Death of Caylee Anthony

Caylee Marie Anthony (born August 9, 2005 - 2008), from Orlando, Florida, has been missing since June 2008 and has attracted national attention in the United States for the mysterious and dubious circumstances of her disappearance and possible death. Her mother, Casey Anthony (born 1986), was indicted on October 14, 2008, for first-degree murder of Caylee. Police found Casey Anthony's account of Caylee's disappearance suspicious after learning that Casey had not reported her daughter missing for over a month. The last time Casey Anthony claimed to have seen Caylee was on June 9, 2008, but the child's disappearance was not reported to police until July 15, 2008.

Disappearance

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, the mother of Caylee, would not produce the grandchild. Cindy Anthony had not seen her granddaughter for weeks and became alarmed when she smelled the odor of a "dead body" in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car. (Cindy Anthony later revised her account, stating that the smell was from old pizza.)

When police questioned Casey Anthony on the whereabouts of her daughter, she told them the child was with a babysitter. The purported babysitter, Zenaida "Zani" Fernandez-Gonzalez, was said to have been caring for the child for over two years. But when a local woman named Zenaida Gonzalez (not Fernandez-Gonzalez) was found and questioned by police on July 17, 2008, she 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 the account of Fernandez-Gonzalez caring for Caylee. However, in the nearly three years that Caylee was alive and living at Cindy Anthony's house, Cindy had never once met the alleged babysitter.

From the start of the investigation, police had trouble discerning fact from fiction when questioning the Anthony family. For instance, Caylee's grandparents, Cindy and George Anthony, told police that the last time they saw their granddaughter was on June 9, 2008, but there was evidence to the contrary. Authorities found a video tape, taken on 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. She then remembered taking Caylee to see Caylee's great-grandfather on Fathers Day (June 15, 2008). Cindy Anthony told police that her husband, George Anthony, went along with the dates because he took his wife's word on the facts. When police began to investigate Casey Anthony, they immediately found discrepancies in what she had told law enforcement in her signed statement. Much of the information Casey gave, starting with the babysitter account, turned out to be a lie. For example, Casey told police that she worked at Universal Studios. When police escorted her to the park, she led them to an office until finally admitting to them 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 being asked by Casey about Caylee. Photos of Casey partying while Caylee was missing were then published by media outlets. On the December 10 episode of Larry King Live, Cindy Anthony said that the photos in question were "staged" photos for which Casey was remunerated (apparently for the promotion of a nightclub).

Probable death

During the investigation, police discovered hair samples and a stain in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car. Though there were claims that the stain was from the victim's blood, at the time this fact had not been publicly confirmed. Instead, a lead investigator on the case said the hair was the major deciding factor leading authorities to believe that Caylee had indeed been in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car. Together with these findings, authorities "air tested" the area of the car trunk to determine if a decomposing body had been stored there. The results of the air test were sent to the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility for forensic examination. These results confirmed that a body had been in the trunk.

Chloroform was found in Casey Anthony's car trunk and evidence was found that Casey searched the internet on the use of the chemical.

On October 21, 2008 the charges of child neglect were dropped against Casey Anthony. 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."

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 found in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car. Whether or not the decomposition is human is still unknown but indicated as a possibility.

Cindy Anthony was interviewed on September 2, 2008, on the NBC morning show Today by the show's co-host, Matt Lauer. During the interview, Cindy Anthony stated that Caylee is probably with a friend or acquaintance of Casey Anthony. She went on to say, "I believe that Caylee is still alive, because I'm still getting phone calls of people who have seen Caylee and they're frustrated because the authorities aren't investigating."

On Thursday, November 13, 2008, divers searching the Little Econlockhatchee River for a sign of Caylee Anthony found a plastic bag with various items. Contrary to earlier reports, it did not contain bones.

On November 26, 2008, officials released 700 pages of documents related to the Anthony investigation, of which Google searches of the terms "neck breaking," "how to make chloroform," and "death" were included. It is not known if Casey Anthony herself made the searches, although officials announced that her mother, Cindy, was not home at the time the computer searches were made.

Suspicious remains found

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, tips were called in to police by a meter reader about a suspicious bag near the same wooded area on Suburban Drive, less than a half-mile from the Anthony residence on Hopespring Drive.

On December 11, 2008, skeletal remains of what appeared to be a young child were found by the same meter reader. It has been reported that the skull had remnants of duct tape on it, and at least a portion of what was found was inside of a bag. Sheriffs believe these may be the remains of Caylee Anthony.

On December 12, 2008, the remains were tentatively identified as Caylee based on strands of hair found with the remains as well the age and measurements being a match for Caylee.

On December 15, 2008, WFTV reported that more bones were found in a wooded area near where the skull was discovered. They were located a quarter of a mile from where Caylee lives, but the remains were not identified yet.

On December 19, 2008, Nancy Grace announced on her popular CNN show that the remains found were to be publicly identified at some point during that day, possibly in the middle of the night, leaving most of the general public to wake up to the news in the morning.

Publicity

The case has attracted media attention and has regularly been the main topic of talk shows hosted by Greta Van Susteren, Nancy Grace, Geraldo Rivera, and others, and it has been featured on America's Most Wanted and ABC's 20/20. Caylee Anthony's disappearance is distinguished by a frustrating unexplained lack of critical information from Casey Anthony, who was initially charged with child neglect and making false statements to investigators and later charged with murder. However, while the Anthony grandparents relentlessly call upon the public to search for Caylee in places as far as Texas, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, they also insist that Casey is maintaining her silence in order to protect Caylee, and that searches for a dead body are unjustified.

Casey Anthony's parents, Cindy and George, appeared on the Today show on October 22, 2008. They maintained that Caylee is alive and will 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." Cindy Anthony was reported to be writing a book with her daughter Casey.

Arrests

• August 21, 2008: Casey Anthony was released after one month of incarceration. She walked out of the Orange County jail after her $500,200 bond was posted by California bounty hunter Leonard Padilla and his nephew Tony Padilla, a bail bondsman.

• August 29, 2008: Casey Anthony was arrested again at her house for charges of forgery, fraudulent use of personal information, and petty theft for forging $700 worth of checks and using her friend's credit cards without permission. Leonard Padilla subsequently rescinded the $500,200 in bail due to a lack of cooperation from Casey Anthony.

• September 5, 2008: Casey Anthony was released again on bail after being fitted with an ankle bracelet. Her $500,000 bond was posted anonymously. It was later discovered that Casey Anthony's parents, Cindy Anthony and George Anthony, signed a promissory note for the bond. The bond was posted by two separate bond offices for $250,000 each.

• September 15, 2008: Casey Anthony was arrested a third time on charges of theft.

• October 14, 2008: Casey Anthony was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and was arrested for the fourth time.

on dec 19 the remains found in a heavily wooded area was varified as caylee anthony. no farther information will be released.

See also

• Child abduction
• Unreported missing

External links

• Help Find Caylee Anthony
• Caylee Anthony Case Full Coverage at Investigation Discovery
• Caylee Anthony Missing Child Profile at America's Most Wanted
• Caylee Anthony Archives at Shadowscope
• The Caylee Anthony Story Full Caylee Anthony Coverage
• Caylee Anthony 2 years old discussion at Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community