Byron Case and his supporters have long maintained that he was always consistent with his alibi of the night of the murder. This is not entirely true, as there were significant variations between important details in interviews and correspondence he had at different times and with different people.

The Basic Story

The basics of Case's alibi are that he, Justin Bruton, and Kelly Moffett picked up Anastasia at the Dairy Queen at Highway 24 and Brookside in Independence, Missouri, a little before 7 PM on October 22, 1997, much later than had been planned. There are differences and inconsistencies in events and intentions before that,¹,² but this discussion is about the alibi regarding what Case claimed transpired between then and her alleged exit from Justin's car.

According to Case's alibi (as most commonly told), he, Justin, and Kelly picked Anastasia up at the Dairy Queen, drove into Mt. Washington Cemetery, stopped briefly at the William Rockhill Nelson Mausoleum, then left the cemetery when spotted by the caretaker; they exited the cemetery, drove south along its eastern wall, and turned west on Truman Road. At the stoplight near Truman and I-435, Anastasia became angry with Justin, got out of the car, announced she was walking home, and proceeded to walk east on Truman Road. Bruton, Case, and Moffett then drove back to Justin's condo, while Anastasia's actions remain a mystery.

Inconsistencies

Why did they go to the Nelson?

In Case's first statement to police on October 24, 1997, he mentioned that after picking up Anastasia, they decided to "follow through with the original plan" and return to their original meeting spot, which was the Nelson Mausoleum in Mt. Washington Cemetery;³ when he told Anastasia's family about the same event via email about two months later, he described it as if they had been "looking for a place to park the car".⁴ In his second police interview on July 29, 1999, he described the drive to the Nelson as if they simply drove around and decided at the spur of the moment to stop there.⁵

How much a surprise was Anastasia's behavior?

In Case's first interview with police on October 24, 1997, he told police that Anastasia got out of Justin Bruton's car at the traffic light at Truman Road and I-435 after announcing she was going to do so, that she and Justin argued about her leaving, that she slammed his door closed and walked off, and that neither he nor Justin nor Kelly Moffett considered it unusual, as she had walked out of Justin's condo during arguments many times before.⁶ When he described this to Anastasia's family two months later, he changed his story to say that "none of us expected her to get out of the car".⁷ Less than a week after that, he added the detail of Justin telling Anastasia he didn't really love her being the remark that set her off, and again treated her departure as having been no big deal.⁸ In his second interview with police, 21 months after the murder, he added details of Anastasia's and Justin's conversation that he seemingly hadn't been able to remember two days after the event, and treated her sudden departure as if it had been an inevitable and almost expected consequence.⁹ In his testimony at his trial, he gave the impression that if he had barely noticed the argument or Anastasia's leaving, and left out the earlier detail of Justin and Anastasia arguing briefly once she got out of the car.¹⁰

Where did Anastasia get out?

Also of interest is the testimony of John Bruton, Justin Bruton's step-father. Mr. Bruton testified that Case told him that the drive had been the result of a "double date", and that Anastasia had exited the car at a stop sign.¹¹ While Mr. Bruton's testimony can be regarded as second-hand, it is significant that a friend of Case's, Allie Conrad, came forward to the family in late 1998 to tell them that Case had talked to her the day after the murder and told her that Anastasia had exited Justin's car at the stop sign at Blue Ridge and Truman Road, near the entrance of Lincoln Cemetery,¹² not a dissimilar story to the one Case had told Bruton. Allie's place in this murder investigation is told elsewhere.¹³

Did Justin feel suicidal that night?

Case told detectives in his first interview of October 24, 1997 that Justin made the comment, "Maybe I should just go and kill myself" ¹⁴ after Anastasia had gotten out of his car; when testifying on the stand, he could not remember that statement and stated categorically that Justin was not suicidal that night.¹⁵

Problems with Veracity

What was "normal"?

One of the key components of Case's alibi was that Anastasia's alleged behavior (angrily storming away from Justin's car and attempting to walk home along a dangerous part of town) was "not unusual behavior,"¹⁶ attempting to equate it with other times when Anastasia had walked out of Justin's condo in the Plaza and walked around the block a few times to cool off. Anastasia's family considered this description to have been extremely inconsistent with her normal behavior from the very start, and Case once tried to justify his claim by telling the family via email that "Justin and Stasia argued a lot, but never as fiercely as they did that night".¹⁷ A major part of his alibi required that Anastasia be so upset as to take actions categorically at odds with her personality and previous known behavior. Case only attempted to redefine such actions as being "normal" for Anastasia.

How believable was the alibi in and of itself?

Case's alibi also required by its nature that Anastasia was murdered at Lincoln Cemetery by a complete stranger, a scenario of which has already been disposed.¹⁸ Forensic evidence¹⁹ made it clear that Anastasia had not been abducted, that she had not struggled with an assailant, and had not even tried to shield herself from the fatal shot; along with other clues, and the extreme unlikeliness of an assailant lying in wait at that time and place, made the scenario difficult if not impossible to believe.

The jury did not find Byron Case's alibi believable.