Seven years after daughter’s death, father still has more questions than answers
by John Pilati
Emmett Petrone celebrated another birthday on June 29th. But once again, the 66-year-old didn’t receive the one gift he wanted for the seventh year in a row.
Petrone is the father of Casie Winborn, the 29-year-old woman who was found dead the morning of July 2, 2018 , behind Road Gear on land used by the Russellville Electric Board to drop-off brush and debris.
It’s now been more than seven years since Petrone lost his daughter, and there remain many more questions than answers about what really happened to the young mother of three.
For Petrone, his patience has long since expired, having been replaced by frustration and anger toward a criminal justice system he believes has failed his daughter and her family.
“I think this case hasn’t moved ahead because they don’t want the truth to come out,” Petrone told the FFP on the anniversary of the day his daughter was found. “They’ve never done anything to try and get this case solved. The only thing they’ve ever done is shoot down every idea and say ‘no there’s no way that could have happened.’”
Russellville Police Department Captain Jake Tompkins has been the primary investigator on the case since Winborn’s body was found. Since that day, Tompkins says it was, and remains, a ‘high priority’ to find out what happened to her and whether someone else is responsible.
“We’re still actively investigating it when we get a new individual we need to interview or old ones whose names come up again in the investigation,” Tompkins told the FFP last month.
“We're still interviewing all these individuals as well. We have sent some more stuff to the forensics lab for more detailed testing that the lab is hopefully going to do for us and that's pretty much all I can really say—we're still actively investigating it,” he added.
But Petrone has grown tired of excuses. While he has occasionally clashed with Tompkins, his primary issue comes with former Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing, whom Petrone believes has the ultimate authority to decide how the case proceeds. He’s also clashed with new DA Jeff Barksdale, who Petrone says refuses to speak with him and only returned one of the many calls he’s made since Barksdale took office.
“I do not have anything against the police department. Jake has to do what he’s told to do and that’s the bottom line. The DA decides how to handle a case. He’s the only one who calls the shots,” Petrone said.
Rushing, who now serves as an Assistant District Attorney for Barksdale, said he’s never done anything to stonewall the investigation nor has he refused to move forward. In fact, Rushing said the case was presented to a Franklin County Grand Jury at Petrone’s request.
“Just like Mr. Petrone, I want to have answers in this case and have never done anything inconsistent with that. We continue to hope the investigation will lead to the truth about what really happened to Casie Winborn and who, if anyone, was responsible for her death,” Rushing said.
The case was presented to a grand jury in December 2022, primarily due to repeated requests from Petrone. Tompkins said he cautioned Petrone that once a case is presented to a grand jury, if there’s not an indictment, it won’t be presented again without new evidence.
But Petrone remains dissatisfied with when, and how, the case was presented to the grand jury. He said he was told only two witnesses testified before the grand jury, Tompkins and Casie’s sister, Theresha Winborn.
“We had a lot of witnesses for the grand jury ready to go and they didn’t call any of them. We pretty much had to find everybody for them, with phone numbers, addresses, etc., and they never called them,” Petrone said.
“When this first started, Jake was all on top of it. He was a very aggressive investigator. A couple years after it started, something changed and someone told him to back off. They haven’t been pushing it after that,” Petrone said.
Another challenge for investigators is the October 1, 2018, autopsy report from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, which declared Winborn’s cause of death as ‘undetermined.’
The report also states that, due to the degree that Winborn’s body had decomposed, it prevents ‘ruling out the possibility of a fatal injury somewhere else in the body.’
When REB employees found Winborn on July 2nd, 2018, her body appeared to have been there for at least several days, according to Tompkins.
Petrone understands those issues, but maintains investigators have not shown due diligence in pursuing all available investigative tools to find the truth about his daughter.
As an example, he cites the delay in submitting for forensic examination the clothing his daughter had on when she was discovered seven years ago.
“There could be DNA on the clothes Casie had on and they kept that clothing for years. They finally just took it to forensics a couple months ago. They had seven years to send that off,” Petrone said. “Why wait so long for testing for DNA? Joey said ‘we didn’t have the technology back then, but that doesn’t make sense to me.”
A toxicology report on Winborn’s liver showed a concentration of 2800 ng/g (nanograms per gram) of methamphetamine, an amount indicative of prolonged abuse with possible toxic effects.
Petrone understands his daughter died from a methamphetamine overdose, but he believes there were individuals who caused her to overdose in an effort to set her up. He said Casie, although a drug user, never shot up methamphetamine or any other drug. And he said there’s no way she would suffer a massive overdose of meth on her own.
Petrone believes he knows who caused Casie’s death and why they did so, information he’s shared with investigators.
But suspicions fall short of provable evidence required to convict someone of murder. And that’s the divide that separates Petrone’s theory of the case from what police and the DA can prove in court.
“If I thought she did an overdose herself, I would accept that and move on. But that’s not what happened. She was set up, killed and her body was dropped off and those responsible are trying to blame it on someone else,” Petrone said. “She was murdered, thrown into a car, her body dragged through the woods and left there to rot like a dead animal. We couldn’t have an open casket or dress her in any outfit. She left behind three children who still cry for their mom and do not understand why this happened.”
Tompkins said he thinks about the Casie Winborn case every day and he uses the anguish felt by her family as a motivator to keep working for answers.
“I understand the frustrations of the family in this situation who doesn’t have all the answers and that motivates you to continue working on the case,” Tompkins said. “Anytime something comes up we actively go track it down and see whether we can use it as evidence.
“I understand Mr. Petrone’s frustration. You have to have some empathy for the family but I have never stopped working on this case. I speak with her father almost every other day and if I miss a call from him or a family member, I’ll shoot them a message. I’ll never stop working on it. We just need more time to find the answers,” Tompkins added.
Petrone has contacted numerous agencies for assistance with investigating his daughter’s death, including the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office and federal authorities, but says each has declined to get involved.
Since Casie’s death, Petrone’s health has been in steady decline, something he attributes to the stress and frustration of the death investigation. Regardless of his health, though, his promise to his daughter is never to back down until the complete truth is uncovered.
“I’ve been in the hospital three times for COPD attacks. I’ve been going downhill since this happened. It took a toll on me from that first day and never stopped,” Petrone said. “The biggest shock was learning you don’t have the law on your side and you can’t get them to help you.”
Petrone still believes there are witnesses who have information that investigators could use to solve the case. And he regularly prays that person or persons will come forward to bring justice for Casie’s death.
If you have information related to the death of Casie Winborn, contact Tompkins at 256-332-2230.