Cassidy lunged toward her aunt and hooked onto her hip like a Koala bear, as the 911 dispatcher came onto the line.
“I think my sister’s dead!” Meredith exclaimed. “Oh my God!”
As she gave the dispatcher her name and sister’s address—routine information gathered during all 911 calls—Meredith finally realized that the red streaks, spots, and footprints throughout the second floor weren’t Michelle’s hair dye after all. “Oh my God! There’s blood everywhere!” she shrieked.
Was Michelle conscious, still breathing, the dispatcher asked.
“No, I don’t think so. Should I try to help her?” Meredith answered in a panicked tone. In her shock, she hadn’t checked for a pulse. She then touched Michelle and remarked, despondently, “She’s cold.”
“Did you see what happened?” the dispatcher inquired.
Meredith replied she didn’t know, but there were “blood footprints all over the house from her daughter’s little footprints … I just came here on a fluke. I usually, you know, don’t come here during the day. She shouldn’t be home. She should be at work.”
The dispatcher pushed Meredith for any details that could explain what had happened at the ghastly scene. “I don’t know. I have no idea,” Meredith said. “There’s blood all over the place.”
Cassidy, still clinging to her aunt—who she called “Emmy”—then chimed in, “Emmy, Emmy, there’s blood … Can you get a washcloth?”
Meredith interrupted. “Did you see what happened to Mommy? Did she fall?”
In her little voice, Cassidy explained the situation the only way she knew how: “She got boo boos everywhere.”
Meredith took her niece to her room—as the dispatcher instructed—and told her to stay there. When she returned alone to her sister’s side, the dispatcher asked her to try CPR. She was told to turn Michelle onto her back, but budging her sister’s twisted, lifeless body proved impossible.
“She’s so heavy. I really think she’s dead,” Meredith said after several failed attempts. “She’s ice cold. Her body is stiff.”
That chilling revelation prompted the dispatcher to halt any life-saving efforts.
“Oh my God, I don’t know what happened to her,” Meredith whimpered helplessly.
Was anything unusual, out of place, the dispatcher probed.
As Meredith surveyed the bedroom, she remarked, “This place does not look like what it normally looks like … There’s blood in the bed.” Also, Mr. Garrison had been “freaking out” when she arrived, she noted. Another thing out of place, though Meredith didn’t notice it at the time, was that the wedding and engagement rings Michelle always wore—no matter how much she and Jason argued and fought—were nowhere to be found.
An operator from the Sheriff’s Office then joined the line. He had more questions.
Meredith told him she was at her sister’s house and had found blood “everywhere.” Turning her attention to Jason, she mentioned he traveled quite a bit. “I spoke with him last night. He’s out of town. He’s on his way to his parents’ house.”
“Normally my sister goes to work early and takes [Cassidy] to daycare,” Meredith continued. “You know like today, something’s not right.” Cassidy was very smart for her age, she said, and seemed to be saying that someone had been in the house.
Still gathering basic information, the Sheriff’s operator asked for Michelle’s age.
“Twenty-nine,” Meredith responded. Was Meredith aware of any personal problems Michelle might have been having? he asked. Meredith thought for a moment, then responded, “Um, not really. You know, her and her husband fight a little bit, but nothing too ridiculous.”
It was at that point that another realization set in, this one hitting Meredith like a prize fighter’s blow to the gut. Michelle wasn’t the only victim of this savage attack.
“She’s about four-and-a-half months pregnant,” Meredith sobbed. “Oh my God. Oh my God … I can’t even believe that this is real. Like the two of them play jokes on each other, like my sister and her husband, like I almost thought it was a joke, that’s how over the top it seems … Something’s not right.”
2
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
This wasn’t exactly how Michelle had imagined her third wedding anniversary. Yet here she was—alone with Cassidy—with her husband more than 1,500 miles away on business in Denver, Colorado. To make matters worse, Jason had been away from home since Saturday morning, when he flew off to Orlando to begin back-to-back business trips. The anniversary card he sent from Florida, along with $25 in Starbucks gift cards, hardly made up for his prolonged absence.
The only consolation for Michelle was her mother and grandmother were arriving that day from New York for a full ten days. The plan was for them to take care of Cassidy over the weekend while she and Jason were in Winston-Salem for the wedding of their close friends, Shelly Doub and Ryan Schaad.
Shelly and Michelle attended N.C. State together and were both members of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority—Michelle was Shelly’s “big sister.” They got along so well they ultimately became roommates and best friends. The two lived together for more than four years while Michelle completed her undergraduate education and master’s degree in accounting. They ran together, had meals together, and tailgated at N.C. State football games together. Shelly was even with Michelle the night she and Jason first met.
Similarly, Ryan and Jason had been best friends for years dating back to their time at N.C. State. They had attended a gazillion Wolfpack football and basketball games together—and tailgates—and began living in a townhome together shortly after Jason started dating Michelle. Jason and Ryan eventually invited her to move in with them.
Shelly and Ryan owed their relationship to Michelle and Jason. They introduced Ryan to Shelly at a Stanley Cup playoff game between the Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings in June 2002. The foursome had been on many double-dates, and attended many N.C. State tailgates since then. Now it was Shelly’s and Ryan’s turn to get married.
Michelle had been looking forward to spending a belated anniversary weekend with Jason in the midst of their friends’ marital bliss. Seeing them tie the knot within days of her own anniversary almost made up for Jason’s extended absence. She envisioned a romantic time with her husband in between the bridal luncheon and rehearsal dinner that Friday and following the wedding on Saturday. The couple also had a belated anniversary dinner planned for Thursday evening, after Jason returned from Denver, at Bella Monica, their favorite Italian restaurant.
Linda drove her daughter to her office at Progress Energy in downtown Raleigh that Thursday morning so Jason could pick her up from work and escort her to their special dinner.
When Jason arrived that evening, however, he was on the phone. He told Michelle he was talking to a former colleague. He barely acknowledged his wife even though he hadn’t seen her in nearly a week. He continued his phone conversation during the entire fifteen-minute drive to the restaurant, and even as they waited for their table. Finally, as they were being seated, he ended the call.
The dinner didn’t turn out to be special—or romantic. Instead, the couple got into a heated argument over the travel arrangements to the wedding. Jason informed Michelle he planned to ride to Winston-Salem with the guys. They planned to play golf while the women attended the bridal luncheon. Since the women didn’t have to be in Winston-Salem as early as the men, the guys had agreed to pile into a car in Raleigh early Friday morning and start the weekend together. The women would head out later. It made no sense, Jason told her, for Michelle to ride with him, as she would wind up waiting around for hours for the luncheon to begin.
Michelle didn’t see it that way at all. She told Jason she had planned for them to have a romantic weekend—together—to make up for him being away on their anniversary. But Jason was adamant he was going to be playing golf with the guys. He had been looking forward to it for weeks. His friend Josh Dalton told him his wife Julie had left a voice
mail inviting Michelle to ride to Winston-Salem with her. Michelle denied receiving any such message. That pushed Jason over the edge. He accused his wife of lying and being selfish.
His anger didn’t subside during their ride home from dinner. “I’m going out!” he barked, as Michelle got out of the car.
She entered the house in tears. Michelle recounted for her mother how Jason had ignored her the first part of the evening and then argued with her the remainder of the night. She told her mom she was going to get in her car to try to find Jason. Linda tried to persuade her not to, but before long, she was gone.
Michelle and Jason soon were back inside, their argument now a full-blown screaming match with doors slamming throughout the house. “Fine!” Jason ultimately relented. “I’ll take you.” But he insisted they leave early enough for him to make his tee time. Michelle would have to keep herself busy between then and the bridal luncheon.
Jason arranged to meet the rest of the guys at a gas station in Greensboro early Friday morning. Michelle would take the Explorer from there to Shelly’s parents’ home in Tobaccoville, just outside Winston-Salem. The friction between them hadn’t subsided as they began their journey from Raleigh. When they finally arrived at the designated meeting point, Jason looked Michelle dead in the eye as he got out of the car.
Through clenched teeth, he said, “I’m done. I’m out.” His anger wasn’t lost on his friends. Still seething, he told them as they drove off he was “done” with Michelle.
• • • • •
When she opened the front door to her parents’ home at 8:00 a.m., Shelly was shocked to see her best friend standing on the doorstep. She had no idea why Michelle had come so early without the other women from Raleigh. She was visibly shaken. She sat down with Shelly in the living room and shared her heartache.
This was her anniversary week, Michelle told her friend. Jason had conveniently arranged to be out of town on business for nearly the entire time. When he finally returned home, he virtually ignored her, she explained. What was supposed to be a romantic, belated anniversary dinner turned into an explosive, hours-long argument. They had argued during the entire car ride that morning, too. What really riled her, Michelle said, was in all the time her husband was away, he didn’t even think to buy her a real present. Just a card postmarked from Orlando with some Starbucks gift cards inside.
Michelle seemed completely withdrawn, despondent, and depressed throughout the remainder of the day. She stayed to herself while Shelly got ready, during the bridal luncheon, and at the rehearsal dinner. While Jason carried on with the guys during dinner, Michelle was all alone at the far end of the room. Shelly sought out her friend and suggested they step outside so they could talk. She was very concerned.
Michelle would have none of it. This was Shelly’s special weekend, she told her friend, and no matter what was troubling her, she wouldn’t dream of spoiling the wedding festivities. Michelle tried to be in good spirits the following day at the wedding. She truly was happy for Shelly and wanted that to show through no matter how badly her own marriage seemed to be crumbling. She wasn’t going to ruin this momentous occasion for her best friend.
Jason, of course, was having a blast—the life of the party as always. For him, the wedding was nothing short of a college reunion and a chance to relive his glory days. He tried his best to outdrink his college buddies and, unzipping his fly, reprised what he liked to refer to as his “dick tricks.” If his wife was miserable, that was her problem, not his. She wasn’t going to rain on his parade.
• • • • •
Over the next few days, Linda couldn’t help but notice the deterioration in her daughter’s marriage. It seemed pretty obvious to her why there was no spark, no romance. At breakfast one morning, Jason looked at his wife and, in his mother-in-law’s presence, told Michelle he liked how her boobs were looking so big.
Linda knew Jason was dissatisfied with the amount of sex in his marriage and later tried to use what he said as a teaching moment, telling him, “That type of comment doesn’t make a woman feel like she wants to have a romantic interlude in bed. You should want to make love to your wife, not just have sex with her. Don’t be so rude.” She also cautioned her son-in-law that, above all else, he never should think about having an affair. “That will destroy the marriage,” she warned.
Linda promised Jason she would talk with Michelle and discuss the importance of a physical relationship to complement an emotional one. And she did. But Michelle painted a very bleak picture. “Mom, you just don’t understand,” she said. “The way he talks to me is disgusting. It’s not romantic. He just wants to fuck me.”
The smiling, peppy, extroverted daughter Linda had always known seemed to be vanishing before her very eyes. She was constantly sad and withdrawn.
One night while Jason was upstairs, Linda sat with Michelle on the couch in the den, Michelle resting her head on her mother’s lap. Linda stroked her daughter’s hair just like she did when Michelle was a little girl. Though Michelle had a pulse and was breathing, Linda Fisher’s beautiful child seemed totally devoid of life.
3
Thursday, November 2, 2006
6:30 p.m.
Mr. Garrison’s furious barking announced Shelly Schaad’s arrival moments before she knocked on the Youngs’ front door. Michelle warmly greeted the new bride. They had arranged a week earlier, when Michelle picked up Shelly and Ryan from the airport, to get together for a girls’ night the next time Jason was out of town. Michelle wanted to hear all about Shelly’s Italian honeymoon and also share her own news. She had emailed her best friend during her honeymoon to let her know the baby she was carrying was going to be a boy.
As Shelly walked into the kitchen to deposit the bags of Italian food she brought for dinner, she immediately noticed how cold the house was.
“The heat pump’s broken,” Michelle reported, as she spread their sumptuous meal out on the kitchen counter. “We’re waiting on the insurance to come through to be able to fix it.”
Shelly decided to keep her coat on to stay warm.
Cassidy was upstairs playing in the bonus room right next to the home office where Jason was busily printing directions for his business trip to Virginia. The women went upstairs to get Cassidy for dinner. Just before they got to the top step, Jason peeked out to greet Shelly. While she and Michelle chatted, he ducked into the master bedroom to grab some clothes for Shelly to return to her husband. Jason had to borrow them when he had too much to drink at Ryan’s bachelor party, and had urinated on his own clothes.
Shelly took the clothes and asked Jason to join them for dinner. He politely declined, telling his wife’s friend he needed to get on the road, explaining he planned to stop at the Cracker Barrel in Greensboro for dinner before driving an additional three hours to Galax, Virginia. That would leave him exactly two hours, he said, to drive to his 10:00 a.m. sales meeting the next morning in the Virginia mountains.
Shelly, Michelle, and Cassidy went downstairs for a girls-only dinner. When they finished, Shelly supervised the toddler using the toilet without any assistance. Though she had only recently begun potty training, Cassidy was proudly sporting big-girl underwear and was mostly accident-free. After she washed her hands—again all by herself—the three marched back upstairs for bath time. They were still in Cassidy’s bathroom when Jason came out of the master bedroom at about 7:15 p.m., clutching his black suitcase and laptop bag, ready to depart. Unlike Shelly, he wasn’t wearing a coat.
After saying goodbye to Cassidy, Shelly, and Michelle, Jason loaded up his Explorer, dropped the MapQuest directions on the front passenger seat, and drove to a local gas station to fill up. While there, he began an hour-long conversation with his mom, Pat Young, whom he was hoping to visit in Brevard—his hometown in the North Carolina mountains—following his business trip. Jason told her he might spend the night. He would need to wake up early Saturday morning, he explained, to get back to Raleigh in time for the N.C. State football ga
me that afternoon.
• • • • •
Shelly and Michelle lifted Cassidy out of the bath, dried her off, put on a precautionary diaper, and dressed her in an undershirt and her cute, pink fleece pajamas. Cassidy insisted she put on her socks “myself.” Michelle encouraged her daughter as she struggled with them and took over once she gave up. It was bedtime.
Cassidy pleaded with her mom for a little more time. She wanted to watch her favorite DVD, Barbie Cinderella. “Just for ten minutes,” Michelle relented. As the movie played in the bonus room, Shelly filled Michelle in on her fairytale honeymoon. They put Cassidy to bed after ten minutes and nestled into the den to talk and watch Grey’s Anatomy.
The contrast between their lives was stark: Shelly, a newlywed, madly in love and starting her new life as Ryan’s wife; Michelle, just three years into her own marriage, a union that seemed to be disintegrating.
Michelle filled Shelly in on how she and Jason had been fighting about the upcoming holidays. Jason was refusing to allow her mom to be part of his family’s Thanksgiving celebration in Brevard, Michelle explained, and was trying to limit Linda’s time at their home over the Christmas holidays. She even shared details about their marathon counseling session with Meredith the prior Friday evening. To Shelly, Michelle appeared crestfallen and defeated. She told Ryan later that evening, “She’s just in a deep, dark hole and I can’t reach her.”
One thing that seemed to lift Michelle out of her emotional abyss was her pregnancy and son on the way. That gave her hope. She beamed with pride as she showed Shelly the baby clothes she had picked out for Rylan and perked up as she talked about the nursery she was planning.
The phone rang. In the blink of an eye, Michelle was down again. Her father, Alan Fisher, had called to tell Michelle he wasn’t going to make it to Raleigh that weekend after all. He had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer. His poor health and the related treatments would prevent him from traveling, he said.
Murder on Birchleaf Drive Page 2