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Michael Galloway, an investigations supervisor for the City-County Bureau of Investigation, shows a crime-scene photo to the jurors this morning. Jason Young's murder trial continues at Wake County Superior Court Monday, Feb. 13, 2012.
RALEIGH -- A crime scene investigator has been on the stand in the retrial of Jason Young this morning talking about video, photographs and observations that were made in the hours after Michelle Young was found bludgeoned to death in her home.
Michael Galloway, an investigations supervisor for the City-County Bureau of Investigation, an evidence-collecting organization for law enforcement agencies in Wake County, described a bloody scene.
After one week of testimony in which prosecutors brought forward family and friends to describe a tension and friction between Jason and Michelle Young, the second week started with the forensic side of the case.
Galloway gave a narrative for video taken inside the Youngs' Wake County home the afternoon Michelle Young was reported dead.
Investigators theorized the door of the bedroom closet that Michelle Young was found by was closed when she was killed, prosecutor Becky Holt pointed out. Then her body was moved and the closet door was open when crime scene investigators got to the scene, prosecutors contend.
Young, 37, is accused of murdering his wife early on Nov. 3, 2006, then leaving her and their toddler daughter in their home in the Enchanted Oaks neighborhood just south of Raleigh.
Investigators said they found a hose with water running in the backyard. They found blood in the bed, on the floors and on the walls of the master bedroom.
There were bloody footprints, believed to be those of a small, sock-footed child, tracked from the bedroom to a bathroom down the hall.
Michelle Young was beaten so badly, Galloway said, investigators found teeth knocked from her mouth under her body, under a pillow and on the floor around her.
"I found her face to be horrific," Galloway said.
Young, who testified in the summer during a trial that ended with the jury deadlocked 8-4 for acquittal, has said he did not kill his wife. He also testified that he had nothing to do with her death.
Prosecutors contend he left a Virginia hotel at about midnight, made a three-hour drive home, killed his wife and then returned to Virginia for business.
Defense attorneys describe the prosecution's theory as one that does not make sense. They argue that Jason Young did not have any bruises or scrapes on him a short time after such a brutal beating. They also argue that investigators found no blood in Young's white Ford Explorer.
Blythe: 919-836-4948
