february, 2012, this time howard cummings led the prosecution, hoping to use jason s own words to convict him. but first, prosecutors called that night clerk at the gas station, gracie, who remembered jason complaining about the locked pumps. when he came to in pay, he started cussing and raising cane. what time did this happen? 5:00, 5:30 in the morning. a time jason said he was at the hotel. then prosecutors had new witnesses and new testimony. they wanted jurors to hear about cassidy who s bloody footprints they contended made her a witness to murder. . when i got to cassidy, i said, what are you doing? day care worker took the stand. told them she watched cassidy playing alone days after her mother was murdered.
clerks and came across a woman named gracie doms in a tiny place called king, north carolina. she took one look at that photograph and recognized it instantly. he was the foul-mouthed customer, she said, who came storming into the store to complain that the pumps were locked. and what time was it? 5:30 a.m., the morning of the murder. there was actually an altercation between the two of them, so you have the reason why she would remember him as opposed to any other customer that may have just happened into the store. if that attendant was right, investigators may have undercut jason s alibi. still, it wasn t enough. so they plodded ahead, painstaking work, took time. then years after the murder, they finally got a match for that partial footprint. the state bureau of investigation and the fbi were able to eventually identify that
four voted guilty. judge stephens 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. reporter: so the prosecutors decided they would try again. but this time with the one thing they didn t have the first time. jason s own story. the second trial began in february 2012. this time howard cummings led the prosecution, hoping to use jason s own words to convict him. put your left hand on the bible, raise your right hand. reporter: but first prosecutors called that night clerk at the gas station, gracie, who remembered jason complaining about the locked pumps. 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.
reporter: was there any other tampering done? the door that was adjacent to where the camera was located, that door also had been propped open that night. how do you know that? the gentleman working as the clerk that night found a rock that had been placed in the door to keep the door from closing. well, then they plugged the camera back in, so it s now working again. and at about 6:35 that morning suddenly that camera is pointing straight at the ceiling. same camera? same camera. and it s tampered with yet again. reporter: if that was jason young s work, is it possible he did make the 340-mile round trip? could he have killed his wife and cleaned up his daughter all in 7 1/2 hours without ever being seen? to find out, investigators played a hunch. they visited every gas station along the route. showed jason s photo, talked to the night clerks. and came across a woman named gracie doms in a tiny place
the door that was adjacent to where the camera was located, that door also had been propped open that night. how do you know that? the gentleman working as the clerk that night found a rock that had been placed in the door to keep the door from closing. well, then they plugged the camera back in, so it s now working again. and at about 6:35 that morning suddenly that camera is pointing straight at the ceiling. same camera? same camera. and it s tampered with yet again. reporter: if that was jason young s work, is it possible he did make the 340-mile round trip? could he have killed his wife and cleaned up his daughter all in 7 1/2 hours without ever being seen? to find out, investigators played a hunch. they visited every gas station along the route. showed jason s photo, talked to the night clerks. and came across a woman named gracie doms in a tiny place called king, north carolina.