Note, 1/13/07

Keep an eye on "The Lineup" tonight on Fox News. It's a 2-hour special, starting at 9, Eastern Time. Late in the second hour, between 10:30 and 11:00, there may be a discussion of the murder of Michelle Young, a still-unsolved case in Raleigh, N.C.

My original blog entry mentioning the Young murder is here:

"Of Janet Abaroa and Michelle Young, and Murder..."

Hopefully I'll be on the show for a bit, but remember always -- it's live TV.

The comprehensive entry about the recovery of Ben Ownby and Shawn Hornbeck is here.

Of Janet Abaroa and Michelle Young, and Murder…

Over a year ago in Durham, North Carolina, a pregnant young mother was murdered in her home. And while the murder of Janet Abaroa remains unsolved, I don’t think I’d call it a high-profile crime. A mention here and there on cable news, regular updates on the lack of progress in the case in the local Durham media… and some very dedicated people discussing the case online.

Yet Janet’s case seems, sadly, to fade a little each day. This report by WRAL TV out of Raleigh published earlier tonight is encouraging, but it is the first article of its kind in quite some time. Hopefully it means I’ll have reason to do a full update on Janet’s case soon.

Why one murder in a region is seized upon by certain national media outlets (link goes to one example of many of a high-profile cable news show that covers such crimes) and another is not will always remain, to some degree, a mystery to me (note to readers: please don’t try and explain it in the comments below. I know the usual reasons. That doesn’t mean it makes sense).

Janet was already a mother to a baby boy, who was asleep in a room nearby when she was murdered. She was pregnant when she was murdered. Janet’s good-looking, athletic husband Raven Abaroa was out of the house when she was murdered, allegedly, therefore seemed to have an alibi.

But Raven, as you will see if you read the archived entries from my past blogging about this crime, has never sat well with people wondering what happened to his wife. Perhaps he’s been guilty of just not being particularly likeable. Of being obviously narcissistic and materialistic, therefore reminding people who talk crime online and off of other husbands whose wives met similar fates, like Scott Peterson.

Or, worst-case scenario, Raven killed his wife and is getting away with murder right now, partying out in Utah, where he was originally from. And he has custody of his and Janet’s son.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, a case with very similar outlines is starting to play out in the news.

A pregnant mother was murdered, her toddler daughter in the house. The 29-year-old woman’s husband was out of town, across the state in Brevard, NC, where he is originally from.

This murdered young mother was found by her younger sister.

I’m writing about Michelle Marie Fisher Young, who was found in her home near Lake Wheeler in Wake County, NC.

Michelle’s battered body was discovered on Friday, November 3rd.

Tonight, on Greta van Susteren’s On the Record, the 911 tape of the call made when Michelle was found was played. It was heartbreaking, and chilling.

Michelle’s sister Meredith Fisher could be heard on the tape, sounding tense but not hysterical. The operator was instructing Meredith in a firm voice, ensuring little Cassidy, Michelle’s two-year-old daughter, was safe. Then the operator instructed Meredith to check on Michelle, turn her over, see if she was breathing.

Something seemed to crumble inside the young woman’s voice, then. To hear it, click this link. The mp3 of the call is hosted by the News-Observer.

There was blood everywhere in the Young household, footprints where Cassidy had padded through it, alone with her dead mother for perhaps half a day.

In the murder of Janet Abaroa, Raven has never been named outright by the police as a suspect.

Yet Jason Young, age 32, is apparently a suspect in his wife’s murder. The article found here was published just 5 days after Michelle was murdered. From the News-Observer:

Jason Young told investigators he was in Brevard in the western part of the state visiting family when her body was found.

Young, 32, is named as a suspect on the order, however, he was not required to make a statement, nor was he subject to interrogation, according to Willoughby. Detectives had already seized his car as part of their investigation.

Young has not been charged with anything. A call to his attorney for comment was not returned Wednesday afternoon.

(…)

“[Jason Young] complied with the order and went to the City-County Bureau of Identification,” said Phyllis Stephens, the sheriff’s office spokeswoman. CCBI, located in the same building as the sheriff’s office, conducts crime scene investigation and processes fingerprints and blood samples for various law enforcement agencies in the county…

Murders are as individual as people. So I know that though the surface elements of Janet Abaroa’s and Michelle Young’s murders are similar, the details are likely very, very different.

Knowing that, I still read of Jason Young already being the subject of serious suspicion in his wife’s murder and I wonder what was different in Janet Abaroa’s murder in Durham in April, 2005. Since I have pretty decent knowledge of that investigation, I have some idea — for one thing, information like fingerprints and dna were apparently not that helpful in establishing whether or not someone had been in the Abaroa home who didn’t need to be there.

I will be keeping track of developments in both cases. Hopefully the investigation into Janet Abaroa’s murder may begin to catch up with the seemingly swift progress in determining who may have murdered Michelle Young. Any tips are welcome, and you can remain anonymous, your information completely confidential.

UPDATE, 11/12/06, 5:48 p.m. ET

Reader Sandy let me know about a discussion related to Michelle Young’s murder that is currently going on at Court TV’s message board [link removed] I’ve rarely posted there, as I don’t like that particular board format (find it too dense to navigate) and in the past they’ve had the occasional troll problem that goes on a bit too long. But this thread, beginning here, is worth the read. “EnchantedOaks” posted the following today, in page 4 of the thread. [At the request of “EnchantedOaks,” Court TV removed the posts in question. Read on.]

“Enchanted Oaks” is the name of the subdivision where Michelle Young was living when she was murdered. The poster using that name titled their now-deleted message, “Some details you haven’t heard publicly.” At that person’s request, I’ve removed the actual quotes, but still want to note some things:

• Jason and Michelle Young may have begun divorce proceedings.
• One law enforcement officer’s description of the crime scene allegedly was that it was “gruesome.”
• Michelle’s murder was first thought to be sexually motivated.
• A young person in the neighborhood with a history of unusual behavior has also been questioned.

Later, in response to queries from other posters, “EnchantedOaks” answered some questions about the young suspect. The boy had been kicked out of some local schools and may have threatened someone with a knife at one point. However, “EnchantedOaks” also admitted he did not know the Youngs, except in passing. To his credit, “EnchantedOaks” seemed a little skeptical of the suspicion heaped on Jason Young and in spite of the teen’s history, rather doubtful there, as well.

Caveat lector (reader beware), these were posts on a message board. Court TV has very good moderators on their boards, people who tend to pay close attention to questionable threads, but they also have a ton of work to do. That said, note that “EnchantedOaks” is about as well-spoken as one can be in a message board post, which tends to enhance my basic instinct that they are telling the truth. But that’s all I have at the moment, instinct.[Redacted in relation to “EnchantedOaks’s” request].

This case will not go away any time soon — it is too complex and intriguing.

[Redacted]. Husbands who kill their wives either make them disappear, make it look like robbery, or sometimes try to make the slaying look like a sex crime — and the signal that the killer wasn’t after anything but death is often that there wasn’t any sex after all.

Thanks to Sandy for the update and the link to the discussion.