Cemetery Plot

Jackson County sheriff's investigators at first told reporters they could not speculate on whether Anastasia's and Justin's deaths were linked. Later, Captain Tom Phillips, who is now sheriff, told a reporter that the case was "more than likely" a murder-suicide but that investigators "may never be able to prove it."

After Justin's death, Byron posted an irreverent tribute to his best friend on his Web site.

"Thinking back," he wrote, "I recall the night we met at a local coffeeshop. It snowed for hours while we talked about everything from movies to politics. When the coffeeshop closed, we went to My apartment and watched 'Harold & Maud' [sic] over hot tea. Our friendship grew tighter as the months flew by, and with the addition of our significant others, we became an inseparable quartet of amusingly problematic heathens who shared a small, but nicely decorated condominium. From his addiction to Marshmallow Maties cereal to an abnormal affliction which made him break wind every fifteen minutes, Justin was unique in the truest sense of the word."

Byron also unleashed resentment, attacking Justin's family and calling his best friend's funeral -- held before Anastasia's -- "upsettingly impersonal in its 'insert name here' style." He wrote, "We heard more about the minister's family than about Justin. His sister and her 'funeral clique' friends were there sporting the latest Barbie doll factory fashions, and more talk of car insurance was heard than of the deceased. Justin always wanted a pine box in the woods ... he got a gold-painted steel casket and a hypocrite to throw dirt on it. It's funny how things turn out."

In the months following Anastasia's death and Justin's suicide, Byron refused to talk much about them, but Kelly wanted to. She later said she didn't feel "normal" around anyone who hadn't been with her that night, and Byron was the only one still alive. Her social drug use became abuse.

Jackson County sheriff's investigators contacted Kelly every few months to ask for statements or clarify details. It was clear that the police did not believe the story about Anastasia walking off alone in the dark and becoming the victim of a brutal killing by a stranger.

The physical evidence didn't suggest that Anastasia had been abducted or dragged to the cemetery. The county medical examiner's report said that Anastasia's clothes were not ripped or dirty and that her body had no bruises, scrapes or cuts. There was no sign of an attacker's skin or blood under her fingernails.

It seemed to the medical examiner that Anastasia had been shot by surprise. She'd had time to rear back slightly and look up, probably at her killer's face. She'd been standing so close to her murderer that the gun left a "contact wound" where it touched her face. Because of the shot's close range, the coroner was unable to discern whether a shotgun slug or a high-velocity bullet had killed her.

Police seemed to believe that Byron and Kelly were lying to protect Justin. They asked other friends about suicide pacts. It was the glaringly obvious explanation. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. The love goes bad. Boy kills girl, then shoots himself.

But Robert WitbolsFeugen was even more skeptical of the police's assumptions than police were of the kids' story. Though he hadn't known the young man well, he had a hunch that Justin wouldn't have been capable of murdering his daughter. It seemed too simple. Too obvious.

WitbolsFeugen began to investigate, interviewing Anastasia's friends, looking through her computer files and diary, putting up posters around Westport advertising a $10,000 reward, even doing some surveillance and taking photographs.

The family also corresponded with Byron by e-mail intermittently after he replied to a message about Anastasia's death the family had sent everyone on her e-mail address list. The family repeatedly asked him for lengthy, detailed answers about Anastasia's final evening.

In some messages, Byron patiently provided answers. In other e-mails, he became defensive, using "Character Assault" as a subject heading and writing, "The comment you made about our police statements being identical, yet seemingly impossible due to 'logic' and 'evidence to the contrary' is not only childish, but also inaccurate.... We are still mourning her death. I don't see why you feel the need to accuse us."

As Anastasia's old friends sat in coffee houses for hours talking, gossip about the murder festered. Soon, Anastasia's friends were calling the family to repeat tidbits.

Some rumors said Justin killed Anastasia or that Byron or a jealous girl did it. Some said Byron and Justin were actually lovers. Others said that Anastasia was killed by a "goth" who hated both her and Justin. Another theory said Justin himself was murdered.

A Star reporter wrote a story emphasizing -- the family says exaggerating -- Anastasia's and Justin's proclivity for "goth" culture, playing up Justin's interest in Anne Rice's vampire novels and the couple's supposed preference for black clothing, though Justin usually wore gray and khaki. Anastasia's exotic first name -- evocative of the mysterious Russian princess -- and her Dutch surname, a combination of terms meaning "white-headed" and "fiery clan," added a lyrical aura to her death. The family felt such notions sensationalized the murder and in some way implicated the victim in her own death.