Mommy's Little Girl

by Diane Fanning

  “It’s nobody’s fault. It’s nobody’s fault,” Casey protested.

  “Well, I could have opened up more to you. I could have done stuff. But I can’t go back. There’s times you wanted to talk to me. I wish I woulda listened. But all that’s going to change—I’ll listen more. I have one question to ask you and I know it’s going to be a tough one.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Would you speak to someone about Caylee?”

  “I already answered that. I mean, I’ll try to the best of my ability,” Casey sniffled and rubbed her reddened nose. “Things would be so much easier if I wasn’t still here—if I was home. I want you to understand that. I mean, I feel that more each day. I want to be home. I want to be there when Caylee comes home. I want to be there with our family when she comes home. I don’t want to have to wait three days, four days, after that happens, to see her.”

  Still believing Casey’s story that lives were in danger, George told her that they could all go into protective custody if she would tell everything. He said that he was meeting with John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted that week, that a foundation had been established for Caylee, and a website, helpfindcaylee.com, was up and running.

  He then reassured her of how much everyone in the family loved her. Casey professed her love for Caylee and her parents—all the while shaking her head back and forth as if she were denying the words she spoke.

  As he left the visitation, George spoke to reporters: “She knows who has her daughter. She knows her daughter is safe. And I got to believe her that she knows where—everything is okay.” He also said that Casey had given her attorney a letter that might contain clues about Casey’s disappearance. The lawyer said no such letter existed. Was this another of Casey’s lies to her father? Or was José Baez withholding it from the family?

  Cindy’s brother Rick sent an email to their mother, Shirley Cuza:

  I am terribly upset about Cindy and George. Casey is the biggest liar in history. She would rather spin lies than find Caylee. She thinks it is a game. She makes them look like the stupidest parents ever in the entire world.

  Cindy and George ARE on very thin ice, too. They look like accomplices because nobody can believe they can be THAT stupid to believe Casey. Everyone is frustrated including the media. They have never seen anything like this—ever.

  There is no babysitter and there never was. It is all lies, lies and more lies. No one could have a sitter for a year and not know the phone number. No one has ever seen the sitter. No one knows the sitter. The cops aren’t stupid. They know there was no sitter and know Casey is stalling.

  She will never get out of jail and if and when they find Caylee’s body, Casey will get the death penalty. I have no doubt whatsoever. The police will press murder charges even if they can’t find a body. They are waiting for the forensic evidence first but even if it is inconclusive, they will still go after suspicion of murder and hold her without bail until the trial.

  . . . Casey better change her story to an accidental death and she may cut some time off of her sentence. I know I have her guilty before charged but after she destroyed her family for those worthless people from that club, she more than deserves it.

  Cindy agreed to questioning by Detectives Eric Edwards and Mark Hussey at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on August 4. She took a phone call just as she sat in the interview room, and talked sweetly to an FBI agent. But by the time she had completed the call, her fury had been unleashed and lobbed at the investigators: “No one’s doing a fucking thing!”

  “What do you need?”

  “I need someone to pay attention to Caylee, that’s missing. I need someone to actually follow up on someone that has called in,” she said referring to the sightings of Caylee in the Orlando airport and elsewhere.

  Cindy returned to this theme over and over during the hour she spent in the interview room. When Detective Hussey tried to explain the investigative process, Cindy complained that they were trying to build a case against her daughter: “Casey may be a liar, but she didn’t murder her daughter.”

  Later, Cindy said, “You know, everybody can speculate or whatever, I think Casey got mixed up with some bad people.”

  “Highly possible,” Detective Edwards agreed.

  “Ricardo, Amy and Tony, who I’ve just learned are all intertwined. They’re all into drugs.”

  “Sure,” said Hussey.

  “We talked to another agency. They’re all into drugs, they all know each other very well, and for Amy telling me she’d only been to Tony’s apartment once has to be a lie, ’cause she knows him. I think she’s the one that introduced . . .”

  “Uh huh.”

  “And Tony and Ricardo go way back, and there’s some dealings there. So Casey’s mixed up somehow, so—And they have the money and means, and Casey’s been maintaining all along.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “But there are physical threats against this family.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Or harm if she comes clean and tells where Caylee’s at . . .”

  Edwards asked, “So you think they may be coming from Amy and Ricardo or . . . ?

  “I don’t know. I mean, my understanding is, these folks have some connections with some people that has money . . . Has a way to make people disappear. Has means to threaten, and Casey’s scared. I could see it in her face. She’s scared, and I think she’s trying to give us clues. I’ve been saying that from day one for us to figure it out without coming out because—and that’s why, I think, I could have Casey out today. I want you to know.”

  “There’s still going to be . . .” Hussey began.

  “I could have Casey out today,” Cindy insisted. “The bail money is not an issue.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “I’m telling you that right now. I have people that help me. I think it’s a safety issue for both Casey and Caylee, keeping her ass there for right now until we figure this stuff out. Because if the media and everybody’s still pointing fingers at Casey . . .” So if we get off our butt and we keep looking for these people—I’m just saying, me or Lee or whomever, not just you guys—we start looking at these other issues, other possibilities, we’re gonna find who these people are, and we’re gonna find Caylee.”

  The next day, Casey was formally charged with child neglect, a third-degree felony with a maximum sentence of 5 years, and filing a false statement, a misdemeanor with a maximum of 1 year in jail. This delay between arrest and formal charges was typical in Florida.

  Cindy was a no-show for her scheduled visit with her daughter that afternoon. She said that she changed her mind because of the videotaping and the public release of their conversations.

  Family friend and neighbor Holly Gagne appeared live on Larry King that night. He asked, “Holly, you know Casey very well. She used to baby-sit your boys. What do you make of this?”

  “There’s a lot of confusion, Larry. And, you know, I have answered the question so many times that I just say that the Casey that I knew that baby-sat my children and that has been in my home and we’ve been friends with for six years would not harm her child, or be a part of her child being harmed in any way.”

  “So, you’re totally shocked?”

  “That is putting it lightly, yes. When my husband and I had gotten home from our vacation and we heard the news, we went straight to Cindy and George’s home—we were their neighbors for over three years. And I just fell into Cindy’s arms and I said, ‘What is going on?’ And she said, you know, at that time, ‘We just don’t know.’

  “There’s been so many twists and turns, Larry, that, you know, and there’s so many scenarios. But in my mind, and in my opinion, a scenario that she harmed her child, that she hurt her child, that she knows her child is not alive and she’s torturing her parents and putting us all through this, I don’t believe that.”

  Cindy telephoned into that show and the Nancy Grace show that evening, pushing the defense’s spin: “If they had something to
charge her, why wouldn’t they do it today, with everything else? So, I mean, hello? We’ve known this all along. Why else did they go and handcuff her and put her in jail? Because they feel that she needs to be there. And again, once Caylee is found, everybody’s going to know that she doesn’t need to be there. She doesn’t belong there, and she doesn’t deserve what everybody’s doing to her. No one knows everything. I don’t know one hundred percent, but I sure as heck know a lot more, but I can’t say a lot of things.

  “Today is actually a very hopeful day. You know, I just found out that, you know, they did charge her formally today, which actually is good—because look what they charged her with—they didn’t charge her with anything but with voluntary child neglect and withholding evidence. If they had anything concrete on her [for homicide charges], I think they would have used that today. Today was the last day that they had an opportunity to do so. That is, in essence, a victory for us.”

  CHAPTER 39

  Cindy’s continued insistence that the horrific odor in the car was nothing but rotting pizza prompted WFTV news to carry out a little experiment of their own. The managing editor, Joel Davis, volunteered the use of his car. Reporters took the leftovers from a Domino’s MeatZZa pizza and put it in the trunk under the hot Florida sun. By their own admission, it wasn’t the most scientific study, but they hoped it would shed some light on Cindy’s story.

  Joel said, “About every other day I’ve taken a look at it. The first day or two, you open the trunk and you have the smell of pizza. But after that, nothing. No smell whatsoever.”

  A reporter confirmed Joel’s observations. “After seven days in the trunk, we decided to see what the pizza was like. Basically, all the moisture is gone. It’s got the consistency of shoe leather and you got to get really close to smell anything, and the only smell you can smell is pizza.” He added, “Our experiment doesn’t support the smelly pizza theory.”

  The Anthonys advertised on MySpace for two unpaid personal assistants—one to help George, the other for Lee, who were coordinating the search for Caylee:

  Need help handling flood of people offering help, donations and tips. Applicants need to be available 24/7 and have a personal cell phone, reliable transportation, a valid driver’s license and an ability to work on his own.

  The quiet of the neighborhood around the Anthony home was now a distant memory. One neighbor even filed a complaint with the police—he was angry that a TV truck had scorched his grass.

  In the early afternoon of August 6, Detective Yuri Melich, Sergeant John Allen and two crime-scene investigators arrived at 4937 Hopespring Drive with a new search warrant. In Casey’s bedroom, they asked Cindy about the clothing Casey had been wearing when Caylee disappeared. She pointed to a pair of charcoal gray pants, but said, “I washed them because they smelled like the car.” She said the black boots and black shoes that Casey would have been wearing then had been in the car, which was still in the forensic garage.

  The crime-scene techs covered the windows in Casey’s room with black paper, and turned on the portable alternate light source to illuminate any suspicious stains. They confiscated the aforementioned pants, along with two pair of blue jeans, three skirts and five shirts.

  After two-and-a-half hours, they were gone. But they were back again the next day. Cindy had gathered together a collection of items she claimed were connected to babysitter Zenaida Gonzalez. When the crime techs arrived, it was all laid out on the living room coffee table. They took a hair straightener, a soccer ball and a football, a pink “ready bed,” and DVDs of Bambi, Bambi II, Blades of Glory and a two-disc set of Transporter.

  On August 8, George blew up at the media gathered around his home: “I’m not talking to anybody. Stay off my property! Stay away from me. Stay away from me right now!”

  Still the questions peppered him, and he lashed out again: “You have no idea what we’re going through. You don’t give a—You don’t care about me. You don’t care about her,” he said pointing to his wife. “You don’t care about my granddaughter. You don’t care about any of us. Shut up, I’m talking! I am talking! I’m trying to find my granddaughter. You guys don’t care about that. All you care about is the sensationalism.”

  Cindy turned to the media and said, “He’s been angry every day. You just haven’t seen it, okay? You hear something that finally comes to a head, you know, stuff that festers, okay? Anger has been there since day one. He’s been . . .”

  “At who, though?” a reporter shouted.

  “Anger at the situation. Anger at the fact that Caylee is not home. Anger at a lot of things. Angry that, you know, we are helpless.”

  George shouted again, “Leave me alone! Leave me alone!”

  “Why is he upset?” a reporter asked Cindy.

  “This is why he’s upset,” she said, panning her arm across the media crowd. “Back off, okay? Please, before I lose my husband. Right now!”

  George sped off in his car and Cindy turned to the reporters. “You guys see the tough George, the tough Cindy, the tough Lee in front of all you guys. We’re not like that all the time, okay? We’re falling apart.”

  The Orange County Sheriff’s Office dive team worked in a pond near the Anthony home. Deputy Carlos Padilla said that fortuitously, the training exercise had been planned there before Caylee was reported missing. They found no evidence connected to Caylee’s disappearance.

  Lee went to the jail visitation site to talk with his sister that day. Casey, however, refused to see him. At a vigil that night, candles were lit; the crowd joined hands and sang “Happy Birthday” to Caylee. Balloons soared from hands into the sky, and tears glistened on every face. George apologized for his outburst that morning and asked everyone to remember the family in their prayers.

  Sorrow descended with the sharpness of a scythe on August 9—the day Caylee should have been celebrating her third birthday.

  On August 10, Rick Cuza sent an email addressed to his sister Cindy, nephew Lee and brother-in-law George:

  This is the hardest letter that I ever had to write. My heart is breaking with the passing of Caylee’s birthday and she is not home with you guys. You have to be going through hell. I love you guys and my heart is saddened with all that has transpired. I know you guys are right in the middle of it and it has to be a nightmare that is never ending. I have been watching this since it has happened and can see it in its entire perspective. I have a pretty good idea of what really happened. Please don’t get angry with me, but listen to what I have to say with an open mind . . . You guys are so close to it, you may not be able to see it the way I see it.

  Here goes. You mentioned that the steps of the pool were back after you took them down on the fifteenth of June. The neighbors said that they heard someone in the pool on the afternoon of the sixteenth of June. The cell phone Records point out that Casey made a bunch of calls to you and George that you guys did not answer on the sixteenth of June. I think Caylee drowned in the pool and Casey was trying to call you guys. Since she couldn’t reach you, she panicked and put Caylee’s body in the backyard to hide her.

  Then on the eighteenth of June, she returned to either bury her . . . or move the body . . . She put Caylee’s body in the trunk and drove away. That is why the dogs hit on your backyard and the car, Cindy . . . She made up the baby sitter a long time ago to cover up for when she said she was going to work. She figured since you “bought in” to that lie a long time ago, she could use the sitter as an alibi. Not one person has ever seen this sitter. Not one, Cindy. Is this making sense yet?

  Casey knows she has to lie to cover everything up. The longer it goes, it will be harder to prove that the cause of death was accidental drowning as the body decomposes. Casey will be charged with murder instead of it being an accident. You must run this scenario past Casey before it is too late. I know you want to believe otherwise, Cindy, but it just don’t add up. This is your last chance to get through to Casey. That forensic evidence is due in at anytime now. God bless all
of you.

  Cindy replied:

  Where did you hear that the neighbors heard someone in the pool on the 16th? I have not heard this. The only flaw with that theory is Casey would not cover up an accident and go to prison for it. Sorry. George and I have run through the scenarios. There’s a lot you guys don’t know and we cannot say. I can assure you I am not mad at you but the facts cannot be released for many reasons. . . . It’s tough but we’re confident we will have Caylee back with us.

  Rick wrote back, explaining the swimming pool story:

  Cindy, Greta [Greta Van Susteren, Fox News] ran the time line on Friday. No one knows the “ghost sitter.” This is a person that Casey made up to fool you about her having a job for two years. She pretended to go to work and said she used this fake sitter to scam you. Can’t you see this? There is no sitter.

  . . . Nothing Casey has said is true. I know you want to believe her, but from the pregnancy on, she has lied. I would even bet that the boy that died in the car accident is not the father. 100% guarantee it.

  . . . I am sorry, Cindy, but if you are pinning your hopes on Casey telling you anything true, you have a big letdown coming . . . She stole from mom and dad, stole THOUSANDS from you and George and stole from her friends. I know she wouldn’t purposely hurt Caylee, but she thinks that if they can’t find Caylee’s body, she won’t go to prison. She can and will go just on what they have now . . . Those dogs are highly trained and are not fooled.

  . . . I know what is coming next and I hope I am wrong. The forensic evidence will tell the story. Then it will be too late to change her story because no one will believe her. God bless you guys. I am sorry if my candid comments upset you in any way but I had to say what I feel in my heart is true. I hope I am wrong for Caylee’s sake but I think she is in Heaven now. My thoughts and prayers are with you guys every day.