The person who killed the mother cared about cassidy. Now, a stunning twist in the case. Im lester holt and this is dateline. Here is Keith Morrison with silent witness. I think i paused for a second, had to take a deep breath. Just the reality of what was going on sink in. Those who saw the footprints will not forget them. They were tiny and they were bloody. I had to get my composure to finish searching this house to make sure there was nobody else in the house. It was the third of november, 2006, early afternoon. The deputy from the Wake County Sheriffs Department had been dispatched to a quiet leafy neighborhood, called enchanted oaks, on the outskirts of new york because of a 911 call to this place. I think my sisters dead. Tell me what happened, maam . I have no idea. The caller was meredith fisher. She had just discovered on the floor of the master bedroom the savagely beaten body of her elder sister, 29yearold Michelle Young, a woman who in death was about to be famous. Listen to me maam. I will tell you what to do and you need to calm down so we can help her. You said is blood everywhere . Yes. Is she breathing . I dont think so. Have you checked . No. Shes cold. As she spoke, meredith was cradling her 2 1 2yearold niece, cassidy, who had called out under the bed clothes from her parents bed. Her aunt was caught on the recorded call. Shes got booboo everywhere. Had cassidy witnessed the murder, awakened alone to find this . You just picture a small child Walking Around in this blood and tracking it congratulation the hallway over into the bathroom. By now, wake county investigators had descended on the house, herbs job was done. On his way out he saw cassidy again, still in his pink pajamas, still in merediths arms. He asked meredith a question. I looked over at the child and didnt see any blood. I asked, did you clean the child . Her response was no. I thought it was kind of odd because i was expecting her to say yes. Somebody did. Yes. Somebody did. Who . Was it the same person who murdered the little girls mother . On this november day all they had were questions. Sergeant Richard Spivey probably knows the case better than anyone. This is a brutal vicious beating. There was a lot of time and Energy Invested into this assault. Why do you say a lot of time and energy . The medical examiner told us there was over 30 blows with some sort of blunt object. Detectives started investigating the victim and everyone else around her. Michelle young was born and raised on long island, new york. She was smiling all the time. She was the life of the party. She knew her from childhood. She didnt like being the center of attention but liked create aggregate atmosphere for everyone to have a good time. Michelle was a cheerleader in high school and straight a student. Jennifer powers felt drawn to her. She had a bookworm side to her where she was very studious and goal oriented and also just a great person to be around, a fun, happy spirit, someone that i wanted to spend a lot of time with. Lots of people did. When she chose a college far from home, new yoorth carolina , she was soon surrounded again by an admiring group of women friends, best buddies. Miss childs was her sorority sister. There was one picture it turned out beautiful and we liked it because we thought we looked like charlies angels posed without intentionally doing that. It was sometime in 2001 when friends started hearing about michelles new guy, a fellow student named jason young, heard how he had grown up in the North Carolina mountains, how he loved to camp, was the life of tailgate parties. Michelle fell hard and fast. They seemed like a good couple. He was different from other men she dated in the past. He wasnt as serious about a career as she was. He was a little bit less sophisticated than michelle was but she seemed to be very happy with him. Michelle and jason married in october, 2003. The day after the wedding they shared their big secret, michelle was pregnant. Their daughter, cassidy was born early the next year. I love you, mommy. I love you, too, cassidy. When she came along, it was love at first sight. Yeah michelle was an enthusiastic mother. Huh . Huh . By all accounts, jason was a good dad. He was a great playmate. He knew how to sit on the floor and play with his daughter, you know. The youngs moved into the big fine house on birch leif in 2005. Both of them worked, he a salesman and she a financial specialist. In the summer of 2006, michelle got pregnant again. They kept the news to themselves. It was clear something good was happening. The comment he said to me was hes excited to have another baby, not implying that she was pregnant but excited at the protect of it. Just a few months later, michelle was dead. Jason was 170 miles away in virginia on a business trip the night of the murder. He heard the news the next afternoon and returned to raleigh. Stacy grossman herd from her mother. My mother called and said michelles dead. I said michelle who . Some celebrity . What are you talking about. What do you mean . How is that possible what happened . The very questions wake county investigators were asking themselves. When we come back, a Security Camera provides a critical clue. Its not what it caught on tape, its what it missed and why. There was a camera there that had been unplugged. 92 who had something to hide . The facts were stark and ugly. One night on november 2006, while her husband was away on business, Michelle Young was attacked in her own bedroom and brutally beaten to death, her body discovered the next day by her sister, meredith, along with her 2 1 2yearold daughter, cassidy, who had been left to wander in her blood. For investigators set out to find her killer, no way to get those little footprints out of their minds. Sergeant Richard Spivey. Those of us who work in law enforcement, but as parents, that strikes a different note with you when you see Something Like that. Reporter michelles husband, jason, was 170 miles away. Still, they had to look at him. We know he was the last person to talk to michelle that night and the reason why she was found. He called meredith to go to the house. Reporter jason youngs business trip was routine. Security tapes show him getting gas about 7 30 p. M. Leaving raleigh, two hours later seen at a Cracker Barrel in greensboro and then checking in to the hotel, this is him at 11 00 p. M. And then at midnight and he also made a phone calling at midnight and that this is last time anybody heard from jason young until he made a call at 7 40 in the morning. Another person would look at him. He was 170 miles away, hes got an alibi. That sounds a great distance. But 170 miles you can get between the crime scene and the hotel in about 2 1 2 hours. Perhaps. There were curious anomalies at the crime scene, couldnt explain them. A jewelry box was missing two drawers. Was it a bungled burglary . Then there were footprints near the body that seemed to eliminate jason, an obvious print on the pillow was a size 10. Jason wore a size 12. This was weird. There was another partial footprint. It defied easy identification and they began calling in shoe experts. Now, they wondered were there two attackers . Investigators discovered everyday early on michelle and jasons marriage was strained. In the last weeks of michelles life, things were not good. At our friend, shellys wedding, he was so drunk, just really out of it. When we got to the wedding, our friends were letting us know that michelle and jason were fighting and they were referring to it as world war iii. Jennifer powers told investigators about another fight that october. Michelle wanted her mother to stay with them for the holidays. And jason, who had a tense relationship, with his motherinlaw, wanted to limit her stay and said so in an email along with another nugget. He wrote, our marriage has seen better days and i dont see it trending up. I remember that really striking a chord with me because i didnt know their marriage had seen better days. Investigators wanted to interview jason young. Maybe he could tell them something. But he refused to talk to them. He talked to the lawyer and then under the advice of counsel he declined to speak with us at all. Didnt ask about it . Didnt ask how his wife died . No. Perhaps, investigators thought, that business trip deserved a second look. So they went to the hotel, poked around, and discovered some odd activities that night in a stairwell near an exit. There was a camera there that had been unplugged. Really . Yes. It was one of the side exits of the hotel. Like the fire stairs that go down to the first floor. Was there any other tampering . The door adjacent where this camera was located, that door also had been propped open that night . How do you know that . The gentleman working as a clerk that night found a rock placed in the door to keep the door from closing. They plugged the camera back in. Its now working again. About 6 35 that morning, suddenly that camera is pointing straight at the ceiling. Same camera. Same camera, tampered with yet again. If that was jason youngs work, is it possible he did make the 340 round trip . Could he have killed his wife and cleaned up his daughter in 7 1 2 hours without ever being seen . To find out, investigators played a hunch and visited every gas station along the route, showed jasons photo and talked to the night clerks and came across a woman named gracie, in a tiny place called king, North Carolina. She took one look at that photograph and recognized it instantly. He was the foulmouthed customer she said, who came storming into the store to complain that the pumps were locked. And what time was it . 5 30 ach 5 30 a. M. , the morning of the murder. There was actually an altercation between the two of them. You have a reason why she would remember him opposed to any other customer that just happened into the store. If that attendant was right, investigators may have undercut jasons alibi. Still, it wasnt enough. So they plodded ahead, painstaking work took time. Then, years after the murder, they finally got match for that paragraphs footprint. The state investigation and fbi were able to eventually identify that shoe as a hush puppy shoe that was size 12, the same size he wore. Throughout the investigation, he maintained his legal silence. Rather than face a legal battle where he would be asked tough questions, he even gave michelles family custody of his daughter. Everyone we spoke with all said what a great dad he was and to turn over primary custody that was very surprising. Investigators believed they had heard enough. They had a case. Circumstantial but a case. Three years after Michelle Youngs body was found on the bedroom floor, jason young was charged with her murder. Investigators and prosecutors knew very little pointed directly toward jason young but so far nothing pointed away. Coming up, the case against jason young, as an alleged killer and as a cheating husband. We had an intimate relationship for the two days he was there. We ended up having sex. He never jason young went on trial for the murder of his wife, michelle. By then he spent 18 months in a jail cell. The guy who loved to tailgate and party, that guy was long gone. The prosecutor opened for the state. The defendant had a plan. His plan was to murder his wife. His plan was to get away with it. With no murder weapon found, the prosecutions case was built on that partial shoe print. They knew now jason once owned a pair of hush puppies like these that matched the print they were now missing and told the jury about the Early Morning ride to the gas station and suspicious activity at the hotel. Jason young was trying in the most violent possible way to get out of a troubled marriage. Were you aware of tensions in that marriage . Yes. I was well aware. Meredith fisher, michelles sister lived near the couple and for a while was cassidys nanny. As the fights intensified she took on the role of marriage counselor, too. What would you say were the main issues . Michelles main issues were jason being more responsible, understanding her more. His main concern was their lack of sex life. Prosecutors called friends to the stand to paint a picture of a marriage unravelling, out loud and in public. Jason made it very wellknown he was upset about the lack of sex in the relationship. At parties, said fiona, jasons xrated tricks were absurdly over the top. I would never see it myself. I would hear about it, he would expose himself and do what he thought were funny tricks. I was always rather embarrassed for michelle. He never settled down as if he was still living the single life and never bought into the marriage and what all that meant. In october 2006, when michelle was four months pregnant, jason became deeply involved with another woman. Not just any woman. Michelle money was one of Michelle Youngs Close Friends from college, one of those charlies angels. In early october, days before his third wedding anniversary, jason flew to florida to see michelle money. She testified they both knew it was wrong. We basically hung out at the house and we had an intimate relationship for the two days that he was there. Jason was crazy about her his friend, josh, said. He basically told me he thought he was in love with her. Michelles mother said in the last parts of her life she could see thele to the failing marriage was taking on her pregnant daughter. She had her head on my lap and she was lying out and i was stroking her hair. And she was empty. What did she tell you . Things werent working out with jason. Two days before she was murdered, michelle phoned her sister, meredith, to report yet another blowup with jason. She was just, ive had it. She said that more than one time, i cant do this any more. Jason was telling one of his Close Friends the same thing. Prosecutors said just days before michelle was murdered he indulged in one last transgression, a casual hookup with an old friend named carol anne, in his own living room. Michelle was away at the time. Cassidy was put down to bed and we had a couple drinks, just were talking and we ended up having sex. But divorce was apparently not an option for jason. He had made a statement at one time that he was afraid if he ever got a divorce, michelle would take cassidy and move back to new york. Did he indicate he would have concerns about ever being able to see cassidy again . Correct. Still, one big question remained, was a good time guy like jason young even capable of murder . Genevieve cargo was engaged to jason before he met michelle and she testified about a fight they had over jasons excessive drinking. He became agitated and said something to the effect of, if im going to make such a terrible husbandy give me my ring back. Did you give it to the defendant . No. He began trying to pull it off and it wouldnt come off. He was throwing me to one bed to the other and jumping on me with all his weight and pinning my arms, both of them behind me. Prosecutors hoped to convince the jury it all added up to a motive for murder. How would the defense counterattack . With a witness who could refute every charge. Coming up, jason young finally breaks his silence as he takes the stand to testify. Did you kill your wife, michelle . No, sir. Were you there when it happened . No, sir. A popular amusement park. Descends into chaos the dramatic video. As clashes erupt. And the weapon used that has some especially concerned about security. Plus president trump. Sounding off about the russia investigation. As tomorrow we are expected to learn about the first charges filed. Also an apple engineer fired. Because of a video his daughther posted online. We ll have her emotional reaction. Tonight at 11 what the prosecution didnt tell you theres an art to the business of criminal defense. And it would take a true artist to repaint the prosecutions dark portrait of jason young. So, what could defense attorney do . Well, to begin with, as he told the jury, he agreed with the prosecution. Jason young was not a good husband. He acted at times like an immature jerk. But that does not make him a killer. The defense was not about to make any more concession, mind you. That jewelry box in the bedroom. There was dna on it. It didnt match eats michelle or jason. The suspicious activity at the hotel, there was a fingerprint on that camera. It wasnt jason youngs and there wasnt any forensic evidence that tied jason to the crime scene. There was no blood in his car and not a scratch on him. Ladies and gentlemen, Jason Lee Young did not murder his wife, he did not murder their unborn son, and this case has not been solved. Who better to make that argument than jason young himself. So far remember he had never said a word to anyone about that november night. An almost five year silence. Its always a big decision for Defense Attorneys whether or not to call their client. Beth karas is a former prosecutor and legal analyst. She covered the trial. This is a case that really begged for jason young to testify. If hes truly innocent, get on the stand and tell the story. We call jason young. With his mother sitting in the front row, jason young prepared to do just that. Defense attorney, briany hit it hart off the top. Did you kill your wife . No, sir. Were you there when it happened . No, sir. What about the hush puppies that match the shoe print. He no longer had them. Said they were all rattie and told michelle to give them to good will. As for the night of the murder after he checked into the hotel, he left his room twice, the first time to get a power cord for his laptop. I was going over the sales call i had the next day. The second trip he testified, was to smoke a cigar. I had to go outside to smoke a cigar. I also wanted to look at some sports schedules and standings, so i wanted to see if i could pick up the usa today as well. That newspaper run explains why he was seen at the front desk, he said, around midnight. Between the time you smoked the cigar and went back upstairs and went to sleep, did you leave after that morning . No, sir. He said he realize he left ebay printouts sitting on the computer at home. It showed purses. He was thinking of buying one for michelle as a belated anniversary present. I realized i didnt bring those papers . Why was it important to you for somebody to get the papers . I wanted it to be a surprise because it means so much more. On november 3rd, he asked his sister, meredith to go to the house and get the papers. He left a voice mail. You can do me a huge favor and see if you can find the papers near the computer. Then, he went to his mothers house in the mountains and it was hours later he testified he learned michelle had been murdered. I just i just fell. I broke on the inside. I broke and i didnt believe it. Family members drove him back to raleigh. During the drive, his friends called. Ryan and josh said the investigators were asking really ugly questions and pointing their finger at me and doing things like that. They said, you dont need to talk to anybody. You need to get a lawyer before you talk to anybody. Then, the explanation for his long silence. The lawyer i got after talking with him he advised me to not go talk to the police. Did you take that advice . Yes, sir, i did. Did he also tell you not to talk to anybody about the case . That actually exactly what he said, dont talk to anybody about anything. They addressed the motives that jason wanted to escape a bad marriage and keep custody of cassidy and spend time with his new love. Did you have any designs in your own mind leaving Michelle Young for michelle money . No, sir . Describe why not. I think we both knew it was wrong. I dont think we either one dreamed that it would ever be found out. As for that violent episode with his exfiance, jason had an explanation for it. Did you throw her around on the bed like she said . No, sir, what i did was wrong, did pin her down and i took the ring . What was your level of intoxication at that time . I was very intoxicated but i dont feel thats an excuse for what i did. They questioned him about the most important woman in his life. Did you want to stay married to michelle. Yes, i did. I wanted to have another baby and i wanted the family to grow. He also explained why he gave up custody of his daughter without a fight. Were you able to afford a lawyer for a fullblown custody battle . No, sir. I had due to the media and some of the internet website, the job that i had, i lost it. His testimony lasted three hours. Jason young was a very good witness. He understood what he had to do when he was on the stand. So he didnt come out as contrived or phony . Like he had put this together very carefully in order to account for all the evidence they had. He had access to the police reports, all the discovery. He knew the states vulnerabilities, so he could arguably taylor his testimony to fit with an innocent explanation. How did jason young do . 12 jurors were about to decide. Coming up, the prosecutor gets her chance to go oneonone with jason young. It isnt pretty. Were you working on your marriage when you were having sex with carolyn in your hom it was riveting. Almost five years of silence about his wifes murder, broken here in this courtroom. I loved cassidy and i loved michelle. Then he went to murder his wife. Now, prosecutor, becky holt, began pulling apart a story she had just heard for the first time. Were you working on your marriage when you were having sex with carolyn in your home, less than two weeks before your wife was murdered . No, maam, that was not the way to work on a marriage. It was very detrimental. Were you working on your marriage when you confided in michelle money . Michelle and i talked a lot together and i talked about my issues with my wife and she talked about her husband. Is the answer yes, when you had an affair with michelle money was working on your marriage . Nome, working on the marriage was very detrimental to that. The case went to the jury. It soon became clear jurors were having trouble. You have indicated yall have not yet reached a unanimous decision. The jurors were split, 66, the judge sent them back to make it unanimous. Hours later, they were back and courtroom 3c was still. It appears they are hopelessly deadlocked at this point. Eight jurors had voted for acquittal. Four voted guilty. Judge stevens declared a mistrial. Was serious consideration given to dropping the case . I think there was serious consideration as to is there more we can do . The prosecutors decided they would try again. But this time with the one thing they didnt have the first time, jasons whole story. The trial began the second time in february, 2012. This time, Howard Cummings was hoping to use jasons own words to convict him. First, prosecutors called that night clerk at the gas station, gracie, who remembered jason complaining about the locked pumps. Moo when he came in to pay he started cussing and raising cain. What time did this happen . That was about 5 00, 5 30 in the morning. The time jason said he was at the hotel. Call your next witness. Then, prosecutors had new witness and new testimony. They wanted jurors to hear about cassidy, whose bloody fingerprints they contended, made her a silent witness to murder. When i got to cassidy, i said, what are you doing . Daycare worker, ashley, took the stand. She told jurors she watched cassidy playing alone days after her mother was murdered. She had the chair and doll together and mommy doll in the other hand and she just hit them. As unsettling as it was, the prosecutors wanted jurors to know the killer had left a silent witness behind, a witness he would never harm. The fact that cassidy was spared, did that mean anything to you or would that mean anything to a jury . Certainly, it meant the person that killed the mother we felt cared about cassidy. Fiona childs took the stand. Prosecutors questioned her about a Life Insurance policy. It did raise a red flag that she brought up specifically her Life Insurance. She brought it up several times that a Million Dollars was too much and did they really need that . After michelle died, fiona found out the true amount of the policy was actually 4 million. I was like in total shock. That is incredibly excessive. Prosecutors also told the jury about civil lawsuit against jason brought by michelles mother and sister next one was wrongful death case in 2008 a year before he was charged with murder. Over the defenses objection, court clerk Lauren Friedman testified about that lawsuit. 92 there is an alleged paragraph, paragraph 6 reading verbatim from the record in the Early Morning hours november 3rd, 2006, jason brutally murdered Michelle Young. Jason never responded to the allegations and that led to a default judgment that said jason killed his wife. A default judgment does not mean the facts alleged in the civil complaint are true or that hes guilty. The judge at the criminal trial told the jury that. When you heard the statement jason young brutally murdered his wife, but that doesnt mean hes guilty, folks. Hello. You know. The prosecutor made sure the jury heard just who signed that ruling. A reading from this judgment which is signed actually by judge stevens. Judge stevens, the very judge sitting before them in this tria trial. The jury hearing it will carry a lot of weight. This is the case filed in december seeking custody of cassidy. Prosecutors called the attorney in the custody case and those allegations were repeated. The jury heard several times through these two civil complaints jason young brutally murdered Michelle Fisher young. The headline act came when prosecutors played jason youngs entire testimony from the first trial and began to rip it apart. I dont remember. Prosecutors tried to show jasons call to meredith to pick up the ebay printouts was merely an employ to get her to find cassidy. Why else would he print it out and hit the road when he couldnt bid during an actual auction. That auction was going to independent 8 00 p. M. Eastern standard time. What day was that. November the 2nd, 2006. Just hours before the murder. Now, prosecutors tried to say jason lied for his reasons to leave the hotel room. In his original testimony he told the court the first time he went to get a power cord for his laptop. Why was it you wanted to look on your laptop . I was going over a case the next day. But detective smith took the stand to say he didnt use his laptop for work that night. Its an internet site dedicated to sports. Jason said he went out the second time to smoke a cigar but prosecutors contended jason was a fierce antismoker and the weather that night was freezing. Could you tell me whether there was substantial outerwear the defendant had in his luggage . No, sir. A suit jacket the only outwear im aware of. Jason chose not to testify this time but the defense fought back, arguing the gas stations memory couldnt be trusted because of a childhood brain injury. Ive had memory problems since 06 because ive been through a lot with myself and my kids and my exhusband. The defense also argued the case really wasnt solved. There was no physical evidence to prove jason was the killer. There wasnt one scratch on mr. Young. He never would have had time to make that trip and commit murder and didnt have the mindset of a killer and the cigar, jason once owned a huhmy dor and made a purchase at a cigar store. You have ample evidence that jason young is not guilty. It was over again, and time to consider whether jason young gould to jail or walk out of court a free man. Coming up. The verdict take two. We the jury by unanimous verdict, this is the new comfort food. Grown right here in california, with absolutely no antibiotics ever. A better way to grow, a better way to eat. And it starts with foster farms simply raised chicken. California grown with no antibiotics ever. The unusual weapon. Used in an attack. Plus the video posted from apple s campus. That got an engineer fired. And rain is about to make a return to the bay area. But will it impact your halloween . The forecast. Next at 11. For more than five years, Michelle Youngs family and friends had been waiting for answers. Who killed their pretty pregnant michelle . Many thought they knew. It was him. I didnt know all the evidence, i didnt know half the things i know now but i felt that way. One jury failed to decide. Now, attorneys were making their final arguments to a second jury. Be mad at him, hate him if you want to. But when you look at the physical evidence in this case, it does not match up. It does not match up to jason having killed his wife and unborn son. 30 blows. Thats not from a stranger. That is a mad, mad domestic abuser. Soon, that jury was behind closed doors in the wake county superior court. After two day, they were back with a verdict. We the jury by unanimous verdict find the defendant, jason lynn young to be guilty of firstdegree murder of Michelle Young. Guilty of firstdegree murder. Jason didnt flinch. Behind him, his mother was equally stoic. On the other side, Michelle Youngs mother and sister went. Fiona got the news from a friend. They said hes guilty. Im like, what . Jason young received a life sentence, chose not address the court, even as the bailiffs led him away he remained expressionless. The prosecutors were, they told us, relieved. I was very emotional. You have family members there youve been working with 5 1 2 years. They finely have justice, you know. Weve been telling them for years, just trust, just trust that it will be the right result. Trust was it . A year and a half and then this. Attorneys for jason young demanding a new trial saying the trial that led to his conviction had significant errors. Jason youngs new lawyers launched an appeal. Who is jason young . Is he the person responsible for miss youngs death. It seems fundamentally unfair. What was fundamentally unfair . Remember during the trial the attorney pointed out the prosecution introduced testimony of the civil cases against jason brought by michelles family. They accuse jason young of murder . See. Jason young murdered Michelle Young. The defendant murdered Michelle Young. Way out of bounds. Michelles sister predicted the appeal would be thrown out. They came to the right verdict and were confident it will stay. She was wrong. A raleigh man is getting a third trial in the death of his wife. In 2014, the judges ruled testimony about the civil cases prejudiced the jury and took particularly exception the prosecutors were allowed to tell the jurors it was their trial judge that signed the civil judgment against jason that said he killed his wife. In fact, allowing it in was a violation of North Carolina law. That law says you cannot use a civil complaint, civil allegation as proof in the criminal case. A year later the Supreme Court reversed the decision. And another attempt by jason that his team was ineffective was also denied. I love you, too. Children know little of the arcane world of appeals. Castdy is 13 now and lives with her aunt meredith. Her father and mother, snatches of memory, ever farther away. Thats all for now. Im lester holt. Thanks for joining us. Test. Get back. Get back. Right now at 11. Chaos at a popular southbound amusement park. The news at 11 00 starts right now. I am terry mcsweeney. Concern over what happened at great america. The park was packed when the fights broke out. Tonight there is more security. Answerer hassan is live with that. Reporter police are increased patrol inside the park. The park wouldnt get specific gu Security Policies but all