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LaGrange County Prosecutor Jeff Wible says that as of last week, he had received 20 to 30 such letters, postmarked from throughout the continental United States -- not one from LaGrange County or even Indiana.
"It doesn't matter where these supporters come from," Buccafuri counters. "A baby was murdered. ... They want this fixed. And Jeff Wible can fix it."
Wible points out that Buccafuri's friend had also set up at least one other "justice" site, suggesting other motives.
"He's not in this for justice," Wible says. "He's in this for himself and his own economic ends."
First Amendment rights prevent Wible from prosecuting what he considers a scam, he says.
"For Prosecutor Wible to call anybody a scam is a joke," Buccafuri says of the man whose name is often excoriated online, accused of not doing enough to pursue justice for Alissa.
Sprunger's attorney, Kevin Likes, says he also has explored what options exist to prevent online abuse of Alissa's image, but Internet law is still new and untested.
Other websites have sprung up about Alissa's death, with names such as "IHateChristyShaffer," and Buccafuri says she has tried to distance her work from theirs.
Wible says he was shocked and then angry when one website claimed he had an affair with Shaffer.
"I then realized it's so outlandish that it's without credibility," Wible says. "That's just the peril you encounter in elected office."
Buccafuri insists her goal -- and that of those who follow the cause online -- is merely to have the case reopened and to report facts.
She and others who have volunteered to help administer the growing site have written about their own stories of abuse that inspired them. Buccafuri's has to do with a grandchild who was being abused but for whom she could not find help.
She's spent more than $300 of her own money and is willing to account for "every penny," she says. The site is not taking donations now.
If Sprunger is willing, the greater exposure is bringing more offers, Buccafuri says. She's recently heard from a national filmmaker. Many of the supporters have asked for T-shirts. And she says she took a call Thursday from the wife of a Major League baseball player who offered to start an anti-child abuse foundation in Alissa's name.
"From the bottom of my heart ..." Buccafuri starts, trying to explain the ferocity of the online mission but stymied by the tears in her voice, until she can begin again. "Maybe Kelli wasn't the best mother, but she didn't kill (Alissa). It just tears me up. Our children are everybody's business. ... A lot of great things can be done in Alissa's name."
Contact Virginia Black
574-235-6321
vblack@sbtinfo.com
facebook.com/tribune.virginiablack