The mystery of Justine’s death

Culpeper kindergarten teacher Justine Abshire did not die as the result of a hit and run, as initially reported in November 2006.
 
The story then was that her car broke down late at night on a rural Orange County road.

She called her husband but by the time he arrived she had been struck and killed by a car that left the scene.

But the story didn’t add up. On July 30, ABC’s “Primetime Crime” aired an hour-long investigative report on the case.

Many people hoped the segment would shed some new light with extensive interviews of Justine’s husband Eric, who has come under scrutiny by some as a possible suspect.
I watched the show along with several million other viewers. I paid particular attention to Eric Abshire’s body language, trying to see if he averted his eyes, blinked, sweated, or hesitated in answering questions that might provide doubt about the truthfulness of his answers. 

I never noticed anything that made me think he wasn’t being completely honest. But still his version of the events that night sounded fishy to me. 

Those who know Justine best were incredulous that she would leave her car on a night with the temperatures hovering near freezing and walk 600 feet down the road, when her husband was only minutes away. It is inconceivable that she didn’t hear or see a car coming in plenty of time to move off the road on that still, moonlit night. 

“Primetime Crime” reported that Justine’s fatal injuries were not solely the result of a car’s impact. There were multiple blunt instrument injuries, no skid marks, “defensive” injuries and little blood at the scene.

Based on that alone, a reasonable person could only conclude that she was killed somewhere else and left on the road. The show noted how Eric Abshire was the last person to see Justine and the first one to see her at the scene of the faked hit and run.

The timeline between her call to him and his asking a neighbor to call 911 was awfully long. He said he forgot he had a cell phone.

Eric has refused a lie detector test, but that should not be seen as a sign of guilt.

There were hundreds of thousands of dollars of insurance payouts involved too, some made higher if it was deemed an accidental death or involved an uninsured motorist, which, as I understand it, a hit-and-run motorist falls under.

But the months passed and no arrests were ever made.

It is hard to imagine that there are any forensics tests yet to be done, cell phone records yet to be checked or questions that haven’t been asked. The chief investigator told “Primetime Crime” that they were getting closer to an arrest.

I talked to persons close to the investigation and I, too, believe an arrest will be made in the not-too-distant future. But I think they are waiting for that one last piece of evidence that will ensure a conviction.

Perhaps someone reading this may hold that piece of evidence but out of some misguided sense of loyalty has decided not to tell all he or she knows.

They should know that this case will be solved eventually and their lack of full cooperation or even evasion may become glaringly evident.

That could likely be considered obstruction of justice, and considering that this is a capital case, could mean some serious jail time.

Efforts to encourage witnesses to simply “do the right thing” have not had the desired result. But when the distinct possibility of a lengthy prison sentence is considered, the stakes become much higher.

The train is leaving the station and any person(s) concerned about continuing to stay on this side of the jail fence would do well to speak up sooner rather than later.

For more on this case, visit justiceforjustine.com

Robert Legge is an independent columnist and resident of Madison County. His column appears every other Thursday. E-mail