Mommy's Little Girl

by Diane Fanning

  “Really?” Yuri Melich asked. “When was this conversation?”

  “Two or three days after . . . the incident got reported . . . José actually called me . . . on his cell phone . . . because Casey had given him my number and said go ahead and give me a call . . . And I told him, ‘You know I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. I just don’t think it’s going to help your case.’ ”

  Melich said, “I understand, based on what you’re telling me, and not only you, a whole bunch of other people, she’s just a pathological liar.”

  “Yeah,” Ryan agreed.

  Melich asked what it would take to get Casey to talk.

  “It’s really going to take the fear of God, to be honest with you. Because that’s the type of person she is. She’s not going to do anything for anybody unless there’s something in it for her . . . And she has to be scared.”

  He asked about Casey’s drug use and Ryan said, “She started telling me that she was, you know, smoking pot and this and that.”

  “Well, what other ‘this and that? Because I’m trying to make sense of what her friends are telling me down here.”

  “But that is literally what she would say . . . I would ask her specifically, and she said, ‘Well, you know, just pot and, you know, whatever else is around,’ is the . . . way she put it.”

  “Do you know if she was rolling? Was she doing Ex, popping pills?”

  “It’s a very good possibility, to be honest with you, because, you know, just the fact that she actually released to me that she was smoking pot—she’s always known that I’ve been against it completely . . . She felt very apologetic after she even told me that. She was trying to explain herself over and over again.”

  The state attorney general sent a message to justices at the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach that morning, informing them that Casey Anthony was a person of interest in the disappearance of Caylee. He argued that the bail was not unreasonably high because Casey was the key to finding the little girl.

  The three-judge panel responded by denying José Baez’s request to lower Casey’s bond to $10,000. Baez announced his intention to file an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.

  Cindy walked into the Orange County Sheriff’s Office clutching a black loose-leaf binder for a meeting with the FBI on July 30. There, she launched into a litany of the wrongs committed by local law enforcement and a passionate protestation of her daughter’s innocence.

  She expressed irritation with investigators for not seriously considering the airport sighting of Caylee. She complained that Yuri Melich had told Lee, “We wasted a lot of time checking out that lead.” She griped that an investigator talking to Wanda Weiry, the woman who’d reported the sighting, said, “I don’t know why we’re doing this, ’cause this little girl is dead.”

  Cindy wanted the FBI to focus on following the leads to locate Zenaida and recover Caylee, rather than persecuting her innocent daughter. Cindy said she would do anything to get Caylee back, proclaiming that “If someone called and said, ‘Ms. Anthony, take a butcher knife and put it in your heart,’ I would do it. I would do it without hesitation.” She added that Casey would do the same thing.

  “I trust my daughter. I still trust my daughter for her decisions for Caylee.” She’s the “kind of Mom that’s just perfect . . . She was a loving mother.” Cindy also said that she was certain that Casey would have cracked by now if it were an accident.

  Cindy aired her suspicions about Amy and Rico, saying that neither one of them had volunteered to distribute fliers as Casey’s other friends had, and that Zanny might really be Amy. She also shared a new version of the abduction scenario that Casey had supposedly told to Lee: “Casey said that she was in Blanchard Park with Zanny and . . . Zanny’s sister . . . When they were getting ready to leave, Zanny’s sister . . . took Caylee. And Casey said, ‘Where are you guys going?’ And Zanny pushed Casey to the ground . . . and threatened her. ‘Listen, bitch,’ this is what she said, ‘I’m going to teach you a lesson . . . You’re not getting Caylee back.’ ”

  Throughout the interview, she kept returning to her criticism of the investigation conducted by Orange County. The FBI assured her that they thought everything was being done right. Cindy was not mollified by their opinion and carped again on the wasted three days when they’d concentrated on proving Casey’s guilt. The agent reminded her, “We lost the first seventy-two hours before we even knew Caylee was missing.”

  Public perception of Casey had never been great from the moment it was learned that she had not reported her daughter missing for thirty-one days. The emergence of pictures showing Casey partying in a bar on June 20, less than a week after the alleged abduction of Caylee, sent Casey’s image plummeting like a rock.

  It was hard to believe it could sink any lower. Then along came Travis Nichols. Just released from prison, he claimed that he’d talked briefly with Casey while in the holding cell at court. “I was asking her where the baby was. She said, ‘I don’t have the baby, Travis, my boyfriend has the baby,’ and she started smiling.”

  Casey demonstrated once again that her worst enemy was not her mother, or the elusive Zanny, or the Orange County detectives—it was Casey herself.

  CHAPTER 37

  It was George’s turn with the FBI the next day, and the tone of the interview was in sharp contrast to Cindy’s. George apologized for the previous day: “I’m sorry my wife came off tough.”

  Although he questioned the course of the investigation, he seemed satisfied with the assurances of the agent, voicing only one complaint about Orange County investigators: He said he’d had to hear about his daughter’s arrest on the evening news. George explained that when detectives had taken Casey away on July 16, Melich said, “ ‘Mr. Anthony, if stuff changes and she’s not coming back, I will call you. I will give you a heads-up.’ But no one ever called.”

  The agent brought up what appeared to be a sharp difference between Casey before the age of 20 and Casey since. George agreed with him, but could not explain it—could not point to any traumatic event that might have impacted his daughter’s mental outlook. And although he said, “She always seemed to be a good mother,” he did not insist upon his daughter’s innocence.

  George mentioned that Baez had invited him and his wife to his house to get away. He said that he didn’t feel comfortable going to José’s house, because the attorney’s first instinct is for Casey at the expense of all else, even Caylee. George said, “I didn’t appreciate that. It seems like everything we’d given him, he’s not followed up with our daughter.”

  In response, the agent said, “He’s trying to twist it in his way to help him out down the road. There are certain things he doesn’t want to know. It puts a tremendous ethical burden on him.”

  “I understand that, but . . .” George began.

  “Believe me, I’m not defending defense attorneys,” the agent chuckled.

  George laughed, then turned serious. “It all boils down to: My daughter knows something and she won’t say anything. And she’s been coached—that’s a bad thing to say. She’s being told, ‘These are your rights,’ ‘This is what you can’t do.’ ” George thought Baez should let her know “the best thing is to recover her daughter, and some of the charges would go away.” He added, “There are little threads of truth in all the lies she’s telling, and we just can’t get it together.”

  Despite his doubts about his daughter’s honesty, he expressed a father’s genuine concern. He worried about Casey being in prison and being mistreated by other inmates because a child was involved in the crime.

  He repeated the Blanchard Park story that Cindy had related the day before; but, unlike his wife, he delivered it without any conviction in its veracity. He said he’d doubted the existence of Zanny and Jeff’s son Zack for quite some time. He said that when he’d asked Caylee, “Did you have a good time with Zanny today?” Caylee had shown no reaction. Similarly, she looked blank when he’d asked, “How’s Zack?”<
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  Bringing up Casey’s one-time fiancé, George said, “I believe Jesse is very jealous of the relationships Casey has had since their relationship was called off. I’ve seen him be very angry at different times. I’ve seen him be angry, not just at me, but especially my wife a couple of different times.”

  One of the surprises in the interview concerned the family’s financial situation. He said he didn’t gamble, but had actually lost the money in an email scam. He said that he “saw it as a quick fix. I lied to my wife and told her that it was on-line gambling.”

  George’s day was not yet done. He and Cindy both sat down with Corporals Yuri Melich and Eric Edwards of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to answer their questions. Cindy insisted that although Casey and Caylee had spent the night with Zanny on occasion, the two had never stayed overnight with any of Casey’s boyfriends. She also said that she never called her daughter demanding that Casey bring Caylee home.

  When asked about the biological father of Caylee, Cindy explained it was Eric, one of Casey’s old friends from high school. Caylee was conceived, she said, from a single sexual encounter. Eric had been killed, but Casey had stayed in contact with the widow, the mother of Caylee’s half-brother.

  The detectives also spoke to Jesse Grund that day, asking his possible explanations of what had happened. Jesse said, “There are two different types of what-if scenarios that have gone through my head in regards to what could have happened to Caylee, because I’ll say this for the record . . . I don’t believe Casey would have ever hurt Caylee on purpose, and there’s no way that I personally could ever foresee her doing that. I believe that there are times where Casey would leave Caylee unattended to do things. Get on the computer, talk on the phone. And at that point . . .”

  Edwards interrupted, “And where would she be unattended?”

  “Caylee would usually hang out in the living room while Casey was in the computer room, or sometimes Casey would go outside to use the telephone and leave Caylee in the living room. She also went outside and played with Caylee a lot, and then she’d also be playing with the dogs. She let Caylee play in her playpen while she’d go do something. So, there were plenty of times where I could have foreseen, because we both know, with children, something quick can happen. I mean, Caylee was somebody who liked picking up rocks and putting them in her mouth or, you know, dog food was another thing . . . And Caylee, at any point, could have picked one of those things up, asphyxiated and died . . .”

  “So you’re talking the time frames that Casey would leave her alone from time to time are lengthy?”

  “I mean, yeah . . .”

  “How about the pool?” Edwards asked.

  “I don’t know enough about Caylee and the pool . . . I knew that Caylee loved the pool, but I never actually saw Caylee in the pool. Now, I was under the understanding that they actually had to move the ladder, because Caylee kept trying to get into the pool, and things of that nature. I believe, at any point in time, something possibly could have accidentally happened to Caylee. And if something accidentally happened to Caylee, I literally believe that Casey would have an emotional breakdown—a mental breakdown—to the point where I almost believe that she would take Caylee and put her somewhere and then tell herself a new story, a new reality of what happened to her.”

  “Because she’s been living in a false reality for years?”

  “Correct,” Jesse said with a nod. “So I don’t think it’s that far out of the spectrum. I think if something happened to Caylee, her one toe that she’s had in reality for the last couple of years—her one foot—would be gone, and she would be completely in her own separate world. And I think that’s because Casey directly has some issues that, mentally, she’s never gotten taken care of. I do believe something accidentally happened to Caylee, which I believe is a what-if scenario that could have happened. Choke on a piece of dog food, eat a rock, slip coming out of the pool together, just fall off of something that she’s climbed too high. Caylee was a rambunctious little kid. She liked to climb. She liked to run around. She liked to do things. You know, what three-year-old doesn’t?”

  “Now Casey actually kind of lives under Mom’s thumb. It seems like Mom’s very judgmental of her as far as parental capabilities. You think Casey would be more than afraid to say, ‘Mom, now look what happened—look what I’ve done’?” Edwards asked.

  “I believe there is the distinct possibility that Casey wouldn’t tell Mom if something like this happened. I don’t think there’s any way. I don’t even think that she would have told anyone except herself . . . The only way I think somebody would have known is if she reached out to somebody to help her. But I don’t. Casey’s been an independent, self-sufficient person, who thrives off the attention of others . . . but she likes to do things on her own.”

  “Do you think she would have the strength, the inner strength, at that point in time, to take the child and put the child somewhere without help? . . . Because it seems like she has to fall on men or boyfriends to have that crutch for confidence. Faced with that situation, would she have to call upon one of these guys?”

  “I believe she would reach out to somebody for help,” Jesse affirmed.

  “Who would that be?” Edwards asked.

  “It would not be me . . . The only person that it would have been with would be her current boyfriend, which would be Tony Lazzaro. That’s the only person I could think of that she would have personally reached out to. Because again, they weren’t together for very long, and she was already falling in love with him in her mind . . . She wouldn’t reach out to me in regards to anything Caylee-related, especially if Caylee got hurt or anything, because she knew what my reaction would be. She also knows I tend to be an honest and righteous individual. I’m going to come right out and tell the correct people if something happened.”

  On August 1, George and Cindy left their home at 9 A.M. in response to a request to come to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. As soon as they left, crime-scene techs pulled up to the house. And just moments after that, detectives parked in the driveway and a dismayed-looking George stepped out of their vehicle.

  He opened the garage door and led the investigators through his home. They left the house, entering the backyard. George unlocked the shed and the techs took possession of a one-gallon red plastic gas can and a black plastic oil pan. They went back inside the house and out into the garage, where George showed them the 2 1/4-gallon red metal gas can. They seized it as evidence, too.

  That evening, George, Cindy and Lee were at Speed Park Motorsports in Daytona Beach for a benefit and a candlelight vigil for three missing children—Trenton Ducket, Zachary Bernhardt and Caylee Anthony. Family members of all three were present, as well as Kid Finders Network, with their mobile billboard featuring pictures of missing children. The event started at 4 P.M. and activities included music by a DJ and children’s fingerprinting.

  When Cindy returned to Orlando, she read an email from her mother:

  Dear Cindy, We are sick over this. We are so worried about Caylee. And we are very worried about you.

  I’ve seen so many interviews. Now, they discuss you after you leave. The only one who has remained kind to you is Mike on M and J [the Mike and Juliette Morning Show out of Tampa]. Then today, you blew it. For every one’s sake—yours, Caylee’s, and yes, even Casey’s—stay off TV or act like the person you really are, a nice person who has worked for thirty years, making the home and raising a nice family. You are taking the spotlight off Caylee. We know you love Casey, but what about the future?

  Be mad at me if you want. It hurts to see Dad plastered on most newscasts in his fragile condition. I still believe Casey’s better off in jail, there are a lot of nutcases out there who would like to see her harmed. Think about it. If she gets out on bond, you all really might be in danger.

  Cindy wrote back:

  I will have no life without Caylee. I will do everything I can to bring her home. I could care less about Mike and Ju
liette as long as Caylee’s picture gets out there. That is what I want. I am sorry for what this is doing to you and Dad, but I cannot stop doing what I can to get Caylee back.

  As for the bond, George and Lee and I agree for a lot of other reasons that Casey is better where she is and Caylee is also safer. Casey may have lied but I know she is not responsible for any harm to Caylee. I will fight for both of my girls. Finding Caylee will bring Casey home. Please know that I think of you and Dad every day. I just cannot discuss what I know at this time. I love you and cannot be mad at you.

  In response, Shirley wrote:

  I have a question, you seem to have gotten some of Casey’s things from Tony . . . did you ever get any of Caylee’s clothes back? I can’t believe the “nanny” had all of Caylee’s clothes. If you have the answers, fine. If not, ask Casey where they are.

  . . . Personally, I think Casey took Caylee to hurt you—not that she meant to harm her. She could have left her with you and then go on with her lifestyle that she wanted, till she got it out of her system. She knew she and Caylee would always have a good home with you . . . I saw George crying last night and it hit me hard. I had another bad night. You are all grieving and we are grieving for all of you.

  CHAPTER 38

  George visited Casey in jail on August 3. He reminded his daughter that it was just six days until Caylee’s birthday and he wanted to throw her a big party. He vowed that once Caylee was home, all of the family would volunteer to help find other missing children. Once again, George beat up on himself: “This is destroying your mother. She feels so bad. Maybe we’ve been all too domineering. Maybe we didn’t let you be the best mom—you are the best mom.”