Tuesday

Casey Anthony Trial


Casey Anthony's trial on charges that she killed her 2 year old daughter Caylee disappeared in 2008.The jury heard detailed stories from Anthony's mother and her brother, of her business trips to Tampa and visits to an old flame that later proved to be false.Jurors also heard recordings of Anthony's police interviews, jailhouse visits and a 911 call.Anthony is charged with seven counts, including first degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police in the 2008 death of daughter Caylee.Caylee's body was found five months later, in a wooded area less than a mile from the Anthony family home in eastern Orange County.Anthony has denied harming her daughter or having anything to do with the little girl's disappearance or death. Her lawyer has said that once all the facts were known, it will become clear his client is innocent.Anthony heard the same sentiment expressed during in a jailhouse phone conversation with her mother, also on July 16, 2008.

The excuses

Testimony earlier in the trial in Orlando revealed that Anthony lied to her parents and avoided them for 31 days in the summer of 2008 while Caylee was supposedly missing.During the second week of the trial, jurors learned more about what Anthony told her parents during that time and what she was actually doing.The stories began with Anthony saying she was having a sleepover with a nanny named Zenaida "Zanny" Gonzalez. Then, Anthony said she was out of town on a work trip to Tampa, Florida.Cindy Anthony caught her daughter in her lies by discovering she was, in fact, in Orlando with a different boyfriend. By the time her mother called 911 to report Caylee missing, Anthony had a new story.

 The characters

the next days, Gonzalez's alleged role would expand from an occasionally mentioned nanny to a central character in Caylee's disappearance.When initially questioned by Orange County Detective Yuri Melich on July 16, 2008, about Gonzalez, Anthony provided a description of her without hesitation. That interview was played Wednesday.
Anthony said she had known Gonzalez for four years after they met working together at Universal Studios. She provided a physical description of Gonzalez, her address, even her mother's name.Other characters were also fleshed out. Hopkins, a former Universal Studios co worker, according to Anthony, lived in Jacksonville and had a son named Zachary who played with Caylee.And then there was Juliette Lewis, another co worker at Universal, who now lived in New York, Anthony said. She also had a daughter Caylee's age.Anthony claimed she called Lewis and Hopkins when she realized Caylee was missing. But prosecutors claim Anthony was not looking for her daughter in the month she was missing.Instead, she was staying with her boyfriend, spending time in Orlando with friends, attending parties, going shopping and hitting nightclubs, according to testimony from friends, her former boyfriend, and acquaintances, who also said that she did not mention her daughter being missing during that time.Anthony's frustration level with her parents, particularly her mother, was rising around the time Caylee disappeared, friend Amy Huizenga testified Tuesday.In late June, Huizenga said, Anthony told her that she was keeping Caylee away from her parents, as they were having marital problems and were considering divorce, and "she wanted to keep Caylee out of the drama."

Fessing up


On Thursday, Melich described the day Anthony was finally forced to admit her lies, at least in part. On July 16, 2008, Melich worked with Universal Studios to scour the employee database.Anthony was in the database, but she hadn't been affiliated with Universal for years. Melich also found no record of Gonzalez or Lewis.A Jeffrey Hopkins was found, but never worked for the company at the same time as Anthony. Gonzalez's supposed apartment had also been found vacant. Anthony voluntarily met Melich at Universal Studios to discuss the matter. Melich testified Thursday that he watched Anthony try to enter the park without a badge, then attempted to lead him to her office before being forced to admit she didn't have one.Anthony conceded she didn't work at Universal and that the people she had described as her co workers did not exist. Yet she continued to blame Gonzalez for the disappearance of her child.At the time, she said, she never had a reason to believe those people were fictitious. "I just found out they were imaginary people," she testified.A Zenaida Gonzalez was later found, but she had no affiliation with Anthony aside from having filled out a guest card at the Orlando apartment complex where Anthony claimed the nanny lived.Anthony has denied killing her daughter. She faces the death penalty if convicted.

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