Jason Young called mom repeatedly day wife died

Jason Young retrial (Day 8)

Sgt. Ed McCormick testified that he traced Jason Young's cellphone activity from the evening of Nov. 2, 2006, until the next day, noting more than 20 calls to Pat Young's home phone and cellphone.

On the afternoon that Michelle Young was found dead, there was a series of five short calls – no more than 13 seconds each – to Pat Young's home phone between 12:03 p.m. and 12:09 p.m.

There was also a call lasting 76 seconds to her cellphone.

"Just knowing what I know about telephonic investigations, that seems like somewhat of a panicky call – like, 'I need her,'" McCormick testified. "He's calling her and calling her and calling her. It's multiple dials. If you needed (someone in an) emergency or you needed to get a hold of someone, you keep calling until they an answer – at least most people do."

On cross-examination, McCormick admitted that some of the calls could have been dropped calls because of bad cellphone reception.

Jason Young, 37, was arrested in December 2009 in connection with Michelle Young's death. He is on trial for a second time after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in his first trial in June.

Michelle Young's sister found her facedown in a pool of blood on the afternoon of Nov. 3, 2006.

Meredith Fisher had gone to the house after her brother-in-law called asking her to retrieve papers from a printer in his home office.

He was out of town at the time on a business trip, he testified in his first trial, and did not want his wife to find the printouts regarding a belated anniversary gift for her.

According to his cellphone records, McCormick said, he called Fisher at 12:10 p.m.

She testified that she found Michelle Young later that afternoon and also found the Youngs' 2-year-old daughter, Cassidy, hiding underneath the covers of her parents' bed.

Prosecutors contend that Jason Young left his home on the evening of Nov. 2, 2006, traveled to Hillsville, Va., where he checked into a hotel, and then returned to Raleigh and killed his wife.

The last call Jason Young had made that evening was to a woman named Michelle Money, with whom he was having an affair and had spoken to several times that evening, McCormick said

She was also one of the first people he called the next morning, McCormick said.

That stuck out to him.

"One of the things that I look at from an investigative standpoint, he wakes up in the morning, and the first (person) he calls is his mother and then Michelle Money. That was a clue to me that something was going on."

Jason Young's third call that morning, at 7:49 a.m., was to his home phone. It lasted 115 seconds.

He also called his wife at work at 12:02 p.m. and her cellphone at 12:17 p.m.

Defense attorneys say there is no physical evidence linking Jason Young to the crime.

Witnesses testified Tuesday that there was no blood in his Hampton Inn hotel room or his SUV, despite the bloody crime scene and bloody footprints found in the second floor of the house.

Jennifer Remy, a hair and fiber analyst for the State Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab, also testified Wednesday that hair samples from the scene, including a clump found in Michelle Young's hand, weren't consistent with hair samples collected from Jason Young.

There was also no trace evidence, such as carpet fibers, from the Hampton Inn found in the Young home, Remy said.

Defense attorneys were not allowed to question Remy about another piece of evidence – a single hair found on a jewelry box in the bedroom.

The hair was found weeks later by a private investigator hired by Jason Young's family.

Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens didn't allow it because it wasn't clear if it had been collected in a scientific manner.

However, he didn't rule out the possibility of defense attorneys asking Remy about the hair later in the trial.

Other agents testified that there was no evidence of blood on clothes from Jason Young's suitcase that was seized when he returned to Raleigh after learning about his wife's death.

His DNA, however, was on a piece of sheet rock that was taken from the bedroom and also on molding on his closet door frame, SBI analyst David Freeman said.

But Freeman added he had no way of knowing how long it had been there and that it’s not uncommon to find someone's DNA in his or her home.