Heather Young testifies her husband forced her to perform a sex act on him

BRISTOL, Tenn. – The morning their marital troubles escalated into violence, Doug Young picked up breakfast for his estranged wife, Heather.

Testifying at a hearing in General Sessions Court Wednesday, Heather Young described in detail how an amicable, arranged meeting with her husband on Dec. 1 went awry in the space of half an hour, resulting in a charge of aggravated rape.

Wednesday’s hearing was the opening chapter in an evolving legal case against Doug Young, a man with no previous criminal record, who skipped bail two weeks ago and stands accused of kidnapping and further sexually assaulting his wife. While the couple appeared in court Wednesday, a Blountville grand jury rained down new charges on Young, stemming from the week—Jan. 4 to Jan. 11—he eluded police through three states and allegedly kept his wife captive.

Young now faces one count each of aggravated assault, burglary and especially aggravated kidnapping, and four new counts of aggravated rape. He waived on Wednesday a felony failure to appear charge to a grand jury. If convicted, Young could serve up to 25 years for each rape charge, according to Sullivan County District Attorney General Greeley Wells.

On Wednesday, Doug Young sat at the defense table in prison pinstripes, as his wife gave the fullest account to date of the Dec. 1 incident for which he is charged.

For nearly 45 minutes, in emotional but steely testimony, Heather Young gave this account of the day’s events.

Her husband, a superintendent at BurWil Construction, was bringing over a load of slate rock to his wife’s residence, which he had offered and she accepted. He called on the way to ask if he could pick up breakfast.

She said he could order her a chicken biscuit.

With a divorce pending, the two ate and discussed finances and he offered to help pay her bills, she said.

She told her husband he didn’t need to do that. He became upset, raising his voice. She asked him to calm down. He did. He asked her to dinner that night. She said no.

As they were about to unload the rock from his pickup truck, he pointed out a cut on his finger, saying he needed a Band-Aid. They went into her bathroom, where she applied Neosporin and a Band-Aid to the cut.

He asked for a hug. She said no.

Then, Heather Young testified, as she tried to walk around him, he grabbed her by the throat, and shoved her against the closet doors with enough force to cause her to fall, and budge the dryer she hit on her way down.

Yanking her up by the chin, she testified, Doug Young told her he was going to sexually assault her, and half-dragged her into a bedroom where he forced her to perform a sex act on him.

As he threatened a further assault, she told him that she was expecting her cousin and nephew to visit. He then stopped, she testified.

As they walked from the bedroom in to the kitchen, Doug Young put his hand on his wife’s shoulder.

"He tells me he loves me, and that he doesn’t want to spend another weekend without me," Heather Young said.

He also said he "had a loaded 9mm [handgun]" in his truck, and that he "could shoot me and himself," she testified.

When her relatives arrived, she said her husband told her to turn them away. She did so, saying "now is not a good time."

Pointing out that his client did not have a weapon, defense attorney Lynn Dougherty suggested to Heather, "So there was nothing to stop you from leaving."

"Fear," she said.

With her relatives gone, Heather and Doug Young together unloaded the rock from his truck. Her mouth was bleeding, and her left eye had begun to swell, she testified.

"He told me he didn’t want to go to jail," she said. "He made me promise not to call the police. He asked that we try to work things out."

She agreed, and said she would take leave from work so no one would see her facial injuries.

As he left, turning up the street, she said she dialed 911.

Doug Young was arrested that day and charged with aggravated rape. On Dec. 3, General Sessions Court Judge Bill Watson set his bond at $50,000, and signed a protective order restricting him from any contact with his wife.

With the rape hearing looming, the couple’s divorce attorneys prepared to finalize their drawn-out divorce, already five years in the process, which included several periods of reconciliation. The day they hoped for a settlement, Jan. 4, Doug and Heather Young went incommunicado.

After a weeklong manhunt involving several local law enforcement agencies and the FBI, authorities in Clayton, Ga. caught up with the pair on Jan. 11 as they left a restaurant.

Sullivan County prosecutors have not yet set a date to arraign Doug Young on the new charges. He is being held without bond in the Sullivan County jail.

dgilbert@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2558