Police: Mother's lies cloud disappearance of Fla. 2-year-old -- chicagotribune.comwww.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-071908-missing-girl-jul19,0,3232170.story
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Police: Mother's lies cloud disappearance of Fla. 2-year-old
By Walter Pacheco and Bianca Prieto
The Orlando Sentinel
3:25 PM CDT, July 18, 2008
ORLANDO
Cindy Anthony finds solace in her missing granddaughter's bedroom.
The small, tidy room, once filled with the laughter of 2-year-old Caylee Marie
Anthony, is now eerily silent. Pictures of Winnie-the-Pooh line the walls and
decorate the quilt on the toddler bed, and an empty chair at her tiny teatime
table awaits Caylee's return.
Now it's a place where Cindy Anthony goes to hold on to the girl's favorite
teddy bear and pray.
"I've found a lot of peace here the last few days," Cindy Anthony said. "There's
an emptiness in my heart because she's not here."
Late Thursday, teams from the Orange County Sheriff's Office brought digging
equipment to Cindy Anthony's home and scoured the backyard with cadaver-sniffing
dogs. Investigators moved a playhouse from its spot in the yard and were looking
at the ground beneath it.
Investigators are trying to unravel the web of lies that they say the girl's
mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, has told about her daughter's disappearance
nearly five weeks ago.
"As we continue to investigate this, we find more inconsistencies in the
mother's story, so we continue to look for witnesses," Orange County sheriff's
Sgt. John Allen said Thursday. But one investigator put it more bluntly in
Anthony's arrest affidavit:
"Based on the repetitive lies that the defendant has told, we do not know with
whom the child is or even if the child is alive," wrote Cpl. Yuri Melich of the
missing-persons unit. "It should be noted that at no time during any of the
above interviews did the defendant show any obvious emotion as to the loss of
her child."
Casey Anthony reported Caylee missing on Wednesday — after Cindy Anthony urged
her to contact authorities.
Casey Anthony told officials that she dropped her daughter off with a
baby-sitter she identified as Zenaida Gonzalez on June 9 but that the child was
gone when she returned to pick her up. Investigators have questioned one Zenaida
Gonzalez who said she had never met Anthony or Caylee. Detectives are looking
for other women with the same name.
The Sheriff's Office arrested Anthony late Wednesday on charges of child
neglect, providing false official statements and obstructing a criminal
investigation.
Detectives spent Thursday talking with possible witnesses and following up on
leads, including seizing electronic equipment from the Anthony home. Crime-scene
investigators carried a large item out of a house next door on Hopespring Drive.
Casey Anthony and her daughter had lived with her parents at their Lee Vista
home until June 9.
While deputies searched for Caylee, Casey Anthony remained locked up at the
Orange County Jail. Investigators did not question her further Thursday.
"We can't compel [Casey Anthony] to give us more information," Allen said. "She
has the right to not talk to about it. But certainly as the mother, I would hope
she would be willing to give us whatever information she had to help us find her
child."
Orange County Judge John Jordan denied Casey Anthony bail Thursday, chastising
her behavior.
"You left your 2-year-old child with a person who does not exist at an apartment
you cannot identify and you lied to your parents about your child's
whereabouts," Jordan said. "You cared so little about your child."
Casey Anthony, who has no criminal record, nodded as Jordan spoke. The judge
ordered a mental-health evaluation.
Casey Anthony, investigators say, wove a trail of lies that has left them with
little information and her own family puzzled.
"At this point, there is no indication that [Caylee] is deceased," Capt. Angelo
Nieves said. "We don't know where she is. Our concern is for the child and to
locate her."
Authorities have not issued an Amber Alert for the girl because the information
they have does not meet the criteria, Nieves said. Detectives say they are
challenged in the investigation because so much time has passed since she was
last seen.
"If we had been called the day she disappeared . . . it would have been much
easier to find the child," Allen said.
Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children,
said "time is the enemy in these cases. However, the greatest challenge faced by
law enforcement is the delay in starting the investigation."
Cindy Anthony can't explain the lies her daughter told family and the
authorities.
In early June, Casey Anthony told her mother she was being sent to Tampa for
work and would be back in a few days. Later, she said she was going on a
"mini-vacation" with friends and taking Caylee with her. Cindy Anthony never
thought much of it.
Casey Anthony told detectives she worked at Universal Studios and even named
people who could vouch for her — another lie. The apartment Casey Anthony
identified as the place she left her child with Gonzalez in June has been vacant
for five months.
"I had no reason to believe they weren't where they were supposed to be," Cindy
Anthony said. "I don't know why she fabricated this."
Here are some of the lies investigators say Casey Marie Anthony told about the
disappearance of her daughter Caylee:
Lie: She last saw 2-year-old Caylee on June 9 after leaving her with a
baby-sitter at an apartment on South Conway Road.
Truth: That apartment had been vacant since Feb. 29.
Lie: Caylee's baby-sitter, Zenaida Gonzalez, had been a family friend for four
years and cared for Caylee for 18 months.
Truth: Contacted by detectives, a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez told them she
never met Anthony or her missing child.
Lie: Anthony investigated Caylee's disappearance for a month instead of calling
911.
Truth: Two of Anthony's boyfriends told detectives she never acted upset or
mentioned her daughter's disappearance.
Lie: Anthony claimed she had been so concerned she told two co-workers at
Universal Studios her child had disappeared.
Truth: Neither person she named works at Universal.
Lie: She claimed she worked full-time at Universal Studios — the reason she
needed a baby-sitter.
Truth: Theme park officials said Thursday Anthony has never been an employee.
The sheriff's office arrested Anthony, 22, late Wednesday on charges of child
neglect, false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.
"As I received information, and relayed it to the defendant after her arrest,
she continued to claim ignorance and, at times, laughed about the situation,"
wrote Melich of the missing-persons unit. "She failed to show any outward signs
of remorse or concern for her missing two-year-old daughter."
(Sarah Lundy, Susan Jacobson and Amy L. Edwards of the Orlando Sentinel staff
contributed to this report.)
Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
