July 5 marks the 12-year anniversary of a Florida jury acquitting accused child killer, Casey Anthony.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, according to a 2011 Florida Department of Corrections statement, Anthony was once considered “one of the most hated women in America.” The nickname came after the masses blamed Anthony for the death of her 3-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony.
For weeks in 2008, Anthony lied to police, claiming she left Caylee with a nanny who turned out to be fictional. It took Anthony 31 days to report Caylee missing, despite the insistence of her parents, who were close to the child. Anthony stalled her parents by claiming she was too busy at work, although her job also turned out to be fictional.
George Anthony, Caylee’s grandfather, told police he saw his granddaughter for the last time on June 16, 2008, as she left her Orlando home with her mother. As the days passed without seeing Caylee, George and his wife, Cindy, began questioning Casey, who continued to tell them not to worry.
Then, on June 30, 2008, Casey Anthony told her parents that she was taking a “mini-vacation” and would be taking the family car to Jacksonville.
Two weeks later, on July 15, George and Cindy retrieved the car from a parking lot in Orlando after Casey abandoned it. They learned she never went to Jacksonville but instead stayed with a boyfriend. George later testified that he found the car with a smell like “something that you never forget.”
Cindy called 911 to report Caylee missing after picking up the car with her husband.
During the 911 call, Cindy claimed, “I found my daughter’s car today and it smelled like there’s been a dead body in the damn car,” although she later retracted the statement, according to court documents.
Local media picked up the story and soon after, national media caught on, creating one of the most high-profile searches of the decade, as volunteers from across the nation flocked to Florida to help find Caylee. Tim Martin, found of the non-profit organization Texas Equusearch, told Nancy Grace he suspected Casey played a part in her daughter’s disappearance almost immediately after meeting her.
“We were called in about two weeks after little Caylee was reported missing and I will never forget the moment I walked in the house. Casey actually walked up to me and said, ‘Thanks for being here.’ But during that conversation, she said, ‘I know she’s out there somewhere and hopefully you can bring her back,’ which caught me by surprise with as many cases as I’ve worked, it wasn’t the typical reaction that a mother has when their daughter it missing.”
“She never said the word Caylee. She never said the word home,” Miller continued. “She said, ‘My attorney is going to be here to talk to you.’ And when her attorney got there, we sat on the couch and he said, ‘I’m glad you’re here. I want you to do everything you can do to find little Caylee. But do not ask my clients any questions about her daughter.’ It’s like, oh my God! That’s the first person we want to talk to…..So we knew from the beginning this was going to be difficult. I knew beyond a shadow of any doubt that Casey had everything to do with little Caylee’s disappearance.”
Miller also said that while with the Anthony family, the tension was so strong between the family members that he felt uncomfortable. He recalled one particular incident in which George gave Casey a pencil and asked her to mark spots on a map that Miller and his team should search.
Instead of volunteering information, Casey threw the pencil down, went to her bedroom, and slammed the door, according to Miller.
For months afterward, Miller, along with over 4,000 other searchers and volunteers, continued to look for Caylee. In December 2008, a local meter reader located the remains of a young child close to the Anthony family’s Orlando home. Officials later confirmed that the remains were of Caylee.
Casey Anthony was arrested and charged in connection with her daughter’s death. On July 5, 2011, she was acquitted of murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter of a child. She was found guilty on four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
Meanwhile, no one has been charged and no new suspects have been named in Caylee’s death.
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[Feature Photo: Caylee Anthony/Handout]
