Subject: Re: Suspicions
Date: Sat, 3 May 1998 01:47:54 -0500
From: From: Byron Case
To: Patrick Rock

>> As you now indicate that you find all these accusations against your character to
>> be "amusing", that you cannot (or choose not to) identify the young man whom you
>> claim accosted you at Ward Parkway, and in fact did not mention your original
>> complaint at all, may I assume that you withdraw said complaint and threat
>> against Francesca?

I don't know Francesca. I can count the times I met her on a single hand. I have not now, nor have I in the past, held any kind of allegiance or aversion to her. What I was saying was merely that continued harassment would result in my investigating legal alternatives. I made no threat and said nothing about slander ... that conclusion was drawn by someone else.

In the letter that intiated this correspondence, Case stated that "should any more of these little 'interrogations' [as he characterized them] occur, I shall waste no time in contacting my attorney" and that "I am not a very tolerant person, and this is to be no exception".

We challenged him on that very point, making it clear that he had indeed made threats.

Just as Abraham stepped forward on my behalf, so too did the person at Ward Parkway Mall step forward on Fran's behalf (requested or not). The idea that he was working on behalf of Fran is no more justifiable than if Brahm laid some thinly-veiled attempt at intimidation on Francesca. Rest assured, both of us have better things to do than harass her with a load of rediculous "eye for an eye" crap.

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Anastasia's family responded to Case's email with a few direct requests for information, pointing out to him that a family friend who frequented some of the same coffeehouses as Case and his friends, had seen him only days before his letter sitting at a table enjoying the camaraderie of a number of his friends, including Tara McDowell, the person to whom he had referred only days earlier in his email as a "pitiful individual" with whom he had declared that he no longer spoke. Having caught him in so many plain untruths, we then asked him to categorically state the following, according his best knowledge and belief:

1. that Justin Bruton had driven ONLY the route that night that Case claimed, with no detours nor extra stops;
2. that Anastasia did not get out of Justin's car anywhere between the DQ and her alleged fatal walk;
3. that Case had gone nowhere that night except his described ride with Justin, Anastasia, and Kelly, and stayed home all night after Justin dropped him off, and went nowhere in his own car;
4. and that his actions the days following regarding both Anastasia's death and Justin's disappearance and death were exactly as he had previously stated, with nothing more of significance to add, and nothing to amend.

Case never responded. Apparently under the mistaken impression that his correspondence might be used as evidence in a trial, he was fearful of being caught in a direct lie that might point to his guilt and later be used against him in court, and was careful to avoid answering most questions like this. After his conviction, he falsely claimed that he broke off this dialogue on advice from an attorney. He never again attempted correspondence with the family.

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