The Murder of Michelle Fisher Young and her unborn son

There are several cases that I have written about that have fallen cold, crimes that deserved immediate justice and time seemed a terrible enemy. I want justice more than anything for 29 year old Michelle Young and I will not forget her. Here is a recap of her murder and an update on the case today almost two years later.

Michelle Young was found dead by her sister on November 3, 2006. She was brutally murdered in her bedroom, while her two year old daughter was in the home. The child was unharmed and remained in the house while her mother's body laid in a pool of blood upstairs in the master bedroom.

Michelle Young was 4 months pregnant at the time with her second child, a boy. Michelle was alone in the house with her 2 year old daughter as her husband had left for a business trip the night before.

I feel to tell this story right, I have to start at the beginning.

Jason Young and Michelle Fisher were married in 2003, about a year later their first child, Cassidy was born. The Young's were a normal family, the husband was a senior tax consultant and Michelle worked for an upstanding insurance company. After the birth of her daughter Michelle cut her work hours a bit in order to stay home more often with her daughter.

Rumor based on fact: A car crash has been referenced by friends as the first sign of a possible dissatisfaction of parenthood from Jason Young. In 2005 while Michelle was pregnant, the couple was driving down a road they had driven down many times before, Jason asked Michelle to reach for something in the backseat and upon her removing her seat belt and doing that, the car swerved and an accident occurred. She later lost that baby.

By 2006 Michelle announced they were expecting another child, by this time it seemed their purchase of a new home in Raleigh NC, had financially strained them and their marriage seemed uneasy. It has been reported that Jason Young took a vacation without Michelle or Cassidy that year with his family and unwisely spent money on them without Michelle's consent. Michelle expected to cut her work hours even more now with the second baby on the way and his spending habits were working against them. That same year a large insurance policy was taken out on Michelle with Jason as the sole benefactor.

On November 2nd Jason claimed he had a business meeting on Friday morning in Virginia and was then going to visit with his family in Brevard, NC. That night Michelle and a friend were watching Grays Anatomy when Jason announced he was leaving for his trip. He left while the friend was still there and able to witness his departure.

The very next day, Michelle missed a doctor's appointment.

Early that same morning, Jason called Michelle's sister, Meredith and told her to please run over to his house and retrieve a fax that had come in to their home fax machine which he did NOT want Michelle to see. He bought her a gift for their anniversary and he didn't want her to see the fax which contained some sort of receipt for a gift, he pressed her to hurry. Meredith did not immediately go to the home. (I suspect Jason was concerned that his young daughter was left alone in the home and he wanted Michelle to be discovered and Cassidy to be taken care of).

Meredith arrived at her sister's home at 1:30pm and found it in disarray, she found the family dog freaking out and agitated. As she made her way upstairs she noticed small bloody footprints and immediately began to panic. As she climbed the stairs to her sister's bedroom, she could hear her niece and when she entered the room, she found 2 year old Cassidy on the floor hovering over her mother's bloody body trying to put band aids on her because she had "boo boos".

It was a gruesome scene and Meredith called 911 and tried to turn her sister over to give CPR, but the body was stiff the face unrecognizable and she was dead.

Meredith tried to call Jason on his cellphone, but failed to reach him, she then called his parents in Brevard, he had not arrived at their home yet and she told them the news. Jason arrived much later that evening at about 5PM, he did not know his wife was dead, nor had he called to check on his pregnant wife and child since he saw them the night before.

When Jason arrived he was told the news immediately in his parent's driveway, he instantly "fell to his knees". He didn't say "What?" "No!" "I don't understand" - he just fell to his knees.

He and his parents quickly got in their vehicles and began the drive back to his home, while in route a detective phoned Jason and asked some simple questions, Jason immediately became defensive and refused to speak to the detectives in the VERY early stages of the investigation without a lawyer. He has not since cooperated with authorities and court orders had to be put in play in order to get DNA samples from him later in the investigation. Jason never spoke to investigators even with a lawyer present, he never helped in a walk through of his home to help authorities figure out if anything was missing, he refused to answer any questions about possible enemies the family may have had, basically he told them to F-OFF. He had also hung up on investigators when they tried calling him.

What we know today almost two years later and still no arrest and no suspect named (Search Warrant info just released - will there be an arrest soon):

• A pillow taken from the bedroom had two bloody footprints - one was identified and has recently been announced to be the footprint of a hush puppy shoe the other a Franklin athletic shoe, the exact hush puppy shoe that Jason purchased a year before the murder and the very shoes that were not accounted for in the home ( a receipt was found that confirmed Jason bought these shoes). The Franklin athletic shoe print was found imprinted in the stain paint of the backyard deck, the two imprints matched.
  
  
• A Jewelery Box had some drawers removed at the crime scene (jewelery also missing). The jewelery box drawers were scattered as if a theft had occurred, the crime scene investigators were able to lift a partial DNA sample. Jason's DNA could NOT be EXCLUDED from the samples taken.

• The Wall - Crime Scene Investigators lifted a DNA sample near a blood splatter on the edge of Jason's closet the sample was taken from a part of the wall that was 16 inches from the floor nearest the body, they did this assuming the killer would have used the wall to lift himself after kneeling over the body. The DNA sample taken matched Jason's DNA. It has been argued that the DNA may have been there before the crime as it was his closet and his home, however when do you place your sweaty hand on a portion of a wall 16 inches from the floor?
  
• The Hotel - The Hampton Inn has video footage of Jason walking around the lobby and near the front desk from 10:40 - 10:51 PM. He is again seen at 11:59PM, but this time he is wearing very different clothes, a dark black pullover hoodie and dark pants. He is seen walking toward the south exit of the hotel. The dark clothing he is seen wearing before leaving the hotel have never been found.
  
• The side EXIT door of the hotel is one that requires a swipe of your hotel key to get back in, it records the time of entry and the name of the person assigned to the key, employees later discovered a rock was placed on the floor to keep the door from locking. Jason Young's key card was only used once, it was used 6 minutes after he checked into the hotel and this is corroborated by the security cameras, he then leaves the hotel through the side exit and his room is not accessed again until 11AM the next morning by the housekeeping staff.
  
  
• The New Times Delivery Guy - he claims he has delivered newspapers to the Young's neighborhood for a long time and that it is usually extremely dark at the time of his deliveries to the Young home at about 5AM. He states he remembers his delivery there because the Young home was lit from the inside and he assumed they were having a party. He says he saw a light colored SUV parked near the home, in a manner that looked as if they were unloading or loading items. Jason Young is the owner of a white SUV.

• The crime scene and Michelle - The cause of death was blunt force trauma, she was brutally hit 13 times (HARD) in the face and head that her jaw was broken. She had fingernail scratches on the back of her neck, indicating she was at one point being strangled by her murderer. She was found face down half on and off the bed. There was blood splattered on the walls, a pool of blood on the bed and blood on the bedside table lamp.
  
  I hope to update with an arrest soon.

Jason Young has left the area with his daughter and is now reportedly living in Brevard, North Carolina with his mother. The Youngs' house in the Enchanted Oaks subdivision was recently sold.