Cindy and George drove up to Mount Dora to visit Cindy’s parents. Shirley pulled them aside at the nursing home and said, “I want some answers. I want you to be straight with me. How, after all this evidence, how can you continue to support Casey?”
Cindy immediately came to Casey’s defense and launched into the kidnapping story once again.
Shirley stopped her. “Cut the crap. I want the truth.”
Cindy grew shrill in her insistence that they would still find Caylee alive.
“Cindy, Casey is a liar and a thief. How can you believe a word she says?” Their exchange grew more heated until a disgusted Shirley turned her back and walked away. She went straight home. Cindy and George followed her there. Shirley was exasperated. It was bad enough that Casey lied, but for Cindy to believe her lies was just too much. Cindy kept arguing on Casey’s behalf.
Shirley slammed her hands down hard on the kitchen table. “If you can’t tell me the truth, you’re not welcome in my house. I hope Casey rots in hell.”
On November 5, the defense sent a thick document to the prosecutors urging them to take the death penalty off the table. They argued that if Caylee was dead, then her death must have been an accident. They mentioned Casey’s possible depression and her lack of emotion after Caylee’s disappearance as proof that she was suffering from some psychological or emotional problem.
In response, Cindy released a statement on Thursday, November 6:
I feel that a good attorney will plan for the worst case scenario and hope for the best. I know that Casey’s attorneys know that she is innocent, but they cannot ignore how the media has already spun the facts and convicted her.
Casey has been severely attacked by the media since she was first arrested and anyone would be a fool to ignore that. All of the negative spin has done her an injustice. Just look at what it has done for poor Caylee. The media already has given up on looking for this child, when there is simply no credible or concrete evidence to prove that she is dead.
The defense and the family will never give up looking for Caylee. We continue to believe she is alive and so should everyone else who has a conscience. I would ask anyone to ask themselves just how quick would they stop looking for someone that they loved?
Texas EquuSearch had called off their search for Caylee in September, due to high water from Tropical Storm Fay and a lack of cooperation from the Anthonys. But they announced that they were coming back to Orlando to institute a new, massive search effort. On Saturday, November 8, 1,400 volunteers responded to the call. It sounded like a lot, but EquuSearch had hoped for 4,000. It took two hours to divide them into teams of ten people each. Once divided, they were assigned to a square plot of land. Texas EquuSearch had created a grid of the area stretching out 10 miles from the Anthony home. The volunteers boarded buses for transportation to the search sites to seek out the body of a young girl.
They drove down Goldenrod Road past the “command center” that George and Cindy had set up to encourage people to look for a living, breathing Caylee. The Anthonys and their supporters were angered by anyone who operated on the assumption that Caylee was deceased, and the dozen people under the tent shouted, and shook their fists at the volunteers in the buses. Those on the bus responded by yelling out the windows and jeering.
Jackie Mattlin, a volunteer on one of the buses, wondered why the driver didn’t take another route and avoid the confrontation al together. Both times she set out for a new location, the driver drove past that spot.
When Jackie arrived at the first search assignment, she and her team members had to jump a fence into a cow pasture and cut across to the adjoining woods. Police and the property owner showed up, and the searchers were ordered to leave.
At the next spot, off of Route 417, the team spent three-and-a-half hours looking through heavy brush, poking into bushes with walking sticks, looking for any bit of debris that could be connected to Caylee Anthony. If they spotted anything, they stood by it until someone trained—usually, a Texas EquuSearch worker, sometimes a police officer—arrived and took custody of the scene. During the search that day, a bag of clothing for a small girl was recovered. But it had no link to Caylee.
On Sunday, November 9, 800 volunteers showed up to search. On Monday, the number was down to 50. That day, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla told Tim Miller that he needed to send divers into the Little Econ River in Blanchard Park. Lisa Hoffman, an EquuSearch team member, found, in a tree by the river, a cross with a beaded chain that resembled beads seen in the Anthony home. Leonard was convinced that Casey had hung the cross there and then thrown Caylee’s body into the river.
Tim told Investigation Discovery, “I had my people use side-scan sonar to examine that water . . . and then I went back myself and checked it again. I told Leonard that it only takes an hour to scan it, and that we have put four or five hours into it, just so there would be no question as to whether she was there. I can tell you where every tire is at. I can show you where there is a bucket, where there is an old wheelbarrow and a fender from a car. I can show how deep the water is in every place and what the water temperature is. There is not a body in there.”
Nonetheless, Leonard sent the Blackwater Divers into the river on November 10. Cindy and George showed up at this effort to confront Leonard about a memorial service they’d heard he was planning for the next day. “You guys aren’t doing any good for Caylee . . . If you want to put divers in there, fine . . . but you’re not holding a memorial service for my granddaughter.”
Leonard did in the end have his gathering at Blanchard Park, but he called it a “prayer vigil.” Cindy and George still weren’t happy. Nearly 100 people arrived, piling up flowers at the base of a cypress tree. Women hung a sign reading, “R.I.P. Caylee Marie. We love you!”
Reverend Richard Grund read scripture and spoke, bringing attendees to tears. “What makes Caylee so different? Nothing. She’s like every innocent, she’s perfect and she’s pure and she’s filled with love. And we want to love them back. Don’t let your feelings stop with Caylee. There are other Caylees out there . . . Love never gives up, never loses faith and is always hopeful and endures every circumstance. If you love Caylee, then love everyone who loves her.”
On November 12, Larry Garrison, spokesperson for the Anthony family, submitted his resignation. In the release, he wrote:
Due to the erratic behavior over the last several months exhibited by the Anthony family, [I am] resigning as their spokesperson. It is my opinion that others have manipulated them into situations that would not dignify the family. I can no longer be part of that behavior. I wish them all the peace and resolution they so deserve. The truth always comes out in the end, and in this case “the truth is better than the spin.”
The Anthony family countered, saying they’d fired him, and local TV affiliate WFTV accused him of accepting thousands of dollars for family photographs and pocketing all the money. Dominic Casey of D & A Investigations made the media rounds that day, too. He expressed his belief that Casey Anthony was a “loving and protective mother” and that Caylee was still alive. “You can call me crazy—everyone is calling me crazy. I get death threats on a daily basis.”
The next day, divers in the river thought they’d discovered bones along with a child’s Gumby toy and a shamrock in a plastic bag held down by bricks. Leonard called the media and then the FBI, irritating the lead investigators at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, who were left out of the loop. The excitement on television and radio was short-lived. The objects found were not human bones. The toy had no connection to Caylee.
Still, two big questions hung in the air: Would the prosecution seek the death penalty? And where was Caylee Marie?
CHAPTER 46
Just as everyone thought the quota for strange had surely been met, more bizarre news piled on the plate. WFTV reported that the city had banished Leonard Padilla and the Blackwater Divers from the park. The truth of the matter, uncovered by the Orlando Sentinel, was that t
he city had requested they suspend their search over the weekend because the park would be filled with families and kids, renting pavilions and playing soccer.
Leonard was, however, in a bit of trouble. Law enforcement wanted him to take a lie detector test to determine if he believed the divers had found real evidence in the river or if it was all a big publicity stunt. From a public relations viewpoint, the worst thing Leonard could have done was leave town—but that’s what he did. Everyone said the FBI could administer the test in California as easily as in Florida, and Leonard insisted he was coming back. But still, it didn’t look good.
Leonard was not on good terms with Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch either. Tim’s organization had expended nearly $100,000 in their search for Caylee without the cooperation of the little girl’s family. Now, Tim was leaving for North Carolina, where families were eager to help him find their loved ones. Leonard had collected funds on his website that Tim claimed were supposed to go to Texas EquuSearch, but never did. To make matters more infuriating, Texas EquuSearch said Leonard Padilla had come over to their command center signing autographs, posing for pictures and distracting the focus from the search for Caylee, where it belonged. One of Leonard’s associates said that they were appalled that Tim would leave Orlando before Caylee was found, and that he would be refunding all their donations.
On Friday, November 14, Casey filed a counter-suit against Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez. Zenaida, the woman who’d lost her job and her reputation because of Casey’s kidnapping stories, was now accused by Casey’s family and civil attorney of trying to cash in on a sensational case with “a frivolous lawsuit, filed for no other reason but to harass and embarrass” Casey Anthony.
WFTV’s Kathi Belich reported on an exclusive that day that Cindy Anthony was writing a book about her family’s experience, regardless of the outcome. Cindy did an interview with WESH news and said, “I am not writing a book. I don’t know where people get this stuff.” On the other hand, WFTV had a tape of Cindy saying, “I want to tell my side of things, what happened and how all of this should not happen to other families.” They claimed that was said in the context of a book discussion. Then a couple of days later, Cindy and George took WKMG reporter Jessica D’Onofrio on a room-by-room tour of their home. During the filming, the Anthonys “talked about a potential book they planned to write in the future.” It seemed the wheels on the Anthony wagon had wobbled off in opposite directions, and even the most experienced journalists were having a difficult time determining the truth.
Saturday, November 15, at Dominic Casey’s request, Private Investigator Jim Hoover came to the offices of D & A Investigations in Longwood at 8 A.M. and waited fifteen minutes for Dominic to arrive. They both went inside and Dominic said, “I’ve got something to tell you.”
“What’s up?” Jim asked, wondering about the somber look on the P.I.’s face.
“I know where Caylee is.”
Thinking that meant the little girl was still alive, Jim said, “That’s great, let’s go get her.”
“She’s dead,” Dominic said, and they both sat silently. Then he added, “We have to go find her.”
They both climbed into Jim’s car and headed to Orlando. On the way down, he told Jim he wanted his help in finding Caylee. “If we find her, do not touch anything or contact the police.” In Orlando, Jim followed directions, turning onto Suburban Drive, driving to the end of the street, making a U-turn and parking on the side of the road opposite from the woods—just feet from where Hopespring intersects Suburban—about two blocks from the Anthony home. It was the same location where meter reader Ray Kronk had seen suspicious items in August, where Kiomarie said she used to play with Casey and where Keith Williams had found a Father’s Day balloon and a bag of stuffed animals. Tips from both men had been dismissed by the same deputy—Richard Cain.
Now, three months later, the water from Tropical Storm Fay had subsided and two private investigators were there following yet another tip, though Dominic didn’t say from whom. Dominic got out of the car and said, “Just wait here.” He crossed the street talking on his cell phone. At different times, Dominic said he was talking to his daughter, or to a psychic or to a friend of Casey’s. Jim thought he might have been talking to Lee.
But whoever it was, Dominic knew where to go.
Back at the car, knowing that Dominic wanted documentation, Jim picked up one of his video cameras. He filmed twenty seconds and turned it off to review. The color wasn’t right. So he grabbed another camera and got out of the car.
While Dominic walked in and out of the woods, Jim taped and he asked, “What are we doing? Where are we looking?”
“We’re looking for three flat stones in a line.” Suddenly, Dominic spotted the three 12-inch–by–12-inch pavers just five or six feet from the road. The middle one was broken in half. He pointed to them and Jim videotaped them in place. Dominic turned each one over and then got back on the phone.
When he disconnected, Jim said, “We got another location to go to?”
“Yeah,” Dominic said and headed to a pile of black plastic bags at a nearby house. He cut them open with a knife. Finding nothing, they moved to the side of the house and through a partly opened gate. There were two two-by-fours and another three pavers in a row beside an air conditioning unit. Dominic moved the pavers and dug into the earth with a hand spade. On several occasions, Jim asked who’d given him the tip—twice Dominic said it was anonymous, the other times, he walked away without answering. Jim later said under oath that he’d gotten the impression that Dominic was showboating—going through the motions and getting them on tape to demonstrate his hard work to his clients. He certainly wasn’t dressed for mucking about in the woods.
When their search turned up nothing, the two men drove off and joined George and Cindy at the meet-and-greet event in the tent, where they were selling Caylee tee shirts and shaking hands.
On Sunday, November 16, Jim met Dominic outside of his office for another search in the same location. Dominic went to his truck, lifted the lid and pulled out a rod for probing. This time, Dominic was dressed more appropriately, in jeans and sturdy footwear. Jim asked, “Why are we going back?”
“I want to search the area a little more.” They drove back to Suburban Drive and Dominic probed the ground in the woods, talked on the phone and returned to the house they’d visited the day before. He pushed his stick down in the soft ground where the pavers had been.
Jim didn’t understand it all, but he began to doubt it was showboating. Maybe Dominic really had a legitimate tip.
Dennis Milstead, the man in charge of Kid Finders Network and a big supporter of the Anthonys’ contention that Caylee was still alive, reacted badly to questions from reporter Kathi Belich. She asked him about his previous arrest for assault and impersonating a police officer, and why his organization’s list of accomplishments didn’t include finding any missing children. Dennis lunged at her, grabbing her microphone and pushing away the camera and the cameraman holding it.
Michelle Bart, formerly a spokesperson for Kid Finders Network, was now performing that job for the Anthony family as a replacement for the verbally attacked Larry Garrison. It was her job to explain to the media and public why all the searchers looking for a deceased Caylee were wrong because the Anthonys had proof that she was alive.
The besieged Kid Finders Network now had no spokesperson. George Anthony, however, stepped into the breach and declared himself their spokesman, talking about how helpful the organization had been to him and his wife throughout their ordeal.
The next moment of chaos came from Mark NeJame, George and Cindy’s attorney. He quit, citing disagreements with his clients, expressing his frustration at their insistence that Caylee was still alive and saying that he was no use as an advisor when his client would not take his advice. He stated with certainty that only one person knew the truth—the jailed Casey Anthony—and she wasn’t talking.
Larry Garrison, former spokesperson for
George and Cindy Anthony, sent an email to WFTV in November:
Cindy has been writing me. I believe she may be on meds. I confronted her in an email asking her why she gave Casey’s hairbrush instead of Caylee’s to the authorities . . . I believe she is frightened I might speak out. I have gone to authorities with this . . . That is the real reason I am out of there. Why would anyone not help the police if they were looking for their granddaughter?
Below that message was the one he’d received from Cindy:
I never lied. I just never went to my bathroom to get the hairbrush that I use only for Caylee.
THE DISCOVERY
“A lie will go ’round the world while
truth is pulling its boots on.”
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(often attributed to Mark Twain)
CHAPTER 47
The first week of December, news reports were peppered with bits of information on the case—a national vigil was held, Cindy claimed that her computer had been hacked, Leonard planned a Christmas Day vigil. The first big news came on December 5, when the state announced its intention not to seek the death penalty.
The morning of December 11, Judge Stan Strickland presided over a status hearing and postponed the start of the trial. A new date would be set at another hearing on January 15.
As everyone was filing out of the courtroom, utility worker Ray Kronk pulled his vehicle over on Suburban Drive. Ray was once again assigned to the route in the Chickasaw Oaks subdivision that had instigated his August calls to 9-1-1. He popped on his yellow lights, grabbed his meter stick, in case another snake wandered across his path, and walked a little ways into the woods to take a leak.
Mommy's Little Girl Page 27