Juror13 on Shocking Verdicts [Continued]

The following is a list of Casey’s calls and texts for the day of June 16:

All calls, up until 4:18pm, were pinging in the vicinity of the Anthony home

8:46am Casey calls Tony
11:47am Tony calls Casey
12:53pm Casey calls Tony (having just left the house to go to work per George)
12:55pm Tony texts Casey
1:00pm Tony calls Casey (call about 14 minutes) 1:00-1:14, 12 min. later
1:26pm Casey texts Jesse 12 min. later
1:37pm Casey gets text from Jesse 8 min. later
1:44pm Casey calls Amy 36 minutes 1:44-2:20, 32 min. later
2:52pm Casey gets call from Jesse 11 minutes 2:52-3:03 (Caylee is heard in background)
3:03pm Casey calls George
3:04pm Casey gets call from George. 25 seconds.  31 min. later
3:35pm Casey calls Tony 22 seconds 35 min. later
4:10pm Casey calls Cindy at work
4:11pm Casey calls Cindy cell
4:13pm Casey calls Cindy cell again
4:14pm Casey calls George 98 seconds 4:14—4:16
4:18pm Casey texts Tony (pings now appear to be leaving vicinity of Anthony home)
4:19pm Casey gets text from Tony
4:19pm Casey calls Tony
4:21pm Casey calls Jesse twice; second call 75 seconds 4:21—4:23
4:25pm Casey calls Cindy cell 3 seconds (now pinging near Tony's apt)
6:31pm Casey calls Cindy
6:32pm Casey calls Cindy
6:33pm Casey calls home leaves voicemail
7:06pm Casey calls home
7:20pm Casey calls Amy
7:21pm Casey calls Amy 42 seconds
8:03pm Casey checks Voice Mail
8:03pm Casey gets text from Mark Hawkins.
10:45pm Casey gets text from Amy

11:17pm Casey gets text from Mark Hawkins.

31 days of Lies

Casey would now embark on a 31 day voyage of lies to explain hers and Caylee’s absence from their home.  She and her Mom would talk every day and every day there would be a new story.  First she states that she has to work late at an event so she and Caylee will be sleeping at the nanny’s house.  Then she had an opportunity to reconnect for a few days with Jeffrey Hopkins (a real person, but imaginary ex-boyfriend). 

She told her Mom she was trying to rekindle their relationship and would be attending his mother’s wedding.  Next, she needed to travel for a few days for her (pretend) job.  Then a (pretend) friend had a car accident and she needed to travel to the girl’s home to retrieve insurance documents for her.  The lies became increasingly extravagant and flat-out weird with every passing day.  And every day an exasperated Cindy would ask Casey when they were coming home.  The routine became old and Cindy missed and worried about her granddaughter dearly.  She even went so far as to post a message on MySpace saying:

Thursday, July 03, 2008
my caylee is missing

Current mood: http://x.myspace.com/images/blog/moods/iBrads… distraught

She came into my life unexpectedly, just as she has left me. This precious little angel from above gave me strength and unconditional love. Now she is gone and I don’t know why. All I am guilty of is loving her and providing her a safe home. Jealousy has taken her away. Jealousy from the one person that should be thankfull for all of the love and support given to her. A mother’s love is deep, however there are limits when one is betrayed by the one she loved and trusted the most. A daughter comes to her mother for support when she is pregnant, the mother says without hesitation it will be ok. And it was. But then the lies and betrayal began. First it seemed harmless, ah, love is blind. A mother will look for the good in her child and give them a chance to change. This mother gave chance after chance for her daughter to change, but instead more lies more betrayal. What does the mother get for giving her daughter all of these chances? A broken heart. The daughter who stole money, lots of money, leaves without warning and does not let her mother now speak to the baby that her mother raised, fed, clothed, sheltered, paid her medical bills, etc. Instead tells her friends that her mother is controlling her life and she needs her space. No money, no future. Where did she go? Who is now watching out for the little angel?

When Cindy wrote about Caylee being “missing” she didn’t mean that literally.  She meant that Casey had taken her away and she believed that Casey was just keeping her away out of spite.  She had hoped that Casey would read the message online and have a change of heart.  She couldn’t possibly imagine at this time that Casey had done the unthinkable.  And even when the unthinkable did finally become apparent, Cindy stilled lived in denial that her daughter was responsible. 

On June 17^th and 18^th, Casey was still engaging her friend Amy about moving in to her house.  She was also still staying at Tony’s place.  She made a trip back to her family house in the late afternoons, after her Dad went to work, and was seen by neighbors backing her car in to the garage.  She also borrowed a shovel from her neighbor. 

In the meantime, a woman by the name of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzales was viewing unit #210 at Sawgrass Apartments, a complex where Casey hung out often to visit friends.  It was also a place where Casey was likely checking out apartments on behalf of her new boyfriend, Tony, who wanted to move.  This would be the name that Casey later used when describing the nanny who had been watching Caylee.  She would refer to her as Zanny, the nanny.

During the weeks ahead, whenever her friends or Tony would ask about Caylee, Casey would simply say that she was either with the nanny or with her Mom.  Casey was often seen out partying and her favorite hot spot was Fusian Nightclub.  On June 20^th she entered a hot-body contest after a night of drinking.  Many pictures were taken by a photographer who was covering the event that night and the images would be used at trial.  Does this look like a woman who was distraught by the disappearance of her child?

 

On June 23^rd, Casey’s car ran out of gas and she called Tony to help her out.  Instead of just going to the gas station, she told him that her Dad kept full gas cans in their shed at home so he took her there to retrieve them.  They had to break open the lock on the shed in order to gain access.   When George got home, he discovered the broken lock and missing cans and reported it to the police.  He suspected it was Casey.   The next day, Casey once again stopped by the house not realizing that her Dad was home and was quite surprised to find him there.  

George tried to talk to her about where she and Caylee had been for the last 9 days but she claimed she was in a rush and hurried past him.  He told her that he knew she stole the gas cans and he wanted them back.  He followed her to the trunk of her car but she quickly removed them without him being able to get a glance inside.  She threw them at him saying “here are your fucking gas cans” and then got in her car and left.

In the early morning hours of June 27^th, Casey abandoned her car, a white Pontiac that was owned by her parents but given to her to use, in the parking lot of an Amscot store.  She told Tony that it had once again run out of gas and her father would take care of it but she needed a ride.  He picked her up in the parking lot.  It’s important to note that she left her purse in clear view on the front seat and Caylee’s car seat in the back along with the baby doll.  Casey texted her friend, Amy, that same day and told her that her car smelled like a dead animal and part of a squirrel was plastered to it.  It is my belief that she wanted somebody to steal the car and the text message was sent to explain the smell of decomposition in the event the car ever resurfaced.

Tony was getting ready to leave town on a trip to New York, so Casey ends up driving his Jeep from June 30^th through July 5^th while he is gone.  On June 30^th, the same day he leaves, her car gets towed from the Amscot parking lot.  Casey mostly sleeps at Ricardo’s and Amy’s apartment while Tony is gone, but stops by Jesse’s to shower as well.  Casey goes to a tattoo parlor and gets a tattoo that says “La Bella Vita” – the beautiful life.  When her friend at the parlor asks about Caylee, she states that she’ll bring her in next time to say hello.

On July 3^rd, the same day that Cindy posted the MySpace message, she stopped by Universal to see if she could catch Casey at work.  Of course, Casey is not there because that is her imaginary job.  She calls Casey from the park and Casey states that she is in Jacksonville.  Casey then proceeds to leave a message for Jesse and asks him not to speak to her mother if she should try to contact him.  She knew that her Mom was becoming impatient and Casey was desperately trying to keep everybody from communicating with each other.  How long could she possibly keep this up?  And where was Caylee?

All during this time, Casey was perfectly normal, happy and cheerful.  She told all of her friends that Caylee was with the nanny.  She partied some more on July 4^th and then Tony came home on the 5^th.  She brought all of her belongings to his place and with the exception of one night, stayed there until the gig was up.

On July 7^th, Casey posted this poem on a social media account:

“On the worst of worst days, remember the words spoken.
Trust no one, Only yourself.
With great power, comes great consequence.
What is given, Can be taken away.
Everyone Lies. Everyone Dies.”

A few days later, Amy and some friends left town for a trip to Puerto Rico.  Amy believes that Casey’s car is in the shop during this time and is kind enough to let her borrow her car while they are gone.  Casey repays her friend by helping herself to over $600 from her checking account.  She also made a few trips to Target and the bank using the same checks.

Deceit Unravels

July 15^th was the day that Casey’s web of deceit finally started to unravel.  George and Cindy found a letter attached to their front door that had apparently been there for over a week.  They often used the garage to enter their home so the letter had gone undetected.  It was from Johnson’s Wrecker Company stating that their white Pontiac had been towed from Amscot on June 30^th and was being held at their lot.  Needless to say, this set off an immediate wave of panic.  This is the car that Casey was supposedly driving and it had been at the tow lot for two weeks.  Where were Casey and Caylee?

The manager of the tow yard immediately noticed the stench coming from the car when it was brought in on the 30^th.  It was the stench of decomposition which he was unfortunately familiar with.  George, being a former police officer, was also familiar with the smell.  He and Cindy went to retrieve the car and George had the task of driving it home.  George carefully opened the trunk while still at the tow yard, thinking that his daughter and granddaughter might be in there.   But they were not.   Instead, there were just a few bags of garbage that they removed and threw in to the dumpster.  Those bags would later be retrieved by police officers and used at trial.  George drove the car home.  Cindy rifled through the car and found Amy’s phone number on a resume that was inside of Casey’s purse.  She immediately called her.  

Amy agreed to meet Cindy and take her to Tony’s house where Casey was staying.  She also informed Cindy that Caylee was not with Casey.  Cindy informed Amy that she and George were not getting a divorce nor were they moving out of the house.  It didn’t take long for both women to realize that Casey had been lying to everybody about everything. 

Not Pretty

Cindy confronted Casey at Tony’s apartment and it was not a pretty scene.  Casey very reluctantly left with her Mom.  Once they were in the car, Cindy hammered Casey about the whereabouts of Caylee.  Casey said she was at Zanny’s place.  Cindy had never met this imaginary Zanny, even though her daughter had spoken of her before.  She did not have her phone number.  She literally knew nothing about her other than her name, Zanny.  Casey claimed that she didn’t want to wake Caylee and they could go to get her tomorrow.  Cindy was adamant that she would not wait another day.  She was going to see her granddaughter that night.  

So she drove Casey to a police substation, which unfortunately was closed.  Cindy took Casey home and decided to call the police instead.   George was at work during this time but had instructed his son, Lee, to go to the house to find out what was going on.  Lee and his sister did not have a particularly close bond as children but seemed to have a better relationship as adults. 

The first call that Cindy made to 911 was to report their car stolen; the same car that they had just retrieved from the tow yard.  She also told the dispatcher that money had been stolen and she did not know the whereabouts of her granddaughter.  She requested that a police officer be sent to their home.  But almost an hour passed by and the police still had not shown up, so Cindy called again.  She told them she was calling about her missing granddaughter and requested that they send somebody.  

During this time, Lee was in the bedroom talking to his sister, since Cindy was clearly getting nowhere in this situation, and trying to find out why she would not take them to Caylee.  After repeated questioning, Casey finally told her brother that Caylee was missing and had been kidnapped a month ago by Zanny the nanny.  Cindy overheard this conversation and came in to the room, screaming and cursing at her daughter.  

She called 911 a third time and reported the kidnapping of Caylee.  The dispatcher asked to speak to Casey, who then got on the phone and completely devoid of emotion explained that she had been trying to find her daughter on her own for the past month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd5PIeefc4g

George came home and Cindy hysterically told him what happened.  The police arrived and spent the entire night, in to the morning, questioning Casey and her family.  Casey’s story was that she had dropped her daughter off at the home of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzales (Zanny the nanny), apartment #210 at Sawgrass Apartments, on June 16, and went to work.  

After work, she returned to the apartment to pick her up but there was no answer at the door.  She waited outside for a while on the steps but nobody showed up.  She tried calling Zanny but her phone number had been changed.  She went to a few familiar places to look for them with no luck.  And then she did what every normal person would do when their child goes missing… met up with her boyfriend, rented movies and didn’t tell a soul.  

This story was so ridiculously absurd that the police knew immediately that something was wrong.  You can read her full statement here:

http://jessicaspraggins.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/casey-anthonys-written-statement-to-police/

The police drove with her to Sawgrass Apartments to investigate unit #210.  When they got there, they found out that it was vacant and nobody had been living there since March of that year.  Even faced with that, Casey was still insistent that Zanny babysat her daughter there. She proceeded to take them to other locations around town that she felt they should investigate and then took them to her imaginary place of employment, Universal Studios.  When they got there, security said there was no record of her as an employee.  She insisted she worked there.  They went through the gates, parked the car and she walked them in to a building, under the guise that she was taking them to her office. 

It wasn’t until she got to the end of the hallway that she finally stopped and said, I don’t really work here.  The police brought her in to a private room and asked her some questions.  She was not under arrest at this time and was not being held against her will.  The police recorded the conversation. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_0wnk_IQ7s

On July 16, 2008, that same day, Casey was arrested and charged with child neglect, filing false statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.  Two days later, Casey hired Jose Baez as her lawyer.  Bail was set for $500,000.  Unable to make bail, she remained in jail.

Bounty Hunter

In August 2008, Leonard Padilla entered the picture.  Leonard is a bounty hunter from California and quite a character. 

He put up the money for Casey’s release, under the conditions that he would have one of his female employees stay in the Anthony home and monitor Casey.  His hope was that he could build their trust and Casey would talk.  I’m quite sure that all of this was done in the hopes that he could get some media exposure.  But the Anthonys are not an easy bunch, and Casey is about as manipulative as you can get, so his hopes of cracking the case were quickly squashed.  He did get his media exposure though.  For months he was seen on all of the big name talk programs but he never did end up testifying at the trial. 

Eight days after Casey’s release from jail, she is arrested again but this time on charges of theft from her friend, Amy Huizenga.   A week later, Casey gets bailed out of jail again.

On October 14, 2008, Casey is indicted by a grand jury and charged with first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to the police.  The original charge of child neglect is dropped now that murder is on the table.  A week later, Casey pleads not guilty to all.

Still Searching For Caylee's Body

Throughout the months from July to December, there were continuous searches done for Caylee.   People came from all over to help in their spare time.  Texas Equusearch came in to volunteer their expertise and resources.   Private detectives and psychics were also hired by the Anthony family.

On December 11, 2008, Roy Kronk, a local meter reader, returned to the spot in the woods that had been nagging at him for months; a spot on Suburban drive that was only a quarter of a mile down the street from the Anthony’s home.  He had seen a suspicious bag back in August and tried to get the police to investigate but they blew him off.  He tried a few times after that with no luck again.  Roy was a quirky guy who was an easy target for the Defense.  The Defense would argue that he was in on the plan to hide the body but more realistically, I think Roy was just a guy who was trying to cash in on a ransom.

Throughout this time frame of the searches there had been some torrential rain falls and the wooded area was essentially a swamp.  Texas Equusearch deemed it too dangerous to search.  Roy went there one more time while out on his route and once again saw the bag.  He investigated and saw the small skull.  He called his boss at work to report it and the police finally came out to properly investigate. 

After six long months, Caylee had finally been found. 

Winnie the Poo

Her tiny body had been wrapped in her Winnie the Poo blanket, stuffed inside two garbage bags, then put inside a laundry bag and thrown in to the swampy woods.  Even more disturbing, there was duct tape wrapped around her skull and stuck to her hair.  The mandible of her skull was still in place, being held together by the duct tape.  Proof that the tape had been there all along wrapped around her face.  The defense would later argue that due to the flooding and other natural contamination of the outdoor scene, the duct tape could have simply ended up there, and was not necessarily wrapped around the head.

Upon autopsy of the completely skeletonized remains, the manner of death was deemed homicide.  They were never able to determine a definitive cause.  But the prosecution argued that it was likely a combination of suffocation, due to the duct tape around the nose and mouth, and potentially chloroform as well because of computer searches that were found on the home computer.

In January 2009, George Anthony unsuccessfully attempted suicide.  He stated at trial that he did this because he was so distraught over the loss of his granddaughter and life has pretty much become sheer hell.  He just wanted it all to be over.  The Defense would argue that George had many secrets, one of which was his involvement in the disposal of Caylee’s remains.  They would say that his suicide attempt was due to guilt.

Death Penalty

In April 2009, the State announced that they would seek the death penalty in this case.

The case did not go to trial until May 24, 2011.  During the two and half years between when Caylee’s remains were found and when the trial began, Casey kept up the façade of the nanny kidnapping her baby.  Her parents and brother, although frustrated with her at times, actually stood by her side and defended her in the public arena.  The public despised Casey, and still does to this day.  She is often referred to as the most hated woman in America.  Cindy and George were also heavily criticized for their support of their daughter.  Cindy was often argumentative and in-your-face with protestors.  She is most definitely not an easy person to like.  George sat quietly throughout most of the interviews but seemed to support Cindy on most days.  All of America wondered what the hell was wrong with this family.  How could anybody stand by their daughter who had killed their granddaughter and acted so repulsively in the days after?  The answer to that question is either denial or cover-up.  It has to be one of those two.  The Defense would argue cover-up.

The trial took place outside of Orlando in a different county.  The juror consisted of five men, seven women and five alternates.

The lead prosecutors were Jeff Ashton and Linda Drane Burdick. 

The lead defense attorney was Jose Baez, assisted by Cheney Mason.

When the trial began, the State carefully walked through every moment of those 31 days, repeatedly asking “Where is Caylee?”  You can watch their opening arguments here:

Part 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5iH5RZJOE4

Part 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIxtzFhZyOU

Then the Defense goes next with their jaw-dropping opening arguments that once and for all admit that Caylee died on June 16, the day she went missing.  There was never a nanny and she was never kidnapped.  She accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool.  But wait… it gets better.  

George found her dead body in the pool and told Casey that she would go to jail for child neglect and the better way to handle this situation was to get rid of the body.  I wish I could insert the sound of a record screeching right here because that’s exactly what it seemed like in my head when I first heard these statements.  What did he just say?  Wait, let me rewind that.  Not only did George dispose of the body for Casey in order for her to avoid child neglect charges, but he never communicated to Casey how or where he did this.  He instructed Casey to go on with her life, don’t tell anybody and act like everything is normal.  Isn’t that what every loving grandfather would do?  Throw his accidentally drowned dead granddaughter in to a swamp covered in plastic bags and duct tape. 

Next Level

But let’s take it to the next level… the Defense decided to throw Roy Kronk in to the mix.  The gold digging meter reader who found Caylee’s body in the woods.  He was in on it.  Somehow he kept Caylee’s body in his possession until the time in December when he planted her remains in the woods.  The State would disprove this by the vegetation that had been growing up and through the remains and the bags, but apparently the jury was sleeping during that part.

Here is a link to their full opening argument:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMt6bR1fwuI

The absolute icing on the cake is when the Defense accused George Anthony and Lee Anthony of molesting Casey.  Yes, that’s right.  Let’s throw in some sexual abuse.  They really needed to figure out a way to explain why Casey is so incredibly weird and lies about everything.  Sexual abuse apparently will turn you in to a pathological liar, so that’s how they explained it.  Both George and Lee denied those accusations on the stand, and the Judge ultimately told the Defense that they could not use those arguments in closing.  There was nothing other than Casey’s word that the abuse had occurred, and obviously her word has no credibility at all.

The prosecution had evidence of decomposition in the trunk of Casey’s car; the car that had been towed from the Amscot lot.   The car that had only been driven by Casey in those 31 days.   They also had one of Caylee’s hairs from that same trunk that exhibited signs of a “death band”.  That is a particular banding that forms on your hair after death.  They had Casey’s 31 days of lying and incredibly insensitive and crazy behavior.  They also had the duct tape and other household items that were directly linked to the Anthony home.   They had Casey researching chloroform and other ways to inflict harm on people on the home computer.  Let’s not forget Casey backing in to the garage two days in a row after she left home and borrowing the shovel from the neighbor.  And they had common sense on their side.  

Let’s really think about this… Casey is now telling the court that her father sexually abused her, yet in the almost 3 years that she sat in jail facing her trial and the death penalty, she never once ratted out her Dad for dumping Caylee’s body in the woods.  She’d rather take the rap and face the death penalty than get her Dad in trouble.  Does that make any sense to you?  Of course not.

On July 3^rd and 4^th, closing arguments are heard and the prosecution tells the jury that their case is based on physical evidence while the Defense’s case is based on outrageous claims that have not been proven in court.  The jury goes off to deliberate for the remainder of July 4^th.

 On July 5^th, after 10 hours of deliberation in total, the jury announces they have a verdict.  NOT GUILTY on all felony charges.  They did convict on the four misdemeanor counts of lying to police for which time was already served.  Casey was released from prison twelve days later.  This is how getting away with murder looks…

So, what happened?  How did the jury get it so wrong?  

Listen here for my thoughts on the verdict.