Byron Case was convicted of murder in the first degree on May 2, 2002 in the death of Anastasia WitbolsFeugen. His supporters have gone to great lengths to state what they feel was NOT offered in trial by the prosecution, but have studiously ignored what evidence WAS offered, and their claims have not always been truthful or accurate.

Those supporters have frequently used the phrase "convicted solely on the testimony of one questionable eyewitness". That statement and belief are wrong on two counts. First, the conviction was at the very least based upon an eyewitness PLUS his own tacit admission,¹ not to mention forensic evidence that confirmed the eyewitness testimony and disproved the scenario presented in Case's alibi. Second, Kelly Moffett's status as an eyewitness was not "questionable"; the only true inconsistency in her testimony was with her first police statements, statements that she repudiated in her testimony.²

Case was shown to have motive,³ was known to have opportunity, and was shown to have access to at least one weapon.⁴ He was already a convicted felon⁵ at the time of the murder, his dislike for Anastasia⁶ had been admitted by one of his own defense witnesses,⁷ and he had been said to have a morbid fascination with death. One of the problems that his supporters have had with this 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 morbid 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.

He later claimed that the "Random Stranger" theory was the work of his attorney and not him, but in doing so ignores the fact that said theory is a necessary part of his alibi⁸ if it were to be even the least bit believable, and that theory has already been disposed of. Most damningly, he made a tacit admission of his guilt in a taped phone conversation with Kelly Moffett just before his arrest for Anastasia’s murder,⁹ which weighed heavily in the jury's deliberations at his trial.¹⁰

At one point, supporters published his own personal speculation that Anastasia's father might be the culprit. Besides the fact that there is no evidence to back up the 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 that is pertinent to this topic.¹¹