Testimony and cross examination of Dawn Wright

State of Missouri v. Byron Case

April 30, 2002.
Pages 814-833
Direct examination by Mr. Lance
Cross examination by Ms. Crayon
Redirect examination by Mr. Lance
Recross examination by Ms. Crayon
Further redirect examination by Mr. Lance

Page 814 (Dawn Wright testimony)

THE COURT:

Mr. Lance, are you ready to proceed with your evidence?

MR. LANCE:

Yes, Sir.

THE COURT:

You may do so.

MR. LANCE:

We would call Dawn Wright to the witness stand.

DAWN WRIGHT, having been duly sworn by the court testified:

DIRECT EXAMNATION BY MR. LANCE:

Q.

Good afternoon. For the record, please state your name.

A.

Dawn Wright.

Q.

And, Ms. Wright, I'm going to test your memory and ask you to go all the way back to 1997. Okay?

A.

Okay.

Q.

In 1997, did you work at the Dairy Queen on 24 Highway out in Independence?

A.

Yes.
 Q.

And do you still work there?

A.

No.

Q.

Where do you work today?

A.

O'Reilly Auto Parts.

Q.

In Independence?

Page 815 (Dawn Wright testimony)

A.

Yeah.

Q.

Back in 1997 when you worked at Dairy Queen, I think you agreed that's on 24 Highway?

A.

Uh-huh.

Q.

Yes or no.

A.

Yes.

Q.

You're doing fine. And is that the Dairy Queen on 24 Highway that's directly across the entrance to
Mount Washington Cemetery?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And do you recall the police contacted you and asked you if you had seen any young ladies in the
area of Dairy Queen that week, October 22nd, 1997?
 A.

Yes.

Q.

And can you remember what day of the week the police contacted you?

A.

I don't remember the day of the week.

Q.

If I told you Officer Kilgore interviewed you on Friday, the 24th, do you have any disagreement
with that?

A.

No.

Q.

All right. Does that make sense? Let me ask it this way: Do recall what night of the week it was you
remembered the young lady being in Dairy Queen?

Page 816 (Dawn Wright testimony)

A.

Not really. In the middle of the week.

Q.

All right. Have you had a chance to --

A.

I read through the papers there.

Q.

Which is your statement?

A.

Yeah. And in the papers it was Wednesday. So Wednesday night that she came in.

Q.

All right. You understand we allowed you to read the papers to help refresh your memory?

A.

Yeah.
 Q.

At least in the paperwork you keep referring to the Wednesday night that the lady, young lady,
stopped in?

A.

Yeah.

Q.

Do you remember what shift you worked that night?

A.

Well, from 4:00 to 10:00, 4:30 to 10:00. I was working two jobs. So.

Q.

Did you work until close?

A.

Yeah.

Q.

So on this particular Wednesday night you worked until Dairy Queen closed?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And when the police approached you on Friday, did they ask you if there had been any young teen-
age girls in the area of Dairy Queen that previous Wednesday?

Page 817 (Dawn Wright testimony)

A.

He came in and he showed everybody a picture of her in the restaurant. And when he showed me,
he asked me if I had seen her. And I said, "Yes, that she was in here a couple of nights.

Q.

So you recognized the picture of the victim?

A.

Yes.

Q.
 At that time did the officer inform you that this person, this young lady, had been the victim of a
homicide?

A.

Well, yeah. At first it was that she was, you know -- I thought it was just that she was missing. I
guess he really didn't say anything to me about it. But then yeah, he said that she was murdered.

Q.

Had been murdered.

Ms. CRAYON:

Your Honor, I'm going to --

MR. LANCE:

All right.

BY MR. LANCE:

Q.

When he showed you the photo of the victim, are you sure it was the same lady that had been at
Dairy Queen Wednesday night?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Didn't have any trouble recognizing?

A.

No.

Page 818 (Dawn Wright testimony)

Q.

Was it a picture of a young girl you had seen around town before?

A.

No, just that one night.

Q.

It was a stranger?

A.

Yes.
 Q.

But you remembered that young lady came into Dairy Queen that Wednesday night?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And was there anything significant that happened that Wednesday night that would help you
remember talking to her?

A.

Well, she had been in there for a little while, and she hasn't bought anything; and she was just sitting
there. And I asked her if there was anything that she needed, if I could get her anything, that she needed
help with anything. And she asked me if she could use the bathroom, and she went to use the restroom. And
she came back out and she asked me if I had a pad or a Tampon, and I didn't have anything there. But I just
lived maybe a minute and a half, two minutes away, so I called my ex-husband and I had him bring up a
Tampon down for her. And she went in the bathroom, and she came back out, and she said thanks.

Page 819 (Dawn Wright testimony)

Q.

You weren't paid for this feminine item?

A.

No.

Q.

You just did that out of the kindness --

A.

Yeah.

Q.

And did you consider that something significant that helped you remember speaking to this young
lady?

A.

Yeah, that, and I mean just we had a further conversation into she had asked me if she could --

MS. CRAYON:

Your Honor, excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, I'm going to object to any hearsay at this time.

THE COURT:
 Come on up.

(Counsel approached the bench and the following proceedings were had:)

THE COURT:

I'll be glad to rule on the objections. There has been hearsay and leading going on like a house afire
in this trial so, if we're going to start playing by the rules, we're going to play by the rules and it's going to
go both ways. There is all kinds of theories -- I'll do it, but there is all kinds of theories where it's maybe
hearsay, maybe it's not hearsay, and so I'm just --

Page 820 (Dawn Wright testimony)

MS. CRAYON:

If you're going to be making that ruling on your own without an objection, I'll withdraw it.

THE COURT:

No, no, no. I'll rule. I'll be glad to rule on the objection and I'll be glad to hear what his theory is. I'm
just saying that we have been hearing all kinds of stuff from both sides that arguably is hearsay, and there's
not been an objection to it. So I don't know if that -- anyway.

MS. CRAYON:

I just ask it be limited. I don't know how much detail.

THE COURT:

I'll be glad to rule on the objection, I'm just making a comment, because, if we're going to --

MS. CRAYON:

I just don't know how much he's going to go into.

MR. LANCE:

Perhaps if I clarify where I was going, I did want to ask her that this young girl had mentioned some
displeasure with her boyfriend. Cover that issue. I can see how the hearsay objection might arise from that
comment.

THE COURT:

Okay. I'm not discouraging you from objecting.

Page 821 (Dawn Wright testimony)

MS. CRAYON:

I understand.

THE COURT:

Candidly, a lot of the stuff that has come in is arguably hearsay, what have been probably
admissible to explain people's conduct and a variety of things. I'm just saying, when you have the actions of
these people, you have a case that's -- you know, one of the problems you got is that you got a case that's
five years old.

So that dictates a lot of this testimony being, you know, kind of bordering on the hearsay issue. So
anyway -- but I'm not discouraging anybody objecting. So, if you want to -- do you want to object to that
testimony?

MS. CRAYON:

To the narrative nature of his question, if he wants to narrow it down, I'll see if I'll object.

THE COURT:

All right. Object if you want to.

(The proceedings returned to open court.)

BY MR. LANCE:

Page 822 (Dawn Wright testimony)

Q.

Ms. Wright, other than providing a sanitary napkin to this young lady, was there anything else
significant that happened that night that helped you remember her?

A.

She was just sitting there for awhile. I had went out to my car to smoke a cigarette, and she went out
to use the pay phone and a few minutes later some people pulled up in a car in front of the building and I
was over here.

Q.

All right. Before we get there, do you know how long the young lady had waited around for these
people to show up?

A.

I am really not sure. It's been a long time.

Q.

But long enough you noticed her hanging out at the Dairy Queen area?

A.

Yes, yes.

Q.

Now, you had testified you provided --- you and your husband provided a sanitary napkin for her.
Can you be sure whether or not that napkin was even used?

A.
 Well, I went to the bathroom shortly after to wash my hands, and there was a wrapper in the trash.

Q.

A what?

A.

A wrapper in the trash.

Q.

It appeared to match the product you had provided to her?

Page 823 (Dawn Wright testimony)

A.

Yeah.

Q.

All right. Now, tell us what happened when her ride showed up?

A.

Some people got out of the car. They was in the front of the building. Like I said, I was over here on
this side. I was parked up against the carpet place, and they was back here in front of the building. And I
was watching out of my rearview mirror, and she got up and come out of the Dairy Queen and met some
people on the side of the store there. And she seemed like she had been arguing with somebody, and they
sat there for a few minutes and then left.

Q.

All right.

A.

I didn't see what way they went or --

Q.

That's fine. Now, before her ride showed up, did she buy anything at the Dairy Queen?

A.

No.

Q.

Can you recall if whether or not she was carrying a billfold or purse?

A.

She had a purse with her.

 Q.

you remember what it looked like?

A.

It was a big brown purse.

Page 824 (Dawn Wright testimony)

Q.

When her ride did finally show up, do you remember how many people were there that picked her
up?

A.

I'm pretty sure there was three.

Q.

And three people. Do you remember guys, girls?

A.

Two guys and a girl. I remember they were all wearing dark clothing. They looked gothic, I guess
you could say.

Q.

Do you remember, there were two guys and a girl?

A.

Yeah.

Q.

Can you remember about what time it was these people picked up the young lady?

A.

It was in the 9 o'clock vicinity. Whether it was 9 p.m. or 9:45 p.m. I'm not sure, but it was in the 9
o'clock vicinity, because we was getting ready to close within an hour, and we start our closing procedures
an hour early down there.

Q.

Before her ride showed up, had this young lady expressed any displeasure about her boyfriend?

A.

Yes.

Q.
 What do you remember her telling you?

A.

They had been in an argument, because they had plans that night, and she couldn't get a ride over
there to him. So she had gotten out to the Dairy Queen, called him and asked if he could come and pick her
up.

Page 825 (Dawn Wright testimony)

And he said that he had already made plans with his best friend, and she was upset. And she asked
me, if I was in that position, what I would do, and I told her.

Q.

All right. This also helped you remember what she looked like, having this conversation with her?

A.

Yeah.

Q.

You said, when the two guys and the girl showed up, there may have been some arguing? What did
you see?

A.

I just seen a lot of hand flailing, and she -- just the look on her face looked like she was upset.

Q.

Could you tell if her displeasure was directed at whole group of three people or one of the
individuals in that group of three people?

A.

I didn't see her talking to anybody but the one guy, and he was in a long trench coat, and that was
the only guy that I actually seen her talking to. I didn't see her really saying anything to anybody else.

Q.

Don't let me put words in your mouth. Are you saying, from her hands flailing, and the way she was
talking, you felt she was arguing with this one guy?

Page 826 (Dawn Wright testimony)

A.

Yeah.

Q.

Did that start just as soon as they showed up to pick her up?

A.
 Yeah. She walked out the door, and she said a couple of words like -- I mean, I was pretty far back
so I'm not -- I don't know what she said. I couldn't hear anything, but I could tell they were arguing. If
anybody has ever been in an argument before.

Q.

Fair enough. I'm about ready to wrap up. Before her ride showed up, did she use the pay phone
there at Dairy Queen?

A.

Yeah. She used the pay phone quite a few times that night.

Q.

That was what I was leading up to. Can you estimate how many times this young lady used the pay
phone at Dairy Queen that night?

A.

Four or five.

Q.

All right.

MR. LANCE:

No further questions.

THE COURT:

Cross Examination.

MS. CRAYON:

Just briefly, Judge.

CROSS EXAMNATION BY MS. CRAYON:

Q.

Ms. Wright, we just met a few minutes ago in the hallway, didn't we?

Page 827 (Dawn Wright testimony)

A.

Yes.

Q.

I just want to clarify something. What did you loan the victim? Was it --

A.
 It was a Tampon.

Q.

So it was not a feminine napkin?

A.

No. It was a Tampon. And I know I told that guy that I just couldn't think of a polite name.

Q.

I just wanted to make sure I understood. The other thing was, at the time you're talking about, it was
dark out, wasn't it?

A.

Yeah.

Q.

And the view that you had of who picked her up was through a rearview mirror across the parking
lot?

A.

Yeah. Here is Dairy Queen right here. Okay? I was parked over here. There was a carpet building. I
was parked up against that. They were parked right back here.

Q.

Okay. So it's a parking lot that you're looking through; is that fair?

A.

Yes, right, yes.

Q.

And you described I believe the car as a long car, a four-door long car?

A.

Yeah. I could see the back of the car is all that I could really see.

Page 828 (Dawn Wright testimony)

Q.

And you talked about I think in your statement that there was a Chevy Impala that your boyfriend or
your husband at the time had or something?

A.

Yeah. The rear-end of the car, that's what it reminded me of.

 Q.

Okay. And so it wouldn't have been a compact little two-door car that you remember seeing?

A.

I don't know. I'm not really sure. I mean the car -- I don't remember if there was two cars parked
back behind there or not. There was only enough space for like two or three cars back there. I might have
been looking at the wrong one, but the one I had seen was longer in the back.

Q.

Okay. And, in fact, when Detective Sergeant Kilgore contacted you, he contacted you not only on
the 24th, which would have been that Friday, but he also contacted you the next morning a little before 10
in the morning; is that fair?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And at that time he asked you for a description of what the girl looked like, what she was wearing,
things like that, right?

A.

Yes.

Page 829 (Dawn Wright testimony)

Q.

And you described this purse as a long brown purse; is that right?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And you described her clothing to him as best you could as well; didn't you?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And the clothing description that you gave was that she had on a pair of baggy, light colored jeans;
is that right?

A.

Yes.
 Q.

And they drug on the floor?

A.

Yeah. They were kind of like almost -- not really a bell-bottom type pants, but they were bigger at
the bottom. They weren't tapered.

Q.

And so you remember -- and this was actually two days after you saw her that you gave this
description, right?

A.

Yes.

Q.

And you described some sandals I believe her wearing; is that right?

A.

Yes.

Q.

With socks?

A.

Yes.

Q.

Forgive me since I can't find my report.

Page 830 (Dawn Wright testimony)

Do you recall anything other than the long brown purse that you talked about and the light blue
jeans that kind of drug on the floor, do you recall anything else? I know you were looking at your reports a
few minutes ago.

A.

She was just wearing a jacket. I mean she had I don't know if it was a heavy coat or just a jacket,
but I never seen a T shirt or a sweater or anything like that. I just seen her coat and her jeans and her shoes
and her purse.

Q.

Okay. And you finally -- you just described this flailing of the hands or anything. Nobody was
hitting anybody or anything like that?
 A.

No.

Q.

You just got the impression she was upset with whoever was in this long trench coat?

A.

Yes. I kind of figured it was her boyfriend.

Q.

Based on information that you were given in there, right?

A.

Yes.

MS. CRAYON:

Okay. I don't have anything further. Thank you.

THE COURT:

Mr. Lance.

MR. LANCE:

Brief redirect.

REDIRECT EXAMNATION BY MR. LANCE:

Page 831 (Dawn Wright testimony)

Q.

Ms. Wright, just a couple more questions. I know you need to get out of here. I know this is a weird
topic, but I need to ask you about the tampon, Maxipad thing again. When Detective Kilgore interviewed
you in 1997, did you say you gave the young lady a Maxipad?

A.

Probably.

Q.

Okay. Well, would it help refresh your memory to look at it?

A.

Yeah, I looked at it out there.

Q.
 You understand this was tape recorded?

A.

Yes.

Q.

So you're on tape saying that. Did you tell Detective Kilgore that what you gave the young lady
was, quote, a pad, a maxi pad, feminine napkin?

A.

I was trying to think of a decent way -- I mean a Tampon just doesn't -- I was trying to be polite
about it. I guess I should have just said a Tampon, but it's a Tampon.

Q.

In 1997, on tape, did you say a pad, a Maxipad, a feminine napkin?

A.

Yes.

Q.

When the police questioned you, was it clear in your mind at least that that's the girl that had been at
Dairy Queen two nights earlier?

Page 832 (Dawn Wright testimony)

A.

Yes.

MR. LANCE:

Nothing further.

THE COURT:

Ms. Crayon.

RECROSS EXAMINATION MS. CRAYON:

Q.

Ms. Wright, why is it today that you think it was Tampon? What makes you so certain?

A.

Well, I've hardly ever -- well, when I first started my period when I was 12 I wore a pad, but since I
was about 13 or 14, I've never wore nothing but a Tampon. So that's how I know for positive.

Ms. CRAYON:
 Okay. Thank you.

FURTHER REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. LANCE:

Q.

Real quick. Ms. Wright, would your memory -- I think this is a fair question. Would your memory
have been better on October 24th 1997 or today, four years later?

A.

Well, I'm sure it would have been better in 1997, and I probably should have clearly specified more
I guess, but I mean --

Q.

Would your memory have been better in 1997?

A.

Yes.

Page 833 (Dawn Wright testimony)

MR. LANCE:

That's all I have.

THE COURT:

Anything further from Ms. Wright?

MS. CRAYON:

No, Your Honor. No further questions.

THE COURT:

Thank you, Ms. Wright. Appreciate your testimony.

(The witness was excused.)