This is a tragedy that I have been following for months now.....
Caylee Marie Anthony (born August 9, 2005, in
Orlando, Florida, died 2008) was a
toddler who attracted international attention regarding the circumstances of her disappearance in June 2008 and subsequently discovered death. Her mother, Casey Anthony (born March 19, 1986), was
indicted on October 14, 2008, for her
first-degree murder. Police found Casey Anthony's account of Caylee's disappearance suspicious after learning that Casey had not reported her daughter missing for more than a month; the last time Casey Anthony claimed to have seen Caylee was on June 15, 2008, but the child's disappearance was not reported to police until July 15, 2008. On December 11, 2008, skeletal remains of what appeared to be a young child were found by a meter reader. The
Orange County Medical Examiner confirmed on December 19, 2008, that the human remains found near the Anthony home were those of Caylee Anthony.
Caylee Anthony was first reported missing to authorities on July 15, 2008. Caylee's grandmother, Cindy Anthony, reportedly called
9-1-1 when her daughter Casey Anthony, Caylee's mother, would not tell her where Caylee had been. Cindy had not seen her granddaughter for weeks and became very alarmed when she admitted that she smelled the odor of a "dead body" in the trunk of Casey's car. Cindy later denied what she said and revised her account, stating that the smell was from old, stale pizza. When Detective Yuri Melich questioned Casey Anthony about the whereabouts of her daughter, she stated the child was with a babysitter. The purported babysitter, Zenaida "Zani" Fernandez-Gonzalez, according to Casey, supposedly had been a caregiver for the child for over two years. When a local woman named Zenaida Gonzalez (not Fernandez-Gonzalez) was questioned by police on July 17, 2008, Gonzalez denied knowing either Casey or Caylee Anthony. When police asked the grandmother Cindy about the babysitter, Cindy said that she had no reason to doubt Casey's account of Fernandez-Gonzalez's caring for Caylee. However, in the nearly three years that Caylee was alive and living at Cindy Anthony's house, neither of Casey's parents nor any of her friends, boyfriends, family, or acquaintances had ever once met the alleged babysitter.
From the start of the investigation, Melich had trouble determining the majority of facts of the case. For instance, initially Caylee's grandparents, Cindy and George Anthony, told police that the last time they saw their granddaughter was on June 9, 2008, but authorities found a
video tape, taken June 15, 2008, that shows Caylee reading a book. When the grandparents were questioned about the time discrepancy, Cindy Anthony said that she had been confused about the dates and recalled taking Caylee to see Caylee's great-grandfather on
Fathers Day, June 15, 2008. Cindy Anthony told police that her husband probably went along with the dates because he generally took his wife's word on mistaken details.
When Melich began to investigate Casey Anthony, he found discrepancies in what she had told law enforcement in her signed statement. The preponderance of the information Casey gave, starting with the babysitter account, appeared to be false. For example, Casey told police that she currently worked at
Universal Studios; when police escorted her to the studio facility, she led them to an office but then admitted that she no longer worked there. Casey also claimed she had been investigating Caylee's disappearance on her own which is why she did not contact police earlier. However, friends and family denied ever having been asked by Casey about Caylee. Photos of Casey attending parties and bars while Caylee was missing were published by
media outlets. On the December 10, 2008 episode of
Larry King Live, Cindy Anthony said she believed the photos in question were "staged" photos for which Casey was remunerated, apparently for the promotion of a nightclub. In July, KioMarie Cruz, Casey Anthony's childhood friend, told local police to investigate the wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School. On August 11, 12, and 13 of 2008, tips were called in to police by a utility worker, subsequently identified as Orange County utility worker, Roy Kronk, about a suspicious bag near the same wooded area on Suburban Drive, less than a half-mile from the Anthony residence on Hopespring Drive. Casey Anthony was arrested for the third time on September 15, 2008, on new charges of
theft, and was released shortly afterward.
On October 14, 2008 Casey Anthony was indicted by a
grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and was arrested for the fourth time.
[13] She entered a plea of not-guilty to the charges that she killed Caylee.
[12]On October 21, 2008 the charges of child neglect were dropped against Casey. In a statement that morning, the State Attorney's Office explained: "The neglect charges were premised on the theory that her child, Caylee Marie, was still alive. As the investigation progressed and it became clear that the evidence proved that the child was deceased, the State sought an indictment on the legally appropriate charges."
[14] On April 14, 2009, prosecutors announced that they plan to seek the death penalty in this case.
[15] On December 11, 2008, skeletal remains of what appeared to be a young child were found by Roy Kronk. It was reported that the skull had
duct tape wrapped around it. Documents released to the public on January 21, 2009 determined that a heart sticker was intentionally placed on the duct tape that was wrapped around the child's skull and stuck onto the hair.
[16] [17] On December 12, the remains were tentatively identified as Caylee based on strands of hair found with the remains as well as the age and measurements being a match for Caylee.
[18] On December 15, WFTV reported that more bones were found in the wooded area near where the skull was discovered.
[19] On December 19, 2008,
medical examiner Dr. "G"
Jan Garavaglia confirmed that the remains found were that of Caylee Anthony, the death being ruled a homicide and that she was killed by undetermined means. No details of the DNA identification testing were given, such as the number of
loci matched or the sources used in the match. The mysterious and still unexplained death of Caylee has been distinguished by an unexplained lack of critical information from Casey Anthony, who was initially charged with child neglect and
making false statements to investigators before later being charged with murder. However, while the Anthony grandparents repeatedly called upon the public to search for Caylee in places as far as
Texas,
Mexico, and
Puerto Rico, they also insisted that Casey had been maintaining her silence in order to protect Caylee, and that searches for a dead body were inappropriate. Casey Anthony's parents, Cindy and George, appeared on the Today show on October 22, 2008. They maintained their belief that Caylee was alive and would be found. Larry Garrison, president of
SilverCreek Entertainment, was their spokesman until he resigned in November 2008, citing that he was leaving due to "the Anthony family's erratic behavior."
More than 600 pages of evidence released by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, including hundreds of
instant messages between Casey and then-boyfriend Tony Rusciano, have been the subject of increased scrutiny by the media for clues and possible motives in the homicide.
George Anthony was reported missing on January 22, 2009, after he failed to show up for a meeting with his lawyer, Brad Conway. George was found in a Daytona Beach hotel the next day after sending messages to family members threatening suicide. He was taken to Halifax Hospital for psychiatric evaluation and later released. On Friday, October 24, 2008, a forensic report from
Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee confirmed results from a
DNA test showing "evidence consistent with decomposition" based on five "key" compounds out of over 400 possible found in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car. DNA samples cannot confirm whether the source is alive or dead. The only DNA testing by the FBI was limited to 752
base pairs out of 16,569 base pairs (less than 5% of the
mitochondrial genome sequence). Whether or not the decomposition is human is still unknown but indicated as a possibility. The process has not been affirmed by a
Daubert Test in the courts.
[26] Traces of
chloroform were also found in Casey Anthony's car trunk and evidence was found that someone had searched the Internet on her computer for the use of the chemical and how to make it. No dates of the search were given and they did not establish if the searches were done by Casey.
[27] On November 26, 2008, officials released 700 pages of documents related to the Anthony investigation, which included evidence of Google searches of the terms "neck breaking," "how to make
chloroform," and "death" on Casey Anthony's home computer. No dates were given as to when the searches were done or by whom.
[28] On February 18, 2009, documents released by the State Attorney's Office in Florida indicated that the same type of laundry bag, duct tape, and plastic bags discovered at the crime scene were found in the house where Casey and Caylee resided. Heart-shaped stickers were also recovered by investigators. A heart-shaped sticker was found on the duct tape that covered the mouth area of Caylee's skull. The documents also indicate that Cindy Anthony stated to them that a
Winnie the Pooh blanket was missing from Caylee's bed. This type of blanket was found at the crime scene. An entry from Casey Anthony's diary was also released. The entry is dated "June 21," and reads: I have no regrets, just a bit worried. I just want for everything to work out okay. I completely trust my own judgement & know that I made the right decision. I just hope that the end justifies the means. I just want to know what the future will hold for me. I guess I will soon see -- This is the happiest that I have been in a very long time. I hope that my happiness will continue to grow -- I've made new friends that I really like. I've surrounded myself with good people -- I am finally happy. Let's just hope that it doesn't change. Casey Anthony is being sued for
defamation by Zenaida Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Kissimmee mother of six. Casey Anthony told investigators that a baby sitter named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez — also known as "Zanny" — abducted 2-year-old Caylee Marie in June. It was reported that Anthony would be exercising her rights under the
Fifth Amendment in response to written questions in the civil case. I believeCasey Anthony is guilty as sin and deserves to spend the rest of her life in prison.
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