0:00
following the untimely death of michelle
0:02
young a surplus of clues and information
0:04
would suggest her killer
0:06
but with no concrete evidence confirming
0:08
who actually murdered her it would be
0:10
left to the hands of the jury to decide
0:13
who killed michelle young does this
0:15
surveillance footage confirm her
0:16
assailant or did law enforcement get all
0:19
of this wrong
0:21
good morning good afternoon or good
0:23
evening my name is adrian and welcome
0:25
back to another video by coffee house
0:27
crime today we're looking into the
0:29
tangled case of michelle young today's
0:31
case is a tricky one and although
0:33
michelle's killer has now been found
0:35
guilty was the evidence behind this
0:37
decision substantial or circumstantial
0:40
i'll let you come to your own conclusion
0:42
now just in case you didn't know i post
0:44
solved unsolved in strange cases here on
0:47
a weekly basis so if that sounds like
0:49
your kind of thing please consider
0:50
subscribing to coffee house crime
0:53
and with that said let's begin today's
0:54
video grab a coffee pull up a seat and
0:57
sit back
0:58
this is the case of michelle young
Michelle's history
1:11
today we find ourselves back along the
1:13
east coast of the united states to the
1:15
state of north carolina
1:17
the tar heel state is often praised for
1:19
its coastline where its mountainous
1:21
cliffsides meet the vast atlantic ocean
1:24
and although the terrain may seem
1:25
treacherous you will never be too far
1:27
from its many beaches
1:29
you may or may not care but one thing
1:32
that i found interesting is that north
1:33
carolina happens to be the birthplace of
1:35
the ever-popular donut krispy kreme so
1:38
just one thing to remember if you ever
1:40
see me out and about i will happily take
1:42
a chocolate one with sprinkles
1:45
moving a short distance inward from the
1:46
famous coastline we focus today's case
1:49
around the city of raleigh and although
1:51
it's the state capital it is a fairly
1:53
modest city with a population of around
1:55
half a million residents
1:57
two of these people which lived among
1:58
the half million were a young couple
2:00
named michelle and jason young
2:03
focusing on michelle to begin with she
2:04
was born on february the 17th 1977. and
2:08
growing up in seville new york she was
2:10
described by family as a happy and
2:12
enthusiastic young girl
2:14
some called her the all-american
2:15
sweetheart with an infectious smile and
2:17
a soft confidence to boot she was also
2:20
the co-captain of savelle high school's
2:21
cheerleading squad to this day she can
2:24
be frequently found throughout her high
2:25
school yearbook smiling through its many
2:27
pages
2:28
while growing up michelle had
2:30
aspirations to become a tax lawyer and
2:32
through the following years she met
2:34
these aspirations with ambition and
2:35
enthusiasm
2:36
so it's no surprise that after
2:38
graduating from sable high school she
2:40
signed up to north carolina state
2:42
university to study finance
2:45
this application was later accepted
2:47
which ended up taking her from the large
2:49
city of new york down south to the
2:51
relatively small city of raleigh north
2:52
carolina
2:54
michelle studied hard and once again she
2:56
became part of a local cheerleading
2:58
squad though she would eventually give
3:00
this up in order to focus on her studies
3:03
a very sensible move and moving forward
3:06
four years she had finally qualified for
3:08
master's degree in accounting
3:10
at least financially speaking michelle
3:12
was now ready to take on the world and
3:14
it wouldn't take long for local
3:15
accounting firm in raleigh to snap her
3:17
up either
Meeting Jason
3:19
by the time february 2001 had rolled
3:21
around michelle was approaching her 24th
3:23
birthday and to celebrate she and her
3:25
friends all made their way to the poor
3:26
house which happened to be their
3:28
favorite bar in the area
3:30
in bittersweet irony it was here that
3:31
michelle met a man named jason young
3:34
while at the bar he had turned around
3:36
and accidentally knocked over michelle's
3:37
glass of wine
3:39
the young jason young apologized
3:40
profusely and while buying her another
3:42
glass of wine the two began to chat away
3:45
now it turns out that both of them were
3:47
north carolina state university
3:49
graduates and they were both huge fans
3:51
of its football team the wolfpack
3:53
jason was slowly becoming michelle's
3:55
best birthday present ever as after this
3:57
the relationship developed from an
3:59
accidental bump into a much more serious
4:01
affair
4:02
during this time jason was living with
4:05
his mother witty and confident he worked
4:07
as a salesman for black decker and
4:10
although he was known to be quite the
4:11
womanizer he seemed to like michelle
4:15
after this chance encounter jason began
4:17
to make so-called sales trips down to
4:19
raleigh however these trips were less to
4:21
do with work and more to see her
4:24
michelle had grown into a hard-working
4:26
and caring young woman whereas jason was
4:28
much more of a brash slightly immature
4:30
man
4:31
he unfortunately seemed to have kept his
4:32
frat boy mentality and had an
4:34
unwillingness to grow up
4:36
nevertheless the relationship deepened
4:38
jason moved down to raleigh and
4:40
eventually the couple moved in together
4:43
and only two years after meeting a
4:45
pregnancy test revealed that michelle
4:47
was pregnant
4:48
she understandably hadn't planned to
4:50
have a baby so soon she had always
4:52
planned for a traditional wedding before
4:54
settling down and she knew for a fact
4:56
that jason wasn't yet ready either he
4:58
quite obviously enjoyed his freedom way
5:00
too much
5:01
when michelle told jace in the news his
5:04
reaction reflected this
5:05
he stated that he wasn't ready for
5:07
children or even marriage for that
5:09
matter to be honest neither was michelle
5:11
but despite this she wanted to have the
5:13
baby
5:15
it would take just over a month for the
5:16
news to settle in but eventually the two
5:19
decided to marry
5:20
this however may not have been just for
5:22
love as michelle didn't have any health
5:24
insurance
5:25
thus meaning having a child in the u.s
5:27
was going to cost them a very sizable
5:29
sum of money
5:30
between this and the news of their
5:32
unborn child their marriage seemed more
5:34
or less out of necessity than anything
5:36
else
5:37
but either way in august of 2003 the two
The Young Family
5:40
finally married photos painted the
5:42
picture of a big wedding for a very
5:44
young happy couple and a few months
5:46
later on march 29 2004 cassidy elizabeth
5:50
young was finally born
5:52
michelle took to motherhood like a
5:54
natural she loved cassidy more than
5:56
anything in this world
5:57
to add to this michelle's sister
5:59
meredith had moved down to the raleigh
6:01
area to help out
6:02
it was in july of later that year that
6:05
the family along with their dog cutely
6:06
named mr g moved into a large family
6:09
house on birchleaf drive found on the
6:11
outskirts of raleigh it was everything
6:13
they could ask for
6:14
the home was big leafy and by all means
6:17
private
6:19
this allowed for more of michelle's
6:20
family to visit which included a
6:22
supportive mother linda
6:24
however this was all at the cost of
6:26
jason's dismay as he and linda often
6:28
failed to see eye to eye
6:31
michelle and linda held a very strong
6:33
relationship in fact despite their
6:35
physical distance the mother and
6:36
daughter would speak on the phone almost
6:38
every single day
6:40
they talked about the many aspects of
6:41
michelle's life which of course included
6:43
her relationship and unfortunately this
6:46
caused tension between jason and linda
6:48
as michelle often vented about his
6:50
problems
6:51
jason was very hot-headed and he and his
6:53
wife often argued on the regular which
6:55
was no secret to friends or family but
6:58
not to matter in spring of 2006 michelle
7:00
had some very good news to share with
7:02
jason as she was once again pregnant
7:05
jason's reaction was supposedly very
7:07
different this time as their second baby
7:09
had actually been planned
7:11
the couple were very excited to welcome
7:13
a fourth member to their growing family
7:15
to celebrate this news the family
7:17
traveled down to jason's parents home
7:19
for the weekend which could be found 280
7:22
miles away in brevard north carolina
7:24
but sadly while here tragedy would
7:27
strike
7:29
in the early hours of the same morning
7:30
they were due to return to raleigh jason
7:33
and michelle left their daughter cassidy
7:34
with her grandparents while they headed
7:36
out to grab some coffee but while on the
7:38
way back jason had unfortunately managed
7:41
to lose control of the vehicle leading
7:43
the pair to drive off a 100 foot drop
7:45
into a deep section of the french broad
7:47
river
7:48
thankfully michelle and jason managed to
7:50
escape but due to the physical and
7:52
mental stress of the accident michelle
7:54
miscarried a few days later
7:56
the family were of course devastated by
7:58
the news
7:59
rather courageously but michelle and
A change in weather...
8:01
jason didn't let this accident define
8:03
their future for very long
8:05
in fact just a few months later michelle
8:07
once again fell pregnant
8:09
now of course michelle was over the moon
8:11
by this and jason allegedly seemed
8:13
fairly happy too
8:14
however his reaction appeared to be less
8:16
enthusiastic this time around and the
8:19
reasoning behind this michelle couldn't
8:21
quite put her finger on
8:22
well very little did she know that other
8:25
pivotal events were happening in jason's
8:27
life
8:28
as a salesman his work often took him
8:30
away from the family
8:31
however some of these business trips
8:33
actually had nothing to do with his job
8:36
in october of 2006 which was four months
8:39
into michelle's pregnancy jason took in
8:41
one of these business trips down to
8:42
florida
8:44
nothing seemed out of the ordinary for
8:46
michelle but jason on the other hand was
8:48
actually going to see an old friend
8:51
the woman's name was michelle money who
8:53
had actually attended north carolina
8:54
university with michelle young and jason
8:56
in the 90s
8:58
not going to lie it's kind of confusing
9:00
having two michelle's to talk about so
9:02
for the sake of this video we're simply
9:04
going to go by her last name money
9:07
money had visited the young's house
9:08
about a month prior and while here she'd
9:11
complained about her own marriage to
9:13
jason
9:14
taking the hint he began to message
9:15
money almost every single day and you
9:18
can probably see where this is going
9:20
jason and money were having an affair
9:23
and as this affair deepened so did
9:25
jason's doubts
November, 2006
9:31
so with jason and michelle's backstory
9:34
now complete we're moving one month
9:35
forward to november of 2006.
9:38
it didn't take long for one of jason's
9:40
business trips to come back around but
9:42
this time it was actually for a sales
9:44
meeting
9:45
scheduled for the morning of november
9:47
the 3rd jason's meeting took him 300
9:49
miles away from home to clintwood
9:52
with a long journey comes a long drive
9:54
and jason felt no desire to do this
9:56
before a stressful day's work
9:58
he therefore decided to book into a
10:00
hotel in hillsville a halfway point
10:02
between his home and his destination
10:04
why only halfway is anybody's guess it
10:07
seemed like a rather strange decision
10:10
nevertheless on the evening of november
10:12
the 2nd 2006 jason said goodbye to his
10:15
wife michelle and his daughter cassidy
10:17
who was spending the evening with one of
10:18
michelle's friends shelly
10:21
leaving before dinner the two women were
10:22
alone for the evening and after putting
10:24
cassidy to bed they spent most of it
10:26
watching grey's anatomy according to
10:28
shelley they talked about michelle's
10:30
marriage and how they recently argued
10:33
being a work night shelly decided to
10:34
head home at around 10 30 p.m and after
10:37
leaving michelle and her daughter
10:38
cassidy made their way upstairs to
10:40
settle in for the night
10:42
michelle got into her lounge clothes
10:44
which was some white joggers and a black
10:45
hoodie and shortly after this with
10:47
cassidy by her side she peacefully fell
10:50
asleep
A day to never forget...
10:55
ticking into the following day
10:57
michelle's sister meredith was going
10:59
about her usual routine
11:00
it was a friday and much like the rest
11:03
of us she was looking forward to the
11:04
weekend ahead
11:06
but that was when shortly afternoon her
11:08
phone rang
11:10
on the other end of the line was jason
11:12
young he had called to ask for her help
11:15
his third wedding anniversary with
11:16
michelle was coming up and as such he
11:18
had been searching online for a new bag
11:20
he'd wanted to buy this for michelle as
11:22
a gift but unfortunately he had
11:25
accidentally sent a copy of the listing
11:26
to the printer at home
11:28
now meredith and jason didn't always get
11:30
along but she did support the nice
11:32
gesture towards his wife so she
11:34
therefore agreed to head over and sort
11:36
out the problem
11:37
besides she had planned to see her
11:38
sister and her niece later that day
11:40
anyway so surely michelle wouldn't mind
11:42
the early arrival
11:44
getting into her car she made her way
11:46
over to birchleef drive and after
11:48
pulling up to the garage she entered
11:50
through the connecting door
11:51
a door which only family members knew
11:53
was always kept unlocked walking inside
11:57
meredith's world shifted
11:59
the atmosphere found within her sister's
12:01
home felt incredibly uneasy and meredith
12:04
could sense it
12:05
everything was way too quiet
12:08
michelle's bag and keys were found in
12:10
the kitchen so she was in but the lights
12:13
were off the house was quiet and the
12:15
temperature cold
12:17
she called out for her sister's name but
12:19
there was no response
12:22
this didn't feel right at all
12:24
the only sound that she could hear was
12:26
from the family dog whimpering from a
12:28
room far away
12:30
making her way upstairs she gazed across
12:32
the hallway to see her sister's bedroom
12:34
door was a jar
12:36
she made several steps forward and after
12:39
entering the room what she saw forever
12:42
changed her life
12:43
by the side of her bed and lying face
12:45
down was her sister michelle young there
12:48
was blood on the floor and splattered
12:50
across the wall
12:51
hesitantly meredith reached out to touch
12:53
her sister
12:55
she was cold and stiff
12:57
beside her head was a baby doll
13:00
meredith recoiled and as she did that
13:02
she had shuffling come from behind her
13:04
out from under the master bed crawled
13:06
cassidy
13:07
she was dressed in clean pink pajamas
13:09
and seemed lost and confused
13:12
meredith scooped up the two-year-old
13:13
girl before taking her out of the
13:14
bedroom and darling 9-1-1 immediately
13:18
i remember
13:29
tell me what happened man i have no idea
13:32
oh my god um what's your name meredith
13:35
meredith oh my god meredith listen to me
13:38
please yeah are you with the patient now
13:41
yes i'm her daughter
13:43
how old is the patient and there's blood
13:44
everywhere she's 28 29. you said there's
13:47
blood everywhere
13:48
all right is she conscious no i don't
13:50
think so should i try to help her listen
13:52
to me ma'am i'm listening is she
13:54
breathing i don't think so have you
13:56
checked michelle
13:58
she's cold okay there's like blood
14:02
footprints all over the house
14:04
like her daughter's little footprints
14:05
yeah there's little over there did you
14:07
say she's cold should i hear that gun
14:12
oh my god
14:13
sure let's see if he
14:25
as meredith stayed on the phone to the
14:26
operator officers made their way to the
14:28
young family residents where they then
14:30
quickly sealed off the house and crime
14:32
scene what they found inside painted a
14:34
vicious attack against a pregnant woman
14:36
and the awfully confused wonderings of
14:38
her two-year-old daughter
14:40
the house was eerie and empty bags were
14:43
thrown across the floor as if the
14:44
cleaning was halfway complete
14:47
and upstairs in the master bedroom lay
14:49
the body of michelle young
14:51
autopsy reports would later highlight
14:53
that michelle had died from a blunt
14:55
force injury to the head with extensive
14:57
abrasions and confusions
15:00
she also suffered from multiple
15:01
fractures the loss of several teeth and
15:04
a subarachnoid hemorrhage of the brain
15:06
next to her a pillow which contained a
15:08
bloody footprint lay on the floor these
15:11
footprints which appeared to be from a
15:12
size 12 shoe continued away from her
15:16
the saddest part of the crime scene was
15:18
the baby doll found next to michelle's
15:20
head
15:21
possibly placed there by cassidy trying
15:23
to comfort her own mother
15:25
and located in the family bathroom were
15:27
several small bloody footprints from the
15:29
toddler leading up to her step stool as
15:31
if she went to wash her hands
15:33
michelle's blood was also smeared on the
15:35
wall at toddler height
15:38
thankfully cassidy remained entirely
15:40
unharmed she had a clean pajamas on
15:42
appeared to be sleepy and was more or
15:44
less confused by the situation
15:46
now there was no sign of forced entry so
15:49
whoever michelle's killer was either had
15:51
a key or moved the open door in the
15:53
garage
15:54
which of course begged the big question
15:57
who killed michelle young
15:59
and why
16:01
statistically speaking almost 60 of all
16:03
homicide victims knew their killer and
16:06
in the case of married couples the
16:07
spouse is always the initial suspect
16:10
but as we all know jason had left for a
16:12
work meeting the night prior
16:13
so he was in the clear
16:16
right
16:17
well maybe not
Retracing Jason's footsteps
16:22
at approximately 11 p.m on november the
16:24
2nd 2006 jason checked into the hampton
16:27
inn near galax found 170 miles away from
16:30
birch leaf drive
16:31
at the time he was driving a white ford
16:34
explorer
16:35
now most of us have stayed in a hotel
16:37
before it is common knowledge to have a
16:39
key card which lets you in to access
16:41
your room and other areas of the hotel
16:44
jason's key card was used once to enter
16:46
his room and never to be used again to
16:48
re-enter it from a surface level it
16:51
appears that jason was in his room for
16:53
the entire time while his wife was being
16:54
murdered however suspicion grew after
16:57
scratching past the surface
17:00
this all began when officers started
17:01
questioning the hotel staff and
17:03
reviewing local surveillance footage
17:05
it turns out that the hotel's clerk
17:07
keith hicks was walking around the hotel
17:10
in the early morning on november the 3rd
17:12
it was during this time that he noticed
17:13
the emergency door on the third floor
17:15
had been propped open by a small red
17:17
rock
17:18
this was puzzling to him
17:20
it seemed as if someone had propped the
17:22
door open in hopes of returning through
17:24
the same door thus avoiding the front
17:26
entrance and not having to use the
17:28
keycard entry system
17:30
this all made sense the door is usually
17:32
locked from 11pm to 6am and during that
17:35
time it requires a keycard for entry
17:38
returning to the front desk keith then
17:40
checked through the surveillance cameras
17:42
however the camera pointing towards the
17:44
same emergency exit was no longer
17:46
switched on the last image taken at 11
17:48
20 pm about half an hour after jason had
17:51
checked in
17:53
the camera remained offline until 5 50
17:55
am the next morning where keith then
17:57
asked a maintenance worker to plug it
17:58
back in however after physically
18:01
checking the camera at 6 30 am he
18:03
noticed it was now pointing towards the
18:05
ceiling
18:06
this was also very unusual the camera
18:09
hadn't been touched for many years and
18:11
now it just so happened to be tampered
18:13
with on the very night of jason's day
18:16
it is not known exactly what time jason
18:18
checked out but data forensics showed
18:20
that he made several phone calls at
18:22
around 7 40 am while 30 miles away from
18:24
the hotel all of which lasted less than
18:27
10 seconds which investigators saw as
18:29
the actions of a panicked man
18:32
jason also showed up half an hour late
18:34
to his own sales meeting that morning
18:36
before heading to his parents house
18:37
afterwards as he had previously planned
18:41
so during their investigations police
18:43
traced all payments made by jason at gas
18:45
stations and compared his transactions
18:47
to the distance he should have covered
18:49
doing this showed that the mileage
18:50
actually added up
18:52
however after questioning staff at these
18:54
gas stations along the way one of them
18:56
had claimed to have seen jason early
18:58
that morning
18:59
when ordering gas this early in the
19:01
morning customers are asked to produce
19:02
id and a credit card for verification
19:05
but interestingly enough jason
19:07
apparently refused this order
19:09
this actually ended in a hostile
19:11
argument with jason insulting and
19:13
swearing at the attendant and of course
19:15
this helped her remember his face
19:18
jason ended this argument by throwing 20
19:20
on the counter pumping 15 worth of gas
19:23
into his vehicle and driving off into
19:25
the darkness
19:26
this transaction also matched up with
19:28
the gas station sales log which meant
19:31
that jason had covered more miles that
19:32
night than he'd have liked police to
19:34
believe
19:35
all of this information seemed to be
19:36
very concerning to officers but
19:38
unfortunately they would be met with
19:40
further frustration they simply didn't
19:42
have enough evidence to convict jason
19:44
for michelle's murder
19:46
evidence made public so far in the
19:48
michelle young murder case appears to
19:50
point toward a suspect however police
19:52
aren't ready to make their move michelle
19:54
young is the pregnant woman found beaten
19:55
to death in her wake county home nearly
19:57
two years ago colin browner talked to
19:59
the former prosecutor today about the
20:01
evidence calvin david kieran shanahan
20:03
sees this case from both sides
20:05
if he were representing young shanahan
20:08
says he would urge him not
20:09
not to talk at the same time he
20:11
acknowledges the suspicion and the fact
20:13
that young has not been talking to
20:15
investigators overall this is taking
20:18
time but signs point to a building case
20:21
not involved in the case former
20:22
prosecutor karen shanahan downplays the
20:24
fact that investigators have named no
20:26
suspect and made no arrests nearly two
20:29
years after michelle young was bludging
20:31
to death in her wake county home young's
20:33
two-year-old child was found unharmed
20:35
next to the body at the same time
20:37
shanahan says the warrants show
20:39
investigators meticulously building a
20:42
case around michelle young's husband
20:44
jason shanahan points to the bloody
20:46
footprints at the scene the surveillance
20:48
video from a virginia hotel that shows
20:50
jason young coming and going and the
20:52
propped open door that eliminated the
20:54
need for a traceable key card as the
20:56
months trundled by no fresh evidence
20:58
suggested any other suspect outside of
21:00
jason young and when family and friends
21:02
learned of his affair with michelle
21:04
money even those close to jason began to
21:06
doubt him
21:07
while all of this was going on cassidy
21:09
was still living with a father and this
21:11
put a lot of worry and panic over
21:13
michelle's distraught family but in
21:15
december of 2009 after three long years
21:18
of intense investigations jason young
21:20
was finally arrested over the murder of
21:22
michelle young
Slow Justice
21:27
justice for michelle was still a long
21:28
way away however
21:30
it would take a further two years to
21:32
build a robust case against jason and
21:34
all in the meanwhile he insisted he was
21:36
innocent
21:37
court proceedings for this case were
21:38
long and tedious
21:40
prosecutors tried their very best to
21:42
build a case around jason bringing in
21:44
witnesses showcasing evidence and even
21:47
pushing for a confession
21:49
prosecutors claimed that jason had
21:50
created himself an alibi while killing
21:52
his wife
21:53
although the camera had been tampered
21:55
with the exit door found a jar and a
21:58
witness had claimed to see jason that
21:59
night none of this outwardly spelled a
22:02
murderer
22:03
in june of 2011 jason had his first
22:06
trial which frustratingly ended in a
22:08
mistrial the jury could not agree on a
22:10
verdict as the evidence which was
22:12
provided was simply too circumstantial
22:15
but seven months later in february of
22:16
2012 an even stronger case was built
22:19
against jason this therefore reigniting
22:22
a retrial
22:23
investigators increased their efforts in
22:25
finding witnesses
22:27
which included neighbors who claimed to
22:28
have seen a white car parked outside
22:30
vyong's house that night
22:32
cassidy's kindergarten teacher was also
22:34
brought forward
22:36
she described how cassidy had played
22:38
with dolls allegedly saying mummy's
22:40
getting a spanking for biting followed
22:42
by mummy has boo-boos all over red stuff
22:45
all over
22:46
the bloody shoe prints which are
22:48
experienced on the floor of the bedroom
22:50
also matched a pair of shoes that jason
22:52
had purchased a year before the murder
22:54
and statements made by friends family
22:56
and jason's mistress michelle money all
22:58
described a very turbulent relationship
23:01
michelle money claimed that jason was
23:03
unhappy in his marriage and apparently
23:06
he told her that he wanted to be with
23:07
her instead
23:08
when jason's ex-girlfriend was called to
23:10
the stand she testified that jason had
23:12
been physically abusive towards her
23:14
while the two were together
23:16
all of these snippets of evidence
23:17
painted a very harrowing picture of
23:19
jason and his marriage with michelle
23:21
the love between them had supposedly
23:23
dwindled
23:24
he wanted out and for whatever reason he
23:27
figured that killing his wife was the
23:28
best way to do it
23:30
so what was the verdict of jason's
23:32
second trial
23:34
ultimately with much deliberation the
23:36
jury found jason young to be guilty over
23:38
the murder of his wife michelle and he
23:40
was therefore given a life sentence
23:42
without the possibility of parole
23:44
mr axness you have reported
23:49
your verdict just follows with the jury
23:50
by unanimous verdict find the defendant
23:52
jason lin young to be
23:54
guilty of first-degree murder of
23:56
michelle officer young
24:00
is that correct
24:01
okay
24:03
ladies and gentlemen if that was the
24:05
unanimous verdict of this jury of guilty
24:08
of murder in the first degree
24:10
and your individual verdict of guilty of
24:12
murder in the first degree
24:14
would you indicate that please by
24:16
raising your hand
24:18
let the record show that all 12 jurors
24:20
so indicated
24:21
the court therefore accepts the verdict
Complications to the case
24:24
and orders that be recorded this case is
24:26
an interesting one there are so many
24:28
pieces of evidence which suggests jason
24:30
is the murderer but none of these could
24:32
strictly prove that he killed his wife
24:34
they could all just be coincidental the
24:36
murder weapon used to kill michelle was
24:38
sadly never found and with jason living
24:41
here authorities couldn't use local dna
24:43
either
24:44
i mean there is no doubt that jason was
24:46
a terrible husband he was argumentative
24:48
he was unfaithful and he was even
24:50
abusive
24:52
but does that confirm he murdered his
24:53
wife
24:54
at least in my opinion i think so yeah
24:57
he did a great job at building himself
24:59
an alibi but all of the evidence
25:01
available is pretty much beyond
25:02
reasonable doubt
25:04
jason appealed for a third trial in 2017
25:07
but his appeal was ultimately rejected
25:10
there are many out there that still
25:12
believe jason was wrongfully convicted
25:14
and there are even websites dedicated to
25:16
his release
25:18
but at least in the eyes of the law
25:19
jason is a selfish individual who hated
25:21
his marriage he envisioned his former
25:23
life to be one in a cage and the
25:26
decisions he made to get out of this
25:27
would lead him to finding another one
25:30
just this time far less metaphorical
25:33
and tragically these decisions also left
25:36
cassidy without loving mother linda
25:38
without her second daughter and meredith
25:41
without her sister
25:43
cassidy lost both of her parents as a
25:44
result of jason's actions
25:47
with her mother gone and her father now
25:49
behind bars she is now being raised by
25:51
her aunt meredith and the rest of
25:53
michelle's family
25:55
jason can never erase the void which he
25:57
created in michelle's circle of family
25:58
in france
26:00
she was a bright young woman who had a
26:01
real drive for life and a lot of love to
26:03
give
26:04
she was always surrounded by those who
26:06
loved her the most and rightfully so
26:08
because she always gave that love back
26:12
it's a shame that all of those years ago
26:14
the man she met on her 24th birthday
26:16
would turn out to be the most poisonous
26:18
of gifts a woman could receive
26:25
that is of course if jason is a murderer
26:28
at least in the eyes of the law and in
26:29
my own eyes too he is
26:32
but what are your thoughts this case
26:34
really is on the line of circumstantial
26:36
versus definite so i'd love to hear your
26:38
thoughts in the comments section down
Outro
26:40
below and of course that marks the end
26:42
of today's video thank you so much for
26:44
watching another video today by
26:45
coffeehouse crime if you found this case
26:48
interesting or learned something new
26:49
then please remember to like the video
26:51
and subscribe if you haven't yet you
26:53
know it by now as always i'll see you
26:55
again real soon for another video but
26:57
until our moment arrives please remember
26:59
to look after each other
27:01
goodbye
27:12
you