The simple answer to the question is that, according to testimony and evidence presented in court and accepted by a jury of twelve citizens of Jackson County, Missouri, Byron Case really did kill Anastasia WitbolsFeugen by shooting her with a gun.

Byron Case and his supporters argue that Anastasia's murder is still an unsolved case. They continue to argue that someone else must of committed the act, so we will examine them:

Case's supporters argue two basic theories:

1. That Anastasia's boyfriend, Justin Bruton, murdered her, or
2. that Anastasia was murdered in a random act of violence by a complete stranger.

We will offer our reasons why we believe Anastasia's boyfriend could not have been the murderer, why we believe her murder likewise could not have been the act of some random stranger, and why we believe the evidence that Byron Case murdered Anastasia is so compelling.

 

Why Justin Bruton did not kill Anastasia

Many of Case's supporters have raised the idea that Justin Bruton killed Anastasia, and have been doing so ever since Case's conviction for the crime. Byron Case had spoken of Justin's suicidal tendencies early on in an interview with the Jackson County Sheriff's Department.⁽¹⁾ Justin's suicide, barely two days after Anastasia's murder,⁽²⁾ even though it did not raise any questions of his culpability at trial, gives Case supporters license to accuse him.

But what evidence do they have that would make Bruton a likely suspect? Byron Case himself did not believe Justin to be homicidal.⁽³⁾ Both of Case's biggest witnesses, Abraham Kneisley and Tara McDowell, both stated that Justin was acting normally when they saw him an hour after the alleged argument between him and Anastasia.^(4,5) By their testimony, Justin Bruton was showing no signs of anger or any other clues that he might be homicidal.

There is also the matter of the timing. According to testimony, Justin called Anastasia's home at about 9:30,⁽⁶⁾ drove to Tara McDowell's apartment and spoke for about 15-10 minutes⁽⁷⁾ before dropping Case off at his home sometime between 10 and 10:30,^(8,9) then called and spoke to Anastasia's father, alerting him that Anastasia was missing.⁽¹⁰⁾ Having spent two to three hours since the time that Anastasia allegedly exited his car, Justin is now thought to have driven back to the area of Lincoln Cemetery and killed Anastasia, while Anastasia's father would be driving through the same area searching for her.

The problem is twofold: First, Justin was not acting in any way homicidal that night, and Case stated categorically that Justin just wasn't the kind of person who got physically angry. Second, if we assume the testimony of Case and his friends is true, there was no opportunity.

Anastasia's time of death is estimated at between 7:30 and 10:00 PM,⁽¹¹⁾ which further reduces the likelihood of Justin having returned to kill her nearly to the point of absolute impossibility.

The only other possibility that names Justin as the killer is a scenario in which both Byron Case and Kelly Moffett witnessed Justin doing so. Byron Case had no rational reason to protect his dead friend, and while he did attempt to muddy the waters about Justin's possible guilt,⁽¹²⁾ Case would not would not accuse Justin Bruton of the crimewhen given a direct opportunity.⁽¹³⁾

Did Kelly Moffett name Justin as the killer? Yes,⁽¹⁴⁾ but only in sudden panic that she might be implicated herself for accusing Case, and it should be noted that she quickly recanted that story.^(15,16)

Was Justin implicated by anyone else? Oddly, the testimony of one of Case's defense witnesses seemed to circuitously implicate Justin Bruton. Abraham Kneisley testified that Justin had only a couple of months before the murder approached him about trying to get a weapon.⁽¹⁷⁾ It was pointed out during cross-examination that Kneisley had interviewed with police a little more than a week after the murder and had never bothered to mention that fact, waiting until the trial to reveal it.⁽¹⁸⁾

Had Justin Bruton killed Anastasia, and had Byron Case and Kelly Moffett witnessed it, then both would have been guilty of obstruction, and possibly of Accessory to Murder, but that would have still cost Case a considerably lesser sentence than Murder One. He had many opportunities to directly implicate Justin, and had no motivation to protect Justin while on trial himself for murder, so we must accept that Justin could not have killed Anastasia with Byron Case and Kelly Moffett there to witness the crime. If Case did witness the murder and consistently lied to police about it, then he was a fool to do so and allow himself to become implicated, and even more foolish to remain silent after having been accused.

Assuming that either of these scenarios could have occured, it still creates two important conundrums:

1. Forensic evidence indicates that Anastasia was surprised by her killer (an issue that will be discussed at greater length in the next section), and for Justin to have done so would have required Anastasia to become involved with something else, turn her back to Justin and to completely ignore his actions as he retrieved his rifle or shotgun from its hiding place (probably opening the trunk of his car) and walked up to her without interrupting her concentration. Without Anastasia having someone else with whom to argue, it it is unlikely that she would have turned her attention away from Justin so completely and for long enough for him to have surprised her and to have killed her in the manner in which she was murdered.
2. Justin would have had to completely dispose of the murder weapon that same night and then bought a new shotgun the following morning (fewer than 12 hours later) in order to commit suicide⁽¹⁹⁾ the night after that.

Justin's suicide barely more than 48 hours after Anastasia's murder raises suspicion among Case's supporters, who feel it might point to his possible guilt over her murder. Jackson County Prosecutor Therese Crayon had felt also that it pointed to Justin's personal sense of guilt, but not that it meant his guilt in the crime.⁽²⁰⁾

The theory that Justin Bruton was the guilty party is less unbelievable than the Random Stranger theory, but only slightly less unbelievable, and still not within the realm of plausibility.

Why Bryon Case DID kill Anastasia

Case's supporters have gone to great lengths to state what was NOT offered in trial by the prosecution, but have studiously ignored what evidence WAS offered, and they have not always been honest or accurate in their claims.

Case's supporters have frequently chanted the phrase "convicted solely on the testimony of one questionable eyewitness". Their statement is wrong on two counts. First, Case's conviction was at the very least based upon an eyewitness PLUS Case's own tacit admission.⁽²⁵⁾ Second, Kelly Moffett's status as an eyewitness was not "questionable"; the only true inconsistency in her testimony was with her first police statements, statement that she repudiated in her testimony.⁽²⁶⁾

Case was shown to have motive,⁽²⁷⁾ was known to have opportunity, and was shown to have access to at least one weapon.⁽²⁸⁾ He was already a convicted felon⁽²⁹⁾ at the time of the murder, his dislike for Anastasia⁽³⁰⁾ had been admitted by one of his own defense witnesses,⁽³¹⁾ and he had been said to have a morbid fascination with death. One of the issues that his supporters have is that they apparently believe a rational motive must be described, as if the action of murdering Anastasia could have had a logical reason. His motive? He had a long and deep-seated animosity toward Anastasia, a curiosity about what it would be like to kill someone, and thought so highly of his own intelligence and cleverness that he believed he could commit the perfect crime.

Case currently claims that the Random Stranger theory was the work of his attorney and not him, but in doing so he ignores the fact that said theory is a necessary part of his alibi if it were to be even the least bit believable, and that theory has already been disposed of. Most damningly, Case made a tacit admission of his guilt in a taped phone conversation with Kelly Moffett just before his arrest for Anastasia’s murder,⁽³²⁾ which weighed heavily in the jury's deliberations at his trial.⁽³³⁾

At one point, Case supporters published Case's own personal speculation that Anastasia's father might be the culprit. Besides the fact that there is no evidence to back up Case's accusation, and besides the fact that there was nothing suggested during his trial, it was also quite simply slander, and his friends removed that speculation shortly after having posted it for fear of making themselves accessories to that charge, though some of the less circumspect of them still occasionally indulge in anonymous slander.

For specifics on the evidence presented in court pointing to Case's guilt, click here. Also, there was considerable information about him not introduced in the trial⁽³⁴⁾ that is pertinent to this topic.