Investigators Cite Progress in Slain Mom's Homicide Case

RALEIGH, N.C. — More than three weeks after a young mother was found dead in her home, Wake County's sheriff says investigators are making progress in the case.

"You've got a puzzle, you've got to get it together," Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Tuesday. "And all this evidence, all this data, all this information we've collected, we've got to go through each one of them, and who knows? The next piece may be the piece we're looking for."

Harrison said investigators have conducted more than 100 interviews and continue to follow leads on a daily basis in the slaying of Michelle Young, 29. As many as 15 to 20 people from the sheriff's office and City County Bureau of Identification are working on the case, he said.

On Nov. 3, Young's sister found her face-down inside her bedroom with Young's 2-year-old daughter, unharmed, by her mother's side. A preliminary autopsy found that Young had died from blunt-force trauma.

Young, who was 20 weeks pregnant at her death, was last seen alive the night before her body was found. Authorities said she had been entertaining some friends at her home. Her husband, Jason Young, was out of town when his wife's body was found.

Investigators have received at least 65 leads in the case, Harrison said, and have traveled across North Carolina and to three other states trying to solve the case.

Crime scene investigators spent more than 10 days inside Young's house, located on Birchleaf Drive, south of Raleigh, collecting evidence. Harrison said the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab, CCBI and a private lab are still working to analyze the evidence.

"You want to go through it very slowly," he said. "It's a meticulous job, but we want to make sure we don't miss something."

Authorities still have not named a suspect, and Harrison said Tuesday that investigators are not letting outside pressure interfere with the case.

"If and when we make the arrest, we want a case that we can go to court and feel good about," he said.