Caylee Anthony disappearance

Caylee Anthony disappearance

Caylee Marie Anthony (born August 9, 2005) is a three-year-old girl from Orlando, Florida, who has been missing since June 2008 and has attracted national attention for the mysterious and dubious circumstances of her disappearance and probable death. Police have named Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, a suspect in the case. Casey's own mother has called her a sociopath and a liar. 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. Caylee remains missing and her mother remains silent.

Disappearance

Caylee Anthony was first reported missing to authorities on July 15, 2008. The three-year-old'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 days 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.) [cite web | title = Missing tot’s grandmother clings to hope she’s alive | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26507699/ | date = 2008-09-02 ] [cite web | title = The Caylee Anthony Case | url = http://crime.about.com/od/cayleemarieanthonycase/The_Caylee_Anthony_Case.htm] [cite web| title = Casey Anthony Party Photos Discovered | url = http://bbn.frn.com/fis/storydisplay.asp?site=ccu&storyID=5931 | date = 2008-07-31 ]

When police questioned Casey Anthony on the whereabouts of her daughter, she told them the child was with a babysitter. The purported babysitter, Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez (a.k.a. "Zanie"), was said to have been caring for the child for over two years. But when a local woman named Zenaida 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 never once met the alleged babysitter. [cite web | title = Caylee Marie Anthony Disappearance Timeline | url = http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Sidebar/2008/7/17/caylee_marie_anthony_disappearance_timeline.html | date = 2008-09-24]

From the start of the investigation, police were having 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 8, 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. 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.

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 the little girl's blood, this fact has 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 a "body farm" at the University of Tennessee. These results confirmed that a body had been in the trunk. [cite web | title = Report: Body Was Decomposing in Trunk of Car Driven by Missing Tot's Mom | url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,411942,00.html | date = 2008-08-27 ] [cite web | title = 'Additional Evidence' Indicates Caylee Anthony Is Dead | url = http://www.wesh.com/news/17353349/detail.html | date = 2008-08-31 ]

Investigators continue to pursue the possibility that Casey murdered Caylee. Chloroform was found in Casey Anthony's car trunk and evidence was found that Casey searched the internet on the use of the chemical. [cite web | title = Did Caylee’s mom chloroform her? Evidence mounts | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26558545/ | date = 2008-09-05 ]

Though many people believe Caylee Anthony to be dead, her grandmother Cindy Anthony continues to hold out hope that Caylee will be returned home alive. 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 September 13, 2008, audio tapes of Casey Anthony's interrogation by police were released.

Publicity

The case has attracted national 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" [cite web|url=http://www.amw.com/Missing_Children/brief.cfm?id=57624|title=Caylee Marie Anthony|publisher=America's Most Wanted|accessdate=2008-09-05] and ABC's "20/20". Caylee Anthony's disappearance is distinguished by a frustrating unexplained lack of critical information from Casey Anthony, who has been charged (as of August 10, 2008) with child neglect and making false statements to investigators. 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.

Arrests

* August 21, 2008: Casey Anthony was released after one month 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. [cite web|url=http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2008/8/21/casey_anthony_released_from_jail.html|title=A Casey Anthony Released From Jail|language=English|publisher=Cfnews13|date=2008-08-22|accessdate=2008-08-30]

* 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. [cite web|url=http://www.wftv.com/news/17340180/detail.html|title=Orange County Deputies Back At Anthony Home To Arrest Casey|language=English|publisher=Wftvnews|date=2008-08-30|accessdate=2008-08-30] [cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/29/caylee.arrest/index.html|title=Missing girl's mom taken into custody|language=English|publisher=CNN|date=2008-08-30|accessdate=2008-08-30] Leonard Padilla subsequently rescinded the $500,200 in bail due to a lack of cooperation from Casey Anthony. [cite web|url= http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-casey2808aug28,0,5194122.story|title=Cops: Trunk of Casey Anthony's car held a body|publisher=OrlandoSentinel.com|date=2008-08-28|accessdate=2008-09-01]

* September 5, 2008: Casey Anthony was released again on bail after being fitted with an ankle bracelet. [cite web|url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-casey0608sep06,0,5244190.story|title=Caylee's mom goes home again | date = 2008-09-06 ] Her $500,000 bond was posted anonymously. [cite web | url = http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/05/fla.missing.girl/index.html | title = Caylee's mom gets out of jail again | date = 2008-09-05 ] It was later discovered that Casey Anthony's parents, Cindy Anthony and George Anthony, signed a promissory note for the bond. [cite web | url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-caylee0508sep05,0,7306870.story | title = Casey Anthony makes bail, going home today | date = 2008-09-05 ] 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. [cite web | url = http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7435284&version=19&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1 | title = Casey Anthony Back in Jail: DCF Investigates Confrontation | language=English | publisher=MyFox Orlando | date=2008-09-15 | accessdate=2008-09-15]

See also

* Child abduction
* Unreported missing

References

External links

* [http://www.helpfindcaylee.com/ Help Find Caylee Anthony]
* [http://investigation.discovery.com/blogs/criminal-report/casey_anthony_full_coverage/caylee_anthony.html Caylee Anthony Case Full Coverage] at "Investigation Discovery"
* [http://www.amw.com/missing_children/brief.cfm?id=57624 Caylee Anthony Missing Child Profile] at "America's Most Wanted"
* [http://www.shadowscope.com/archives/newscurrent-eventsweather/caylee-anthony/ Caylee Anthony Archives] at Shadowscope


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