Don Rand was a mechanic working at an Amoco station near I-435 and Truman Road on the night of Anastasia's murder. Called to testify for the defense at the trial State v. Byron Case, he testified that he saw an attractive young woman arguing with someone in an eastbound car¹ and then saw her walk away angrily. According to Case supporters, this testimony confirms or at least supports Byron Case's assertion that Anastasia had gotten out of Justin Bruton's car near that spot.

Upon cross-examination, however, Mr. Rand acknowledged that in his original statement to police (two days after the murder), he had told them that he was unable to tell at all whether there was an argument going on, and that he could not tell at all whether the woman he saw was upset in any way.²

For the record, Jackson County Sheriff Sergeant Joseph Becker's report of October 24, 1997 stated that Mr. Rand

"says he remembers the victim walking east across the drive at about 8:30 p.m. He says he looked up, say[sic] her walking and thought she was attactive. Couldn't tell if she was upset or emotional at all. Distance of about 50 feet." ³

Throughout both his direct and cross examinations, Mr. Rand described the vehicle he saw as eastbound (headed toward Independence), on the south side of the street. His exact statement during direct testimony was as follows:

"I recall a young lady that either just gotten out of a car or was in some type of an argument with somebody in a car at the light of Truman Road and 435 eastbound and from that point on she proceeded to walk away from the car before the light had even changed.⁴

In Byron Case's description of that night, Justin Bruton's car was westbound (headed away from Independence) and on the north side of the street. A few of Case's supporters have attempted to parse Mr. Rand's words, arguing that "Truman Road and 435 eastbound" only meant that the girl was herself walking eastbound, but a reading of the full statement (and the fact that he made no note of her crossing a busy street and then turning east) makes it clear that he described the car as being at the light of Truman Road and 435 eastbound, and that the young woman walked from that point.

In summary, Don Rand saw nothing that was of any particular use to the defense.

It should also be noted that Mr. Rand might not have been as "totally disinterested" as Case and his supporters have claimed. He was questioned on cross-examination about his conversations with Tara McDowell, one of Case's friends who had spoken to him only days after he had spoken to police, though he denied any memory of such a conversation.⁵ Ms. McDowell was also a witness on Case's behalf, had already been questioned about the fact that she had approached Mr. Rand and had talked at length with him about the murder and the events surrounding it.⁶

To this day, Case supporters, despite all the evidence plainly laid out, continue to claim that Don Rand's testimony is strong evidence in Case's favor.