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

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.




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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.