Important addendum:

I just became aware that the registration form on the new forum is asking for full name and birthdate. I would alter that requirement if I could. As it is, all I can say is I would not provide such personal information. As long as you provide a "name" and a birthdate that makes your age greater than 18, I don't think there will be any problem.

The original FPX forum is currently open. Please proceed there to participate in the discussion.

LINK to FPX forum

Wall Street Reform

2010-07-15T16:03:00.003-05:00

How can anything that makes a socialist this happy be good?

Terri Moulton Horman

2010-07-09T15:36:00.001-05:00

Whatever life you imagined you could create for yourself by eliminating Kyron from it isn't going to happen. As long as Kyron Horman remains missing, you will not have a moment's peace. He isn't going to be forgotten. Everyone knows that you are responsible for whatever has happened to him. That knowledge isn't going to fade away. You cannot escape it -- neither with the passage of time nor the insertion of distance. Your life is going to be a living hell. The only way to make things better -- for yourself as well as for everyone else -- is to tell the truth.

Where is Kyron?

Michelle Young Case Update

2010-06-21T18:05:00.000-05:00

This update is slightly dated, but I thought it might be helpful for those searching for news about Jason Young. Jason is currently in the Wake County jail awaiting trial for the 2006 murder of his pregnant wife, Michelle Marie Fisher Young. Young was indicted by a Wake County grand jury on December 14, 2009, and arrested in Brevard the same day. Since that time, two hearings have been continued. A Rule 24 hearing originally scheduled for March 18, 2010 -- at which time the district attorney was to have notified the court as to whether or not the death penalty would be sought -- was continued. The case was again continued on June 17 with the delay attributed to the state's need for more time to sort through all of the evidence against Jason Young and turn everything over to Young's defense team. The next court date is August 26, at which time, the prosecution must without further delay present the court with their intentions regarding the death penalty.

Click HERE for the latest news report.

Pretty Cool Tornado Footage

2010-06-01T15:29:00.000-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There's irony in there somewhere...

2010-04-08T23:01:00.004-05:00

Amanda and Raffaele Are Innocent

2010-03-24T21:49:00.004-05:00

I've said it before. I wish I had followed the Amanda Knox/Raffaele Sollecito/Meredith Kercher case better and blogged about it in real time, but I just didn't have the time to do it justice. There are a couple of blogs that I try to follow that have focused on the investigation and trial. I've linked them in the sidebar and decided to post a brief entry to introduce them to you.

Science Spheres

Currently focused on the Knox/Sollecito trial in Perugia, Italy where the prosecution's forensic science effort has lapsed into the realm of pseudoscience. In the future, Science Spheres will harbor discussions on issues that lie along the interphase between science, politics, business, and people.

Knox Archives blog

The ridiculous case against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito

I heartily recommend both of these blogs to anyone who is interested in the Knox/Sollecito/Kercher case and to anyone concerned about wrongful convictions.

Jason Young: Lying in Wait

2010-03-01T23:58:00.002-06:00

By North Carolina statute, a charge of first degree murder requires at least one attendant circumstance.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-17

A murder which shall be perpetrated by means of a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction as defined in G.S. 14‑288.21, poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which shall be committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any arson, rape or a sex offense, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, or other felony committed or attempted with the use of a deadly weapon shall be deemed to be murder in the first degree, a Class A felony, and any person who commits such murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment in the State’s prison for life without parole as the court shall determine pursuant to G.S. 15A‑2000…

The previous blog entry, Exceeding Malice Aforethought, addressed the circumstance of "willful, deliberate, and premeditated". A second attendant circumstance that may be considered applicable to Michelle Young's murder is that of "lying in wait".

Black's Law Dictionary defines the phrase "lying in wait" as follows:

The series of acts involved in watching, waiting for, and hiding from someone with the intent of killing or inflicting serious bodily injury on that person.

I believe that the actions Jason Young took on the night of November 2-3, 2006, qualify as lying in wait. In order to demonstrate the aptness of the phrase, it is necessary to break down the series of acts as described above and apply them to Jason's alleged activities.

Watching Michelle Young

As Michelle's husband, Jason knew his wife's routine. He watched for an occasion when there would be no overnight guests in the home. He knew what her plans were for that Thursday evening. He knew that, but for Cassidy's presence in the home, Michelle would be alone after Shelly Schaad departed. As homeowner and resident, he was intimately familiar with the layout of the house. He knew that getting inside, contending with the dog, and navigating his way to the master bedroom to locate his target would give him no trouble. He knew that he far outmatched Michelle in size and strength and that he could increase his advantage with the element of surprise.

Waiting for Michelle Young

Jason left home that Thursday evening with the intention of waiting until Michelle was at her most vulnerable before returning to attack her. He waited until he could establish an alibi at the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Virginia. He waited until he was sure that Shelly had left the residence. He waited until such a time as Michelle and Cassidy could be expected to be sleeping soundly in their own beds.

Hiding from Michelle Young

Jason used darkness, dead of night, and deceit to hide from Michelle. She believed that he was in Virginia and wouldn't return until Friday evening at the earliest. He led her to believe that he would be spending the night in a hotel, attending a business meeting the next morning, and swinging by his mother's house in Brevard before returning home. She had no reason to suspect that he would sneak back in the dead of night to kill her while she slept. His malicious intent was hidden from her by his ruse. His presence was hidden from her through the stealth afforded by darkness, dead of night, and her own slumber.

Jason's alleged actions comprise the elements of lying in wait and thereby establish an attendant circumstance necessary to elevate the charge against him to first degree murder. That being said, "lying in wait" and "willful, deliberate, and premeditated" are not mutually exclusive elements. One compounds the other just as Jason's status as Michelle's husband and father to Cassidy and Rylan (still in his mother's womb) compounds the heinousness of the crime -- an unquestionably brutal and merciless murder.

Exceeding Malice Aforethought

2010-02-10T17:11:00.005-06:00

On Monday, December 14, 2009, following more than three years of investigation by the Wake County Sheriff's Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Jason Young was arrested for the beating death of his wife, Michelle Marie Fisher Young. The Wake County District Attorney's office presented the case to a grand jury on Monday morning. By 1:30 pm, a true bill of indictment had been returned charging Jason Young with one count of first degree murder. Michelle was 20 weeks pregnant with a son to be named Rylan at the time of her death, but North Carolina law does not provide for a second murder charge for the death of the unborn child.

The Law

At common law, for a person to be convicted of murder it had to be proven not only that the defendant committed the act of taking another person's life, but also that the defendant did so with malice aforethought. In other words, the defendant committed the act that resulted in the death of the victim and did so with the intent of killing the victim. These are known as the actus reus and mens rea elements of the crime. North Carolina statute requires these same elements to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in order to secure a murder conviction. In addition, a first degree murder charge has special requirements beyond act and intent.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-17

A murder which shall be perpetrated by means of a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction as defined in G.S. 14‑288.21, poison, lying in wait, imprisonment, starving, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which shall be committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any arson, rape or a sex offense, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, or other felony committed or attempted with the use of a deadly weapon shall be deemed to be murder in the first degree, a Class A felony, and any person who commits such murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment in the State's prison for life without parole as the court shall determine pursuant to G.S. 15A‑2000...

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe the phrase "willful, deliberate, and premeditated" is the key phrase in this statute as applied to Michelle Young's murder.* People often confuse the term premeditation with planning. However, premeditation is simply intent that is formulated prior to the act being committed. There is no time constraint which dictates or limits how much time must elapse between the formulation of intent and the act itself. Nevertheless, I believe that the facts of this case will show that Jason Young planned with cool deliberation -- for days, weeks, possibly even months -- to murder Michelle. You may wonder why I say that. If so, keep reading, and I will try to explain.

Basic Facts of the Case

Jason departed 5108 Birchleaf Drive in the Enchanted Oaks subdivision of Raleigh, North Carolina, between 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm on November 2, 2006 for a business trip in Clintwood, Virginia.

At 7:32 pm, Jason purchased gas at the Handee Hugo #89 before leaving Raleigh.

At 10:49 pm, Jason checked in at the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Virginia, taking a room on the 4th floor.

Between the hours of midnight and 6:00 am on November 3, Michelle Young was brutally murdered in the master bedroom of the couple's home.

Between the hours of midnight and 7:40 am, Jason's whereabouts are unaccounted for.

Theories and Opinions

If you read the Internet forums that are dedicated to the discussion of this case, you will probably see that opinions as to how this crime went down run the full range. There are those who believe that Jason Young is innocent. I won't use this opportunity to debate that point. The reader will have to assume for the sake of argument that Jason returned home during the night and killed Michelle. Others believe the murder to have been a crime of passion. Then there are those who believe that the murder was planned, but opinions vary as to how far in advance the planning began. I'll address each of these in turn.

Theory #1: A Crime of Passion

The rationale behind the "crime of passion" theory is that Jason returned to Raleigh that night only with the intent of settling an argument or talking Michelle out of divorcing him. Unfortunately, the situation escalated and Jason became enraged, reacting with the lethal force that left Michelle bludgeoned to death on the bedroom floor. The problem with this theory is that the evidence from the Hampton Inn contradicts it.

A still from security video taken at the front desk of the Hampton Inn shows Jason checking in at 10:49-10:51 pm. It can be seen that he is wearing a long-sleeved, light-colored, pullover type shirt with a button placket. At 10:55 pm, Jason's cardkey is used to open the door to his room on the fourth floor. The next time Jason is seen on the hotel's security camera system is approximately 1 hour later when he approaches the front desk at 11:59 pm. At this time, it can be seen that he is wearing a shirt different from the one he was wearing on arrival at the hotel. The second shirt is described as a dark-colored pullover with a lighter colored horizontal stripe bisecting the chest and a zipper at the neck. A few seconds after his appearance at the front desk, Jason is seen walking down the corridor toward a side exit located at the west end of the building. A member of the hotel staff found a rock in the door jamb of this exit that prevented the latch from engaging; the effect of this would be to allow reentry through the door without using a hotel cardkey. Also of interest is the fact that the security camera located in the stairwell adjacent to this exit was unplugged at 11:20 pm. Other guests of the hotel were interviewed by investigators and stated that they had no knowledge of or involvement in the camera being disconnected.

If you assume that Jason was responsible for unplugging the stairwell camera and propping the side-exit door, it is only logical to conclude that his reason for doing so was to prevent his movements and activities from being electronically tracked and preserved by the hotel's security system. There would be no reason to worry about such things if he was going home only to talk to Michelle. Jason's hotel receipt was found in his Ford Explorer when he returned to the Raleigh area the next evening. Hotel staff would have slid it under the door in the middle of the night while he was far away from the hotel. The only way for him to have retrieved that receipt would be to return to the hotel the following morning and enter his room. The fact that his cardkey was not used the next morning (or anytime after he was seen in the lobby and corridor at midnight) indicates that he also tampered with the door to his room to prevent it from latching. All of these things, coupled with the change of clothes, indicate that Jason's intentions were nefarious prior to his leaving the Hampton Inn at midnight.

Malice was formed prior to 11:20 pm on November 2, 2006.

Theory #2: Planned After Arriving at the Hotel

This theory suggests that although things were very bad within the marriage, the intent to kill was not formed until Jason spoke to Michelle from the Hampton Inn at 11:04 pm. Perhaps whatever occurred during the seventeen calls to Michelle between 9:56 and 11:04 pm built up a rage or a cold desire in Jason to rid himself of Michelle once and for all. In my opinion, the seventeen phone calls are the only evidence to support this theory. And really, it's nothing more than speculation that can be refuted by other evidence.

Jason chose to stop at the Hillsville Hampton Inn because it suited his purpose. Located halfway between home and his destination, it was just far enough from home to give him a reasonable alibi but also close enough to allow him to return home in the middle of the night to commit the murder and return to the hotel before daybreak. Testimony from the hearing for the wrongful death judgment revealed that Jason called a couple of his friends during his drive and gave each of them different stories as to why he was stopping at Hillsville. He told one friend that he was tired from driving the curvy roads; the other he told that he was stopping so he could watch a big football game on television. Why lie about his reasons for stopping in Hillsville except to cover up the true reason behind his choice of lodging?

Coincidences happen, but I don't believe that it was any coincidence that the hotel he chose just happened to have security cameras in the stairwells that could be so easily disconnected. Even if you tried to make an argument that it was a coincidence, you would also have to assume that Jason decided to return home to murder Michelle, after which he just happened look at the stairwell camera, noticed that it was possible to unplug it, and decided it was necessary to do so -- all of this occurring within half an hour of check-in. The odds are most definitely against it.

The side trip to Brevard was arranged while en route to Hillsville. No matter how many times I hear the excuse that he was swinging by to pick up furniture for Cassidy's new bedroom, it makes no sense. It was Homecoming weekend at NCSU. Jason and Michelle were expecting houseguests (more his friends than hers) who were to arrive that Friday afternoon. Even if you accept that the business meeting in Clintwood, Virginia, was legitimate, the side trip to Brevard doesn't fit. Traveling straight home from his meeting would have allowed him to get home well before his friends arrived. Swinging through Brevard delayed his return at least until late evening, and into midday on Saturday if he planned to spend the night at his mom's.

Malice was formed prior to 10:49 pm on November 2, 2006.

Theory #3: Planned During the Drive from Raleigh to Hillsville

There's little difference between theory #2 and theory #3. The reasoning behind this theory is based upon the unbearable state of the marriage and Michelle's counseling sessions with Kimball Jane Sargent. It holds that Michelle had informed Jason prior to his departure that she wanted a divorce and he shouldn't come back home after his business trip. The thought of losing Cassidy and being saddled with child support was more than Jason could bear so he formulated the plan to kill Michelle as he drove and brooded.

The problem with this theory is that it ignores the Coach purse printout and Jason's odd behavior toward Shelly Schaad. Jason hung around until after 7:00, purposely delaying his departure until Shelly arrived so that he could tell her about his trip in great detail and show her the Coach purse eBay printout. If he had taken off earlier in the day, he could have driven all the way to Clintwood rather than spending the night in a hotel just across the state line. Instead, he hung around to sow the seeds of his alibi before he ever left home.

Malice was formed prior to 7:32 pm on November 2, 2006.

Theory #4: Planned Before Leaving Home

This is the theory that the evidence supports. The only question that remains is how long before leaving home did the planning begin? Hours, days, weeks, months? It would help to know when Jason scheduled the November 3 meeting with the Dickenson Communtiy Hospital representative. Perhaps more enlightening would be to discover how and when he came to pick that particular hospital when it wasn't even in his territory. Did he do some Googling for hospitals in western Virginia for the specific purpose of enabling him to "swing through Brevard since he would be in the area"?

Theory #5: The Weekend Before

This may seem a new theory, but it's something I've been mulling over for a while. It's necessary first that I provide a few pieces of information that you may not have heard before now. The following items come from confidential sources, and I believe them to be true.

Michelle's dad, Alan Fisher, was supposed to come for a visit the week that Michelle was murdered. His travel plans were cancelled rather suddenly because of an appointment that was made with an oncologist on short notice.

As has been deduced from the eBay auction expiration date, the Coach purse auction, assuming that it was a standard 7-day auction, would have begun on October 26. I'm told that Jason consulted at least one friend about the Coach purse at some point during the week of October 22-28.

Jason had planned to travel to Brevard the weekend of October 27-29. His plans changed abruptly. It appears that he did leave home that weekend and returned on the evening of October 31, but he didn't travel to Brevard. I'm told he traveled to a state that begins with a "T". As you know, there are only two -- Texas and Tennessee. I vote for the latter being his destination.

On October 28, 2006, Jason and Michelle Money had the following email conversation:

Michelle Money – “I hope your doing okay! IMY and I am sorry that you are having a bad day.
I wish that I could make everyday a great day for you and you do the same for me. I would change thins if we could but we can’t. I want to enjoy what I can and make the best of it. I love that we are open and caring and loving and sharing with each other. It is so important. I feel so lucky that I have all that from you and have you in my life.
ILY”
Jason Young – “missing you so much…got a nice beer buzz…after hour hours of “counseling” with meredith and debating/arguing with michelle. thank God for meredith is all i can say…that girl is so level headed and cool…once again, a “bigger” girl with a cool personality”
“i feel lucky just to know you, much less love you, but i do.
i don’t know how all this happened, but I know how it will end up…two broken hearts…but, I don’t care. i know there is pain in my future, but you are so worth it, even if it’s only for a “blink” in time.”
Michelle Money – “Missing you so much!!! I won’t even get in to my husbands lack of rama, affection, attention, etc…”
“I am glad Meredith was there to support you and I am sad for you and Michelle that it is not a good mix. I wish things were different for all of us.”
“Miss you tons!”

It's apparent from the exchange that Jason and Michelle were fighting. A log of calls that Jason made to his home during the same period of time indicates that Jason was away on a trip:

Saturday, 10/28/06: 5 calls

Sunday, 10/29/06: 2 calls

Monday, 10/30/06: 1 call

There were no calls between the Youngs for more than two weeks prior to October 28 and no calls after October 30 until the day Jason left on his business trip to Virginia on November 2. The fact that there were five calls on Saturday fit with the scenario that Jason and Michelle were fighting. In fact, if you look at the October timeline and compare Jason's calling patterns (particularly, calls to Pat Young and to Meredith Fisher) you will notice that the numbers of calls to those two individuals increase in relationship to turmoil within the Youngs' marriage. As you may recall, the ring-swallowing incident, which was very upsetting to Michelle, also occurred that last week in October. It appears to have been a very tumultuous week.

Putting all of these pieces together, I'm inclined to believe that Plan A was as follows:

Consult friends about the Coach purse during the week of October 22-27

Travel to Brevard for the weekend of October 27-29 with plans to continue on to Tennessee for work-related purposes on the 29^th or 30^th and return home on Halloween.

Sneak away in the middle of the night on Friday or Saturday night to kill Michelle and return to the mountains of North Carolina before daybreak.

Arrange to have Michelle's body discovered by Meredith or someone else.

Sob in the bosom of his family when the murder is discovered.

It's even conceivable that he planned to take Cassidy with him to the mountains that weekend so that she would not be abandoned with her mother's corpse as was done in Plan B.

If Plan A had worked, the eBay auction for the Coach purse would have been in full swing and not due to expire until several days after Michelle's death. Jason wouldn't have had to use a fifteen minute meeting at a small community hospital that wasn't even in his sales territory as his alibi. He wouldn't have had to use the excuse of swinging through (hours out of his way) to pick up furniture for Cassidy to explain his presence in Brevard. His trip to Brevard wouldn't have conflicted with the arrival of houseguests for NCSU Homecoming, thereby throwing more suspicion on his journey.

So why did Plan A get scrapped? In my opinion, it was because there was too much fighting going on between Jason and Michelle at that time that was well known to friends and family. The turmoil would have thrown suspicion on Jason in the eyes of Meredith and the friends who were witness to or heard about the fighting. Even Michelle Money may have doubted. So he waited. When Alan Fisher's visit to Raleigh was abruptly cancelled, Jason saw the opportunity and seized it. Clintwood, Virginia was chosen for his business meeting because it was out of state but geographically located to allow him to be in Brevard when he learned of the murder, just like the trip to Tennessee with a stopover in Brevard would have accomplished. The difference is that the Plan A would have been more believable than Plan B. If Plan A is true then...

Malice was formed prior to October 28, 2006.

* The phrase "lying in wait" could also apply, but that's a topic for another article.

Jason Young Arrested

2009-12-14T13:49:00.003-06:00

The other shoe has finally dropped. Jason Young was arrested in Brevard, North Carolina, for the first degree murder of his wife, Michelle Young. Michelle, 20 weeks pregnant with a son, was bludgeoned to death in her bedroom on November 3, 2006 while Jason was purportedly out of town on a business trip. Her sister, Meredith Fisher, discovered Michelle's body while retrieving a computer printout from the couple's home at the request of Jason Young. Cassidy Young, 2 1/2 years old at the time, was unharmed and discovered by Ms. Fisher in the Youngs' bed.

Jason Young is in transit from Brevard to Raleigh. WRAL has breaking news.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6613146/

Click the link below to join the discussion of this case at the forum.

Friction Powered Exchange

Susan Powell: Missing since 12/06/2009

2009-12-11T19:33:00.008-06:00

Joshua Powell (husband) claims he left Susan at home in bed around midnight Sunday night to take their 4-year-old and 2-year-old sons camping to test a new generator and make S'mores.
Husband's sister reported the whole family missing on Monday when neither of them showed up for work.
Joshua returned home with two boys late Monday.
Joshua being evasive with reporters when asked questions pertaining to his wife and the camping trip.
Joshua being odd and evasive around friends of the couple
Known problems in the marriage: Joshua very controlling; Susan ready to leave him if things didn't improve by spring.
Police have interviewed Joshua and the 4-year-old son.
Search warrant was executed at the home.
Susan's purse, cell phone and credit cards were all left at the home.
Search of campsite (including the use of dogs) turned up nothing.

LINK to Discussion Forum

Michelle Young: Three Years and Counting

2009-11-03T15:09:00.003-06:00

Time to weigh the evidence, Mr. Willoughby.

The Jason You Know

2009-03-14T17:27:00.002-05:00

I wrote an earlier entry on this email exchange that took place between Jason and Michelle Young on July 12, 2006, a mere three and a half months prior to her murder, but I don't think I spoke strongly enough regarding its tone and content. I don't know if I am able to adequately describe how disturbing I find it, but I feel the need to address it again.

Michelle Young - “I know you are mad and I am really sorry. I know you have been doing a lot around the house and with Cass and I really appreciate it. I have just been really busy at work and I thought this is a slack time for you with your job so you could handle it.
Please give me a call — I want to know who is picking up Cass today.”

Jason Young - ” I don’t care who gets her.”

Jason Young - “I just got home and the goddamn power is out, I called progress and a crew is already out. Cass pissed herself all over the floor, it’s hot as hell inside and I can’t entertain her enough w/o tv to finish the godamn yard. I am taking beer and her to pool. I am in a mood that makes our trip to myrtle seem mild, pray the beer kicks in. I could kill u for not letting me finish the yard this morning.”

To those of you who consider yourselves to be Jason's friends, I have to say this. He is not your friend, and he does not consider you to be his friend. You are camouflage. He wears a carefully crafted façade and surrounds himself with you good and decent people in hopes that he will be seen as one of you. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Stop ignoring the hairy paws that jut from beneath the fleece and the snarling maw through which he speaks. Would the Jason you know talk to his wife the way Jason did in the above email? Would the Jason you know refer to his daughter so crudely and callously? Michelle's words are conciliatory and pleading. Jason's are hostile, venomous, and threatening. Don't let this man continue to manipulate and use you for his own purposes. It is not courageous or noble to stand by him in his transgressions. It takes courage and integrity to stand up for what's right, especially when the transgressor is family or friend.

Gojo has said many times that Jason is not capable of murdering Michelle. I believe his words regarding murder were that a person would have to think it before he could do it. And that Jason is not capable of thinking it. What say you now, gojo? What say any of you who thought Jason incapable of murdering his pregnant wife?

-------------------------------

Edited to renew this plea:

If anyone out there has any knowledge or information as to what occurred on the trip to Myrtle, I would very much like to hear from you. Please, post a comment or send me an email using the Contact Form on this blog. Posting a comment at the discussion forum is another option you would be welcome to use. Thank you for any help you can provide.

Click this LINK to use the Contact Form.

Click this LINK to get to the discussion forum.

Jason's Journey: The Murderous Route

2009-03-13T18:57:00.000-05:00

In the previous fuel analysis, I calculated fuel usage based on Jason's alibi of a business trip to Clintwood, Virginia, with stops that he is known to have made at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina; the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Virginia; and a fuel stop after the meeting at the Get-It Market in Duffield, Virginia. In this entry, I will make adjustments to the mileage to account for a roundtrip return to the Youngs' home at 5108 Birchleaf in Raleigh, North Carolina during the night that Michelle was murdered.

Handee Hugo #89 to Cracker Barrel: 84.9 miles

Cracker Barrel to Hillsville Hampton Inn: 88.5 miles

Hillsville Hampton Inn to 5108 Birchleaf: 172.7 miles
- Total: 346.1 miles

Again using the gas mileage specifications from www.fueleconomy.gov , I came up with the following calculations:

Fuel usage: 346.1 miles @ 18 mpg = 19.2 gallons

So upon arriving back at the Raleigh home, Jason would have had only about 3.3 gallons of fuel remaining in his 22.5 gallon tank. At a useage rate of 18 mpg, that is enough fuel to travel an additional 59.4 miles.

A return trip from 5108 Birchleaf to the Hillsville Hampton Inn is a drive of 172.7 miles according to Windows Live Search. Without enough fuel to make it back to his hotel, Jason would have needed to fill up again during the night. Windows Live Search shows that it is approximately 59 miles from 5108 Birchleaf in Raleigh to the Amoco Food Shop on Huffman Mill Road in Burlington, North Carolina.

The drive from a fuel stop in Burlington to the Get-It Market in Duffield with stops at the Hillsville Hampton Inn and the Dickenson Community Hospital in Clintwood, Virginia, is 313.5 miles according to the map, with approximately 188.3 miles of that being on Interstate highways and the rest on two-lane highways through mountainous terrain.

188.3 miles @ 18 mpg = 10.5 gallons

125.2 miles @ 16 mpg = 7.8 gallons
- Total fuel used after fill-up = 18.3 gallons

Therefore, if Jason returned to Raleigh to murder Michelle, he would have driven approximately 718.6 miles and burned approximately 40.8 gallons of gasoline -- about two full tanks in a 2004 Ford Explorer with a few gallons to spare. It will be interesting to find out exactly how many gallons of fuel he purchased at the Get-It Market on November 3.

Jason's Journey: Gas Mileage Analysis

2009-03-13T18:52:00.000-05:00

The issue of fuel usage has been a point of interest for many following the Michelle Young murder investigation since early on. Information from the recently executed warrants for Jason Young's Internet activity have made it possible to better analyze the route that he traveled and the amount of fuel he would have burned on his alibi trip. The following is an excerpt from the 3/10/2009 warrant for Jason Young's Bebo.com account:

In order to test Jason Young's gas usage as it compared to the distance that he would have traveled on November 2-3, 2006 investigators with the Wake County Sheriff's Office performed an experiment.

Investigators left South Saunders Street in Raleigh, North Carolina with a full tank of gas in a 2004 Ford Explorer that was comparable with the vehicle driven by Mr. Young. South Saunders Street was chosen as a departure site because Jason Young stopped here for fuel prior to leaving on his business trip. In a attempt to replicate Mr. Young's trip as closely as possible, the stopped at the Cracker Barrel on Landview Dr. in Greensboro, NC, the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Va, Dickenson Hospital in Clintwood, Va, and finally stopping at the Get-It-Mart in Duffield, Va. to refuel.

The amount of fuel used by the investigators was not consistent with the amount of fuel reportedly utilized by Mr. Young. In fact, investigators knew the comparisons would not be completely accurate prior to conducting the experiment. This inability to be accurate was because Mr. Young was 35 minutes late to his appointment. His explanation for being late was due to getting lost. The 35 minutes Mr. Young was late not only reflects time, but also distance traveled. Distance traveled will equal gas used and any additional gas usage by Mr. Young would only increase the inconsistency between his reported gas usage and that experienced by the investigators conducting the experiment.

Using Windows Live Maps, I calculated the miles driven on the route from the Handee Hugo #89 in Raleigh, NC, to the Dickenson Community Hospital in Clintwood, VA, and on to the Get-It Market in Duffield, VA, with stops at the Cracker Barrell in Greensboro, NC, and the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, VA:

Handee Hugo #89 - Cracker Barrel: 84.9 miles

Cracker Barrel - Hillsville Hampton Inn: 88.5 miles

Hillsville Hampton - Dickenson Community Hospital: 150.1 miles

Dickenson Community Hospital - Get-It Market: 53.2 miles
- Total miles driven: 376.7 miles

The following calculations were done on the basis of gas mileage specifications for a 2WD, 8 cylinder, 2004 Ford Explorer from www.fueleconomy.gov.

Interstate miles driven: 249.7 miles @ 18 mpg = 13.87 gallons burned

Other miles driven: 127 miles @ 16 mpg = 7.94 gallons burned
- Total fuel used between fill-ups at the Handee Hugo #89 and the Get-It Market in Duffield, VA: 21.81 gallons
- Fuel tank capacity of 2004 Ford Explorer: 22.5 gallons

Using only the above parameters, Jason's fuel tank would have had less than a gallon left in it when he stopped to refuel in Duffield, VA. He would have been long past the point of getting a low fuel warning; the needle on his fuel gauge would have been on E. If he was that low on fuel, why wouldn't he have fueled up immediately after his meeting in Clintwood an hour earlier instead of driving another hour down the road to get gas in Duffield?

Assume he was a risk-taker and drove until his tank was practically empty; that explanation fails to take into account the time that he was allegedly lost which caused him to be late for his meeting. Windows Live Maps estimates that it takes approximately 2 hours, 10 minutes to drive from the Wytheville cell tower location to the hospital in Clintwood, Virginia. Jason's cell phone pinged at 7:40 pm near the Wytheville cell tower. He arrived 35 minutes late for a 10 am meeting at the Dickenson Community Hospital. So the drive actually took him 2 hours, 55 minutes. To calculate the fuel usage for the time he was allegedly lost, I will estimate that he averaged 65 mph and burned gas at a rate of 16 mpg. Forty-five minutes of driving would burn approximately 3 gallons of gas.

Using the above calculations, Jason should have burned approximately 24.81 gallons of gas between fill-ups. The tank on a 2004 Ford Explorer holds only 22.5 gallons. So it would appear that he purchased or had access to additional fuel somewhere along the way -- a troublesome detail for his defense attorney.

Michelle & Jason: An E-mail Exchange

2009-03-11T23:37:00.001-05:00

The following email exchange from July 12, 2006, between Michelle Young and her husband Jason was included in warrant affidavits for Jason Young's Bebo.com and Google.com accounts executed on March 10, 2009.

Michelle Young - "I know you are mad and I am really sorry. I know you have been doing a lot around the house and with Cass and I really appreciate it. I have just been really busy at work and I thought this is a slack time for you with your job so you could handle it.

Please give me a call -- I want to know who is picking up Cass today."

Jason Young - " I don't care who gets her."

Jason Young - "I just got home and the goddamn power is out, I called progress and a crew is already out. Cass pissed herself all over the floor, it's hot as hell inside and I can't entertain her enough w/o tv to finish the godamn yard. I am taking beer and her to pool. I am in a mood that makes our trip to myrtle seem mild, pray the beer kicks in. I could kill u for not letting me finish the yard this morning."

Setting aside the abusive tone of his replies for a moment, I think it's important to look at the timeline to gather the full impact of this exchange.

May 29, 2006: Jason and Michelle were involved in a car accident in Transylvania County just outside Jason's hometown of Brevard, North Carolina. Michelle was pregnant with the couple's second child at the time. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered by ultrasound that the baby had failed to develop (this according to a poster named "just the facts" at the Court TV forum, widely believed to be Jason's sister, Kim Young) and would not survive. A therapeutic abortion was performed.

July 1, 2006: On or about this date, Michelle would have conceived Rylan, the unborn baby boy who died with her at the hands of her murderer on November 3, 2006. Incidentally, Michelle was in New York for a family reunion in early July. Jason accompanied her to the reunion, but left early while Michelle and Cassidy stayed on for a while.

July 12, 2006: The above excerpted email exchange. Although already pregnant with Rylan, it isn't likely that Michelle was aware of the new pregnancy at this time. She would, however, have still been recovering emotionally from the loss of the previous unborn baby.

If I have my facts straight, Jason was basically between jobs at this time. His employment with Sentric Medical had come to an end, and he had not yet started his job with Chartone. He took a trip to California with his mother, sister, and brother-in-law later that summer.

What kind of husband talks to his wife the way Jason did in that email, especially to a wife who is recovering from the loss of an unborn baby? What kind of father talks about his 2 year old daughter the way Jason did in that email? It's all very disturbing, but it's particularly disturbing that it appears that he wanted to instill fear in Michelle with the description of his mood and his announcement that he was taking beer and Cassidy to the pool. More ominous still: "pray that the beer kicks in." Michelle must have been beside herself with fear for her daughter's safety at reading those words.

Last but not least, I am greatly interested in his comment about what was probably a trip to Myrtle Beach.

I am in a mood that makes our trip to myrtle seem mild...

What happened at Myrtle Beach? It must have been been a significant event. Worse than punching holes in the walls or ripping a door off its hinges. Surely worse that screaming at Michelle in public. What was it?

If anyone out there has any knowledge or information as to what occurred on the trip to Myrtle, I would very much like to hear from you. Please, post a comment or send me an email using the Contact Form on this blog. Posting a comment at the discussion forum is another option you would be welcome to use. Thank you for any help you can provide.

Click this LINK to use the Contact Form.

Click this LINK to get to the discussion forum.

Jason Young: Slayer

2008-12-08T11:03:00.004-06:00

On Friday, December 5, 2008, Judge Donald Stephens ruled that Jason Young is the "Slayer" of his pregnant wife, Michelle Young, who was found beaten to death in their home on November 3, 2006. Under the ruling, Jason Young cannot benefit financially from his wife's death. Her entire estate which includes a $1 million life insurance policy will go to her daughter, Cassidy Young.

While the outcome of Linda Fisher's civil suit against her son-in-law is satisfactory, it is not sufficient. Though nothing can bring Michelle back, justice will not be served until Michelle Young's killer is convicted of her murder and duly sentenced by the court.

Also on Friday, several warrants were released dating back to February 2007. The probable cause affidavits relate to Jason Young's email and cell phone use, a theory regarding the possibility that 2½ year-old Cassidy Young was drugged, and a question as to whether or not Cassidy was taken out of the home in Michelle Young's SUV in the hours after her mother was killed.

For what it's worth, I consider the possible drugging a more likely scenario than the theory that she may have been driven around in her mother's vehicle. I don't intend to write another in-depth blog entry about the release of the latest warrants, as I believe the information released in the affidavits for the February 2008 and November 2008 warrants to be more germane and illuminative as to the facts of the case.

See my previous blog entries regarding those warrants:

Michelle Young: Why no arrest? Part I
Michelle Young: Why no arrest? Part II
Michelle Young: Why no arrest? Part III

Links to news articles:

The News & Observer: Judge says Young killed wife
WRAL.com: Judge: Slain woman's husband liable
NC Wanted: Judge Rules Jason Young Killed Wife
WTVD.com: Civil judge rules Young killed his wife

Link to WRAL.com's copies of the warrants and other court documents released to date:

http://www.wral.com/news/local/asset_gallery/3401559/

Michelle Young case: The CSI factor

2008-12-01T18:07:00.002-06:00

In early October, I posted the following synopsis and commentary of a CSI: Miami episode that I was told is Jason Young's favorite.

"Broken" (2002): The team investigates the murder of a 5-year-old girl at a restaurant/playland.

The show was about the abduction and murder of a 5-year-old girl by a predator from a place sort of like Chuck E. Cheese's pizza playland, except that the guy didn't actually make it out of the restaurant with the little girl. Her body was discovered in a bathroom near the back exit.

Elements unique to the show were that the killer attempted to hide his identity by three methods:

Wearing the wrong size shoes -- in this case, shoes that were several sizes too large for his feet.

Studying the video surveillance system and making sure that the route he took through the restaurant was not visible to the cameras.

Slicing off, cutting up, and grafting on his own fingerprints so that they would not match the ones he had on file as a convicted child molester.

Additionally, he used a few means to gain access to the child in a very secure environment:

Stole an employee uniform to wear to go unnoticed in employee areas of the restaurant, as well as gain the child's trust.

Stole the security code from the manager's office so that he could enter and exit through a secure door.

Lured the child away from the mother's view with cotton candy.

Drugged the child with a barbiturate in the cotton candy so that he could quietly sneak her out after cutting her hair and dressing her to look like a boy in the bathroom where she was later found dead.

The child actually died from anaphylactic shock caused by an interaction between the barbiturate he used to sedate her and an antihistamine already in her system to treat her cold. He broke a few of her ribs trying to resuscitate her but gave up and ran when the alarm went off, just escaping unseen under the automatic overhead door. Of course, he would have killed her anyway after he'd gotten through with her if he'd managed to get her out of the restaurant.

Needless to say, the good guys figured it all out and captured him in the end, at which time he claimed that the little girl flirted with him and he didn't even get to play with her.

Anyway, the lone detail that stands out is the killer's wearing of the wrong size shoes to throw investigators off his trail. Even so, it's hard to say if Jason's interest in that episode had anything to do with the murder. If you assume that it does, are there any other aspects of the show that relate to the murder? I'm going to assume that it isn't the pedophilia because we've heard nothing of such a thing playing any part in Michelle's murder, and there's been no indication that anyone close to Michelle has any such interest.

There have been questions as to who tended to Cassidy and kept her out of Michelle's blood after the killer left, which has led some to suggest there must have been an accomplice. IMO, the accomplice theory doesn't work because the person tending to Cassidy would need to make sure that they were out of the house when Meredith arrived to retrieve the documents for Jason. Jason couldn't have warned the person that Meredith was on her way because he never spoke to Meredith but left her a voicemail. Therefore, he'd have no way of knowing when she would arrive. The only way the accomplice theory works is if Meredith was involved in the murder. IMO, that theory has no merit.

The newspaper delivery person saw a vehicle near the house between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. One can deduce from that that the killer was still there then. Cassidy's bloody footprints in the hall bathroom, with no trail of her footprints between the master bedroom and the hall bathroom, indicate that the killer discovered her standing in her mother's blood and carried her to the bathroom, temporarily leaving her there before returning to clean her up and get her back to sleep. If the murder occurred around 3 a.m., Cassidy may have been awake for a couple of hours during the night. This might cause her to sleep a little later than usual, however, I suppose it's also possible that she was drugged to ensure that she would sleep until Meredith arrived.

If Jason studied the surveillance system at the Hampton Inn, he didn't do an effective job of it. From what we know so far, he made no attempt to avoid being seen by the hotel's video cameras.

Beyond those, I can't see any other parallels between the CSI episode and Michelle's murder.

At the time, I didn't think much of the drugging episode in the CSI episode having any connection to the possible drugging of Cassidy. With the informaion presented in the Novo Nordisk warrant regarding the presence of Pancof-PD and Extra Strength Tylenol cold medicine in Cassidy's room, I'm rethinking the implications of not one but two similarities between the CSI episode and Michelle's murder.

CSI: Miami: The killer wore shoes too large for his feet in an attempt to throw investigators off his trail.

Young Investigation: A shoeprint found at the crime scene was made by a size 10 Franklin athletic shoe. Jason Young wears a size 12. A podiatrist was consulted regarding blister-like irritations seen on Jason's feet approximately five days after the murder and declared that the irritations were consistent with having been made by wearing shoes too small for his feet.

CSI: Miami: The 5-year-old female victim died from anaphylactic shock caused by a combination of the barbiturate the predator used to drug her and the antihistamine in the cold medication her mother had previously given her.

Young Investigation: Investigators found two medications on a shelf in Cassidy's room which raised concerns:
- Pancof-PD — This is a prescription cough medicine with the narcotic ingredient, dihydrocodeine, and the antihistamine, chlorpheniramine. Jason Young repped this medication during his employment with Pan American Laboratories and was issued samples of it at that time.
- Extra Strength Tylenol cold medicine — This is an adult cold medication, the nighttime version of which contains the antihistamine ingredient chlorpheniramine.

Neither of these two medications should have been stored in a toddler's room. According to the warrant, Cassidy's medical records show that she has never been prescribed Pancof-PD. The following questions are worth considering:

Was Cassidy drugged?

Is there any truth to the allegation that this CSI: Miami episode is Jason's favorite?

If the answers to questions #1 and #2 are yes, does the CSI episode have any connection to the murder and the drugging of Cassidy?

If so, what are the implications? Was the purpose of the drug only to cause Cassidy to sleep, or did the killer intend for Cassidy to die from the drug combination as did the child in the CSI: Miami episode?

Michelle Young: Why no arrest? (3)

2008-11-20T19:24:00.000-06:00

Part III

This blog entry is a continuation of the one posted on November 13, titled Michelle Young: Why no arrest? If you haven't already read parts I and II, you may want to go back and start at the beginning before continuing here. The purpose of these entries is to examine the evidence as disclosed in court documents to try to ascertain why there has yet to be an arrest for the murder of Michelle Young.

November 6, 2008 Warrant (continued)

[[Click herefor WRAL's .pdf of the warrant]

The probable cause laid out in this warrant does one favor for those who consider it their cause to defend Jason Young on various Internet forums. No longer do they have to waste energy attacking anyone who refers to Jason's relationship with Michelle Money as an affair.

On November 16th, 2006 Mrs. Money was interviewed about her relationship with Jason Young. She provided investigators with a detailed account of a visit she received from Mr. Young during the weekend of October 7th, 2006. During the visit Mrs. Money stated that she and Mr. Young had sexual intercourse on two occasions.

No ambiguity there. Additionally, a statement from a male friend of Jason's and an e-mail exchange between Jason Young and Michelle Money characterize the relationship as going beyond a purely physical relationship. According to the friend, Jason told him that he and Mrs. Money loved each other and that Mrs. Money hoped that the child she was trying to conceive with her husband would be Jason Young's.

I'll include here the full text (typos intact) of the e-mail exchange, as it speaks for itself. Note, however, that I have emboldened three segments for emphasis.

Michelle Money:

I hope your doing okay! IMY and I am sorry that you are having a bad day.

I wish that I could make everyday a great day for you and you do the same for me. I would change thins if we could but we can't. I want to enjoy what I can and make the best of it. I love that we are open and caring and loving and sharing with each other. It is so important. I feel so lucky that I have all that from you and have you in my life.

ILY

Jason Young:

missing you so much...got a nice beer buzz...after hours of "counseling" with meredithand debating/arguing with michelle. thank God for meredithis all I can say...that girl is so level headed and cool...once again, a "bigger" girl with a cool personality

i feel lucky just to know you, much less love you, but i do.

i don't know how all this happened, but i know how it will end up...two broken hearts...but, i don't care. i know there is pain in my future, but you are so worth it, even if it's only for a "blink" in time.

Michelle Money:

Missing you so much!!! I won't even get in to my husbands lack of rama, affecton, attention, etc...

I am glad Meredith was there to support you and I am sad for you and Michelle that it is not a good mix. I wish things were different for all of us.

Miss you tons!

There are several things within this e-mail exchange that could be analyzed, but I'm going to limit my commentary to the few that I've emphasized.

Commentary:

Two broken hearts? Only two? There are at least four people involved in this situation — actually seven including the children of both couples. Why only two broken hearts? Because their respective spouses and children will never find out, and only Jason and Mrs. Money's hearts will be broken because they cannot be together? Because only their spouse's hearts will be broken, while Jason and Mrs. Money will be blissfully happy together and the children's feelings are not being taken into consideration? Why two broken hearts?

Whose pain does Jason see in his future?

The woman Jason Young professes to love writes: "I would change [things] if we could but we can't" and "I wish things were different for all of us." Less than a week before Michelle Young is brutally murdered and Jason is made a widower, Michelle Money writes those words. How did that affect Jason Young. Will the jury be able to see it as anything other than motive?

One more question: What did Jason say or write that preceded Michelle Money's first e-mail to him?

To further illustrate the depth and intensity of the pair's involvement, Investigator Spivey enumerates the telephone contact between them.

October 4, 2006 - November 3, 2006: approximately 980 phone calls and text messages

November 2, 2006: approximately 50 phone calls and text messages on this day alone, the day preceding the murder

December 18, 2007 - January 25, 2008: approximately 207 phone calls and text messages

Note that the last time period listed above is more than a year after the murder. The relationship apparently continued and, according to the warrant, included at least one face-to-face visit in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Jason's unhappiness in his marriage is further addressed in statements from former co-workers, a friend, and a former acquaintance. Two female co-workers described Jason's flirtations with women and his complaints about his sex life with his wife. According to the warrant, Jason told a friend "that he was unhappy in his marriage and never would have married Michelle Young if she had not gotten pregnant." In an e-mail sent to a woman who once attended Camp Illahee in Brevard where Jason had worked as an instructor, Jason pretended to be unmarried. The e-mail was dated May 18, 2006.

Commentary:

It should be noted that the co-workers Jason complained to were both women, at least one of which Jason found attractive. It may be that Jason hoped to elicit sympathy from these women that he could exploit for extramarital sexual relationships. Was this a modus operandi for him? It's a habit that has the potential to produce charges of sexual harassment.

At the time Jason e-mailed the woman he had met at Camp Illahee some ten years earlier, Jason and Michelle were indeed married and parents to a two year old daughter and another child on the way. Less than two weeks later, Jason and Michelle were involved in a single-car accident just outside Brevard with Jason behind the wheel after which Michelle lost the baby she was carrying. There has been much speculation about this accident as having been an orchestrated attempt by Jason on Michelle's life. The fact that it is addressed in the warrant negates any claim that the accident is of no cause for suspicion to investigators.

The warrant reveals the content of an e-mail exchange between Jason Young and his sister, Kim Young, that obviously postdates the murder. I'll include the excerpts in their entirety as cited in the warrant:

JY: Recall what we were discussing, it was YOUR statement that Roger was somehow benefiting financially by this being drawn out. That is simply WRONG and is an assumption on your part that is based on nothing. The FACT is, there is a set amount for this investigation process. PERIOD. If this investigation lasts 3 months or 2 years, he doesn't "benefit" from the longevity. His ONLY concern is for me and that hopefully there will NEVER be an arrest.

JY: The only thing that matters is the investigation itself and you can see that is has led to nothing.

JY: I hired a good attorney (which I didn't even know at the time, they were just recommended) and I haven't been arrested even though it's been obvious that the focus has been on me. I am going to continue to follow what they say.

...

KY: If you think public opinion doesn't matter then you are living in a very naive isolated world. You are very insulated in Brevard and have no clue out of that protected little world about what is and isn't being said, including by your own close friends, some of whom who do have doubts about you this has gone on for so long with so many thing being said by the media and police that neither you nor Roger ever address. As time goes on that only progresses.

JY: There are glory "lawyers" out there that will do anything and everything to get n the news. Thank God, I do not have one. Thank God, I live in my "insulated" world, but I don't CARE anymore about what is being said about me. It as very clear to me from the start that there will be a PUBLIC trial and what REALLY happens. A public trial does nothing, zero, zilch. If it filters out "true" friends then great. I can't imagine you being privy to conversations with my "close friends", but maybe you've changed and hangout in Raleigh with them on a regular basis...???

KY: What happens when her little friends aren't allowed to come play with her or spend the night because rumor is her daddy killed her mommy?

JY: I don't think that would ever happen, I think you are being extremely dramatic and very unrealistic. Your whole world is based on the people yu know and who know about this situation. You spend your days on the internet going into chatrooms where you're not going to find anything good written about the situation, but in time, things will die down. Most people out there don't know one thing about any of this. Your are right, I am here in Brevard, but in little old there was a big article written about this and you know how a small town talks. Still though, the majority of folks have no idea and that amount will continue to decrease with time. Think for a moment, how many crimes and murders do you recall? What details do you know about that situation? Did you even hear about the murder in Durham about a year ago under similar before you started your internet chat room time? I doubt it...I bet you can't even name the husband who moved out West to be with family after the murder. Was he a suspect? Is he still? I don't know but I do know that I wouldn't recognize his name or his face if he or his kid walked up to me tomorrow.

KY: Have you thought about the day when she asks you why you were having a relationship with someone else? How is that going to make her feel?

JY: Yes I have, and it is not going to be an easy time for me, but it will have to happen. I dont' know how it's going to make her "feel".

KY: When you called me when Michelle was pregnant and said you were getting married, I asked you if you were ready for that responsibility or if you would resent it? You said you were ready.

JY: ok, and your point is????

KY: Your actions here affect everything about the rest of Cassie's life and you need to think about that.

Commentary:

The date of this e-mail exchange is not disclosed in the warrant. Kim's comments and questions to her brother are couched in her concern about the way Jason and his attorney are handling the situation, but it becomes evident by the end, when she remarks on the circumstances of Jason and Michelle's marriage that she has real suspicion about Jason's involvement in the murder. It would be interesting to know at what point Kim's suspicions began to arise. I wonder if Jason's remark — "3 months or two years" — is a clue as to when this conversation took place.

Jason's own comments belie his innocence. Rather than outrage over the fact that Michelle's murderer has not been caught, Jason expresses a desire for the case to remain unsolved and an expectation that media attention will die down and public awareness of the murder will fade away. It's clear that Jason is pleased with his attorney's advice to remain silent and has no intention of ever cooperating with investigators. His remarks about the other unsolved murder — namely the Janet Abaroa murder of which her husband, Raven, is the unofficial suspect — cause one to question why he has an awareness of it that allows him to challenge his sister on her lack of cognizance. Was he inspired by Raven's apparent success? His denial of an ability to recognize Raven or his child if he ran into them comes across as disingenuous.

Jason's response to Kim's expression of concern as to how Cassidy will be affected when she learns of his infidelity — "it is not going to be an easy time for me, but it will have to happen. I don't know how it’s going to make her “feel”' — displays a narcissistic self-absorption and an inability to empathize with others.

A examination of one of Jason Young's computers producing some interesting search topics that pre-dated Michelle's murder:

Real-estate searches and owner list information for Jason Young and the 5108 Birchleaf Drive address

Searches for Michelle Money and Michelle Money Florida

Eric Rudolph

Free porn movies

Ischemia

Prudential Properties Sowerby

Gay bars and gay bars New York City

Opportunity

Anatomy of a knockout

Head trauma knockout

Divorce

Right posterior parietal occipital region

Commentary:

I expect that by the time the jury hears about these Internet searches, they will already have been told by the North Carolina State Medical Examiner that Michelle Young died from blunt force trauma to the head, that many of the blows to her head were in all likelihood inflicted after she was already unconscious, and that her killer attempted to manually strangle her. In most successful strangulations, death is the result of an obstruction of oxygen-rich bloodflow to the brain, resulting in "cerebral hypoxia and ischemic neuronal death." It's my belief that the above searches delineate a plan to induce unconsciousness with a blow to the head, after which Michelle could be strangled to death without being able to fight off her attacker. Considering the end results, things did not go according to plan.

The Valentine's Day warrants introduced the public to two sets of shoeprints found at the crime scene — a Hushpuppiesprint and a Franklin athletic shoe print with the number 10 on the bottom. We learn more about the investigation regarding the two prints from the Novo Nordisk warrant.

A Hushpuppies representative provided to investigators "copies of DSW purchase orders and shipping records of shoes purchased from Hushpuppies."

A board certified podiatrist stated that blister like irritations on Jason Young's feet, photographed approximately five days after the murder, could have been caused by wearing shoes too small for his feet.

Commentary:

It would come as no surprise if Jason's defense attorney were able to get the podiatrist to concede that there could have been other causes of the blisters on Jason's feet — basketball, flag football, or other athletic activities Jason is known to have participated in. A picture is worth a thousan words, and the jurors will be able to decide for themselves which explanation they find more credible.

Conclusion

In order to understand what might be preventing the pursuit of an indictment at this time, it is necessary to ascertain the charge (or charges) being considered as well as the district attorney's burden in proving the charge. In reviewing the evidence laid out in the warrants, it is apparent that Michelle Young's killer will be tried for First Degree Murder. Even if Jason Young is not the killer, the murder in conjunction with the burglary (or robbery) of valuables from the home satisfies the requirements for a felony murder charge, punishable by death or by imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole. It's clear, however, that Jason Young is the focus of the investigation and the person who will eventually be indicted and tried for the crime. The circumstances surrounding the murder paint a picture of a premeditated murder planned in advance and carried out by stealth and subterfuge. What must the prosecutor prove?

Corpus delicti — "body of the crime". There is no ambiguity as to the fact that Michelle Young's death was a homicide. The medical examiner's report establishes that her death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head. The blood spatter at the crime scene is proof that someone beat her to death.

Actus reus — "wrongful act". The prosecution must prove that the defendant's actions caused the death of the victim. While it's obvious that someone beat Michelle Young to death, the difficulty arises in proving that Jason Young is that someone. In this case, there is no eyewitness who can testify to seeing Jason beat Michelle to death. There is no proverbial "smoking gun", such as a blunt object with Michelle's blood and Jason's fingerprints on it or Jason's fingerprints in Michelle's blood at the crime scene. The case is being pieced together from an assortment of incriminating factors and peculiar incidents, the sum total of which it is hoped will convince twelve jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Jason Young is the killer or participated in the murder.

Mens rea — "criminal intent". First Degree Murder is a specific intent crime. The prosecutor must prove not only that the defendant intended to beat Michelle Young but that he intended her death to be the end result of the beating. If the jury believes that the circumstantial evidence put forth by the prosecution proves that Jason killed Michelle Young or participated in her murder, because of the very nature of the evidence, they will also conclude that the murder was deliberate and planned in advance, satisfying the mens rea element of the crime.

There can be no doubt that the evidence set forth in the February '08 and November '08 warrants implicates Jason Young in Michelle Young's murder. However, that should come as no surprise; the very purpose of the probable cause statement is to persuade a judge or magistrate to grant permission to investigators to pursue an investigation of Jason Young by a sanctioned invasion of his privacy. As I stated at the end of Part I of this analysis, the case against Jason Young is built entirely on circumstantial evidence. That's not to say that the evidence is by any means weak. Circumstantial evidence is often more reliable and compelling to a jury than direct evidence such as eyewitness statements. The fact is, just as Sheriff Donnie Harrison has repeatedly stated, this is a complex case. The more pieces of the puzzle investigators are able to locate and provide to prosecutors, the easier it will be for the prosecutors to put the whole picture together for the jury. Defense counsel will have their work cut out for them, but make no mistake, they will pick apart and attempt to explain every piece of evidence presented by the prosecution. How successful they will be remains to be seen, but it is a factor that the prosecution must consider and prepare for before going forward with an indictment and trial. In Part I, I expressed doubt that there may still exist credible evidence that has yet to be found. Clearly, that is not the case. New leads continue to arise:

Jason Young has talked to family members about the murder investigation.

Jason Young has continued his relationship with Michelle Money

Investigators have obtained Cassidy's medical records, excluding the possibility that she was prescribed the drugs found in her room.

An expert has been recently consulted regarding irritations on Jason's feet.

The latest warrant authorized investigators to search for additional evidence against Jason Young on the computer issued him by his employer, Novo Nordisk. What else might they find? Linda Fisher has filed a civil suit against Jason Young for the wrongful death of her daughter. Jason must respond within thirty days of her filing, and at some point, Linda's attorneys hope to depose Jason Young. These things alone provide the potential for uncovering new and conclusive evidence and are thus reason to wait a bit longer. An indictment will start the clock ticking on Jason's constitutional right to a speedy trial — a distinct disadvantage to a prosecution team not thoroughly prepared. The recent release of warrants has brought new attention to the case and could bring forward other people who might have valuable information relating to Michelle's murder. Time will tell.

Michelle Young: Why no arrest? (continued)

2008-11-15T16:47:00.001-06:00

Part II

This blog entry is a continuation of the one posted on November 13, titled Michelle Young: Why no arrest? If you haven't already read it, you may want to go back and start at the beginning before continuing here. The purpose of these entries is to examine the evidence as disclosed in court documents to try to ascertain why there has yet to be an arrest for the murder of Michelle Young.

November 6, 2008 Warrant

[[Click here for WRAL's .pdf of the warrant]

The first thing that stands out in the probable cause affidavit of this warrant is the time that Jason called Meredith to ask her to retrieve the printouts from his printer at 5108 Birchleaf. Until now, it was widely reported that Jason called Meredith in the morning. Most assumed that he probably called around 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. Not so! The voicemail was left for Meredith at 12:10 p.m. She called 911 at 1:25 p.m.

Commentary:

Maybe I was giving Jason too much credit in showing concern for Cassidy, but I was one of those who believed for a long time that he called Meredith to, in effect, rescue Cassidy as soon as he got back to the Hillsville area and could safely do so without blowing his alibi with cell phone activity from the wrong location. Singaporesling asked the question: "What is your take on the 1210 PM phone call to Meredith?" and RPD came up with a theory that may have nailed the reason for such a delay. But I'm getting ahead of myself. That theory pertains to evidence disclosed later in the warrant. For now, suffice it to say that Cassidy spent half the day alone with her mother's body because Jason didn't call Meredith until after noon, less than an hour and a half before Meredith's 911 call. I'll get back to RPD's theory later in this entry.

The next revelation is in regard to additional details about the printout Meredith was sent by Jason to retrieve. Finally confirmed is the fact that the printouts had to do with a Coach purse Jason was purportedly planning to buy for Michelle for a belated anniversary gift. Previously unknown was the fact that the handbags were being auctioned on eBay and that the auctions would have closed prior to Jason even arriving at his Hillsville hotel.

Commentary:

Since early in the investigation, the media has reported that Meredith discovered Michelle's body when she went to 5108 Birchleaf at Jason Young's request to retrieve some documents from the printer. The poster named "just the facts" (widely believed to have been Jason's sister, Kim Young) revealed in mid-November 2006 that the printout had to do with a Coach purse Jason was planning to buy for Michelle as a belated anniversary gift. For most, that whole scenario reeked of sturgeon from the beginning and was probably the main reason some of us were almost immediately skeptical of Jason's alibi. With the details put forth in the latest warrant regarding the Coach purse printouts, the probability that Meredith was set up to discover the body and rescue Cassidy is even greater than before.

Defense may argue that Jason never had any intention to buy the specific purse or purses pictured on the printouts; they were simply examples of the styles he was considering and trying to get feedback on from friends. Nevertheless, it's one more piece of kindling for the fire.

Moving on, the warrant settles the question: Where was Cassidy when Meredith arrived? Answer: She was in the master bedroom "on, what appeared to be, Jason Young's side of the bed".

Commentary:

One of gojo's favorite mantras has long been [paraphrased]: What about the blood trail? How do you explain Cassidy's bloody footprints in the hall bath with no blood trail leading from Michelle's body to the hall bath? It's also been asked why Cassidy was clean and not covered in blood after so many hours alone with her mother's body, and who tended to Cassidy and kept her from getting back into the blood after her feet were cleaned? All of the above are good questions that demand answers regardless of whether you believe Jason Young or someone else killed Michelle. Cassidy mentions a washcloth to Meredith during the 911 call. It's unclear if she is telling Meredith how she tried to help Michelle, suggesting that Meredith get a washcloth so they can clean Michelle's boo-boos, or informing Meredith that someone cleaned the blood from her feet with a washcloth.

The absence of Cassidy's bloody footprints between Michelle's body and the hall bath, where her footprints were numerous, can be interpreted in only one way: Someone carried Cassidy from the pool of her mother's blood to the bathroom and left her there with the door closed for some period of time. We were told ages ago that Meredith took Cassidy to the neighbor's house to use the bathroom after deputies arrived to secure the scene. Cassidy was reportedly clean and didn't seem to be hungry or thirsty at that time. Because of this information, it's long been my theory that Cassidy awoke and approached Michelle's body while the killer was otherwise occupied. When he discovered her there, he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom, briefly leaving her while he tended to something else before returning to clean her up and get her back to sleep.

Returning again to the evidence disclosed in the warrant, we learn that investigators discovered two bottles of medication that no one with a sense of child safety would deliberately store in a toddler's room: Tylenol Extra Strength adult cold medicine and Pancof-PD, a prescription antihistamine, decongestant. cough suppressant, and pain reliever which Cassidy had never been prescribed.

Commentary:

Notably absent from the disclosure as to Cassidy's location upon Meredith's arrival -- on Jason's side of the bed in the master bedroom -- is any remark as to whether Cassidy was awake or asleep. Putting together the fact that she was on Jason's side of the bed and the fact that she was clean and there were no bloody prints made by Cassidy apart from those in the hall bath, I come to the realization that she was likely asleep throughout the morning from the time the killer left until Meredith arrived in the early afternoon. How is that possible? The medications found in Cassidy's room at the very least induce drowsiness. The Pancof-PD, in fact, contains a narcotic that could have caused Cassidy to sleep for quite a while if she ingested it.

This seems the appropriate place to return to RPD's theory in response to singaporesling's question: "What is your take on the 1210 PM phone call to Meredith?"

RPD:

Lets say MY was dead at 2:50 am....it seems logical he left shortly after 5 am
(the 7:49 MM call was obviously pinged from hillsville VA)

That would mean he stayed in the house for 2 hours after the murder.
Best guess is he had to comfort Cassidy until close to 4:45 am.
If he in fact doped her up, he likely calculated that she would be out until noon or so.

If he called earlier, Meredith would arrive to a dead sister and an unresponsive neice....Hmmm

Now, if the picture isn't vivid enough, consider the following information set forth in the warrant:

Pancof-PD is manufactured by Pamlab, formerly known as Pan American Laboratories.

Jason was employed as a pharmaceutical sales rep by Pan American Laboratories until January 2005.

Employer records show Pancof-PD listed as a medication that was represented by Jason Young and inform that Jason "would have been thoroughly trained in product knowledge for all products he sampled."

Samples of Pancof-PD, in 15 ml and 4 oz. sizes, were issued to Jason during his employment with the company.

The warrant makes no mention of the size of the bottle of Pancof-PD found in Cassidy's room.

Commentary:

It seems to me that the defense will have to concede that the Pancof-PD was in the house because Jason brought it into the house at some point in time. Perhaps, they'll try to argue that there's nothing sinister about its presence in Cassidy's room, but there aren't too many parents -- and there are bound to be a few parents on the jury -- who would find that plausible. Maybe they'll try to convince the jury that it was the real killer, not Jason Young, who found the samples and drugged Cassidy. But what reason would anyone other than Jason have for drugging Cassidy, and why choose the Pancof-PD to do it? The defense may contend that the drug's presence in Cassidy's room doesn't mean that it was actually used on her. In that case, I'd ask: Then why was it in her room? And depending on Cassidy's potty-training status and the diligence of investigators, it may be a moot point. If a wet diaper or bed sheet was preserved and tested as evidence, the defense may be forced to deal with the fact that Cassidy was drugged and answer the question: Who would do that, and why?

The warrant reveals quite a bit about Jason's phone use leading up to and following Michelle's murder.

Jason's last call of the day on November 2 was to Michelle Money, with whom he was involved in an extramarital sexual relationship. The pair exchanged roughly 50 phone calls and text messages that day.

Jason's first call of the day on November 3 was to Michelle Money at 7:49 a.m.

Jason placed two calls to Michelle Young -- at 12:02 and 12:17 p.m.

As mentioned earlier, Jason left a voicemail for Meredith at 12:10 p.m., asking her to go to the house to retrieve the Coach purse printouts from the printer.

Meredith called 911 at 1:25 p.m.

Linda called Jason's cell phone four times from 1:53 p.m. to 2:52 p.m. Her calls went unanswered, and she left at least one message asking Jason to call her back. Despite the unusual nature of her calls and their apparent urgency, Jason failed to return her calls.

Over a period of 30 days prior to the murder, Jason called his mother, Pat Young, an average of 2.5 times per day. On November 3, the day after the murder, Jason called his mother 28 times, all prior to 1:37 p.m.

Jason's last phone call before reaching his mother's Brevard home was to Michelle Money at 2:05 p.m. and lasted for 27 minutes.

Jason arrived at his mother's home at approximately 3:30 p.m., and was informed of Michelle's murder by family members.

Focus with me for a moment on information put forth regarding Linda Fisher's calls to Jason on November 3. She placed four calls:

1:53:04 pm for 0 seconds

1:53:23 pm for 44 seconds

2:51 pm for 0 seconds

2:52 pm for 38 seconds

From the affidavit:

According to Mrs. Fisher, when she called Jason Young she left a message stating, "I need to talk to you. Please call me back." When Linda Fisher made this call and left the message, Jason Young was on the phone with Michelle Money. Records show that Jason Young did not return this call nor did he call his wife or sister-in-law to see why Linda Fisher was calling him.

Commentary:

Comparing the times of Linda's calls to the 2:05 pm call, (lasting 27 minutes) to Michelle Money and the 1:37 call to Pat Young, it becomes apparent that Jason must have been on the phone almost continuously during that period of time, having another conversation with Mrs. Money prior to the 2:05 one. Missing Linda's 1:53 calls because he was on the phone with someone else isn't sinister. Although, the fact that he was on the phone with his lover is more than ironic. Nevertheless, it's the fact that he failed to return those calls and respond to Linda's message that will dog his defense. Add to that, Linda called twice more, perhaps leaving a second more urgent message after Jason finished talking to Mrs. Money at approximately 2:32 pm. The warrant indicates that the records "show that Jason Young called his voicemail and checked his messages." Suppose the defense tries to claim that Jason was unable to actually listen to Linda's messages because of spotty cell service? That will be difficult to prove if Jason interacted with his voicemail service by skipping through and/or deleting messages.

Jason's defense attorney will have a very difficult time contending with the cold, hard facts of the cell phone records. When viewed in context and chronological order, the calls Jason chose to make or take in contrast to the calls he ignored imply cognizance of guilt. The jury can and probably will infer that at 1:53 p.m., when Linda Fisher first called his cell phone, Jason knew that Michelle's murder had been discovered. From that point forward, it appears that Jason avoided speaking to anyone who could inform him of the murder before he reached Pat Young's home. A picture is painted of callous disregard for Michelle and her mother and sister, an undaunted, narcissitic obsession with a treacherous relationship, a deliberate avoidance of accountability to Michelle's mother, and a high-tailed retreat to the bosom of his own.

Jason arrived thirty-five minutes late to his 10:00 a.m. meeting in Clintwood, VA, excusing his tardiness with a claim of getting lost. According to the warrant, the hospital representative described his demeanor 'as being "hyper" and "this looked like it was nervousness".'

Commentary:

Jason's tardiness and his excuse for same had been previously disclosed by gojo and at least one other person close to Jason. Apparently, this was something that Jason readily shared with a few people after the murder. Some might find it implausible that a traveling salesman who set out the night before for a mid-morning business trip with five maps in his car could get lost on his way there. It happens. Add to that his demeanor when he arrived, and you might make a point, but, then again, his nervousness could be chalked up to anxiety over being late. Here again, the tale will be told by the cell phone records. If Jason was in the Hillsville area when he called Michelle Money at 7:49 a.m., he wouldn't have had time to get lost on his way to Clintwood. According to MSN Live Maps, the distance from the Hillsville Hampton Inn to Dickenson Community Hospital is 145.5 miles and would have taken approximately 2 hours and 41 minutes to drive. By that estimation, leaving Hillsville at 7:49 would have placed him at his destination at 10:30 a.m. Counsel would have to find a way to explain why Jason was late setting out from Hillsville that morning and why he lied about getting lost along the way.

**Note to readers: I intended for this to be a two part entry, but due to the voluminous information in the November 6 warrant for Jason Young's Novo Nordisk computer data, I am compelled to divide it up.

Check back later for Part III.

Michelle Young: Why no arrest?

2008-11-13T16:00:00.003-06:00

On November 3, 2006, Meredith Fisher discovered the lifeless body of her sister, Michelle Marie Fisher Young, lying in a pool of blood on her own bedroom floor. Michelle's 2 1/2 year old daughter Cassidy was found unharmed in the home along with the family's dog, Mr. Garrison. Michelle's death was quickly ruled a homicide, and the North Carolina State Medical Examiner's report declared that Michelle's death was effected by blunt force injuries to the head. A homicide investigation conducted by the Wake County Sheriff's Office has yet to result in an indictment or arrest. Although no suspect has been officially named, the WCSO has publicly acknowledged that they cannot rule out the victim's husband, Jason Young, as a suspect in his pregnant wife's brutal murder. In fact, the release of various warrants and court documents have made it clear that Jason Young is the primary focus of the investigation. Since the August release of the February 2008 warrants to search Jason Young's places of residence and vehicles, people have increasingly asked me: "What's the holdup? Why hasn't he been arrested?" Invariably, my answer has been something like this:

I don't know. I don't know what evidence they are lacking or what more they could hope to gather at this late date. Surely all the forensics are back by now. A witness coming forward now to state that he saw Jason Young at or near the Birchleaf residence would probably be of questionable credibility simply because of the length of time that has passed since the murder. It's highly unlikely that the murder weapon or any bloody clothing could be located at this late date. If Jason isn't talking to investigators nor to friends and family, the chances of getting any useful statements from him are not good. I don't understand what they hope to gain by waiting.

On November 6, 2008, a new search warrant was issued, the probable cause affidavit of which has the potential to clear up the mystery. So let's examine the evidence as put forth in court documents in an attempt to understand why Jason Young has not been indicted by a grand jury and placed under arrest for the murder of Michelle Young.

February 14, 2008 Warrant

[Click here for WTVD's .pdf of the warrants]
During the drive from Brevard to Raleigh, Jason Young was contacted via cell phone by detectives from the Wake County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) who wished to enlist his help in the investigation. He informed them that "he would not be willing to speak with the investigators until he had secured legal counsel" and ended the phone call by "hanging up on the investigator who [was] speaking with him." According to the warrant, Jason has refused to cooperate with the investigation since that time with the exception of complying with a court ordered Nontestimonial Identification Order (NTIO).

Commentary:

Jason Young's refusal to cooperate with the investigation into his pregnant wife's murder from the outset is outside the norm and reason to suspect his involvement. A concerned and loving husband would be outraged by the murder of his wife and unborn child and demand that the crime be solved and the killer brought to justice. The jury is not allowed to consider Jason's assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when determining guilt. However, when the prosecution presents their case, will it go unnoticed that he at no time provided any cooperation to law enforcement officers? Jurors are only human.

In the course of the investigation, two bloody shoe prints were found on a pillow at the crime scene. One of the prints was later identified as having been made by a Hushpuppies shoe with the sole identical to a pair owned by Jason Young. These shoes are no longer in Jason Young's possession. The second print was identified as having been made by a Franklin athletic shoe. The number 10 was clearly visible in the impression. Deck boards taken during a November 2007 search of the Birchleaf residence held impressions in the deck stain "similar in design" to the Franklin shoeprint.

Commentary:

The Hushpuppies shoeprint in Michelle's blood on the pillow has the potential to place Jason Young at the house at the time of Michelle's murder. The jury could infer that Jason's Hushpuppies shoes were worn by the killer because they are missing whereas two other pairs of shoes he purchased at the same time are still in his possession. The problem exists in proving that Jason Young is the person who actually wore the shoes and made the print. Proof that Jason had the Hushpuppies shoes with him at any time during his business trip to Clintwood, VA would significantly strengthen this piece of evidence.

The search warrant's language, "similar in design", in comparing the Franklin shoeprint left in blood on the pillow to the impressions in the deck stain is ambiguous. The warrant states that further analysis is being done, but those findings have yet to be made public. Matching both sets of impressions to a shoe of the same brand, make, and size would significantly strengthen this evidence and make it almost impossible for the jury to conclude that someone other than Jason Young made the bloody shoeprints.

According to the affidavit, DNA recovered from the crime scene matches that of Jason Young.

One DNA swab was collected from an area sixteen inches from the floor and seven inches from the frame of the door to Jason Young's closet. The area which is in close proximity to the victim and surrounded by what appeared to be blood splatter, was described as a possible print. Due to it's location and the reasonable belief that it was in a place where the assailant may have come in contact with the wall, it was sent to the State Bureau of Investigation. The results of the testing were described as follows: "The DNA profile obtained from swabbing from the sheet rock MATCHED the DNA profile obtained from the bloodstain of Jason Young.

In addition to the sample taken from the area around the closet door, a DNA swab was collected from a jewelry box located in the crime scene. The jewelry box located in the crime scene. The jewelry box was processed because several drawers appeared to have been removed and taken from the scene. The result of the testing was described as follows: "A partial DNA profile was obtained from the swabbing from the jewelry box..." "The DNA profile obtained from the bloodstain of Jason Young CANNOT BE EXCLUDED as a donor to the partial profile."

Commentary:

The evidentiary value of these two samples of DNA recovered from the crime scene can be determined by answering a few questions.

Can it be determined when and how Jason's DNA came to be on the wall in that location. Was the "possible print" in actuality a print? Was Jason's DNA the only DNA found in that print? If it was indeed a print and Jason is innocent, someone else's DNA should have been in the print. Is the nature of the blood spatter such that it proves that the print was made at the time of the murder? In other words, did the spatter surrounding the print form a silhouette where the spatter was absent due to the obstruction of the body part that made the print or due to the smearing of blood spatter by the body part that left the print? Either scenario has the potential to tie Jason Young to the murder. On the other hand, the defense can claim that Jason Young's DNA on the wall by his closet should be expected to be found on the wall by his closet for the simple fact that it is his house. So the nature of the "possible print" is a very important factor in evaluating this evidence.

Was there any foreign DNA found at the crime scene on the jewelry box or in any other location on or near Michelle Young's body.

The Youngs' bedroom was the scene of an extremely brutal and lengthy attack. The perpetrator exerted a great deal of physical force and had extensive contact with the victim. His DNA should have been left behind at the crime scene, possibly in the form of skin cells, sweat, saliva, blood, hair, etc. The absence of such DNA is evidence that tends to implicate Jason Young.

Security video from the Hillsville Hampton Inn shows that Jason arrived wearing a long-sleeved, light-colored shirt with a button placket. Approximately an hour after checking in and entering his room, Jason is again seen in two locations wearing different clothing, namely a dark-colored, long-sleeved pullover with a zipper at the neck and a lighter-colored horizontal chest stripe. First Jason is seen back at the front desk wearing the dark shirt and holding what appears to be a water bottle and a book or papers. The video shows that thirty-three seconds later, Jason is walking down the first-floor corridor toward a side exit carrying the same objects. A rock was later found in the door jamb of that exit which prevented the door from properly closing and locking. Re-entry would otherwise have required keycard use. Electronic records indicate that Jason's keycard was used only once minutes after he checked in.

Commentary:

Clearly, Jason Young left his hotel room and never used his keycard for reentry. The change in clothing is suspicious in and of itself. The fact that the dark shirt disappeared and is to-date unaccounted for may lead the jury to conclude that it was discarded because it was covered with Michelle's blood. If they draw that conclusion, they should also conclude that Jason changed clothes before leaving the Hampton Inn in preparation for the murder which establishes planning in advance.

The defense may try a variety of arguments to refute that any of the evidence from the hotel implicates Jason in Michelle's murder.

Counsel may argue that there is no proof that Jason is the person who put the rock in the door jamb.

It may be explained that Jason donned the dark pullover and blocked open his room door and the side exit just to run out to his car, but there's no proof that he returned to Raleigh or even left the hotel grounds.

Perhaps, they'll claim that Jason carelessly forgot the dark pullover in his hotel room or lost it somewhere along his journey.

They may assert that, while the video shows Jason walking toward the side exit, it does not show him actually exiting through the door. He was simply using the nearby stairs rather than the elevator to return to his room.

What kind of evidence could strengthen the publicly known evidence from the hotel?

If the rock from the side exit door jamb was retrieved by investigators, DNA and/or fingerprint evidence could prove that Jason tampered with the door. RPD's trip to the hotel revealed that the rocks outside that door are lava rocks. Thus, it's likely that DNA could have been recovered from the rock, but fingerprints could not.

Residue or tool marks on his room door's locking mechanism would suggest something more sinister than flipping the security bar to prevent it from closing all the way while he briefly left his room.

If the brand and style of dark pullover could be determined, investigators might be able to get fibers from another shirt of the same brand and style for comparison to any fibers found on Michelle's body.

Video footage that actually shows him leaving through the side exit and not reentering that night would be significant and compelling to the jury.

Video footage that fails to show Jason returning to his room immediately after being seen in the first floor corridor would reduce the likelihood that he returned to his room and tend to indicate that he did leave.

Video footage that shows him entering the hotel on the morning of November 3, wearing clothing different from the clothing he wore to check in, different from the dark pullover, and different from the attire he wore to his business meeting would strongly reinforce the theory that he left and was out during the time it would have taken him to return to Raleigh, murder Michelle, and drive back again to Hillsville.

Investigators thoroughly searched Jason's vehicle and questioned his mother about Jason's clothing and whether or not he unpacked or changed clothes. Did they also question hotel housekeeping staff about any items Jason might have left behind in his room?

In the corridor photo, Jason appears to be wearing brown or black finished leather shoes with no laces which fit the description of the Hushpuppies Orbitals he's known to have owned prior to the murder. Could the video be enhanced to conclusively identify his shoes as the Hushpuppies? Were there any shoeprints in the hotel room or the floorboards of Jason's SUV that could be matched to the Hushpuppies? Any such evidence would negate the possibility that an unknown killer stole Jason's shoes from the closet after killing Michelle.

Between the hours of 4 am and 5 am, a New York Times delivery person noticed unusual activity at the Youngs' Bircheaf residence. This witness noted the presence of a light-colored SUV parked in "a manner that it appeared to have been unloading or loading something." It was also noted that "all of the lights, inside and outside the home, were on."

Commentary:

The prosecution can point to the fact that the vehicle seen by the delivery person is similar to the Ford Explorer driven by Jason Young. However, the defense can argue that there are thousands of light-colored SUV's on the streets of Raleigh and the delivery person cannot positively identify the SUV seen in the driveway as Jason Young's Ford Explorer. Unless, that is, the wording used in the warrant is an understatement of what the witness saw. What is the significance of noting the manner in which the vehicle was parked? Was something large removed from the house at the time of the murder? Is this an allusion to Jason removing bloody items such as clothing, a murder weapon, or other items that he feared might hold evidence that would lead to him? Are there any other sightings of Jason or his vehicle away from the Hillsville Hampton Inn during the hours in question?

In early May 2007, Pat Young reported to investigators that several items of jewelry (including a pearl necklace) and $500 cash in a new wallet were missing from the crime scene. As of the date of the warrant, none of the jewelry or the wallet had been accounted for. However, the February 2008 search of Jason's rented storage unit turned up three pearl necklaces.

Commentary:

Has it been determined if the missing pearl necklace is one of the three found in Jason's storage unit?

The theory regarding the $500 cash seems to be that it was not stolen but was used by Jason Young, in part to make a cash purchase of fuel for the extra mileage he would have had to drive in order to make the roundtrip return to Raleigh to commit the murder. All other gas purchases were made with credit card and fit with the route Jason would have traveled to Clintwood, VA, on to Brevard, NC, and finally returning to Raleigh. One has to wonder why Pat Young informed investigators of the missing jewelry and cash when she did -- six months after the murder. Nevertheless, the cash purchase of gas is nothing more than a theory without more solid evidence to back it up. Most gas stations have security cameras at the pump to thwart theft. Might the WCSO have additional video evidence that has yet to be made public?

As you can see, no single piece of the evidence disclosed in the February 2008 warrant, when evaluated alone, is rock-solid proof that Jason Young is the person who brutally beat Michelle Young to death in the early morning hours of November 3, 2006. When combined, the entire package is quite compelling, but is it enough to convince a jury of twelve of Jason's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? In a case based entirely on circumstantial evidence, the more evidence the better.

Coming up: Analysis of the November 6, 2008 warrant for data recovered from Jason Young's Novo Nordisk computer and Conclusion to answering the question, "Why no arrest?"

An Apology to Readers

2008-11-11T13:48:00.000-06:00

I'm sure it hasn't gone unnoticed that I have yet to write a blog entry about the latest news in the Michelle Young investigation. In case you are even more behind than I, here are some media links that will bring you up to date:

WRAL: Warrant gives new look into Michelle Young murder probe

N&O: Jason Young researched 'knockout'

WTVD: Warrants reveal Jason Young affair

NC Wanted: Warrant Shock: The Case Against Jason Young

I'd like to apologize to those of you who are interested in what I write on this blog for my failure to blog in a timely manner. The fact is that I have another project with a pending deadline that has preoccupied my mind. That along with other demands on my time have made it difficult for me to set aside enough uninterrupted time to compose an entry. Said project has finally begun to materialize in my mind so that some of the fog has lifted and I believe I'll be able to focus my attention on processing the information released in last week's search warrant and hopefully draw some useful conclusions. Although, truth be told, the quality of analysis, speculation, and debate that is generated by the members of the Friction Powered forum has probably made this blog obsolete.

In addition to the articles linked above, followers of the Michelle Young murder investigation will find the warrant itself very interesting and informative. WRAL has posted a .pdf of the document on their site and the following is a direct link to it.

WRAL's .pdf of the 11/6/08 Warrant

As stated last week on this blog, Linda Fisher filed a wrongful death suit against Jason Young that essentially seeks to exclude Jason Young from benefitting from his wife's death. Linda's attorneys, Jack and Paul Michaels, intend to prove that Jason Young was a principle in the murder of his wife Michelle Marie Fisher Young. The lawyers spoke to the press last week, and the press conference is posted in its entirety on WRAL's website. The following is a direct link to the video.

WRAL: Web only: Attorneys speak on Young lawsuit

Check back later for that blog entry I've been promising. In the meantime, you can keep up with the latest at Friction Powered Exchange. Anyone who is interested is welcome to join the discussion. Registration is simple, and the forum is often open to guest posting where no registration is required.

Michelle Young Wrongful Death Suit

2008-11-04T16:29:00.002-06:00

The headline might be buried under election news, but it isn't going unnoticed by those who have been patiently waiting for some activity in the Michelle Young case for most of the last two years. In case you missed it, Linda Fisher has filed a wrongful death suit against her daughter's husband, Jason Young.

LINK to WRAL.com's story.

LINK to The News & Observer's story.

Does this mean we'll learn more about the evidence that implicates Jason Young in the brutal beating death of his pregnant wife, Michelle? November 3 marked the two year anniversary of Michelle and baby Rylan's deaths. It's time for some resolution. Don't you think?

5108 Birchleaf: What the Paperboy Saw

2008-09-24T17:15:00.002-05:00

I know. The search warrant actually referred to the person as a New York Times delivery person, but I took literary license with the title. Okay?

Excerpted from 2/14/08 search warrant. (Click to enlarge.)

At some point between the hours of 4:00 and 5:00 a.m., the New York Times delivery person saw an SUV similar to Jason Young's Ford Explorer parked in such a manner that it appeared someone was loading or unloading something. Additionally, this witness states that "all of the lights, inside and outside the home, were on."

From this witness's statement, we can draw the conclusion that, in all likelihood, the killer was still present at the home when the delivery person observed the home. With lights on inside and outside the home, did the witness observe any human activity inside or outside the home? What about the dog? Was Mr. Garrison seen or heard by the delivery person?

How should the statement about the position of the vehicle be interpreted? What would make this witness believe that something was being loaded into or unloaded from the SUV? Simple logic would suggest that the SUV was backed up to the home --most likely to the garage. Perhaps, the rear cargo door was open, as well. If so, it's also possible that the dome light in the SUV was illuminated. Assuming that the witness was correct in his or her assumption that something was being loaded or unloaded, what items were being loaded or unloaded?

Lastly, what exactly does the witness mean by the statement that "all of the lights, inside and outside the home, were on"? Consider the windows and doors that would have been visible from the street as depicted in the following photographs.

There is one more window that might have been visible to the NY Times delivery person. That would be a small window into the attic room, which is positioned just above the garage roof on the end of the main house. It can be seen in this interior photograph -- small window with a blue-green valance and air conditioning unit inserted.

Which rooms appeared to have been illuminated when the paperboy was present? Every light in the house including the attic room? If so, why?

Which exterior lights might the witness have observed? Perhaps, a front porch light, a garage light, a driveway light. Probably the pair of lamps on pillars at the entry to the driveway, one of which can be seen in this photo of the mailbox. It appears to be illuminated in this photo, so perhaps these lamps are always on.

The next question that comes to mind is, Which lights were on when Meredith arrived at the home the next afternoon? Since the murderer was still present when the paper delivery person observed the home on November 3, 2006, it's possible that he turned some lights off prior to leaving.

The last, and perhaps most important, question is Why did the killer have so many lights on and risk drawing attention to unusual goings-on at the Youngs' residence? In doing so, he made himself all the more vulnerable to being identified and apprehended. Some might suggest that he was cleaning up or searching for valuables or other items that he needed. Others might theorize that he left lights on for Cassidy's sake for when she would awake the next morning. Perhaps, instead, he was searching for someone. Isn't it possible that Cassidy and/or the dog became frightened and hid, and he felt he needed to find and secure them before leaving? Or perhaps, he wanted to draw attention to the house in hopes that a neighbor would become concerned and investigate, thereby discovering and rescuing Cassidy from the gory scene. Then he wouldn't have needed to call Meredith with the absurd request of retrieving a printout of a belated anniversary gift from the printer.

Below is another photo of the house to which I have added labels identifying the various rooms of the home. Click the photo to enlarge for easier reading.

As always, I am interested in your thoughts. Feel free to add a comment here or discuss it at the forum, Friction Powered Exchange.

Young Search Warrants: February 14, 2008

2008-08-18T12:17:00.000-05:00

As expected, there is quite a bit of circumstantial evidence pointing at Jason Young. Read them for yourself: warrants-_021408

This entry will be updated. I'll post interesting excerpts and comments as I get time.

Unsealing the Warrants

2008-08-15T12:45:00.005-05:00

A Preview of What's to Come

I've been able to verify a few details about the search warrants that will become public record next week. There are three warrants, two of which were issued on February 13, 2008, and the other on February 14, 2008. The locations searched appear to be two homes where Jason Young has resided since the murder of his wife Michelle as well as a storage unit where presumably some of his belongings are stored.

After Michelle Young's funeral, Jason moved with daughter Cassidy to the home of his sister, Heather McCracken, in Etowah where they remained until late 2007. A warrant to search the premises was issued on February 13, 2008.

Since the beginning of the current year, Young and his daughter have lived with his mother, Pat Young, in Brevard. A warrant to search her home was also issued on February 13, 2008.

In June of 2007, most of the Youngs' belongings were removed to Etowah from the Raleigh home in order to prepare the residence for sale. On February 14, 2008, investigators added to the aforementioned a warrant to search the unit at Frontier Self Storage where, presumably, these household goods are stored.

Incidentally, 5108 Birchleaf was purchased this summer by a family from California who have now taken up residence and hope to transform the onetime crime scene into a happy home and bring some measure of healing to the neighborhood.

Sealed Search Warrants

2008-07-30T13:42:00.006-05:00

Finally, someone is reporting on the undisclosed warrants in the Michelle Young investigation! Thank you for that, Thomasi McDonald. There are other warrants to which the public has not had access to date.

The following link is for a timeline calendar that has links to all of the published search warrants issued in the Young investigation.

Michelle Young Timeline

A warrant was issued on November 30, 2006 for data from Michelle Money's computer which was confiscated by investigators when her home was searched earlier that same month. While the 11/30 warrant was made public, the earlier warrant (referenced in the 11/30 warrant) was not.

Additionally, the inventory that is attached to the 11/3/2006 warrant for the Youngs' home at 5108 Birchleaf appears to be incomplete as it is very brief and does not seem to list any items taken from the master bedroom, the actual crime scene. It appears to list things that were taken from the home office.

The warrant for Jason Young's Ford Explorer, executed on 11/4/2006 has an inventory attached, but it does not include any luggage which was reported to have been taken. The luggage included items belonging to Jason Young as well as to family members who rode in the vehicle from Brevard to Raleigh on November 3. Has part of the inventory been sealed?

Has it ever become public record at the court clerk's office that the 2/14/08 search warrants exist and are sealed? Or would the media and the public still not know about those if it had not been leaked on Internet discussion forums that those warrants were executed?

One also has to wonder if a warrant was used to search Jason's hotel room in Hillsville, Virginia. Was it searched? If a warrant was used, and said warrant is sealed, should we conclude that it turned up damaging evidence?

The following is a list of warrants and court orders issued in the Young investigation.

Published:

November 3, 2006 Young residence at 5108 Birchleaf
November 4, 2006 Jason’s Ford Explorer
November 9, 2006 Non-Testimonial Identification Order
November 13, 2006 Compaq Presario (home computer)
November 21, 2006 Electronics & Audio
November 30, 2006 Dell Inspiron (Michelle Money’s laptop)
December 1, 2006 Nikon Camera
December 1, 2006 Verizon cell phone
February 8, 2007 CD’s/DVD’s (Birchleaf residence)
February 16, 2007 Kimball Jane Sargent court order
November 20, 2007 5108 Birchleaf residence

Unpublished:

November __, 2006 Michelle Money’s Ocoee, FL residence
July 5, 2007 Unknown location
February 14, 2008 Pat Young’s Brevard residence
February 14, 2008 Heather McCracken’s Etowah residence
February 14, 2008 Pat Young’s Ford Explorer (formerly Jason Young's)
February 14, 2008 Jason Young’s company van

How many other warrants have been executed in the Michelle Young murder investigation of which the public is unaware?

How it began...

2008-06-18T09:32:00.010-05:00

How it ended...

Ladybug Liftoff!

2008-05-10T21:13:00.009-05:00

The Ladybug Liftoff was a tremendous success in every way as I'm sure you can see from these photographs. Family, friends, and those drawn together by their desire to see justice for Michelle Fisher Young turned out to honor Michelle's memory with a live release of ladybugs, a favorite of Michelle.

Sheriff Donnie Harrison addresses the media.

Miss Lady Bug makes an appearance.

Meredith and a young man join the children in encouraging the ladybugs to fly away in honor of her beloved sister.

Meredith and Linda Fisher chat with Detective Spivey, Sheriff Harrison and Detective Blackwell.

And this is what it was all about.

Isn't she lovely?

Nona Dirksmeyer Murder Revisited

2008-05-03T13:50:00.001-05:00

Last night, I happened to tune in to NBC's Dateline and watched Keith Morrison's report on the case. When I first heard about Nona's murder, I suspected her boyfriend, Kevin Jones. The details released by investigators and reported by the Russellville Courier were the basis of my suspicion. Last night's report went a long way toward convincing me of how wrong I was in my suspicion of Kevin Jones. If you missed the show, you can read the transcript at MSNBC.com and view some portions of the report via their video segments.

I'm sorry to say that I've been forced to close the comment threads at this blog because of malicious activity. As an alternative, I have created a forum for discussion of the Dirksmeyer murder at the Friction Powered Exchange, or FPX, as I like to call it. Please, register and post your thoughts and any links to helpful information. I'd particularly like to read the autopsy report, but I haven't been able to find a copy online and don't know if it is available to the public.

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

2008-03-10T12:22:00.003-05:00

The Friction Powered Exchange forum is down. I don’t know if it’s temporary or permanent. It isn’t my doing, and I don’t know what the problem is.

Interesting timing.

Update: 9:36 PM

We're open for business!

Whatever the problem was, it now appears to have been fixed.

New Searches in Michelle Young Investigation

2008-02-19T14:07:00.004-06:00

I realize I've kind of dropped the ball in blogging about the murder of Michelle Young. Part of that is due to the drought; there has been a dearth of information trickling down from the ongoing investigation. Until last November, there had been no real news since February 2007 when we learned that the Wake County District Attorney had successfully petitioned the court for access to any records of treatment kept by Michelle's therapist, Kimball Jane Sargent.

In late November 2007, there finally emerged evidence that the investigation was indeed proceeding. Local news agencies reported that another search warrant had been executed on the Youngs' residence at 5108 Birchleaf in Raleigh. The reason given for the additional search was the recent involvement of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations. Photographs were taken for scale comparison to earlier photographs of bloody footprints in the upstairs hall bathroom. Several planks were removed from the backyard deck and a 5-gallon bucket of deck sealant was confiscated. The affiant indicated that there were some marks or the stains on the deck that needed to be examined. I've speculated and theorized about this development on the discussion board, but I'm still not satisfied that I've figured out why, more than a year after the murder, investigators would expect to find any evidence on a surface exposed to the elements during that time.

The most recent development in the investigation is that search warrants have been executed on two residences in western North Carolina -- those being the Brevard home of Jason Young's mother, Pat Young, and the home of his sister, Heather McCracken, in Etowah. Additionally, a forum member close to the Young family, hinted that other searches were carried out as well. This claim seems to be supported by the following statement in an NBC-17 report:

Search warrants have not been returned, but investigators said they searched several homes. [Source: NBC17.com]

According to various reports, the warrants are to be sealed by the court, so we aren't likely to find out (any time soon) what investigators were searching for, what probable cause they provided, or if the objectives were accomplished. The warrants can be sealed for 30 days, at which time, the DA can again petition the court to keep them sealed for another 30 days, and so on until it is no longer necessary to do so.

I could speculate and theorize on the purpose and meaning of the latest warrants, but right at the moment, I'm all speculated and theorized out. I just want to know what happened and why it's taking so long to bring Michelle Young's killer to justice.

~◊~

Links to several news reports about the latest searches:

WRAL.com: More Homes Searched in Michelle Young Murder Probe
NC Wanted: Investigators Search Homes Where Michelle Young's Husband Stayed
News & Observer: Western NC homes searched in slaying
NBC-17: Investigators Search Homes Where Jason Young Visited Following Murder
ABC-11: Young murder investigation continues
WLOS-13: Video Link

Update: Wednesday, February 27, 2008

It turns out that the "several" search warrants include warrants for two vehicles driven by Jason Young. Investigators examined the Ford Explorer that they had previously searched immediately after the murder, leaving behind dust in the interior. The vehicle currently belongs to Jason's mother, Pat Young of Brevard. Also examined was Jason's company van. If they were looking only for fingerprints, whose could they have hoped to find there?

As of now, there is nothing to suggest that any property belonging to Michelle's mother or sister was included in the search.

"I love you, Mommy."

2007-11-14T18:18:00.000-06:00

Additional home movies:

WRAL.com: Michelle Young and daughter Cassidy at MacArthur Airport

WRAL.com: Michelle Young and daughter Cassidy with toy Jeep

WRAL.com: Michelle Young and daughter Cassidy on her Second Birthday

Friction Powered Forum

2007-11-07T12:09:00.000-06:00

It may just prove that I'm crazy, but I've decided to give this a go and see how it works out.

http://frictionpowered.hqforums.com/

If nothing else, it'll be a learning experience. Y'all behave now.

ETA: Registration is open but requires Admin approval for account activation. Please be patient, and I'll get to you as soon as I can.

the ladybug story

2007-11-01T23:59:00.000-05:00

While it may seem trite to draw comparisons between the murder cases of Michelle Young and Laci Peterson, the similarities that continue to pop up make it impossible not to do so. The obvious parallels between the two young women and their life circumstances, as well as the way in which their mothers have publicly handled their loss, are tangible in comparison to the ethereal nature of the following annecdotes.

Sharon Rocha shares the story of how Stanislaus County prosecutors saw the presence of ladybugs as a sign from Laci that all was well:

"Listen to this, said Laci's friend, brushing some strands of blond hair from her face. She was one of several of Laci's girlfriends visiting her gravesite with me. It was a beautiful day, perfect for reminiscing about Laci, and at some point Stacey remembered what has since become known as "the ladybug story." Since it involved the prosecution, she was surprised I hadn't heard it, and proceeded to tell me.

Dave Harris was the first person to notice something. It was summer, and at the time he was going through Laci's photo albums, searching for images that might have an emotional impact in the courtroom. He realized from things he saw in various pictures that Laci had a fondness for ladybugs. She did, too – sunflowers, dragonflies, and ladybugs. A couple months later, as the prosecution was preparing for the closing statement, Dave began noticing ladybugs showing up on his sleeve, in his car, on the bushes where he walked, all around him. It happened too often to be a coincidence, he thought, but when he told his wife, she looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

He continued to see them, though. One day he was in court, and things weren't going well. He was feeling a little down. But then he spotted a ladybug fluttering around the defense table. He watched it land on a book in front of Geragos. Dave was transfixed by it. As he later told me, they were in a courtroom with no windows, on the second floor of a building. The nearest door leading outside was on the opposite end of the building. The likelihood of this thing just flying in were slim to none.

He chuckled. Rick and Birgit looked at him the way his wife had, like he was insane. At the break, he told them about the ladybugs. While he thought they were a sign that Laci was watching over them, he kept that to himself and merely said they were good luck. Rick and Birgit dismissed his ladybug theory as nonsense. However, pretty soon they started to notice ladybugs, too, and then they sheepishly mentioned it to Dave. He still didn't tell them his Laci theory, but he reiterated that they had nothing to worry about as long as they were seeing ladybugs.

One day in mid-October, as Rick worked on his closing statement in his hotel room, he saw a ladybug on the outside of his window screen. At first he didn't pay attention to it, but the ladybug seemed to be watching him as he worked. So he stared back, smiling, as he remembered Dave's story. Later, he told Birgit and Dave about his sighting and they were amused.

I have it on good authority that there were no ladybug sightings during jury deliberations, which lasted just under seven full days, and from what I gathered no one was thinking about ladybugs on Friday, November 12, the day the verdict came back. That was understandable. Rick, Dave, and Birgit all had plenty of important things on their minds that morning when they got a phone call summoning them to the courthouse. They thought they were needed to clarify questions from the jurors, something they'd been doing regularly. They didn't expect a verdict.

But then as Birgit finished getting dressed, she went over to her hotel room window and saw her new favorite red-and-black winged insect – on the inside. Actually, the ladybug was between the glass and the screen. It was a strange place to see one and almost impossible to imagine how it got there. Stranger still was the timing. For some reason, Craig Grogan knocked on her door and she showed him. I don't know how, but by this time Craig also knew about the ladybugs, and he took it as a very good sign. Right before leaving, she called Rick and Dave with the news, and afterward, she later told me, all of them knew it was going to be a good day.

[For Laci by Sharon Rocha, pp. 303-304]

In the following account, WRAL's Amanda Lamb relates the sense of comfort that ladybugs provide to Michelle's loved ones while they await justice.

Linda says prayer has helped her cope and something else, something unlikely – ladybugs. That's right, I said ladybugs.

It wasn't like she came right out and told me about it. I noticed the ladybug pin, the ladybug necklace and the ladybug earrings. I commented on them.

That's when she told me about what they had meant to her since her daughter's death.

First of all, Michelle apparently loved ladybugs and was particularly fond of a ladybug mirror her mother has.

But Linda Fisher noticed something strange since her daughter's death – ladybugs seem to be everywhere she is Sometimes, she sees three, four or five at a time, inside, outside, wherever there is talk of Michelle.

Linda's sister – Michelle's aunt – recently took a trip to Italy – one that Michelle had planned to attend prior to her death. They went to a town that Michelle had always wanted to go. All of a sudden, her aunt looked down and saw a ladybug.

She was not a believer, now she is.

The entire family has ladybug stories from the past year, hence Linda's fondness for ladybug jewelry and all things emblazoned with ladybugs.

It is a small sign of life, but something she holds onto dearly in her profound grief and loss. The ladybugs make her grin, and in turn, make her think of her beautiful daughter's bright smile. They are a small comfort when there is no real comfort to be had for a mother who loses a child.

As we finished the interview with Linda Fisher Thursday at her sister's home, she suddenly called out "Ladybug!" I looked over at the window next to her, and low and behold, there it was, a ladybug making its way across the glass.

[Amanda Lamb, "Signs of Life", Dispatches from a Reporter's Notebook, WRAL.com]

As for me, I choose to believe that the ladybugs bode well for resolution in the investigation of Michelle's murder. And I'm grateful to Linda Fisher and Sharon Rocha for sharing their stories, to Amanda Lamb for taking notice, and to WRAL for providing a venue. If you haven't already done so, I urge you to watch Amanda Lamb's exclusive interview with Linda Fisher. Click the image below to access WRAL's video player.

Justice Abides

2007-10-22T20:56:00.000-05:00

With the anniversary of Michelle Fisher Young's murder swiftly approaching, the search for justice has taken on a renewed fervor. Despite months of no news and no visible activity in the investigation, various message boards across the Internet are proof-postive that many have never given up hope that Michelle's killer will eventually be prosecuted. In recent days, a group of friends calling themselves the "Magnet Militia" took it upon themselves to remind the public that Michelle Young's killer is still at large and even the smallest effort -- the minutest of clues -- can bring big results. Today, Amanda Lamb, crime reporter for WRAL, brought news of the story to the public. Don't miss Amanda's report via video link at WRAL.com.

The group has already distributed magnets to the residents of the Youngs' Enchanted Oaks neighborhood and intends to make more available throughout Raleigh, across North Carolina, and anywhere else that has the potential to yield results. They've graciously provided this photograph of a magnet applied to the mailbox at 5108 Birchleaf Drive, Michelle's former residence.

[Images courtesy of the Magnet Militia]

Kudos to the Magnet Militia! These friends give credence to the belief that justice abides and is determined to triumph.

Please, if you have any information related to Michelle Young's murder -- no matter how insignificant it might seem -- call the number on the magnet: 919-856-6800. It's the same as the number on the Progress Energy reward poster, which promises confidentiality to all tip providers.

Additional Note:

Michelle Young's mother, Linda Fisher, recently gathered together family and friends in New York for a picnic to celebrate Michelle's memory. Visit Statia Grossman's Michelle Young Memorial blog to view her photographs of the beautiful day they shared in her honor.

Rebuttal

2007-10-09T08:32:00.001-05:00

Gojo wrote: OKAY, INDIE, YOU ASKED FOR A FEW: LIES TOLD ABOUT JASON:

1. He killed Michelle

This has not been proven to be a lie. He's the prime suspect.

2. Car accident

I assume you're saying that it's a lie that the accident was intentional. The fact is that Wake County law enforcement officials reviewed the accident. Their determination is yet to be made public.

3. Boat accident

I need more information before I can make a determination about the veracity of this story.

4. Swallowed a ring

If this is a lie, it is Jason's lie. He convinced both Michelle and the owner of the rings that he had swallowed them. The subsequent action taken by them is proof positive that they believed the rings had traveled through Jason's gastrointestinal system.

5. Sabotaged heat pump

I'm not familiar with this rumor. I'm only aware that the unit that heated and cooled the second floor was not working at the time of Michelle's death. I can't see how sabotaging a heat pump could have anything to do with Michelle's death. The broken heat pump is a likely explanation for why Michelle was dressed as she was for sleeping.

6. Sabotaged garage door

As I understand it, the automatic door opener was broken. However, if Jason planned the murder, what could be accomplished by sabotaging the door opener? Nothing that I can see. The broken door opener and heat pump were just things that indicated the possibility of financial problems as probable cause for a search warrant and non-testimonial identification order. On the other hand, this photograph from On the Record suggests that investigators may have had some interest in the condition of the garage door.

7. Locked dog in bathroom

How can you state that this is a lie and in the same comment thread admit that you don't know where Meredith found the dog?

8. He is a narcissist

I'll leave that to the experts. Narcissistic or not, he is a jackass and a lousy husband.

9. He’s not a narcissist

See my response to number 8.

10. He is a spendthrift

Spendthrift is too narrow a term. The fact is that some of Jason's spending habits were a point of contention between Jason and Michelle.

11. He wallowed in the fleshpots of California, Las Vegas

He cheated on his wife.

12. He didn’t want Michelle and Cassie to go on the Calif. trip

I'm not familiar with this one either. As I understood it, Michelle was unable or unwilling to go on the California trip. Jason went without her and Cassidy. It seems strange to me, given the loss of the pregnancy and the impact that would (or should) have had on both Michelle and Jason.

13. He wasted money on the Calif. trip

Apparently, Jason did not consider it wasteful. Did Michelle? Eord11 said that she did.

14. Michelle was upset about money spent for the Calif. trip.

Witnesses A and B told Detective Sternberg that Michelle was upset about the California trip. Was it about the money or something else?

15. He wanted a divorce

I haven't heard or seen anything to suggest that Jason wanted a divorce. I have heard that he told friends that he was miserable in the marriage and never would have married Michelle if she hadn't gotten pregnant. I bet you've heard the same. I do not think Jason would have seen divorce as a satisfactory resolution.

16. She wanted a divorce

That remains to be seen. Hopefully, the therapists notes, and perhaps witness testimony, will shed light on the subject.

17. He bought life insurance a week before he killed her, a month before, etc.

It doesn't matter when the policies were purchased. The fact is that Michelle's death would compensate Jason in the amount of $1,000,000.

Oh, I’m tired of this. I could go on for several more pages.

I could, too.

Now it’s your turn. Tell me the lies told about the Fishers.

You can read them at CourtTV and Refugees Unleashed. I won't be posting them here.

Last Ditch Effort

2007-09-26T15:56:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow will mark two weeks since I made the following post in the comment thread of Michelle Young Murder: Rage or Planned?

There are some questions I would like to ask before I publish your comment. I can set up a private blog entry here that is password protected. You and I can discuss this matter on the comment section of that entry. All I need from you is for you to give me a password and agree not to share that password with anyone else. I will set up the private entry with the password you provide, and I will agree to not share the password with anyone else. When we are done with the discussion, I will delete the entry and the discussion if you so choose.

If I've heard no response from you by 5 p.m. tomorrow, I'll accept your silence as a rejection of my offer and publish your comment per your previous instruction. I hope that one way or another you'll participate in the discussion the subject of your comment is sure to touch off.

Update: September 28, 2007

Your comments have been published.

Beguilement for Hire

2007-09-11T10:52:00.000-05:00

Who paid the Quack? Do you feel like you got your money's worth? Think again. You've been hornswoggled. The Quack has exploited your family's tragedy. And for what? To prolong the agonizing wait for resolution. To delay the inevitable. To make a buck and a name for himself by providing a false sense of comfort to one family while revictimizing the other. That comfort will not last. The Quack's convoluted machinations of dubious information are being sorted out. His endeavor will not change the outcome. One family will eventually be faced again with the truth. The second impact of that truth will be more painful than the initial because it will be compounded by the shame and outrage of realizing that they were misled and that they paid the Quack to mislead them. The other family will endure the continued assault and persevere because their eyes are set on the horizon and the justice that approaches, slowly but surely.

Trying Out Wordpress

2007-09-06T08:55:00.000-05:00

I'm testing my blog on Wordpress to see if it's a good fit. Your browser will be redirected to frictionpowered.wordpress.com in 10 seconds. Let me know what you think of the new digs.

Update: September 10, 2007

I have removed the redirect script from the blog template, so visitors to this blog will no longer be automatically redirected to the Wordpress version of Friction Powered. Use the above link or the one in the sidebar if you want to check it out. I'm leaning toward keeping the Wordpress version, so I'm considering closing the comment threads here. Thanks for your interest.

Kick-Off at 6:00 PM

2007-09-01T11:10:00.001-05:00

Click on image to enlarge.

The below advertisement was published in the August issue of NCSU's Wolfpacker. Inexplicably, it did not appear in the September issue. Here's hoping the reward poster will be up on the Jumbotron during tonight's season opener against Central Florida, as well as at every home game hereafter until Michelle Young's killer is brought to justice.

(Scan courtesy of gorealtors)

A message for gojo

2007-08-24T12:20:00.001-05:00

Gojo, if you are thinking about altering my recent PM to you at CourtTV's forum and forwarding it to the moderator in an deceitful attempt to get me banned, I'd recommend that you abandon that idea. I've made a screenprint of my original PM to you and will make sure that Coldwater sees it if you engage in such an underhanded scheme.

Sincerely,

Scout

Michelle Young Murder: Rage or Planned?

2007-08-09T16:42:00.000-05:00

I made the post below at the CourtTV forum a few days ago, but it got little response. It seems most people discussing this case are already convinced that Michelle Young's murder was planned. I tend to agree with the notion that it was planned, but, as I said in the post, I'm interested in exploring the rage theory. So, I'm bringing the post here in hopes that any who might like to contribute, but are uncomfortable with the registration process required at message boards or don't want to attach a name to their comments, will feel comfortable contributing here.

At this point, I'm not interested in arguing guilt versus innocence. Until the evidence is presented, it isn't likely that any who believe Jason is guilty will change the opinion of any who believe he is innocent, and vice versa. Arguing about it is an endless loop of futility, imo. I prefer to discuss the topic of motive. More generally, was this murder a rage killing, or did the killer plan to murder Michelle before he ever entered the house that night? I tend to believe it was planned, but I'd like to further explore and discuss the rage theory of a fight that got out of control. The essence of a rage killing is uncontrolled physical violence.So the most basic question one could ask, if you consider Jason the perpetrator, is had there ever been any signs of violence in the past? It's been said by people who know the couple that they were not afraid to argue in front of other people and that their arguments were quite loud and made those present uncomfortable. So my questions of them are:

Was there ever any type of physical violence, from Jason or Michelle, during these altercations -- hitting, grabbing, pushing, throwing things, menacing behavior or threats of violence?

In retrospect, were there ever any injuries to either of them that caused anyone to wonder if there had been physical violence?

Was there ever any household damage that could have been caused by physical violence?

Were there ever any odd explanations or excuses from either of the Youngs that left you questioning their veracity, if even for a fleeting moment?

I realize my questions aren't likely to bring any insiders out of lurkdom. Who in their right mind would willingly throw themselves into this arena?! Nevertheless, I think the questions are important. IMO, they are elemental to the theory of a rage killing.

If you have anything to add, just click the Comments link at the bottom of this entry. You can make up a nickname or comment anonymously. On the off chance that you would like to contribute but don't want your comment published, just preface it with "Confidential" and I will withhold it in Comment Moderation.

Update: August 30, 2007

Comment moderation has been turned off. All new comments will be published immediately by the author.

Reward Offered for Michelle Young's Killer

2007-07-25T09:15:00.000-05:00

[click image to enlarge]

In case you missed it...

2007-07-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

Stan Tribble was convicted.

Yes, convicted of the first degree murder of his wife, Tracy Gostomski Tribble. Take heed; no physical evidence was found in Stan Tribble's vehicle nor in the couple's home that directly tied him to her death. Yet a jury found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

So what convinced the twelve of his guilt?

A missing comforter

Stan's chilling remark to a friend

Tracy's fractured face

Stan's defensive letter to the media
(strikingly reminiscent of Scott Peterson's letter to volunteers)

Stan's cell phone data, text messages, and email

and

The testimony of a jailhouse snitch.

Stan Tribble will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

What would I like to see next?

A billboard similar to the one pictured above (courtesy of Omaha's KETV-7) to replace the reward poster issued by Progress Energy last week for the murderer of Michelle Fisher Young.

Transmission Suspension

2007-07-12T12:21:00.000-05:00

[personal message redacted]

To all readers:

I am enabling Comment Moderation for the time being. All new comments will be held in moderation until I approve them for publishing, so don't be alarmed if you post a comment and it doesn't show up for some time. I will get to them as soon as I can. Anything unsuitable for publishing will be deleted.

In the meantime:

You can set your minds to work on what one reader termed "that awesome riddle". Then you will know something that I know. It's easier to solve than you might think. It's not like I wrote it in Mandarin, after all.

Message Box Help

2007-07-07T09:33:00.000-05:00

If you're having trouble sending and receiving private messages at the CourtTV or Websleuths forums, you probably need to clean out your box. It's necessary to clean out both the Inbox and the Sent Items folder. Otherwise, your box will fill up with sent messages and you won't be able to send or receive anything new.

Click on "user cp" near the top center of the page.
Click on "Private Messages" at the far right of the User CP navigation bar.
Delete any unwanted messages in your Inbox. Just check the boxes to the right of the message labels and click delete at the bottom of the list.
Select "Sent Items" from the "Jump to folder" dropdown menu on the right, just below the navigation bar.
Delete any unwanted messages in your Sent Items folder in the same manner that you deleted Inbox items.

I've been told it's also necessary to clear the Message Tracking items, but I'm not sure that function affects mailbox capacity. Tracking items can be viewed through the "Jump to folder" menu.

Bad News for Stan

2007-06-26T14:49:00.000-05:00

Jury selection has begun in the murder trial of Stan Tribble in Council Bluffs, Iowa, for the 2006 murder of his wife, Tracy Gostomski Tribble. Judge Gordon Abel, yesterday, ruled that past incidents of domestic violence will be allowed in as evidence of a pattern of abuse that eventually ended in Tracy's death. Additionally, Judge Abel nixed the defense team's request to present the absurd theory that Tracy committed suicide. Tracy's body was found in the Missouri River on May 19, sixteen days after Stan Tribble reported her missing. She suffered fracturing blows to the head, and cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation due to suffocation or drowning.

There is more information about Tracy's murder in previous entries on this blog. And local news organizations in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, appear to be following it closely.

Michelle Young Memorial

2007-04-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

Photographer, Statia Grossman, has created a blog as a memorial to her friend, Michelle Young. There she includes photos and video of the recent Arbor Memorial established in Michelle's honor as well as links to her photos and video of the 30th birthday celebration held in February. The address by Linda Fisher is particularly poignant. In addition to expressing the heartache and grief of the family's loss, Linda explains the reason for the Michelle Marie Fisher-Young Memorial Arbor Program and recites the poem etched on a star atop Michelle's evergreen tree. As I understand it, the poem was originally posted at Websleuths by a member named Samiya. Linda found it touching and meaningful, as Michelle often sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to Cassidy at bedtime, and had it engraved on the star with the opening words, "For Cassidy" and closing, "Love, Mommy".

In another clip, Michelle's father, Alan, with Meredith and Linda at his side, addresses the attendees and speaks of the Fisher family's grief as well as their commitment to attaining justice for their daughter and sister. In encourage you to watch each of the clips so generously provided by Statia Grossman. Michelle will not be forgotten.

If I have any of the above details wrong, please let me know and I will make the necessary corrections.

The Calm Before the Storm?

2007-04-10T09:34:00.000-05:00

It may be pointless to open the comment threads back up. It appears nothing is happening with the Michelle Young case right now. I was on the verge of abandoning this blog last November, so my interest in the Young case is virtually the only thing keeping the doors open.

It's not that I'm no longer interested in, or keeping up with, the other cases I've written about in the past; I'd just lost interest in continuing to blog about them. Some of them -- Natalee Holloway, Trenton Duckett, George Smith, IV, John Fiocco, Jr. -- may never be solved. I don't like it, but I've come to accept it. Others -- Tracy Tribble, Michelle Gardner-Quinn, Nona Dirksmeyer, Tiffany Souers, Imette St. Guillen -- appear to be proceeding toward satisfactory conclusions. I don't feel compelled to press on about them.

It's the uncertainty of an arrest and prosecution, the mystery of what investigators know but aren't revealing, that holds my interest in the murder of Michelle Young. And it's the apparent stagnancy of the investigation that frustrates me to no end. The forums devoted to discussion of the case at various message boards have all but died, progressing from a Groundhog Day-like continual loop of hash and rehash to a virtual standstill. Sparse information publicized by early media coverage and scant search warrants and leaked by people close to the family has been dissected and analyzed past the point of monotony to the brink of exasperation. I can only hope that the investigation being conducted by the Wake County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney Colon Willoughby's office has not gone as cold as the daily discussions at the crime forums. It's too dang quiet.

So like I said, it may be pointless to open the doors here, but I'm doing it anyway. Something's gotta give. Often, all it takes is one little change, one minute vibration of activity, to get the ball rolling. This is my insignificant contribution.

Riddle me this...

2007-02-28T09:44:00.000-06:00

A passenger in his own SUV;
Wan and silent or red-faced and sobbing?

The Young pack holds the safety net
Beneath Jason’s tightrope.

Cross Smith’s palm with silver,
And hope springs eternal.

$1,000,000. Baby, that’s a lot of pesos!
A few more than the average death would bring.

Is that a white Bronco in the garage?
Jason drives an Explorer, silly Billy.

The journey spans three states.
In what county does it re-enter North Carolina?

In a perfect world, Cassidy would have her mommy.
In our imperfect world, Mommy’s killer will be tried.

Linda waits for word.
Is her in-law an outlaw?

Turn this riddle every which way,
But don’t lose sight of the big picture.

The answer will get you close;
You must forego the compass to get there.

Solve it,
And you’ll make my day.

Jason's Journey Addendum

2007-02-26T09:26:00.001-06:00

If the previous entry, Jason's Journey, was too convoluted for you to follow, the map below should help you to follow along. Click on it for an enlarged image.

The legend at the left of the image shows most of the location labels. Marker #9 labels the green area where I believe Jason's Friday morning business meeting had to have been.

Of course, Jason and some of his family traveled from Brevard back to Raleigh, and ultimately, to Meredith's house in Fuquay Varina (#8) on Friday evening, but I didn't feel it necessary to draw that route on the map.

Jason's Journey

2007-02-24T09:58:00.000-06:00

When the murder of Michelle Young was first presented to the public, we learned from media reports only that Jason had traveled to Virginia on business. The exact location of his meeting and hotel were not revealed, and it wasn't even clear if investigators had that information. It could be inferred that the meeting was most likely in the western part of Virginia, as his route ostensibly provided the opportunity to swing by his mother's house in Brevard, North Carolina, before returning to Raleigh. In an earlier entry, I wrote the following in considering potential sites for Jason's lodging on the night in question:

If he did commit this homicide, I surmise that he probably drove about 3 hours on Thursday evening, checking in to a Hampton Inn in the vicinity of the I-77/I-81 junction, outlined on this map. (The map takes a little while to load but is very helpful in visualizing the itinerary, so be patient. And by all means, use the zoom feature.) That stopping point is a reasonable conjecture regardless of Jason's innocence or culpability. There are plenty of accommodations there and it is centric to several options for the location of his meeting, in addition to being logistically plausible with the Get-It-Market, the side-trip to Brevard, and a possible return trip to Raleigh during the night.

On Thursday, a CourtTV forum member by the name of RPD received independent confirmation that Jason's hotel was one of those included in my earlier estimation -- the Hillsville Hampton Inn, to be exact. Interestingly, it is the one in that outlined area that is closest to Raleigh, giving Jason a one-way travel time of approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes over 174 miles of interstate highway.

What else do we know or can we surmise of Jason's travels over those fateful two days? His friend, Rhett Fussell, states that Jason was traveling to Virginia for a business meeting and that he left on Thursday evening to get a head start. Commonly, evening is dinner-time to bed-time, or 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., though some consider evening to extend to midnight. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that Jason ate dinner with his family and hit the road after rush hour traffic dissipated. A forum member by the name of "just the facts" stated early on that Jason had called Michelle around 11 p.m. that night to let her know that he had arrived safely at his hotel. Allegedly, all was well at that time, but that phone call has not been publicly confirmed by any other source. Assuming that it is factual or even feasible, Jason had to have left home prior to 8:15. It seems reasonable to deduce that his departure fell some time in between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., more likely in the early portion of that spectrum. A CourtTV member who posts under the name Raleigh Resident reported hearing that Jason may have left as early as 4 p.m. If that were the case, where was he throughout the remaining afternoon and evening? He certainly would have had time to make it to his destination rather than stopping for the night less than three hours from his home.

The location and time of Jason's business meeting are two additional details that investigators have kept close to the vest. However, a CourtTV forum member, and self-described friend of Jason Young, by the name of gojo recently revealed that the meeting was scheduled for 10 a.m. Additionally, a receipt for gas purchase at the Get-It Market places Jason in Duffield, Virginia at some point on Friday, November 3. A full tank of gas could easily have gotten Jason's 2004 Ford Explorer from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Duffield, Virginia, and beyond. I consider Duffield to be a wayside stop that Jason made after his meeting. Why? For a couple of reasons:

It doesn't seem all that likely for him to have stopped for gas prior to his meeting. If he hadn't enough gas to make it from Hillsville to the meeting location, he would probably have filled up in Hillsville before embarking on the interstate. Then there's the possibility of messing up his suit or carrying a gasoline odor with him into the meeting. It just doesn't fit with my logic, however strange my logic might be.

Duffield is more than 40 miles off of I-81, the major thoroughfare to the southwestern corner of the state. The quickest route from Hillsville to Duffield actually takes the driver down into Kingsport, Tennessee and approaches Duffield from the southeast. That route just doesn't make a lot of sense to me unless Duffield was the intended destination. And I've seen nothing to indicate that it was.

I think it's more likely that the meeting location was somewhere to the north of Duffield and that Jason stopped at the Get-It Market for gas after his meeting, en route to his mother's Brevard, North Carolina home. The main route to Duffield from the north is US-23, which intersects US-58 some twenty miles north of town, which in turn approaches from Abingdon. Abingdon has long stood out to me as having some significance to the case. (And no, I'm not pretending to be psychic. In looking at the map, Abingdon caught my eye in much the same way that the I-77/I-81 interchange did.) Originally, it seemed like a good candidate for the source of the "Hampton Hotel" receipt found in Jason's SUV. However, travel distance and time quickly discounted that possibility, and we now know it not to be the case. So what other significance can Abingdon have? I surmise that it is where Jason left the interstate on his Friday morning trek to a business meeting somewhere to the north of Duffield. From thence, he cruised on down the scenic highways to Brevard, stopping briefly at the Get-It Market where he filled the Explorer's 22-gallon tank and perhaps grabbed a bite to eat. If I am correct in these musings and our friend gojo is correct as to Jason's 3 p.m. arrival in Brevard, he should have been at the Get-It Market around noon. The receipt and video surveillance tape will eventually tell the tale. Taking a stab at a one-hour meeting which began at 10 a.m. would allow for an hour's travel time from the meeting to Duffield. There are several towns to choose from; I still contend that the meeting was in Virginia as that has been the claim from Jason's camp since the earliest days following Michelle's murder.

As I stated earlier, Jason allegedly arrived at his mother's home at approximately 3 p.m. His step-father met him in the yard and broke the devastating news of Michelle's murder, whereupon Jason "fell plumb to his knees." According to gojo, Jason's mother, sister and brother-in-law drove him back to Raleigh, setting off around 4:30 p.m. and arriving in Raleigh between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m. During the drive, gojo claims, Mrs. Young called the Wake County Sheriff's Department to let them know that they were on their way and willing to do whatever necessary to assist in the investigation. Meanwhile, Jason was inconsolable and sobbing uncontrollably. The deputy is alleged to have asked if Jason was with her, to which she replied that he was but could not talk at that time, eliciting a "he'd better be with you" response from the deputy. I'll let you decide for yourself how much weight to give that rendition of events.

It's still unclear what time Jason and company arrived at Meredith Fisher's home in Fuquay-Varina to retrieve Cassidy, the Youngs' 2½ year old daughter. That residence is only about a twenty minute drive from the Youngs' Enchanted Oaks subdivision. When the Young party arrived, Jason's SUV was quickly detained and a search warrant for the vehicle was requested by the WCSD. The warrant was issued at 3:15 a.m. and executed at 4 a.m. but it isn't specified whether the detainment commenced before or after midnight. And it isn't clear where Jason was from the time he arrived in Raleigh until he showed up at Meredith's house. What has been relayed through gojo is that Jason entered the house to reunite with his daughter and remained inside while his family dealt with sheriff's officers outside, hoping to retrieve some of their personal belongings before the vehicle was taken away.

Those are Jason's travels as we know them to be or can reasonably deduce from the information available. Now it is left to determine whether the journey was a completely innocent business trip or a carefully crafted façade. The window of opportunity for Jason to have committed this crime spans the hours of midnight to 6 a.m., according to the time of death estimation. So it's important to investigators to verify his whereabouts.

The hotel receipt proves only that he checked in at a certain time. Did he check out in the morning? Even if he did, the opportunity to travel to Raleigh and back during the night is still there.

Jason was carrying at least one cell phone with him. What do his phone records indicate?

Were there pings throughout the night originating in the vicinity of the Hillsville Hampton Inn? That could be explained either of two ways:
1. Jason was in his hotel room all night and couldn't possibly have killed Michelle.
2. Jason left his phone in his hotel room, knowing that its pings could reveal his location.
Do the pings indicate movement to and from Raleigh? That would present strong circumstantial evidence, and Jason would probably be behind bars right now if it were the case.

Was his phone turned off at the conclusion of the alleged 11 p.m. phone call and turned back on in the morning? Again, there are two logical explanations, one supporting innocence and the other supporting guilt:
1. He simply turned the phone off for the night to get a good night's sleep and turned it back on in the morning as he set out for the day.
2. He turned it off so as not to have his movements recorded, returned to Raleigh, and turned it back on only when he was back in the vicinity of the Hillsville Hampton Inn the next morning.
A roundtrip return to the Enchanted Oaks residence during the night would have necessitated an additional gas purchase of 17-20 gallons. But there appear to be no other fuel purchases made on the night in question. In fact, the fuel stop in Duffield fits perfectly with Jason's legitimate business travels and side-trip to Brevard. The innocent explanation is that there were no other fuel stops between the Thursday evening departure from Raleigh and the Get-It Market purchase on Friday. In which case, Jason couldn't have returned to Raleigh and committed the murder. However there are two alternative explanations:
1. Jason paid cash for the additional gas purchase and discarded or destroyed the receipt.
2. Jason carried in the SUV gas cans containing an adequate amount to provide for the extra mileage.
I think it's important to note that between the alleged 11 p.m. phone call from Hillsville and the 10 a.m. meeting in western Virginia, Jason could have spent as many as 3 hours at the crime scene. Did he clean up there? Did Cassidy awaken while he was showering? Gojo has repeatedly made reference to Cassidy's isolated footprints in the bathroom across the hall. Who carried her in there? Were her little feet cleaned off with the washcloth she mentioned to Meredith during the 911 call? Did Jason get her back to sleep and spend as much time as possible with her before he felt compelled to hit the road in order to keep his business appointment? There are so many questions I'd like to have the answers to, but I'll never understand how he could leave her there alone with her mommy's bloody corpse.

What can be deduced from the above information and musings? Either Jason Young is innocent, or he gave careful thought and consideration to ensuring that the return to Raleigh would not be documented, and verifiable information indicating his whereabouts would jibe with the legitimate business trip. Investigators have their work cut out for them, as does Jason's attorney. Will forensic evidence at the scene of the crime prove Jason was there when the murder was committed and make all of these cogitations moot? Are there any witness sightings placing Jason Young where he shouldn't have been between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m.? Does Jason Young have information to prove that he was indeed where he claims to have been? Time will tell.

Meredith's 911 Call

2007-02-15T08:50:00.000-06:00

The following is a transcript that I typed up while listening to the tape of Meredith Fisher's 911 call of November 3, 2006 at approximately 1:30 pm. Meredith reportedly entered her sister's home, 5108 Birchleaf Drive in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the request of her brother-in-law, who asked her to retrieve some documents for him. This is not an official transcript.

DISPATCHER: 911 State your emergency

MEREDITH: I need an ambulance. It’s an emergency.

DISPATCHER: What address are you at Ma’am?

MEREDITH: Um Birchleaf…5108 Birchleaf Road

DISPATCHER: Okay and your phone number?

MEREDITH: Oh my God

DISPATCHER: Ma’am, what’s your phone number in case I lose you

MEREDITH: Um…(deleted)…hang on. Let me look at the phone. (deleted)

DISPATCHER: Alright, what’s the problem. Tell me exactly what happened.

MEREDITH: Um…I…I…I think my sister’s dead.

DISPATCHER: Okay, tell me what happened, ma’am.

MEREDITH: I have no idea. Oh my God.

DISPATCHER: Alright stay on the phone with me please.

MEREDITH: Um.

DISPATCHER: What’s your name?

MEREDITH: Meredith Fisher

DISPATCHER: Alright, Meredith.

MEREDITH: And this is the Young address. Oh my God.

DISPATCHER: Meredith, listen to me please.

MEREDITH: Yeah.

DISPATCHER: Are you with the patient now?

MEREDITH: Yes and her daughter. And…she’s…

DISPATCHER: Okay, how old is the patient?

MEREDITH: …and there’s blood everywhere. She’s 28…29

DISPATCHER: 28?

MEREDITH: Should I try to move her?

DISPATCHER: Listen to me, ma’am.

MEREDITH: Yes sir.

DISPATCHER: I’m gonna tell you what to do, but you need to calm down so we can help her. You said there’s blood everywhere?

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright. Is she conscious?

MEREDITH: N..., I don’t think so. Should I try to help her?

DISPATCHER: Listen to me, ma’am.

MEREDITH: I’m listening.

DISPATCHER: Is she breathing?

MEREDITH: I don’t think so.

DISPATCHER: Have you checked?

MEREDITH: Michelle? [pause] She’s cold.

DISPATCHER: Okay. Listen to me. Did you see what happened?

MEREDITH: I don’t know. Cassidy, come here, sweetie. I’m here with her daughter.

DISPATCHER: Okay.

MEREDITH: There's...there's like blood footprints all over the house from her daugther...like her daughter's little footprints.

DISPATCHER: Okay, listen to me. What's your first name?

MEREDITH: Meredith

DISPATCHER: Alright, Meredith...

MEREDITH: Yes sir.

DISPATCHER: Did you see what happened?

MEREDITH: I..I..I just came here on a fluke. I usually, you know, don't come here during the day.

DISPATCHER: Okay.

MEREDITH: She shouldn't be home. She should be at work. Like...

DISPATCHER: Okay, listen to me.

MEREDITH: Yes sir.

MEREDITH: I...I...[inaudible] right now.

DISPATCHER: Did you say...Can you tell me why she looks dead...looks like she's dead?

MEREDITH: I don't know. I have no idea. There's blood all over the place.

DISPATCHER: Okay, did you say she's cold?

MEREDITH: Sh..uh yes.

DISPATCHER: Okay.

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright, stay on the phone.

MEREDITH: Okay

CASSIDY: [inaudible] there's blood. Can you see my...[inaudible]...get a washcloth into my...[inaudible]...?

MEREDITH: Yes, sweetie.

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

MEREDITH: Sweetie, do you know what happened to Mommy?

CASSIDY: Uhn-uh

MEREDITH: Did she fall?

CASSIDY: Um...um...she gotta boo...She got boo-boos everywhere and...and...she got…

DISPATCHER: Alright, do you think she's beyond any help?

MEREDITH: I don’t know. Honestly, um…

DISPATCHER: You don’t know? Alright

MEREDITH: I’m normally very good under pressure.

DISPATCHER: Okay, we’re gonna tell you what to do then. Okay?

MEREDITH: Yes, sir.

DISPATCHER: Are you right by her now?

MEREDITH: I...I’m keeping her daughter out of there.

DISPATCHER: Okay. Alright, so you’re not with her?

MEREDITH: I’m right outside the bedroom.

DISPATCHER: Can you get her daughter secured s…Can you carry the phone to where she’s at?

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright. Can you secure her daughter?

MEREDITH: Cassidy, sweetie, can you stay in your room for two seconds, okay?

CASSIDY: Okay.

MEREDITH: Okay, can you close the door for two seconds and I’ll be right back in here, okay, sweetie?

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: Meredith.

MEREDITH: Okay, yes sir.

DISPATCHER: Okay. You got a cordless phone?

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright.

MEREDITH: Stay right there, sweetie. Okay.

DISPATCHER: Alright, is…I want you to…is she laying on her back?

MEREDITH: No, she’s laying on her stomach.

DISPATCHER: She’s on her stomach? She’s face down?

MEREDITH: Yes.

DISPATCHER: Alright, can you…can you get her on her back?

MEREDITH: [deep breath] okay…oh my God. Michelle? I don’t think so. She’s so heavy.

DISPATCHER: Alright, see if you can get her on her back.

MEREDITH: I just really think she’s dead.

DISPATCHER: Pardon?

MEREDITH: I really think she’s dead.

DISPATCHER: Okay. Are you certain?

MEREDITH: Hang on. Casssidy, sweetie, please go in your room. Okay, honey?

MEREDITH: I um…I um…I’m pretty sure.

DISPATCHER: You are?

MEREDITH: I…I don’t know…I don’t know. I’m…

DISPATCHER: Okay, we need to make sure.

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: Can you get her on her back for me?

MEREDITH: She’s kind of…twisted in a way that I can’t do that.

DISPATCHER: You can’t roll her over.

MEREDITH: Not…not easily.

DISPATCHER: You’re gonna have to try.

MEREDITH: Hang on…let me…I’m trying to see if I can get her pulse.

DISPATCHER: We gotta try to do CPR if we can get her on her back, Meredith.

MEREDITH: No, she’s ice cold.

DISPATCHER: She’s cold?

MEREDITH: Yeah.

DISPATCHER: Okay, alright.

MEREDITH: And her body is stiff.

DISPATCHER: Okay, then don’t try. If she’s cold then just…

MEREDITH: Oh my God, I (inaudible)…

DISPATCHER: …there’s probably nothing much you can do.

MEREDITH: Should I not touch anything?

DISPATCHER: Alright, try not to touch anything more than you did. Was anything out of place or unusual when you came in?

MEREDITH: This place does not look like what it normally looks like.

DISPATCHER: Okay, what’d it…

MEREDITH: There’s blood in the bed.

DISPATCHER: Okay, alright. Try not to touch anything else, okay?

MEREDITH: Okay, I just moved a pillow.

DISPATCHER: Alright. Just leave everything exactly where it is then.

MEREDITH: Okay…okay.

DISPATCHER: Do you see anything else?

MEREDITH: Um…

DISPATCHER: Do you see anything else that looks unusual?

MEREDITH: No. Cassidy, was anybody here? The dog was freaking out when I got here. Was anybody here, sweetie?

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

DISPATCHER: Alright, Meredith…

MEREDITH: Yes, sir.

DISPATCHER: Alright, I’m gonna…I’m gonna get the sheriff’s department to pick up on the line with us.

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: ‘Cause they’re gonna need to talk to you about what you’re seeing. Okay?

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: Now, I’m gonna brief them on what’s happened, and you just stay on the line.

MEREDITH: Okay.

DISPATCHER: What’s your last name, Meredith?

MEREDITH: Fisher.

DISPATCHER: Fisher?

MEREDITH: Her last name is Young.

DISPATCHER: Are you her relative?

MEREDITH: I’m her only sister.

DISPATCHER: Okay. Alright, Meredith. Stay with me just a minute, okay?

MEREDITH: Okay.

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

[series of clicks and tones]

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

MEREDITH: Okay.

[ring-tone]

CASSIDY: [inaudible] { some people believe they hear the words, “Daddy did it.”}

MEREDITH: Okay.

CASSIDY: [inaudible]

[ring-tone]

[ring-tone]

DEPUTY: Sheriff’s office. What is your emergency?

DISPATCHER: Hey, this is uh Brent.

DEPUTY: Uh-huh?

DISPATCHER: Look, I’ve got a lady named Meredith Fisher on the line from this address.

DEPUTY: Okay.

DISPATCHER: We’ve got E-medicine en route to Birchleaf.

DEPUTY: Okay.

DISPATCHER: And she…she’s in there with her sister. Um, she’s gonna tell you about what she’s seen, and it’s apparent it might be a Code 7 and there may be…there is evidence of trauma.

DEPUTY: We got deputies already en route.

DISPATCHER: Okay, but you need to talk to her. I’m gonna let her talk to you.

DEPUTY: I will. Thanks.

DISPATCHER: She’s on the line with you.

DEPUTY: Okay.

DISPATCHER: Meredith, go ahead.

DEPUTY: Meredith?

MEREDITH: I’m also here with [tape ends]

Perhaps to my peril...

2007-02-02T15:27:00.000-06:00

Better known as "The Ring Story"

As a blogger, I have, from time to time, received interesting information about the subjects that spark my interest. Usually, I am asked to keep whatever is shared confidential, as its release may be detrimental to the investigation or the anecdote may be self-evident as to its source. On the rare occasion, I am permitted to publish that with which I've been entrusted. Actually, rare is an understatement. It's rare that I get information that hasn't already been made public either through legitimate news reports, public statements by law enforcement officials, or word-of-mouth. Rarer still that I am able to publish.

The very brief story I'm about to share may be considered nothing more than grapevine gossip. That's the reader's prerogative. However, I will say that I have more faith in it than that. You will have to judge its merit on the basis of your own standards.

Without further ado, here is the story...

At a party shortly before Michelle's murder, Jason Young, ostensibly as a drunken party gag, swallowed the engagement ring of a female friend, later passing it and returning it to the betrothed --undoubtedly astonished and probably appalled --young woman the next day.

Now, even though I was given permission to share this story, I held off at first, uncertain what to do with it. Frankly, it left me aghast. Amid other concerns, the disturbing nature of the incident and its provocative connotations, at first glance, seemed a bit too unsavory and not necessarily relevant. Upon further pondering and discussion with a friend whose opinion I value, I came to the realization that it is indeed useful in giving a glimpse of the personality of Jason Young -- a window on his character, limited though the scope may be. It adds a whole new dimension to the affable, gregarious, late-blooming but charismatic and athletic mountain boy-cum-successful IT salesman previously presented by friends and relatives. Jason's exploit -- what some may consider a frat-boy prank -- demonstrates a total disregard for the sensibilities of the young woman, as well as complete and utter contempt and disdain for the sanctity of marriage, including but not limited to his own marriage to Michelle. I can only imagine the reactions of those who witnessed or were subjected to the despicable stunt.

So there you have it. And you can make of it what you will.

Update: 2/5/2007, 4:52 pm, CT

Some of the feedback on this story indicates that several readers doubt the veracity of it. For those who doubt, I can only say that I have also received independent verification of some of what I wrote. As well, I've been set straight on a couple of details. The incident was apparently Jason's idea of a practical joke rather than a drunken party gag. It did not occur at a party, but among a small group of people at the Youngs' home. You'll have to decide for yourself whether that makes it worse or better.

Young Autopsy Report

2007-01-26T12:20:00.000-06:00

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of North Carolina released the autopsy report of Michelle Young on Monday, confirming that the 29-year-old pregnant mom died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. In summary, the pathologist wrote the following:

Michelle Young was a 29-year-old woman who was found dead in her home along with her small child.

Autopsy examination shows extensive blunt force injury. Multiple blunt force injuries to the head have resulted in lacerations, extensive abrasions and contusions, multiple fractures of the mandible, avulsion of teeth, multiple skull fractures, and subarachnoid hemorrhage of the brain. There is injury to the neck consistent with manual strangulation. Blunt force injury to the left deltoid region has resulted in an abrasion and multiple contusions. Blunt force injury to the extremities has resulted in laceration of the left thumb, abrasion of the right wrist, and multiple confluent bruises over both hands. Other anatomic findings include an intrauterine pregnancy. A postmortem alcohol determination is negative.

Death is most likely due to blunt force injuries to the head.

Though the public has awaited this report for 2½ months, that part -- the cause of death -- was to be expected, having been widely published mere days after the murder. Unforeseen by many is the extreme brutality and viciousness of the attack. An attempted strangulation and some thirty blows to the head, neck and shoulder make it indubitably clear that the assailant intended to kill this woman and was determined to see it through to the bitter end.

Michelle did not die quietly. She fought for her life. A set of fingernail scratches on the left side of her neck illustrate her attempt -- a discernibly successful attempt -- to stave off the strangulation, which is evidenced by hemorrhage of the strap muscles in her neck. It appears that the killer then resorted to a barbaric and merciless barrage of blows, the majority of which are concentrated on the head, that left the victim with skull fractures, a broken jaw, at least twenty-five lacerations, multiple abrasions and contusions, and fractured and avulsed teeth. Scrapes and bruises to the backs of Michelle's hands, as well as a laceration on her left thumb, demonstrate that she attempted to shield her head from the flurry of blows rained down by her attacker. But to no avail. Most likely attacked in her bed in the middle of the night, she was at a distinct disadvantage. Perhaps startled from sleep by an unknown presence in the house or the throttling grasp of the intruder's hands, she was barefoot, unarmed and 20 weeks pregnant. The murderer, on the other hand, likely had the advantage of size, strength, stealth and malevolent intent. Abrasions and contusions on the left shoulder may be an indication that she crouched in a defensive position against the side of her bed or perhaps cowering in the niche between bed and nightstand during part of the onslaught.

Some may disagree with my assessment and interpretation, and of course, the Average Jane Disclaimer applies. I've read speculation that this may have been a verbal altercation that escalated to a physical assault and ultimately death. I admit that the same thought crossed my mind upon first reading the report. But on further review and rumination, I don't believe the evidence supports that theory. The injuries to the mouth were the result of crushing impact that split both upper and lower lips, broke off and knocked out teeth, and fractured the surrounding bone. This was no backhanded slap in response to a verbal offense. There is no evidence that the assailant chased Michelle around the room landing poorly aimed blows on her retreating back. The injuries are concentrated and don't appear to be inflicted by someone swinging in a blind rage. There are no scrapes or bruises on her legs to indicate that she was repeatedly knocked down. The location of her avulsed teeth on the floor near her head implies that she was stationary during much of the attack.

Some contend that Michelle's clothing is proof that she had not yet gone to bed for the evening.

The decedent is clothed in a hooded sweatshirt which is zipped up, a T-shirt, black pants, and pink panties.

Without a more specific description, it could just as easily be argued that this was loungewear commonly worn by women of Michelle's generation. It might be explained as the pragmatic choice of a mother whose husband is away on business, the indifference of a pregnant woman too tired to bother with changing, or a personal preference. Of note is the fact that she was not wearing shoes, socks, or a bra and her hair was not pulled up or tied back.

As for the weapon, some of the lacerations and abrasions -- the crescentic abrasion on the left deltoid, in particular -- have the appearance of being inflicted by a hard, cylindrical object. I tend to envisage the barrel of a hefty flashlight rather than a bat, which in my unlearned opinion, would have resulted in more numerous and pulverizing skull fractures. If the murder weapon has been recovered or identified by investigators, they have not yet revealed that detail.

There isn't enough information to determine if any items of evidentiary value in identifying the murderer were found on Michelle's body. The scratches on her neck provide the possibility that Michelle also scratched her attacker. Her nails were clipped by the ME and preserved for DNA testing of any skin scrapings beneath them. If the murderer was not wearing gloves, his fingerprints may have been found on Michelle's neck, detectable with cyanoacrylate (superglue) fumes. Certainly, the evidence of a struggle gave investigators reason to believe that the perpetrator may have been injured and prompted them to demand DNA samples and photographs of Jason Young's body. A hair found adhered in blood to Michelle's hand was also preserved for testing. However, it wouldn't be very strong evidence unless it proved to be from someone who had no reason for being in the Youngs' house. The presence of a follicle attached to the hair could boost its evidentiary value if it turned out to be Jason's though.

A prelimary report issued in early November placed the time of death between midnight and 6 a.m. on November 3, 2006. The completed autopsy report does not specify time of death. However, there are some details listed that may have been useful in narrowing it. Upon discovering the body at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Meredith, the victim's sister remarked that she was cold to the touch and her limbs were stiff, apparently in full or near full rigor. When the ME examined the body at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, rigor was not detectable. Meredith informed the 911 operator that her sister was lying face-down, but the ME denotes that livor was dark and posterior upon his examination, indicating that it had not yet set when the body was discovered. There was approximately 70 grams of thick, partially-digested food in Michelle's stomach. All of these things might be useful to a trained expert in narrowing the timeline. Perhaps, a more thorough report of the pathologist's findings and interpretations already exists. If one isn't made publicly available beforehand, I'm sure he will be questioned about and testify to his opinions regarding time of death and possible murder weapons when this case goes to trial.

In the meantime, the findings in this report offer more to study in conjunction with information included in other previously released documents. I hope to do that in a future entry. Actually, I was working on an interpretation of the investigation prior to the release of the autopsy report and hope to finish it soon. Bear with me.

A Brief Note on Michelle Young's Autopsy

2007-01-23T12:26:00.000-06:00

I understand that some of you are wondering why I haven't posted an entry about Michelle Young's autopsy findings. You would think I'd be on top of it being that I posted last Friday that the report would very shortly be available. I can only chalk up my untimeliness to a busy real life. I did spend most of my free time yesterday studying the report and briefly discussing it with an acquaintance, so I hope to have a thorough entry up soon. As a matter of fact, I awoke last night with a pretty good discourse running through my head, but today I cannot recall the words. I probably should have typed it up last night, but my husband might have seriously considered having me committed to an institution if I'd gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to post a blog entry. So, be patient and check back later. I will get to it -- hopefully, sooner rather than later. In the meantime, read the report yourself and feel free to discuss it in the comment section. The link in the first sentence of this entry will take you to WRAL.com's copy of the report in a flash media format. Be prepared though. It was an extremely brutal and extensive attack. It's not an easy read by any means.

Back to Basics: The Murder Discovered

2007-01-18T14:08:00.000-06:00

While we await news in the Michelle Young murder investigation, I'd like to revisit the events of Friday, November 3, 2006, as can be gleaned from various news reports, court documents available to the public, and unconfirmed reports provided by those who claim inside information and/or a personal relationship with the Youngs. My reasons are two-fold. First, as is usually the case, the process helps me to organize my thoughts and inspires new questions. Second, as more information has become available, some of the theories expressed in earlier entries have become unlikely -- some disproven -- and are not a good representation of my current beliefs about the case.

At about 1:30 p.m. on Friday, November 3, Meredith Fisher called 911. She had gone to the Young's residence, 5801 Birchleaf Drive in Raleigh, NC, at the request of her brother-in-law, Jason Young, to retrieve a document from the computer printer. Upon arriving, Meredith discovered an unbelievable and horrific scene. The family dog was in a highly agitated state; Michelle Young was lyng face-down in a pool of blood on the floor of the master bedroom; and Cassidy, her 2½-year-old daughter, was unharmed by her mother's side.

Meredith soon discovered that her sister was dead and had been for many hours. Her body was cold to the touch and in an advanced state of rigor mortis. A preliminary report by the medical examiner estimates that Michelle had died from blunt force trauma to the head sometime between midnight and 6 a.m. It's unknown at this time whether the time of death has been further narrowed by completion of the autopsy. That report is not yet available. However, of note is the exclusion of the 1½ hours between 10:30 p.m., the time that Michelle was last seen alive, and midnight. It's doubtful that a preliminary examination by the ME could rule out that period of time, so investigators must have some other evidence, such as telephone or computer use perhaps, indicating that Michelle was alive until midnight.

Meredith informed the 911 operator that her sister's house did not look like it usually does; there was blood in the bed and small bloody footprints everywhere. In trying to help her mother and bandage her "boo-boos", Cassidy had tracked Michelle's blood throughout the house. It's been stated by those "in the know" that the dog had also tracked through the blood.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison informed the public that the murder did not have the appearance of a random crime. There was no sign of forced entry and nothing appeared to be missing from the home. Someone claiming to know the Youngs disagrees, insisting that she was told by a person who observed the crime scene that drawers were missing from Michelle Young's jewelry box in the master bedroom and valuable jewelry was taken. Additionally, this person states that Michelle's purse was on the floor. According to this 11/21 search warrant, Michelle's purse was in the kitchen.

There are still a lot of unknowns regarding the document that Meredith was asked to retrieve. According to court documents, Jason Young made the request via a voicemail for Meredith. The time and location of origin of that call have yet to be released by investigators. Early reports were that the document was a fax; various outlets indicated that it had to do with a gift Jason Young planned to purchase for his wife and didn't want her to see. The search warrant for the Youngs' Compaq Presario computer includes the following information about the document:

The victim's sister came to the house to retrieve a document, which was on the printer, located next to the computer. The document had been printed from that computer the hours before the victim's death was discovered.

Authorities have not revealed the contents of that document or where it originated, though it was referred to in the probable cause section of the warrant to search a Dell Inspiron computer belonging to Michelle Money of Ocoee, Forida. The warrant also revealed that Jason and Ms. Money had been involved in a relationship; the pair were in almost daily contact by phone and email for some three months preceding the murder. In addition, the time and location of Jason's call to Meredith have not yet been made public. Understandably, there has been a lot of speculation about the "fax", with many postulating that it was a ruse to get Meredith to the house in order to rescue Cassidy and discover the murder.

Jason Young, the victim's husband, reportedly left home on Thursday evening to get a head-start on a Friday morning business trip to Virginia. The exact time of his departure is not known to the public. According to a friend, Jason planned to visit his parents in Brevard, North Carolina after his meeting and before returning to Raleigh. Whether that side-trip was planned before leaving home or was a spontaneous decision of Friday morning is dubious, as no one as yet has confirmed having prior knowledge of the trip. Receipts found in Young's Ford Explorer appear to confirm the trip to Virginia, but the location of his hotel has not yet been revealed. With information known to date, the timeline still allows enough leeway for Jason Young to have returned to Raleigh during the night, committed the crime, and made it to his meeting the following morning, the exact location of which is yet to be revealed. It's also unclear whether or not Jason actually attended a meeting or kept any sort of appointment on Friday morning. If investigators have that information, they've yet to make it public. What we do know is that, on Friday morning, Jason purchased gas at the Get-It Market in Duffield, VA -- a little burg off the beaten path in the southwestern corner of the state. It's a mystery what took him to that convenience store, as it is more than 40 miles off the interstate.

Jason reportedly arrived at his mother's Brevard home on Friday afternoon. He was greeted in the front yard by his step-father. Upon being told of Michelle's death, Jason "went plumb to his knees." Returning to the Raleigh area with his mother and other family members, Jason apparently drove to his sister-in-law's house in Fuquay-Varina Friday night, probably to pick up his daughter. His vehicle was observed there by WCSO Major R. L. Johnson, who noticed spots, consistent in appearance with blood, on the driver's side rear door and on the seat behind the driver's seat. Major Johnson spoke briefly with Jason Young who officials indicate has refused to be interviewed or assist with the investigation. The Ford Explorer and and all of its contents were detained and a warrant was executed early the following morning.

There have been no arrests in the case, and the Wake County Sheriff's Office has not publicly named a suspect. However, all investigatory documents released to date seem to indicate that Jason Young is the focus of the investigation. If he did commit this homicide, I surmise that he probably drove about 3 hours on Thursday evening, checking in to a Hampton Inn in the vicinity of the I-77/I-81 junction, outlined on this map. (The map takes a little while to load but is very helpful in visualizing the itinerary, so be patient. And by all means, use the zoom feature.) That stopping point is a reasonable conjecture regardless of Jason's innocence or culpability. There are plenty of accommodations there and it is centric to several options for the location of his meeting, in addition to being logistically plausible with the Get-It-Market, the side-trip to Brevard, and a possible return trip to Raleigh during the night.

The investigation goes on as officials continue to be tight-lipped about details. Perhaps we'll learn more with the release of the autopsy report, which I'm told will likely occur later today.

Young PhotosClick to Enlarge

2007-01-13T18:50:00.000-06:00

A Tender Tail Tale

2007-01-12T20:19:00.000-06:00

Remember Aesop's fable, The Lion and the Mouse? It's the first thing I thought of while watching this video at MSNBC.com. Enjoy!

Lion gets a hug

Jan. 12: An African lion has struck up a close friendship with the woman in Colombia who saved his life.

Jason's SUV: Items of Interest

2007-01-06T12:11:00.000-06:00

If you've read the comment section of the previous blog entry, you've seen this post by Captain Joe:

I've found out where JY went to in VA and why. There was a gas receipt from a place called Get I market shown on a warrant today. I believe that it was a mis-spelling. It should be Get-IT market, and there's only one of those in VA, in Duffield, VA. And from a news article in October, If you read this article about a new medical center in Duffield, VA that was published last October, you can see why he went there. They were looking for bids on a medical data program. I think his trip there was legitimate, that's exactly where he went to.

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3691596

I consider Captain Joe's find very interesting and a good potential candidate for the location of Jason's Friday morning meeting in Virginia.

As Captain Joe noted, and I mentioned in an earlier entry, a gas purchase receipt, dated November 3, from a business referred to as the "Get I Market" was found in Jason's Explorer. I've been unable to locate any such business in North Carolina, Virginia or Tennesee. There is, however, a Get-It Market in Duffield, Virgina. Duffield is an approximate five hour drive from the Young's Raleigh residence -- a long haul, considering he left in the evening hours. As you may recall, Jason reportedly told a friend at Michelle's funeral that he left Thursday evening for a headstart on an early morning meeting in Virginia. I surmise that Jason may have driven about three hours on Thursday evening and found lodging in the area around the junction of Interstates 77 and 81 in Virginia. There are several Hampton Inns in that region, and the search warrant for Jason's SUV lists a November 2 receipt for a "Hampton Hotel".

During the search of the home, investigators also confiscated a Hampton Inn reservation confirmation for the dates September 5-8. If that Hampton Inn was also in Virginia, it could be an indication that Jason was familiar with hotels in the area I've outlined on this map. Familiar enough to use one of them as an effective alibi in the planning of a murder? Time will tell.

Update: 5:23 pm, CT

Just in case any of you are wondering why I didn't write about the two spots, consistent in appearance with blood, found by Major R. L. Johnson of the Wake County Sheriff's Office on the rear driver's side door and the rear driver's side seat of Jason's Ford Explorer, I can only say that, at this point, I'm not convinced that they have any evidentiary value. They've surely been tested for the presence of human blood and, in the event they tested positive, DNA-tested to determine whose blood it might be. I find it difficult to believe that Jason would have gotten his vehicle back if either of those stains had turned out to be Michelle's blood.

In giving further thought to the absence of mention of any luggage in the warrant, I have a few questions:

Did Jason and his passengers unload their luggage prior to arrival at Meredith's residence? If so, where?

Did Jason and his passenger transport their luggage in another vehicle in anticipation of the search and seizure that would have seemed inevitable in light of the apparent distrust for Wake County Sheriff's officials exhibited by Jason's stepfather?

Or was an additional search done after the SUV was hauled in, detailing the luggage and contents thereof?

It's my opinion that we should expect to see more investigatory paperwork in regard to that SUV. Certainly, there will be a report forthcoming on those two suspicious spots.

Update: 01/07/07, 2:45 pm, CT

It's been pointed out to me that there is another Get-It Market in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. I've charted both Virginia stores on this livesearch map. I've also been told that there are Get-It Markets in Tennesee, but I've been unsuccessful in digging up any information on those. I'd appreciate any help provided in locating those stores.

Young Search Warrants

2007-01-05T17:53:00.000-06:00

The search warrant for Jason Young's 2004 Ford Explorer was returned today after his SUV was released to his attorney yesterday. That link will take you to WRAL's copy of the warrant. Of note is the mention in the probable cause section of dark spots, consistent in appearance with blood droplets, in two locations in and on the SUV. Those may turn out to be nothing relevant to the murder but were certainly a good excuse for Wake County Sheriff's officers to search the vehicle.

The vehicle was detained prior to the search at a residence in Fuquay-Varina -- to my knowledge, the home of the victim's sister, Meredith Fisher.

The inventory list is mostly unremarkable, but it appears that the list may be incomplete. There is no mention of luggage and the phrase "nothing follows" is conspicuously absent from the bottom of the list.

Of interest to me are the two receipts for gas and one for lodging. The Han-dee Hugo #89 is located at 2516 South Saunders Street in Raleigh -- not far from the Youngs' residence. After much searching, I was unable to locate a "Get I Market" in any of three states -- North Carolina, Virginia, or Tennesee. I did find a Get-It Market in a little burg off the beaten path in southwestern Virginia -- Duffield, Virginia. I also searched for other variations including Get One Market and Get 1 Market. No luck with those. As for the "Hampton Hotel", this probably refers to a Hampton Inn in Virginia, of which there are several. The one that caught my attention for no particular reason is the Hampton Inn in Abingdon, Virgina. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

WRAL has links to the earlier released search warrants on this page.

Update: 9:17 pm, CT

There is, in fact, another page to the search warrant inventory. It includes the Dell laptop computer, various papers, and an automotive repair or maintenance invoice. Still no mention of luggage however.

I've mapped out some of the Hampton Inns in southwestern Virginia for reference as to where Jason may have checked in on November 2.

Hampton Inns Map

Distance and travel time from the Raleigh residence can be easily calculated by hovering over the markers and selecting the desired options.

Update: 01/06/07, 11:45 am, CT

If you've read the comment section of this blog entry, you've seen this post by Captain Joe:

I've found out where JY went to in VA and why. There was a gas receipt from a place called Get I market shown on a warrant today. I believe that it was a mis-spelling. It should be Get-IT market, and there's only one of those in VA, in Duffield, VA. And from a news article in October, If you read this article about a new medical center in Duffield, VA that was published last October, you can see why he went there. They were looking for bids on a medical data program. I think his trip there was legitimate, that's exactly where he went to.

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3691596

Cruel & Unusual

2007-01-01T14:04:00.000-06:00

As suggested in the December 18 entry on this blog, entitled "What was missing?", it has now been confirmed by Linda Fisher that Cassidy Young has not been allowed to see her maternal family members since Michelle Fisher Young's murder on November 3.

Read this Newsday article for more.

What was missing?

2006-12-18T09:24:00.000-06:00

The following post at a forum dedicated to discussing the Michelle Young murder investigation has stirred up curiosity and inspired quite a bit of speculation -- some of it absurd, in my opinion.

yes, i know her. no, she wasn't at work when he called. yes, there was really a fax. yes, it was for a gift of some sort for Michelle. yes, she was at their house alot & yes, like a nanny to her niece. yes, he has stayed at inlaw's house since murder. yes, he was out of town when the body was "found."

nothing stolen? ask jdub if he noticed anything missing at the funeral?

i think he's guilty as sin & hot-shot lawyer (previously partners with John Edwards-just stating a fact- i like john) will not get him out of this one.

The way I see it, a few posters at Websleuths are on the right track.

What ( rather who) was missing?

Michelle's mother told us:

My name is Linda Fisher, and Michelle Young is my daughter. We are shaken and heartbroken over the tragic loss of Michelle. She's the wife, a sister, a granddaughter, and most importantly the mother of my only granddaughter, Cassidy (sobbing).

I'm asking for anyone who has seen or heard anything -- as trivial as you might think it is, anything -- to please come forward and help find the person who murdered our daughter...my daughter.

I also want to thank, or take the opportunity to thank, everyone who has given their love and support to us during this horrible time. And I want you to please understand that our family is in mourning, and we appreciate the privacy to grieve.

And I have great faith in the police that they will help find the person who is responsible for taking our Michelle away from us. I love her. (sobbing) I love my Michelle, and she's gone.

Thank you.

Where is she now and why is she being kept from the Fisher family?

Questions, questions, questions...

2006-12-15T09:53:00.000-06:00

Six weeks into the investigation of Michelle Young's murder, Wake County officials continue to keep the bulk of the details close to the vest. It's frustrating for those of us on the outside looking in, but certainly understandable as necessary to protect the integrity of the investigation and avoid trying the case in the media. A string of particular questions circle around in my head, and I wonder just what it is about each one that is vital to solving the crime and apprehending the perpetrator. Why do investigators and/or prosecutors release certain details yet keep so many others out of the public domain?

What time did Jason leave home on November 2?

We learned from a news report quoting, Rhett Fussell, a friend of the Youngs that he left in the evening for an early morning sales meeting in Virginia, but the exact time of his departure is, as yet, unpublished. We also know that Jason had a very brief conversation with investigators on the day Michelle's body was discovered. Did he make a statement as to what time he left? If so, surely investigators have done everything in their power to either substantiate or disprove that claim. Is there some discrepancy between the two? Or is there unaccounted for time between his departure from the Youngs' Raleigh home and his arrival at the Virginia destination?

Where did Jason spend the night of November 2-3?

Did he check in to a hotel in the same Virginia city he was to make a sales call in? Or did he stop short and spend the night somewhere in between Raleigh and the destination point? In either case, it's conceivable that he had time to return to Raleigh, kill Michelle, and still make it to the Virginia sales meeting on Friday morning.

What was the location of the sales meeting?

A poster at the CourtTV forum who claims to have some inside knowledge put forth that the meeting was to be in Roanoke, but officials have never publicly made clear the location nor indicated if Jason actually kept the appointment. Failure to keep the appointment would be a devastating blow to his alibi, but keeping it would not necessarily solidify it. Depending on the chronology of his departure, hotel check-in, and the sales meeting, he may have had ample time for a round-trip to Raleigh to commit the crime.

Who sent the mysterious "fax"?

Meredith Fisher, Michelle's sister, told officers that she had received a voicemail from Jason Young on Friday morning, with a request for her to go to the house and pick up a fax. This excerpt from a November 30 warrant seems to suggest that the document does exist:
The victim's sister came to the house to retrieve a document, which was on the printer, located next to the computer. The document had been printed from that computer.
Of more interest is the fact that this document was of notable mention in the Probable Cause section of a warrant to search a Dell computer belonging to Michelle Money. Does this suggest that Michelle Money sent the document that Meredith was asked to retrieve? If so, we can reasonably conclude that Meredith had no knowledge of the affair between her brother-in-law and Mrs. Money. That could indicate that Michelle Young was also in the dark in that regard. Or if she was aware, she had only very recently learned of it.

What were the plans for the coming weekend in the Young household?

Friends of Jason have laid out for us his purported plans for the early part of the weekend. ConcernedCitize at the CourtTV forum gave the following account:
Jason left home Thur. Pm to go to Va. I do not know the exact time he left but know it was in the evening. He had a meeting there Fri. AM. He checked into a hotel there and called Michelle at around 11 PM that night when he had arrived. He spoke to her and all was fine. He had his meeting Fri. Am and then as had been previously planned, drove to western NC to his mom's house where he'd planned to have a short visit and spend the night before returning to Raleigh the next day. People are very confused over the sequence there because the press has published so many different things. He went to VA, spent the night, had a meeting in the AM, then as planned drove to Brevard.
The author twice qualified that the trip to Brevard had been planned in advance. Why the emphasis? It seems of great importance to the author that we are not left with the impression that Jason's decision to visit his mom was a spur of the moment notion. If the visit was unplanned, did his parent's know before learning of Michelle's murder that Jason was coming? If they learned of both at the same time, I can certainly see why his stepfather was so insistent that he retain an attorney before speaking to investigators.

On the other hand, a pre-planned trip to Brevard seems rather sinister in the context of Michelle's death. It's been reported that Fridays are Michelle's flex days at Progress Energy, and she wasn't expected in that day. Wouldn't Jason's parents have loved to see their daughter-in-law and, especially, their granddaughter? If Michelle had a doctor's appointment that day, she could have rescheduled and gone along to enjoy a weekend in the mountains with her family. Why would Jason leave them behind and give Meredith the impression that Michelle would be at work that day?

One more thing that calls into question the side-trip to Brevard is the fact that Saturday was Homecoming for the NCSU Wolfpack. It's common knowledge that Jason is a big fan and has been a season ticket holder, fully engaging in tailgating and other Wolfpack festivities -- even hoisting up little Cassidy, dressed as a miniature NCSU cheerleader, in mock cheerleader lifts at games . Would his parents even be on his mind on Homecoming weekend? Would he take the time to drive hours out of his way and miss out on any part of the Homecoming hullabaloo?

How was Jason notified of Michelle's murder, and what was his reaction?

Jason's step-father claims to have broken the news:
"I met him in the yard and told him what happened," Gerald McIntyre, the stepfather, said from his home in Brevard.
"He went plumb to his knees."
According to friends, the family, after learning of the murder, elected to tell Jason when he arrived rather than devastating him with the news while he was driving and alone. However, Wake County Sheriff, Donnie Harrison, told Greta van Susteren of Fox News that his office notified Young. As I've stated before, the falling to his knees bit seems rather contrived as an immediate response. It conveys acceptance rather than stunned disbelief, in my opinion. Why would he be so quick to accept such shocking news? Did he ask about the welfare of his 2½ year old daughter, Cassidy? Did he display any concern as to her condition or whose care she was in? I'm hopeful that Sheriff Harrison sent a representative to personally notify Jason Young of Michelle's murder. His initial response to that news could be very telling.

What was the murder weapon?

Has it been located and recovered? Have marks on Michelle's body allowed examiners to determine what type of instrument was used? Is there any evidence tying the weapon to the crime and/or to a suspect?

I believe that investigators have the answers to all of these questions and probably more. And I believe that what they know in that regard led them to focus on Jason Young as a suspect in his wife's murder early on in the investigation. They said almost from the beginning that it was not a random act. I wonder why.

Update: 1:25 pm CT

Another question just occurred to me. Why did Wake County authorities recently release part of the warrants relating to the case? Specifically, why did they reveal the adulterous affair between Jason Young and Michelle Money. Mrs. Money has reportedly been very cooperative and fully answered all of investigating officers' questions. So why offer her up to the media and public scrutiny? Perhaps, she's a bit of a decoy, in that there are other girlfriends that Sheriff Harrison would like to keep under the radar, so to speak.

Young Timeline

2006-12-13T14:41:00.000-06:00

I am in the process of creating a detailed timeline of the Michelle Young case using information gathered from news reports, search warrants, and forum postings. All input is welcome and appreciated. Just post it in the comment section, and I'll add it to the calendar.

You can navigate to the timeline using the following link.

Michelle Young Timeline

In addition, a link to the timeline has been added to the LINKS section in the right sidebar of this blog.

Update: 5:58 pm, CT

A few readers have expressed confusion over why some events on the timeline appear out of order. That's due to a shortcoming of the calendar format. If an event is not linked to a specific time, the calendar will automatically list it above the events that include a time. For instance, the conversation between Jason and law enforcement officers on November 3 appears above the actual discovery of the body by Meredith. It is not meant to indicate that the former occurred before the latter. The only way I can correct that is to estimate a time for each event.

Editing Note

2006-12-10T09:03:00.000-06:00

The post entitled "What Next?!" has been removed from this blog. I consider the allegation on which it was originally based to be completely false. Although I declared it untrue in an update, it seems much more fair to do away with the entry completely and eliminate the potential for perpetuating false stories.

Why am I not surprised?

2006-12-07T13:41:00.000-06:00

It seems ol' Jason has a girlfriend. Or maybe I should state that in the past tense. Jason Young had a girlfriend in Florida. That rumor proved true, not that I ever doubted it. The only thing that even slightly surprises me is that we found out about it so quickly. My guess is that investigators are getting nowhere with Jason Young as far as cooperation from him. This information should pull the legs out from under a lot of the support he's been getting and put Jason on notice that the gloves are off.

Excerpt from the News & Observer article:

According to the search warrants, Jason Young was in almost daily contact with Michelle Money of Ocoee, Fla., by phone or e-mail in the three months before his wife's death. Investigators seized two cell phones from Jason Young's Ford Explorer and asked the phone companies to turn over call records and voice mail on the accounts, according to the warrants.

The warrants also show that investigators seized several records related to travel by Jason Young, including a US Airways baggage claim ticket and a receipt for a United Airlines flight to Denver in October. Other seized items include Young's credit card statement, a computer hard drive and file folders containing a will, insurance information and other papers.

The trip to Denver in October could have been when Jason met the Florida woman, or it could have been a romatic getaway for the couple disguised as a business trip. While pregnant Michelle stayed home with Cassidy, Jason may have been romancing his girlfriend rather than celebrating the third anniversary of his marriage with his wife. Brings a whole new spin to that "leather purse for a third anniversary gift" story, doesn't it? I'd like to hear "just the facts" explanation for that. If there is a cookie cutter for cads, it should be marketed with the mugshots of Scott Peterson and Jason Young on the packaging.

Regarding Michelle Money (yes, she shares his wife's first name), I give her the benefit of the doubt. Unless and until otherwise proven, I assume that she is in no way involved in Michelle Young's murder. It is quite possible that, like Amber Frey, she contacted North Carolina authorities upon learning that her boyfriend was married and his wife and unborn child had been murdered. Regardless, I hope that investigators have gotten full cooperation from Ms. Money.

The News & Observer article goes on to state that Meredith Young was contacted through voice-mail by Jason to go over to the house to retrieve a computer print-out. So that clears up the great fax debate. I expect the media attention to this case will pick up pace now that the cad is out of the bag (bad pun, I know). I'm sure there's plenty more known about Jason's activities that is being held back in order to protect the investigation. Keep me posted and I'll try to do the same.

Update: 5:06 pm, CT

Well, it appears that these two Michelle's may have been "friends" going back to college, if not even further back than that. Michelle Money has former addresses in Raleigh, NC, as well as Port Jefferson, NY -- just a hop, skip and jump from the Fishers' hometown of Sayville.

It all goes back to Laci...

2006-12-04T09:01:00.000-06:00

I suppose the OJ Simpson trial was my introduction to following crime stories. It was everywhere, and everyone was talking about it. We didn't have CourtTV in my community then, but even CNN ran gavel-to-gavel coverage of that trial. There was no getting away from it. But the Laci Peterson case is the one that I always go back to. It will never leave me. Believe it or not, a few of the finer details have gotten a little fuzzy with the passage of time, but I can still picture in my mind the various photographs and video clips that introduced us to Laci -- her brilliant smile and her effervescent charm. She had the same impact on almost everyone who caught a glimpse. It isn't likely that any of you who watched the memorial video set to Brown Eyed Girl have forgotten it nor the emotions it evoked. I know I haven't.

And neither has the prosecution team. Birgit Fladager recently spoke about the case to a gathering of Kentucky lawyers.

Fladager played a tape yesterday that jurors never got to see because of restrictions on the number of photos prosecutors could show the jury. It showed several photos of Laci Peterson from childhood to adulthood, with Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison -- Laci's favorite song -- and later I Will Remember You by Sarah McClachlan playing in the background.

At the beginning, the judge tapped his feet to the upbeat Morrison song as he watched the tape in his office, Fladager said. He was silent at the end, she said, and the defense lawyers stared down at their shoes.

"When you watch this, keep in mind there is a guy who supposedly loved her," Fladager said of Peterson before she played the video for Kentucky prosecutors. "And she died in a horrible way. And he showed absolutely no emotion to what you're about to see. Which told me then that he never cared about her. He never cared about anybody."

Peterson deserved all the scorn and wrath he got from the public for the simple fact of what he did to Laci, Conner, and the Rocha family. But he couldn't stop there. His coldness, both before and after the fact, made it that much easier to condemn him.

Lately, I've been silently questioning myself and what I do here on this blog. I didn't have my own blog when the Peterson investigation and trial were ongoing, but I participated in discussing it elsewhere. I believed early on that Scott Peterson was responsible for his wife and unborn son's disappearance and murder. I didn't have the internal conflict about discussing the case that I've been experiencing lately. I consider Jason Young the prime suspect in the murder of Michelle Young and her unborn son. I have suspicions as to the car accident that killed another of their unborn children. But what if I'm wrong? Am I persecuting an innocent man -- a grieving husband and father -- and those who love and support him by writing about my suspicions on this blog and elsewhere? That thought troubles me. So I intend to rethink the case. I'll try to look at each item of evidence and reported fact more objectively and give unconfirmed rumors the proper weight.

Still, my primary concern is the victims. If I can do anything to facilitate justice for Michelle Young and her babies or to support her heartbroken family in even the smallest way, that is what I want to do. I know my chances of accomplishing either are slim, but slim is better than none. Of course, I feel sorry for Jason's family and what they're going through. I understand their need to support and defend him. And even if he proves to be the murderer, I will still expect them to support him. I just hope they handle it with more grace, more dignity and, most importantly, more compassion for their daughter-in-law's family than the Petersons did.

Back to Basics: The Night of the Murder

2006-11-30T11:14:00.000-06:00

New information is hard to come by in the investigation into the bludgeoning death of Michelle Fisher Young of Raleigh, North Carolina. What information we have is being bandied about on crime forums as armchair sleuths attempt to piece it together and determine who is responsible. Meanwhile, people who claim to know the Youngs have been entering into the discussions -- some in an attempt to defend Jason Young from what they consider a misinformation campaign designed to vilify the husband, others who have some suspicions of their own about his involvement, and a few who seem to be trying to gather information and figure out what happened just as the rest of us are. While we wait for something to break, I suggest we take a more organized approach at analyzing what we have at hand. There's plenty to work with, but it's scattered throughout news reports, interviews, and forum postings. Granted, what we "know" is only as reliable as its source, but we can only work with what we've got.

Michelle was 20 weeks into her third pregnancy. The couple was expecting a boy and had a two-and-a-half year old daughter named Cassidy. Michelle's second pregnancy ended in a therapeutic abortion in June of 2006, when shortly after a May 29 car accident in Transylvania county, it was determined that the baby had stopped developing. Michelle conceived again a couple of weeks later; if the 20-week gestational age is accurate, her baby boy would have been conceived on or about June 30. Friends of Jason insist that the loss of the second pregnancy and the car accident are unrelated, but it's unlikely that her doctor could make that determination with medical certainty. Another person who attended the funeral related hearing that the miscarriage was a result of trauma from the car accident and that Michelle was not wearing her seatbelt when their car went off the highway and down an embankment into the French Broad River. There have been a couple of different explanations given by friends of the Youngs regarding the accident.
- Someone using the name "ConcernedCitize" posted the following:
  That area is a bad area to be driving in. I have heard (3rd party) that Michelle was trying to reach for something in the back seat when it happened. Jason just lost focus for split second. They were on a curve at the time. It happened very quickly and apparently a common problem area for aaccidents.
- Another poster who claims to know the Youngs well, wrote the following using the name "just the facts":
  The car wreck in the spring occurred when Jason thought the back of the SUV wasn't closed properly. He glanced back to look at that and his wheels went a little bit off the road. He over corrected the vehicle and that's when the wreck occurred. Despite the media's effort to make that into a huge story, there is no 100' drop off there where they went into the river. Michelle was not wearing her seat belt by her choice, not because he tried to trick her into taking it off. It was a wreck plain and simple. If having a wreck with your spouse in the vehicle is now considered an attempted murder, I guess hundreds of thousands of people nationwide are guilty.
I've been informed by someone who has seen the accident report that Michelle told the highway patrolman that she was wearing her seatbelt. However, it's not an uncommon thing for people to claim to have been wearing their seatbelt even when they were not. After all, failure to wear a seatbelt is a ticketable offense in North Carolina, as in most other states. In all likelihood, it would be impossible to prove now whether that accident was an orchestrated attempt on the lives of Michelle and her unborn child, and that incident will probably never make it into the courtroom should Jason go to trial for this homicide. It is interesting to note, however, what a stunning surpise the third pregnancy would have been for Jason under such circumstances.

Jason left Thursday evening on a business trip to Virginia. Police have not made public the time of Jason's departure, but one friend who has posted at the CourtTV forum stated that Jason was leaving as Michelle's friends were arriving that evening. It's been widely reported that Michelle had company on Thursday evening until approximately 10:30 p.m. The CourtTV poster has put forth that it was a regular thing for Michelle and her friends to watch Grey's Anatomy together. ABC runs the program from 9-10 p.m. on Thursday evenings in North Carolina. The location of Jason's business meeting has not been specified by investigators nor by people who claim to know him, but an industrious sleuth at CourtTV's forum suggested Blacksburg, Virginia as a potential destination. ChartOne, Jason's employer, apparently does quite a bit of business there. If you look at this map, you can see that Blacksburg is a good candidate logistically, as Jason had plans to swing by his parents' home in Brevard after his meeting, spend the night there, and return to Raleigh on Saturday.

Jason's evening departure for a Friday morning business meeting has been the subject of some perplexity from the beginning. Why would he leave in the evening only to arrive at his destination late at night to attend a meeting the following morning? Why not sleep at home and get up early to make the drive? Let's assume, for the sake of argument, the following:

that he left shortly before Grey's Anatomy started at 9 p.m.

that his sales meeting was scheduled for 9 a.m. the following morning in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Blacksburg is a 3.5-4 hour drive from the Youngs' Raleigh residence. If Jason had opted to make the drive on Friday morning, he would have had to depart at 5 a.m. to make a 9 a.m. appointment. Having guests in the house until 10:30 p.m. and the possible sleep disruptions that accompany a pregnant wife and a toddler might make it difficult to get up that early. On the other hand, a 9 p.m. departure would make for a rather late arrival with Jason probably getting checked in and to bed at about 1 a.m. That's a lot of late night driving after a busy day only to turn around and attend a meeting and drive an additional 4.5 hours to Brevard the following day. I've done a fair bit of traveling. It's not unusual to break a trip up and spend the night somewhere in between, especially when you want to arrive at your destination early in the day. Judging by what Jason told a friend at Michelle's funeral, that's probably what he did.

Jason Young has said he slipped out that evening to get a head start for an early morning sales meeting in Virginia, according to Fussell, who said he talked to Jason Young at his wife's funeral. [emphasis added]

A "head start" suggests that he wasn't planning to drive all the way to the destination in one trek. Friends of Jason have revealed that he arrived at his hotel and called Michelle at 11 p.m. If, as we have assumed for this argument, Jason left home shortly before Grey's Anatomy began, then he drove for approximately two hours before stopping for lodging, possibly on the west side of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Naturally, that would place him overnight within a two hour drive back to the home, which leads me to an interesting point. Less than three days into the investigation, police notified the public that they were interested in information regarding the Youngs' neighborhood on the night in question.

Stephens urged anyone who noticed any vehicle on the roads around Young's home between 1 and 5 a.m. Friday to call the Wake County Sheriff's Office at 856-6800.

That window was later widened to include the hours between midnight and 6 a.m., but it's the 1-5 a.m. window that sparks my interest. How did they arrive at that time frame for the homicide? They can approximate a time of death based on the core body temperature and advancement of rigor mortis, but I'm not convinced that they were able to do that to such a degree of accuracy as to rule out the two and a half hours between the 10:30 p.m. departure of Michelle's friends and 1 a.m. (or even the two hours following Jason's 11 p.m. phone call). There must have been some other, as yet undisclosed, factor that went into making that estimation. Perhaps, investigators have had Jason Young in their sights as the perpetrator from the beginning. They could certainly have determined in the first 2-3 days of the investigation the location of Jason's overnight lodging and the origination of his 11 p.m. call. Relative certainty of his involvement and a travel time of two hours to the scene of the crime may have been the deciding factor in estimating the 1 to 5 a.m. window of opportunity. The 5 a.m. closure of that window would allow Jason the four hours necessary to return to his hotel, check out, and make a 9 a.m. business meeting in Blacksburg, as well.

Well, it's a theory anyway. Blacksburg may not have been the destination point, but there are probably other sites that would fit the same criteria. There is more that we know in relation to the discovery of the body and the avenues of investigation being pursued by police. To keep this entry from getting too long and allow discussion to focus on this portion of the case, I'll save the rest for another entry.

Trenton Duckett: POI

2006-11-30T11:00:00.000-06:00

Authorities have named a close friend of Melinda Duckett as a person of interest in the August disappearance of 2-year-old Trenton Duckett. Chai-Wen Chen, a 25-year-old male friend of the boy's mother, works across the street from the Belleview Wendy's where Trenton was last seen with his mother the day of the alleged abduction. It is believe that Melinda handed the boy off to someone that Sunday in an attempt to keep him away from his father, Joshua Duckett, and staged the abduction from the apartment bedroom that evening.

I hope this pans out. I was starting to get that Holloway feeling about this case.

WESH.com has a thorough article on the latest news. Other entries are accessible through the category menu in right sidebar of this blog.

Timeline update: The 12:08 phone call made by Melinda Duckett on Sunday was to Chen. I've updated the map and timeline entry accordingly.

A Mother's Plea

2006-11-21T14:54:00.000-06:00

Linda Fisher, of Sayville, NY, addressed the media on November 13 at the gravesite of her slain daughter, Michelle Young, who was 20 weeks into her third pregnancy. It appears that Ms. Fisher took special care to emphasize two things in her statement. I have formatted them in this transcript to reflect that emphasis.

My name is Linda Fisher, and Michelle Young is my daughter. We are shaken and heartbroken over the tragic loss of Michelle. She's the wife, a sister, a granddaughter, and most importantly the mother of my only granddaughter, Cassidy (sobbing).

I'm asking for anyone who has seen or heard anything -- as trivial as you might think it is, anything -- to please come forward and help find the person who murdered our daughter...my daughter.

I also want to thank, or take the opportunity to thank, everyone who has given their love and support to us during this horrible time. And I want you to please understand that our family is in mourning, and we appreciate the privacy to grieve.

And I have great faith in the police that they will help find the person who is responsible for taking our Michelle away from us. I love her. (sobbing) I love my Michelle, and she's gone.

Thank you.

ABC-11 (WTVD) has raw video of Ms. Fisher's statement.

Update: WTVD has removed the raw video from their site. WRAL is providing a link to video of the complete statement on this page.

On January 24, 2003, Sharon Rocha addressed the public regarding the disappearance of her pregnant daughter, Laci Peterson of Modesto, California. The Rocha family had very recently been informed of Scott Peterson's affair with Fresno massage therapist, Amber Frey, solidifying their suspicions that Scott was responsible for Laci's disappearance and probable murder.

I would like to thank all of you for being here today and for respecting our request last week for some time to spend alone with our family. We appreciate your support of our family's search to find Laci.

I want to thank Kim Petersen, with the Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation, who has been working with all of you and relaying our wishes to not conduct interviews last week. We had a very difficult time last week.

I also want to thank all of the volunteers, the police department, fire department, Brad Saltzman and everyone at the Red Lion Hotel, the chaplains at the police department, all of my friends and family, the hundreds of thousands of people who have visited Laci's web site with their prayers, and everyone who has been involved with the search for Laci. The support we've received from everyone has been our salvation.

Since Christmas Eve, our one and only focus has been to find Laci and bring her home to us. I love my daughter so much. I miss her every minute of every day. I miss seeing her. I miss our talking together. I miss listening to the excitement in her voice when she talks to me about her baby. I miss not being able to share with her the anticipation of her approaching delivery date. I miss listening to her talk about her future with her husbandand her baby. I miss sharing our thoughts and our lives together. I miss her smile and her laughter and her sense of humor. And I miss everything about her.

Someone has taken all of this away from me and everyone else who loves her. There are no words that can possibly describe the ache in my heart or the emptiness in my life.

I know that someone knows where Laci is, and I'm pleading with you, please, please, let her come home to us. You can send an anonymous letter to the police department, or you can make an anonymous phone call to the police department tip line at area code (209)342-6166. (Or anonymous messages may be sent using our Leads and Tips form.)

If someone out there has observed or possibly discovered, on their property, anything unusual or suspicious, no matter how minute or insignificant it might seem to you, please call the police department. This may be the missing link to finding Laci.

Please keep looking for Laci and help us end this nightmare.

Thank you.

Laci's family appeared on Larry King Live on February 25 in an effort to keep the case in public awareness. Sharon made the following plea:

We’re hoping that somebody out there knows something, but we know there is someone who knows something and if that person would just come forward and let us know where she is so that we can bring her home.

The first part of that sentence is clearly addressed to the public, but the second part is obviously meant for Scott Peterson.

On April 21, 2003, after Laci's and Conner's bodies were found on the shores of the San Francisco Bay, Sharon Rocha again addressed the public, taking care to send a special message to the person she held responsible for the murders. Scott Peterson had been arrested on the same day the bodies were positively identified. The following is an excerpt:

Laci meant the world to me. She was my only daughter. She was my best friend. We miss her beautiful smile, her laughter, her love, her kind and loving ways. I miss seeing her, talking to her and hugging her. We have been deprived of meeting and knowing Laci’s son, our grandson and nephew. We will miss them and mourn them for the rest of our lives.

Soon after Laci went missing I made a promise to her, that if she has been harmed we will seek justice for her and Conner and make sure that the person responsible for their deaths will be punished. I can only hope that the sound of Laci’s voice begging for her life, begging for the life of her unborn child, is heard over and over and over again in the mind of that person everyday for the rest of his life. The person responsible should be held accountable and punished for the tragedy and devastation forced upon so many.

A transcript of the complete statement can be read at www.findlaci2003.us.

Most everyone following the Michelle Young case has noticed and commented on its similarity to the Peterson case. While the list of similarities continues to grow as we learn more about the case, the main differences are the manner of death (bludgeoning in the Young case versus asphyxiation in the Peterson case), the existence of another child in the Young family, and, most importantly, the fact that Laci was missing for nearly four months whereas Michelle was found within hours of her murder.

I contend that the similarities between Michelle's and Laci's murders have not gone unnoticed by the Fisher family. Linda's statement, though much briefer, seems to echo the more salient elements of Sharon Rocha's various statements. I believe that both Linda Fisher and her younger daughter, Meredith, have, at minimum, strong suspicions as to Jason Young's involvement in Michelle's death. Ms. Fisher's statement was her best attempt at communicating that suspicion, without flagrantly accusing Jason Young and potentially damaging the investigation and prosecution of the case, and petitioning the public's assistance.

Update: Michelle Young

2006-11-16T08:58:00.000-06:00

It was reported tonight on Greta van Susteren's On the Record that Michelle was pregnant at the time of the car accident in May 2005. While driving on a local highway, Jason apparently lost control of the vehicle, veering off the highway and traveling down a 100 foot embankment into a river. The water was only a few feet deep, and both he and Michelle were able to escape the car unharmed. Michelle was taken to the hospital out of concern for her pregnancy. The highway patrolman who investigated the accident at the time has recently been interviewed by homicide investigators.

Here is a link to an article with information similar to that reported on GVS: WRAL

Still, they are examining every aspect of the couple's life together, including a May 29, 2005, Transylvania County car accident in which Jason Young drove off a road and down a 100-foot embankment into the French Broad River. Neither he nor Michelle Young were seriously injured.

"They just wanted to know the circumstances and if I saw anything unusual with the wreck, which I did not," said sate Highway Patrol Trooper David Hicks, who investigated the crash.

The media originally reported that this car accident happened in May of this year and people who claim to know the couple seemed to confirm that.

People close to the Youngs who spoke to WRAL on Friday said it had already been a "bizarre" year for the couple. State Highway Patrol records show the two were in an accident in May in Transylvania County, where their car veered off the road into a river.

However, Michelle could not possibly have been pregnant in May of 2006 and only be at 20 weeks gestation at the time of her death. The 2005 date makes more sense. An anonymous poster wrote the following in the comment section of this entry:

Jason was ecstatic over the upcoming birth of his baby boy, as was Michelle. She had lost a child earlier in the spring when the fetus stopped developing in utero and she had to have a medical abortion. They were elated when she was able to get pregnant again.

I see now why investigators are interested in that mysterious accident.

The home is still actively being investigated as a crime scene, with repeated visits from the district attorney's office. That says to me that evidence relating to the identity of the killer was found in the home, and additional evidence implicating that person is expected to be found there. Investigators are patiently building their case.

More thorough coverage of this case can be read in this previous entry: Michelle Marie Young: Reason to Suspect...

Meredith and Cassidy: Partial 911 Transcript

2006-11-15T17:55:00.000-06:00

There's a lot of chatter on crime forums regarding two-year-old Cassidy's statements to her aunt while Meredith was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. Many who've listened to it believe they hear her mention the word "Daddy" when Meredith asks the toddler what happened to her mother. Regardless of my suspicion of Jason Young, I hear nothing of the sort. The following is a transcript of the relevant portion of the 911 call as I hear it.

MEREDITH: Cassidy, come here, sweetie. I'm here with her daughter.

DISPATCHER: 'kay.

MEREDITH: There's...there's like blood footprints all over the house from her daugther...like her daughter's little footprints.

DISPATCHER: 'kay, listen to me. What's your first name?

MEREDITH: Meredith

DISPATCHER: Alright, Meredith...

MEREDITH: Yes sir.

DISPATCHER: Did you see what happened?

MEREDITH: I..I..I just came here on a fluke. I usually...you know...don't come here during the day.

DISPATCHER: Okay.

MEREDITH: She shouldn't be home. She should be at work. Like...

DISPATCHER: Okay, listen to me.

MEREDITH: Yes sir.

MEREDITH: (inaudible) right now.

DISPATCHER: Did you say...Can you tell me why she looks dead...looks like she's dead?

MEREDITH: I don't know. I have no idea. There's blood all over the place.

DISPATCHER: 'kay, did you say she's cold?

MEREDITH: Sh..uh yes.

DISPATCHER: m'kay.

MEREDITH: Yes. (crying)

DISPATCHER: Alright, stay on the phone.

MEREDITH: Okay

CASSIDY: (inaudible) there's blood. Can you see my...(inaudible)...get a washcloth into my...(inaudible)...?

MEREDITH: Yes, sweetie.

(Cassidy still talking but inaudible.)

MEREDITH: Sweetie, did you see what happened to Mommy?

CASSIDY: Uhn-uh

MEREDITH: Did she fall?

CASSIDY: Um...um...she gotta boo...She got boo-boos everywhere and...and...she got (Dispatcher cuts in to ask: Alright, do you think she's beyond any help?)

Listen to the 911 call and follow along with the above transcript. See for yourself if Cassidy implicates her father or even utters the word "Daddy". I don't hear it.

I don't believe that child was witness to any of the violence inflicted upon her mother. It's highly doubtful that she was even awake when the perpetrator was in the house, in my opinion. The aftermath was horrendous enough, but hopefully her youth will protect her from those memories to some extent.

Trenton Duckett: New Development

2006-11-14T21:58:00.000-06:00

Police have renewed their search for two-year-old Trenton Duckett, operating on the assumption that he is still alive. A witness reported seeing the Leesburg, FL, boy with his mother in a Belleview Wendy's restaurant on August 27, the same day he was reported missing. The Marion County Sheriff's Office will hold a press conference tomorrow to release additional details to the public.

Sources: Bradenton Herald and Orlando Sentinel

More information about Trenton's disappearance is available in this timeline entry. Other Duckett entries can be accessed by utilizing the Categories dropdown menu in the sidebar of this blog.

Update: November 15, 2006, 1:36 pm, CT

Additional information was released at today's press conference:

Pogue and other officials said a drive-thru worker at a Wendy's restaurant in Belleview remembered seeing Melinda and Trenton between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. that Sunday. About 20 minutes after the first sighting, the Wendy's worker saw Melinda come through the drive-thru again. This time, Tenton was not in the car. The Wendy's worker was interviewed and passed a polygraph test, officials said.

Then there's this unexpected news:

As authorities renew their search for missing Central Florida boy, Trenton Duckett, WKMG-TV in Orlando has learned that a private investigator is looking into his mother's apparent secret side business of creating and performing in amateur pornographic videos.

Nude photographs of Melinda Duckett, including one image where she is straddling a child's crib and another explicit video where the sound of a crying baby can be heard in the background surfaced in the missing boy investigation and caused concerns for detectives, the report said.

Before Duckett's suicide, authorities said they thoroughly looked into her alleged involvement in the adult entertainment industry to see if the 21-year-old made any enemies or possibly had given her son away to someone she met while making the movies.

Whoa. Well, that might explain where the cash stashed in her car under the ashtray came from.