Husband Stays out of Sight As Investigators Probe Wake Mother's Slaying

BREVARD, N.C. — Where is Jason Young? That's the question a lot of people are asking in light of the release of search warrants Thursday that seem to put more focus on him in his wife's death.

On Friday, WRAL traveled 300 miles west to the town of Brevard to try to answer this question.

Young's pregnant wife, Michelle Young, was found beaten to death in their Raleigh home on Nov. 3 with their 2-year-old daughter unharmed by her side. Almost immediately, Jason Young hired an attorney and refused to speak to investigators.

Authorities have not called him a suspect, but search warrants released Thursday shed new light on his activities leading up to his wife's death. They indicate that in the three months prior to her death, he was in almost daily contact by phone and e-mail with a woman named Michelle Money. Money was in Michelle Young's sorority at North Carolina State University and reportedly was a close friend of the couple's.

Sources close to the case have put Jason and his daughter, Cassidy, at his sister and brother-in-law's home near Brevard. On Friday, white Christmas lights draped the house and wrapped around a white metal Christmas tree. Two brown dogs alternately poked around on the grassy hill in front of the resident and then stretched out on the porch.

Children got off of a school bus, laughing and carrying heavy book bags, and headed toward their homes, passing the house without a glance.

When WRAL reporter Amanda Lamb first approached the house, Heather, Jason Young's sister, greeted her. She opened the door, confirmed she was Jason's sister, and said politely that she had no comment.

She wouldn't tell Lamb if Jason Young was there and wouldn't talk about Thursday's developments. She said the family was grieving and they wanted to be left alone.

Finally, she closed the door without taking a business card. When she got into her car and left, Lamb noticed the blinds in the home moving as if someone was watching her in the street.

When Joe, Jason's brother-in-law, later came home from work, a bag of Christmas wrapping paper in hand, Lamb asked him if Jason was there. He said that as far as he knew, Jason had returned to Raleigh.

As Heather and Joe's family prepared for Christmas, Linda Fisher, Michelle Young's mother, told WRAL that her daughter loved Christmas -- that she loved everything about it, especially decorating.

Where is Jason Young? Who knows for sure, but Michelle Young's car is parked in Joe and Heather's garage.