Anastasia's time of death was not mentioned in Byron Case's trial, either by prosecution or defense. Case's supporters feel this was a grave injustice to him, because if Anastasia's time of death had, say, been determined to have been 1 AM the following morning, it would have been exculpatory evidence in his favor.

Byron Case should accept as much responsibility for not having his counsel ask that simple question during trial. There were two witnesses who testified about Anastasia's autopsy, one each for prosecution and defense.¹,2 Neither witness was asked a question about time of death by either prosecution or defense counsel, either under direct or cross examination.

This is an issue raised only by Case and his supporters after his conviction, and has not been part of any of his appeals, and seems therefore a case of too little too late. Case has filed one appeal against his trial attorney, claiming ineffective counsel,³ but did not complain in the course of that appeal that his attorney had failed to ask such a question; we must conclude that he did not hold his attorney responsible for such actions.

According to witness Glenn Colliver,⁴ they were in Mt. Washington Cemetery at between 7 and 7:15 PM, and according to Kelly's mother were back at Kelly's home by about 9:20,⁵ which places Case's window of opportunity between approximately 7:15 and 8:30 PM.

The time of Anastasia's death can be roughly estimated by several clues. From the onset of rigor mortis and livor mortis and the environmental conditions at her place of death, her death could not have occured any later than 10 PM. In addition, then-County Prosecutor (and now Jackson County Circuit Court Judge) Robert Beaird informed Anastasia's family in mid-2000 that the sanitary napkin found on her indicated that she could not have been wearing it more than two or three hours, and possibly less than an hour. We know now that Justin drove Anastasia back to her house from the Dairy Queen to change her clothes, and that she also changed out the tampon she had been loaned by the DQ waitress in favor of the sanitary napkin she normally wore.⁶ This occured at appoximately 7 PM,⁷ and using Beaird's estimates we can judge that the murder took place some time between 7:30 and 10 PM, well within Case's window of opportunity.

It is significant that while Case and his supporters continue to use this claim to bolster their assertions of a "miscarriage of justice", they have never sought to find the truth as Anastasia's family has done, apparently preferring to simply curse the darkness rather than light a proverbial candle.