No Justice For Caylee Anthony.

On July 15th, 2008, at 10:36 p.m., a frantic call came into 9-1-1.

9-1-1 operator: "9-1-1 what's your emergency?"

Cindy Anthony: "I called a little bit ago to the deputy sheriff's and I've found out that my granddaughter has been taken -- she has been missing for a month. Her mother had finally admitted that she had been missing."

9-1-1 Operator: "What is the address you are calling from?"

Cindy Anthony: "We are talking about a 3-year-old little girl. My daughter finally admitted that the baby sitter stole her. I need to find her."

9-1-1 Operator: "Your daughter admitted that the baby is where?"

Cindy Anthony: "She said she took her a month ago and my daughter has been looking for her. I told you my daughter has been missing for a month and I just found her today. But I can't find my granddaughter. She just admitted to me that she's been trying to find her by herself. There is something wrong. I found my daughter's car today and it smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car."

911 Operator: "OK, what is the 3-year-old's name?"

Cindy Anthony: "Caylee, C-A-Y-L-E-E, Anthony."

911 Operator: "How long has she been missing for?"

Cindy Anthony: "I have not seen her since June 7th."

"Caylee was a bright toddler approaching her 3rd birthday. She could already count up to 45 in Spanish and knew her full name. She could also recite nursery rhymes and loved singing, You Are My Sunshine."

Caylee Marie Anthony was born on August 9th, 2005. She was very smart and articulate. She was also one of the sweetest girls. She was full of life and very well behaved.

According to her grandfather, George Anthony, Caylee was last seen June 16th, 2008.

Caylee left with her mother, Casey Anthony. Before they left, Casey had told Cindy and George that they were going to stay over at nanny, Zenaida Gonzalez's house. However, later that night, Casey was seen with her boyfriend, Tony Lazzaro, on a Blockbuster surveillance video and without Caylee.

On June 20th, Caylee went with Lazzaro to Fusion Night Club and entered a "hot body" contest.

On June 27th, Casey and Lazzaro went shopping at a local mall. Then later that night they both went to Fusion again.

On July 2nd, Casey got a tattoo that said "Bella Vita," which is Italian for "Beautiful Life."

Caylee's grandmother, Cindy Anthony, had been asking to see Caylee, but Casey kept making excuses. 

On July 3rd, Cindy showed up to Casey's work at Universal Studios and called her cellphone. 

"I'm here at Universal Studios. I want to pick up Caylee," said Cindy.

"We're in Jacksonville for awhile," replied Casey.

July 4th, Casey attended a 4th of July party and a fireworks show.

On July 13th, 2008, Cindy and George, found a notice from the post office for a certified letter affixed on their front door.

On July 15th, 2008, George picked up the certified letter from the post office and found that his daughter's car was in a tow yard.

When George picked up the car, both he and the tow yard attendant noted a strong smell, that of a decomposing body, coming from the trunk. When the trunk was opened, there was no human remains, just trash.

Cindy tracked Casey down. Casey sat on the floor of her boyfriend's apartment crying and told Cindy that Caylee had been gone for 31 days and that "Zanny" the nanny had taken her. That is when Cindy ran out and called 9-1-1.

On July 16th, at 3:30 a.m., Detective Yuri Melich of the Orange County Sheriff's Department arrived at the Anthony house bringing with him other detectives.

George, Cindy, along with Caylee's uncle, Lee Anthony, were trying to get Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, to get more information about Caylee's whereabouts from Casey.

At 4:11 a.m. Melich sat down with a emotionless Casey to ask her some questions.

Melich: "I'm detective Melich with the Orange County Sheriff's Office. According to your statement back on June 9th, 2008, you took Casey to a babysitter's house.

Casey: "Yes."

Melich: "Who is this babysitter?"

Casey: "Her name is Zeniada Fernandez-Gonzalez."

Melich: "You are telling me tat Zeniada took your child without your permission and hasn't returned her."

Casey: "She's the last person that i've seen with my daughter, yes."

Melich: "Okay, what's the reason you didn't call the police before?"

Casey: "I think part of me was naive enough to think that i could handle this myself which obviously i couldn't. And... i was scared that something would happen to her if i did notify the authorities or got the media involved."

Melich: " And where was Zeniada's? Where did you drop her off?"

Casey: "The Sawgrass Apartments on Conway and Michigan."

Melich: "Do you remember the address?"

Casey: "I don't remember the address."

Melich: "Had you dropped off the child there before?"

Casey: "Yes."

Melich: "If you had to find the place would you be able to find it?"

Casey: "Most likely, yes. I think i'd remember the house."

Melich: "Would you be willing to drive with me to show me the apartment that you used to drop her off at?"

Casey: "Yes."

At 4:41 a.m., Casey first took detectives to North 301 Hillside Avenue. This turned out to be a dead end.

Then Casey took them to Sawgrass Apartments at 2859 South Conway Road.  When they arrived, Casey ended up pointing to an apartment that no one had lived in for over 3 months.

Last, Casey led detectives to 4273 East Michigan Street, which is a retirement home.

After taking detectives on a wild goose chase, they took her back home at 6:45 a.m.

Once back at the station, detectives begin contacting woman named Zeniada Gonzalez. It is found out that none of the woman had ever had any contact with Casey or Caylee.

At 7:30 a.m., Melich drove to Universal Studios Orlando Resort. Casey had told detectives that she currently worked there as an event coordinator. When Melich talked to Casey's employer, he found out that Casey had been fired and hadn't worked there for over two years.

At 9:30 a.m., Melich his supervisor, Sergeant John Allen, and told him about the wild goose chase and Casey lying about her employment. This is when Melich and Allen decided to go pick Casey up and take her to Universal Studios. They then traveled back to the Anthony house and picked Casey up, but they did not tell her that they were going to Universal Studios. Instead, they told her that they were going to take her to the sheriff's office to look at some photos of "Zanny the Nanny."

On the way to the sheriff's office, Allen and Melich suggested to Casey that they go to her work to see if they can find any clues there. Casey agreed. Once at Universal Studios, Allen and Melich as Casey argued with the security guard. The guard said that Casey doesn't work there, but Casey insisted that she does. Eventually, Casey, Melich and Allen are let in and they head to the HR building. As they walk, a very calm Casey waves to workers that seem confused. The trio turned down a hall that was a dead end. Casey turned around and finally confessed to detectives that she doesn't work there.

At 1:20 p.m., Allen and Melich decided to take Casey in to a conference room at the resort and question her.

Melich: "Everything that is coming out of your mouth is a lie. Everything. And unless we start getting the truth.. we're going to announce to possibilities with Caylee. Either you gave Caylee to someone and you don't want anyone to find out because you think you are a bad mom... or something happened to Caylee and she is buried somewhere or in a trash can somewhere and you had something to do with it. This needs to end."

Casey: "The truthful thing is that i have not seen my daughter. The last time that i saw her was on the 9th of June."

Melich: "And what happened to Caylee?" 

Casey: "I don't know."

Melich: "Sure you do."

Casey: "I don't."

Melich: "You need to listen. Something happened to Caylee. She is either in a..."

Casey: "She's with someone else right now."

Melich: "No. She's either in a dumpster right now, she's buried somewhere, she's.. she's out there somewhere and her rotting body is starting to decompose because what you are telling us. No more lies. Tell us what happened to Caylee. Tells us what happened to Caylee."

Casey: "I dropped of Caylee.. and that's the last time i've seen her."

At some point, Casey's boyfriend, Tony Lazzaro, was interviewed as well. He told the detectives that he was going to leave and he was trying to let Casey down easy by saying, "i would never marry a woman who has a daughter."

At 3 p.m., Casey was arrested, which didn't seem to phase her. All she wanted to do was talk about how she wanted to be a personal trainer.  

After her arrested Casey called home.

Cindy: "Casey?"

Casey: "Mom."

Cindy: "Hey sweetie."

Casey: "Oh, I just saw your nice cameo on TV. You don't know what my involvement is in stuff?"

Cindy: "Casey..."

Casey: "Mom."

Cindy: "What?"

Casey: "No!"

Cindy: "I don't know what your involvement is, sweetheart. You, you're not telling me where she is at..."

Casey: "Because i don't fucking know where she is at, are you kidding me? Do me a favor, just tell me what Tony's number is. i don't want to talk to you right now, forget it. I just want to talk to Tony, get a little bit of..."

Family friend, Kristina: "Casey, your family is with you one-hundred percent.

Casey: "No they are not. That's bullshit because i just watched the fucking news and heard everything my mom said. Nobody in my own family is on my side."

Kristina: "Yes they are, nobody has said..."

Casey: "They just want Caylee back. That's all they're worried about right now."

The following day she was charged with giving false statements to law enforcement, child neglect, and obstruction of a criminal investigation and was denied bail. The judge said she Casey showed "woeful disregard for the welfare of her child."

After getting a search warrant detectives searched the Anthony family home and yard for any clues. Casey's car trunk was open and cadaver dogs signaled sign of human decomposition right away. Their handlers were almost knocked out by the smell.

At 5:45 p.m., Casey's car was submitted to the forensic's lab as evidence. Without having to open the car in any way, analysts  immediately smelled what they thought was human decomposition.

A strand of hair was recovered from the trunk of Casey's car which was microscopically similar to hair taken from Caylee's hairbrush. The strand showed hair roots form a dark band after death, which was consistent with hair from a dead body. This is called "root-banding,"

Another item that was taken from the house was the Anthony family's computer.

After a bond hearing on July 22nd, 2008, the judge set bail at $500,000.

On July 29th, 2008, Casey was offered a limited immunity deal by prosecutors regarding "the false statements given to law enforcement about locating her child", which was renewed on August 25, to expire August 28. She did not take it.

Sometime in July, 2008, Sgt. Kristin Brewer's K9 partner, Bones, signaled decomposition in the of the grandparents backyard during a search. During a second visit however, neither K9 partner was able to detect decomposition.Whatever had been in the yard was either moved or the odor dissipated.

Meter reader Roy Kronk called police about a suspicious object found in a forested area near the Anthony residence on three seperate occasions.

August 11th, 2008, he was directed by the sheriff's office to call the tip line, which he did, receiving no return call.

August 12, 2008, he again called the sheriff's office, eventually was met by two police officers and reported to them that he had seen what appeared to be a skull near a gray bag.

August 13, 2008, the officer conducted a short search and stated he did not see anything.

After one month of incarceration, she was released from the Orange County jail on August 21st, 2008. Her $500,000 bond was posted by the nephew of California bail bondsman Leonard Padilla in hopes that she would cooperate and Caylee would be found.

Casey had a bodyguard that was sent by the bondsman to make sure nothing happened to her and that she didn't do anything to herself. The body witnessed a confrontation between Casey and George. George had grabbed her and was choking her. George wanted the real story as to what happened to Caylee. Cindy got mad and threw George out of the house.

She was released again on, September 5th, 2008, on bail on all pending charges after being fitted with an electronic tracking device. This time her parents payed the $500,000.

Casey Anthony was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police, on October 14th, 2008.

She was later arrested and Judge John Jordan ordered that she be held without bond.

The charges of child neglect were dropped against Casey, on October 21, 2008. According to the State Attorney's Office " the evidence proved that the child was deceased," the State sought an indictment on the legally appropriate charges.

A forensic report by Arpad Vass of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory judged that results from an air sampling procedure performed in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car showed chemical compounds "consistent with a decompositional event", on October 24th, 2008. Human decomposition was not specified on the laboratory scale. Vass's group also stated there was chloroform in the car trunk.

Casey was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to all charges, on October 28th, 2008.

Kronk again called the police on, December 11th, 2008. The policed searched and found the remains of a child in a trash bag.

They recovered duct tape which was hanging from Caylee's hair and some tissue left on her skull.

More bones were found, over the next four days, in the wooded area near the spot where the remains initially had been discovered. 

There was also a Winnie the Pooh blanket found that matched the bedding in Caylee's room. And a laundry bin at the crime scene matched a bin found in the Anthony family garage.

Investigators looked through Anthony family photos and found Caylee wearing the same shirt as the body that was found.

Residue of a heart-shaped sticker found on duct tape over the mouth of the skull. The laboratory was not able to capture a heart-shape photographically after some duct tape was subjected to dye testing. The same kind of duct tape was found in the Anthony family home.

Medical examiner Jan Garavaglia confirmed on December 19th, 2008, that the remains found were those of Caylee Anthony.
The death was ruled a homicide and the cause of death listed as undetermined.

Prosecutors announced that they planned to seek the death penalty in the case, on April 13th, 2009.

On May 24, 2011, the trial began.

At the Orange County Courthouse, with Judge Belvin Perry presiding, the prosecution, said it was an intentional murder and sought the death penalty against Casey Anthony. They stated that Anthony used chloroform to render her daughter unconscious before putting duct tape over her nose and mouth to suffocate her.
Then left Caylee's body in the trunk of her car for a few days before disposing of it.

Casey was described as a party girl who killed her daughter to free herself from parental responsibility and enjoy her personal life.

The defense, in their opening statements, that Caylee drowned accidentally in the family's pool on June 16th, 2008. She was found by George Anthony, who told Casey she would spend the rest of her life in jail for child neglect and then proceeded to cover up Caylee's death. The defense alleged this was why Casey Anthony went on with her life and failed to report the incident for 31 days.

If things truly happened that way, i think they would have called 9-1-1. How did they know how long Caylee had been underwater for? Wouldn't they call to see if she could have been saved?

They also says that Casey had been sexually abused by George Anthony since she was eight years old and her brother Lee also had made advances toward her. That Casey had to lie about the abuse, so it became a habit to lie.

The defense also questioned whether the meter reader, Roy Kronk, had actually removed them from another location. 

They defense didn't think that the body was there the whole time. They thought that it was place there just before it was found. If that was truly what happened, Casey could not have put the body there because she was in jail. If Caylee's body had been there the whole time, they brought up the question of why it wasn't discovered earlier. 

Caylee's body had been found only just over 17 feet from the road, but the are was packed with trees with vines growing on them. There was also very tall grass.

The defense also alleged that the police department's investigation was compromised by their desire to feed a media frenzy about a child's murder, rather than a drowning.

The defense also admitted, Casey lied about there being a nanny.

When the defense called George to the witness stand, he denied having sexually abused his daughter Casey. He also testified he did not smell anything resembling human decomposition in Casey's car when she visited him on June 24. He did smell something similar to human decomposition when he picked the car up on July 15.

Cindy testified that her comment, "like someone died", on the 911 recording was a "figure of speech".In some of the photos entered into evidence was one from the computer of Ricardo Morales, an ex-boyfriend of Casey Anthony, depicting a poster with the caption "Win her over with Chloroform".

Regarding the photo on the computer, Richardo said that the photo was on his Myspace page and that he had never discussed chloroform with Casey or searched for chloroform on the computer.

The word "chloroform" had been searched for one time on a computer Casey had access to. The website in question offered information on the use of chloroform in the 19th century.

When the prosecution called chief medical examiner Jan Garavaglia, said "We know by our observations that it's a red flag when a child has not been reported to authorities with injury, there's foul play. ... There is no child that should have duct tape on its face when it dies."

She also stated that the chloroform evidence found by investigators inside the trunk of Casey's car, testifying that even a small amount of chloroform would be sufficient to cause the death of a child.

Cindy testified that their family buried their pets in blankets and plastic bags, and would also use duct tape.

Dr. Werner Spitz was called by the defense to do a second autopsy.
He challenged Garavaglia's autopsy report saying it was a failure that Caylee's skull was not opened during her examination.

"You need to examine the whole body in an autopsy," he said.

He was not comfortable ruling the child's death a homicide.He testified that he believed the duct tape found on Caylee's skull was placed there after the body decomposed. He also suggested that if the tape was placed on the skin, there should have been DNA left on it. He stated, "the person who took this picture, the person who prepared this, put the hair there."

The prosecution alleged that only Casey could have conducted the search about Cloryphorm, because she was the only one home.

Cindy Anthony said despite what her work time sheet indicates, she was at home during these time periods because she left from work early during the days in question, she says that she did the search by accident.

Roy Kronk He said that he received $5,000 after the remains were identified, but denied that he told his son that finding the body would make him rich and famous. His son testified the next day, that his dad did make those claims.

On June 30, the defense called Krystal Holloway. She stated she had an affair with George. She told the defense that George Anthony had told her that Caylee's death was "an accident that snowballed out of control."

In his earlier testimony, George Anthony denied the affair with Holloway.

George had a second, secret cell phone.

Four hundred pieces of evidence were presented during the trial and officials released 700 pages of documents related to the Anthony investigation, in October 2009. Among these were records of Google searches of the terms "neck breaking" and "how to make chloroform" on a computer accessible to Casey which was presented by the prosecutors as evidence of a crime.

On July 3 and July 4, the closing arguments were heard. Before closing arguments, Judge Perry argued sexual abuse was not allowed since there was nothing to support the claim that George sexually abused Casey.

The prosecution, told the jury, "When you have a child, that child becomes your life. This case is about the clash between that responsibility, and the expectations that go with it, and the life that Casey Anthony wanted to have."

"That bag is Caylee's coffin," said the defense, holding up a photograph of the laundry bag, as Casey reacted with emotion.

They also said "No one makes an accident look like murder."

The defense stated "the strategy behind that is, if you hate her, if you think she's a lying, no-good slut, then you'll start to look at this evidence in a different light. I told you at the very beginning of this case that this was an accident that snowballed out of control... What made it unique is not what happened, but who it happened to."
They explained Casey Anthony's behavior as being the result of her dysfunctional family situation. The defense also said "The burden rests on the shoulders of my colleagues at the state attorney's office."

The prosecution rebutted with "My biggest fear is that common sense will be lost in all the rhetoric of the case. Responses to guilt are oh, so predictable," the prosecution stated. "What do guilty people do? They lie, they avoid, they run, they mislead... they divert attention away from themselves and they act like nothing is wrong. Whose life was better without Caylee?" the prosecution asked. "That's the only question you need to answer in considering why Caylee Marie Anthony was left on the side of the road dead." The prosecution then showed the jury a split-screen with a photo of Casey partying at a night club on one side and a close-up of the "Bella Vita" tattoo that she got weeks after Caylee died on the other.

Jury deliberations began on July 4. The jury found Casey not guilty of counts one through three regarding first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and aggravated child abuse, while finding her guilty on counts four through seven for providing false information to law enforcement, on July 5, 2011. 

Sentencing arguments were heard on July 7, 2011. Judge Perry sentenced Casey to one year in the county jail and $1,000 in fines for each of the four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer, the maximum penalty prescribed by law. She received 1043 days credit for time served plus additional credit for good behavior. She filed a notice of appeal on July 15, 2011. She was released on July 17, 2011. A Florida appeals court reduced her convictions from four to two counts. 

Why was Casey found not guilty? Jurors later claim that none of them liked Casey Anthony at all and that she seems like a horrible person, but the prosecutors did not give them enough evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. They also said that the prosecutors seemed to be arrogant and cold and that the only one that seemed to care was Casey's lead defense attorney, Jose Baez.

Jurors also said that Cindy seemed unbelievable, that she was under a lot of stress and not making sense and taking a lot of medication.
The Jurors say they are haunted by their decision and wish they had known more details about the case than they did. They wished they had more evidence at the time to put her away.

After the Trial.

Caylee's Law.

The unofficial name for bills proposed or passed in several U.S. states that make it a felony for a parent or legal guardian to fail to report a missing child, in cases where the parent knew or should have known that the child was possibly in danger.

Revealed in 2017, An internet search for ‘foolproof suffocation’ was made on the Anthony's home computer on the afternoon of Caylee’s disappearance at around 2:50 p.m. The search was done after George was almost at work and Casey was the only one at home. There was also records of Casey's cellphone being pinged at home and that she was also taking to her friends on Myspace around that time.

Also, on July 16, 2008, after the police had dropped of Casey, before they returned took take her to Universal Studios, all of Casey's search history was deleted from her computer, including the "foolproof suffocation."

In March 2017 interviews with associated press, Casey that she would not be “stupid” enough to have another child, and that she still sleeps well at night. She claimed to sleep with a picture of Caylee by her bed, and said that she doesn’t have a relationship with her father.

Casey's parents sat down for a special with A& E on May 29, 2018.
In the interview Cindy stated acknowledged many things Casey told her were lies.

George says he sees Casey’s lies as pathological, noting that this behavior started around her senior year of high school.

In 2017, former Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr., who presided the trial, theorized that Anthony may have killed Caylee accidentally when she was using chloroform to calm her. 

Jeff Ashton was the prosecuting attorney at Casey's trial. He thinks that Casey gave Caylee Chloroform or something to make Caylee's death merciful and then put duct tape on her and waited for her to die. That that is the only reason why she would put duct tape on Caylee's mouth. 

Ashton thinks that Casey got rid of Caylee's body on the way to her boyfriend's house.

What do you think happened?

I don't think that George had anything to do with Caylee's death or the disposal of her body. He is a former police officer and if he had been involved, i think he would have been smarter when disposing the body.

Sadly, i think that Casey murdered Caylee. I think that Caylee was getting in the way of her and her boyfriend relationship. i think that Caylee's body was in Casey's truck and that Casey left that garbage in there in hopes of tricking the cadaver dogs in the event that Caylee's body was found.

Rest In Peace Caylee

#NoJusticeForCaylee