Murder on Birchleaf Drive

by Steven B Epstein

  One of his fellow RAs at University Towers was a striking platinum blond named Genevieve Jacobs. They became friendly and started dating in early 1997 when both were a little more than a year away from graduating.

  Following graduation, Jason landed a prized sales position at Nike in Charlotte. Genevieve remained at University Towers as an assistant general manager. Their relationship continued by telephone and with their trading weekends between Raleigh and Charlotte.

  On October 3, 1999—Genevieve’s 24th birthday—Jason proposed. He was making decent money at Nike and whipped out a three-stone, platinum engagement ring with a center-cut diamond in excess of a karat.

  They planned to get married in May 2000.

  Their engagement, however, didn’t last long. Though Genevieve found Jason charming and affectionate, she began to notice his darker side, which would nearly always emerge when he was drinking. When he drank, she realized, he could get mad at her over nothing. Their relationship became increasingly volatile. When she discussed his drinking with Jason, he would promise to scale back, but repeatedly broke those promises. Genevieve ended their engagement in early 2000.

  • • • • •

  When Jason first met Michelle in February 2001, he was struck by how pretty, smart, and sweet she was. Not long after their first meeting at the Pour House, Jason was in Raleigh visiting old college friends when he had another chance encounter with Michelle at a movie theatre—both were there with their own cluster of friends. They wound up sitting next to each other.

  During intense scenes, Jason noticed Michelle would squeeze his arm. The next time he was in Raleigh, Michelle’s roommate Shelly invited him to watch a movie with them in their apartment. From that point forward, it was clear they were in a relationship.

  Even though Jason suffered from very few inhibitions, he was petrified by two things: singing and dancing. Michelle, however, was able to coax him onto the dance floor not long after they started dating. Despite being extremely self-conscious, Jason danced up a storm until his clothes were drenched in sweat. He realized he was able to shed that inhibition only because Michelle made him feel so comfortable. He told her he loved her.

  Before long, Michelle was not only attending Wolfpack tailgates with Jason, she was organizing them. With Michelle in charge, tailgate cuisine no longer consisted of boxes of Bojangles chicken—home-cooked food was served instead. In the days leading up to the game, Michelle would send out an email to the tailgate group with specific assignments, organizing who would bring the food, condiments, plates, cups, and tables and chairs. Jason’s friends affectionately referred to her as their “den mother.” Even the drinking became a little more controlled under her adult supervision.

  • • • • •

  A couple of weeks after learning of Michelle’s pregnancy with Cassidy, Jason called his mother to tell her he and Michelle were getting married. Knowing her son all too well, Pat immediately asked, “Is she pregnant?”

  He confessed she was. His mom then asked, “Do you love her?”

  Jason said he did.

  To his relief, Pat replied, “Then I think that’s great.” She knew how much Jason had always loved being around children. Now he was going to have a child of his own.

  In his sister Heather’s words, “It was like a big kid having a little kid.”

  Jason and Michelle visited New York soon after to discuss their wedding plans with her family. Linda, who found Jason to be very immature, told him point blank, “If you don’t love her, don’t marry her. She’ll survive.”

  He didn’t respond.

  Jason ceded all wedding-planning responsibilities to Michelle and Linda. But he made very clear the three things he required: First, the wedding couldn’t fall on a day of a Wolfpack football game. Second, they couldn’t get married north of the Mason-Dixon line. Finally, he wanted to be able to invite as many friends as he could and have unlimited beer. Michelle and Linda made sure that all three of his wishes were granted.

  • • • • •

  Though Jason may not have been “all in” on the wedding planning, he was very excited about Cassidy’s impending arrival. He went to birthing classes with Michelle and was just as distraught as she was when they were unable to proceed with a natural childbirth. Yet he found the birthing process exhilarating and fascinating. He peeked over the curtain as the obstetrician performed the C-section—one tiny leg out, then another, then an arm, then the second, and within seconds, Cassidy’s head. He held his breath until, finally, he heard his newborn girl begin to wail.

  Jason was the first to hold Cassidy and the first to change her diaper. He was more than happy to get up with her in the middle of the night to feed her with breast milk Michelle had pumped. He loved giving her baths.

  Though he could be lazy and procrastinate—especially when it came to household chores—Jason was always in the moment with his daughter. He loved playing with her and, true to his character, making her laugh.

  As Michelle Sauter would later say, “He lit up her life—she would just laugh, and giggle, and play.” When they were in that zone, it was as if no one else were in the room. Even those who didn’t particularly care for Jason acknowledged he was a good dad.

  Shortly after Cassidy’s birth, Heather and Joe came to Raleigh to visit their niece and to babysit while Jason and Michelle attended a wedding of one of the McBroads. While his sister was in town, Jason informed her he and Michelle had taken out life insurance policies on each other—for $2 million—which Michelle had been able to acquire at a very reasonable rate through her CPA Association.

  Jason explained to Heather their father’s premature death left them to grow up without many of the conveniences most of their friends enjoyed. He and Michelle planned to have more kids and wanted to make sure if something happened to either of them, their children would be able to enjoy a good lifestyle, go on great vacations, and attend the best colleges. Although Michelle thought the size of the policies was a little extreme, Jason convinced her, he told Heather, it was a wise investment for their children.

  • • • • •

  To say Linda and Jason had the typical mother-in-law/son-in-law relationship would be an understatement. They were like oil and water. Linda didn’t believe Jason was good enough for her daughter and found fault in virtually everything he did. She considered him juvenile, irresponsible, lazy, and crude. She didn’t trust him to make good decisions for Michelle or Cassidy. Her intuition was he would inevitably hurt her daughter and hurt her badly.

  For his part, Jason found Linda to be an overbearing, meddlesome, New Yorker who, like Marie Barone in the TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, permeated every facet of his life. He couldn’t stand how she and Michelle would commiserate by phone nearly every day about his shortcomings. Even worse, Linda literally moved into their townhome for an entire month during the summer of 2004, ostensibly to help out with her new granddaughter, but in reality—as far as Jason was concerned—to critique his every movement.

  The thrill of moving into their Birchleaf Drive home wore off quickly, in Jason’s eyes, when his mother-in-law came to Raleigh to spend another month with them, living in the guest bedroom just a few feet away from the master bedroom. Since Jason was working from home when he wasn’t traveling, he spent far too many days feeling watched—and judged.

  And Linda was doing just that. She was appalled that rather than focusing his energy on his toddler and household responsibilities, her son-in-law was gone nearly every evening playing in two softball leagues—and was signed up to play in two basketball leagues when softball season ended. Linda watched helplessly as Michelle tried in vain to persuade her husband to drop down to only one league each season so he could help out more with Cassidy and around the house.

  Jason was well aware of Linda’s disapproval of his priorities—and really didn’t care. His goal was to be away from home as much as possible while his mother-in-law was in town. He viewed his relationship with Linda as a vicious
cycle spiraling in the wrong direction. The more he complained to Michelle about her, the more his wife complained to Linda about him. And the more his mother-in-law heard about Jason’s deficiencies, the more emboldened she became in spotting additional ones she would immediately report to her daughter.

  Meredith would later describe their relationship this way: “My mom is a strong personality and they’d butt heads. I mean, initially, they kind of got along and quickly it became, when Michelle and him would get in a fight, Michelle would call my mom and cry and scream and yell and vent to my mom, so, as a mom, she’s, you know, disappointed and aggravated and frustrated with the way that her son-in-law is treating her daughter.”

  On several occasions, Jason pleaded with Michelle not to call her mom every time she became upset with him, as her complaints were diminishing him further and further in Linda’s eyes. But Michelle couldn’t help herself—her mother had been the one person she could really lean on every time she struggled.

  Oddly, the person whom Jason could most count on for consolation about his troublesome relationship with Linda was Michelle’s father, Alan. His relationship with Alan was as good as his relationship with Linda was bad. His father-in-law served as an echo chamber for Jason’s complaints about Linda’s meddlesome nature and was more than happy to let Jason vent to him. Unlike Michelle, Jason was welcome at Alan and June’s New Jersey home. It was almost as if Alan had more of a parent-child relationship with Jason than he did with his own daughter.

  • • • • •

  Jason desperately wanted to have a son. Since he was the only boy born to his father Bob Young, it was up to him to preserve the family name. He also wanted Cassidy to have a brother that was close to her in age. He was thrilled to learn that Michelle was pregnant in the spring of 2006.

  Following her miscarriage, they began trying again the moment his wife was cleared by her doctor—and conceived right away. Jason went with Michelle to most of her prenatal appointments. He wouldn’t have missed for anything the appointment designed to learn the baby’s sex. When his wife’s obstetrician pointed out certain male features, Jason was overjoyed. He was now going to be the father of a girl and a boy. Even more important, the Young name would be extended down to another generation.

  The only inconvenience of having a boy, Jason soon realized, was that traditional baby-boy clothing is that certain shade of blue, which happens to adorn the uniforms of the Wolfpack’s arch-rival, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. That made shopping for Rylan’s first outfits a little challenging. Jason and Michelle made sure to complement those blue garments with others that were red—if their DNA didn’t ensure a baby Wolfpacker, then perhaps his attire would do the trick.

  • • • • •

  Jason played the role of Michelle’s date for the weddings of each of the McBroads: her fellow Long Islander, Michelle (Sauter) Money in 2001; Susan Buchanan in 2003; and Lisa Shroff in 2004. Throughout those years, the McBroads’ weekend retreats and vacations were “girls only.” Yet they ultimately realized their get-togethers would become more and more difficult to schedule unless husbands were invited.

  The first “co-ed” McBroads’ weekend took place in Myrtle Beach in May 2006, the weekend before Jason’s and Michelle’s fateful trip to Brevard that ended with their SUV plunging into the French Broad River. Another co-ed McBroads’ gathering occurred that July. During that weekend, Jason struck up a friendship with Michelle Money, who he learned was having significant difficulties in her own marriage.

  Jason and Michelle hosted some of the McBroads and their husbands at their Birchleaf Drive home in late September—the weekend of the N.C. State-Boston College football game. They were planning an epic tailgate to relive their college memories.

  The Friday evening before the big matchup, a game of hide and seek broke out in their backyard. Jason and Money somehow ended up in the same hiding spot. While hiding, they quickly lost interest in the game and resumed their conversation about Money’s marriage. She confided in him she believed her husband, Steve, had been cheating on her with Lisa Shroff—both of whom were staying with the Youngs that weekend. Jason told Money he had seen “some things” between the two that made him suspicious as well.

  That Sunday afternoon, the day after the big game, while most of the women were out shopping and the guys were huddled around the TV watching football, Money and Jason snuck outside together. Minutes later, she was perched atop Jason’s riding lawnmower with Jason on his skateboard racing down Birchleaf Drive, being pulled by a rope as if he were waterskiing on dry land. It was the most fun either had the entire weekend.

  • • • • •

  Earlier that month, Ryan and Shelly hosted an impromptu gathering after an N.C. State football game. For some reason, Michelle didn’t attend that particular game. Following the game, Jason called Michelle to let her know he would be staying at Ryan’s house that evening for a “guys only” bachelor party. Which wasn’t actually true. Several women were there, including Shelly and her cousin—who was spending the night with her boyfriend—as well as Shelly’s co-worker, Allison Roach. Jason drank too much and soon was flirting with Roach in the living room. Suddenly, on a dare, he unzipped his fly and urinated, partially on himself, and partially on an expensive rug.

  Ryan quickly sprang into action. He grabbed Jason, pulled him into the bathroom, and undressed him so he could throw him into the shower to get him clean and try to sober him up. But as Ryan was reaching for the spigot, Jason escaped and ran out into the living room—completely naked. He plopped down on the couch and joined the existing conversation—as if he were the featured guest on The View—smiling and posing for pictures. Exasperated, Ryan grabbed Jason again, shoved him back into the bathroom, and finally got him cleaned up and dressed.

  Shelly made the sleeping arrangements that night to keep Jason as far away from Roach as possible. She had Ryan guarding Jason in the living room while Roach slept with her in the bedroom. The next morning, Jason left, dressed fully in Ryan’s clothing. He had the entire drive home to come up with a good explanation for his unexpected attire.

  • • • • •

  On Saturday, October 21, 2006, Jason was at the Raleigh-Durham Airport, patiently awaiting the arrival of his old Camp Illahee friend, Carol Anne Sowerby. She had flown in from Montana, where she lived with her husband, to attend a real estate training course in Raleigh. Michelle and Jason had offered her their guest bedroom the several nights she would be in town. Michelle was looking forward to finally meeting Sowerby when she returned from a business trip in New York.

  Later that first evening, Sowerby fell asleep on the sofa in the Youngs’ den. When she woke up, Jason was sitting near her, watching TV. He told her to make herself at home upstairs in the guest bedroom.

  “Take a look in the mirror before you go back to sleep,” he said, as she was halfway up the stairs. When Sowerby turned on the light in the guest bedroom, and looked in the mirror, she was startled to see a mustache drawn in black marker above her lips and an extra pair of black eyebrows above her eyes. Jason stood at the upstairs landing, laughing uncontrollably at the sight.

  During dinner a few nights later, after Michelle had returned from New York, the three adults were engaged in casual conversation about weddings. Jason asked Sowerby if he could see her wedding ring. When she handed it to him, he immediately put it in his mouth, gulped, and said, “I’ve swallowed it. Now you can’t go back to Montana!” She begged him to return it. Jason said she would just have to delay her trip home until the ring passed. Neither Michelle nor Sowerby was amused.

  When Jason and Michelle were getting ready for bed that night, his wife confronted him. “How dare you do that Jason!” Jason then reached into his mouth and pulled the ring out from the inside of his cheek, where he had been hiding it all along. Grinning from ear to ear, he explained he was just playing a joke on his old friend and intended to return the ring the following morning.

  Relieved, Michell
e cracked a smile. “Typical Jason,” she likely thought.

  • • • • •

  Jason had been planning another big tailgate party for the Wolfpack game against Georgia Tech, which was scheduled for late afternoon on November 4. His college friend Brian Ambrose, who was now living near Charlotte, was planning to come into town with his wife and kids. Jason had invited them to stay at his Birchleaf Drive house.

  His father-in-law, Alan Fisher, was planning to come in from New Jersey. Michelle had arranged for Meredith to care for Cassidy and had undertaken her usual pre-game organizing. Plans had been evolving throughout the week.

  Instead, everyone who would have attended that tailgate spent the afternoon of November 4, 2006, mourning the loss of Michelle Fisher Young.

  6

  Investigation

  Within an hour of Meredith’s arrival at 5108 Birchleaf Drive, Sheriff’s deputies and detectives, and crime scene investigators from the Raleigh/Wake City-County Bureau of Identification (CCBI), were meticulously combing through every square inch of the house.

  They found no sign of forced entry. Nothing on the entire first floor was disturbed or out of place. Only two small drops of blood were detected downstairs—both on the interior doorknob of the door leading from the kitchen to the garage. There was no blood on the back staircase leading from the kitchen area to the bonus room or on the front staircase leading from the front foyer to the upstairs bedrooms.