The Jason You Know

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?

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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.

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Jason's Journey: The Murderous Route

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

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

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.