RALEIGH -- A Wake County grand jury indicted Jason L. Young on Monday on a charge of first-degree murder, a little more than three years after his pregnant wife, Michelle, was found beaten to death in their home south of Raleigh.
Young, 35, was picked up in Brevard at 1:30 p.m. Wake County sheriff's deputies are expected to arrive with him in Raleigh early this evening for booking.
Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said the grand jury issued the indictment today after hearing only one of two investigators scheduled to testify.
In a brief session with reporters this afternoon, Willoughby declined to comment on the details of the state's case. He said investigators had been gathering information since Nov. 3, 2006, when Michelle Young was found slain, lying face down in a pool of blood in the home she shared with her husband and 2-year-old daughter at the Enchanted Oaks subdivision south of Raleigh.
Young has long been a suspect in the case, but Willoughby said investigators had gleaned clues from insurance proceedings, the custody case and the wrongful death suit filed by Michelle Young's family.
In March, a Wake County judge awarded her family $15.5 million in damages.
"In each of these, there was information gathered that was helpful in this case," Willoughby said.
Investigators returned to witnesses and reinterviewed them.
On Monday, Willoughby said, the state thought it had a strong enough case to take to the grand jury, which hears evidence behind closed doors.
One day before the third anniversary of her death, Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison said his office, in tandem with the SBI and the Wake County District Attorney's Office, expected their investigation to wind down "very soon."
On the day that Meredith Fisher discovered her sister strangled and bludgeoned to death, she also found her then 2-year-old niece, Cassidy. The child was unharmed, but had tracked her mother's blood throughout the couple's home.
Jason Young claimed that he was out of town on a business trip when his wife was found dead. Nonetheless, he became a central figure in the sheriff's investigation of his wife's death.
The cards tilted heavily against Jason Young when earlier this year, a civil court judge in Raleigh ruled that he was responsible for his wife's death.
Jason Young had custody of his daughter until February when a judge awarded Michelle Young's mother, Linda Fisher of Sayville, N.Y. custody of the child, now 5.
On the day Michelle Young was found bludgeoned in her home, Jason Young was ordered to submit a DNA sample to be compared with evidence found at the home after his wife was murdered.
Detectives also seized Jason Young's 2004 Ford Explorer and its contents. Investigators also discovered blood in the SUV. Evidence also showed Young to be the sole beneficiary in a life insurance policy his wife had taken out.
Investigators also learned that Jason Young was involved in an extramarital affair with a woman living in Florida, according to court documents.
More recent search warrants indicated that the Young marriage was a volatile union riddled with "huge" and "loud" fights that would go on for hours.
Harrison repeatedly during the course of the investigation described Jason Young as "uncooperative" with his detectives.
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