Mommy's Little Girl (35 page)

Adding to the chaos of the case that week, Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez of nearby Kissimmee, Florida, filed a civil suit against Casey for using her name in her stories to Orange County deputy sheriffs. The complaint read:

The conduct of defendant, Casey Anthony, exceeds the bounds of decency in a civilized society and was such that a person of normal sensibility upon hearing what she did would exclaim “outrageous.”

Zenaida asked the court for $15,000 in damages.

The Anthonys resumed the candlelight vigils on Sunday, September 28. George embraced a new attitude of peace. He was determined not to lash out at the protestors. Thirty people gathered on the lawn to sing and pray to God to help the family endure the hostility of others and to help find Caylee. Despite the shouted taunts of the sign-bearing demonstrators, George's only words to them were, “God bless you.”

On October 2, the Orange County Sheriff's Office labeled Casey Anthony as a suspect in the missing person investigation of her daughter. Captain Angelo Nieves, spokesperson for the agency, said, “Her information has been suspect since we began this investigation. This is a person who has been uncooperative since the first day. Over the past two-and-a-half months, we have been diligently working to resolve the case of the missing child. The information she has provided has proven to be false.”

In the Orange County Sheriff's Office Forensics Unit, Lee Anthony consented to providing a DNA sample for analysis. The results of that buccal (or mouth) swab would, at last, put a virulent Internet rumor to rest—it would prove that Lee was not Caylee's father.

Casey's high school friend Annie Downing received a phone call from Lee that day warning her to expect a phone call from investigators: “We all know Casey's done bad things, but you need to protect yourself. If they call you, you need to tell them the truth . . . Don't protect Casey.”

Another friend of Casey, Melina Calabrese, answered Yuri Melich's questions. He asked her about the photographs of Casey partying in late June and early July. “I would look at my pictures and then I would look at those pictures and it just didn't feel like the Casey that I knew. Basically, didn't look like the Casey I knew. It just looked—I don't know—she was trying too hard to be
someone she was not . . . Something about those pictures is just not sitting with me right.”

Melich moved to questions about Casey's attitude toward men and dating. Melanie said, “I guess this past year, she would try and do more relationships than just dating . . . She tried again with Jesse. She met that Ricardo guy and she met this Tony guy . . . I heard about her . . . being interested in this guy and being interested in that guy . . . Almost was like a game for her, I think . . . It was kind of fun in high school. You would like a guy, and then you would get his attention and hang out for a bit. And then you'd get bored and go to the next one . . . She just kept doing it since then.”

 

On Friday, October 10, Judge Stan Strickland granted three defense requests ordering that the state provide Casey's attorneys access to the Pontiac, all materials related to investigated tips including the manifest for AirTran Airways flight from Orlando to Atlanta. He held off ruling on the motion allowing Casey to travel to places of interest and on one to preserve forensic evidence, halting all testing, until rules of process could be established by the court.

Knowing that prosecutors would present their case to a grand jury on Tuesday, October 14, 2008, José Baez called a press conference that morning with Casey by his side. “I truly believe that if a prosecutor wanted to walk in there, without calling any testimony, they could ask, ‘Does anyone want to indict Casey Anthony?' and they'd all vote ‘Yes' by now. She's not running from this. She's never attempted to run from this situation. Casey is going through a nightmare. She's been living a nightmare for the last several months. She has a missing child. She also is someone's child.”

The nineteen-member panel heard testimony from six witnesses, including George Anthony and Detective Yuri Melich. Someone forgot to turn off the external audio feed and a portion of the secret proceedings was delivered out
to the media trucks. Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. warned the reporters that they would be charged with criminal contempt if they revealed anything they overheard.

The grand jury returned an indictment that afternoon charging Casey with first-degree capital murder, writing that she'd violated Florida Statutes with “a premeditated design to effect the death of Casey Marie Anthony.” They also charged her with aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.

As soon as the news was out, Cindy Anthony drove off with Casey. She rendezvoused with a bail bondsman under a bridge. José Baez arrived in another vehicle. Casey left her mother's car and got into the bondsman's SUV. They pulled out into traffic. Casey and her driver, as well as the attorney in another vehicle, thought that the following cars were reporters. José ran one of the vehicles off the road. That's when the lights started flashing. Casey's driver said, “Oh shit! It's the cops,” and pulled over to the side.

Casey was arrested. In his car, Detective Eric Edwards spoke to Casey, referring to her lawyer as “Mister Crazy Driver.” He asked, “So Mister Baez's intention was to—if it was the press—to keep the press away?”

“Yes,” Casey said.

“So, I'm pretty sure the state statute would apply to running press vans off the road, but it just makes it worse when it's unmarked police cars.”

“Oh, I completely agree with you,” Casey said with a laugh.

During the drive, Casey told Edwards that she would be willing to talk if her attorney were present. As the vehicle exited I-4 heading towards John Young Parkway, Edwards said, “A right-hand turn will take you directly to the jail, and a left-hand turn will take you to an opportunity to assist in the search.”

Casey wanted him to make a left-hand turn. He complied, taking her to an interrogation room instead of the jail.

She sat with the detective and called her attorney, who came to the sheriff's central office immediately. He spoke alone with Casey and when he finished, he told the detective to take her to the Orange County Jail.

The next day, Casey appeared in court with José Baez by her side. The judge read her indictment and ordered her held with no bond. On October 28, José Baez entered Casey's plea of not guilty. Judge Strickland set the trial to begin on January 5, 2009.

In the following two weeks, José visited his client in jail seven times. Jailers repeatedly noted him hugging Casey. A corrections official went in on one occasion to separate them. He was told that Orange County Jail policy forbids any kind of touching between visitors and inmates, and agreed not to do it again.

Baez was not the only one chastised in the aftermath of Casey's indictment for murder. Yuri Melich came under the gun, too. He'd logged into a chat room as Dick Tracy Orlando to answer questions about the crutch he was using—he'd broken his leg in three places during a training exercise—and to accept congratulations from well-wishers on the arrest. He never discussed the case, but still his presence was an irritant to others. The Anthonys' attorney, Mark NeJame, complained to the sheriff's office about his posts, and Melich's superiors told him to cut it out.

 

Sunny Welker reported a conversation with Cindy Anthony. She said the cell phone rang. Cindy was upset with Sunny's website,
JusticeforCaylee.com
, because it implied that Caylee was dead. According to Sunny, Cindy made derogatory remarks about Texas EquuSearch and told Sunny that she would “kick her ass” when they met face-to-face. Sunny called police. In case anything happened to her, she wanted this incident on the record.

 

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!”