Byron Case Transcripts 07 Testimony Debra Moffett

8/14/2019 Byron Case Transcripts 07 Testimony Debra Moffett

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Testimony of Debra Moffett

State of Missouri v. Byron Case

April 30, 2002.

Pages 619-654

Direct examination by David FryCross examination by Horton Lance

Redirect examination by David Fry

Page 619 (Debra Moffett testimony)

(The following proceedings were had in the courtroom in the presence and hearing of the jury:)

THE COURT:

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. All right. Is the State ready to proceed with their next

witness?

MS. CRAYON:

Yes, we are, Your Honor.

THE COURT:

You may do so.

DEBRA MOFFETT, having been duly sworn by the Court, testified:

DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. FRY:

Q.

Good morning.

A.

Good morning.

Q.

Now, I'm going to stand way back here by the last juror so you always have to remember to project

your voice back this far. All right?

A.

Okay.

Q.

Would you tell the jury your name, please.

A.

Debra Moffett.

Q.


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Are you related to Kelly?

A.

I'm her mother.

Q.

As Kelly's mother, did you know Justin?

A.

Yes.


Q.

Justin Bruton?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Tell the jurors how you knew him and how well?

A.

I knew him through Kelly. He was a friend. I didn't know him really well. He called the house quitea bit. I only -- he only came over to the house maybe three times.

Q.

Did you know Anastasia?

A.

Yes.

Q.

How did you know her and how well?

A.

The same way. She was a friend of Kelly's. She called our house, you know, usually every other day

or so. She was at our house maybe three or four times.

Q.

Did you know the defendant Byron Case?

A.


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Yes.

Q.

And how did you know him and how well?

A.

He was Kelly's boyfriend for about a year and a half. Spent a lot of time at our house. Ate dinner

with us. Knew him pretty well.

Q.

Prior to Kelly, I guess, maybe befriending or becoming the girlfriend of Byron Case, can you

describe what her relationships were like with you and the rest of your family?

A.

Prior to Byron?


Q.

Prior, yes.

A.

Normal, you know. She was 14 when she met Byron, a little rebellious, but normal relationship.

Q.

14, did you say?

A.

Right.

Q.

What grade was that that she met him in?

A.

It would have been eighth grade.

Q.

And you felt like she had a normal relationship with your family?

A.

Yes.

Q.


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Now, can you describe how Kelly and Byron started interacting at the very beginning of their

relationship for the jury?

A.

Well, she knew Byron long before we did. He was so much older than her that she really didn't want

us to know about him, and I guess she actually had met him that spring of '97. 1 knew that there was thisperson calling the house. I didn't know who it was. He had a very deep voice. I thought he was a lot older

than her. I questioned her about it. She said "Oh, he's just a friend. No big deal." But I didn't really know

Byron at that point. Had never seen him.

Q.

Well, how long do you think she dated him or had any kind of contact with him before you found

out?


A.

Oh, probably a few months, maybe.

Q.

When you did find out did you have concerns about their age difference?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Did you have concerns about their maturity difference?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Did you and your husband try to influence the situation of Kelly dating Byron?

A.

Yes. We tried to -- we actually tried to stop her. We told her she couldn't see him. He was too much

older. At that point I still had not seen him. She did not say how old he was. But I could tell he was a lot

older. We told her she could not see him. Could not have any contact with him at all.

Q.

What was Kelly's response to that?

A.


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She didn't -- at that point she didn't say much. She said, "You know, mom, you don't know him, kind

of thing. 14-year-old girl kind of stuff. She really didn't say much at that point. I just told her she could not

date him.

Q.

What did your husband tell her?

A.

Well, my husband came home one night, and he was down in our basement.


Q.

Who is "he"?

A.

Byron and Kelly. He got him out of the basement. Threw Byron out of the house and told him hecould not come back.

Q.

What was Kelly's response to that?

A.

At the time she didn't really say much. You know she wasn't happy about it, but she didn't really say

a whole lot at the time.

Q.

Did Kelly leave home at all?

A.

Couple of days later she ran off.

Q.

Can you give us a little more detail than running off? How long was she gone?

A.

She was gone a week.

Q.

During that week did she call you?

A.

No.


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Q.

During that week did anybody call you and let you know where she was?

A.

No.

Q.

All right. Did you recover a backpack someplace?

A.

After she had been gone a few days I got a call from a neighbor of ours. She said, "This is Mrs. So-

and-so. I'm a neighbor of yours. I think I have something that belongs to your daughter," She said, "You

might want to come over and get it."


So I drove over and it was a backpack of Kelly's with some of her things in it and this lady -- wehave a pool in our subdivision. The lady said she found this backpack under a bush in our subdivision.

Q.

What concerns did you have at that time?

A.

I thought she was dead to be honest. We had not -- she had never done anything like that before. She

was just gone.

Q.

Did you and your husband do anything to try to locate her?

A.

We looked for her. We printed out -- we knew that she, you know, was always wanting to go downto Westport. She wasn't supposed to be down there, but we knew she was always wanting to be down at

Westport. We had some fliers printed up with her picture, took them down to Westport, talked to the police

after we got the backpack. I filed a missing report with the Lenexa Police Department. My husband we

finally ended up hiring a private investigator.

Q.

With the assistance of that private investigator, was Kelly located?

A.

Yes.


Q.


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Where was she located?

A.

She was in Justin Bruton's condo.

Q.

Did the investigator and your husband go over and take her out of that condo?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Bring her home?

A.

Yes.

Q.

After -- well, what was that week like for you?

A.

That was probably the worst week of my life, one of them. Because we seriously thought she was

dead.

Q.

When she was home, did Kelly, you, and your husband try to establish some rules for hercontinuing to meet Byron?

A.

You know, we asked her, you know, at the time we were so traumatized by her being gone we said,"Kelly, what can we do? You can't do this again."

And she said, "All I want is to be able to see Byron." So at that point anything was better than what

we had been through, so we decided to let her see him, you know. At least that way we would be able to

keep an eye on her and keep track of her.

Q.

All right, and after that they obviously continued to date; is that correct?


A.

Yes.

Q.


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Can you describe, you know, like the activities they would do with you? Would they come over to

your house? That kind of thing?

A.

Yeah, they spent a lot of time at our house. Just activities that kids like that age do. They went toWestport. They spent a lot of time at Borders on the Plaza. They would go out with Justin and Anastasia.

Go to the movies. They did spend a lot of time at our house.

Q.

In the course of that was she allowed to see him during the week?

A.

Yes.

Q.

About how often might he come by and see her?

A.

He would come over when she got out of school. A lot of times he would be sitting on our porch

when we got home from school. He would spend the evening with us, eat dinner with us sometimes.

Q.

When she went out with him would she always have a curfew?

A.

Yes.

Q.

What kind of?

A.

During the week I wanted her home by 8:30, 9 o'clock. On the weekends it was 11, 11:30.


Q.

How was Kelly responding to the curfew?

A.

She was pretty good. Most of the time she would be home on time, if she wasn't she would call me.

Q.


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After you had established more contact with Byron had you developed any more positive

impression of him?

A.

Well, when I first met him I was relieved, because he wasn't what I was expecting. His voice over

the phone he sounded like he was 35 years old and when I met him I realized he was much younger than Ihad thought. And he was intelligent. He was soft-spoken. Very mannerly. So my initial impression was

better than I had expected.

Q.

Did he openly display that he cared for Kelly?

A.

Yes.

Q.

How would you describe that?

A.

Oh, I think he cared a great deal about Kelly.

Q.

Can you give us some examples?

A.

Just the way they were with each other. I think he was -- I think he was very much in love with her

actually at the time.

Q.

I want to now direct your attention to October 22nd, 1997. All right? You were working that day; is

that right?


A.

Right.

Q.

About what time did you get off work and what do you do after work?

A.

I got off about 2:30 and I always picked Kelly up at school. Sometimes Byron would pick her up.

But I picked her up that day.

Q.


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What do you do for a living?

A.

I'm a pharmacy technician.

Q.

And that particular day -- I'm sorry, I may have interrupted you. Did you pick Kelly up or was she

home already? Do you know?

A.

No, I picked her up.

Q.

And you said you got off work about 2:30, picked Kelly up at school, and you had come home?

A.

Right.

Q.

About what time would you come home?

A.

Probably would have been home about three o'clock.

Q.

Do you have much of a recollection at all what you did or what Kelly did that afternoon?

A.

That afternoon she went upstairs. I know she wasn't downstairs. She went upstairs for awhile. Shemight have been asleep. I don't remember. But I know she was upstairs for quite awhile.

Q.

Did Kelly contact you and tell you what she was planning to do that afternoon?


A.

She came downstairs, and I was in the kitchen. I must have been getting down. She came down, and

she said that Justin and Byron were going to go pick her up.

Q.

Were you aware of her actually leaving?


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A.

Yes. I was in the kitchen and she came in and got her purse.

Q.

And when she came in and got her purse, did you have any conversation with her at all?

A.

Yeah. I told her, I said, "Well what are you going to do?"

And she said, "Oh, we're just going to drive around and hang out."

And I said, "Well, I want you home by 8:30, because it's a school night. No later than 8:30."

Q.

After she left, obviously, she eventually came home; is that correct?

A.

Right.

Q.

After she left and before she came home did you have any other contact with Kelly during the

evening?

A.

No.

Q.

Were you aware of what time Kelly came home that night?


A.

Yeah. Because I had told her to be home by 8:30 and I remember looking at my watch. I was

upstairs. I remember looking at my watch and it was 9 or a little after, and she still wasn't there.

Q.

What was your reaction?

A.

I was mad. I was waiting for her to get home.

Q.

And you were already anticipating her arrival?


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A.

Right.

Q.

And do you have any rough idea about what time she did come home?

A.

When I looked at my watch, it was a little bit after 9, so it probably would have been a little bit later

than that, maybe 9:15, 9:20.

Q.

How did you become aware she arrived home?

A.

I heard them come in the front door, heard their voices.

Q.

Were you upstairs or downstairs?

A.

I was upstairs.

Q.

And you heard the door downstairs?

A.

Right.

Q.

What else could you hear?

A.

I could hear them talking. I could hear their voices.


Q.

You said them. Can you tell the jury who "them" is?

A.

Byron, Justin and Kelly.

Q.


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You recognized all three voices?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And after you heard the voices, did anything else seem remarkable to you?

A.

I was mad at Kelly, and I was going to holler for her to come upstairs. And I walked to the top of the

stairs, and I heard them in the kitchen whispering. And this went on for quite awhile and that isn't good

when you're a parent to hear a bunch of whispering. I could not hear what they were saying, but I was like

okay, what's going on now. And at the top of the stairs and I said, "Kelly come up Here. I want to talk to

you.

Q.

Did Kelly come upstairs?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Did you have a conversation with Kelly?

A.

Yeah. I said, "You know, what's the deal? You were supposed to be here at 8:30. It's after 9 o'clock.What happened? Why are you late?"

At that point she told me that they had gone and picked up Anastasia. That they were driving around

and Anastasia and -- or Anastasia and Justin had gotten in an argument.


At some point Anastasia had said, "I want out of the car. Stop the car. I want out. I want to go call

my dad." And she had gotten out of the car at an intersection in Independence and taken off.

Q.

Did Kelly say anything else about her concerns for Anastasia?

A.

Yeah. At the time she said, "Gosh, you know, that wasn't a very nice area. I hope she is okay.

Q.

Did that strike you as odd?


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A.

Yes.

Q.

Why?

A.

Well, Anastasia kind of did things like that all the time. She kind of liked the drama of the situation.

And I thought it was odd that -- because Kelly -- this would usually annoy Kelly. She would say, you know,

Justin and Anastasia fought all night while we were together and I thought it was kind of unusual that shewould be concerned about her welfare at that point.

Q.

After Kelly had that conversation, what did she do after you had that small conversation?


A.

She went back downstairs.

Q.

And were you aware of anything else going on downstairs?

A.

I heard somebody make a phone call.

Q.

Could you tell who it was?

A.

It was Justin.

Q.

And can you remember or could you hear well enough to know what he was saying?

A.

No.

Q.

You could just tell it was his voice?

A.

Right.


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Q.

Was it the whispering again?

A.

No.

Q.

So it was the normal voice, but you either can't remember or couldn't make out exactly what he was

saying?

A.

No.

Q.

Did you hear any more whispering later on?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And about how long was that before or after the phone call? Do you remember?

A.

Both.

Q.

And after the whispering, anything remarkable happen?

A.

The boys left.


Q.

And after the boys left, what happened?

A.

I believe Kelly came back upstairs, and I said, "Who was making a phone call?" You know, like I

said, I was suspicious of this whole situation because of the whispering. And she said Justin had called

Anastasia's house to see if she had gotten there.

And I said, "Well, what did they say?"


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And she said that whoever Justin had talked to at Anastasia's house said, not only was she not there,

but they had never gotten a phone call from her.

Q.

Was there anything else?

A.

And she said Justin at that point said, "Oh, my God. I might as well kill myself right now."

And I said, "Why would you say that?"

And Kelly said, "Well, you know, it was such a bad area. We're afraid that something happened to

her."

Q.

And after that conversation, was there any further interaction with you and Kelly that evening?

A.

No, not really.

Q.

Did you hear from the boys at all later that evening?


A.

Somebody could have called Kelly. I don't know.

Q.

You're not aware of it?

A.

No, I'm not aware of it.

Q.

The next morning did you have plans?

A.

Yeah. My mother is in a nursing home down in Southeast Missouri and Kelly wanted to visit her.She has Alzheimer's. I was going to visit her that day so I took Kelly out of school, and we went down that

day to see my mom.

Q.

Had that been planned at all?


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A.

Yes.

Q.

That Kelly would go with you as well?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And you went down there. Did you leave early in the morning?

A.

Yeah. We left probably 8 o'clock, 7 or 8 o'clock.

Q.

Did you arrive in the evening?

A.

We got back about 5 o'clock.

Q.

When you arrived home, was there anything that sticks out in your mind that occurred?

A.

The minute we walked in the door the phone rang and Kelly ran upstairs to get the phone. I was

down in the kitchen and a few minutes later she came running down the stairs, and she was crying, and she

goes, "Mom, turn on the TV. They found Anastasia's body."


Q.

Is that when you found out about Anastasia's death?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Kelly say anything to you the whole day while you were out there with her?

A.

No, she slept most of the day. She slept on the way down. We got down there, visited my mom.


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When we got back in the car to go home she slept all the way home.

Q.

After that were you -- did you have any contact with Byron that evening that you recall?

A.

I believe Byron -- I know Kelly talked to him. I don't recall if -- I believe he came over that

evening, but I can't be sure.

Q.

So that your ability to recall the specifics later on about that is really unclear; is that correct?

A.

Right.

Q.

Then I want to now shift again if we just talk about the relationship of Byron and Kelly after the

murder of Anastasia. Okay? Did they continue to see each other?

A.

Yes.


Q.

And shortly after that it's Thanksgiving, you had Christmas and kind of traditional holidays. Was

Byron involved with your family at all during that time?

A.

Yeah, he was there a lot of time. His father died Christmas Eve and I felt really bad for him, because

his dad had passed away and Anastasia and Justin were gone. He actually spent Christmas at our housewith us.

Q.

Did they continue to see each other as frequently after the murder as before?

A.

For awhile.

Q.

Did you observe the relationship changing at all?

A.


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After the holidays I noticed that Kelly was beginning to complain about Byron. Would get irritated

with him. Would just, you know, there was something wrong. She just before everything, you know, she

was very infatuated with him. After that was kind of over, that part of it was over.

Q.

The infatuation part?

A.

Right.

Q.

But you continued to see them interacting what? Daily or at least every other day?

A.

Probably pretty much daily.


Q.

How would Kelly behave when Byron was around?

A.

Sometimes she was okay, a lot of times she would be irritated with him. Would pick at him. She

would complain to me about him. Just short-tempered.

Q.

Had that ever happened before the murder?

A.

No, not really.

Q.

Were there any times in their relationship that they would break up and not see each other for awhile

that you are aware of?

A.

Yeah. She would break up with him occasionally, and they would argue and he would not be aroundfor a day or two. That happened over and over actually and she had started talking about probably right

after Christmas she started talking about she was going to break up with him. She periodically decided shewas going to break up with him, and then he would be back over.

And I said, "Kelly, well, I thought you were going to break up with him?"

And she said, "Well, he talked me back into staying with him."

Q.


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Now, let's focus very clearly on Kelly. Just her interaction was and the rest of your family. Was there

a change in Kelly's behavior towards you and the rest of your family?


A.

Yeah. She became moodier, harder to deal with. She started telling me she couldn't sleep at night.

Actually, at that point she started -- she went into therapy and was kind of a steady downhill progression at

that point.

Q.

It may be difficult, but I would like to talk about the depths of that downhill. Emotionally, how was

she reacting to you and your family?

A.

She kind of became more closed off, to us. Did not talk to us as much. She got so she wouldn't --

like when we would have family get-togethers and things, a lot of times she would not be there or wouldstay in her room. Sometimes she was fine. She would have periods where she was fine. That would last for

a little while. Then she began to have periods where she seemed really depressed. Angry.

Q.

Was there a change in her activities such as sports or school?

A.

She quit. She quit. She had been a real athlete. My husband was her softball coach. That followingsummer she quit softball. Quit playing softball. She started having panic attacks, really bad ones. I would

actually have to go get her from school.


She would call me, and she would be crying a lot of times, and she would say, "You're going to have

to come get me. I can't be at school." My husband a few times when he was with her, he said she would just

fall apart.

Q.

Did you become aware of any drug problems that she had?

A.

Probably that spring I began to notice that there was something going on. I began to suspect it wasdrug use, and it became progressively worse over time.

Q.

In watching your child do that downward spiral, did you talk to her? Did you try to get her to tell

you what was wrong?

A.


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Oh, all the time. She would just say, "I'm depressed. I don't know what's wrong. I'm really

depressed. I can't sleep." She started skipping school. I mean, we were always trying to find out what was

wrong, but there wasn't really any answer forthcoming most of the time.

Q.

Did there ever come a period of time where Kelly left the house again?

A.

She and Byron broke up probably December of '98. After that she -- I knew she was using drugs

prior to that.


After that January, her drug use became really bad. She would disappear. Be gone for days at a time.

We would look for her. A lot of times we couldn't find her.

She would call me from Lee's Summit, you know, places I have no idea where she even was. She

was skipping school. She finally missed so much school that she lost credit. I guess physically I saw a

change in her. She became, you know, Kelly had always looked very nice all the time. Very particular abouthow she looked. She started looking slovenly. Not combing her hair kind of situation. She eventually quit

school.

Q.

I want to focus your attention now back to a time period of March of 2000. Did Kelly provide any

information about what was bothering her about that time period?

A.

She called me -- her drug use at that point was really bad. I never knew where she was. She called

me about probably about 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning in March of that year.

I picked up the phone, and she said, "Mom" -- and she would call me from a drug house

occasionally and cry and tell me she was sorry, and, you know, "I'm sorry I'm doing this. Sorry I'm living

this way."


That morning when I answered the phone she said, "Mom."

And I said, "Yeah."

And she said, "I saw Anastasia murdered." And, you know, it was 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. I

was half asleep.

And I said, "Oh, my God, Kelly. What happened?"

And at that point she said, "I saw her shot in front of me."

And I said, "Was it Justin?"

And she said, "Yes." And that was the end of the conversation.

And at that point I said, "Would you please come home?"


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And she said, "Okay." And hung up the phone.

Q.

Did she eventually come home?

A.

She eventually came home. I don't remember if it was the next day or the day after, but she did

come home.

Q.

Shortly after that did she go into rehab?


A.

Her drug use continued. We tried to talk about this situation with her. She didn't want to talk aboutit. After she had laid this bombshell on us she didn't want to talk about it anymore. And when I tried to talk

about it with her or my husband she would cut us off and go, "I told you, I don't want to talk about itanymore."

June of that year her drug use got so bad we put her in rehab. We grabbed her and put her in the car

and put her in rehab.

Q.

Is that where there was a counselor named Maggie?

A.

Yes.

Q.

What was Maggie's last name?

A.

Maggie Jenkins.

Q.

After you put Kelly in rehab in June of 2000, did you get a call from Maggie?

A.

I -- we told Maggie about this situation that had happened. What Kelly had told us, you know, and I

said, "My husband and I both feel like she is going to have to talk about this. This is killing her. She is

going to have to talk about this at some point."

Maggie said she had individual counseling sessions with the residents, and she would try to work on

this.


23/32


At some point Kelly was in and out of rehab that summer, and I believe it was August I got a call at work.

And Maggie said, she goes, "I've been talking to Kelly, and I need you to come right now."

Q.

I'm sorry. I forgot to ask you something. Prior to going into rehab, did your husband make you

aware of a conversation he had with Kelly?

A.

It was after she was in rehab. She ran away from rehab two or three times, and we took her back.

One of the times that she was home she had come to our door late at night -- I don't remember if she asked

for my husband or me. But she said I need to talk to somebody and my husband went in and talked to her

for several hours.

Q.

Did he make you aware of anything Kelly had said specifically about the murder?

A.

When he came back into bed it was probably 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, he walked in the room

and he goes, "Kelly just told me that Byron killed Anastasia."

Q.

And then you have Kelly back in rehab; is that right?

A.

Right. Then she went back to rehab.

Q.

And then you get the call from Maggie, right?

A.

Right.


Q.

And when Maggie calls, is that when you go to the rehab center?

A.

Yes.

Q.

How long did it take you to get to rehab?


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A.

20 minutes.

Q.

And when you get to the rehab center, who do you meet?

A.

Kelly and Maggie are upstairs in the counseling room, and I went in and sat down. And Maggie

said, "Kelly, I want you to tell your mom what you just told me."

And Kelly said, she goes, "Mom, I saw Justin kill Anastasia."

And I said, "Kelly, you told Dad it was Byron." And a few seconds later she kind of slumped back

in her chair, and she said, "It was Byron."

Q.

Can you give the jury a sense of timing on that? I'll be you here. You be Kelly. You tell me I just

saw Justin --

A.

"I saw Justin kill Anastasia."

Q.

"Kelly, you told your dad that Byron killed Anastasia."

A.

"It was Byron."

Q.

Is that kind of the delay that was there?


A.

(The witness nodded.)

Q.

And after she said it was Byron, what happened?

A.

Maggie stood up. She said, "Stop." She goes, "Under these circumstances," she goes, "I'm going to

have to contact the police and tell them what's happened." At that point she recommended a lawyer to us,

John O'Connor.


25/32

She called John O'Connor and talked to him. She gave us his card, and Dan and I talked to him later

that day.

Q.

And you're aware then Kelly came with John O'Connor to the prosecutor's office?

A.

Yes.

MR. FRY:

May I have just a moment, Your Honor.

THE COURT:

Certainly.

BY MR. FRY:

Q.

Now, during the course of when you were trying to figure out what was wrong with Kelly, did you

call the defendant Byron Case?

A.

I called Byron. I believe it was August 2000 and that was after Kelly had told us the situation.

Q.

All right.

A.

And the Jackson County Sheriff's Department called me and asked me to call Byron.


Q.

Do you remember the conversation you had with the defendant?

A.

It was just mainly about we talked about Kelly. About how bad her drug use was. Byron said he wasmoving to St. Louis. And I asked him why and be goes, "I don't want to stay here anymore. There is too

many bad things here for me. I don't want to stay." That was pretty much the gist of the conversation.

Q.

Did he tell you that Kelly was more disturbed than you knew?

A.


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Yes. He said that on prior occasions.

Q.

And in earlier conversations when you were trying to find out from him what was wrong withKelly?

A.

Right.

MR. FRY:

No further questions, Your Honor.

THE COURT:

Mr. Lance, you may cross examine if you desire.

CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. LANCE:

Q.

Ms. Moffett, when Kelly first disclosed to you that she claimed she saw Anastasia's murder, was

that over the phone or in person?

A.

It was over the phone.


Q.

And I believe your testimony is in that phone conversation, it was you who asked who did it. She

said Justin as a response.

A.

Right.

Q.

And when you met Kelly later in person she wouldn't discuss that aspect of the homicide any

further, right?

A.

No.

Q.

Apparently your daughter, Kelly, tried to stay with that story for some time?

A.


27/32

Yes.

Q.

That summer. Weeks. Was it weeks or months?

A.

Months.

Q.

For months you went -- for months you went on with the impression that Justin fired the gun?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And when Kelly finally disclosed it was somebody else she disclosed it to Kelly's father, yourhusband?

A.

Right.

Q.

And you said when you went to see Kelly in rehab later she tried again to tell you that it was Justin

who fired the gun?

A.

Right.

Q.

And you confronted her that she had told a different story?


A.

Right.

Q.

Did you personally ever receive an explanation from Kelly as why she would say Justin fired thegun?

A.

Sure. That was the first thing I asked her, and she said, because, If I said it was Byron, she knew

that there was going to be police investigation. She was afraid that she was going to be prosecuted.


28/32

Q.

And you accepted that explanation?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Do you remember the dates of the first time Kelly was in rehab?

A.

I don't remember the exact dates. It was probably beginning of June.

Q.

Of which year?

A.

2000.

Q.

Now were you aware that Kelly had been using pot and drugs before she ever met Byron Case?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Just for the record you're not claiming that Byron Case led her into pot or drugs?

A.

No, no.


Q.

But you are saying for the record that eventually Kelly's drug use got worse and worse to a real

serious level?

A.

Right.

Q.

And at one point the family was truly unsure of how to deal with Kelly and her drug problem?

A.


29/32

Right.

Q.

Kelly had been kicked out of the family house?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And Kelly had been told she could not be at the family house if she was using drugs, right?

A.

Right.

Q.

And that was because you felt you could no longer trust her?

A.

Right.

Q.

Now, during that time frame, would Kelly sometimes try to mislead you as to whether she was still

using drugs?

A.

Sure.

Q.

So she was misleading you about her drug use. Was she misleading you about other topics also?

A.

Well, she was a drug addict. She was lying to me because she needed money. She wanted to come

back home. I had a younger daughter at home. She knew if she came back home she couldn't use drugs. I

mean that's what a drug addict does.


She couldn't really tell me the truth about any of her activity.

Q.

And I believe you testified you were aware eventually she was living at some crack houses?

A.


30/32

Yes.

Q.

Let me ask you this: Was it after Kelly Moffett was basically homeless living in crack houses, was itafter that that she first admitted to you that she saw the murder?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Now, back when Kelly first said that Justin did the murder, did you have a feeling that Kelly was

holding back more information?

A.

At that point I didn't know what to think. I thought it was really odd after she told us this news, and

she came back home that she still didn't want to talk about it. I would have assumed after she told us the

truth that it might have been something that she would want to talk about. Couldn't get it out of her system.But then when she came back home she didn't want to talk about it further.

Q.

And do you feel that you and your husband sort of chipped away at her until she finally came out

with more of the story?


A.

I didn't. We tried to get her to talk about it, because we thought it would be good for her. We put her

into therapy, you know, and she did talk some to the therapist about the situation.

Q.

Are you aware that Kelly never told the therapist she saw a homicide?

A.

Kelly didn't tell that therapist because she didn't see that therapist after this. She did tell Maggie and

talked to Maggie after that.

Q.

Maggie Jenkins?

A.

Maggie Jenkins.

Q.

In your opinion at one point did Kelly's inability to deal with the homicide, did that ruin her life?


31/32

A.

Absolutely.

Q.

That's your opinion?

A.

That's my opinion.

Q.

You told Officer Kilgore that, correct?

A.

Yes.

Q.

That was your choice of words. "Kelly's inability to deal with the homicide ruined her life"?

A.

Yes.

Q.

That's still your opinion today?

A.

Yes.


Q.

You have a lot of sympathy for your daughter, Kelly?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And nowadays Kelly is welcomed back in the family home?

A.

Yes.

Q.


32/32

She is a member of the family now?

A.

Right.

MR. LANCE:

No further.

THE COURT:

MR. Fry?

MR. FRY:

Yes.

REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. FRY:

Q.

This welcome back, is it because she has identified Byron as the defendant?

A.

No, no. She was welcomed back because -- that really didn't have anything to do with it. As she

began to get better with the drug use, she was welcomed back into the family.

MR. FRY:

No further questions. Thank you.

THE COURT:

Mr. Lance.

MR. LANCE:

Nothing further.

THE COURT:

All right. Thank you, Ms. Moffett. Appreciate your testimony.


(The witness was excused.)

Documents

Byron Case Transcripts 07 Testimony Debra Moffett