Recently on my Instagram I polled for some case recommendations. There were some scattered suggestions, but I also received an overwhelming amount of recommendations for the Casey Anthony case. This case is one of the most well-known in American history and everyone you come across has their own opinions about what happened. I have decided to try and cover this story in its entirety without any bias in hopes of sharing Caylee's story.
On July 15, 2008 Cindy Anthony, mother of Casey Anthony, phoned in to police in Orlando, Florida claiming that her granddaughter Caylee had been missing for the last 31 days. Cindy also notified authorities that her daughter's car smelled like a dead body had been inside of it. This phone call was the result of multiple failed attempts for Cindy to see her granddaughter, and her daughter Casey claiming that she was busy or that the child was with a nanny named Zenaida "Zanny" Fernandez-Gonzalez. It was later discovered that although this woman did in fact exist, she had never met Casey or Caylee and was not involved in the case. After learning that Casey's car was left in a tow yard, her father went to go pick it up and upon doing so also noticed a strong smell coming from the trunk which he later said he believed to be the odor of a dead body.
Not only did Casey lie about the fact that "Zanny" the sitter had kidnapped the child, she also lied about her work life. Her parents and everyone who knew her believed she had been employed at Universal Studios for the last few years, but the day after Caylee's disappearance was reported authorities asked Casey to take them to her place of employment. Casey led them around in circles for a while before finally admitting she had been fired years before. It was on this day, July 16, 2008 that Casey was arrested on charges of giving false statements to police, child neglect, and obstruction of a criminal investigation. She was released on bail about a month later in hopes that she would cooperate with the investigation.
It was not until December 2008 that the decomposed body of little Caylee was found in a trash bag in a wooded area near the Anthony's house. The death was ruled a homicide, but the cause of death was undetermined. In October, Casey was again arrested on charges of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and 4 counts of providing false information to police. It was on April 13th, 2009 that prosecutors in the case announced that they would be seeking the death penalty.
Two years after the murder, the trial of Casey Anthony began as the world watched closely in hopes that young Caylee would be given justice. Prosecutors stated that they believed Casey had used a lethal amount of chloroform on her daughter and covered her mouth and nose with duct tape, while the defense claimed that Caylee had accidentally drowned in the family's pool.
There were multiple damming pieces of evidence in this case. There were hair strands in Casey's trunk that were similar to Caylee's and after forensic testing were found to be from a dead body. Casey's trunk also had chemical compounds that were similar to those of a decomposing body. There was also chloroform found inside the trunk. It was found, after searching Casey's computer, that she had done extensive research on chloroform and even searched it a total of 84 times. At the site where Caylee's body was found, there was a blanket that was found to be the blanket she always slept with while at her grandparents house.
Casey and her defense team presented a case that relied heavily on blaming her father George for forcing the cover up of young Caylee's death and abusing Casey her entire life. At the close of the trial the jury found Casey not guilty of counts 1-3 which included first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and aggravated child abuse. They did find her guilty on 4 counts of providing false information to police for which she was only sentenced the maximum of 1 year in jail.
No one has ever been convicted of the murder of young Caylee and it is unknown to this day what exactly happened to her, even though most people you speak to have opinions of their own. Many believe that Casey got away with the murder of her own child, while others do believe that she drowned in the pool. Regardless of what people believe, the most important fact to note is that this little girl did not deserve to die at such a young age in such awful circumstances. To this day, Casey Anthony is one of the most hated people in America, alongside O.J Simpson. It is hard to find the light at the end of the tunnel in any case like this, but it did kickstart various movements for the creation of Caylee's law that would impose stricter restrictions on parents to notify law enforcement of the disappearance or death of a child.
Pictured Below (Top to Bottom, Left to Right): Young Caylee, https://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Key-players-in-the-Casey-Anthony-trial/(photo)/368911: George and Cindy Anthony, https://www.dailypress.com/os-casey-anthony-george-cindy-anthony-pictures-photogallery.html: Casey Anthony alongside lawyer Jose Baez, https://www.thedailybeast.com/casey-anthony-murder-acquittal-no-sense-in-jury-rooms: The pool at the Anthony house that the defense claims Caylee drowned in, https://statevcasey.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/the-drowning-theory/: FBI expert presenting the hair evidence, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394362/FBI-expert-testifies-hair-like-Caylee-Anthonys-Casey-Anthonys-trunk-shows-evidence-decomposition.html: Duct tape evidence being presented in trial, http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2077937,00.html.
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