Caylee Marie Anthony (August9, 2005 – June2008) was an American
toddler
A toddler is a child approximately 1 to 3 years old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, as children at thi ...
who lived in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
, with her mother, Casey Marie Anthony (born March19, 1986), and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July15, 2008, Caylee was reported missing in a call made by Cindy, who said she had not seen the child for thirty-one days. According to what Cindy told police dispatchers, Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts before eventually saying she had not seen her daughter for weeks.
Casey later called police and falsely told a dispatcher that Caylee had been
kidnapped by a nanny on June9.
Casey was charged with
first-degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
in October2008 and pleaded not guilty.
On December 11, 2008, Caylee's skeletal remains were found with a blanket inside a laundry bag in a wooded area near the Anthony family residence.
Investigative reports and trial testimony varied between
duct tape
Duct tape or duck tape is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. A variety of constructions exist using different backings and adhesives, and the term "duct tape" has been genericized to refer to all o ...
being found near the front of the skull or on the mouth of the skull.
The
medical examiner
The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...
listed Caylee's cause of death as "homicide by undetermined means".
The State of Florida sought the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
in its case against Casey.
Relying largely on
circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly, i.e., without need ...
,
the
prosecution
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...
alleged Casey wished to free herself from parental responsibilities and murdered her daughter by administering
chloroform
Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organochloride with the formula and a common solvent. It is a volatile, colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and po ...
and applying duct tape to her nose and mouth. Casey's
defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
team, led by
Jose Baez, chiefly focused on challenging the prosecution's evidence, calling much of it "fantasy forensics".
The defense stated that Caylee had drowned accidentally in the family's swimming pool and that George had disposed of the body. On July 5, 2011, a jury found Casey not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated
child abuse
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...
, and aggravated
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
of a child, but guilty of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer. With credit for
time served
In typical criminal law, time served is an informal term that describes the duration of pretrial detention (remand), the time period between when a defendant is arrested and when they are convicted. Time served does not include time served ...
, Casey was released on July 17, 2011. A Florida appellate court overturned two of the misdemeanor convictions on January 25, 2013.
The case attracted substantial attention from the public
—''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine described it as "the
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
trial of the century
"Trial of the century" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such is not a ...
".
Television personality
Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal pundit, commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace (TV program), Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs (news format), current affairs show ...
, who referred to Casey as "tot mom",
was notable for the attention and corresponding publicity she gave the case.
Casey's
acquittal
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an of ...
on the murder charges was met with public outrage, with hundreds of thousands posting to social media accounts in response.
Disappearance
On June 16, 2008, Casey Anthony departed from her parents' home in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
, where she and Caylee resided.
Her father, George Anthony, later testified that he saw his granddaughter Caylee leaving with Casey.
Casey told her mother, Cindy, that she was taking Caylee to her nanny, whom Casey identified as Zenaida "Zanny" Fernandez-Gonzalez, and, the next day, she further informed Cindy that the three were headed to
Tampa
Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
on a work trip.
Thirty days after Casey's departure, her car was found abandoned in Orlando and towed away.
George and Cindy were notified that the car had been
impounded.
When George went to recover the car, he and the tow-yard manager noted a strong smell coming from the trunk, which both later stated they believed to be that of
human decomposition
Decomposition is the process in which the organs and complex molecules of animal and human bodies break down into simple organic matter over time. In vertebrates, five stages of decomposition are typically recognized: fresh, bloat, active decay, ...
. When the trunk was opened, it contained only a bag of trash. That day, Cindy reported Caylee missing, telling
9-1-1
911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...
dispatchers that Casey's car smelled of dead bodies and that she had not seen Caylee for thirty-one days.
Cindy later retracted her statement regarding the car's odor.
Investigation

Casey told investigators that she had left Caylee at the apartment of her nanny, Fernandez-Gonzalez,
and that Fernandez-Gonzalez had
kidnapped the toddler.
But when police investigated the apartment, they found it had been abandoned for more than 140 days.
Casey also told police that she was working at
Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to:
* Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate
** Universal Pictures, an American film studio
** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex
* Various theme parks operat ...
. However, when investigators took her to Universal Studios on July 16 and asked her to show them her office, Casey led detectives into the building before admitting that she no longer worked there; as it turned out, she had not worked there since she had taken
maternity leave
Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...
almost three years earlier. Casey was subsequently arrested.
On July 29, Casey was offered a limited-
immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity ...
deal—in exchange for help finding Caylee, prosecutors said they would not use Casey's statements to police against her.
The offer expired September 2, 2008.
Casey's parents appeared on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
's ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* The current day and calendar date
** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone
* Now, the time that is perceived directly, present
* The current, present era
Arts, entertainment and m ...
'' on October 22, 2008, maintaining their belief that Caylee was alive and would be found.
Larry Garrison, president of SilverCreek Entertainment, acted as the Anthony family's spokesman until November 2008, when he resigned citing the family's "erratic behavior".
On August 11, 12 and 13, 2008, meter reader Roy Kronk called police about a suspicious object found in a forested area near the Anthony residence. In the first instance, he was directed by the sheriff's office to call a tip line, which he did, receiving no return call. In the second instance, he again called the sheriff's office, and eventually was met by two police officers. He reported to them that he had seen what appeared to be a skull near a gray bag. On that occasion, the officer conducted a short search and stated he did not see anything. On December 11, 2008, Kronk again called the police. They searched and found the remains of a child in a trash bag.
Investigative teams recovered
duct tape
Duct tape or duck tape is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. A variety of constructions exist using different backings and adhesives, and the term "duct tape" has been genericized to refer to all o ...
which was hanging from hair attached to the skull and some tissue left on the skull.
Over the next four days, more bones were found in the wooded area near the spot where the remains initially had been discovered.
On December19, 2008,
medical examiner
The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...
Jan Garavaglia confirmed that the remains found were Caylee's. The death was ruled a
homicide
Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
and the
cause of death
In law, medicine, and statistics, cause of death is an official determination of the conditions resulting in a human's death, which may be recorded on a death certificate. A cause of death is determined by a medical examiner. In rare cases, an ...
listed as undetermined.
Arrest and trial
Arrest
Following her arrest at Universal Studios,
Casey was charged with giving
false statements to law enforcement,
child neglect
Child neglect is an act of caregivers (e.g., parents) that results in depriving a child of their basic needs, such as the failure to provide adequate supervision, health care, clothing, or housing, as well as other physical, emotional, social, ...
and
obstruction of a criminal investigation. The judge denied
bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...
, saying Casey had shown "woeful disregard for the welfare of her child".
On July 22, 2008, after a bond hearing, the judge set bail at $500,000. A month later, Casey was released from the
Orange County jail after her $500,000 bond was posted by Tony Padilla, the nephew of California
bail bondsman
A bail bondsman, bail bond agent or bond dealer is any person, agency or corporation that will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of a defendant in court.
Bail bond agents are almost exclusively found in the ...
Leonard Padilla. Leonard said he hoped he and his nephew could help Anthony find her missing daughter.
However, when an angry crowd began to gather around the Anthony residence, where Casey stayed while on bond, Tony decided to revoke her bond and returned her to jail.
Leonard further added that Casey had not wanted to communicate with him.
On September 5, 2008, Casey was released again on bail for all pending charges after being fitted with an
electronic tracking device. Her $500,000 bond was posted by her parents who signed a
promissory note
A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...
for the bond.
Indictment

On October 14, 2008, Casey was indicted by a
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...
on charges of
first-degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse ...
, aggravated
child abuse
Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...
, aggravated
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...
of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police. She was later arrested, and Judge John Jordan ordered that she be held without bond. A week later, the state dropped the child-neglect charges because "the neglect charges were premised on the theory that
nthony. . . was still alive". On October28, Casey was
arraigned and pleaded not guilty to all charges. On April 13, 2009,
prosecutors
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...
announced that they planned to seek the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
in the case.
Trial
Attorneys and jury
The lead prosecutor in the case was Assistant State Attorney
Linda Burdick. Assistant State Attorneys Frank George and Jeff Ashton completed the prosecution team. Lead counsel for the defense was
Jose Baez, a Florida
criminal defense
In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime (particularly the ''intent'' element), known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the ''accused'' may be assigned some ...
attorney. Attorneys
J. Cheney Mason,
Dorothy Clay Sims and Ann Finnell served as co-counsel. During the trial, attorney Mark Lippman represented George and Cindy.
Jury selection
Jury selection is the selection of the people who will serve on a jury during a jury trial. The group of potential jurors (the "jury pool,” also known as the ''venire'') is first selected from among the community using a reasonably random metho ...
began on May9, 2011, at the
Pinellas County
Pinellas County (, ) is located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 959,107, making it the seventh-most populous county in the state. It is also the most d ...
Criminal Justice Center in
Clearwater, because the case had been so widely reported in the Orlando area. Jurors were brought from Pinellas County to Orlando. Jury selection took longer than expected and ended on May 20, with twelve jurors and five alternates being sworn in. The panel comprised nine women and eight men. The trial took six weeks, during which time the jury was
sequestered to avoid influence from information available outside the courtroom.
Opening statements
The trial began on May 24, 2011, at the
Orange County Courthouse, with Judge
Belvin Perry presiding. In the opening statements, lead prosecutor Burdick described the story of Caylee's disappearance day-by-day.
Prosecutors stated that Casey used
chloroform
Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organochloride with the formula and a common solvent. It is a volatile, colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and po ...
to incapacitate Caylee before suffocating her with duct tape, leaving the body in the trunk of her car before disposing of it.
The defense, led by Baez, said Anthony had likely accidentally drowned in the family's pool on June 16, 2008, and that George had, with Casey's knowledge, covered up the drowning in order to spare his daughter a potential child-neglect charge.
The defense further said that Casey's seemingly unaffected behavior after Caylee's death was attributable to child abuse she had allegedly suffered
at the hands of her father and brother.
Finally, the defense stated that the police investigation had been compromised by the
media frenzy
Media circus is a colloquial metaphor or idiom describing a news event for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to b ...
.
Evidence
In the trial's second week, the prosecution called various members of Casey's family to the stand.
George was their first witness, and, in a response to their questioning, he denied
sexually abusing his daughter. Both George and Casey's then-boyfriend testified they did not smell anything resembling human decomposition in Casey's car when she visited them while Caylee was missing, but George said he did smell something similar to human decomposition when he went to pick up the car on July 15. Cindy testified that her comment to 9-1-1 that Casey's car smelled "like someone died" was just a figure of speech, further noting that she had made "exaggerated" claims on the phone in an effort to get the police to respond quickly.
The third week was chiefly devoted to
forensic analysis
Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...
.
The prosecution called software designer John Dennis Bradley, who testified that, based on a program he used to recover deleted searches, someone using the Anthony computer — he could not specify who — had searched for "chloroform" 84 times, "household weapons" and "neck breaking".
After the trial, Bradley publicly reported that this number was an error attributable to a bug in his program, and that the computer, in fact, contained only one search for "chloroform".
Two police-dog handlers indicated that their
cadaver dogs had detected human decomposition, one in Casey's car
and the other in the Anthony family's backyard.
Chief medical examiner
Jan Garavaglia, for the prosecution, testified that she determined Caylee's manner of death to be homicide based on physical and circumstantial evidence, including the fact that her death had not been reported and that chloroform had been found in Casey's car, noting that even a small amount of chloroform could result in a child's death.
On
cross-examination
In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (known as examination-in-chief in Law of the Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Law of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Austra ...
, Garavaglia admitted that
toxicology
Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...
tests on Caylee's bones came up negative for "volatile chemicals", but she maintained her opinion that the death was not an accident, given the lack of a report.
Human identification laboratory director Michael Warren presented an animation featuring pictures of a still-living Caylee with her mother that were superimposed with Caylee's decomposed skull and the duct tape found with the body.
Warren said it was his opinion that the duct tape had been placed on Caylee prior to her body's decomposition.
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
latent-fingerprints examiner Elizabeth Fontaine said that she had observed the outline of a heart-shaped sticker on the duct tape found with Warren, though by the time she tried to photograph the outline, it was no longer visible.
Fontaine said that she had not found fingerprints on the tape, though she had not expected to. FBI
hair analyst Sebastian Shaw testified that a hair discovered in Casey's trunk belonged to Caylee and displayed root banding; Shaw said that a study he had been running and had expedited for the trial had "so far" shown that such banding only occurred
post mortem
An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death; ...
.
Finally, over defense objections to scientific reliability,
Arpad Vass of the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1943, the laboratory is sponsored by the United Sta ...
reported that
air-sampling procedure performed in Casey's trunk indicated decomposition and chloroform.
The defense noted that Vass had been unwilling to share his proprietary database and that his forensic technique had never previously been used in a criminal case.
The defense began their case in chief in the fourth week, with forensic pathologist
Dr. Werner Spitz,
who had performed an
autopsy
An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of deat ...
on Caylee. Spitz called Garavaglia's autopsy "shoddy", saying it was a failure that Caylee's skull was not opened during her examination. Spitz said that his own autopsy could not determine whether the child's death was a homicide and that his opinion was that the duct tape had been placed post-decomposition, saying that duct tape placed on skin would have had residual DNA.
Cindy, now testifying as a defense witness, said that she had been responsible for the chloroform search on the family computer, saying she had meant to search for
chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words (, "pale green") and (, "leaf"). Chlorophyll allows plants to absorb energy ...
but had misremembered the term.
Cindy said that work records indicating she had been at work at the time of the search were incorrect, as she said they often were because she was a salaried employee. Finally, Cindy testified that their family buried their pets in blankets and plastic bags, using duct tape to seal the opening.
Additionally, the defense called an FBI forensic document examiner who found no evidence of a sticker or sticker residue on the duct tape found near the child's remains.
On June 30, the defense called Krystal Holloway, a volunteer in the search for Caylee, who stated she had an affair with George. According to Holloway, George said Caylee's death was "an accident that snowballed out of control". During cross-examination, prosecutors pointed to Holloway's sworn police statement, in which she said George believed, rather than knew, it was an accident.
During
redirect examination
Redirect examination, in the United States, is the questioning of a witness who has already provided testimony under oath in response to direct examination as well as cross examination by the opponent. On redirect, the attorney offering the wi ...
, Baez asked Holloway if George had told her Caylee was dead while stating publicly that she was missing, to which she replied yes.
In his earlier testimony George denied the affair with Holloway and said he visited her only because she was ill.
[ After Holloway's testimony, Judge Perry told jurors it could be used to impeach George's credibility, but it was not proof of how Caylee died, nor evidence of Casey's guilt or innocence.][
By the time both sides had concluded their case in chief the prosecution had called 59 witnesses for 70 different testimonies and the defense called 47 witnesses for 63 different testimonies.] Casey did not testify. By the time the trial was finished, 400 pieces of evidence had been presented.
Closing arguments
Closing arguments were heard July3 and4. Ashton, for the prosecution, reiterated the state's belief that Casey had killed Caylee to free herself of parental duties, saying, "When you have a child, that child becomes your life. This case is about the clash between that responsibility, and the expectations that go with it, and the life that Casey Anthony wanted to have." He emphasized Casey's false claims (including her claims regarding Fernandez-Gonzalez), the smell in the car and the items found with Caylee's remains. Ashton called the defense's theory of an accidental drowning "absurd" because, he said, no one would make an accident look like a murder.
Baez, who Judge Perry had said could not address the abuse claims given the lack of evidence presented at trial, emphasized the circumstantial nature of the prosecution's case, saying the state's allegations were based on "fantasy omputersearches, fantasy forensics, phantom stickers, phantom stains ... and no real, hard evidence". Baez said there was a "reasonable hypothesis of innocence" in light of the possibility that Anthony had drowned, further contending that drowning was "the only explanation that made sense", a point he illustrated with a video of Anthony opening the home's sliding glass door (which did not have a child-safety lock) by herself. He criticized the prosecution for their heavy use of character evidence, saying, "The strategy behind that is, if you hate her, if you think she's a lying, no-good slut, then you'll start to look at this evidence in a different light." Defense attorney Mason followed, emphasizing the burden of the proof and which side bore it: "Casey Anthony is not required to present evidence or prove anything," he said. "The burden rests on the shoulders of my colleagues at the state attorney's office."
In the rebuttal, lead-prosecutor Burdick said that the state had backed up the claims from its opening statements with evidence. She pointed to Casey's actions after Caylee's disappearance, saying, "Responses to grief are as varied as the day is long, but responses to guilt are oh, so predictable. What do guilty people do? They lie. They avoid. They run. They mislead, not just to their family, but the police. They divert attention away from themselves and they act like nothing is wrong." Burdick denied Baez's charge that the prosecution had based its case on emotion rather than evidence. She then ended her rebuttal by showing the jury a side-by-side picture of Casey partying and a tattoo she received the day before Caylee was reported missing.
Verdict and sentence
The jury began deliberations on July 4. On July 5, prosecutors stated that, during deliberations, they were about to give the jury the corrected information with regard to Bradley's software discrepancy; however, the jury reached a verdict before they could do so. One legal analyst stated that if the jury had found Casey guilty before receiving the exculpatory evidence
Exculpatory evidence is evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to present guilt.
In many countries, includin ...
, the prosecution's failure to fully disclose it could have been grounds for a mistrial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, ...
.
On July 5, 2011, the jury found Casey not guilty of counts one through three regarding first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and aggravated child abuse, while finding her guilty on counts four through seven for providing false information to law enforcement: the guilty counts pertained to Casey's false statements that she (1) worked at Universal Studios, (2) employed Fernandez-Gonzalez as a nanny, (3) had told two Universal Studios coworkers that Anthony had disappeared, and (4) had spoken by phone with Caylee after Caylee went missing.
On July 7, 2011, sentencing arguments were heard. The defense asked for the sentencing to be based on one count of lying on the grounds that the offenses occurred as part of a single interview with police dealing with the same matter, the disappearance of her daughter. In the alternative, the defense argued for concurrent sentencing—that is, for Casey to be permitted to serve the various sentences at the same time. The judge disagreed with both arguments: Perry found the statements to constitute "four distinct, separate lies". He sentenced Casey to, consecutively, one year in the county jail and $1,000 in fines for each of the four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer, the maximum penalty prescribed by law. Because Casey had been incarcerated since October 2008, she received more than 1000 days in time-served credit, and she was released ten days after the sentencing, on July 17.
Subsequently, pursuant to a little-known Florida statute requiring judges to assess investigative and prosecution costs if requested by a state agency, Perry ruled that Casey must pay $217,000 to the State of Florida. The prosecution had requested $516,000 in reimbursement, but Perry only found Casey liable for expenses incurred during the period in which Caylee was reported missing to when the homicide probe opened. In earlier arguments, Mason had called the prosecutors' attempts to exact the larger sum "sour grapes" because the prosecution lost its case.
Appeal
Casey appeal
In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...
ed her convictions, arguing that the false statements she provided to officers constituted one offense and that the statements were inadmissible because she had not been given a ''Miranda'' warning.[ The prosecution said that each statement constituted a separate offense and that Casey was not detained at the time she made any of the statements.][
The appellate court rejected Casey's ''Miranda'' argument, but it concluded that her false statements could only constitute two offenses because they had been made in two interviews, throwing out two of the offenses on ]double jeopardy
In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence (primarily in common law jurisdictions) that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare cases ...
grounds.[ "We cannot conclude that the Legislature intended to authorize separate punishment for each false statement made during a single interview," the court said. But the court declined to reduce the number of convictions to one, saying, "Where there is a sufficient temporal break between two alleged criminal acts so as to have allowed a defendant time to pause, reflect, and form a new criminal intent, a separate criminal episode will be found to have occurred."
]
Media coverage
The case attracted significant media attention. The trial was commonly compared to the O. J. Simpson murder case
''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a Criminal procedure, criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, in which former National Football League, NFL player and actor O. J. Simpson was tried and acquitt ...
, both for its widespread press coverage and initial shock at the not-guilty verdict. The ''New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative
daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'' described the trial as going "from being a newsworthy case to one of the biggest ratings draws in recent memory", and ''Time'' magazine dubbed it "the social media trial of the century".
The Anthony case was regularly the main topic of many television talk shows; including those hosted by Greta Van Susteren, Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal pundit, commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace (TV program), Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs (news format), current affairs show ...
and Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Rivera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, and political commentator who worked at the Fox News Channel from 2001 to 2023. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He g ...
. It was featured on ''America's Most Wanted
''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Entertainment#Fox Alternative Entertainment, Fox Alternative Entertain ...
'', '' Dateline'', and '' 20/20''. Grace, who referred to Casey as the "tot mom" and made her belief in Casey's guilt clear, was, in particular, credited with "almost single-handedly inflat ngthe Anthony case from a routine local murder into a national obsession". After the verdict, Grace announced to her audience that the "devil sdancing". Grace's coverage drove HLN to the best ratings month in its history, as her audience rose more than 150 percent. On the day of the verdict, HLN achieved its most watched hour in network history (4.575 million) and peaked at 5.205 million as the verdict was read.
After the verdict, Mason criticized talking heads who had "indulged in media assassination" during the timeline of the case. "I can tell you that my colleagues from coast to coast and border to border have condemned this whole process of lawyers getting on television and talking about cases that they don't know a damn thing about, and don't have the experience to back up their words or the law to do it. Now you have learned a lesson." Mason's response was viewed as especially critical of Grace. Asked about Mason's comments, Grace said, " for some chance, Cheney Mason is referring to me, no I really don't care what the personal feelings of one of 'Tot Mom's' defense attorneys are about me."
Reactions
Defense, prosecution, and jury
Baez reacted to the verdict by saying, "While we're happy for Casey, there are no winners in this case," though he noted that "our system of justice has not dishonored aylee'smemory by a false conviction." State's Attorney Lawson Lamar said that the prosecution's case was "very, very difficult to prove," adding, "The delay in recovering little Caylee's remains worked to our considerable disadvantage." Lamar said that the state had "put in absolutely every piece of evidence that existed". On July6, 2011, Ashton gave his first interview about the case on ABC's '' The View'', stating, "Obviously, it's not the outcome we wanted. But from the perspective of what we do, this was a fantastic case." He said the state was right to have charged first-degree murder, and explained, "I think it all came down to the evidence. I think ultimately it came down to the cause of death." Ashton stated that if the jury did not perceive first-degree murder when they saw the photograph of Caylee's skull with the duct tape, "then so be it". Ashton suggested that the state could pursue perjury
Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...
charges against Cindy for her claims regarding the chloroform searches. The state attorney's office later said she would not be charged.
Initially, the twelve jurors did not want to discuss the verdict with the media. Perry announced at sentencing on July 7 that he would withhold the jurors' names for several months because of concern that " me people would like to take something out on them". He released the jurors' names on October 25, 2011. Only an alternate juror, Russell Huekler, stepped forward the day of the verdict, saying, "The prosecution didn't provide the evidence that was there for any of the charges from first-degree murder down to second-degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excus ...
to the child abuse to even the manslaughter harge It just wasn't there."
The next day, juror number three, Jennifer Ford gave an interview to ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to:
* ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
* ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company
ABC News may a ...
, emphasizing that the jury was not required to find Casey innocent to find her not guilty, saying, "If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be." She added that the defense's argument seemed more logical than the prosecution's, though she noted that the jury was "sick to heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
stomach over the verdict. Juror number two, who requested to stay unidentified, told the '' St. Petersburg Times'' that the jurors "agreed if we were going fully on feelings and emotions," they would find Casey guilty, but they "wanted to go on the evidence that was presented to us".
In an anonymous interview, juror number eleven, the jury foreman, stated that "a feeling of disgust" came over him when he (wrongly) thought his "signature and asey'ssignature were going to be on the erdictsheet". The foreman said that the state's failure to prove the cause of death and suspicion regarding the role Casey's father George had played had both factored into the jury's deliberations. In another interview, the foreman stated that the jury had been skeptical of the offered motive for the alleged killing: "That a mother would want to do something like that to her child just because she wanted to go out and party . . . the motive that the state provided was, in our eyes, was just kind of weak." The foreman said that, in an initial poll, the jury had voted 10–2 in favor of the not guilty verdict, and, after more than ten hours of deliberation, they collectively decided the only charges proven were the four counts of lying to law enforcement.
In 2021, one juror said he regretted his decision to fully acquit Casey of homicide and abuse, and said that in retrospect he would at least vote to convict her of aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse. He said of his vote to acquit her on the most serious charges, "I don't know what the hell I was doing."
Anthony family
Mark Lippman, the attorney for George and Cindy Anthony, told ABC News that the family received death threats after the not-guilty verdict was rendered. In response to the verdict, a statement was released by Lippman on behalf of the Anthony family:
Public response
Reaction to verdict
When the not-guilty verdict was rendered, many in the crowd of 500 outside the courthouse reacted with anger, chanting their disapproval and waving protest signs. People took to Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
and Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
, as well as other social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
outlets, to express their outrage. Traffic to news sites surged from about two million page views a minute to 3.3 million, with most of the visits coming from the United States. Mashable
Mashable is a Online newspaper, news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005.
History
Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004. Early iterations o ...
reported that between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., one million viewers were watching CNN.com/live, thirty times higher than the previous month's average. Twitter's trending topics in the U.S. were mostly about the subjects related to the case, and Newser
Newser is an American news aggregation website. It was founded in 2007 by journalist/media pundit Michael Wolff and businessman Patrick Spain, the former CEO of HighBeam Research and Hoover's.
Newser's president and editor-in-chief is Kate Sea ...
reported that posts on Facebook were coming in "too fast for all Facebook to even count them, meaning at least 10 per second". Some people referred to the verdict as "O.J. Number 2", and various media personalities and celebrities expressed outrage via Twitter. News anchor Julie Chen
Julie may refer to:
* Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name
Film and television
* Julie (1956 film), ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day
* Julie (1975 film), ''Julie'' (1975 film) ...
became visibly upset while reading the verdict on '' The Talk'' and had to be assisted by her fellow co-hosts, who also expressed their dismay.
There was a gender gap in perceptions to the case. According to a ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
''/Gallup Poll
Gallup, Inc. is an American multinational analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Gallup provides analytics and man ...
of 1,010 respondents, about two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) believed Casey "definitely" or "probably" murdered her daughter; however, women were much more likely than men to believe the murder charges against Casey and to be upset by the not-guilty verdict. The poll reported that women were more than twice as likely as men, 28 percent versus 11 percent, to think Casey "definitely" committed murder. Twenty-seven percent of women said they were angry about the verdict, compared with nine percent of men. On the day Casey was sentenced for lying to investigators in the death of her daughter, supporters and protesters gathered outside the Orange County Courthouse, with one man who displayed a sign asking Casey to marry him. Two men who drove overnight from West Virginia
West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
held signs that said, "We love and support you Casey Anthony," and "Nancy Grace, stop trying to ruin innocent lives. The jury has spoken. P.S. Our legal system still works!" The gender gap has partly been explained by "the maternal instinct"—the idea of a mother murdering her own child is a threat to the ideal of motherhood.
Analyses of public investment
Opinions varied on what factors drove the general public's investment in the trial and outrage towards the verdict. Safon argued the Anthonys having been a regular and "unremarkable" family with complex relationships made them intriguing to watch. In a special piece for CNN
Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
, psychologist Frank Farley described the circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly, i.e., without need ...
as "all over the map" and that combined with "the apparent lying, significant contradictions and flip-flops of testimony, and questionable or bizarre theories of human behavior, it is little wonder that this nation asglued to the tube". He said it was a trial that was both a psychologist's dream and nightmare, and believes that much of the public's fascination had to do with the uncertainty of a motive for the crime. UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
forensic psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman, said, "The main reason that people are reacting so strongly is that the media convicted Casey before the jury decided on the verdict. The public has been whipped up into this frenzy wanting revenge for this poor little adorable child. And because of the desire for revenge, they've been whipped up into a lynch mob." She added, "Nobody likes a liar, and Anthony was a habitual liar. And nobody liked the fact that she was partying after Caylee's death. Casey obviously has a lot of psychological problems. Whether she murdered her daughter or not is another thing."
Legal commentary
John Cloud of ''Time'' magazine said the jury had "made the right call" because "the state of Florida did not make a good case that Anthony murdered her daughter": "Because the prosecutors had so little physical evidence, they built their case on asey's(nearly imperceptible) moral character. The prosecutors seemed to think that if jurors saw what a fantastic liar Anthony was, they would understand that she could also be a murderer." A number of media commentators reasoned that the prosecution overcharged the case by tagging on the death penalty, concluding that people in good conscience could not sentence Casey to death based on the circumstantial evidence presented.
The CSI effect was also extensively argued—that society now lives "in a 'CSI age' where everyone expects fingerprints and DNA, and we are sending a message that old-fashioned circumstantial evidence is not sufficient". O. J. Simpson case prosecutor Marcia Clark opined that the jury interpreted "reasonable doubt
Beyond (a) reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the standard of balance of probabilities (US English: preponderance of ...
" too narrowly. Clark said instruction on reasonable doubt is "the hardest, most elusive" instruction, " d I think it's where even the most fair-minded jurors can get derailed." Clark added, "In Scotland, they have three verdicts: guilty, not guilty, and not proven
Not proven (, ) is a verdict available to a court of law in Scotland. Under Scots law, a criminal trial may end in one of three verdicts, one of conviction ("guilty") and two of acquittal ("not proven" and "not guilty").The Scottish criminal jur ...
. It's one way of showing that even if the jury didn't believe the evidence amounted to proof beyond a reasonable doubt, it didn't find the defendant innocent either. There's a difference."
Aftermath
Casey Anthony
Casey left Florida for an undisclosed location not long after the verdict. However, on August 12, she was ordered to return to serve a year's supervised probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...
for an unrelated check-fraud conviction. Casey returned on August 25 and served out her probation in an undisclosed location. Due to numerous threats against her life, the Florida Department of Corrections
The Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) is the government agency responsible for operating state prisons in the U.S. state of Florida. It has its headquarters in the state capital of Tallahassee.
The Florida Department of Corrections oper ...
did not enter her information into the state parolee database. In August2011, George and Cindy issued a statement that Casey would not be living at their home when she returned to Florida to serve her probation. According to ''Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...
'', she was reportedly working with her probation officer to take online college classes in an unspecified field, while protected by her security, at an undisclosed educational institution.
In August2011, the Florida Department of Children and Families
The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is a state agency of Florida. Its headquarters are at 2415 North Monroe St., Ste. 400 in Tallahassee, Florida. The department provides social services in Florida to children, adults, refugees ...
released a report based on a three-year investigation into Caylee's disappearance and death. An agency spokesperson stated, "It is the conclusion of the CFthat aseyfailed to protect her child from harm either through her actions or lack of actions, which tragically resulted in the child's untimely death."
In March2017, Casey gave an interview with the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, saying she "underst odthe reasons people feel about me" and noting, as to the cause of her daughter's death, "As I stand here today, I can't tell you one way or another. The last time I saw my daughter, I believed she was alive and was going to be OK, and that's what was told to me." Casey later participated in a documentary, ''Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies'', in which she discussed her life before, during, and after the trial.
Civil actions
In September2008, Fernandez-Gonzalez sued Casey for defamation
Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
. In July 2011, Texas EquuSearch (TES), a non-profit group which assisted in the search for Caylee, sued Casey for fraud
In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...
and unjust enrichment, estimating it spent more than $100,000 searching for Caylee even though she was already dead. And, in January2013, Kronk served Casey with a defamation lawsuit of his own. In response to Kronk's claim, on January27, 2013, Casey filed for bankruptcy with the Middle District of Florida Bankruptcy Court. Her estimated liabilities were between $500,000 and $1 million.
TES and Casey settled
A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...
out of court on October18, 2013, resulting in TES being listed as a creditor to Casey entitled to $75,000, though attorney Marc Wites acknowledged that TES was likely to "receive very little money, if anything". The next month, the presiding bankruptcy-court judge, K. Rodney May, ruled that both defamation claims could proceed. In September2015, however, Judge May threw out Fernandez-Gonzalez's claims, finding that Casey's statements concerning Fernandez-Gonzalez were not willful and malicious.
In April2016, affidavit
An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or ''deposition (law), deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by la ...
s by Dominic Casey were filed in relation to Kronk's claim. Dominic had testified in the murder trial, saying that a psychic
A psychic is a person who claims to use powers rooted in parapsychology, such as extrasensory perception (ESP), to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance; or who performs acts that a ...
had led him to the woods in which Caylee was buried, though he was unable to find the child. In the affidavits, Dominic stated that Baez had told him that Casey had admitted to killing her daughter. He further stated that Baez had a sexual relationship with Casey. Baez responded to the claims, saying that both allegations were false. In 2018, Judge May sanctioned Dominic for having failed to appear for three depositions, and the affidavits were struck from the record or sealed.
In February 2019, Kronk's defamation lawsuit was dismissed by a bankruptcy court
United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy ...
judge, who found there was a lack of evidence Casey willfully defamed Kronk. That decision was affirmed on appeal by a district court judge in January 2020.
"Caylee's Law"
Since the end of the trial, various movements have arisen for the creation of a new law, called "Caylee's Law", that would impose stricter requirements on parents to notify law enforcement of the death or disappearance of a child. One such petition, circulated via Change.org, has gained nearly 1.3 million electronic signatures. In response to this and other petitions, lawmakers in four states—Florida, Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
and West Virginia—have begun drafting versions of Caylee's Law since 2011. The law in Oklahoma would require a child's parent or guardian to notify police of a missing child within 24 hours, and would also stipulate a time frame for notification of the disappearance of a young child under the age of 12. The Florida law would make it a felony if a parent or legal guardian fails to report a missing child in a timely manner if they could have known that the child would be in danger. The call for mandatory reporting laws has been criticized as being "purely reactive, overly indiscriminating and even counterproductive." One critic noted the law could lead to overcompliance and false reports by parents wary of becoming suspects, wasting police resources and leading to legitimate abductions going uninvestigated during the critical first few hours. Additionally, innocent people could get snared in the law for searching for a child instead of immediately calling police.
Memorials and tribute songs
George and Cindy Anthony held a memorial service for Caylee in February2009, which Casey watched for the first time for a documentary released in 2022. In the footage, George bemoaned that strangers would not get to "smell aylee'shair, smell the sweet sweat when she came in from outside", adding that "a hug from a small child ... gives me energy like you couldn't imagine".
Different artists have written songs in Caylee's memory. Jon Whynock performed his own version at the 2009 memorial service, and in 2011 Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts is an American Country music, country music band formed in 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background voc ...
' Gary LeVox collaborated with country comedian and radio host Cledus T. Judd and songwriter Jimmy Yeary to write a song titled "She's Going Places" in Anthony's memory.
Later information
In November 2012, Orlando station WKMG-TV
WKMG-TV (channel 6) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Graham Media Group. The station's studios are located on John Young Parkway ( SR 423) in Orlando, and its transmitter is located o ...
reported that police never investigated Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curr ...
browser evidence on Casey's computer the day of Caylee's death; they only looked at Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated as IE or MSIE) is a deprecation, retired series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft that were u ...
evidence. The browser history showed that someone at the Anthony household, using a password-protected account Casey used, used Firefox to do a Google search for "foolproof suffocation" at 2:51 p.m., and then clicked on an article criticizing pro-suicide websites promoting "foolproof" ways to die, including the idea of committing suicide by taking poison and putting a plastic bag over one's head. The browser then recorded activity on MySpace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
, a site used by Casey but not George. The station learned about this information from Baez, who mentioned it in his book on the case, speculating that George had contemplated suicide after Caylee's death. He conceded to reporters that the records are open to interpretation; however, he speculated that the state may have chosen not to introduce the search at trial because, according to Baez, the computer records tend to refute the timeline stated by George, which was that Casey left at 12:50 p.m. An analysis by John Goetz, a retired engineer and computer expert in Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
, revealed that Casey's password-protected computer account shows activity on the home computer at 1:39 p.m., with activity on her AIM account, as well as MySpace and Facebook.
On November 29, 2022, a docuseries was released on Peacock
Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...
, directed by Alexandra Dean, titled ''Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies.'' In an interview with ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'', Dean said that Casey's pathological lying was a defense mechanism
In psychoanalytic theory, defence mechanisms are unconscious psychological processes that protect the self from anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings related to internal conflicts and external stressors.
According to this theory, healthy ...
caused by her experience of alleged sexual abuse, and that police never looked at her father as a suspect in Caylee's disappearance.
On March 1, 2025, Casey posted a TikTok
TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
video announcing her new career as a legal advocate, and promoting her email newsletter. She says she's planning to use Substack to advocate for women, the LGBTQ community and her deceased daughter, Caylee. In one of her videos, she explains how she plans to share advice and be accessible to users through email, which she also hopes will refine her public image. Casey now says that her pregnancy was the result of getting drugged and raped at a house party when she was 18.
See also
* List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-1950
* List of solved missing person cases: 1950–1999
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder ...
* Death of Victoria Martens
* Media circus
Media circus is a colloquial metaphor or idiom describing a news event for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to b ...
* Murder of Lorenzo González Cacho, unsolved murder of an 8-year-old Puerto Rican child, in which his mother figured as a suspect
* Murder of Travis Alexander, a case compared to that of Anthony, with apparent similarities in coverage and the alleged perpetrators.
* Trial by media
Trial by media is a phrase popular in the late 20th century and early 21st century to describe the impact of television and newspaper coverage on a person's reputation by creating a widespread perception of guilt or innocence before, or after, a ...
* Unreported missing
References
External links
* Central Florida News 13 resources:
*
Timeline of complete case
*
Link to daily news stories about the trial
*
List of all witnesses called
*
List of various legal documents, including documentary evidence released by the state from 2009
Miscellaneous documentary evidence released by the state from 2008
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience.
It init ...
Casey Anthony news coverage
from WFTV-TV ( ABC 9) in Orlando, FL
Casey Anthony news coverage
from WKMG-TV (CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
6) in Orlando, FL
Casey Anthony news coverage
from WESH-TV
WESH (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, serving the Orlando area as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Clermont-licensed CW affiliate WKCF (channel 18). The two ...
(NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
2) in Orlando, FL
Casey Anthony news coverage
from WOFL-TV (FOX
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...
35) in Orlando, FL
YouTube analysis about the event
uploaded by JCS – Criminal Psychology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Caylee, Death Of
2000s missing person cases
2008 in Florida
2011 in Florida
21st century in Orlando, Florida
Violent child deaths
Criminal trials that ended in acquittal
June 2008 in the United States
Missing person cases in Florida
21st-century American trials
Unsolved deaths in Florida
Trials in Florida