True Crime with Kimbyr - Pregnant Mother Murdered at Home: What Was Michelle Fisher Hiding?: Part 2

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

In Part 2 of this emotional case on True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha dives deeper into Michelle Fisher’s whirlwind romance with Jason Young. What began as a fairy-tale quickly turned unsettling���mood swings, controlling behavior, and secrets started to unravel the perfect image. As Michelle built her dream career and prepared for motherhood, Jason's actions became increasingly erratic. Was she ignoring red flags? Or was something far darker unfolding behind closed doors? Join us as we examine the cracks in their relationship and the chilling events leading up to her murder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In front of the stairs was a bathroom that Cassidy would usually use, and Meredith noticed the door and carpet were dotted with dark red stains and what looked like tiny footprints. At first, Meredith thought that Cassidy had gotten into Michelle's red hair dye and made a mess. Maybe that's why Michelle hadn't gone to work yet. But when she entered Michelle's bedroom, she was confronted with a horrifying scene. There she was, face down, next to the bed. The walls, the white sat and comforted the pillow, and the bedding on Michelle's side of the bed were covered,

and what now appeared to be blood. But in Meredith's mind, she thought it must be a practical joke. Halloween had just been days before this. It couldn't be real. This couldn't be her. Meredith's brain wasn't processing what she was seeing, but then she began to panic. The stains were not streaks of dye. They covered the room, even reaching up to the ceiling.

It was then that Meredith realized the horrifying truth. that the red stains weren't haired eye, they were blood. She ran to the right side of the bed to grab the cordless phone to call 911 and as she was just about to dial the nine, her eyes darted toward the bed. It was Cassidy. She had been cowering underneath the covers for who knows how long while the body of her mother lie inches away. Cassidy was clearly confused and traumatized by what was going on around her. She had jumped up from underneath the covers and was now staring straight. straight at her aunt. Then she climbed from the bed and hopped into Meredith's arms and tightly hugged her. Meredith then proceeded to call 911. I have this phone call in its entirety.

Keep in mind, this is going to be heartbreaking. It was hard for me to listen to, especially with two and a half-year-old little Cassidy, her little voice in the background. But I do think it's important for you to hear exactly what Meredith relayed to the dispatcher. So here we go. All right? I didn't name that. I was an emergency? What address are you at, ma'am? Um, if you said you want to read virtually broke, oh my God.

What's the problem? Tell me exactly what happened. I think my sister's dead. Okay, tell me what happened, ma'am. I have no idea. Oh my God. All right, so. What's your name?

Meredith. I said, Miss is the young address. Oh my God. Meritap, listen to me, please. Yeah. Are you with the patient, ma'am? Yes, but then her daughter. Okay.

There's blood everywhere. She's 28, 29. Can I try to move her? Listen to me, ma'am. Yeah, I'm going to tell you what to do. Okay. You need to calm down so you can help her. You said there's blood everywhere? Yes.

All right. Is she conscious? No, I don't think so. Should I try to help her? Listen to me, ma'am. I'm listening. I don't think so. Have you checked? Michelle?

It's cold. Okay. Listen to me. Did you see what happened? I don't know. Kathy, can you see. I'm here. My daughter.

Okay. There's like blood footprints all over the house. My daughter, like her daughter's full footprints. Okay, listen to me. What's your first name? Meredith. Yes, sir. Did you see what happened?

I just came here on a fluke. I usually, you know, don't come here during the day. Okay. She shouldn't be home. She should be at work. Okay, listen to me. Yes, sir. I'm not right now.

Can you tell me why she looks, look like she's dead? I don't know. I have no idea. There's one all over. Can you say she's cold? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

She's beyond any help? I don't know. Honestly, I don't know. All right. I'm normally very good. Okay. We're going to tell you what to do then, okay? Yes, sir.

Are you right by her now? I'm keeping her daughter out of there. Okay. So you're not with her? I'm right outside of the bedroom. All right. Can you hear the phone into where she's at? Yeah.

All right. Can you secure her? Okay. Okay. Okay. Can you put in your room for two seconds? Okay. Okay.

Can we call the door for two seconds. I'll be right second. Okay. Got a cordonable son? Yeah. All right. Okay. All right.

Is she laying on her back? No, she's laying on her stomach. She's laying on her stomach. She's laid down. Yes. All right, can you get her on her back? How did they? I said you can get on her back.

I got to go with these. She's a can't tell me. She is? You are? No, I don't know. Okay. Can you get on her back for me? Okay.

You get on her back for me? She's kind of twisted in a way that I can't do that. You can't wrong? Over? Not easy. Hang, I'll meet up trying to see if I'm going to get it in different calls. Got to try to do CPR if we get her on the back there. Yeah.

So she goes cold. Try not to touch anything more than you did. Was anything out of place or unusual when you came in? This place does not look like what it normally looks like. There's blood in the bed. Okay. All right, try not to touch anything else, okay? Okay, I just moved the pillow.

The thing is exactly where it is, though. Okay. Okay. Do you see anything else? You see anything else that looks unusual? No. Tell thing, is anything else? Everybody here, the dog was freaking out when I got here.

Was anybody here tweeting? All right. Meredith? Yes, sir. The sheriff's form to pick up on the line with us? Okay. Because I'm going to need to talk to you about what you're seeing, okay? Okay. I'll bring some of what's happened and you just down the line.

What's your last name, Meredith? Sixth. How's your last name is young? Are you her relative? I'm here. I'm here. I'm only sister. Okay.

All right, Mary. Okay. Okay. Okay. This is, uh, Brent. Betty Manson, right, unfortunately. What she's saying is the first. I have not be in 57 and there may be there's a problem.

We got that he's already around. You know to talk to them. Yeah, I will, thank. She's on my big. Okay. Merit. What is Meredith? I'm also here with her two and a half year old, so it's kind of difficult to me to pay attention.

Okay. Okay. Where are you at now, though, Meredith? You are virtually? I'm at first, I'm sitting myself very well under pressure, but I, I, now, is there yet? No. Okay.

I got it. What have you found? when you walked in the house. I don't know. I almost went over the practical joke. And who lives there and are they there? Okay, it's my sister's house. Uh-huh.

And she has a husband that travels quite a bit. Uh-huh. That I spoke with him last night and he's out of town. He's on his way to his parents' house. And her daughter, I still have pajamas. Okay. That like normally my sister goes to work early, so that a daycare, you know, like something's not right.

And when I first came to the house. Before me a minute? Mm-hmm. you out of the... Okay, but I need you to do if possible. So the walls there with you, I can hear a child. Yeah, okay. Okay.

Just have everybody walk outside, stand and get out. Let's take a ride, okay? Come on, Garrett, Sam. Let's go back. You wait for nice, you can't do. If you want to, yeah, if you want to, go out to your car and sit in your car, that way, until we figure out what I do. What I do, if I can't be mistake.

Oh, no. We're going to wait outside for me. You felt to sit a couple of us. Okay. Not me, I mean, I mean, no, I mean the Are you having problems? What? What?

Do you know if you have any personal fault, that you know of? Um, not really, you know, I kind of help them fight a little bit, but nothing too ridiculous. She was pregnant. I know that. She's about 40 years pregnant. How did you try to keep on? Okay.

Okay. Yeah. There's a fire department truck here. I don't know why. But yeah, they respond as well because they know. Right, like, can't even blame this. This is real. Like, the tour of the plate so funny stuff on each other, like, my concern about it's in that.

Like, I almost had it was a joke that's how over the top. It's just being in there. Something's not right. I'm going to talk to you now. Okay. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

That call is so sad. That poor little girl in this poor family. It's too much to bear. Plus, it appeared that Cassidy might have been in the bedroom when Michelle had been killed and had walked through her mother's blood, covered in it as she made her way to the bathroom. That's what all those little footprints were. During this 911 call, Meredith was trying to get Cassidy to remain in her bedroom as she attempted to do as the dispatcher instructed her to. But Cassidy didn't want to be there. Cassidy was too worried about her mommy to stay put.

Instead, she kept trying to lead her aunt into the bathroom, saying that she needed to get a washcloth for mommy. Cassidy asked Meredith for band-aids because she said that mommy has boo-boos everywhere, and she needs a washcloth, and that was so sad. I could hardly hold back tears the first time I heard her say that. Meredith tried to hold it together, so she could explain what was going on to the dispatcher,

and eventually she was asked to roll Michelle's body, over and do CPR. But she couldn't. Her body was cold and stiff. Meredith couldn't believe this was happening. You can even tell that by her voice and she even says it at one point that you cannot believe that this is happening. Anyone that's been through a traumatic event knows that sometimes time can stand still. EMS was sent out and Meredith and Cassidy were placed inside the back of a fire truck. Meredith decided to at that point call her mother Linda. She had just gotten up the phone with her before she was confronted with this horrific scene. And Meredith had to spell it out for her mother, since she didn't want Cassidy to understand what she was going to say. She told her mom that Michelle was

D-E-A-D. Linda responded with, what do you mean? What, what do you mean? And Meredith just told her to get there as soon as possible. And I don't know if you caught it, but at one point in this telephone call, Meredith told the dispatcher that her niece was advanced for her age and that she thought, From what she heard the little girl saying, that maybe Cassidy had saw someone that night in the house, but she couldn't really understand baby talk. It seemed like it took forever, but before long, there was a ton of officers scouring the young residents.

Cassidy was examined, and they confirmed that she was not physically injured. Now it was time to go inside the house and examine the scene. Crime scene investigators from the Raleigh-Wake County Police Department arrived, ready to piece together the tragic events that unfolded inside the scene. that home. By the front door hung a ghost decoration left over from Halloween. It was swinging in the wind. No decoration, though, would be a match for the true horror of what waited inside. Sheriff's deputy, Scott Arp, was one of the first on the scene, and Sergeant Richard Spivey was leading this investigation. From the outset, there was no sign of force entry, which raised immediate questions about how the assailant

had entered the home. But as we know, the garage door had been broken, so that could had been the way they made entry. They did dust for prints on the frame of the mudroom door just in case, especially because they found blood on that doorknop. It was swab for analysis. They found the first floor relatively undisturbed. The kitchen looked lived in, but nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. I did find it sad that Michelle's ultrasound photos could be seen on the kitchen counter, and there was another one on display on the refrigerator. Michelle's purse was in the kitchen as well, And even though it was laying on the ground on its side, Meredith let them know that it was upright when she arrived, and it wasn't unusual for Michelle to drop those bags where they were. That was not part of a struggle.

The living room looked normal. A hamper full of clothing was in the middle of the room, a child's book was on the coffee table, and family photos covered the fireplace mantle. None of the blinds in that room that looked towards a trailer park were open, but there was that glass door to the backyard area that did look straight outside, and nothing was was obstructing the view. It was the second floor of the home, however, where most of the disturbing evidence was found. At the top of the stairs, tiny bloody footprints belonging to two-year-old Cassidy were scattered across the landing, leading from her mom and dad's bedroom into both her bedroom and the bathroom next door. But they were more concentrated in the bathroom. Blood was found on

a small step stool in front of the sink, a bright green rug on the floor of the bathroom, and one of Cassidy's bloody socks was lying nearby. A yellow, hooded towel also stained with blood was discovered in the bathroom, but there were no traces of blood in the toilet, tub, or the sink. It was clear that at some point little Cassidy had left the bedroom and washed her hands, only to return later and hide underneath the bed sheets. Michelle's blood was also found smeared on the walls in the bathroom at the same height that Cassidy would have been able to reach. The investigators paused when they saw this part of the scene. Aside from being professionals, they are still human, families of their own and seeing those tiny footprints, it was a very emotional moment. They hadn't seen anything like that before. Since Cassidy was physically unharmed,

they knew that this was her mother's blood. She had been drenched in it. But what was interesting is that Deputy Arp noticed she was wearing a clean set of pink pajamas when Meredith was holding her outside. So we asked her, did you clean the child? And Meredith said no. So even though Cassidy had a little bit of blood on the soles of her feet and underneath her toenails, there was only a couple small spots of blood on the bottom of her pajamas. So Cassidy, who might have been able to clean her hands, was not capable of cleaning her whole body. She wouldn't have been able to change out of her bloody pajamas, which were nowhere to be found at that time, and crawl back under the sheets without getting more blood on her.

This meant that someone must have changed her between the time Michelle was murdered and when Meredith found her. Remember that detail. In the bedroom, Michelle's body was found lying face down on the floor. Her head was pressed against the open closet door. A thick pool of blood formed under her head. Her legs were still kind of upright and tangled in the covers as though she had kind of slid down the bed and ended up hanging off the side of it. She was dressed in black sweatpants and a white,

zip-up hoodie with red and pink stripes around the bottom. After moving Michelle's body and closing the closet door, investigators noted blood spatter on the front of the door. This indicated that Michelle had been beaten while the door was shut and that her body had been moved to open it. The investigators believed that Michelle had been attacked while she was lying in bed probably asleep. A pillow from her side of the bed was soaked in blood and had fallen to the floor. There was a large blood stain where Michelle had been lying in bed and large blood droplets and then saw. smaller cast-off spray was across the wall near the door. There was actually a hole in the wall that was fresh, and it was about a foot above the closet door and stained with blood. This indicated where a violent impact had taken place, and below this hole, more blood pooled along the baseboard and the doorway, with spatter visible between the gouge mark and the floor. This entire

room was in disarray. You could tell a struggle had happened. There were decorative pillows from the bed scattered across the floor, and among them, a white triangle pillow next to the floorboard, near Michelle's side of the bed caught the investigator's attention. Two distinct adult-sized bloody shoe prints were found on this pillow. Then a partial shoe print was found on a blanket inside the bedroom as well. These were collected and sent to the crime lab for analysis. On the floor of Jason's closet, the investigators found more of Cassidy's bloody footprints alongside one of her tiny baby dolls lying just inches away from her mother's body.

Tragically, it was determined that little Cassidy had put the doll next to her mother to comfort her, just as her mom would have done for her countless times in her short life. That made me so sad. She took the little baby doll and she was putting it near her mom. Further adding to the mystery, though, was the discovery that two out of the three drawers and Michelle's wooden jewelry box on her dresser were missing. Her engagement ring and her wedding band were nowhere to be found. And despite a thorough search of the home, they remained missing.

In the primary bathroom, investigators use phytophylene. This is a chemical that's used to detect traces of a little. blood that were invisible to the naked eye under an alternate light source. This is sort of like luminal. And surprisingly, no blood was found in the primary bathroom. As they continued their search, investigators found those eBay printouts that Jason had asked Meredith to retrieve in the second floor office, which were collected as evidence. Outside, another detail emerged. A garden hose was laying in the middle of the concrete path near the back deck, with the water trickling from the nozzle. This was a noise that Meredith heard when she ventured into the backyard upon arrival.

The detective suspected that the hose may have been used by the assailant to clean off blood after the attack. However, there was no blood visible on the hose, the deck, or the path. The only other clue outside was a tire mark in the dirt near the end of the driveway. Despite an exhaustive search of the home, the exterior of the property, and even the surrounding neighborhood, Investigators were not able to locate a potential murder weapon. The mystery of who had committed this violent crime, how they entered the home and exited without leaving more evidence, and what they used to harm Michelle only deepened as they tried to piece together the horrifying scene.

Birchleaf Drive was once a very quiet and safe area, and the house had been filled with love, plans, and a growing family. But now it was a scene of an unimaginable tragedy. Once the initial scene investigation was complete, Michelle's body was removed and transported for autopsy. When Meredith had found her, her body was already discolored, cold, and stiff, indicating that she had been dead for several hours. Meanwhile, while all of this had been going on in the afternoon of November 3rd,

and tragedy was unfolding back in Raleigh, Jason was far from home. He had spent the day at a business meeting at Dickerson County Hospital in Climbwood. Unfortunately, the meeting didn't go as planned. Jason left without making a sale, feeling frustrated as he drove to he drove towards his mother's home in Brevard, Jason tried calling Michelle on both her office and her cell phone, but there was no answer. His thoughts also turned to that favor he asked of Meredith to retrieve those eBay printouts of the coach bag at the house. When Jason arrived at his mother's home, something felt off. His mother, Pat, and stepdad were standing outside. They were visibly

upset and concerned. And Jason asked if something happened to his grandma. They shook their heads. That's when they informed him. It wasn't his grandmother. it was Michelle. She was dead. Minutes later, Meredith called him and told him that not only was Michelle dead, she had been murdered. The devastating news brought Jason to his knees. He began sobbing uncontrollably in the front yard, overcome with grief. Shortly thereafter, Jason's sister, Heather and her husband arrived, finding Jason inside wrapped in a blanket. His eyes were red and swollen from crying. There was tissues scattered around him. Heather embraced her brother, and they They cried together.

Then he said, I not only lost my wife, I lost my son. And Heather told him that Michelle was up in heaven with their sweet little boy Rylen and their father. And in response, Jason looked over at Heather and muttered, you're going to make a good mom for Cassidy. This was a chilly acknowledgement of their future without Michelle. Because when Cassidy was born, Heather had been named as Cassidy's guardian in case anything were to happen to Jason or Michelle, but no one thought that this would actually happen.

Soon after Heather arrived, the family began the drive from Brevard back to Raleigh. Jason was just laying in the backseat with his head resting on his mother's lap for the entire drive. While the weight of the loss of Michelle hung heavy over the car, Jason didn't speak much about Michelle, their unborn child, or Cassidy. Instead, his focus shifted to the future. He was worried. He was worried about not having Michelle's income. He worried about losing the home that he was living in, and he confided in his mother that he couldn't afford the mortgage on his own. The looming financial burden added another layer to this shock and despair. Back in New York, when Michelle's mother Linda received the heartbreaking call from Meredith,

she wasted no time arranging a flight to North Carolina. The loss of her daughter was incomprehensible, and she needed to be there for her family. I'm sure nothing made sense at this point, and there was going to be a long road ahead of them. As the family made arrangements for Michelle's funeral, her autopsy was being conducted. The examination revealed the brutality of her final moments. Her body was covered in scrapes and bruises, particularly from her forearms to her fingertips.

Clear signs she had fought desperately to defend herself. The medical examiner noted over 20 blunt force injuries to the back of Michelle's head. Some of these injuries measured as long as four inches, and the force of the blows were so severe, they exposed her skull. The pattern and shape of the wounds suggested that the murder weapon was likely a crescent-shaped, heavy, blunt object. The relentless blows fractured Michelle's skull in several places, causing extensive brain hemorrhaging.

In addition to the injuries on the back of her head, Michelle also sustained a violent blow to the front of her face, splitting her mouth and knocking out her teeth. All together, she had been struck at least 30 times. The sheer force of the attack caused her jaw to break through the skin, as in the next to the next to the skin. skin. As the medical examiner looked at Michelle's neck, further disturbing details came to light. Significant internal hemorrhaging indicated that Michelle had been strangled during this attack. There were presence of fingernail marks on her neck, which suggested that she had actually tried to pry the assailant's hands away from her in a desperate attempt to survive.

Despite the overwhelming violence of this attack, the autopsy found no evidence of sexual violation. Michelle's cause of death was determined to be blunt forced trauma to her head, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide. Though the exact time in Michelle's death could not be pinpointed, the medical examiner estimated that she'd been killed several hours before her sister Meredith discovered her body at 1.15 p.m. on November 3. The medical examiner's report had painted a picture of a violent and brutal attack, which would have lasted several minutes before Michelle died.

It was a slow and painful death, potentially while her young daughter watched. How horrifying that poor little girl. At the same time, as word was spreading about Michelle's murder, detectives were focusing on who would have a reason to kill her and why. The first person they wanted to talk to was Jason, her husband. And we know by now the most murders are committed by someone the victim knows, and women in particular are disproportionately killed by their intimate partners. Statistics consistently show that a significant percentage of female homicide victims are killed by a current or a former partner. But what's not talked about as much is the significance of strangulation in how a person's murdered.

In this case, Michelle was both strangled to death and beaten. When strangulations used during the commission of a murder, it's often an indication of a deeply personal and intense level of violence. Strangulation requires a person to be very close to the victim. It's an intimate form of attack. It suggests that the killer wants to exercise complete control over the victim in their final moments, both physically and psychologically. This is often driven by intense emotions like rage or jealousy and demonstrate a desire to assert dominance or power over the victim.

In many cases, the combination of strangulation and beating is also overkill, where the attacker's intent is not just to kill them, but to inflict a maximum amount of harm and suffering. Jason and his family arrived at Meredith's home in Raleigh, and the investigators were already waiting. They immediately confiscated Jason's Ford Explorer, all of his luggage, and anything else in the car, trying to see if there was any link between him to Michelle's murder.

However, a thorough search of this vehicle in bags yielded no forensic evidence, no blood, no hair, or any physical clues that could tie him directly to this crime. Inside, investigators found various pieces of paper, including MapQuest directions, printed from the home office computer before his trip to Clintwood, Virginia. Along with the directions, they uncovered three gas receipts and a checkout receipt from the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Virginia. They also found a copy of USA Today

with a hotel sticker on it. Along with a road atlas opened to a page showing highways between Virginia and North Carolina. Everything pointed to Jason not being involved, but they had to clear him to make sure so they could move on to someone else and look in other directions. He was the last person to talk to Michelle the night she was killed. And he happened to be the reason why she was found. Because remember, he asked Meredith to go to the house to retrieve that printout. Those receipts that they found in his explorer gave them a direction to look in. After he left the house, he had stopped at a gas station at 7.30 p.m. before leaving Raleigh. CCTV footage confirmed this. Then two hours later, he was on more CCTV footage at a cracker

barrel restaurant in Greensboro, North Carolina. Then he proceeded to the Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Virginia, and he's seen on the hotel surveillance camera at the front desk, checking in at 1049 p.m. So doing the math, he went straight to where he was supposed to be in the time frame he should have been there. He was also seen at the front desk at midnight, and had made a phone call around that same time that placed him in the Hillsville area. So this provided detectives with somewhat of a timeline to work with to rule him out or to look into him further. The next morning, he made another phone call from the Hillsville area around 7.40 a.m. before his sales meeting at Dickerson County Hospital in Clintwood, Virginia.

So it seemed Jason was nowhere near the crime scene. But as more of Jason's family members were being interviewed, they sent him a warning, telling him that he probably needed to get a lawyer because the police were asking some disturbing questions, and it appeared that Jason was their prime suspect right away. Going back to when Meredith was on that 911 call, she was asked if there were any issues in Michelle's marriage. And of course she would know, because she was helping them work them out. She said that they argued here and there,

but it was nothing that would lead to something like this. But as everyone close to Michelle was interviewed, it became clear that Michelle and Jason's marriage was less than perfect, which I've already explained. But there was more. Some concerning aspects and other suspicions, and I'm gonna start with these suspicious aspects. Remember that car crash

on the way to Jason's parents' Well, his SUV had veered to the right, meaning towards the passenger side where Michelle was sitting. If there hadn't been a witness, what would have happened? It started to look like Jason may had staged that crash to look like it was an accident. It's also when she was pregnant, just like this time. Was that a coincidence? Well, there's more. When they became new parents when Cassidy was born, Michelle and Jason took responsible steps to plan for their daughter's future.

They had thoughtful discussions about what would happen in the event of their deaths. Even though this is not a fun conversation to have, it's an important one. And since Michelle was a CPA, financial security for their future was at the forefront of these conversations. Michelle was actually able to get a great rate on life insurance policies for their family. At this point, Michelle expressed a desire to have her sister, Meredith, named as Cassidy's guardian, if anything were to happen to them. However, Jason had a different opinion. He wanted his sister, Heather, to take on the role. He argued that Heather was already married, she was in a better position to care for Cassidy in the unfortunate event that she was left parentless.

He also believed that with Heather's work schedule, it gave her more flexibility. And though Michelle understood Jason's points, she suggested they revisit this conversation in three years, leaving the decision open-ended for the time being. But Jason shared with her that his family had such an impactful situation happened to them when they lost their father at an early It made him worry about Cassidy's future. He didn't want to wait. So Michelle gave in. She understood where Jason was coming from. His concerns were valid.

They were grounded in his past experience and a desire to protect their family's future and safeguard their child from hardships. So this was interesting. Jason was the one that pushed for this life insurance policy and he wanted one of his family members to be named as a beneficiary. Was it odd?

Or was it just as they said, that he had lost his dad? and he wanted to make sure that his own child was secure. Or was this a plan? Remember, he didn't want to be a husband, let alone a father. But then, all of a sudden, he had a change of heart. Was it because in his mind he thought, hmm, insurance policy? The couple actually opted for two $1 million policies,

a decision that was largely influenced by the fact that Michelle was able to get that good rate, because she was a CPA. Of course, at the time, she had reservations about the size of this policy. Two million dollars seemed like a large amount. But even though she was initially hesitant, she agreed because Jason persisted. Michelle's friend Fiona was a lawyer,

and she was the one that drafted the agreement. And Michelle did confide in her that she was a little bit apprehensive at how large the policy was, but of course they went through with it. Michelle and Jason's friends both explained Jason's antics when intoxicated, and just as recently as a few weeks before the murder that Jason and Michelle had been arguing so badly at Ryan and Shelley's wedding that they referred to it as World War III. Other friends, as well as Michelle's sister and mom, told investigators about the constant fights in regard to Jason not wanting Linda around.

This was even documented in emails between Michelle and Jason as recent as October 4th. In an email from Jason to Michelle, he wrote in part, quote, first and foremost, I want to apologize. If you took what I was trying to say this morning in a way that seemed negative towards your mom, she's a very good person, and I know you care for her deeply as you should. I just want you to realize that whether you see it or not, her involvement in our lives is a bit higher than I feel an ideal situation should be. I think this can be detrimental to you and I, and I don't want to see that happen. I have told you this ever since she spent the first summer with us,

and I'm once again telling you, please listen this time, as I do not want to go down our path of troubles over our intimacy struggles. I do not feel you have been very fair about this entire situation. You continually try to spin this discussion and bring inside tangents that are completely irrelevant. I do understand what you're saying

about your mother being alone for Thanksgiving, but that is not my fault or your fault or anyone else's fault. You have a tremendously large and close family and she has multiple places she can go if she so chooses. She could, possibly should, think about her other daughter even if it is for half a day.

Should Meredith be alone on Thanksgiving? Your alone argument works that way too, right? Or is it the likely case that maybe your own sister gets tired of your mom after a given period of time? By the way, don't answer. I know what it is. The fact is your mom simply wants to be with you and Cassidy. But she has got to start realizing

that seeing us as often as she does creates an imbalance in our relationship, and I've told you that from the start." End quote. I also want to point out, In this email, he wrote, Our marriage has seen better days, and I don't see it trending up. His words.

This went on for like two more pages, but I think you get the idea. And Meredith came forward to add that Friday before Halloween on October 27th, she was over at their house, and she did somewhat of a counseling session with them, and they talked for four or five hours. That is such a long time.

And the main issue surrounded the holidays approach, and Jason didn't want Linda staying there. Point blank, he didn't want it. He felt that a weekend was enough time with his mother-in-law. But the thing was, she didn't live nearby. She was flying in from New York. So to only get a few days there, it seemed ridiculous. She's family and a big part of Michelle's family.

They were really into Christmas in the holidays. They went all out. And Michelle couldn't think about rejecting her own mother. And why would she have to? And in that letter, the fact that he was saying, like, no, your mom just wants to see you and the baby. And he was acting like, that was a bad thing? That's confusing. He was making the point, like, she doesn't need to be here.

She just wants to be here. But shouldn't she be able to be there? He sounds like a spoiled brat who's just throwing a temper tantrum because he's being scolded. Because Linda definitely put her foot down. And no one else probably did with him. This was an ongoing argument between the couple. and it was getting more and more intense as it was getting closer to Thanksgiving

with Christmas fast approaching thereafter. Meredith said, the only other issue with Jason was that he wanted more sex. But Michelle wanted more romance. She wanted date nights and bonding. She didn't want them to just sleep together because it was convenient. She actually found it hard to sleep with Jason

after they'd been fighting, or he'd given her the silent treatment for days. So neither one of them was getting their needs met. Well, Sort of. And you're going to know why I'm saying that. Meredith said that the next night on Saturday, October 28th, she was managing the Lucky 32 restaurant. And Michelle and Jason got a babysitter that night and they came in for a date night. And Meredith was surprised to see them. When Michelle got a moment alone with her sister, she said at least we're trying. So her and Jason were trying to be romantic to go out on dates to make it work. They even had a picture taken of them that night.

They looked happy. It seemed hard to believe that that Michelle would be dead just days later. Meredith said they were still arguing on Halloween and on November 1st with Michelle telling her that she had had enough. The pettiness from him would not stop. And he even had the audacity to say to Michelle, if you just let me have a woman on the side,

it would just make this a lot easier. Wow. But the thing is, even though he was quite the A-hole at times, would this be enough? But the investigators still had to ask, why would Jason want his wife dead? And if he did, why would he need to take such extreme measures to do it? It was brutal.

Investigators were targeting Jason because they thought he had the answer to those questions, which could be fairly straightforward. But the path to justice for Michelle would be anything but. Jason Young had a secret. It's one of the oldest secrets in the book, and I'm sure if I pause for just a second, you can guess what it is. Jason, who worked as a traveling salesman, often taking him away from home for days at a time. But in the years since he'd been married to Michelle, his trips away had become less about business and more about pleasure.

So, as I said, he was getting what he wanted and a lot of it, just not from his wife. Detectives wanted to ask Jason all about this, but he lawyered up right away. And on the advice of counsel, he refused to speak to detectives, and he never even ever even asked him. asked how his wife died, which they thought was very odd from day one. So without Jason talking, they decided to take a closer look at his most recent trip to Hillsville, Virginia, which was about 170 miles away from Raleigh, and detectives calculated that would have taken Jason about six hours to drive from the hotel to Raleigh, commit the murder, and then return to Hillsville. It was doable. Actually, it would have almost exactly lined up with the last time he was seen

on CCTV footage at the hotel close to midnight. The detective speculated that if Jason had left the hotel to drive to Raleigh, he would have more than seven hours to complete the drive, commit the murder, and return to Hillsville. This would have given him enough time to cover the distance, carry out the crime, and be back in that place where he made the phone call, and it pinged in Virginia on the morning of November 3rd. Jason actually showed up for his sales meeting in Clintwood 30 minutes late,

and after that meeting, he drove straight to his parents' houses planned. This timeline raised suspicions. So investigators visited that Hampton Inn in Hillsville to question the staff and search for clues. Jason had checked into room 421, but at the time investigators arrived, housekeeping had already cleaned that room. They used phenophelene again to see if there were any traces of blood,

and they found none. Now, the surveillance footage from the hotel's front desk was pulled, and while it's dark and grainy, as per usual, it showed Jason arriving between 1049 people, and 10.51 p.m. on the night of November 2nd. He was wearing a light-colored long-sleeve shirt with buttons. Jason was seen entering his room at 10.56 p.m. And that was the only time his plastic key card was used to unlock that door according to the records they had. However, at 1159, Jason reappeared at the front desk wearing a different shirt, a dark long-sleeve pullover with a light stripe across the chest. Shortly thereafter, a second camera captured in heading towards the west exit near the stairwell.

That was the last time Jason was seen on hotel security footage that night. We're going to come back to this in detail. But further investigation at the hotel revealed another suspicious detail. A small landscaping rock that were found all along the paths of this hotel outside was actually wedged in the emergency exit door at the west end of the hotel. Just feet from where Jason was last seen on that camera. The staff member who found this rock explained to the detectives that it had been placed in a way to keep the door opened so that someone wouldn't have to use their key card.

That's very interesting and very suspicious. The rock was kicked away by the staff, allowing the door to finally close. Since the door required a keycar access from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. The detective suspected that Jason placed that rock there. to keep the door open in case he had to return to the hotel and he didn't want to use his key because he knew it was going to log that it was his key opening that door. Now, compounding the investigator's concern,

a staff member informed them of another suspicious aspect of this visit. One of the surveillance cameras near that same West stairwell had been tampered with, yep, it had been unplugged. The last image that was captured by the camera was at 1120 p.m. on November 2nd. Just 30 minutes before Jason was seen heading in that direction. Is that a coincidence? I don't think it is.

And neither did the detectives. It's not for nothing that Jason was their prime suspect. The camera had been plugged back in by a staff member only to be tampered with again. By 6.30 a.m. on November 3rd, the camera had been manually pushed upward. So its lens was facing the ceiling, and it wouldn't be able to capture anything down that hallway. The series of suspicious actions and the gaps in the hopes in the host of the whole room, hotel security footage just fueled the investigators growing suspicions that Jason had found a way to leave the hotel, commit the murder of his wife, and return, all while avoiding leaving a clear

trail back to him. Furthermore, Jason had not actually formally checked out of the hotel, which wasn't unusual at the time. They had express checkout. You didn't have to go to the front desk, and he didn't. The staff members explained that they delivered checkout receipts by sliding them under the doors between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., along with copies of USA Today placed on the door handles. These details helped to form a clear picture of Jason's movements around the time of Michelle's murder. Investigators also examined the gas receipts found in Jason's car. The first receipt was from Hardy Hugo's near downtown Raleigh. It was timestamped at 7.32 p.m. on November 2nd.

This would have been as he was leaving town, so he got gas before he left. The second receipt came from a place called the Get It Mart in Duffield, Virginia, and it was recorded at 12.06 p.m. on November 3rd. Now between these two transactions, no other gas receipts were found. That raised doubts whether he could have made the entire 500-mile round trip on a single 22.5 gallon tank of gas.