Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony by Jeff Ashton Page A

Cindy. It seemed apparent to me that Cindy brought up the photograph with the intent of trapping Casey in a lie. Yet at the last moment she could not bring herself to spring the trap and instead gave her daughter room to squirm out of the lie. Cindy’s ambivalence was palpable. Suddenly it was clear why Cindy had been so easy to lie to for thirty-one days: that was the way she wanted it, classic codependency.
    Casey took the drum thread and ran with it, following up on Zanny’s being a drum hobbyist with more biographical information about her supposed babysitter. According to Casey, Zanny had roots in North Carolina, New York, and Miami. Casey even provided the name and age of Zanny’s mother.
    “Did Lee tell you how much the reward is to find Caylee?” Cindy asked.
    Casey said no, he hadn’t.
    “It’s over . . . I think it’s two hundred twenty-five thousand dollars.”
    “Jesus Christ, that’s half my bond,” Casey gasped.
    “Well, a lot of people want that little girl found,” her mother replied.
    Cindy asked if Casey wanted to talk to George, who was sitting slightly behind her. Casey smiled and giggled affirmatively. George Anthony took the phone from his wife and addressed his daughter. “Hello, gorgeous. How are you doing?”
    “I look like hell,” Casey replied.
    “Well, you know something, you really need to keep your spirits high through all of this,” her father told her.
    Casey cried as her father told her he just wanted to give her a big “Papa Joe hug,” and that his only concern was getting Caylee back. George had had the phone for only a minute when Cindy grabbed it back. Teary-eyed, Casey gave her mother a message to communicate to Caylee through the media: “Mommy loves you very much. You are the most important thing in the world to me. Be brave.
    “I truly love and miss that little girl and you guys,” she continued in between sobs.
    Cindy handed the phone back to her husband. “Casey, what can I do?” George asked.
    “Keep in front of the media and focus on Caylee.”
    I found George’s overall demeanor to be both indulgent and supportive. He was just this big sympathetic marshmallow that Casey seemed incredibly comfortable with. From the differences between Casey’s exchanges with Cindy and George, you could imagine that Cindy was the one who punished the kids when they were growing up and George was the one they ran to for comfort. There was a sense in these discussions that George was afraid to question Casey aggressively, that if he did she would simply shut down and cut off all communications. Keeping the lines open appeared to be his primary focus, so he didn’t ask his daughter the hard questions.
    What he did do was suggest that she reach out to law enforcement for help. Casey discounted the idea, complaining that the investigators had misconstrued and twisted her words and had not bothered following up on the leads she had given them.
    Once Cindy had the phone back, Casey jumped from one topic to the next. First, she lamented about her disappointment with Tony, who had not come to visit her in jail and was not responding to Jose Baez’s requests for an interview. Her ex-fiancé, Jesse Grund, was also on her bad side, as she expressed her opinion that he couldn’t be trusted and she wanted him nowhere near the family. Casey closed the visit by providing her mother with an abundantly detailed description of Zanny’s car—right down to the color, model, and location of the car seat—and claiming that Zanny had a complete set of clothes for Caylee, including shoes.
    Later that same afternoon, George and Cindy returned to the jail for a second visit with their daughter. This time George took the phone first. The cop in him was coming out, and he was angling toward the kidnapping theory, asking Casey if she had taken something from someone who might hold Caylee as collateral.
    “No!” Casey replied emphatically.
    George next alluded to the money she had taken from