. >> 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'll tell you what you have to do. you need to calm down so we can help you. you said there's blood everywhere? listen to me. is she breathing? >> i don't think so. >> have you checked? >> michelle? she's cold. >> as she spoke, meredith was cradling her 2 1/2-year-old niece, cassidy, who crawled out from under the bed clothes on her parents' bed, feet from where her mother lay. cassidy's voice chattering to her aunt. had cassidy witnessed the murder, awakened alone to find this? >> you just picture a small child walking around in this blood and tracking it across the hallway over into the bathroom. >> by now, wake county investigators were descending on the house. 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 paja