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EYE CONTACT: The Mysterious Death in 2000 in Maine of Kassidy Bortner and the Wrongful Conviction of Chad Evans in New Hampshire
EYE CONTACT: The Mysterious Death in 2000 in Maine of Kassidy Bortner and the Wrongful Conviction of Chad Evans in New Hampshire
EYE CONTACT: The Mysterious Death in 2000 in Maine of Kassidy Bortner and the Wrongful Conviction of Chad Evans in New Hampshire
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EYE CONTACT: The Mysterious Death in 2000 in Maine of Kassidy Bortner and the Wrongful Conviction of Chad Evans in New Hampshire

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Chad Emery Evans was wrongfully convicted in December, 2001 in New Hampshire of the murder of Kassidy Bortner, the 21-month old daughter of his girlfriend, Amanda Bortner. The causes of her death and her injuries are mysterious and disputed, but Chad was convicted of second degree murder.
On June 2, 2000, Chad met Amanda and their relationship grew rapidly. By early July, Amanda and Chad were living together. Chad's three-year old son, Kyle, also lived in the home several days a week, through shared custody with Chad's former wife.
On the morning of November 9, 2000, Amanda took Kassidy to the Kittery, Maine home of her sister, Jennifer Bortner, and her sister's boyfriend, Jefferey Marshall, for babysitting for the day. Kassidy had a new bruise on one eye due to an accident the previous night when Chad was giving Kyle some batting practice with a brown plastic bat in Kyle's bedroom just before bedtime. While wiffle balls were usually used for such fun, the ball that Kyle hit into Kassidy's eye was a "Tee-ball."
The resulting bruise to Kassidy's left eye was the latest of a series of bruises which had been observed by many people during the fall of 2000. In a time of growing sensitivity to child abuse, most of the responsible adults close to Kassidy chose to believe that the bruises and injuries were unfortunate accidents, and that they didn't require medical care right away. The life-threatening severity of the injuries was not known or suspected by anyone. Tragically, those adults, including Chad Evans, were unaware that there was something very wrong with Kassidy, because of the accidents or perhaps because of a chronic condition, disease or toxin. Chad Evans never spanked nor hit Kassidy Bortner. He loved and cared for her.
Shortly after Noon on the 9th, Jeff Marshall checked on Kassidy and recognized that she was in trouble and seemingly lifeless; and he made several phone calls for help. The EMT's and Kittery Police arrived quickly, but Kassidy was dead when they arrived.
As the man living with Kassidy's mother, Amanda Bortner, Chad Evans was an initial suspect. By the time of Chad's 7:10 p.m. interview with the police, and within about seven hours of Kassidy's death, the police were focused entirely on Chad; and worked thereafter to build the case against him. At his December 2001 trial, Chad took his attorneys' advice not to testify, and his attorneys decided to call only one defense witness. They called the nationally renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, as they thought his testimony was sufficient to establish the reasonable doubt needed for a not-guilty verdict. However, their assessment was wrong, and the jury found Chad guilty of most of the charges.
In November, 2002, Amanda Bortner was tried and found guilty of two counts of child endangerment and sentenced to two years in jail.
In 2011, Chad Evans began his tenth year in the New Hampshire State Prison for crimes he didn't commit. He passed a lie detector test given in July 2010. In September 2010, a report was discovered of a DNA test conducted by the Maine State police in March 2001. The test on blood found underneath all ten of Kassidy Bortner's fingernails showed that the blood belonged to Kassidy. The DNA test on the substance on a paper towel found where Kassidy was sitting on the day she died showed saliva that belonged to a male. Prior to Chad's trial, the existence of the blood was in a report available to his defense lawyers, but it was not mentioned by anyone on either side at the trial. The DNA test and report was never disclosed to the defense. Also not disclosed was information about Kassidy’s medical appointments in August and September, 2000. The jury also did not know about a family gathering four days before Kassidy died where only one bruise was seen, on her right cheek.
"Eye Contact" tells the story of the wrongful convictions of Chad and Amanda and the campaign for exoneration.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 17, 2011
ISBN9780983798507
EYE CONTACT: The Mysterious Death in 2000 in Maine of Kassidy Bortner and the Wrongful Conviction of Chad Evans in New Hampshire
Author

Morrison Bonpasse

Morrison M. Bonpasse, is the founder and president of the Single Global Currency Association (www.singleglobalcurrency.org) and the founder and Executive Director of BonPasse Exoneration Services (www.bonpasseexonerationservices.com). After childhood in Duxbury, Massachusetts, he was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, and Yale University and was trained as a lawyer at Boston University Law School (JD), a public administrator at Northeastern University (MPA) and a businessperson at Babson College (MBA). He lives with his wife in Newcastle, Maine, USA, not far from his two stepchildren and five grandchildren, and predicts that all will live to see the implementation of the Single Global Currency and the exoneration of his clients, and many more wrongfully convicted innocent people.

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    EYE CONTACT - Morrison Bonpasse

    EYE CONTACT

    The Mysterious Death in 2000 in Maine of Kassidy Bortner and

    the Wrongful Conviction of Chad Evans in New Hampshire

    Morrison Bonpasse with Chad Evans

    Copyright Morrison Bonpasse 2011

    Published by BonPasse Exoneration Services at Smashwords

    To the reader of this book:

    Thank you so much for being open-minded by investing the time to read this book. It is never a comfortable feeling to go against the grain or question what society has accepted as truth. The reality is our criminal justice system is not infallible. Many are aware that the Innocence Project has now freed over'270 men who were convicted of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In each of those cases, irrefutable evidence was offered to prove innocence, ultimately resulting in freedom for the wrongly convicted. Knowing these facts, it is still uncommon for people to question a conviction. I suspect this is due to the human desire for security. I appreciate your courage to investigate alternate possibilities.

    Unfortunately, this case doesn't have the type of black and white proof to secure my freedom as those mentioned above. (At least not yet) If it did, I would be home with my son because I simply DID NOT kill Kassidy. The truth is, no one knows what really killed Kassidy. The investigation was pursued strictly as a homicide, and from there the investigation was structured and facts were sought merely to support that theory.

    Morrison has worked tirelessly to break down the facts and investigate the possibilities of what caused Kassidy's death. First he needed to be sure of my innocence. What lies ahead of you in your reading is the truth as I know it, corroborated by facts that Morrison has uncovered. He has laid all of this out in a manner that allows you to come to your own conclusions.

    It has been 10 years since Kassidy's tragic death. My memory is not perfect. Comments, questions, and feedback are always welcome. Our journey is one of seeking absolute truth. While I cannot say for certain what the cause was of Kassidy's untimely death, I can assure you it was not from abuse that I perpetrated. I have done everything asked of me and will continue to do so with regards to proving that I have been wrongly convicted. In 2010, I submitted to a VSA lie detection test which I passed with No Deception Indicated. Those results were individually verified by five different professionals in the field. We are contemplating other methods that can also verify my honesty and add to our position. No matter what happens as a result of this book, and our search for the truth, there are no winners. Kassidy's death has caused ripples that will last forever in at least two extended families. I have wrestled for many months with the terms Wrongly convicted vs. Innocent. There are only two innocent people in this case: Kassidy and her would be step-brother, Kyle. Every adult involved in Kassidy's life failed Kassidy in some manner.

    This failure and regret are what I was referring to when I spoke at my sentencing: the decisions I could have made, the actions I could have taken, the awareness I should have shown .... How can I ever feel anything other than failure where Kassidy is concerned?

    None of us have the ability to turn back time. If that was an option, I know the exact day I would rewind to. Unfortunately, life can only be lived in the present and for the future. Everyone in this tragedy deserves to know the absolute truth. Thanks again for showing your interest in Kassidy's justice.

    CHAD EVANS July 2011.

    PREFACE

    I was introduced in January, 2003, to the world of wrongful convictions when a friend urged me to read the book, Human Sacrifice, by James Moore. It's about the wrongful conviction of Dennis Dechaine in Maine in 1989 for the murder of 12 year-old Sarah Cherry. Feeling that such injustice should not be tolerated in Maine, or any state, I began working as a volunteer member of the group, Trial and Error, supporting Dennis. We built a website for him, found a new lawyer, and mobilized support for his claims of innocence. By 2005, a Maine public opinion poll found that a majority of Mainers favored a retrial for Dennis, which was remarkable considering the public fear and outrage after Sarah Cherry's murder. I know of no other public opinion polls which have been conducted in the U.S. regarding the question of whether a convicted murderer should be granted a new trial.

    Since 1993, Dennis has been a client of the Innocence Project, and would have been exoneree #15, approximately, after the Innocence Project began working on the case, and exculpatory DNA was found underneath Sarah's thumbnail. However, the Maine Attorney General, like his ill-advised successors, opposed efforts to re-open the case. As of January, 2011, over 260 people have been exonerated in the U.S. through DNA testing, alone, but Dennis continues to languish in the Maine State Prison while continuing to press for a re-trial. The Maine Legislature supported that claim by modifying the DNA statute in 2006 and Dennis filed for a re-trial in 2008. More DNA testing has been done, but the Motion for a Retrial has not yet had a hearing. The reluctance of the Attorney General of the State of Maine and the courts to re-examine Dennis's case has been shameful.

    In 2006, Alfred Trenkler's brother called me to assist Alfred in his efforts to overturn his wrongful conviction in Boston Federal Court in 1993 for building the Roslindale Bomb which killed Boston Police Bomb Squad officer, Jeremiah Hurley, Jr., and maimed his partner, Francis Foley. Taking a page from Dennis Dechaine's campaign for justice, and his website, www.trialanderrordennis.org, we built a website for Alfred, www.alfredtrenklerinnocent.org, and I wrote a 727 page manuscript about his case, Perfectly Innocent. [This last sentence had the first hyperlinks in this book, which are used instead of footnoted internet addresses. For online readers, you can click to the online references. If you are reading this book in print form, you may want to have the online version opened on a nearby terminal screen for easy viewing of the linked document, or photo.] Of the five jurors whom I was able to find, and who would communicate with me, four read the manuscript. All four wrote letters to the Federal Judge in the case, Rya Zobel, to disavow their votes for a Guilty verdict, and they asked for justice and a new trial. The fifth wrote the judge too, saying that he was the holdout juror and didn't need to read my book.

    Alfred's supporters have asked for a re-investigation of the case, but the U.S. Attorneys in Boston, Michael Sullivan and his successor, Carmen Ortiz, have decided to stay the course and resist any re-examination of the facts. In 2009, U.S. Attorney General Holder said to newly-sworn Assistant U.S. Attorneys, Your job is not to win cases. Your job is to do justice. Your job is in every case, every decision that you make, to do the right thing. Anybody who asks you to do something other than that is to be ignored. Any policy that is at tension with that is to be questioned and brought to my attention. And I mean that. (Boston Globe, April 9, 2009, "US Attorneys told to expect scrutiny.") Efforts since then to bring this case to his personal attention, including letters from U.S. Senators, have failed. His subordinates at the Dept. of Justice in Washington have decided, so far, to stay the course, and support Alfred's wrongful conviction. I sent to the Dept. of Justice a list of 29 Questions, the answers to which would lead reasonable people to conclude that there were severe flaws in the Alfred Trenkler case, but the Dept. of Justice has declined, so far, to answer those questions. In April, 2011, I sent a followup letter to Attorney General Holder, and enclosed copies of 15 previous letters to him.

    As the jurors concluded, those facts do not support the Government's case.

    Alfred Trenkler remains in Federal prison as life passes him by. His mother died in 2008 and his stepfather in 2009. The facts in Alfred's case make his conviction absurd, and even Officer Hurley's widow has said publicly that she wants the truth to be told, but the wall of prosecutorial opposition remains standing.

    In December 2009, Chet Evans, the father of Chad Evans, called to ask me to help Chad, who had read of my work in a November Boston Herald front page article about Alfred Trenkler. Chad was convicted in 2001 of assaulting and murdering Kassidy Bortner, the 21 month-old daughter of his girlfriend, Amanda Bortner. As with the other two cases, it did not take too many days of reading and investigating to see that it was likely that Chad Evans was also wrongly convicted. Now, more than a year later, his innocence is increasingly clear. His website is www.chadevanswronglyconvicted.org and public interest in the case is growing.

    Like the books for Dennis Dechaine and Alfred Trenkler, this book will be part of Chad's Campaign for Justice and the efforts to persuade the people of New Hampshire that an injustice was done to Chad and to Amanda Bortner. In addition to this book, Chad's letters to me during 2010-2011 have been collected as Letters from New Hampshire Prison and posted on his website. At 550-plus pages, and growing, these letters give a remarkable view of Chad Evans, and his understanding of the case. In this book, these letters are often excerpted and quoted as it's crucial for people to see Chad's own words, as he describes his life, and his life with Amanda and Kassidy Bortner.

    All three of these men, and Amanda Bortner, deserve justice and exoneration. If outright exoneration is not politically acceptable, then the prosecutors in each case should schedule a retrial if they think there is even a chance that a jury would again be persuaded of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. One likely reason for prosecutorial reluctance for a retrial in each case is that the prosecutors in each case understand that their cases are now very weak.

    At Boston University Law School in the early 1970's, I don't recall that the term wrongful conviction was used. We students knew that injustice to blacks in the South was prevalent, but I do not recall learning that there was much questioning of inherent fairness of the American criminal justice system and the sanctity of its standard of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. We learned the oft-used mantra that it was better that nine guilty people remain free rather than one innocent person be found guilty. The DNA revolution, led by the work of the Innocence Project in New York, has shattered that faith in our justice system. However, DNA is a factor in a very small percentage of crimes. There is no reason to believe that wrongful convictions occur more often in rape and murder cases than for other types of crimes.

    It's been estimated that between 0.5-5% of the approximately 2 million people in prison or jail in the U.S. were wrongly convicted and are innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. (See a 2003 ABA study, a 2006 study by Prof. Michael Risinger and a 2007 article by Prof. Samuel Gross.) and a 2010 online Summary by the 'Skeptical Juror'.) That means between 10,000-100,000 people, which is a horrendously large number in a society that believes that it doesn't convict people of crimes, and thus deprive them of their liberty or lives, unless they are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. For many, it appears that the standard was guilty, even with some doubts.

    Even in New Hampshire, with its relatively low crime rate, and even looking only at the State Prison population of almost 3,000, that means that between 15-150 innocent men and women are in New Hampshire prisons today. Again, that's between 15-150 Chad Evans's and it represents a staggering burden to ensure justice and overcome their wrongful convictions. A close examination of the documents and photographs in the Chad Evans case on his website and in the 550+ pages of his 2010-11 Letters to me, and in this book, show how much work it is to overcome even the most glaring of wrongful convictions.

    New Hampshire could begin its path to ensure justice for its citizens by candidly agreeing that its justice system is fallible, just like those of the other 49 states. It would be helpful for New Hampshire to acknowledge that wrongful convictions can happen here. While its immediate neighbor to the south, Massachusetts, is different in many ways from New Hampshire, its larger population of 6.5 million, compared to New Hampshire's 1.3 million, doesn't explain the difference in the number of exonerations of innocent people in each state since 1976: 38 in Mass. to 0 in New Hampshire.

    For the rest of Northern New England, Maine has not seen an exoneration of a wrongfully convicted man since the early 1950's. Vermont's best connection to the widening world of wrongful convictions was the 1820 exoneration of Jesse and Stephen Boorn in Vermont, who had been convicted for the 1812 murder of Russell Colvin. This was the first U.S. exoneration of a serious crime in the U.S., and it came about because the alleged victim returned to his hometown alive in 1820. With a combined population of almost one-half of Massachusetts, Northern New England has not seen any exonerations from wrongful convictions in the period since 1976.

    New Hampshire could follow the example of California and North Carolina and establish an Innocence Commission to ensure that those who claim wrongful conviction are heard. Another example to follow is that of Dallas County, Texas, which has a Conviction Integrity Unit. New Hampshire does not need to wait until a court determines that one or more of its inmates is actually innocent.

    Incidentally, it is a myth that most prisoners claim their innocence. That number is closer to 15% than 100%, and that 15% is close to the real percentage of wrongful conviction. Even a percentage as low as one tenth of one percent should not be tolerated in our democratic society. One tenth of a percent of 2.2 million is 2,200, and one tenth of a percent of New Hampshire's 2,615 prison inmates, (the count in 2007, according to a 2009 study), is 2.6, or two. Chad Evans is one of those two. If the percentage of wrongful conviction in New Hampshire is only 1%, which is still less than the U.S. number, the count of wrongfully convicted people in New Hampshire prisons would be 26, and Chad would be included in that number, too.

    I only work for clients who I believe to be innocent, and I tell each client explicitly at the beginning of a relationship that if I learn information that indicates that s/he may have committed the crimes for which convicted, then my work for him or her will cease. For the three mentioned above, that point has not come. I'm often asked, "How do you know that your clients are innocent?" Initially, the decision process is the same as that followed by the police and prosecutors. You evaluate the evidence and keep asking questions. A good ongoing indication of whether I am on the right track is to continually evaluate which way the newly discovered evidence is pointing, and there is always more to discover. In the cases above, and in the Kassidy Bortner cases, State vs. Chad Evans, and State vs. Amanda Bortner, the newly discovered information points in the direction of innocence. One challenge is to avoid the mistake that police and prosecutors make in cases, and make in spades in wrongful conviction cases, which is to request and see only the evidence that you want to see and discount the rest. We humans tend to see and believe what we want to see, and must guard vigilantly against that tendency. If you find evidence of biased fact searching or fact reporting in this book, please let me know.

    There is one common element for The Alfred Trenkler and Chad Evans cases, which is that both involve stepfathers. Alfred's stepfather, Jack Wallace, worked tirelessly for the last 17 years of his life to find justice for Alfred. Chad Evans was a stepfather to the first son of his wife, Tristan Evans. If Kassidy had survived the fall of 2000, in both senses of the word, Chad would likely have become her stepfather. I, too, am a stepfather, after marrying the mother of two children in 1978. They are now in their 40's and have children and stepchildren of their own. In our stepfamily, we had rules about the biological Mom being the source of discipline. However, sometimes I would, as her agent, be the adult to insist on obedience to some rule of the house. Two very painful memories, and for which I've apologized, are when I spanked each of my stepchildren, one of them hard. Both times, I was very frustrated and angry and affronted, but I should not have done it. In neither case were there bruises. Thus, I did what Chad was accused many times of doing which was to hit Kassidy Bortner. He did not spank or hit Kassidy, and I did spank my stepchildren; and he is in prison.

    Working on this book has brought back another memory, of when I was a young boy in the 1950's. I remember my mother washing out my older sister's mouth with bath soap as a punishment for lying. This method of punishment would surely be frowned upon today and probably was frowned upon then. My mother was a college graduate, with a specialty of child psychology. If my sister had died of any suspicious causes soon thereafter, and if my mother was a suspect, her disciplining could have been included in the charges as abusive.

    The tragedy of Kassidy Bortner also reminded me of the powerful effect of the loss of a child on a family. We had a quarter-acre pond at our property and a small 8-foot rowboat. Also, I had my own boat, a primitive kayak, which we called a banana boat, because of its shape. The family next door had two sons, both younger than me, and the older boy had a birthday party during a warm summer day. The younger son, perhaps about three years old, wandered away from the party and apparently pulled my banana boat to the water. He paddled far enough toward the middle of the shallow pond that when he tipped over, he drowned. My family was devastated, and I was ordered to destroy the boat, and the neighbors were irreparably scarred. It was thought then that bearing a tragedy quietly was better form than talking about it. They moved to another part of town and had a third child, but the mother was permanently saddened and scarred and their marriage failed.

    The title of this book comes from the parenting practices of Chad's grandfather, Emery Evans, which were passed to his father, Chester (Chet), and from his father to him. Emery, who died after Chad's conviction, believed that effective communication is enhanced with eye contact between the individuals. Sometimes, the Evans parent would hold the chin of the child to ensure that eye contact, but most of the time such holding was not necessary. Chad Evans effectively used that family advice to establish eye contact when communicating with his employees, his son, Kyle, and his stepson, Brent. When communicating positive and disciplinary messages to Kassidy Bortner, Chad sometimes held her chin with the palm of one hand to ensure that she had eye contact with him. When holding her chin a few times Chad caused bruises, and those bruises contributed to a colossal by-product of miscommunication: Chad's wrongful conviction.

    I fully understand that this book is being written 10 years after the death of Kassidy Bortner, which has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that we have the perspective of time, and some changes in science and medical knowledge. The disadvantage is that memories fade and become distorted with time.

    It is argued here that many people in this case made mistakes, including Chad Evans, and that hindsight is often better than contemporary judgment. I have great respect for the police and prosecutors, judges, defense lawyers, media people, and others who worked on or touched this case. They did the best they could given the circumstances, the information that was available at the time, the decisions of others, and the requirements of our adversarial criminal justice system. I began working on this case with the assumption that they thought that what they were doing was right, and I have not found proof otherwise.

    The media covered this case extensively, sometimes sensationally. A Portsmouth Herald article called the case, "one of the most high-profile murder cases in recent memory." A book could be written about the media coverage and its possible effect on the trial, but the goal here is to present the facts about the Kassidy Bortner cases. To learn more about the actual articles, readers can follow the links provided, with the associated headlines.

    A few notes on the writing of the book. Chad Evans and Amanda Bortner and their friends and relatives are often referenced by their first names after their introduction in this book. Officials, lawyers and judges are referenced always by their full names or by their title and last names, or by last name, only.

    Where there are quoted statements, which are always in italics, I've sometimes added information in brackets [ ] which might fill in a missing word or a correct word or a word or two of clarification, but they are not words said by the speaker.

    Instead of cumbersome footnotes and citations, this book uses two methods of referring readers to the source materials. Where it seems to fit with the flow of a sentence, the hyperlink will be imbedded in the text, and if the referenced document has more than a few pages, the page number will be referenced in parentheses. At other times, the entire cited source is placed in parentheses at the end of the sentence, such as with the links to the document with Chad's Letters from New Hampshire Prison. Where the cited document was part of the Discovery materials which were provided by the State to the defense in Chad's trial, the Discovery page numbers are used. Otherwise, the page number within a particular document is used.

    To the extent possible, the legal technicalities of the trial are avoided, with little discussion of the rules of evidence including hearsay, a prohibited form of testimony which is when one person states what another person said in order to present some truth in the statement. There are many exceptions to that prohibition which is why several witnesses were able to present the statements of others at Chad's and Amanda's trials. For the book, the statements are simply presented, without the legal analysis of their admissibility.

    Most of the book is organized chronologically, but sometimes issues or testimony are combined to present them coherently. Emphasis is placed here on dates, because there was so little emphasis on time during the investigation and during Chad's trial. As noted in the text, there were many times where everyone involved could have been more specific about the dates of events or statements. When the dates were not certain, I've used the expressions, around this time, or approximately. The book seeks to present a comprehensive view of the death of Kassidy Bortner and the Chad Evans and Amanda Bortner cases. It also seeks to explain how the jury could have reached its verdict, by showing what it knew and didn't know. However, what is lost is a clear view of what the jury heard and saw, and when. To obtain that view, one must read the transcripts.

    Readers will sometimes find repetition here, but hopefully not too often. A major reason for such repetition is that there are several times in the story where details and summaries can be added. For example, the events of November 9, could be presented as they occurred (See Chapter 1), and as viewed by participants in their police interviews, and at Chad's and Amanda's trials and in the view of others such as appellate appeals, and in newspaper accounts.

    It's emphasized in the book that the absence of a clear sense of time and timing contributed to Chad's and Amanda's wrongful convictions. The website has an extensive "Chronology section, and even that section doesn't include all the dates of police interviews and trial dates which are in the Investigation and Transcripts" sections of the website. Thus, it's a challenge to present time-related information clearly. From time to time, this book will use a one-line time-line consisting of 153 dots, with one for each of the 153 days that Kassidy and Chad knew each other, from June 9 through November 9, 2000. The generic form looks like this:

    9 Jul1 Aug1 Sep1 Oct1 Nov1 9

    Since before 2000, the NH courts have kept audio recordings of trials. A copy of the Chad Evans trial, which the defense attorneys may have purchased, could not be found. I do not know if the prosecution ever obtained a copy. The courts have destroyed their copies.

    This book is a work in progress. It seeks to present the truth about what happened in 2000, and especially what didn't happen. Copies will be circulated to people to ask for help in ensuring their accuracy. The first Draft Edition, and successive editions, will be posted on the Chad Evans website, www.chadevanswronglyconvicted.org, where comments, criticisms and suggestions will be invited. Please email such feedback to me at the address morrison@bonpasseexonerationservices.com. The book will be published as a paperback to be circulated as widely in New Hampshire, and the wider world, as possible.

    Chad Evans has read all of this book, and has made many suggestions about its content and editing. To the extent that he had any personal knowledge of the contents of this book, he agrees with what is stated here even as we may differ about emphasis or about what's not in the book. Nonetheless, as the author, I am responsible for the contents, and welcome the opportunity to change or clarify anything in the book in the interest of truth.

    INTRODUCTION

    The death of 21-month old Kassidy Caitlin Bortner, on November 9, 2000, shook the states of Maine and New Hampshire. When the police and EMT's arrived at the Kittery, Maine home of her babysitter, Jefferey Marshall, shortly after noon, Kassidy showed no signs of life. Not knowing the hour and minute of her last breath, the First Responders tried valiantly to restore her to life on the apartment porch and on the way to the York Hospital, in York, Maine.

    Kassidy's 18-year old mother, Amanda Jean Bortner, had brought her to the apartment of Jeff and his girlfriend, Jennifer Bortner Conley, Amanda's sister, around 8:30 that morning. As if Jeff and Jen needed confirmation, Amanda told them that Kassidy's "face looks like shit, or that her eye looks like shit" [Transcript, 5 Dec 2001., p 142] due to the presence of several bruises.

    Since mid-to-late June of 2000, Amanda and Kassidy had lived with Amanda's boyfriend, 28-year old Chad Emery Evans, of Rochester, New Hampshire. Chad was the father of a three year old son, Kyle Evans, and the stepfather to his wife's older son, Brent Lincoln, but was not Kassidy's father.

    Investigators from the town of Kittery, Maine, the city of Rochester, New Hampshire, and the State Police of Maine and New Hampshire proceeded with the assumption that Kassidy's death was a homicide, and that someone was responsible for intentionally harming and killing her. They quickly assembled a short list of four suspects: Amanda, Chad, Jeff and Jennifer. The two women were rapidly excluded, and the police took a seven page voluntary statement from Jeff. The investigation train was on its way to Conviction Station. A key question in the case was what it would take to persuade the police and prosecutors that the train was going in the wrong direction and/or was going too fast. Chad began his interrogation at 7:10 p.m. on November 9. Feeling extremely badly about the shocking death of Kassidy, but knowing that he did not intentionally injure her, Chad talked openly of the causes of several of Kassidy's bruises, including those on her lower cheeks by his own hand. He described how he would hold her chin in his hand, or her face within the palms of both hands, in order to make eye contact to ensure she understood what he was saying. However, he also told them the trampoline story, much of which was a lie. This was the third and last time he told anyone the trampoline story. By approximately 9:30 p.m., Maine State Trooper, Lance McCleish told Chad that he was their primary suspect.

    When police in a criminal case decide who is responsible for a crime, they naturally look for evidence which supports that view and they tend to ignore evidence which doesn't. In the case of the death of Kassidy Bortner, the focus on one person had the dramatic effect of moving the responsibility for the investigation and prosecution from Maine to New Hampshire. With Chad Evans as the primary suspect, the location of the crime was stated to be his home in Rochester, New Hampshire, and the focus shifted away from the Kitttery, Maine home where Kassidy spent the last four hours of her life and died.

    The case attracted considerable media attention, but Chad's attorneys advised him to say nothing to reporters. Feeling that his employer, a franchise operator of McDonald's restaurants, could be hurt by the bad publicity for the case, Chad quickly asked for a leave of absence from his $80,000 a year job as an Area Supervisor of 10 restaurants. During the next year while free on bail, he prepared for his trial and found other work. He struggled with his feelings of responsibility for not taking Kassidy to the hospital, or insisting that Amanda do so, when Kassidy's health was declining. Chad continued to see, and sometimes live with, Amanda despite a condition of his bail that he not communicate with her. The condition was imposed because the prosecutors were concerned that Chad might harm Amanda, as he did have some history of fighting with his ex-wife, Tristan Evans, and police had been told of domestic violence against Amanda. Also, prosecutors were concerned that their case could be contaminated with communications between their defendant and the mother of the victim.

    In August 2001, Chad's bail was revoked after the police found evidence of Chad's contacts with Amanda, and Chad was jailed at the Strafford County Jail until his trial, which began in late November 2001.

    At that trial, several witnesses told the jury about bruises on Kassidy's face and body which began to appear in the fall of 2000. Jeff described his babysitting for Kassidy and his actions on November 9, and denied the defense accusations that he was responsible for Kassidy's death. The last prosecution witness was the Chief Medical Examiner for Maine, Dr. Margaret Greenwald, who described approximately 100 bruises, injuries and fractures suffered by Kassidy and visible on Kassidy's body after her death. Dr. Greenwald said that Kassidy's death was caused by blows to her head and/or abdomen delivered within 24 hours of her death, and by fat emboli, which were released into her blood stream by some type of injury within that same period.

    Chad took his attorneys' advice not to testify. His attorneys called only one defense witness, despite the availability of many of Chad's friends and relatives who knew him as a moral person and excellent father. They knew that Chad could not have intentionally caused Kassidy's death. The defense's only witness was nationally renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden. He testified that the blows that killed Kassidy likely were delivered within the last few hours of her life, i.e. when she was in Jeff's care. The defense lawyers thought Dr. Baden's testimony was sufficient to establish the reasonable doubt needed for a not-guilty verdict. They feared a negative jury reaction to Chad's testimony, and the possibility that he might become angry at the prosecution and their tactics. I don't know why the other potential witnesses were not called to testify.

    Their assessment of the case was wrong, and the jury found Chad guilty of most of the charges: second-degree murder, five counts of second-degree assault, endangering the welfare of a minor and simple assault. When Chad was sentenced in April, 2002, he again took his attorneys' advice not to proclaim his innocence, in order to avoid angering Judge Tina Nadeau. Chad expressed sincere regret for his actions, by which he meant his failure to do more to help Kassidy. Nonetheless, although Judge Nadeau acknowledged Chad's good deeds in his life, she chastised him for showing insufficient remorse, and sentenced him to 28 years to life in the State Prison in Concord. That conviction was upheld by the New Hampshire Supreme Court in December 2003.

    The State of New Hampshire appealed the sentence to the state's Superior Court Sentence Review Board which had recently been authorized by statute to increase sentences, upon petition from prosecutors. After challenges to that request were set aside by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, the Sentence Review Board imposed a sentence of five to ten years in prison on one of the counts of second-degree assault and an additional 10-30 year sentence on another count of second-degree assault, with each sentence consecutive to previous sentences. The net effect was to increase Chad's sentence by a minimum of 15 years, transforming his sentence into a 43 year-to-life sentence.

    In November, 2002, Amanda was tried and found guilty of child endangerment and sentenced to two years in the Strafford County Jail. Before and after her sentence, she continued to communicate with Chad and to write and telephone him in her belief that Chad was not responsible for the death of her daughter. After her sentence, she visited him, and they planned to marry.

    Jeff Marshall filed a civil lawsuit in 2003 against Chad for slander for accusing him of being responsible for Kassidy's death. That accusation allegedly caused Chad's former employer to cancel Jeff's landscaping contracts. In 2004, each man was deposed by the other's attorney. In the second session of his deposition at the State Prison, Chad continued to heed legal advice, from lawyers and inmate advisors, to remain silent under oath when asked about his role in Kassidy's death, and he took the Fifth. Jeff dropped his civil suit after his attorney declined to continue working on the case.

    In September 2006, the New Hampshire Supreme Court denied Chad's appeal of the 15 year increase in his sentence.

    In June, 2010, Chad's Motion for Habeas Corpus before the U.S. District Court for New Hampshire was denied. In that Motion, Chad challenged the legality under the U.S. Constitution of the 15 year increase in his sentence. The judge's denial is being appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, and a hearing was held on April 6, 2011. This challenge to the additional sentence of 15 years is the only current challenge in the courts. There is no current challenge in the courts to his wrongful conviction, for which he has spent almost ten years in prison.

    As this IS the Introduction, it's time to introduce readers to the 46 people most affected or involved in this case. The more complete list of "Who's Who?" has 157 people.

    Aube, Bruce. A best friend of Chad, in Rochester, NH.  Lived with Jessica Edmands.

    Baden, Dr. Michael.  Forensic Pathologist.  Chad's only defense witness at his trial.

    Blodgett, Angela.  Detective, Maine State Police.

    Bortner, Amanda Jean (Mandy). Mother of Kassidy Caitlyn Bortner, and Chad's girlfriend.

    Bortner, Kassidy Caitlyn.  Daughter of Amanda Bortner & Robert Sheehan, born on  4 Feb. 99.  Brown, Simon R. NH Assistant Attorney General and Prosecutor at Chad's trial

    Chick, Melissa. Best friend of Amanda from high school, since seventh grade.

    Conley, Emily. Springvale, ME. Amanda's friend from school. Not related to stepfather.

    Conley, Jacqueline. Mother: Charles, Jennifer, Amanda, & Joshua Bortner, & Scott Conley.

    Conley, Jennifer (also J. Bortner). Girlfriend of Jeff Marshall, and sister of Amanda Bortner.

    Conley, Joshua Bortner.  Younger brother of Amanda Bortner.

    Creamer, Robert. Patrolman, Kittery Police Dept.

    Cronheim, Alan J., Attorney for Chad Evans.

    Delker, N. William, (Will). New Hampshire Asst. Attorney General, Prosecutor at Chad's trial.

    Evans, Chester (Chet). Father of Chad Evans & Nicole Evans Harvey, Married to Pam Evans.

    Evans, Chad Emery. Son of Chet and Pam Evans.  Father of Kyle Evans, boyfriend of Amanda.

    Evans, Kyle Chester. Son of Chad and Tristan Evans.

    Evans, Pamela Martin. Mother of Chad Evans, Nicole Evans Harvey. Married to Chester Evans.

    Evans, Tristan..  Former wife of Chad Evans and mother of Brent Lincoln and Kyle Evans. Foley, Tracey.  Of Springvale, Maine. Friend of Amanda Bortner. 

    Gagne, Shannon. Friend of Amanda Bortner's from high school. 

    Greenwald, Dr. Margaret. Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maine. 

    Hamel, Steven. Detective with the Kittery, Maine, Police Dept. 

    Harakles, Scott.  Maine State Police Detective. Interviewed Jeff Marshall and Travis Hunt.

    Harvey, Brandon.  Husband of Nicole Evans Harvey, brother-in-law of Chad Evans.

    Harvey, Nicole Evans.  Younger sister of Chad Evans. 2010: Now Nicole Evans-Mahoney. 

    Hinton, Jeremy.  A best friend of Chad Evans.  Manager of McDonald's in Portsmouth. 

    Hocter, Patricia.  Case worker at NH DHHS, Division of Children Youth and Families. 

    LeClair, Richard.  Maine State Police. Interviewed Amanda Bortner, and then Chad Evans.

    Linscott, Jeff.  Maine State Trooper. Participated in several interviews.

    Magee, William F., III. Sergeant of NH State Police. Conducted Nov. 10 search of Chad's home.

    Mannson, Vanessa.  Friend of Chad and Amanda in Keene, New Hampshire.

    Marshall, Jefferey(Jeff). Boyfriend of Jennifer Bortner and babysitter for Kassidy.

    Martin, Crystal.  Friend of Amanda Bortner, after high school.  Crystal had a son, Devin.

    McCleish, Lance. Detective, Maine State Police. Interviewed Chad Evans, 9 November 2000, McDougall, Robert. Supervisor of Chad Evans, at the McDonald's licensee, Colley/McCoy. Nadeau, Tina L., Judge, at Chad's. Now Chief Justice of NH Superior Court.

    Nuernberg, Cathy. Friend of Amanda Bortner from high school.  Lived in San Antonio, Texas. 

    Peirce, William C. Next door neighbor to, and landlord of, Jeff Marshall in Kittery, Maine. Rockey, Jill.  Trooper, NH State Police. Interviewed Travis Hunt and Jeremy Hinton.

    Rothstein, David M. NH Deputy Chief App. Defender. Chad's appellate attorney.

    Ruoff, David.  Asst. Attorney General. Prosecutor in the case NH vs. Amanda Bortner. 

    Sisti, Mark L. Attorney, together with Alan Cronheim, for Chad Evans.

    Timoney, James. Orthopedic surgeon who examined Kassidy in Sept., 2000.

    Varney, Glen. A friend of Chad, who lived on Baxter Lake, where Chad kept his boat in 2000.

    White, James.  Detective-Sergeant, New Hampshire State Police.  

    Wiberg, Patricia S., Attorney for Amanda Bortner. 2001-02.

    CHAPTER 1: TRAGEDY - 9 NOVEMBER 2000, to 12:38 P.M.

    Come on Kassidy. Come on Kassidy. Come on ... - Jeff Marshall

    For the melded Evans/Bortner family at 191 Milton Road, the day almost began at 4:30 or 5:30 a.m. when Kassidy began crying. At Amanda's request, "Chad, yell to her and tell her to go to sleep, Chad called out, Kassidy, go to sleep, baby," and she did, and saved Chad, Amanda, and Kyle another 45 minutes or more of sleep. So far, the morning was quite normal.

    At 6:15 a.m., or later, Kassidy began crying again, and wakened Chad and Amanda, which was fortunate as they had overslept their 6:00 a.m. goal. Chad wrote in his Nov. 2000 letter to his attorneys,

    ...she did fall back to sleep. It didn't seem odd because she had done that a lot the last couple of weeks. I usually went in and got her and brought her in to sleep with us. But this morning I was too dead tired to move. I remember thinking, Oh shit! when I read 6:39 on the alarm clock. I woke Amanda up and told her she was going to be late if she didn't get a move on, as she had to work at 8 am. I got up with her initially. She walked into Kassidy's room and I started towards Kyle's. When she entered Kassidy's room, Kassidy woke up and said, Mamma. Kassidy got up and walked to the edge of the bed and put her arms out for Amanda.

    Amanda changed Kassidy's diaper and dressed her for the day and was able to see Kassidy's entire body before getting her dressed. Even with her 20/800 vision, Amanda could see, without her contact lenses, the bruises on Kassidy's forehead. Amanda said in her first interview,

    I saw a bruise on her, right here and here. On her eyes. I didn't notice anything on her body, but when I got her dressed this morning, I didn't have contacts in and my vision's 20/800 so ... I didn't notice that it was hurting or anything." (p. 863)

    Among the few bruises on her body was the bruise from hitting her head, near her right eye, on a table on Sunday evening, November 5. Amanda and Travis Hunt, a McDonald's employee, friend and basement tenant, were with Kassidy at the time. She slid off the couch and into the table. The other bruise on her head came from being hit in the eye the previous evening with a "hard rubber ball or starter baseball" or Tee-Ball. It was hit by 3-year-old Kyle, after being tossed a pitch by Chad. Kassidy had scratches over her left eye from her newly acquired kitten. Perhaps there was another bruise on her head from falling in Chad's driveway the previous afternoon, but neither Chad nor Amanda noticed such a bruise. Also, the previous evening, Chad had noticed a sore spot on Kassidy's lower lip, but it wasn't noticeable to Amanda that morning and Chad doesn't remember commenting on it to Amanda.

    Chad carried Kassidy on his hip downstairs around  7:00 - 7:10 a.m and sat her on the kitchen counter.  He asked Kassidy which cereal she wanted. Then he reached for the cereal boxes on top of the refrigerator and pointed to a box he thought she preferred. She shook her head sideways, to indicate "No, and pointed to the cereal which she wanted: Reese's Puffs. Chad packed enough cereal for breakfast and a snack in a Ziploc bag, or baggie," for Kassidy for the trip to Jeff's and Jennifer's home. He filled her sippy cup with juice, and placed a few snacks into the diaper bag. Amanda said in her police interview that she noticed that she wasn't really hungry and didn't eat very much. (p. 863)

    In 2011, Chad remembered,

    We were behind schedule....I do have a distinct memory of picking Kassidy off the counter after I packed her chosen cereal in a baggie and set her standing up on the kitchen floor. She stood there looking at me with her juice cup in hand. I then asked Kassidy if she wanted to watch cartoons for a minute. She said Yes, and then to get her there quicker, I picked her up and carried her to the couch. (Letter, July 29, 2011)

    At some point that morning, Kyle saw the bruise on Kassidy's left eye and asked, "Daddy, did I do that?  At some point, Kassidy said, Drink," to Amanda. After rushing breakfast and packing lunch for Kyle, Amanda went out the door with Kassidy. Amanda was expected at work at 8:00 a.m., and she already knew that she would be late. Still, she had agreed to take Kyle to day care because it was on her way. It added only an additional 15 minutes, to the trip to Jeff's and Jennifer's apartment to drop Kassidy off, and get to work.

    Chad wrote in 2010,

    Kyle was eating cereal at the dining room table and Kassidy was sitting on the couch watching cartoons. I yelled up to Amanda and asked her if she wanted me to feed Kassidy or pack her food for Jeff's. She yelled down to pack it up because Kassidy would take too long to eat and she was already late. While Kyle ate his breakfast, I carried Kassidy into the kitchen and set her on the counter by the sink. We kept the cereal on top of the refrigerator, on the other side of the kitchen. I asked Kassidy, What kind of cereal do you want? I recall we had 3 different boxes which I held out to her, and she pointed to the Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs. (This was a semi-new cereal at the time and came in little chocolate looking puff balls similar to Cocoa Puffs or Kix.) I put the cereal in a baggie. I can't recall what else, but I packed some other things for Kassidy to eat throughout the day. We had a lot of kid's snacks- cheese and crackers, chips, fruit, juice, I can't recall if I made her a sandwich that particular day. If there is a description from that day of what was found for food in Kassidy's bag at Jeff's house, we will know what I packed. Once Amanda finished her shower and got dressed, we got the kids' coats on and carried them to the car. I believe that I had both of the kids in my arms and Amanda had their bags. I put Kassidy into her car seat directly behind Amanda's seat and Amanda buckled her in while I went around the other side and buckled Kyle in. Amanda was going to drop him off at school in Dover on the way to Kittery. I kissed Kyle as Amanda got into the car. I ran around and reached through the driver's door to kiss Amanda. She barely gave me a peck. She was rushing and I believe she was still mad at what she perceived as my laziness/unwillingness to help her when we woke up. I backed away from the car toward our steps as she got ready to back out and I realized that I hadn't kissed Kassidy goodbye so I came back toward the car screaming, Wait! As Amanda rolled down her window I said, I didn't kiss Kassidy yet. I quickly opened the backseat door and kissed Kassidy on the forehead. I love you, have a good day baby. That is when I noticed she had somehow gotten hold of her Ziplock cereal baggie, had opened it and was eating some of her cereal. I was amazed that she could open it. I believe I said out loud. You little shit. I didn't know you could open these. I said to Amanda, something like, Baby, she opened her cereal bag. Did you know she could open them? Amanda sounded a little irritated and replied something like, She's been able to do that for a while. I am late. I've got to go! The reason that this is such an important sequence is because Kassidy sat on the counter, and she chose her cereal, and she opened her own baggie, etc. These are all things that they told Amanda would have been impossible for Kassidy to do in the condition that Dr. Greenwald said she would have been in that morning.  God as my witness, this is all true. She left our house that morning awake, though apparently tired. ( Letter, Apr. 29, 2010)

    Off they went, for the 15 mile/24 minute trip to Kyle's day care. This was the last time Chad saw Kassidy Bortner. At that time, as far as he knew, it was the hectic beginning of another workday. In addition, he knew that Kassidy...

    -was not at her best, but he was ever hopeful that she would improve, after the lethargic behavior of the previous day.

    -had a bruise from the injury by a Tee-ball the previous night.

    -had two fading bruises, one on each side of her face, that he had caused, by holding her face with his hand sometime over the past week.

    -had a bruise under her right eye from a scratch from their new kitty.

    -had a bruise under her right eye from falling into the coffee table in his living room, when Amanda and Travis were with her.

    -had a bruise under her chin, perhaps caused by the fall in his driveway the previous evening.

    -had a lump on the back of her head from the fall from Jeff's truck on Saturday, October 28.

    -had a sore, of unknown origin, inside her lower lip, which led him to skip her toothbrushingthe previous night.

    -had a bruise on the side of her head.

    -had some dry scabs on the bottoms of her feet, which he understood were caused by exposed tacks on Jeff's flooring.

    -possibly had some miscellaneous typical childrens' bruises on arms and legs, but nothing extraordinary that caught Chad's attention.

    That was all he knew about bruises and injuries.

    Normally, Chad drove Kyle to Cross Road Kindergarten and Child Care in Dover, but he and Amanda agreed that it was easier for her to take him on this fateful day. He had to finish a report that was due for work. Her variable work schedule at the Kittery, Maine, Old Navy store gave her a start time on this day which made the trip to Kyle's day care convenient, with only a 15 minute detour.

    At about 7:40 a.m., Amanda left Kyle at Cross Road, by driving up to the door, with its protective overhead cover at the entrance. She let Kyle out of the car and walked him in, while keeping an eye on Kassidy in the car. Then they left for Jeff's and Jennifer's home at 51 Rogers Road in Kittery, Maine, 16.5 miles, or about 28 minutes away.

    Chad began his workday at home with his report, and then by calling the Rochester McDonald's at 8:10 a.m. for 13 minutes. This restaurant was the site of Chad's first managerial position for his employer franchisee, Colley-McCoy. As it was located in his new hometown, he watched its operations closely.

    Life seemed to be good that morning for Chad. He was in love with Amanda, and looking forward to a life with her and Kassidy. He expected that word would be coming soon from the Probate Court about the finalization of his divorce from Tristan. He would have felt better if he had known that it had already been completed on October 4, and that there had been a delay in mailing the paperwork to him. Amanda was in the first full week of her new job at Old Navy, not including the previous week's training. Both she and Chad looked forward to her finding a better day care situation than the temporary babysitting at Jeff and Jennifer's home. One reason was that there were no other children at Jeff's, and it would be good for Kassidy to play and learn with other children. More importantly, there were difficulties the previous day with Kassidy, which showed, once again, that Jeff's babysitting was not good for her. There were too many accidents, and watching television was Kassidy's primary learning activity.

    Amanda and Kassidy arrived at the home of Jeff's and Jennifer Bortner Conley shortly after 8:00 a.m.  Jennifer and Amanda had both used their stepfather's name, Conley, at Sanford High School, Maine, and Jennifer still used it. Amanda carried Kassidy into the apartment, rather than having her walk because she was rushing. Another reason for carrying her was Kassidy was still limping, whether from an accident a few days previous where Jeff had stepped on her foot, or from Chad playing with Kassidy at home, or from another cause. Amanda sat Kassidy on the bed, with her bag of Reese's Puffs, juice in a sippy cup, and diaper bag. Kassidy was wearing her new Basic Editions red pajama pants and a red and white dress-like pajama top with a white dog on the chest. During the investigation, it was called a dress. Under the dress, she was perhaps also wearing a red fleece sweatshirt. Kassidy was wearing her new Elmo slippers. It was November, and she was wearing her new pink hooded jacket. The diaper bag had spare diapers and a container of A&D Ointment for treatment of diaper rash, and food snacks packed by Chad.

    Amanda commented to Jeff and Jennifer about the bruises, "She looks like shit, doesn't she?" Also, Kassidy was obviously tired, and Amanda and Chad thought perhaps she had caught a bit of the flu that Kyle had suffered earlier in the week. Amanda had no clue that Kassidy was seriously sick, and was even more unaware that Kassidy was no more than four hours away from her death. Jeff and Jennifer were equally unaware.

    Jeff testified at Chad's trial (p. 168) that he tried to pick Kassidy up and stand her on the floor, but that "she didn't want to be picked up," so he left her on the bed. He turned on the television to a station with cartoons, and went into the living room to watch the continued coverage of the election returns, especially the Bush-Gore presidential race.

    Jennifer said in her first police interview that she asked Kassidy "Do you want to go sit in the bathroom while I put my makeup on? as that was their usual practice. Kassidy liked it when Jennifer would also put some makeup on her. On this morning, said Jennifer, ...she did not want to get up. She started like crying, took the bed stuff off her, she started crying. So, I was, 'Okay. okay.' So I covered her back up and gave her, you know, her Cocoa Puffs, (p. 925-26) " or Cocoa Krispies whatever she was eating and she started eating those." (p. 918) Similarly, she asked, You want to get up and walk around and stuff like that? And she started crying when I took the covers off of her." so Jennifer restored the covers. (p. 918)

    Jennifer said did not get a good look at Kassidy because she was fully clothed, but she did notice that "she had a little scratch here [pointing to her right eye] from my cat scratching her." (p. 926) A small misunderstanding between Amanda and Jennifer was whether Jennifer's cat, Toby, or Kassidy's new unnamed, kitten, caused the scratch.

    Amanda was planning to pick Kassidy up at Jeff's after her work shift ended around 5:30 p.m..   Perhaps she was planning to bring Kassidy to go candlepin bowling with Chad and his best friend, Bruce Aube, and Travis, or meet them at their habitual Thursday evening spot, Bananas Bar and Grill, in Portsmouth. Kyle would be picked up at Cross Road daycare by his mother, Tristan Evans, and taken to her home for a few days, pursuant to the joint custody arrangement between her and Chad.

     Amanda left Jeff's home around 8:20 a.m. for work at Old Navy, which is only 2.3 miles away. The Kittery Police Station is between the two locations.

    Jeff talked by telephone at 8:49 a.m. with William Peirce, who lived next door, and told him that Kassidy was not walking and was sitting in front of the television eating cereal. Peirce was Jeff's friend, occasional employee and, most recently, landlord, as Peirce had purchased in October the 51/53 Rogers Road duplex property.

    Jennifer told the police during her first interview that Kassidy was eating her Cocoa Puffs, but they were actually Reese's Puffs. They looked almost like Cocoa Puffs, but they had a chocolate and peanut butter flavor. (See photo of box at Chad's house.) Also, Jennifer reported that Kassidy said, "Kitty, Kitty, Kitty," to Jeff and Jennifer's cat, Toby. Those words may have been her last words, but she may not have said them on that day, either, as Jennifer testified (p. 113) at Chad's trial that she didn't actually see Kassidy eating her cereal.

    Close to 9:00 a.m. Jennifer kissed Kassidy Good-bye, and Kassidy made a kiss sound. as Jennifer left for work at Perfumania, a shop at the Kittery Mall, a few storefronts away from Amanda at Old Navy. She was scheduled to work until 2:30 or 4:30 p.m., so she would have returned home before Amanda, and would have likely spent some time with Kassidy.

    Shortly after 9 a.m., Patricia Hocter of the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) called the Chad Evans home phone and left a message to call. (Chart of Calls This Chart of Calls was prepared by the Office of the Attorney General or the New Hampshire or Maine State Police and faxed to Chad Evans's defense counsel on 30 November 2001, just before Chad's trial.) As Ms. Hocter did not know who would retrieve the message and how confidential information might be treated, she said nothing about the reason for the call, which was to followup on an anonymous call to DCYF on 31 October reporting bruises on Kassidy. The message referred to "the children and not to any particular child. (Magee report, p. 3091) Chad was in the shower at the time, and did not hear the phone. After getting dressed, he made two calls from his home phone, and then called Patricia Hocter at 9:32 a.m., although he was not familiar with the initials DCYF, and had no idea what the call was about. He waited for 120 seconds, but there was no human response. At 9:35 a.m., he called DCYF again, and left a message for Patricia Hocter in the DCYF general mailbox." (Chart of Calls) According to Ms. Hocter's testimony (p. 54) at Chad's trial, he stated that he was going out of town and wouldn’t be back until Tuesday, and asked that she call him back between hours of 3:00 and 4:00 on that day.

    The planned trip was to Maine for a McDonald's business meeting and celebration which he was planning to attend with Amanda. His employer, Colley-McCoy, was a large McDonald's franchisee, and it was doing well. Chad was planning to leave on Friday afternoon and not return until late Monday, and expected that Tuesday morning would be busy; hence the suggestion that Ms. Hocter could reach him in the afternoon.

     A few minutes later, Chad Evans called his childhood friend, Vanessa Mansson, at her workplace in Peterborough, New Hampshire, to learn more about the state agency, DCYF. After being referred to a different number, he called again, at 9:40 a.m., and talked with Vanessa for more than five minutes. (Chart of Calls) Chad wrote in his Nov. 2000 letter to his attorneys,

    Vanessa told me that it wasn't, she said it has to do with abused or neglected kids. We both had a little laugh and she said, Yeah right, as if Kyle is so abused.(She really didn't know Kassidy, but knew I spoiled Kyle and Brent rotten.) So I went about my business until it dawned on me, Wait a minute, maybe they are calling because of Kassidy. The poor girl has a limp, bump on her head, bruise on her forehead, etc.

    At 9:47 a.m., Chad called Jeff's cell phone, but did not connect, so he called again with the two goals of reminding Jeff to fix the problems with a tree at the Greenland, New Hampshire, McDonald's restaurant, and to ask about Kassidy, given her difficulties the previous day. (Chart of Calls) Chad wrote about that 13 minute call,

    So I then called Jeff and told him I got a

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