do. you need to calm down so we can help you. you said there s blood everywhere? listen to me. i m listening. is she breathing? i don t think so. have you checked? michelle? she s cold. okay. reporter: as she spoke, meredith was cradling her 2 1/2-year-old niece, cassidy, who crawled out from under the bed clothes on her parents bed, feet from where her mother lay. cassidy s voice chattering to her aunt. was caught in the recorded call. had cassidy witnessed the murder, awakened alone to find this? you just picture a small child walking around in this blood and tracking it across the hallway over into the bathroom. reporter: by now, wake county investigators were descending on the house. having secured the crime scene, earp s job was done. but on his way out he saw cassidy again. she was still in her pink pajamas, still in meredith s arms.
reporter: the facts were stark and ugly. one night in november, 2006, while her husband was away on business, michelle young was attacked in her bedroom and brutally beaten to death. her body discovered the next day by her sister meredith along with her 2 1/2-year-old daughter cassidy, who had been left to wander in her blood. for the investigators who set out to find her killer, no way to get those little footprints out of their minds. sergeant richard spivey, lead investigator. those of us that work in law enforcement, this is our profession, but we re also parents. that certainly strikes a different note with you when you see something like that. michelle s husband jason, a medical software salesman, was 170 miles away the night of the murder. even so, investigators had to look at him. we know he was the last person to talk to michelle that night.
michelle fell hard and fast. they seemed like a good couple. he was different from other men she had dated in the past. he wasn t 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. reporter: 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. mwah! i love you, mommy. i love you too, cassidy. twinkle, twinkle reporter: and when she came along it was love at first sight. how i wonder what you are yay! reporter: michelle was an enthusiastic mother. huh? huh? huh? huh? by all accounts, jason was a good dad. he was a great playmate.
reporter: and the prosecutor made sure the jury heard just who signed that ruling. i m reading from this judgment which is signed actually by judge stephens. reporter: judge stephens, the very judge sitting before them in this trial. the jury hearing that, it s just something that s going to carry a lot of weight. this is the complaint that was filed in december seeking custody of cassidy. reporter: prosecutors also called the attorney involved in that custody case over daughter cassidy, and those same allegations were repeated yet again. the jury heard several times through these two civil complaints that jason young brutally murdered michelle fisher young. reporter: but the headline came when prosecutors played jason young s entire testimony from the first trial i wanted her to have that. reporter: and began to rip it apart. i don t remember. reporter: prosecutors tried to show that jason s call to meredith to pick up those e-bay
welcome back to dateline extra. so far jason young s testimony seemed to be answering years of questions. when asked by his attorney, jason admitted cheating on his pregnant wife, michelle. more than once. even so, the defense pointed out infidelity did not make him a murderer. now it was the prosecution s turn to cross-examine the witness. and they d start by attacking jason s alibi. but with no forensic evidence tying him to the crime scene, could they convince the jury that jason was the killer? continuing with our story, here s keith morrison. reporter: it was riveting. almost five years of silence about his wife s murder broken here in this courtroom. i love cassidy.