Michelle Young probe focuses on husband

Wake County deputies investigating Michelle Young's murder found DNA in a blood splatter on a bedroom wall that matched her husband's DNA and a bloody shoe print that was similar to his shoes, according to search warrants made public today.

The documents make clear that investigators focused on Young's husband, Jason Young, soon after she was found beaten to death on Nov. 3, 2006, in the couple's home in the Enchanted Oaks subdivision south of Raleigh.

Jason Young, however, has not been charged in the case. He told investigators he was on a business trip at the time his wife was killed.

On the day his wife's body was found, Young refused to speak to investigators until he had hired a lawyer, according to investigators' affidavits. Young hung up on an investigator who reached him by phone that day, according to the affidavit.

The investigators submitted the affidavits to obtain search warrants earlier this year to search Young's cars, relatives' homes and a storage unit.

Investigators said his refusal to talk hindered the early stages of their investigation.

"Mr. Young could have done a walk through to look for items that were missing or out of place. He could have provided of persons that may have had a conflict with him or his wife. He could have provided information on recent visitors or workers that may have been in the residence," Investigator R.C. Spivey III wrote.

Investigators found two footprints in blood on a pillow in the Youngs' bedroom. One of the impressions was similar to the design of a pair of Hush Puppies that Young owned, according to the affidavit. The other footprint was from an athletic shoe. The affidavit noted that Young bought Hush Puppies and two pairs of athletic shoes in July 2005 from a store in Cary.

They also found a blood splatter that might have been a print on the bedroom wall near Young's body. The State Bureau of Investigation found that DNA from the spot matched Jason Young's DNA, according to the affidavit.

The night before Michelle Young's body was found, Jason Young checked into a Hampton Inn in Hillsville, Va., about 170 miles from Raleigh, according to the affidavit. A hotel security camera captured an image of Young, wearing a dark pullover, heading to a a hotel exit about midnight.

The exit door had a rock in the door jam that kept the door from locking automatically and allowed people to enter without using a keycard, according to the affidavit. Young's keycard was not used to re-enter the hotel.

Investigators suspect that Young's vehicle was at his home in Enchanted Oaks between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. the next morning, when a newspaper delivery person saw a light-colored SUV at the Young residence. The SUV, which was similar to Jason Young's white Ford Explorer, was "parked in such a manner that it appeared to have been unloading or loading something," the investigator said in the affidavit.

In the affidavit, the investigator also noted that Young was not wearing the dark pullover when he arrived at his mother's home in Brevard in the late afternoon of Nov. 3. Instead, he was wearing a white shirt and tie.

His mother told investigators that her son had not washed, changed or discarded any clothing while at her home. The dark pullover was never found, investigators said.

The search warrants had been sealed since February but became public today.