From Byron Case’s appeal: In the fall of 1997, Anastasia WitbolsFeugen (“Anastasia”) was shot and killed in Lincoln Cemetery, located between Independence and Kansas City. Her body was found on October 23, 1997, with a large gunshot wound to her face. Anastasia was shot with either a rifle, shotgun, or high-powered handgun fired less than six inches away from her face. If Anastasia’s head were upright when she was shot, the angle of the gun would have been slightly upward. Anastasia was five feet, two inches tall.
Late in the evening of October 22, 1997, Anastasia had been riding in a car with Justin Bruton (“Justin”), her former fiancé, who had had an on-again, off-again relationship with Anastasia and who had broken off their engagement in the summer of 1997; Justin’s friend, the defendant, Byron C. Case (“Case”), who is five feet, eight inches tall; and Kelly Moffett (Kelly), Case’s then-girlfriend. The day after Anastasia’s body was found, Case and Kelly gave a statement to the police in which they said: On October 22, 1997, Justin, Kelly and Case picked Anastasia up at a Dairy Queen in Independence and drove to Washington Cemetery, which was across the street from Lincoln Cemetery. The four left Washington Cemetery after the groundskeeper signaled to the four that they had to leave. En route to Kansas City, the car stopped at the I-435 and Truman Road intersection and Anastasia jumped out, because she was upset with Justin. Anastasia had asked Justin why he didn’t love her anymore, and Justin had said he didn’t know. According to Case and Kelly’s statement, that was the last time they had seen or heard from Anastasia.
The next day, Justin killed himself with a shotgun.
For a long while, Kelly and Case’s version of events gelled. Kelly repeated her initial statement to the police on November 20 and December 10, 1997, and on August 22 and August 25, 1998. In July 1999, with his lawyer present and after being informally granted limited use immunity (the prosecutor agreed not to use Case’s statement unless Case knowingly provided false information to the police), Case did the same.
However, in March 2000, three years after her original statement to the police, Kelly-an admitted crack addict and alcoholic who was living in crackhouses, having been kicked out of her parents home-changed her story. She called her mother from a crackhouse and said that she saw Justin kill Anastasia. Sometime later, she told her father that it was Case who had killed Anastasia. Then, while in drug rehabilitation, she told her counselor it was Justin. Confronted by her mother, who said, “But Kelly you told your dad that [Case] killed Anastasia,” Kelly flip-flopped yet again, saying that Case had killed Anastasia.
Kelly eventually told the police, in September 2000, that Case was Anastasia’s killer. She told the police that she had seen Case shoot and kill Anastasia at Lincoln Cemetery. Kelly made this statement to the police a few days after she learned that Case had moved to St. Louis and had attempted to end all contact with her, refusing to give her his new phone number and address.
At the urging of the police and after being granted transactional immunity pursuant to Section 491.205, Kelly agreed to phone Case and record her conversations with him. On June 25 and June 27, 2001, she did this, using equipment supplied by the police. In the June 5th conversation, which happened around 1:30 a.m., Kelly told Case, who was at his residence:
[The police have] called a bunch again. They called while I was in re-hab, they showed up out here. Yeah. I don’t understand, like seriously, what all went on or whatever, and I seriously, I hate to say this, but why, seriously, why did you have to kill her? What was the whole fucking big deal? Could you explain that to me? Because I don’t get it. Seriously. Justin’s dead for no reason, she’s dead for no reason. It’s just all fucked up. And for some reason they’re talking to me, because you won’t talk. So I’m fucked. And it makes me look horrible because everybody already knows that I’m a fucking crack-head, that I’m a coke-head, that I’m an alcoholic and don’t remember shit. And if I tried to talk to them, nothing’s going to add up. So, I mean if you could seriously explain to me as to why you actually felt the need to kill her, then that would really help me feel better about the whole fucking thing. I mean, was there seriously any reason to all this?
Case responded by saying, “We shouldn’t talk about this.” Kelly said, “Why?” Case then repeated, “probably because we shouldn’t talk about this.”
In the June 7th conversation, Kelly told Case: They’ve been calling me like every single day to come in, and I need to get the story straight and figure something out because they’ve literally been calling me every single day for the past week bugging me, like when can I come in, when can I come in, and if I can’t come in out there, they’ll come to me and all this stuff. Case responded by saying, “I mean the only advice that I can give is start everything with I think, or the best I can remember is ․ there.”
Case was arrested and tried for murder in the first degree and armed criminal action.
Find-A-Grave: Anastasia Elizabeth WitbolsFeugen
Anastasia Elizabeth WitbolsFeugen
Facebook: Keep Byron Case Behind Bars
Mystery enshrouds couple’s deaths Answers elude police in Anastasia WitbolsFeugen’s slaying, boyfriend’s suicide
State of Missouri v Byron Case 2004 (conviction and sentence affirmed)
Cemetery Plot
Books
The Skeptical Juror and the Trial of Byron Case
Movies/Documentaries
On The Case With Paula Zahn: Betrayal and Regret
INMATE INFORMATION
DOC Id 328416
Offender Name Byron Case
Race White
Sex Male
Date of Birth 11/23/1978
Height/Weight 5’9″ / 142
Hair/Eyes Brown /Brown
Assigned Location Crossroads Correctional Center
Address 1115 East Pence Road, Cameron, MO 64429
Assigned Officer Phone Number (816) 632-2727
Sentence Summary Life +(life W/O Parole, Life CC)
Active Offenses MURDER 1ST DEGREE;ARMED CRIMINAL ACTION
Completed Offenses STEALING
Aliases Byron C Case; Byron Case; Byron Case
