>> it was just absolutely terrifying, just thinking of her being scared and hurt made you sick. >> reporter: she was a big smiling beautiful part of our group. it was a stunning transformation. a young mom and teacher, who went from this to this! >> she was like, "look at what i've done." she was so proud. >> reporter: her girlfriends with her, every high-energy step of the way. >> you could see her spirit was just lighting up. >> reporter: but just as her new life began, so did the mystery. suddenly, she went missing! >> i told all the girls, "y'all be prepared." >> reporter: no one would be prepared for what came next. >> i was astonished.

>> it wasn't an accident. >> it's not natural, it's not right. >> reporter: and the most chilling part? do you think heather would still be alive if she hadn't gone through this transformation? >> gosh. >> reporter: the motive behind it all! but first -- >> my mother called and said, "michelle's dead." >> reporter: how is that possible? a young mother, found brutally murdered. her little girl left to wander in her mother's blood. police had a suspect. and, they say, he had a motive. >> we had an intimate relationship. >> we ended up having sex. >> reporter: but could they prove he was a killer? >> it was a circumstantial case. >> reporter: except for that witness, the girl who left those footprints. >> we'll never know what cassidy saw and what she didn't see. >> reporter: maybe she couldn't tell detectives who the killer was. maybe she didn't have to. >> the fact that cassidy was spared, would that mean anything to a jury? >> reporter: the person that had killed the mother cared about cassidy.

and now a stunning new twist in the case. i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." here's keith morrison with "silent witness." 3 f2 esto esto dietateline, vamos con el and just let the reality of what was going on sink in. >> reporter: those who saw the footprints will not forget them. they were tiny. and they were bloody. >> i had to get my composure to finish searching this house to make sure there was nobody else in the house. >> reporter: it was the third of november, 2006. early afternoon. deputy scott earp of the wake county sheriff's department had been dispatched to a quiet and leafy neighborhood called enchanted oaks, outskirts of raleigh, north carolina. here because of the 911 call from this place, on birchleaf drive. >> i think my sister's dead. >> okay, tell me what happened, ma'am. >> i have no idea. oh my god. >> reporter: the caller was

meredith fisher. she had just discovered, on the floor of the master bedroom, the savagely beaten body of her elder sister, 29-year-old michelle young. a woman who, in death, was about to be famous. >> listen to me, ma'am. i'm going to tell you what to do, but you need to calm down so we can help her. you said there's blood everywhere? >> yes. >> listen to me, ma'am. >> i'm listening. >> is she breathing? >> i don't think so. >> have you checked? >> michelle? she's cold. >> okay. >> reporter: as she spoke meredith was cradling her 2-and-a-half year old niece cassidy, who had crawled out from under the bedclothes on her parents bed, just feet from where her mother lay. cassidy's voice, chattering to her aunt, was caught on the recorded call. >> she got boo-boos everywhere. >> reporter: had cassidy witnessed the murder? or awakened, alone, to find this? >> you just picture a small child walking around in this blood and tracking that across the hallway over into the

bathroom. >> reporter: by now wake county investigators were descending on the house. and having secured the crime scene, earp's job was done. but on his way out, he saw cassidy again. she was still in her pink pajamas, still in meredith's arms. he asked meredith a question. >> i kind of looked over the child. i didn't see any blood, so i asked her, "did you clean the child?" and her response was no. and i thought it kind of odd, because i was expecting her to say yes i guess. >> reporter: somebody did. >> yeah, somebody did. >> reporter: but who? was it the same person who murdered the little girl's mother? on this november day, all they had were questions. sergeant richard spivey of the wake county sheriff's office probably knows the case better than anyone. >> i mean, this was just a brutal vicious beating. there was a lot of time and energy invested into this assault. >> reporter: why do you say a lot of time and energy? >> the medical examiner said there were over 30 blows with

some sort of blunt object. >> reporter: so detectives started investigating the victim and everyone else around her. michelle young was born and raised on long island, new york. >> she was smiling all the time. and she was the life of the party. >> reporter: statia grossman knew her from childhood. >> she didn't like being the center of attention, but she liked creating a great atmosphere for everyone to have a good time. >> reporter: michelle was a cheerleader in high school and a straight 'a' student. jennifer powers felt drawn to her. >> you know, while she had this kind of bookworm side to her where she was very studious and goal-oriented, i mean, she was also just a great person to be around. a fun, happy spirit. and, you know, someone that i wanted to spend a lot of time with. >> reporter: lots of people did. and when she chose a college far from home, north carolina state, she was soon surrounded again by an admiring group of women friends. best friends. buddies. fiona childs was her sorority

big sister. >> and there's this one picture, and it's like it just came out beautiful. and we liked it because we thought we kind of looked like charlie's angels pose without intentionally doing that. >> reporter: it was sometime in 2001 when friends started hearing about michelle's new guy, a fellow student named jason young. heard how he'd grown up in the north carolina mountains, how he loved to camp, how he was the life of tailgate parties. michelle fell hard and fast. >> they seemed like a good couple. he was different from other men that she'd dated in the past. he wasn't as serious about a career as she was. he was a little bit less sophisticated than michelle was, but she seemed to be very happy with him. >> reporter: michelle and jason married in october 2003. the day after the wedding they shared their big secret. michelle was pregnant. their daughter cassidy was born early the next year.

>> i love you, mommy. >> i love you too, cassidy. >> and when she came along, it was love at first sight. >> yay! >> yay! >> michelle was an enthusiastic mother. >> huh? >> huh? [ laughter ] >> by all accounts, jason was a good dad. >> he was a great playmate. he knew how to sit on the floor and play with his daughter, you know. >> reporter: the youngs moved into the fine big house on birchleaf in 2005. both of them worked, he a salesman, she as a financial specialist. in the summer of 2006, michelle got pregnant again. they kept the news to themselves, but it was clear something good was happening. >> the comment he said to me was he's excited to have another baby. not implying that she was pregnant, but that he was excited at the prospect of it. so he seemed excited. >> reporter: but just a few months later, michelle was dead.

jason was 170 miles away in virginia on a business trip the night of the murder. he heard the news the next afternoon and returned to raleigh. statia grossman got word from her mother. >> my mother called and said, "michelle's dead." and i said, michelle who? some celebrity? like, what are you talking about? like like, what do you mean like, how is that possible? what happened? you know? >> reporter: the very questions that wake county investigators were asking themselves. when we come back -- a security camera provides a critical clue. it's not what it caught on tape. it's what it missed, and why. >> there was a camera that had been unplugged. >> reporter: who had something to hide?

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♪ >> reporter: the facts were stark and ugly. one night in november 2006, while her husband was away on business, michelle young was attacked in her own bedroom and brutally beaten to death. her body discovered the next day by her sister meredith. along with her two-and-a-half year old daughter cassidy, who had been left to wander in her

blood. for the investigators who set out to find her killer, no way to get those little footprints out of their minds. sergeant richard spivey, lead investigator. >> those of us who work in law enforcement, this is our profession. but we're also parents. that certainly strikes a different note with you when you see something like that. >> reporter: michelle's husband jason, a medical software salesman, was 170 miles away the night of the murder. even so, investigators had to look at him. >> we know that he was the last person to talk to michelle that night. and he was also the reason she was found. he called meredith fisher to go to the house. >> reporter: jason young's business trip that night was routine. security tape showed him getting gas about 7:30 p.m. as he left raleigh. two hours later he was seen on tape at a cracker barrel restaurant in greensboro. later he checked into this hampton inn in hillsville, virginia. this is him, front desk, about 11:00 p.m. and, him again, at midnight.

he also made a phone call around midnight. and that was the last time anybody heard from jason young until he made another call at 7:40 the next morning. a normal person would look at this and say, "well, she was -- >> he was 170 miles away. he's got an alibi. >> that sounds like a great distance you know? but 170 miles, you can get between the crime scene and the hotel in about two-and-a-half hours. >> reporter: perhaps. but there were curious anomalies at the crime scene. they couldn't explain them. a jewelry box was missing two drawers. was it a bungled burglary? then there were footprints near the body that seemed to eliminate jason. an obvious print, on a pillow, was a size ten. but jason wore a size 12. but, this was weird. there was another partial footprint defied easy identification. so they began calling in shoe experts. and now they wondered, were there two attackers? of course investigators discovered early on that michelle and jason's marriage

was strained. and in the last weeks of michelle's life, things were not good. >> at our friend shelley's wedding, he was so drunk. just really out of it. when we got to the wedding our friends were letting us know that michelle and jason were fighting and they were referring to it as world war three. >> reporter: jennifer powers told investigators about another fight that october. michelle wanted her mother to stay with them for the holidays. and jason, who had a tense relationship with his mother-in-law, wanted to limit her stay. and said so in an email, along with another nugget. >> he wrote, "our marriage has seen better days and i don't see it trending up." and i remember that really striking a chord with me because i didn't know that their marriage had seen better days. so of course investigators wanted to interview jason young. maybe he could tell them

something. but he refused to talk to them. >> he talked to the lawyer. and then, under the advice of counsel, he declined to speak with us at all. >> reporter: didn't ask about her? didn't ask how his wife died? >> no. >> reporter: perhaps, investigators thought, that business trip deserved a second look. so they went to the hotel, poked around. and discovered some odd activities that night in a stairwell near an exit. >> there was a camera there that had been unplugged. >> reporter: really? >> yes. it was one of the side exits of the hotel, one of the fire stairs that go down to the first floor. >> reporter: was there any other tampering done in -- >> well, the door that was adjacent to where this camera's located, that door also had been propped open that night. >> reporter: how do you know that? >> the gentleman that was working as the clerk that night found a rock that had been placed in the door to keep the door from closing. well then they plugged the

camera back in, so it's now working again. and at about 6:35 that morning, suddenly that camera's pointing straight at the ceiling. >> reporter: same camera? >> same camera. and it's tampered with yet again. >> reporter: if that was jason young's work, is it possible he did make the 340-mile round trip, could he have killed his wife, and cleaned up his daughter, all in seven-and-a-half hours, without ever being seen? to find out, investigators played a hunch. they visited every gas station along the route. showed jason's photo. talked to the night clerks. and came across a woman named gracie dahms in a tiny place called king, north carolina. she took one look at the photograph and recognized it instantly. he was the foul mouthed customer she said who came storming into the store to complain that the pumps were locked. and what time was it? 5:30 a.m., morning of the

murder. >> there was actually an altercation between the two of them. so you have a reason why she would remember him, as opposed to any other customer that may have just happened into the store. >> reporter: if that attendant was right, investigators may have undercut jason's alibi. still it wasn't enough so they plodded ahead, painstaking work. took time. and then, years after the murder, they finally got a match for that partial footprint. >> the state bureau of investigation and the fbi were able to eventually identify that shoe as a hush puppy orbital shoe. and it was a size 12, which is the same size that he wore. throughout the investigation, jason steadfastly maintained his silence. and rather than face a legal battle where he would be asked some tough questions, spivey said, he even gave michelle's family custody of his daughter. >> everyone that we spoke with, all of them talked about how much he loved cassidy, and what a great dad he was. to just turn over primary

custody, that was very surprising. >> reporter: investigators had heard enough. they believed they had a case -- circumstantial, but a case. and three years after michelle young's body was found on the bedroom floor, jason young was charged with her murder. investigators and prosecutor knew that very little pointed directly toward jason young. but so far nothing pointed away. coming up -- the case against jason young as an alleged killer, and as a cheating husband. >> we had an intimate relationship for the two days that he was there. >> we ended up having sex. >> he never settled down. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues.

>> reporter: jason young went on trial for the murder of his pregnant wife michelle in june 2011. by then, he'd spent 18 months in a jail cell. the guy who lived for tailgates, the guy who loved to party, that guy was long gone. prosecutor becky holt opened for the state. >> the defendant had a plan. his plan was to murder his wife. and his plan was to get away with it.

>> reporter: with no murder weapon found, the prosecution's case was built on that partial shoe-print. they knew now that jason once owned a pair of hush puppies, like these, that matched the print. they were now missing. they also told jurors about that early morning visit to the gas station and the suspicious activity at the hotel. but the thrust of their case was this -- jason young was trying, in the most violent possible way, to get out of a troubled marriage. >> were you aware of tensions in that marriage? >> yeah. i was well-aware. >> reporter: meredith fisher, michelle's sister, lived near the couple and for a period was cassidy's nanny. as the youngs' fights intensified, she took on the role of marriage counselor, too. >> what would you say were the main issues? >> michelle's main issues were jason being more responsible, understanding her more. and his main concern was their lack of sex life. >> reporter: prosecutors called friends to the stand to paint a

picture of a marriage that was unraveling, out loud and in public. >> jason made it very well known that, you know, he was upset about the lack of sex in the relationship. >> reporter: and at parties, said fiona childs, jason's x-rated tricks were famously over the top. >> i never observed it myself. i would just hear about it. you know, he would expose himself and do what he thought was these funny tricks. and i was always just rather embarrassed for michelle. >> he never settled down. it was as if he was still living the single life. he never bought into the marriage and what all that meant. >> reporter: in october 2006 when michelle was four months pregnant, jason became deeply involved with another woman. and not just any woman. michelle money was one of michelle young's close friends from college, one of those

charlie's angels. in early october, days before his third wedding anniversary, jason flew to florida to see michelle money. she testified they both knew it was wrong. >> we basically just hung out at the house, and we had an intimate relationship for the two days that he was there. >> jason was crazy about her, his friend josh alton said. >> he basically told me he thought he was in love with her. >> michelle's mother testified in the final weeks of her life she could see the toll the marriage was taking on her daughter. >> she had her head on my lap. and she was lying down, and i was stroking her hair. and she was empty. >> and what did she tell you? >> things weren't working out

with jason. >> reporter: two days before she was murdered, michelle phoned her sister meredith to report yet another blow-up with jason. >> she was just, "i've had it." she said that more than, you know, one time. i can't do this anymore. >> reporter: jason was telling one of his close friends the same thing. then, prosecutors said just days before michelle was murdered, he indulged in one last transgression, a casual hook-up with an old friend named carol anne sowerby, in his own living room. michelle was away at the time. >> cassidy was put down to bed. had a couple of drinks, just king. we ended up having sex. >> reporter: but divorce was apparently not an option for jason.

>> he had made a statement at one time that he if, he was afraid that if he ever got a divorce, michelle would take cassidy and move back to new york. >> and did he indicate to you that he would have some concerns about ever being able to see cassidy again? >> correct. >> reporter: still, one big question remained. was a good-time guy like jason young capable of murder? genevieve cargol was engaged to jason in 1999, before he met michelle. and she took the stand to testify about a fight they'd had over jason's excessive drinking. >> he became agitated. he said something to the effect that, if i'm going to make such a terrible husband, then give me back my ring. >> did you give it to the defendant? >> no. he began trying to pull the ring off and it wouldn't come off. he was throwing me from one bed to the other. and jumping on me with all his weight and pinning my arms, both

of them behind me. >> >> reporter: prosecutors hoped to convince the jury that it all added up to a motive for murder. so how could the defense counter-attack? with a witness who could refute every charge. when we come back -- jason young takes the stand. >> did you kill your wife, michelle? >> no, sir. >> were you there when it happened? >> no, sir. the bed reacts to your body. it hugs you.

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♪ >> what the prosecution didn't tell you is that -- >> reporter: there's an art to the business of criminal defense. and it would take a true artist to re-paint the prosecution's dark portrait of jason young. so what could defense attorney mike klinkosum do? well, to begin with, as he told the jury, he agreed with the prosecution. jason young was not a good husband. >> he acted at times like an immature jerk, but that does not make him a killer. >> reporter: the defense was not about to make any more concessions, mind you. that jewelry box in the bedroom? there was dna on it. didn't match either michelle or jason. the suspicious activity at the hotel? there was a fingerprint on that camera, and it wasn't jason young's. and there wasn't any forensic evidence that tied jason to the crime scene.

no blood in his car. there was not a scratch on him. >> ladies and gentlemen, jason lynne young did not murder his wife. he did not murder their unborn son. and this case has not been solved. >> reporter: who better to make that argument than jason young himself? but so far, remember he had never said a word to anyone about that november night. an almost five year silence. >> it's always a big decision for defense attorneys, whether or not to call their clients. >> reporter: beth karas is a former prosecutor and legal analyst who covered the trial. >> this is a case that really begged for jason young to testify. >> reporter: finally after all this time. >> if he's innocent, right. and if he's truly innocent, get on the stand and tell the story. >> we call jason young. >> reporter: with his mother sitting in the front row, jason young prepared to do just that. defense attorney bryan collins hit it hard off the top. >> did you kill your wife michelle? >> no, sir. >> were you there when it

happened? >> no, sir. >> reporter: but what about jason's missing hush puppies that matched that partial shoe print? he no longer owned them, he said. >> are those the shoes that you had on on the 2nd? >> no, sir. >> reporter: they were all ratty, he said. and he told michelle to give them to good will. and as for the night of the murder, after he checked into the hotel, jason testified, he left his room, twice. the first time to get a power cord for his laptop. >> i was going over the sales call that i had the next day. >> reporter: the second trip, he testified, was to smoke a cigar. >> i had to go outside to smoke the cigar. and i also wanted to look at some sports schedules, and some standings. and so i wanted to see if i could pick up the "usa today" as well. >> reporter: that newspaper run explained why he was seen at the front desk, he said, around midnight. >> so between the time you smoked the cigar and went back upstairs and went to sleep, did you leave that room until the next morning? >> no, sir.

>> reporter: the next morning after his sales call, jason testified, he realized he'd left some ebay printouts sitting on the computer printer at home. they showed purses. he was thinking of buying one for michelle as a belated anniversary present. >> and i realized i didn't bring those papers. >> why was it important to you that somebody get those papers? >> because i wanted it to be a surprise. a surprise to michelle means so much more than anything. >> reporter: so around noon on november 3rd, he called his sister-in-law meredith, from the car, to ask if she would go to the house and get those e- bay papers. he left meredith a voicemail. >> if you could do me a huge favor and go over there and see if you can find this on the computer. >> reporter: then he headed to his mother's place in the mountains nearby. and it was there, he testified, hours later, that he learned michelle had been murdered. >> i just fell.

i broke on the inside. i just broke, and i didn't believe it. >> reporter: family members drove him back to raleigh. during the drive, he said, his friends called. >> ryan and josh said the investigators were asking really ugly questions and pointing their finger at me, and doing things like that. and they said you don't need to talk to anybody. you need to get a lawyer before you talk to anybody. >> reporter: and then, the explanation for his long silence. >> the lawyer i got after talking to him, he actually advised me to not go talk to the police. >> and did you take that advice? >> yes, sir, i did. >> did he also tell you not to talk to anybody about that? >> that's actually exactly what he said. he said, "don't talk to anybody about anything." >> reporter: the defense also addressed the motives prosecutors had laid out -- that jason wanted to escape a bad marriage, and keep custody of cassidy, and spend time with his new love. >> did you have any designs in

your own mind of leaving michelle young for michelle money? >> no, sir. >> all right. describe why not. >> i think we both knew it was wrong. i don't think we -- either one dreamed that it would ever be found out. >> reporter: as for that violent episode with his ex-fiance, jason had an explanation. >> did you throw her around on the bed like she said? >> no, sir. what i did was wrong. i did pin her down and i took the ring. >> okay, what was your level of intoxication at that time? >> i was very intoxicated, but i don't feel like that's an excuse for what i did. >> reporter: and they questioned him about the most important woman in his life. >> did you want to stay married to michelle? >> yes, i did. i wanted to have another baby and i wanted the family to grow. >> reporter: he also explained why he gave up custody of his daughter without a fight.

>> were you able to afford a lawyer for a full-blown custody battle? >> no, sir, i had -- due to the media and some of the internet website, the job that i had, i lost it. >> reporter: his testimony lasted three hours. >> jason young was a very good witness. he understood what he had to do when he was on the stand. >> reporter: so he didn't come across as contrived or phony? like he had put this together very carefully in order to account for all the evidence that they had? >> he had access to police reports, all the discovery. he knew the state's vulnerabilities. and so he could arguably tailor his testimony to fit with an innocent explanation. >> reporter: how did jason young do? 12 jurors were about to decide. coming up --

the prosecutor gets her chance to go one-on-one with jason young. and it isn't pretty. >> were you working on your marriage when you were having sex with carol anne sowerby in your home less than two weeks -- when "dateline" continues. learn more about the role damaging inflammation may be playing in your symptoms with the expert advice tool at crohnsandcolitis.com. and then speak with your gastroenterologist. wish your skin could bounce back like it used to? new neutrogena hydro boost water gel. with hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin. hydro boost. from neutrogena. ♪ ♪ find all your easter surprises

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>> reporter: it was riveting. almost five years of silence about his wife's murder --

>> i went back to my room >> reporter: broken here in this courtroom. >> i loved cassidy and i love michelle. >> and then he went to murder his wife. >> reporter: now, prosecutor becky holt began pulling apart a story she'd just heard for the first time. >> were you working on your marriage when you were having sex with carol anne sowerby in your home less than two weeks before your wife was murdered? >> no, ma'am. that was not the way to work on a marriage. that was very detrimental. >> were you working on your marriage when you called michelle money? >> michelle and i confided a lot in each other and we talked about my issues with my wife. and she talked about her issues with her husband. >> so is the answer yes when you had an affair with michelle money that you were working on your marriage? >> no, ma'am. having the sexual intercourse and having the intimacy was very detrimental to that. >> reporter: the cross examination lasted a full hour. and the next day, the case went to the jury. it soon became clear jurors were

having trouble. >> bailiff has indicated that you all have not yet reached a unanimous decision. >> reporter: the jurors were split six to six. the judge sent them back to try to make it unanimous. >> reporter: but hours later, they were back. and courtroom 3c was still. >> it appears that they are hopelessly deadlocked at this point. >> reporter: eight jurors had voted for acquittal, four voted guilty. judge stephens declared a mistrial. was serious consideration given to dropping the case? >> i think there was serious consideration as to is there more we can do? >> reporter: so the prosecutors decided they would try again, but this time with the one thing they didn't have the first time, jason's own story. the second trial began in february 2012. this time howard cummings led the prosecution, hoping to use jason's own words to convict him. >> put your left hand on the

bible and raise your right hand. >> reporter: but first, prosecutors called that night clerk at the gas station, gracie, who remembered jason complaining about the locked pumps. >> when he came in to pay he started cussing and raising cain. >> and what time did this happen? >> it was about 5:30 in the morning. >> reporter: a time when jason said he was at the hotel. >> call your next witness. >> reporter: then prosecutors had new witnesses, and new testimony. they wanted jurors to hear about cassidy, whose bloody footprints, they contended, made her a silent witness to murder. >> when i got to cassidy, i said, "what are you doing?" >> reporter: day care worker ashley palmatier took the stand. >> i noticed what she was doing. >> reporter: she told jurors she'd watched cassidy playing alone days after her mother was murdered. >> she had the chair and the doll in her hand together. and then the mommy doll in the other hand, and she just hit him.

>> reporter: as unsettling as it was, the prosecutors wanted jurors to know the killer had left a silent witness behind, a witness he would never harm. the fact that cassidy was spared, did that mean anything to you? or would that mean anything to a jury? >> certainly. it meant that the person that had killed the mother, we felt, cared about cassidy. >> reporter: fiona childs took the stand. prosecutors pressed her about a life insurance policy jason arranged. >> it did raise a red flag to me. >> reporter: and michelle had questioned. >> that she brought up specifically her life insurance. >> she brought it up several times, asking me didn't i think a million dollars was too much and did they really need that. >> reporter: after michelle died, fiona found out the true amount of the policy was actually $4 million. >> i was just, like, in total shock. like that is incredibly excessive. >> reporter: and prosecutors also told the jury about civil

lawsuits against jason, brought by michelle's mother and sister. one was a wrongful death case filed in 2008, a year before he was charged with murder. over the defense's objection, court clerk loren freeman testified about that lawsuit. >> there is an alleged paragraph, paragraph six, again reading verbatim from the record, "in the early morning hours of november 3rd, 2006, jason young brutally murdered michelle young at their residence." >> reporter: freeman went on to testify that jason never responded to the allegations, and that led to a default judgment against him. that judgment said that jason killed his wife. >> a default judgment does not mean the facts alleged in the civil complaint are true. it does not mean he's guilty. and the judge at the criminal trial told the jury that in his instructions. however, when you hear the statement, "jason young brutally murdered his wife, but that

doesn't mean he's guilty, folks," hello, you know? >> reporter: and the prosecutor made sure the jury heard just who signed that ruling. >> reading from this judgment which is signed actually by judge stephens -- >> reporter: judge stephens, the very judge sitting before them in this trial. >> the jury hearing it, it's just something that's going to carry a lot of weight. >> this is the complaint that was filed in december seeking custody of cassidy. >> reporter: prosecutors also called the attorney involved in that custody case over daughter cassidy. and those same allegations were repeated yet again. >> the jury heard several times through these two civil complaints that jason young brutally murdered michelle fisher young. >> reporter: but the headline act came when prosecutors played jason young's entire testimony from the first trial. >> i wanted her to have that. >> reporter: and began to rip it apart.

prosecutors tried to show that jason's call to meredith to pick up those ebay printouts was merely a ploy to get her to discover the body and find cassidy. why else would he print an e-bay auction ad, and leave it on the printer, and then hit the road, where he couldn't bid, during the actual auction? they called sergeant spievey to the stand. >> that auction was going to end 8:00 p.m. eastern standard time. >> and what day was that? >> that was on november the 2nd, 2006. >> reporter: just hours before the murder. now, prosecutors tried to prove jason lied about his reasons for leaving the hotel room. >> i didn't pull the door all the way. >> reporter: in his original testimony, he told the court he left the first time to get a power cord for his laptop. >> why was it that you wanted to look on your laptop? >> i was going over the sales call that i had the next day. >> reporter: but special agent mike smith took the stand to say young didn't use his laptop for work that night. >> it's a internet site

dedicated to sports. >> reporter: jason said he went out a second time to smoke a cigar. >> reporter: but prosecutors contended jason was a fierce anti-smoker. and the weather that night was freezing, windy. >> can you tell me whether or not there was ever any substantial outerwear that the defendant either had in his luggage or was wearing? >> no, sir. there was, i think, a suit jacket. that was the only outerwear that i'm aware of. >> reporter: jason chose not to testify this time, but the defense fought back of course. they argued the gas station attendant's memory couldn't be trusted because of a childhood brain injury. >> i've had memory problems since '06, because i've been through a lot with myself and my kids and my ex-husband. >> reporter: the defense also argued the case really wasn't solved, that there was no physical evidence to prove jason was the killer. >> there wasn't one scratch on mr. young. >> reporter: that he would never have had time to make that trip

and commit murder, that he didn't have the mindset of a killer. and that cigar? they showed that jason young actually owned a humidor, and he'd once made a purchase at a cigar store . >> you have ample evidence before you that jason young is not guilty. >> reporter: and then it was over, again, and time for another jury to consider whether jason young would go to jail or walk out of court a free man. coming up -- the verdict, take two. >> we the jury -- by unanimous verdict find the defendant, jason lynn young to be -- r windows, hug your pet dust off some memories, make new ones. new flonase. 6 is greater than 1. this changes everything.

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♪ >> reporter: for more than five years, michelle young's family and friends had been waiting for answers. who killed their pretty, pregnant michelle? many thought they knew. >> it was him. you know, i didn't know all the evidence. i didn't know half the things i know now. but i felt that way. >> reporter: one jury failed to decide. and now attorneys were making their final arguments to a second jury. >> be mad at him. hate him if you want to. but when you look at the

physical evidence in this case, it does not match up. it does not match up to jason having killed his wife and unborn son. >> 30 blows? that is not from a stranger. that is a mad, mad domestic abuser. >> reporter: soon that jury was behind closed doors in the wake county superior court. after two days, they were back. with a verdict. >> we the jury, by unanimous verdict, find the defendant jason lynne young to be guilty of first degree murder. >> reporter: guilty. first degree murder. jason young didn't flinch. behind him, his mother was equally stoic. on the other side of the court, michelle young's bereaved mother and sister wept. fiona, at home, got the news from a friend. >> she said, "he's guilty."

like, what? >> reporter: jason young received a life sentence, chose not to address the court. even as the bailiffs led him away, he remained expressionless. the prosecutors were, they told us, relieved. >> it was, as you know, very emotional. you have family members who you've been working with for five and a half years. and they finally have justice, you know? >> you know we've been telling them for years, "just trust, just trust that it'll be the right result." >> reporter: but was it? a year and a half ticked by, and then this. >> attorneys for jason young are demanding a new trial saying the trial that led to his conviction had significant errors. >> reporter: december 2013. jason young's new attorney launched his appeal. >> who is the killer? is jason young the person responsible for ms. young's death? and you know it seems fundamentally unfair. >> reporter: what was

fundamentally unfair? remember during the trial, the attorney pointed out, the prosecution introduced testimony about those civil cases against jason, brought by michelle's family. they accused jason of murder. >> the defendant brutally murdered michelle marie fisher young. >> the defendant brutally murdered michelle marie fisher young. >> reporter: way out of bounds said the attorney, the jury should not have been allowed to hear about any of that outside the court. michelle's sister meredith predicted, the appeal would be thrown out. >> the jury came to the right verdict. and we're confident it will stay. >> reporter: but she was wrong. >> a raleigh man is getting a third trial in the death of his pregnant wife. >> reporter: in april of 2014, the judges ruled unanimously that testimony about those civil cases prejudiced the jury. and they took particular exception to the fact the prosecutor was allowed to tell the jurors it was their trial judge who signed the civil judgment against jason, which

said that he killed his wife. in fact, said the appeals court, introducing evidence about the civil cases was a violation of north carolina law. >> that law says you cannot use a civil complaint, a civil allegation, as proof in a criminal case. >> jason young remains in prison, hoping for that new trial, while prosecutors appeal the result of the appeal. the north carolina supreme court will hear that on may 19th. >> i love you, mommy. >> i love you too, cassidy. >> but children know little. cassidy is 11 now, lives with her aunt meredith. her father, her mother, snatches a memory, ever farther away. and now, our second hour of "date line." . there is nothing about her

life that would raise any red flags. >> she amazed them all. her whole group of girlfriends at the gym. >> she was totally dedicated. >> heather, turn around. you've gotten smaller. >> a stunning 200-pound weight loss. and a whole new life came with it. >> you could see that transformation. >> you could see the confidence in her. >> then, she was gone. missing at school. a secret she was reluctant to share. >> kind of a bombshell. heather was possibly seeing another man. >> what was really behind her sudden disappearance? that would be the most mind-blowing twist of all. >> do you think that heather would still be alive if she hadn't gone through this transformation? >> gosh -- >> here's andrea canning with "the last dance."

3 f2 hay un lugar en memphis in the sultry darkness of the rumba room, bodies sway to the beat of latin sounds. in april 2013, a woman named heather jones came in with her friend to dance the night away, wearing a brand new dress. >> how did she look that night? >> she had her head up so high, and her shoulders back and just beaming she felt absolutely beautiful. >> reporter: there was a time not too long ago when heather didn't feel very beautiful at all. but on this evening, she had the night of her life. >> she really didn't sit down very much, she was being spun around and danced. >> reporter: just two nights later, everything spun out of control. >> breaking news about a missing