by NC WANTED Staff

Posted: Aug 20, 2008
Updated: Aug 21, 2008

WAKE COUNTY — NC WANTED has obtained and confirmed exclusive photos and a text message that murder suspect Jason Young posted as part of his communications via the dating section of the popular website www.craigslist.org. 

In the photos, Jason Young repeatedly displays his daughter Cassidy as part of his attempts to find and attract internet dates.

One photo shows a tanned Jason Young vacationing in Puerto Rico on November 4, 2007, which was during the memorial anniversary of his wife's murder.

As part of the photo collection, NC WANTED also found an introductory text message written by Jason Young, which reveals his attempt to seek a relationship with an unidentified woman.

In Jason Young's message to the unidentified woman, he fails to mention that he is a suspect in his wife's murder.  He describes himself as a "widowed young professional" with a desire to have another child.

The internet header information reveals that Jason Young posted these photos in late June 2008.

The photo taken in Puerto Rico shows Jason Young holding daughter Cassidy inside a Puerto Rican cave.  Cassidy appears somewhat frustrated.

Another photo shows Jason Young with his mother Pat Young and daughter Cassidy on a snowy mountain in Montana.

To view the screen captures of the photos, click the links in the gray box next to this article.

Cassidy Young is the daughter of Jason and Michelle Young. 

Cassidy's mother, Michelle Marie Fisher Young, was bludgeoned and murdered November 3, 2006 inside her own home in Wake County.  Cassidy was allegedly inside the house when her mother was murdered.   Michelle Young was several months pregnant at the time she was killed.

Investigators have described Michelle's husband, Jason Young, as being uncooperative and refusing to speak with them to provide basic details about his wife or his activities the night of her murder.

Jason Young was named a suspect on November 7, 2006 in a Non-Testimonial Identification Order signed by Judge Donald Stephens of Wake County.

Below is the verbatim text as written and posted by Jason Young.  The internet date-time stamp incidicates he uploaded the text below in late June 2008:

"Your ad on craigslist was a breath of fresh air... I'm glad there are a few ladies out there like yourself!  I work in the greater Greenville area.  I'm a pharmaceutical/bio-tech sales rep, so I'm all over the area.  I'm a widowed young professional with a wonderful 4 year old daughter who is the center of my world.  If that is a big issue, then let me know b/c we're definitely not the right fit.  I would like to have another child at some point, but that's looking ahead too far I suppose.  I hope the pics I sent are acceptable.  I don't have any of just me, so you can see my daughter in a couple of them and my mom and daughter in the snow mobile pick from Montana... that was in March.  The jungle/cave looking pic was from Puerto Rico last November and the other is just a moving van pic from a few months ago.  I haven't downloaded the latest trip from Maine/New Hampshire that we all went on (mom, daughter and I) at the beginning of the month.  I was going to send one of me posing with George W. Bush."

--The text above was written by Jason Young to an unidentified woman and posted on the internet in late June 2008

If you have information on this case, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.
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From Earlier This Week on NC WANTED:

A DNA swab collected from what appeared to be a blood spatter on the wall in the couple's home "matched the DNA profile obtained from the bloodstain of Jason Young," the warrant stated.

Jason Young was named a suspect on November 7, 2006 in a Non-Testimonial Identification Order signed by Judge Donald Stephens of Wake County.

According to the warrants, two bloody footprints were also found on a pillow at the scene. One footprint impression was made by a HushPuppies brand shoe. DSW Shoe Warehouse records indicate that Jason Young purchased HushPuppies brand shoes that match the footwear impression on July 4, 2005.

The other footwear impression matched footprints in the wood stain used on the couple's backyard deck.

In addition, the warrants revealed that although Jason did indeed check into a hotel in Hillsville, Virginia the night of November 2, 2006, his keycard was only used to access his room on one occasion, six minutes after he checked into the hotel. Surveillance images, however, show Jason Young leaving the hotel later that night.

The clothes Jason was wearing when he left the hotel that night have not been recovered.

According to a New York Times delivery person whose route includes the Young’s neighborhood, near lake Wheeler in Raleigh, all of the indoor and outdoor lights were on at the Young home between 4 and 5 a.m. November 3, 2006, the day Michelle was found dead.

The newspaper delivery person also told investigators that he/she saw a light-colored SUV parked near the home in such a way that it looked as if someone was loading or unloading something. Jason Young was driving a white Ford Explorer at the time.

The entire Young family has been tight-lipped about Michelle’s murder and Jason’s status as a suspect. And although the case garnered national media attention, no arrests have been made.

The Wake County Sheriff's Office maintains that Jason Young has not been cooperative in the investigation, and will not speak with them about the murder of his wife, Michelle Young.

Soon after the murder in Raleigh, Jason Young packed up and moved to the mountains to live with his sister, Heather McCracken, and has avoided answering questions from authorities.

Heather McCracken's home and property were searched on February 13, 2008.

Jason Young's mother, Pat Young, told NC WANTED, "He is doing what he's been told to do, and that is all you need to know."

Pat Young’s Brevard home was also searched.

If you have information on this case, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.