so he came back and was able to monitor the deputies as they took more computer equipment out of Byron’s home. Byron thought it was because they were looking for dirt on him. Byron did not have a Facebook account, nor did he do text messages, so he believed they were looking for electronic messages he sent that might have incriminated him. For instance, if he would have been on Facebook talking to a friend about the break-ins and had written something like, “I’m going to kill whoever is doing this,” that would give the sheriff all the evidence they needed to prosecute him fully. Byron said they could take anything they wanted to out of that house, and there would never be anything found that would incriminate him in that regard. But this was a day to be thankful for as there was finally public knowledge of another side to his story.
Before Byron retired to bed last night, he said he was going to get up early in the morning and check on his home. There had been a snowstorm that day, but he was going to get up at 4:00 a.m. to do some work there. I thought this unusual, but I was sure he was remembering many projects and things unfinished that used to be part of his normal routine. I was worried about this because John would be gone all day and I would be at work and he was going all alone. When I got home from work, he was not back yet. I asked Dilan to walk down to his home with me. I didn’t feel comfortable going alone in case something had happened, although I didn’t know what. We walked all the way down Elm Street in the heavy snow and just missed him as he had taken another path back to our home. I asked him how his day went, and he said it was time for him to get out of there. “My home is like a shipwreck,” he said. He said he called his brother while there, and they had a long talk, which helped. I was glad he did that as I wondered what he was going to do there all day long. Maybe he needed to come to terms with what happened there. He said he could never live there again. He was going to board up the windows, and people would know it was just an abandoned home. That is sad, that his family home endured such a tragedy that no more happiness could be found there. The bad choices of two young people on Thanksgiving trickle down to forever change the lives of so many people.
The next day, I talked with Ann, who had lived across the street from the Kaspers when they rented a home in her neighborhood for about a year. She read the local paper and couldn’t believe all the things those teens had taken from Byron’s house over the last year. She also has a son in high school and asked him if Cody Kasper was in school now that he went to court last week. Of course I knew he was back in school because at his hearing, the judge had only demanded that he keep away from Mr. Smith’s property and behave in school. I wonder what his school day was like being named in the local paper as the thief that introduced his best friend to Byron Smith’s property and then was shot to death. Ann stated that she had called the police to the Kasper home nineteen times for suspicious and bad behavior. There was noise and suspicious traffic in and out of their driveway, which looked like possible drug involvement. She also noted the day the ATV (that Nick had purchased for Cody) came into their neighborhood. An elderly lady was taking a walk, and Cody and Nick were spinning wheelies and swerving down the street with this ATV. Ann called the police and was told there was nothing they could do. One day Cody’s little brother had come over to her house as he had been left home alone after school for hours. He was only in the second grade. There was not a mom in this home. It was near dinnertime, and Ann’s youngest child was telling her that the young boy didn’t have any food to eat, so he was invited to eat with them. Around bedtime, the boy walked home, assuming Cody or his dad would have come home by now. They could see the curtains were open to the house, and the boy could be seen jumping on the sofa and then running to the window possibly to see if his dad was returning home. Finally, at 11:00 p.m., the dad got home. Ann was so glad when they finally left the neighborhood. She had been starting a petition to get that family out of the neighborhood, and they finally left last summer. Her interactions with Cody Kasper led her to believe that he was a con artist and a manipulator. He would come across charming and delightful, but it was a disguise. He was the same with Byron. Byron actually liked him so much that he wanted to take him under his wing and teach him to deer hunt. Byron was deceived by him too. Ann was very concerned that Cody should pay for his crimes and agreed to talk to Byron’s investigator, Ross. Another fact she told about were all the items the Kasper family had left behind when they moved out of the neighborhood: knives stuck in trees, garbage in plastic bags left in the woods. Not wanting her kids exposed to anything harmful, she picked up everything. She agreed to talk with Ross and explain everything that happened in the neighborhood. The next hearing date for Cody was February 26, 2013.
People at work came up to me today and were shocked by the local news article. Not many had known that Byron’s home had been robbed so many times. As you read the story, it’s so astonishing about how much he went through, the memories they stole, and the fear those kids instilled in him. Cody, of course, was blaming most of it on his dead friend. He also stated that he was just the lookout guy while Nick broke in. It’s likely that he confessed only to a small portion of what they actually did. As Byron read the article, he discovered things he didn’t even realize he was missing. As a music collector, his basement was filled with thousands of album covers. He purchased many things overseas because, for the most part, they were a lot cheaper. One of those items was an SUV, which he rarely drove. He had it custom-ordered in Germany while working over there, and it had all the features he wanted on a vehicle, plus it was less expensive to buy it overseas than to buy in the United States.
A letter came to Byron for another hearing on a juvenile who was also involved, Jesse Kriesel. He was found with one of Byron’s guns in his garage. Since he had been in trouble before and not allowed to have weapons at age sixteen, this was a felony charge and would be heard on March 20 at the Morrison County Courthouse.
At dinner one night, I started to ask Byron about his work with the Boy Scouts, just to make dinner conversation. I knew he had been quite involved with different troops and went on out-of-town trips to be an adviser to them. I was curious as to what he talked about with the scouts and what specific advice he gave to them. He began to talk about how he made the boys think about their goals in life and finished by saying, “I ask them what they would be most proud of when they’re 25, 45, and then what will you be proud of when you are 65.” He started to cry and could not finish talking. I felt bad that I had stirred such emotion in him. But I knew that he was almost 65 and was not feeling proud at that moment of the situation that he had been placed in. Out of concern for his emotional state, I mentioned this incident to his attorney. I felt it important that a jury know who Byron really is and who he was before this happened. Unfortunately, none of that was allowed in the trial.
Chapter 3
Learning More
As I was getting ready to leave for work on Valentine’s Day, I noticed a small wrapped box on the kitchen counter with my name neatly written across it. I knew it wasn’t from John as he didn’t write that neatly. It was oddly wrapped in two pieces of colored printing paper. I opened the box carefully, and inside a paper towel was a leaf pin exactly like that from the Lord of the Rings movie. The hobbits wore these pins on their cloaks. I had noticed them when Byron and I were watching the series of movies as they seemed too glamorous for a hobbit who roamed the earth with hairy, bare feet. I was touched that Byron was so thoughtful to leave me a gift on Valentine’s Day. When I got home, I thanked him in person for the lovely gift and told him that it made my day. He said that it took him a while to find it. He had gone into his home to retrieve some personal items but hadn’t remembered exactly where he had put it. Byron had vacationed in New Zealand not long ago and spent several days touring the area where Lord of the Rings was filmed. We had watched the three movies over the last couple of weeks. Typically, they were not movies that I would go to, but I actually enjoyed the photography and the captivating story. Dilan, too, enjoyed the movies. We felt it important to take an interest in something Byron enjoyed so much and had even made the long journey to where they were filmed.
Our lives had taken on a different routine since Byron moved in. Friday night was our go-out-to-eat night. Byron came along but preferred we always go out of town so we would be unnoticed. I think it was easier that way for all of us. He didn’t want to be pointed
