Casey Anthony Reveals New Theory for Caylee's Death

In jailhouse interviews with two psychiatrists, Casey Anthony revealed yet a different theory for how her 2-year-old daughter Caylee may have died.

Anthony, 25, told two doctors in separate interviews that she suspects her father George Anthony took the little girl from the bed mother and daughter shared, had some sort of sexual episode with her, and then drowned her to cover it up.

"She said, 'I think he held her underwater, maybe he was doing something to her and he tried to cover it up,'" Dr. Jeffery Danziger recalled Anthony saying in his deposition that was released today.

Anthony told Danziger that she called her mother Cindy Anthony four times, but could not reach her. It was not until several hours later that her mother called back and, at that point, a shocked Anthony "froze."

"I hoped he'd step up to be my dad and take responsibility," she told Danziger.

Danziger said Anthony implied that her father's eventual suicide attempt was, "his way out of the grief or guilt and I'm left to take the wrap [sic]."

"This was said with a measure of anger," the doctor said, and said she added, "I'll be damned if I take responsibility for this."

George Anthony's attorney Mark Lippman issued a statement today saying that Anthony was "made aware of these statements in the deposition prior to the trial of his daughter in 2011 and no new information has been disclosed today."

"As he has repeatedly said prior to the trial, during the trial and after the trial he never molested any member of his family including Casey Anthony and he had nothing to do with the death of Caylee Marie Anthony including what happened to her remains after she allegedly drowned," Lippman wrote.

Casey Anthony's Other Theory for Daughter's Murder

Anthony conceded to the doctor that she eventually told her mother "everything but the truth," but couldn't explain why. She said that she really didn't know at the time what had ultimately happened to Caylee.

"I was hoping she [Caylee] was somewhere, that she was still okay," Danziger recalled her saying.

For months after Anthony was confronted with Caylee's disapearance, Casey Anthony insisted her daughter had been kidnapped by a fictitious babysitter. At the opening of her murder trial, her lawyer admitted the child hadn't been kidnapped, but had drowned in the family's pool.

Anthony was acquitted of killing Caylee during a sensational trial last summer.

In interviewing Anthony, Danziger was repeatedly struck by her upbeat mood. At one point he said during the deposition, "What puzzled me was why is she so blasted cheerful."

Both psychiatrists noted in their depositions noted Anthony's unusually calm demeanor as she spoke about her daughter's death and her accusation that she was molested by her father and brother.

Danziger recounted his "puzzlement" with Anthony's "nice, sweet and pleasant demeanor" as she sat behind bars as the prime suspect in the death of her daughter.

"Her demeanor, the best way to say it, is she was calm, cooperative and pleasant as if we were discussing someone who had a parking ticket," Danziger said in an April 7, 2011 deposition.

He notes that she was in a good mood, reading books, sleeping fine and had a good appetite.

"No feeling of guilt, not hopeless," he said.

"This is someone who is sitting in jail. Her child is missing, presumed dead," Danziger said. "While she had not yet been charged with murder, obviously, she's charged with crimes and is being accused by the whole world in the disappearance of the child. You would expect that that would provoke some measure of distress."

The second psychiatrist who interviewed Anthony, Dr. William Weitz, also noticed her lack of emotion over Caylee disappearance.

He noted Anthony's "complete separation of emotion and affect from the various questions that she's asked to respond to."

"She seems detached from a lot of her feeling and emotion, even in times that one might expect they'd be more reactive and intense," Weitz said.

Weitz said that her reactions could be construed as defense mechanisms, possibly related to her accusations of years of sexual abuse from her father George Anthony and her brother Lee Anthony.

In her interviews with the doctors she detailed accusations of sex abuse that were mentioned during her murder trial.

She said her father molested her from age 8 to 11 which Danziger recorded as "disgusting, demeaning, intercourse, oral, everything."

Although the father reportedly stopped when she was 11 or 12, she claimed her brother Lee molested her from age 12 to 15. "Sometimes wake up to him or wake up bra over my head or unclasped. Wake up once his hands on my chest," the doctor read from his notes from the interview with Anthony.

She claimed that her father assaulted her again when she was 18. "Tried to fight back when I was older. I'm not a big person," the doctor quoted her as saying.

Anthony described to Weitz the years of the alleged sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her father and brother. Anthony told the doctor she never told anyone about her father's abuse, but told her mother about the alleged abuse from her brother.

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Casey Anthony admirers sending cash to jailhouse bank account

Casey Anthony may be attracting death threats following her acquittal for murder, but she is also receiving checks in the mail from sympathetic admirers so that she has money to spend on cosmetics and snacks while in jail.

Most of the strangers sending her money are men, but several women have also sent her cash.

Since May, at least 17 people have sent money orders to Anthony, according to jailhouse records from the Orange County Corrections Department. Strangers are showering her with more money than her parents. George and Cindy Anthony haven't sent their daughter a cent since May 8, more than two weeks before her trial began.

The donations have increased since Anthony was acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee last week, the records show.

As of today, Anthony has $472.18 in her bank account, nearly $200 more than what was in her account the day she received the verdict. One stranger donated $100 this week.

The average balance in an Orange County jail inmate's account is $36.30.

Men Send Casey Anthony Money in Jail; She Doesn't Send Thank You Notes

The donors range in age from men as young as 19, to middle aged women, and to men in their late fifties. Some are bankers and others have criminal pasts including charges of aggravated assault and sex offenses. The donations have come from across the country and from Canada. Some donors have deposited multiple money orders over the past few months.

One donor even offered Anthony a place to stay when she leaves jail on Sunday.

"If she ever did contact me and wanted to live in the middle of nowhere I have three houses out here...I'm scared for her," Gary Bradfield told ABCNews.com.

Bradfield, a 44-year-old man who lives on a ranch in Texas, donated $99.40 to Anthony in February 2011 so she'd have money to celebrate her birthday in March.

"I know she was probably segregated from everybody else. I was like hell, she's got $32 in there. I'll send her a little bit of something," Bradfield said. "I believe that we're all innocent until proven guilty."

Anthony, who does not appear to have sent any thank you notes, has spent the money on things like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, eyeliner, ponytail holders as well as snacks like premium chicken breasts, jalapeno nacho cheese dip and spicy peanuts.

A phone call to the mother of one male donor was greeted with a scream of "He did what?" A former landlord of another male donor said his former tenant frequently writes to pen pals in jail. A donor from North Carolina said that his decision was a "private matter."

Others replied via Facebook with a simple "no thanks" when asked why they sent money to Casey Anthony.

One of her more generous male donors, a man in his twenties, asked that his name be withheld. He defended his decision to reach out to the 25-year-old Florida woman.

"I do not know Casey personally, nor am I supporting her as a person, nor am I anything like the people sending her love letters and asking her to marry them," he said. "However, what I am supporting is the jury's decision to acquit based on lack of evidence failing to overcome the reasonable doubt standard."

The man said that part of his decision to send was based on his disgust with what he viewed as an encroachment into Anthony's privacy. Investigators testified during the trial about the extensive searches into Anthony's computer and cell phone records which this donor felt infringed on her constitutional freedoms.

The man went on to say that he was also appalled with the "witch hunt" that has followed Anthony since the acquittal.

"It's wrong to continue the character assassination on someone who was acquitted of a crime," he said.

David R. Fulton said he deposited $25 on June 3 in the name of his company, David R. Fulton Computer Repair, hoping that the donation might catch the public eye and generate clients.

Fulton added, "I think she's innocent."

Bradfield, the Texas man who gave Anthony money in February before her trial began, said he felt a connection to Anthony. Having spent time in jail in the early 1990s, he said it was important for an inmate to have money in their account.

"She's just been sitting there accused and couldn't get out and is indigent...can't go to the store and get you a bag of chips and everybody else can and that's really demoralizing and she hadn't even had her day in court, you know," Bradfield said.

The married father said his wife is fully aware he sent the money order to Anthony.

She responded to the money order by asking, "Why did you do that?" Bradfield said his wife had already prejudged Anthony.

Christy Davis, a 56 year old Florida woman, donated $20 to Anthony in June and sent another $20 money order on Monday.

"I feel a little bit of a kindred spirit with Casey Anthony…I'm a regular person who saw the story through a different set of eyes," she said.

Davis has followed the case closely since Caylee was first reported missing in July 2008.

"The day that the story broke. … I said the baby got in the swimming pool," Davis said. Anthony's defense team claims that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool.

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Casey Anthony to be released on July 17

  By MATT SEDENSKY and KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- Casey Anthony looked ready for freedom. For the first time since her trial began, she let her hair down, smiling and playing with it as she awaited the judge's decision on when she would be released.

Then she turned stone-faced as the sentence was pronounced: Freedom wouldn't come just yet. She'd have to spend a week and a half in jail for lying to investigators about the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

Thursday's sentence means Anthony will go free only slightly more than a week after she was acquitted Tuesday of first-degree murder and other charges in Caylee's death. The extra time in jail did little to satisfy throngs of angry people convinced of her guilt who gathered outside the courthouse.

But it could provide time for the public furor over her acquittal to ease somewhat and give Anthony's attorneys a chance to plan for her safety.

Two days after the verdicts, most of the jury remained silent, with their names still kept secret by the court. One juror explained that the panel agreed to acquit Anthony because prosecutors did not show what happened to the toddler.

When she is released, the 25-year-old Anthony must decide whether to return to a community in which many onlookers long ago concluded that she's a killer, or to a home strained by her defense attorneys' accusations of sexual abuse.

Judge Belvin Perry gave her the maximum sentence of four years for four convictions of lying to authorities. He denied a defense request to combine the misdemeanor counts, which could have made her eligible for immediate release.

"As a result of those four specific, distinct lies, law enforcement expended great time and resources looking for Caylee Marie Anthony," the judge said.

With time served and credit for good behavior, she is due out on Sunday, her 1,007th day in jail.

Outside the courthouse, a cluster of protesters chanted "Justice for Caylee" as they waved signs that said "Arrest the Jury!!" and "Jurors 1-12 Guilty of Murder." One man had duct tape with a heart-shaped sticker over his mouth, similar to the way prosecutors contend duct tape was used to kill Caylee. Increased police presence included officers on horseback.

"At least she won't get to pop the champagne cork tonight," said Flora Reece, an Orlando real estate broker who stood outside the courthouse holding a sign that read "Arrest the Jury."

Anthony's parents were present for the hearing but left without speaking to reporters. Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not comment either.

Anger continued to spread online, with commenters vilifying Anthony on social media networks. Nearly 22,000 people "liked" the "I hate Casey Anthony" page on Facebook, which included comments wishing her the same fate that befell Caylee.

The potential for Anthony to profit off the case was infuriating to many who said they feared she could become rich by selling her story to publishers or filmmakers or signing a lucrative television contract.

"I would not read the book," Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the case, told CNN's John King on Thursday. Ashton said he would not believe any version Anthony provided "unless it's one that accounts for all the evidence."

"If anybody could find a rational, reasonable explanation for why you put duct tape on a child that died by accident, then I'd love to hear it," Ashton said, referring to the defense claim that the child accidentally drowned.

Whatever future she chooses, Anthony's release next week promises to mark the start of a new, probably difficult chapter for her.

Mary Tate, a former public defender who heads the University of Richmond's Institute for Actual Innocence, said Anthony's defense team is probably seeking help from a variety of advisers as they seek to rebuild her fractured life.

"She's going to be bombarded with a lot of financial offers.

She's going to be bombarded with random hostility. She's just entering an extraordinarily exhausting two or three years," Tate said.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, a psychologist who authored "Mothers on Trial," said Anthony will have to deal with an "absolutely primitive blood lust" that's been unleashed, even though she's been acquitted.

"How is she going to cope with the hatred?" Chester asked.

At a separate hearing Thursday, Perry also expressed concern for the safety of jurors and postponed his decision on whether to release their names. The judge said he wanted to allow for a "cooling-off period" of at least a couple of days. The Associated Press and other news organizations have argued that the jurors' identities should be released.

"It's no big secret that some people disagree with their verdict, and some people would like to take something out on them," Perry said.

"I doubt you would have had this same uproar if the decision would have been different. But juries aren't supposed to make decisions based on public opinion polls," he added.

Anthony's release will come three years and two days after Caylee was reported missing. After the report was made on July 15, 2008, Anthony was interviewed by police and made the statements that led to her conviction for lying.

She lied about working at the Universal Studios theme park, about leaving her daughter with a non-existent nanny named Zanny, about telling two friends that Caylee had been kidnapped and about receiving a phone call from her.

The defense claimed Caylee actually drowned a month earlier in a pool at the home of Anthony's parents, George and Cindy Anthony, with whom the child and her single mother lived.

The defense argued Anthony acted without remorse in the weeks after her daughter's death because she was a victim of sexual abuse by her father, resulting in emotional problems, though her attorneys produced no witnesses bolstering the claim. The defense also alleged that George Anthony, a former police officer, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee's death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter, Casey.

"I do not believe for a moment that George Anthony had anything to do with disposing of his granddaughter's body," Ashton told CNN.

Prosecutors alleged that Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct tape because motherhood interfered with her lust for a carefree life of partying with friends and spending time with her boyfriend.

Jurors have mostly declined to discuss their verdict, though one told ABC News it was an emotional decision reached because the prosecution failed to show what really happened to Caylee.

"I did not say she was innocent," said Jennifer Ford, a 32-year-old nursing student. "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be."

Near the Anthony home, at the swampy, mosquito-filled site where Caylee's remains were found, several people visited a makeshift memorial to the child Thursday. Two-dozen flower bouquets wilted in the Florida heat, helium balloons swayed in the breeze and hundreds of stuffed animals lay in a pile on the ground. Some mourners attached hand-written notes, many of which disparaged Anthony.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office has erected no-parking signs throughout the area so curious crowds cannot block the roadway. The neighborhood is being patrolled by deputies on four all-terrain vehicles and six patrol cars. Horses were being brought in for mounted officers.

Sheriff's spokesman Jeff Williamson said he could not comment on the number of officers in the area, and there is no estimate yet of the cost to taxpayers.

Authorities "don't know who will come here or what people will do," he said. "We're here to handle any problems and protect the community."

Ray DeBattista came with his family of five and said he thought the verdict was "mind boggling." The St. Cloud retiree said he watched his 2-year-old grandson recently and the child slipped away while he answered the door. He said he called 911 less than 30 seconds later.

"My heart was racing, and I ran around frantically looking for him," DeBattista said. "He was playing hide-and-seek under the pool table in a laundry basket. I just cannot understand how Casey went 31 days without reporting her daughter missing."

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more U.S. & World News »

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Casey Anthony to stay in jail until July 17

  By MATT SEDENSKY and KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- Casey Anthony will have 10 more days behind bars to think about her future after authorities in Florida announced Thursday that she would not be released until July 17, four days after the date initially given.

Anthony looked ready for freedom at her sentencing Thursday morning. After she was acquitted Tuesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, there was speculation she could be sentenced to time served for lying to authorities about the toddler's death and freed.

The 25-year-old let her long, dark hair down for the first time since her trial began, smiling and playing with it as she awaited the judge's decision. But she turned stone-faced as the sentence was handed down and she learned she would not be released right away. Then late Thursday, authorities in Orange County said they had recalculated Anthony's projected release date and it would actually be July 17. Thursday's actions mean Anthony will go free nearly two weeks after she was acquitted of first-degree murder and other charges in Caylee's death.

The extra time in jail did little to satisfy throngs of angry people convinced of her guilt who gathered outside the courthouse.

But it could provide time for the public furor over her acquittal to ease somewhat and give Anthony's attorneys a chance to plan for her safety.

Two days after the verdicts, most of the jury remained silent, with their names still kept secret by the court. One juror explained that the panel agreed to acquit Anthony because prosecutors did not show what happened to the toddler.

When she is released, Anthony must decide whether to return to a community in which many onlookers long ago concluded that she's a killer, or to a home strained by her defense attorneys' accusations of sexual abuse.

Judge Belvin Perry gave her the maximum sentence of four years for four convictions of lying to authorities. He denied a defense request to combine the misdemeanor counts, which could have made her eligible for immediate release.

"As a result of those four specific, distinct lies, law enforcement expended great time and resources looking for Caylee Marie Anthony," the judge said.

With time served and credit for good behavior, she is now due out on July 17, her 1,007th day in jail.

Outside the courthouse, a cluster of protesters chanted "Justice for Caylee" as they waved signs that said "Arrest the Jury!!" and "Jurors 1-12 Guilty of Murder." One man had duct tape with a heart-shaped sticker over his mouth, similar to the way prosecutors contend duct tape was used to smother Caylee. Increased police presence included officers on horseback.

"At least she won't get to pop the champagne cork tonight," said Flora Reece, an Orlando real estate broker who stood outside the courthouse holding a sign that read "Arrest the Jury."

Anthony's parents were present for the hearing but left without speaking to reporters. Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not comment either.

Anger continued to spread online, with commenters vilifying Anthony on social media networks. More than 30,000 people "liked" the "I hate Casey Anthony" page on Facebook as of early Friday.

The page included comments wishing her the same fate that befell Caylee.

The potential for Anthony to profit from the case was infuriating to many who said they feared she could become rich by selling her story to publishers or filmmakers or signing a lucrative television contract.

"I would not read the book," Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the case, told CNN's John King on Thursday. Ashton said he would not believe any version Anthony provided "unless it's one that accounts for all the evidence."

"If anybody could find a rational, reasonable explanation for why you put duct tape on a child that died by accident, then I'd love to hear it," Ashton said, referring to the defense claim that the child accidentally drowned.

Whatever future she chooses, Anthony's coming release promises to mark the start of a new, probably difficult chapter for her.

Mary Tate, a former public defender who heads the University of Richmond's Institute for Actual Innocence, said Anthony's defense team is probably seeking help from a variety of advisers as they seek to rebuild her fractured life.

"She's going to be bombarded with a lot of financial offers.

She's going to be bombarded with random hostility. She's just entering an extraordinarily exhausting two or three years," Tate said.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, a psychologist who authored "Mothers on Trial," said Anthony will have to deal with an "absolutely primitive blood lust" that's been unleashed, even though she's been acquitted.

"How is she going to cope with the hatred?" Chester asked.

At a separate hearing Thursday, Judge Perry also expressed concern for the safety of jurors and postponed his decision on whether to release their names. The judge said he wanted to allow for a "cooling-off period" of at least a couple of days. The Associated Press and other news organizations have argued that the jurors' identities should be released.

"It's no big secret that some people disagree with their verdict, and some people would like to take something out on them," Perry said.

Anthony's release will come nearly three years after Caylee was reported missing. After the report was made on July 15, 2008, Anthony was interviewed by police and made the statements that led to her conviction for lying.

She lied about working at the Universal Studios theme park, about leaving her daughter with a non-existent nanny named Zanny, about telling two friends Caylee had been kidnapped and about receiving a phone call from her.

The defense claimed Caylee actually drowned a month earlier in a pool at the home of Anthony's parents, George and Cindy Anthony, with whom the child and her single mother lived.

The defense said Anthony acted without remorse in the weeks after her daughter's death because she was a victim of sexual abuse by her father, resulting in emotional problems, though her attorneys produced no witnesses bolstering the claim. The defense also claimed George Anthony, a former police officer, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee's death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter, Casey.

"I do not believe for a moment that George Anthony had anything to do with disposing of his granddaughter's body," Ashton told CNN.

Prosecutors claimed Casey Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct tape because motherhood interfered with her desire for a carefree life of partying with friends and spending time with her boyfriend.

Jurors have mostly declined to discuss their verdict, though one told ABC News it was an emotional decision reached because the prosecution failed to show what really happened to Caylee.

"I did not say she was innocent," said Jennifer Ford, a 32-year-old nursing student. "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be."

Ford said jurors were divided initially, and that she looked for ways to hold Anthony responsible for her daughter's death under the law - perhaps for "failure to provide safety and medical care and things like that."

"I was trying to go for that," Ford said. "But there's just not enough. It's just stretching and reaching and there's just not quite enough to get there."

Near the Anthony home, at the swampy, mosquito-filled site where Caylee's remains were found, several people visited a makeshift memorial to the child Thursday. Two-dozen flower bouquets wilted in the Florida heat, helium balloons swayed in the breeze and hundreds of stuffed animals lay in a pile on the ground. Some mourners attached hand-written notes, many of which disparaged Anthony.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office has erected no-parking signs throughout the area so curious crowds cannot block the roadway. The neighborhood is being patrolled by deputies on four all-terrain vehicles and six patrol cars. Horses were being brought in for mounted officers.

Sheriff's spokesman Jeff Williamson said he could not comment on the number of officers in the area, and there is no estimate yet of the cost to taxpayers.

Authorities "don't know who will come here or what people will do," he said. "We're here to handle any problems and protect the community."

Ray DeBattista came with his family of five and said he thought the verdict was "mind boggling." The St. Cloud retiree said he watched his 2-year-old grandson recently and the child slipped away while he answered the door. He said he called 911 less than 30 seconds later.

"My heart was racing, and I ran around frantically looking for him," DeBattista said. "He was playing hide-and-seek under the pool table in a laundry basket. I just cannot understand how Casey went 31 days without reporting her daughter missing."

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Casey Anthony jury deliberations resume in Florida

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- Jurors in the Casey Anthony murder trial returned Tuesday for their second day of deliberations on the fate of the Florida mother accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter.

The panel of seven women and five men appeared briefly in the courtroom before Judge Belvin Perry sent them to continue their work behind closed doors. The jurors had worked through much of the long weekend, hearing closing arguments Sunday and Monday morning and deliberating for six hours that afternoon.

Prosecutors argued Monday that Anthony killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in June 2008 because the toddler interrupted her carefree partying and love life. The day before, defense attorneys maintained their argument that the girl's death was an accident.

In the jury room, the panel has received more than 400 pieces of evidence presented by both sides since May during 33 days of testimony and two days of closing arguments. To review video evidence, jurors would return to the courtroom because they don't have viewing equipment where they are deliberating.

The only piece of evidence jurors won't receive is a can containing an air sample from the trunk of Anthony's car. The state has argued that the smell of human decomposition was present in trunk. But Perry ruled last week the jurors won't be able sniff it and will have to rely on conflicting witness testimony about what the smell might have been.

Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with first-degree murder and six other charges. If convicted of first-degree murder, she could be sentenced to death or life in prison. The jury was chosen from the Tampa Bay area because of pretrial media coverage, and they're sequestered in an Orlando hotel.

In their rebuttal closing argument, the prosecution said the defense's assertion that Caylee's death was an accident made no sense.

Anthony's attorneys say the girl drowned in the family's pool.

They have said Anthony panicked and that her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a homicide by placing duct tape over the child's mouth and dumping the body in the woods. George Anthony has denied that.

Prosecutor Jeff Ashton told the jurors no one makes an innocent accident look like murder.

"That's absurd. Nothing has been presented to you to make that any less absurd," Ashton said. He also spent significant time reminding jurors about forensic evidence that he said links Anthony to her daughter's death, including the smell and chemical signature of decomposition in her car.

Lead prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick followed Ashton, telling the jurors that prosecutors presented every piece of evidence they promised in May during opening statements. Without saying it, she was pointing out that defense attorneys never presented direct evidence backing up their contentions that the child drowned.

She then hammered on the lies Casey Anthony, then 22, told from June 16, 2008, when her daughter was last seen, and a month later when sheriff's investigators were notified. Those include the single mother telling her parents she couldn't produce Caylee because the girl was with a nanny named Zanny - a woman who doesn't exist; that she and her daughter were spending time in Jacksonville, Florida, with a rich boyfriend who doesn't exist; and that Zanny had been hospitalized after an out-of-town traffic crash and that they were spending time with her.

"Responses to grief are as varied as the day is long, but responses to guilt are oh, so predictable," Drane Burdick said. "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. That's why you heard about what happened in those 31 days."

Burdick concluded the state's case by showing the jury two side-by-side images. One showed Casey Anthony smiling and partying in a nightclub during the month Caylee was missing. The other showed a tattoo of an Italian phrase meaning "beautiful life," which Anthony got a day before her family and law enforcement first learned of the child's disappearance.

"At the end of this case, all you have to ask yourself is whose life was better without Caylee?" Burdick asked. "This is your answer."

Anthony sat stone-faced during much of the prosecutors' arguments, but occasionally shook her head in disagreement and spoke under her breath.

Defense attorneys claimed Anthony's lies and erratic behavior were brought on by her grief over her dead child and by her family's dysfunction. George Anthony has denied allegations from the defense's opening arguments that he abused his daughter, and the judge said no evidence has been presented to support it.

Defense attorney Jose Baez said during his closing argument Sunday that the prosecutors' case was so weak they tried to portray Anthony as "a lying, no-good slut" and that their forensic evidence was based on a "fantasy." He said Caylee's death was "an accident that snowballed out of control."

Baez began his closing argument Sunday with his biggest question: How did Caylee die? Neither prosecutors nor the defense have offered firm proof.

He attacked the prosecution's forensic evidence. He said air analysis of the trunk of Anthony's car, which allegedly showed air molecules consistent with decomposition, could not be duplicated.

No one could prove a stain found in the trunk was caused by Caylee's body decomposing there. And witnesses showed maggots found in the trunk came from a bag of trash that was found there, he said.

Baez also attacked George Anthony as unreliable. He said a suicide note George Anthony wrote in January 2009 that claimed no knowledge of what happened to Caylee was self-serving and the attempt was a fraud. He said George Anthony claimed he was going to kill himself with a six-pack of beer and high-blood pressure medicine.

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Jury ends 1st day without verdict on Casey Anthony

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- Jurors did not reach a verdict Monday in the Casey Anthony murder trial after deliberating for almost six hours on the prosecution's claim that the woman killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee because the toddler interrupted her carefree partying and love life.

The jury began considering the case around noon after prosecutors gave a rebuttal closing argument and said the defense's assertion that Caylee's death was an accident made no sense.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder and six other charges. If convicted of first-degree murder, she could be sentenced to death or life in prison. The sequestered jury of seven women and five men was scheduled to resume deliberating Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. They were chosen from the Tampa Bay area because of exhaustive pretrial media coverage in the Orlando area and have been sequestered in an Orlando hotel.

They have listened to 33 days of testimony and another two days of closing arguments.

All the evidence has been sent back to the jury room, but jurors will be brought into open court if they want to watch any of the video evidence. Equipment for video viewing is not available in the deliberation room.

Anthony's attorneys say the girl drowned in the family's pool.

They have said Anthony panicked and that her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a homicide by placing duct tape over the child's mouth and dumping the body in some nearby woods. George Anthony has denied that.

Prosecutor Jeff Ashton told the jurors no one makes an innocent accident look like murder.

"That's absurd. Nothing has been presented to you to make that any less absurd," Ashton said. He also spent significant time reminding jurors about forensic evidence that he said links Anthony to her daughter's death, including the smell and chemical signature of decomposition in her car.

Lead prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick followed Ashton, telling the jurors that prosecutors presented every piece of evidence they promised in May during opening statements. Without saying it, she was pointing out that defense attorneys never presented direct evidence backing up their contentions that the child drowned.

She then hammered on the lies Casey Anthony, then 22, told from June 16, 2008, when her daughter last seen, and a month later when sheriff's investigators were notified. Those include the single mother telling her parents that she couldn't produce Caylee because the girl was with a nanny named Zanny, a woman who doesn't exist; that she and her daughter were spending time in Jacksonville with a rich boyfriend who doesn't exist; and that Zanny had been hospitalized after an out-of-town traffic crash and that they were spending time with her.

"Responses to grief are as varied as the day is long, but responses to guilt are oh, so predictable," Drane Burdick said.

"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. That's why you heard about what happened in those 31 days."

Burdick concluded the state's case by showing the jury two side-by-side images. One showed Casey Anthony smiling and partying in a nightclub during the month Caylee was missing. The other was of the "beautiful life" tattoo she got a day before her family and law enforcement first learned of the child's disappearance.

"At the end of this case, all you have to ask yourself is whose life was better without Caylee?" Burdick asked. "This is your answer."

Anthony sat stone-faced during much of the prosecutors' arguments, but occasionally shook her head in disagreement and spoke under her breath.

Defense attorneys contend Anthony's lies and erratic behavior were brought on by her grief over her dead child and the sexual abuse she suffered as a child from her father. George Anthony has denied that allegation, and the judge said no evidence has been presented to support it.

Defense attorney Jose Baez said during his closing argument Sunday that the prosecutors' case was so weak they tried to portray Anthony as "a lying, no-good slut" and that their forensic evidence was based on a "fantasy." He said Caylee's death was "an accident that snowballed out of control."

Baez began his closing argument Sunday with his biggest question: How did Caylee die? Neither prosecutors nor the defense have offered firm proof.

He attacked the prosecution's forensic evidence. He said air analysis of the trunk of Anthony's car, which allegedly showed air molecules consistent with decomposition, could not be duplicated.

No one could prove a stain found in the trunk was caused by Caylee's body decomposing there. And witnesses showed maggots found in the trunk came from a bag of trash that was found there, he said.

"They throw enough against the wall and see what sticks. That is what they're doing ... right down to the cause of death," Baez said. He conceded his client had told elaborate lies and invented imaginary friends and even a fake father for Caylee, but he said that doesn't mean she killed her daughter.

Baez also attacked George Anthony as unreliable. He said a suicide note that George Anthony wrote in January 2009 that claimed no knowledge of what happened to Caylee was self-serving and the attempt was a fraud. He said George Anthony claimed he was going to kill himself with a six-pack of beer and some high-blood pressure medicine.

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Casey Anthony won't testify; defense rests

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- Casey Anthony's defense team rested its case Thursday in her high-profile murder trial without her testimony and some experts believe the strategy raised more questions than answers to support her claim that her 2-year daughter died in a tragic accident.

The jury also saw a note from a failed suicide attempt by Casey Anthony's own father, who wrestled with questions about what happened to his granddaughter. Casey Anthony claimed he helped her dispose of Caylee's body after she drowned.

At different parts of the note, George Anthony wrote: "Casey does not deserve to be where she is" and "She (Caylee) was found so close to home. Why?"

The prosecution began its rebuttal on Thursday afternoon. Closing arguments will follow and the jury could begin deliberating by this weekend. If convicted of first-degree murder, the 25-year-old could receive the death penalty.

Her attorneys never produced any witnesses bolstering the claim made in last month's opening statements that Anthony had acted without apparent remorse in the weeks after her daughter's death because she had been molested by her father as a child, resulting in emotional problems.

"If you do not at least present facts to support that argument, the jury is going to think you have no credibility," said Tim Jansen, a former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney in Tallahassee. "When you promise the jury something and don't deliver it you severely handicaps your client's case and you undermine your credibility with that jury."

Instead, the 13-day defense primarily focused on poking holes in the prosecution's contention that Anthony killed Caylee in June 2008 by covering her mouth with duct tape. Prosecutors said the woman dumped Caylee's body in the woods near her parents' home and then resumed her life of partying and shopping. Their case relied on circumstantial and forensic evidence, and it did have holes: Prosecutors had no witnesses who saw the killing or saw Casey Anthony with her daughter's body. And there was no certain proof that the child suffocated.

The prosecution began its rebuttal Thursday by walking through the door opened on Wednesday by the defense when it allowed parts of George Anthony's suicide note to be admitted. The note included George Anthony asking questions about the death of his granddaughter. Several members of the jury were glued to their monitors as the prosecutor projected the letter for them to read.

"Who is involved with this stuff for Caylee?" George Anthony wrote at one point in the letter to his family in January 2009.

The defense said in its opening statement that Caylee drowned and that George Anthony, a former police officer, helped her cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee's death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter.

Florida A&M law professor Karin Moore said she was "confused" throughout the case by the defense's approach.

"The defense could have attacked George Anthony weeks ago on cross-examination during the state's case, but waited until late in the trial," she said. "I think they waited too long to ask the big questions and got themselves in trouble."

The defense's final witnesses Thursday included Krystal Holloway, a woman who claims she had an affair with George Anthony that began after Caylee disappeared. She said he told her in November 2008 that Caylee's death was "an accident that snowballed out of control." George Anthony has denied having an affair with her but admitted visiting her home on several occasions.

They also recalled George Anthony to ask if he had supplied duct tape he used to put up posters of his granddaughter when she was missing. He said he couldn't remember. Lead defense attorney Jose Baez also asked him if he buried his pets after their deaths in plastic bags wrapped with duct tape. Anthony said he had on some occasions. Prosecutors have contended Caylee's body was disposed of in a similar manner. Under prosecution questioning, he said he had never thrown their carcasses in a swamp.

Caylee was last seen in mid-June 2008. For the next month, Casey Anthony avoided her parents, telling her mother and her friends that Caylee was with a baby sitter named Zanny.

Casey's parents soon got a notice that their daughter's car had been towed. George Anthony and the tow lot operator both said the Pontiac Sunfire smelled like death.

Prosecutors played a tape of a frantic 911 call made by Anthony's mother, Cindy, reporting her granddaughter missing. She tells the operator, "It smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car."

Casey Anthony then told detectives that Caylee had been kidnapped by the nanny, and a massive search was launched. Over the next several weeks, hundreds of volunteers scoured central Florida for any clues to Caylee's whereabouts. Meanwhile, numerous photos surfaced of Casey Anthony drinking; some of them allegedly taken in the month after Caylee disappeared.

Caylee's skeletal remains were reported in December 2008 by a municipal meter reader. A key part of the defense case was trying to discredit the meter reader, Roy Kronk, saying that he had actually discovered the body in August.

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Testimony ends in Anthony trial, closings next

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- Prosecutors in the Casey Anthony murder trial called witnesses Friday to bolster their contention that the woman's mother couldn't have been home to perform Internet searches for a harmful chemical.

Testimony by two of Cindy Anthony's co-workers - among the last of the trial - was intended to disprove her surprising assertion this week that she was the one who keyed in searches for the term "chloroform." Prosecutors have argued that Casey Anthony made the searches as she plotted to kill her 2-year-old daughter in 2008.

Prosecutors used parts of Friday and the previous day to give their rebuttal to the defense's case. Closing arguments are expected to take place Sunday, after which jury deliberations will begin.

Gentiva Health Services Chief Compliance Officer John Camperlengo answered questions about Cindy Anthony's work history on two days in March 2008 when the "chloroform" searches were done on a computer at the Anthony household. The company's electronic records show that she was logged into her company's system for most of the day on both March 17 and March 21.

Using the latter date as an example, Camperlengo said the system would not have recorded Anthony's presence if a person hadn't been actively using the work computer.

"Someone human was pushing the enter button to enter data," he said Friday.

Cindy Anthony's supervisor at Gentiva, Deborah Polisano, also testified that electronic work records show that Cindy Anthony was on the clock for 10 hours on March 17 and nine hours on March 21.

Earlier this week, Cindy Anthony testified that she had performed the Internet searches for "chloroform" while looking up information on chlorophyll, a green pigment found in plants.

Chloroform, on the other hand, is a chemical that can be used as a sedative and is fatal to children in small doses.

She testified that she was home on the days when the computer searches were run. She said she could leave work when she wanted, and that the work records might not have reflected her absence.

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. If convicted of that charge, she could face the death penalty. The prosecution contends she used duct tape to suffocate the toddler, while the defense says the girl accidentally drowned in her grandparents' above-ground swimming pool.

Also Friday, forensic anthropologist Michael Warren was called back to dispute a defense expert's claim that the medical examiner made a mistake by failing to saw open Caylee's skull to examine it.

The defense has tried to cast doubt on the forensic evidence in the trial.

"No sir, there is no protocol that I'm aware of to do that," Warren said.

Both sides have Saturday off to settle on final instructions for the jury, and prepare their closing arguments.

Earlier Friday, lead defense attorney Jose Baez said prosecutors had failed to disclose all the information a computer expert and forensic anthropologist planned to testify about. Baez wanted the evidence and witnesses to be excluded, but Perry only gave him the option of taking their depositions.

He did, causing an unscheduled recess that lasted throughout the morning.

"Your honor, I will stay here and do the work, and stay here as long as it takes," Baez said.

While the defense rested Thursday, experts said defense attorneys may have left lingering questions and failed to deliver on promises they made at the outset to explain how the toddler died.

Casey Anthony did not take the stand, and the defense did not present concrete evidence that Caylee accidentally drowned.

Her attorneys also never produced any witnesses bolstering the claim made in opening statements that Anthony had acted without apparent remorse in the weeks after her daughter's death because she had been molested by her father as a child, resulting in emotional problems.

The prosecutors' case relied on circumstantial and forensic evidence, and it did have holes. They had no witnesses who saw the killing or saw Casey Anthony with her daughter's body. And there was no certain proof that the child suffocated.

The defense said in its opening statement that Caylee drowned and that her grandfather George Anthony, a former police officer, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee's death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter, Casey.

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Defense expert: Autopsy on Caylee Anthony 'shoddy'

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- A renowned forensic expert testified Saturday that the autopsy done on 2-year-old Caylee Anthony was "shoddy" and that the duct tape Florida prosecutors contend suffocated the child was not applied until after her body had decomposed.

Dr. Werner Spitz offered his opinion on the third day of the defense's case in the murder trial of Casey Anthony, the Florida mother charged with murder in Caylee's death. The state rested its case earlier in the week.

Spitz has been an expert witness in several high-profile cases, including that of O.J. Simpson and record executive Phil Spector.

Spitz also testified it was a failure that Caylee's skull was not opened during the official autopsy. Spitz conducted a second autopsy later.

"The head is part of the body and when you do an examination, you examine the whole body," Spitz said. "... That to me is a signal of a shoddy autopsy."

Casey Anthony, 25, faces a possible death sentence if convicted in her daughter's summer 2008 death and has pleaded not guilty. The defense says the girl drowned in her grandparents' swimming pool.

Spitz said he had intended to attend Caylee Anthony's original autopsy after her remains were found in a wooded area in December 2008. He was denied. He eventually came to Orlando to conduct his own exam and visited the crime scene, reviewed photos and read the official autopsy reports.

There were "specks" of decomposition sediment inside the left side of Caylee's skull, which Spitz said indicated the girl's death was not necessarily a homicide. Orange and Osceola County medical examiner Jan Garavaglia determined that Caylee was killed "by undetermined means."

If the tape had suffocated Caylee, evidence of skin would have been on the sticky side of the tape, he said. But there was no such evidence on the tape.

"I had problems with (the manner of death finding)," Spitz said. "When a body decomposes ... the tape comes loose on the skeletal structure. In this case, the only thing that held the tape there was hair and roots.

"My strong opinion is duct tape was placed there to hold the (decomposed) lower jaw in place."

Prosecutor Jeff Ashton attacked Spitz's assessments on cross-examination, arguing that Spitz didn't have nearly as much information as Garavaglia did when she made her evaluation. Ashton also challenged Spitz to cite a particular written protocol that said the skull must be opened in every autopsy.

"I'm not aware of where you can find a protocol, but I can assure you it is part of a complete autopsy," Spitz said.

Later, Spitz suggested that the position of hair found with the child's skull might have been staged when it was photographed in the medical examiner's office.

"It wouldn't be the first time, sir," he said. "It's my opinion that somebody did."

The testimony of the defense's first witness of the day, forensic anthropologist William Rodriguez, was interrupted after prosecutors said he testified about information not previously disclosed to the state.

The objection came after Rodriguez said it would be impossible to determine the exact position of duct tape on a corpse. Because tape loses its stickiness, it may be shifted, and animals could have come in contact with the body, he said.

With the jury sent out of the courtroom, Judge Belvin Perry questioned Rodriguez about his planned testimony.

Rodriguez told him that he initially told lead defense attorney Jose Baez the information in February.

Baez told Perry the non-disclosure was not intentional. He said prosecutors had declined an opportunity to further question Rodriguez before trial and only asked for the pre-testimony report all witnesses were to submit. Perry said Baez's conduct seemed to have violated a pretrial order he issued.

"What you are basically saying is you can pick which orders you will comply and not comply with," Perry told Baez. "... It appears to me this was quite intentional. It was not an inadvertent slip."

Perry decided to have Rodriguez step down from the witness stand Saturday, allowing the state an opportunity to question him outside court. He said he would consider a special instruction to jurors about the non-disclosure and would reserve the right to hold Baez in contempt of court after the trial ends. Perry also warned Baez about further infractions that could end in witness exclusion.

"Lightning does not strike twice in one place," Perry said.

"... I'm not making any promises of warranties if this happens a second time with this witness."

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Forensic expert testifies in Anthony murder trial

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- An FBI forensic expert testified Saturday in Casey Anthony's murder trial that a hair removed from the woman's car showed signs consistent with hair from a dead body.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

The single, 9-inch strand of light brown hair was the only hair of several collected by investigators to show signs of decomposition, Karen Korsberg Lowe told jurors.

Lowe, who specializes in microscopic hair examinations, described a dark banding seen on hairs from people known to be dead. She said the hair sample she examined showed this banding.

"It has a darkened band at the root portion of the hair. This is consistent with apparent decomposition," Lowe said.

The hair was similar to one pulled from Caylee's hair brush and was not similar to a hair sample from Anthony, she said.

Before Lowe took the stand Saturday, Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, challenged her qualifications and tried to block her testimony.

Under cross-examination from Baez, Lowe said it was not unusual to find hairs in cars, as the average person loses 100 head hairs a day, and people can transfer hairs to other people.

"I couldn't say how the hair got there," Lowe said. "It's consistent with transfer or contact of some sort, but I don't know from whom."

When questioned again by prosecutor Jeff Ashton, Lowe said the hair showed characteristics of one that had been forcibly pulled.

Lowe was the first of two witnesses called Saturday.

Mike Vincent, an assistant supervisor with the Orange County Sheriff's Office crime scene unit, explained how he collected air samples and a stain from Anthony's car in 2008.

Another crime scene investigator testified Friday that he smelled the odor of human composition when he first opened the door to examine Anthony's car days after her initial arrest in July 2008. Caylee's skeletal remains were found in a wooded area near her grandparents' Orlando home in December 2008.

Anthony, 25, faces the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutors say Caylee suffocated after duct tape was placed over her mouth. They contend that Caylee's decomposing remains were at some point in the trunk of Anthony's car.

Anthony's attorney says that the child accidentally drowned in the family's pool, and that Anthony's father, George Anthony, disposed of her body. George Anthony has denied that allegation.

Testimony will continue Monday.

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Anthony trial: Tech smells decomposition in car

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- A crime scene investigator testified Friday in the Florida murder trial of Casey Anthony that he smelled the odor of human decomposition when he first opened the door to examine her car just days after her initial July 2008 arrest.

The prosecution questioned several sheriff investigators on the ninth day of the trial. They testified about the collection and examination of several items belonging to Anthony and her daughter Caylee following the child's reported disappearance.

Those items included Casey's white Pontiac and toothbrushes, a comb and hair brush that had been used by the 2-year-old. Hair and cheek cell samples that could be tested for DNA were also later taken from her mother.

Anthony, 25, is charged with killing her toddler in the summer of 2008. She has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say the child suffocated after duct tape was placed over her mouth. Caylee's skeletal remains were discovered in a wooded area near her grandparents' home in December 2008.

Under cross-examination by the defense, Orange County CSI investigator Gerardo Bloise said that he only smelled an odor consistent with some type of decomposition while he examined Anthony's car. Later, he got more specific when prosecutors asked for his opinion of what type of decomposition it was, based on more than 20 years of experience in the field.

"Professionally speaking, my opinion is that it was the smell of human decomposition," he said.

The testimony and introduction of evidence collected from Anthony's car is a precursor to expert witness testimony regarding the contents of the car's trunk that lead state attorney Linda Drane Burdick said she will begin Saturday. The prosecution contends that Caylee's decomposing remains were at some point inside the trunk of Anthony's car and that her hair was found there.

Earlier in the day, the state introduced three more videos of jailhouse visits Anthony had with her parents, George and Cindy Anthony. In the July 2008 recordings, Casey told her parents her "heart is aching" because she wanted to be home with them and Caylee.

The state showed the series of jailhouse visit videos over the past two days to highlight how, following her initial arrest, Casey continued to perpetuate her original story about a nanny named "Zanny" kidnapping her child. That account changed suddenly at the start of her murder trial when her lawyer for the first time contended the child accidently drowned in the family's pool.

During an Aug. 14, 2008, visit with her parents, Casey told her mother. "Just tell her that we forgive her," when asked what message Casey wanted to covey to the nanny she claimed had taken Caylee.

"All I want is my daughter back," she told her parents during the video. "All we want is our Caylee."

In a tape from July 30, 2008, the Anthonys arrived at the jail wearing special t-shirts featuring Caylee's picture. When her mother asked how she liked the shirts, Casey Anthony asked her father to stand up and model it.

During the visit, Casey Anthony complimented the family on their efforts to find Caylee, telling them to "keep the faith." Anthony claimed the child had been missing for 31 days before police were called in mid-July 2008.

"You are doing a great job, mom," Casey Anthony said during the visit. "I know it's hard. I know better than anyone right now. You are doing so great."

She talked with her parents about believing that Caylee would come home. Once the child returns home, Casey Anthony told her mother, "I'm going to be the crazy, overprotective mom. I won't let her out of my sight."

As they talked about Caylee, Casey Anthony told her mother: "She's not just my little girl. I mean she's my baby, but she will always be your baby and dad's baby and (brother) Lee's baby."

At another point, Casey told her father that the family would "all be back together" with her missing daughter.

While watching the videos on Friday, Anthony could be seen at times with tears in her eyes.

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Emotional testimony marks 6th day of Anthony trial

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- The mother of a Florida woman charged in the death of her 2-year-old daughter cried and buried her face in her hands Tuesday as prosecutors played a series of 911 calls, including one that reported that the toddler had been missing for 31 days.

Cindy Anthony became emotional during the sixth day of testimony in the murder trial of her 25-year-old daughter, Casey Anthony.

During the final 911 call played, Cindy Anthony said her daughter had just told her that her 2-year-old granddaughter, Caylee, had been missing for 31 days.

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder and could be sentenced to death if convicted. She has pleaded not guilty and initially said a babysitter took the child. Her defense attorney now contends Caylee died in an accidental drowning in the family's swimming pool. The prosecution says Caylee was suffocated by duct tape placed over her mouth.

The 911 calls solicited the most emotional witness testimony to date. On a handful of occasions, jurors could be seen glancing in the direction of Casey, who also cried several times during her mother's testimony. Jurors also looked toward Casey when the prosecution played a recording of her first call home from jail following her July 16, 2008, arrest.

Judge Belvin Perry stopped the proceedings twice for 5-minute recesses to allow Cindy Anthony her to regain composure. During one of the breaks, her husband, George Anthony, had to hold her up as they walked outside.

Minutes before listening to the 911 call in the courtroom, Cindy Anthony recounted how she had overheard Casey Anthony telling her brother that Caylee had been missing for a month.

"I lost it," Cindy Anthony said between sobs. "I just went into the room and yelled at Casey, `What do you mean she's been gone? Why didn't you tell us?"'

Later in the day, Casey's friend Amy Huizenga testified about witnessing an argument between Casey and her mother had when she tracked Casey down at her boyfriend's apartment July 15 - the same day of the 911 calls.

"It was very confrontational," Huizenga said. "A massive explosion of mother and daughter."

Huizenga also testified about text messages she exchanged with Casey in late June in which Casey spoke of needing to get rid of a "bad smell" in her car.

"There was definitely a dead animal plastered to the front of my car," Casey texted Huizenga.

Earlier in the morning, Cindy Anthony also testified about the car that Casey Anthony had been driving. The car was abandoned and then towed to a lot where her father picked it up in mid-July 2008.

In the 911 call, Cindy Anthony described the odor in the car as that of a dead body. But she said Tuesday that it was merely an expression she used and at that moment she didn't think a body had been in the car.

Prosecutors contend the odor in the car came from human decomposition, but defense attorneys claim it was from rotting garbage.

Cindy Anthony said she opened the car's windows and trunk to air it out, and George Anthony took the battery out of the car because they feared Casey Anthony would return home and try to take the vehicle.

At the time the car was retrieved from the towing lot, Casey Anthony had refused to come home for several weeks, Cindy Anthony told jurors. Casey Anthony had told her mother in a phone call that she needed space.

Under cross-examination, Cindy Anthony described Casey as a "very loving, caring mother."

Defense attorney Jose Baez then questioned her about on the numerous people Casey had spoken of over the past three years that Cindy has since learned don't exist.

Part of the defense's theory is that Casey lived in an imaginary dream world, which helped to explain her erratic behavior during the month when Caylee is believed to have been missing. The prosecution has previously shown evidence of Casey shopping and partying during that time.

"I trusted Casey," Cindy Anthony said. "She never gave me any reason not to believe in her."

Baez also tried to bolster the defense's drowning theory. He asked her about numerous unanswered calls Casey placed to her mother on June 16- the day they say the drowning took place.

Cindy Anthony admitted to seeing the gate to the pool unlocked that day, but also said it could only be locked from the inside.

Under re-direct examination by state attorney Linda Drane Burdick, Cindy said Caylee was never able to open the gate.

"It was too tall for her," she said.

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Anthony trial: Attorneys paint 2 sides of mother

Casey Anthony sits in court with defense team members Dorothy Clay Sims, right, on the first day of her murder trial at the Orange County Courthouse on Tuesday, May 24, 2011, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo / Red Huber, Pool)

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO -- Strikingly different portrayals of what type of mother a woman accused of killing her daughter was are emerging at her murder trial in central Florida.

Two-year-old Caylee Anthony was last seen June 16, 2008.

Prosecutors said Caylee died from three pieces of duct tape being placed over her mouth and nose, while the attorney for the mother, 25-year-old Casey Anthony, has claimed the toddler accidentally drowned in her grandparents' pool.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death. She has pleaded not guilty.

One of the grandparents' neighbors, Brian Burner, testified Wednesday that Anthony asked him two days after the girl was last seen if she could borrow a shovel to "dig up a bamboo root." She returned the shovel about an hour later, he said.

Burner also said he remembered seeing Anthony's white car backed into the garage on the night of June 16.

About a month before that, Anthony met Tony Lazzaro during a party. They soon became romantically involved and she moved into an apartment he was sharing with four other people.

Lazzaro, who was set to continue testifying Thursday, and his ex-roommates testified that they met Anthony's daughter several times and then at some point in early June, they never saw her again.

When they asked about Caylee, her mother told them she was with her nanny at a theme park or going to the beach.

Lazzaro and the roommates said Anthony's demeanor never suggested anything was wrong. She would cook, clean and help out around the apartment, they said.

"She was a regular 22-year-old girl," said Cameron Campana, a club promoter who was a college student at the time. "Peppy. She seemed normal."

Another roommate, Nathan Lezniewicz, said Anthony liked going out and having a good time.

"She was not an introvert by any means," he said.

He echoed their sentiments and also identified Anthony in several nightclub party photos, including a "hard body contest" in which Anthony danced in a short skirt. Prosecutors also showed jurors surveillance videos of Anthony and Lazarro going to the video store and shopping at JC Penny after the time Caylee was believed to be missing.

"She was the way she was every day - happy," Lazarro said.

Defense attorney Jose Baez got Lazzaro to describe more tender moments between the mother and daughter, including Anthony using educational "flash cards."

Anthony also once became startled and scolded her daughter for getting too close to the edge of the pool at Lazzaro's apartment complex, he said.

Maria Kissh, a girlfriend of one of the roommates, described riding in Anthony's car along with her roommates. Under questioning by Anthony's attorney, she said neither she nor any of the other passengers smelled any odor.

Prosecutors have said they believe Caylee's decaying body had been stored there, and the girl's grandparents noticed a foul odor when they picked up the car from a towing lot.

Prosecutors also called two women who worked at a nightclub where Casey helped Lazzaro promote parties. They both said she helped coordinate and manage "shot girls," special waitresses who sold shots of alcohol to patrons.

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Casey Anthony cries as trial starts in Orlando

Casey Anthony sits in court with defense team members Dorothy Clay Sims, right, on the first day of her murder trial at the Orange County Courthouse on Tuesday, May 24, 2011, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo / Red Huber, Pool)

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO -- A Florida mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter began crying Tuesday as a prosecutor gave opening statements in the first-degree murder trial.

Casey Anthony wiped away tears as prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick began describing the last day the toddler, Caylee Anthony, was seen by her grandparents. Casey Anthony, 25, has pleaded not guilty and says a baby sitter kidnapped the girl, who was missing for a month before the police were alerted by Casey's mother.

If convicted, Casey Anthony could face the death penalty.

Drane Burdick offered a timeline of Casey Anthony's whereabouts based on cell phone records. The timeline stretched from the time Caylee was last seen by her grandparents on Father's Day on June 15, 2008, until her remains were discovered by a meter reader in woods near her home in December 2008. Jurors were shown images on a screen of a photo of Caylee taken on Father's Day alongside an image of the little girl's skeletal remains.

"It is time to tell the story of a little girl named Caylee," Drane Burdick said.

Casey Anthony waited a month before telling her mother that Caylee had disappeared, and only after her parents, George and Cindy, recovered from the towing lot a car with a foul odor that Casey Anthony had been driving.

Drane Burdick asked jurors, between descriptions of how Casey Anthony spent her days shopping, visiting friends and hanging out with her boyfriend with no signs of her daughter, "Where is Caylee Marie Anthony?"

The prosecutor described Casey Anthony's appearance as a hardworking single mother as false.

"Casey Anthony ... appeared to be ... a loving mother, trying to provide support for her daughter," Drane Burdick said. "But as the evidence in this case will show, that was an illusion."

The trial has attracted national attention and dozens of people lined up in the early morning hours to be one of the few spectators allowed into the courtroom. Television personalities Geraldo Rivera and Nancy Grace sat in the courtroom gallery.

Brett Schulman, a 51-year-old professional poker player, arrived at the Orlando courthouse at 4 a.m. to snag the first spectator seat.

"It's the largest case in central Florida history," Schulman said. "And it's in my backyard."

---
Associated Press writer Mike Schneider contributed to this report.

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Jury swearing-in nears in Casey Anthony trial

Casey Anthony was charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee. (KABC Photo)

  By KYLE HIGHTOWERCLEARWATER, Fla. -- The judge in the trial of an Orlando woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter said he expects to begin swearing in jurors Tuesday morning.

Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee, whose decomposed body was found with duct tape over the mouth of her skull in December 2008 not far from where she had lived with her mother. If convicted, the toddler's mother could face the death penalty.

Jury selection is being held in the Tampa Bay area because of intense pretrial publicity in Orlando. Anthony has pleaded not guilty in the death of her daughter and said a baby sitter kidnapped the child.

Chief Judge Belvin Perry originally envisioned an earlier start to the trial proceedings, but jury selection has taken longer than expected.

Monday kicked off the second week of winnowing down the pool of prospective jurors available to put their lives on hold for the two months the trial is expected to take.

Five prospective jurors have now been added to a list of 12 others who made it through last week's rounds of questioning.

Questioning has focused on prospective jurors' exposure to pretrial publicity, possible hardships of prolonged jury duty and personal beliefs about the death penalty.

Before the process began Perry said he wanted 20 total jurors, including eight alternates. But he said last week that swearing in would begin once they narrowed the prospect pool to 15.

Opening statements in the case could begin late this week, but there are no guarantees. The defense and prosecutors have raised two challenges apiece and could still raise challenges up until jurors are sworn in.

Perry said he plans to bring in three to four more people for final questioning Tuesday, while the 17 already tentatively selected could be subjected to a final challenge before the swearing-in. The first 12 that survive the process would be on the jury and the remaining ones would serve as alternates.

Once the jury is chosen, Perry will grant them one day off before transferring them to Orlando to be sequestered for an expected eight-week trial.

Monday's proceedings began with defense attorney Jose Baez using a challenge to strike a nurse from the list, saying he wasn't secure in her responses on the death penalty and presumption of innocence. The next two candidates - a middle-aged man and woman - were the first to be held over for possible swearing in.

After the lunch break two men and one woman were excused for cause. The men were let go because of medical issues and the woman after she said she had prejudged Anthony guilty. The state also used a challenge on an older woman who had been exposed to extensive coverage of the case.

The three jurors retained after lunch were a young man in his 20s and two more in their 30s.

So far the gender breakdown of prospective jurors is 10 men and seven women.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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