The Case Of: Caylee Anthony (2018) - full transcript

- In Florida,
police are investigating

the disappearance of a
two-year-old toddler.

The little girl was not
reported missing for five weeks.

The mother, 22-year-old
Casey Anthony,

is under arrest on
charges of child neglect

and obstructing
the investigation.

The child's grandparents
say they have a gut feeling

their granddaughter
is still alive.

- It's been
10 years since the start

of one of the biggest unsolved
cases in American history.

In July 2008, Caylee
Anthony's grandmother



reported that Caylee had been
missing for over 30 days.

- 911 What's your emergency?

- There's something wrong,

I can't find my granddaughter.

I found my daughter's car today,

and it smells like there's been
a dead body in the damn car.

- In October,
her mother Casey Anthony

was charged with
Caylee's murder.

In December, they found the body

less than half a mile
from the family home.

- Any comment, Casey?

- Casey, what happened?

- Casey, what can
you tell us about Caylee?

- This
controversial case created



a media firestorm
that drew the court

of public opinion
to a fever pitch.

- Next time I see you or
anyone else on my property,

I will file charges on
you, think I'm kiddin'?

- The jury has
reached a verdict.

- We the jury find
the defendant not guilty.

- Ultimately, the
trial ended in an acquittal.

In the intervening decade,

there have been no
further charges,

and no justice for
little Caylee Anthony.

- We're talkin' about
a three-year-old little girl.

- My name is Jim Clemente,
I'm a retired FBI profiler.

I'm also a former New
York City prosecutor.

I'm and expert in the
field of child abduction

and child abduction homicides.

- My name's Laura Richards,

I'm a criminal
behavioral analyst,

and I spent a decade working
at New Scotland Yard,

running the homicide
prevention unit.

We've decided to reexamine
the case of two-year-old

Caylee Anthony, to see if
we can reveal any clues

into why her death remains
unsolved 10 years later.

This case is challenging
because you have 10 years

and you have a mother
who was acquitted.

- It's really two
levels of inquiry.

One level of inquiry is about
what happened to Caylee,

who was involved in
what happened to her,

and how she ended up
in that swampy area.

And the other level is,

what really was going
on in that family?

Also, the question
hangs out there,

did somebody kill her, or
did she die accidentally?

We just have to keep
digging to find out.

The prosecution went after
Caylee's mother, Casey,

for charges that included
first degree murder.

The defense argued that
Caylee accidentally died,

and Casey Anthony wasn't
responsible for Caylee's death.

- This is a little girl,
and her life was taken away

from her, and I just feel
that she hasn't had justice

and her voice hasn't been heard.

- This is one of the
most confounding cases

in the history of
U.S. law enforcement.

We should start by
familiarizing ourselves

with Caylee's immediate family.

It's a pretty tight family unit.

Caylee, her mother, Casey,

grandmother Cindy,
grandfather George,

and her uncle, Lee.

This family from the
outside looks like

the average,
all-American family.

- George worked in the police.

- Former police officer
from the state of Ohio.

- He worked cases of
car theft, drugs, and homicide.

And Cindy worked as a nurse.

They're people who are in
the caring professions.

- Yeah.

- Then we've got Casey's
brother, which is Lee,

he's four years
older than Casey.

He wasn't actually living
at the address at the time.

- Casey and Lee were
both cared after kids,

they grew up into adulthood
without any problems.

There's no history of
any kind of neglect.

- But then at 19, Casey
gives birth to Caylee.

And for Casey as a mother,
I mean I hadn't heard

any reports about her
being a bad mother.

Everything seems to point
to the fact that she was

a loving mom who adored Caylee.

- There's a lot of events

that we really need to
ask questions about.

To help us peel back the
layers of this mystery,

Laura and I have assembled an
incredible team of experts,

some of whom were involved
with the original case.

Special Agent Nick Savage
is an active FBI agent,

and former coordinator for
crimes against children.

Coming from the
FBI's Miami division,

he was the agent assigned
to the investigation.

He brings a
comprehensive insider's

understanding of the case.

Dr. Karl Williams is
a forensic pathologist

with over 30 years
of experience.

He's an authority
on the human body,

and analysis of
physical evidence.

He's new to this case,

and bring us a critical
fresh perspective.

Jim Fitzgerald is a
fellow FBI profiler

and forensic linguist, with
a record of tracking down

high profile offenders,
like the Unabomber.

Fitz is an expert on the
mind, and he can offer

insights into how a person's
feelings are manifested

in their words or actions.

- How does it feel coming
back to review the case

of Caylee Anthony
10 years on, Nick?

- There are still many
of us that have never

actually forgotten
this little child

and this has never really
left me, this is something

that consumed so much
of my life for so long

and still kind of owns a
part a me, to this day.

- Of course being father
myself, the worst possible

scenario is having
a child be hurt.

- The death of children
are the most troublesome

cases we investigate, anytime.

That's why this case for me is
an extraordinary opportunity

to review and add my expertise,

trying to figure
out what happened.

- Our mission to throw out
everything we think we know

and start from the beginning.

The hope is to find
clarity for Caylee.

So why don't we talk
about then how this case

actually was initiated
for law enforcement.

- On the night of July 15th,
there were three 911 calls

from the grandmother,
Cindy Anthony.

And there was certainly an
escalation of those calls

that kind of started
with allegations of theft

and then eventually to the
disappearance of the child.

- Perhaps we should
listen to those calls.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, I think that would be

very helpful. - Right.

- So why don't we
listen to the first call.

- Hello.

- Hi, I need to bring
someone in to the police

department, can you
tell me where I can,

the closest one I can come into.

- What are
you trying to accomplish

by bringing 'em to the station?

- I have a
22-year-old person that has

grand theft, sitting
in my auto with me.

- So, the 22-year-old
person stole something?

- Yes.

Is this a relative?

- Yes.

- Okay, is this your son?

- Daughter. My car
was stolen, we've retrieved it

today, we found out where
it was at, and I've got

affidavits from my
banking account.

I want to bring her in,
I want to press charges.

- Where did all of this happen?

- Hopespring Drive.

- That's actually
gonna be in the jurisdiction

of the sheriff's office,
let me transfer you.

- Okay, 'cause my
next thing will be that

child's thing, and we'll
have a court order to get her.

If that's the way
you want to play,

we'll do it, and you'll never...

- I'm...

- Well then you have,

no, I'm not giving you another
day, I've given you a month.

- The behavioral aspects
and the dynamics of this

are so bizarre, Cindy
is very pragmatic here,

she apparently knows
that Caylee is not

right in their
personal environment.

However, that's not the focus
of the issue right here.

The focus is the car
that had been missing.

Cindy doesn't even
really know yet

what really is the
major situation here,

that is, her missing
granddaughter.

- The sheriff's
office eventually tells Cindy

to go home and call 911.

- Okay, well why don't we

play on.
- Listen to the rest of it?

- Yeah.

- So this is the second call,

once they've got back
to the home address.

- 911.

- I have someone
here that I need to

be arrested, in my home.

- They're there right now?
- And I have a possible

missing child, I
have a three year old

that's been missing for a month.

- A three year old?

- Yeah.
- Have you reported that?

- I'm trying
to do that now, ma'am.

I'd like to speak to an officer,

can you have someone
come out to my house?

- Okay, okay I gotta ask you

these questions so I can
put 'em in the call, okay?

- Okay.

Okay, what's her name?

- Casey Anthony.

Casey's there right now?

- Yes, I got
her, I finally found her

after a month, she's
been missing for a month.

I found her, but we can't
find my granddaughter.

- Is Casey not telling you

where her daughter is?

- Correct.

- Okay, we'll
have a deputy out to you

as soon as one's
available, okay?

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Wow.

- So this is
the third call, which is

1 1/2 hours later, before
a deputy was deployed.

- 911 what's your emergency?

- I called a little bit ago,

the deputy sheriff's
coming out, I found out

my granddaughter has been
taken, she has been missing

for a month, her
mother finally admitted

that she's been missing.

She just admitted to
me that she's been

trying to find her herself.

Okay, what, what did...

- Get someone here
now, we're talking about

a three-year-old little
girl, I need to find her.

There's something wrong,
I found my daughter's car

today and it smells
like there's been

a dead body in the damn car.

My daughter finally admitted
that the babysitter stole her.

- What kind of response
does that elicit

from law enforcement?

- Well certainly, you
talk about an escalation.

I mean, that kind of
then just sets the tone

as to the seriousness of
what we may be getting into.

Not only just knowing
what was said,

it was the way that
phone call came in.

You could hear that in
Cindy Anthony's voice.

- Absolutely, the
emotion, of course.

- It escalated to shear panic.

- How long
has she been missing for?

- I have not seen her
since the seventh of June.

George, Caylee's missing.

Caylee's missing.

- Is your daughter there?

- Yes.

- Can I speak with her?

- Casey, the sheriff wants,

they want to talk to you.

- Hello?
- Hello?

- Yes.

- Can you tell me a little bit

what's goin' on?

- My daughter's been
missing for the last 31 days.

- And you
last saw her a month ago?

- 31 days, it's been 31 days.

- A very calm reaction
from the mother.

I mean remember it's the
grandmother who is panicky,

you can hear the fear,
the concern, that her life

is spiraling out of control.

You can hear her
going into meltdown.

But not Casey, Casey seems
to have been very calm.

- Who has
her, do you have a name?

- Her name is
Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez.

- Who is that? Babysitter?

- She's been my nanny for about

a year and a half,
almost two years.

- And why,
why are you calling now?

Why didn't you call 31 days ago?

- I have been looking for her

and have gone through other
resources to try to find her,

which was stupid.

- When you listen to
that last 911 call,

it's still as bizarre
today as it was

from the minute I got
involved in this case.

- We turned down a dead end
hall, and there's really

no place else to walk,
and at that point,

she turns and looks
at us and says,

"I don't really work here."

- Is it that
there's some other thing

more important in
your life right now,

or did you purposely mislead us?

Which of those two is it?

- I purposely misled...

- Okay, so
you purposely misled us.

This was all an attempt to
help find your daughter, right?

(Sic)

- The Orange County Sheriff's
Office was not alerted

to the disappearance
of two-year-old

Caylee Anthony for 31 days.

And that kind of
delay really hampers

any kind of investigation
of a missing child.

- And that's what stands out,

it was an anomaly
right from the start.

It was actually Cindy Anthony
who reported her missing.

- Yeah.

- The thing that struck
everyone that day,

even the 911 operator,
was the 31 days.

- And, why,
why are you calling now?

Why didn't you call 31 days ago?

- Likely one of the
most controversial facts

in this whole case.

But as we've been saying,
it's the little girl herself,

Caylee Anthony, who
seems to be forgotten,

and we know the least about.

- My sense is we're gonna
find some very different

things when we look at the
facts and evidence alone.

But I think it's really
important we start with

the victimology, and
we paint a picture

of who Caylee Anthony was.

I strongly believe
throughout my whole career

that if you find out
how somebody lived,

you'll find out how they died.

And that's the place
that we need to start.

So exactly what we know
about Caylee Marie Anthony.

- Two years, 10 months old.

- Brown eyes,
and quite long hair,

and shoulder length.

So Casey was her mother,
she was 19 years old

when she was pregnant.

- So she was just a kid herself.

Caylee was living at
her grandparents' house,

nice neighborhood,
with her mother.

So she had an intact family,
at least partially intact.

Was in an environment where
she was being cared for.

- And certainly all the
pictures of the home

look like she was
not just looked after

and her needs met, but
she was doted upon.

I mean her bedroom shows
signs of a little girl

that was cared for and loved.

There was a swimming pool there,

and it sounds like she
loved going swimming.

You know, it's not just
looking at the home address

and seeing that she
has her own bedroom,

but it's also the
grandparents investing time

in looking after her.

- So here's the big question,

who's the father
of Caylee Anthony?

- That is the big question.

Casey didn't tell the police
who Caylee's father really is.

We do know that a few
people were named,

and I think the
first interesting one

who Casey started a
relationship with.

- Right, they were engaged.

- But a paternity
test ruled him out.

- Right.

- Eric Baker was brought up

by Cindy and George at trial
as the possible father,

but he died in a car
accident in 2007.

There was also a Michael
Duggan, he also died

in a car accident in 2007.

His mother Donna came forwards.

She told the newspapers
she was 100% certain

that Caylee was
her granddaughter.

But this wasn't proven.

- Well, this is a mystery.

- It is.

And there are other odd factors
surrounding Caylee's birth.

The defense stated that
when Casey was pregnant,

Cindy and George denied it.

- This is Casey,
seven months pregnant.

Everyone wanted to know
who the pregnant girl was,

but yet the entire family
wanted to keep it quiet.

They hid this beautiful child,
like a flower in the attic.

- Why all the denials and
questions around this pregnancy?

We just don't know.

- And Casey has little
Caylee on August 9, 2005.

And we mustn't forget
that she was young

when she became pregnant.

And it seemed really stepped
up to help look after Caylee.

And like with every case,
Jim, you start to scratch

the surface on what looks
like a perfect family,

and you start to see that the
perfect family doesn't exist.

Normally when you
conduct analysis around

the victimology, you talk
to the people who knew them

the best to understand the
dynamics of the relationships.

We tried reaching out
to the Anthony family,

but they didn't
want to speak to us.

So, we reached out to the
people who were around Caylee

at the time that
she went missing.

At the end of May, 2008,
two months before Caylee

went missing, Casey started
dating her new boyfriend,

Tony Lazzaro, often hanging
out at his apartment

with his roommates, and she'd
take Caylee along with her.

- Have you been able to talk to

any of the other roommates?

- Well, Cameron Campana,
who was renting with Tony,

he's keen to chat with
us, so he might be able

to provide some more
insight because he was there

throughout that period of time.

- Great, well why don't
we give him a call?

- Hello.

- Hi, it's Laura
Richards calling, how are you?

- Good, how about yourself?

- I'm very well, thank you.

We've been really trying
to understand Caylee,

what was she like as a little
girl, can you describe her?

- Oh, she was
adorable, she was energetic,

very polite, and she
was always laughing,

seemed like she was always
having a great time, you know.

- She was talking and walking

and interacting with you all?

- Yeah, she
wasn't a shy little girl.

But she also wasn't wild
or anything like that.

- And how would you describe
her interactions with Casey?

- Casey seemed like
a really good mom, you know,

she, I never saw her like yell
at her or anything like that

seeming like there was any
mistreatment or anything.

Caylee would put on
something or drew a picture

or somethin' like that,
and she would show her mom,

and Casey would say, "Oh
good job, honey," you know.

She was a loving mom.

- And you saw them
interacting together.

- Yeah, Caylee was doin' that,

she was such a young girl.

- Yeah, well we know
how you feel about that,

that's why we're
doing this, actually.

And the last thing we want to
do is forget Caylee in this,

we want to give her her voice.

- Well thank you for your
help, we appreciate your time.

- Oh, no problem.

- Well that was a
very informative call.

- It is really
interesting, you know,

she was a good mother
and she did spend time

interacting with her,
and that Caylee was

a confident little girl.

- Have you been able to talk
to any of the other roommates?

- Well, I know that Clint
House, who's one of the friends

of Tony Lazzaro, and he
was living at the house

at the time when Casey and
Caylee were going there.

He might be able to
provide some more insight

because he was there
throughout that period of time.

- Great.

- Clint testified
about his experiences

with Caylee and Casey.

- During the time period
of May, June of 2008,

did you meet a woman by
the name of Casey Anthony?

- Yes, I did.

She seemed like
a fun party girl,

somebody that would
probably get along well

with our group of friends.

- Hi, Clint.

- How are ya?

- I'm very well, Laura Richards.

- Nice to meet you.

- Nice to meet you too.
- Come on in.

- Clint, when did you
first meet Casey Anthony?

- First time I ever
met Casey was in 2008

through my friend Tony,
who was also my roommate.

- When was the first
time that you met Caylee?

- A few weeks after Tony
and Casey started dating,

she decided to
bring Caylee over.

The first time that she
came into our apartment

with Casey, she came walking
in, she had a big pair

of sunglasses on and
she immediately says,

"What's up, dudes?"

And then just came
walking right in.

- She was interacting
with you the minute

that she walked into the room.

- Very engaging.

- Would you say she
was well looked after,

and her needs were being met?

- Oh absolutely, she was
never screaming about

how hungry she was,
or she never came over

in dirty clothes
or a dirty diaper.

I never saw Casey raise
her voice at Caylee,

I never saw her strike Caylee.

From what I saw,
Caylee loved her mom.

You know, there was one time
when she stopped coming around

that I said to Casey, you
know like, where's Caylee

because it had gone from
at least three or four

times a week to nothing,
so that was, that was odd.

She gave us the same
excuse that she's given

authorities and the
American public.

She's with my nanny,
or she's with my mom.

And we didn't really have
a reason to not trust her.

Fast forward to the trial,
hearing that she had been

missing for 31 days
and nobody had seen her

in over a month,
it's terrifying.

When I first met her, I would
describe her as a good mother.

What I would describe
her as now, is a liar.

- I called a little bit ago.

The deputy sheriff's coming out.

I found out my granddaughter
has been taken.

She has been
missing for a month.

- We've heard from some people
close to Caylee and Casey,

and ideally, we'd want to
hear from Casey herself.

But she declined
to speak with us.

We do however, have her written
statement from the night

investigators were called
to the Anthony home.

So we want to take a
closer look at Casey,

by taking a deep dive into
her initial version of events

to see what we can learn.

- This was Casey
Anthony's first statement.

She wrote it on the 16th
of July, at five minutes

past one in the morning.

- Correct, this
would've been the report

that was initiated by
the responding officer,

post-911 calls.

- The fact that it is 3 1/3
pages, what does that tell you?

- Casey had 31 days
to account for here,

and she probably could've
written a lot more.

But that also means she
had 31 days to think about

what she was going to
tell investigators,

and for that matter,
put on paper.

- Well it's written here
the offense is kidnapping,

but she actually talked
about her disappearance.

You know, they're two
completely different things,

aren't they, a kidnapping,
somebody who's taken

her daughter, abducted
her, has kidnapped her,

versus she's just
disappeared into thin air.

- Yeah, that struck me
right away, disappearance,

as if some magician
snapped his or her fingers.

And it helps sort of bring
down the true importance

of this, 'cause if
something disappears,

it's very possible like with a
magician, it'll appear again.

- And she would
have more accurately said,

the day she was abducted,
supposedly, by Zani.

So what about on the
second page, Jim?

- We have the excellent
description of

Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez,
25 years old, from New York,

roughly five foot,
seven inches tall.

- She actually gave
an artist's sketch of

Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez.

- That's an incredible
amount of detail,

and she must have sat
with a forensic artist

to do that for
quite a bit of time.

- Based on the
first information provided

to law enforcement, Zenaida
Gonzalez was in fact

the first suspect in
this investigation.

- That completely washed
out, there was absolutely

no evidence that anybody named
Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez

had anything to do with Caylee
Anthony's disappearance.

- Correct.

- On the second page,
there's some really

strange language being used.

For example, Casey
says, I'd called Zenaida

earlier that morning,
after dropping off Caylee

at Zenaida's apartment.

- But in the
afternoon, her phone was

no longer in
service, or working.

- She's told the
police the reason why

Zenaida's phone would not
ring if they called it.

'Cause it didn't exist
in the first place.

- I noticed her descriptors
for her daughter.

She obviously begins
it, I took my daughter,

Caylee Marie Anthony,
okay, that's fine,

putting her full name out
there, sort of makes sense here.

But I counted eight
separate times, through this

700 word statement, where she
used the phrase, my daughter.

She almost like has
to prove to whoever's

going to be reading this,
that, oh by the way,

this is my daughter,
I want to remind you,

and of course, if
it's my daughter,

I would never do
anything to harm her.

- I've spent every day
looking for my daughter.

I have lied and stolen
from friends and family

to do whatever I could
to find my daughter.

For the past four weeks,
since Caylee's disappearance,

I'm tried to find any
information about Caylee,

whether by going to a
popular bar or restaurant.

- I asked him, popular bar?
- And popular bars,

restaurants, I mean that
just is so out of place

but I'm still intrigued
as to why manufacture

so many untruths, what
purpose do they serve for her?

And that's the really
important part of this.

A fantasy life can be
triggered through trauma,

as sort of a coping mechanism,

So that's what I'm
trying to understand,

is what purpose do the
lies serve for Casey?

Just because somebody lies,
or doesn't tell the truth,

that doesn't make
them a murderer.

However, Casey's lies
continued to be troubling.

Casey didn't report her
daughter missing for 31 days.

Why wasn't she on the
phone asking for help?

Hoping that Caylee
is still alive,

and conscious that
the clock is ticking,

the police take Casey to where
she says she's been working,

Universal Studios, Orlando.

- I was the sergeant in
charge of the missing person's

squad at the Orange
County Sheriff's Office,

and so, I oversaw
the investigation.

Another detective and
I went to the house,

and we picked Casey up.

We suggest to her, hey
let's go to Universal Studios

and we'll look in
your office and see

if there's anything that would
help us find your daughter.

- What was her
manner at that point,

her demeanor?
- She was very calm,

I mean just very matter of fact.

When we got there,
she began dealing with

the security guard and he
looked into the computer

and said, I'm sorry,
we don't have anybody

That works here by that name.

And Casey said, no, I
work here, look again.

So he asked her, you know,
who's your supervisor?

Well, she spit out a name.

And the security guard again
looked into the computer

and looked back up with
a confused look and said,

that person doesn't
work here either.

What's your phone extension?

So Casey spit out
a phone extension,

and the guy looks
at her and says

that's not a phone
extension here.

So at that point,
the security director

got us through the gate.

We walk into the
building, and we're

kind of making small talk.

She's telling me that someday

she'd like to be a
personal trainer.

And we turn down
a dead end hall,

and there's really no
place else to walk.

And at that point, she
turns and looks at us

and says, I don't
really work here.

And so we sat down
and interviewed her.

- I'm absolutely petrified.

Absolutely petrified.

I know my mom will
never forgive me.

I'm never gonna forgive myself.

Because there's that
chance that I might not

see Caylee again, and I
don't want to think about it.

- Let me
ask you, let me ask you.

By lying to us, and sending
us on these wild goose chases.

Hold on a minute, okay?

I want you to tell me is it
that there is some other thing

more important in
your life right now,

or did you purposely mislead us?

Which of those two is it?

- I purposely mislead you.

- Okay,
so you purposely misled us.

This was all an attempt to
help find your daughter, right?

That makes sense
to you, correct?

- In a backwards
sort of way, yes.

- A backwards sort of...
- I'm coming back

to places that
are familiar to me

that I know are familiar to her.

How old is she?

- She's almost three.
- She's almost three.

What do you think, she
is gonna take a cab here?

- At some point, she
did work at Universal.

- She worked for a company there

that would take
people's pictures

as they came into the place,

but she hadn't worked
there in quite some time.

But she was telling her family
that she did have a job.

That she was going
to work everyday.

- So she was leaving every day.

And where is she going?

- She wasn't going to work.

Once we finished the
interview at Universal,

we went back to the
sheriff's office,

and there we made the
decision to arrest her

and charge her
with child neglect.

So, you know, at that point,
the thought was that well,

she's never been in
any trouble before.

She'll tell us what
she did with the child.

- On July 16th, 2008, Casey
was arrested on suspicion

of child neglect, obstructing
the investigation,

and for lying to the police.

Two cadaver dogs

allegedly hit on odors
found in Anthony's car.

- We later discovered
there were chloroform searches

on the Anthony computer.

- They were low levels.

Consistent with
cleaning products.

This is the level of
absurdity, the desperation

that this case, that this
prosecution will take it to.

Year old Caylee, missing,

says her mother, for
at least five weeks.

- As every hour passes, I get
a little bit more nervous.

- Both lived with Cindy Anthony,

and her husband George.

- That's all I'd say, we
want our granddaughter.

My daughter sees where she's at,

we deal with that separately.

- Where their
daughter is, is in custody.

Charged with among other things,

obstructing a criminal
investigation.

The 22 year old single mom
has repeatedly told detectives

confusing stories about Caylee.

- In this case, there
are some time gaps

when it was determined that she

didn't have a job at Universal,

and we don't know
what Casey was doing.

But with Casey now in
custody and arrested

on suspicion of obstructing
the investigation,

lying to the police,
and child neglect,

investigators focus on
trying to find Caylee.

They start by piecing
together the timeline

in the days leading up
to Caylee going missing.

According to the Orange
County Sheriff's report,

they were able to trace her
most recent whereabouts.

On Fathers Day, June
15, Caylee and Casey

visit the Anthony Home.

June 16 is the last day
that Caylee is seen alive.

On June 20th, five days
after Caylee was last seen,

Casey is seen out partying
at Fusion night club.

Over the next month,
she's captured on various

mall security cameras going
shopping without Caylee.

She also gets a new
tattoo, reading bella vita,

which is Italian
for beautiful life.

During this time, Casey had
been using her parents' car,

but abandons it on June 27th.

On June 30th, the
car was impounded,

and a letter was
sent to her parents.

On July 15th, 31 days
after Caylee was last seen,

George and Cindy
retrieved the car.

There was a terrible odor
coming from the trunk.

Cindy tracks Casey
down at her boyfriend,

Tony Lazarro's, apartment
and drags her home.

And then calls the police.

- There's something wrong.

I found my daughter's car today,

and it smells like there's been

a dead body in the damn car.

- It was the discovery
of Casey's abandoned car

that would lead to
three key pieces

of evidence for the prosecution.

The odor, a single
strand of Caylee's hair,

and traces of chloroform
found in the trunk of the car.

- Two cadaver dogs

allegedly hit on odors
found in Anthony's car.

- He alerted to the odor
of human decomposition.

- In the trunk of that car?

- Yes ma'am.

- Cuz I found hair samples
in the trunk of the car

that were similar in length
and color to that of Caylee.

- Despite not having a
body, on October 14th, 2008,

a 19 member Orange
County grand jury

met to deliberate on the
largely circumstantial

evidence collected
against Casey Anthony.

- They considered that
evidence, they've deliberated,

and they have returned
an indictment.

- Casey was arrested and charged

with first degree murder,
aggravated child abuse,

aggravated manslaughter
of a child,

and four counts of
providing false information

to a law enforcement officer.

She would later plead not
guilty to all charges.

- At this point, I would
definitely want to learn

more about the car and
what was in the trunk.

The prosecution claiming
that multiple people,

right from the start,
made a point of saying

that this was a
decomposing dead body.

It was Cindy, who was a
nurse, did make a comment

that it smelled like
a decomposing body.

When you first come into
contact with the car

and you saw it, what was
your first impression,

and your instinct, having been
an experienced investigator?

- Certainly, standing here
helps me relive that moment.

And it takes me back
to that point in time.

You know, I think and to
put things into context,

it made things
much more serious.

The initial allegations of
simply a child abduction,

or a babysitter who
had taken a child.

- So this car would
become pivotal

in this investigation
and prosecution.

Unfortunately, it had been
in several people's hands.

It had been
abandoned, it had been

sitting in different places.

I mean, how did that
affect this investigation,

and this case in general?

- I think it leaves
the door open

to be able to cast
reasonable doubt.

You know, I think any
good defense attorney

would have that ability.

But I think also,
contrary to that,

I think that there was still
plenty of evidence there.

- The prosecution's theory
seemed to rest heavily

on the finding of
chloroform in the trunk.

- Yes.

It's very fascinating.

Especially given the
volatility of the chemical.

That was kind of
pivotal as to what road

we were going to go down.

It made this a very
atypical investigation.

- The prosecution believed
that Casey Anthony

used chloroform to kill Caylee.

Chloroform was once
used as an anesthetic,

but it's no longer
used for that.

It's hard to acquire,
and contrary to what

we've seen in the
media, it's not

commonly encountered in
crime investigations.

- Reports surfaced this week

that the potentially
deadly chemical chloroform

was reportedly found in
the trunk of her car.

A drug that can cause

a person to pass out and
can be fatal at high doses.

- We later discovered
that there were chloroform

searches on the
Anthony computer.

It's one of those
critical points early on

that made a
suggestion that it was

more than just
simply an abduction.

- When police searched
the Anthony home

following the report of
Caylee's disappearance,

they took the
family's computer in

for forensic examination.

On the internet
browsing history,

they found several
intriguing searches.

- By a user in the Anthony home,

searches were done
on that computer

for the words chloroform,
alcohol, acetone,

how to make chloroform.

- This forms the basis of
the prosecution's case.

And the traces found in
the trunk of the car,

and the Google searches
on the home computer,

the prosecutor believed that
the chloroform was homemade.

- At the end of this
case, you will have

no trouble concluding
that Caylee Anthony

was murdered by her
mother Casey Anthony.

- The prosecution
believed the chloroform

was used to kill Caylee.

The chloroform in
this case created

what I would call an
epistemic imbalance.

It was something that was
believed to be very significant,

because of what happened
with the computer searches,

and seeing that someone
in the Anthony house

did search for chloroform.

But why use chloroform
to kill a little girl?

Why not just use something
far more accessible?

I think this was
the erroneous part.

They tried to make
it make sense.

But actually, there were
numerous possibilities,

which is what the defense put.

- Chloroform.

They were low levels.

Very low levels, consistent
with cleaning products.

But this is the
level of absurdity,

the desperation that this case,

that this prosecution
will take it to.

They'll take it
to the next level.

They'll ask you to see
things that aren't there.

- We definitely need to look
into the chloroform further.

I think we've got a lot more
questions to ask of experts.

The prosecution clearly believed

that Casey made chloroform
in her own home.

Which begs the question
whether or not someone

who wasn't a chemist
could actually

manufacture chloroform
in their own home.

- So we're going to meet
with Dr. Kenyon Evans,

a professor of chemistry
and forensic toxicology

at the University of Tampa.

- Can you actually buy it?

Can you go anywhere
to buy chloroform?

- You can buy chloroform
as an industrial solvent.

But odds are, you're
gonna produce a record

for law enforcement
at the least.

- The chloroform evidence,
and the theory around it,

was actually the foundation
of the prosecution's case.

- But it's one of the
most puzzling pieces

of their narrative
and this case.

- So what we'd like to do is
replicate a way of making it,

as if it would be
in someone's home.

To see if that's even possible.

Or if it's such a
complicated process

that that's not possible.

- Sure.

- Have you ever heard,
across your career,

of anyone making
chloroform at home?

- No.

I mean, the idea that
someone would try that,

I don't think that's,
just a personal opinion.

I don't think that's
completely out of this world.

Like, I guess it's possible.

But to my knowledge,

I don't know if
there's a specific

case study where
someone made chloroform

at home for sort of nefarious,

I'm gonna anesthetize
someone against their will.

- Well, you've never
heard of a case

where somebody's actually
done it successfully.

- That's right, that's right.

- Is it really possible
that Casey Anthony,

a young 22 year old
mother who did not

graduate from high school, was
capable of making chloroform?

Laura and I
are at the University of Tampa

to meet with Dr. Kenyon Evans

to test whether or
not you could actually

manufacture chloroform
in somebody's home.

This is really
significant for us,

because this forms the basis
of the prosecution's case.

- Should we try and
make some first of all?

- Yeah, sure.

- Have you got some
students that can help?

- Katie, who is not
a chemistry student.

- Hi Katie.
- And is kind enough...

- Hi Katie.

- Is gonna be kind
enough to try a synthesis

that she found online, right?

- Yeah.

So we'll see how this goes.

- Okay, great.

- The prosecution's suggestion
was that Casey Anthony

made chloroform,
because of what happened

with the computer searches,
and seeing that someone

in the Anthony house did
search for chloroform.

So we're using somebody
who didn't have

an understanding of
science and chemistry

to show just how difficult
it would be to make it.

- So, we'll
start with bleach here.

- Okay, so this is the
online recipe that you found?

- And then you pour acetone
into the concentrated bleach.

So what does it say next?

- Swirl it around
without sloshing it.

It does say first you'll
notice a white cloud

of vapor coming
from the solution,

and the solution itself
will become cloudy.

You don't want to
breathe this in.

You'll be able to see
a white residue powder

or bubble forming on the bottom.

That's the chloroform.

- I noticed that it is
getting very cloudy.

- It should settle into a layer.

Sort of like a
vinegar and oil layer,

where it's sitting
on the bottom.

- Right at the end it
says at this point,

the chloroform is created,
but if you're going to use it

on people or animals
for that matter,

it needs to be distilled
in order to purify it.

Obviously you'll need
a distiller for that.

- Yes.

- Wow, that's a whole...
- What's a distiller?

- Complicated process.

- Distillation is not trivial.

It's difficult, and most
people are not gonna distill.

And so you're gonna have
impurities in there.

That's what distillation
would take out.

- Right.

So you're basically
heating it up

so that certain
compounds will boil off.

And then what's left
could be your compound,

or you may have to
boil off another level,

and another level,
and another level.

It's not just mixing
the chemicals.

You have to extract it from
the bottom of this mixture.

But hen on top of that,
you have to actually

distill what's
left to purify it.

So you can use it.

And certainly the average person

would never be able to do
that in their own home.

- I mean, this sounds
quite complicated.

- You'd have to have a
whole apparatus for it.

- Yeah.
- When you look online

to see how do you
make chloroform,

if you didn't read
the full recipe

of what you need to do, it
would seem quite simple.

But actually when you
read the detail of it,

it's much more
complicated than that.

And I think this was
probably the part

that the jury didn't buy into.

That anyone from the
Anthony household

was making chloroform
to either render

Caylee Anthony unconscious,
or to kill her.

And I have to say neither do
I buy into that narrative,

having run the
real-life experiment

that showed it was
highly unlikely.

- To manufacture, at home,
chloroform effectively,

and then effectively
use it against

somebody who's not cooperating,
in your experience,

it's not even possible
for that to be done.

- Yeah, it hasn't been seen.

People have tried it
from time to time.

- And it's never worked.

- Right.

- According to the prosecution,

there were three key
pieces of evidence

found in the trunk
of Casey's car.

There was a single hair,

the smell of human
decomposition,

and high levels of chloroform.

But if Casey Anthony making
chloroform is highly unlikely,

what else might the
prosecution have gotten wrong

in the case of Caylee Anthony?

Coming up on
The Case of Caylee Anthony

They had cadaver dogs search the
vehicle. What did they find?

They're picking up traces of
decomposition.

Search warrants aren't given for
cadaver dogs.

It's not an exact science.

A single strand of
hair recovered from

the trunk of Casey's car.

[Jim The evidence that you had
wasn't sufficient

to make that determination.

It's not enough.

Earlier on The Case
of Caylee Anthony

The prosecution
believed that Casey Anthony

used chloroform to kill Caylee.

We later discovered there were
chloroform searches

on the Anthony computer.

But why use chloroform to kill a
little girl?

This is the level of absurdity

that this prosecution will take
it to.

Have you ever heard across your
career

of anyone making chloroform at
home?

People have tried it

from time to time

- But it's never worked.

Right.

- Caylee Anthony, two
years, 10 months old,

she's reported
missing by her mother

on July 15th, 2008, a month
after she's actually last seen.

Investigators don't believe her.

Her story has fallen through.

- And Caylee Anthony is
still missing at this point.

There's still a search
ongoing for her.

But investigators believe
that she has been killed.

And Casey was charged
with first-degree murder.

And they suspect that
chloroform was involved.

So there's questions

about whether Casey
Anthony made chloroform.

- We're talking about
a 22-year-old girl,

in a suburban home,
without a chemistry set.

- I don't see it.

- So Laura and I actually went

to the University of Tampa
and set up an experiment,

to see whether somebody who
didn't have a background

in chemistry could
actually synthesize it.

- But actually, to do it
was quite complicated.

It just seemed
highly unlikely that

that's what happened
in this case.

- Hollywood makes it look
very simple to put these types

of chemicals together on
a rag, on someone's face.

- It's a hell of a lot easier

to smother a
three-year-old than it is

to think about how you're
gonna do this elaborate way

of making chloroform.

- Though the
prosecution theorized

that Casey could've
crafted her own chloroform,

our experiment with Dr
Kenyon shed light on the fact

that someone with little
to no science experience

could have a very difficult time

making the chemical
compound at home.

So if it's highly unlikely

that Casey made
her own chloroform,

we should turn to the next
critical piece of evidence,

the odor in the trunk.

- I found my
daughter's car today,

and it smells like
there's been a dead body

in the damn car.

- It was the
disclosure by authorities

that two cadaver
dogs allegedly hit

on odors found in Anthony's car,

which the judge said would
keep him wake at night.

- He alerted to the odor
of human decomposition.

- They had cadaver dogs
search the vehicles.

What did they find?

- They're picking up
traces of decomposition,

which tells us that something
just isn't right here.

- Even though law
enforcement cadaver dogs hit

on the trunk, the source of
the strong odor became one

of the most controversial
evidentiary questions

According to the prosecution,

Casey had texted a
friend about the smell.

- She remarked that there was
a really bad smell coming out

of her car, and she
didn't know what it was.

And then there's
another phone call

where she said it
had gotten worse,

and she thought maybe her
dad had run over something

when he had borrowed the car.

- It seemed the
prosecution argued

Casey was already
setting up, in advance,

that when somebody smells this,

I want to have an
excuse for why it smells

in the back of my car.

- Any of us that have
smelled a dead body,

I mean, it is unmistakable.

I mean, it's something that
stays with you forever.

- But I know that dead animals
do smell pretty damn bad.

- Well, they're different.

- Well, different
or more extreme?

I mean... - No, different.

All of us in this room have
smelled a decomposing human body

at some point.

The human species are different
in their composition...

- Yeah, I understand that,

but it's difficult to know.

- This all started when
Cindy made a comment

that it smelled like
a decomposing body.

- It smells like there's been
a dead body in the damn car.

Yeah, I said it smelled like
something had died in the car.

- Cindy Anthony later said

she had made a rush to judgment,

and the stench she inhaled
was likely an old pizza

in the trunk.

- There was a bag of
pizza for, what, 12 days,

in the back of the
car, full of maggots.

It stunk so bad.

- Casey threw the garbage
in the trunk of her car.

And like many of us forget
sandwiches and leftovers

and doggy bags, she forgot
to throw out the trash.

That's where the
smell comes from.

- Because there was
garbage in that trunk,

a story about possibly
some dead animals

that could've been
associated with her car.

And we wanted to
find out whether

or not we could distinguish

between cadaver dogs
finding the scent

of decaying trash, decaying
animals or decaying humans.

So we set out to conduct
our own experiment

at the local junkyard.

Well, we're meeting
up with Mike and Julie

of Peace River
Search and Rescue.

Mike and Julie are
trainers of cadaver dogs,

like the ones used by police

in the Anthony case.

We want to find out if these
dogs really can distinguish

between rotting
garbage, dead animals

and human decomposition.

- We've got some, I got a deer
and a pig skull here for you.

They're still generating odor.

So we'll be able to use these.

- So if they're, is
that gonna be different

from if it was a
decomposing mammal?

- If it still had
meat and flesh on it,

it would be a larger
scent picture.

So this will be a smaller one.

But it's still generating.

- But it's enough
for a dog to pick up?

- Absolutely.

- Okay.
- Yeah.

- And so in there
is human remains?

- This is, it's got
human tissue in it.

I've got some jars and
stuff in here for you.

- And in this bag?

- We've got
a pizza box in here...

- Clothing.
- And some other random trash.

- Okay, great.
- And just some things

in there as well. - Yes.

- Yup.
- Okay.

- I've got gloves for you guys.

We're gonna go somewhere

where we don't see
what you're doing.

- A dog's nose has upwards

of 300 million
olfactory receptors.

Their sense of smell is 40
times greater than a human's.

Though we're placing these
items in a closed trunk,

we're told the animals
will still be able

to detect what's inside,
but can they differentiate

between three different
kinds of decomposition?

- And so what are we
looking for with her?

When she's alerting,
what will she do?

- She's a very energetic dog.

So she'll be going
pretty quickly here.

She'll probably jump either in
the vehicles or around them.

If she's in a position where
she can down, she will.

- And what does that mean, down?

- When she downs, that
means that she's found odor.

- Well, shall we
put it to the test

and see what happens?
- We're ready to go.

So all I'm gonna do is
tell her to go find, coffa.

And then she'll take off.

- Okay, great.

- Coffa.

- Wow, she is very...

- Is that her excitement?

- She's very excited.

Good girl.

Is it okay if we open
the trunk of this car?

- Yeah, she's
on to human remains.

- That is a definite alert.

She's not moving.

She's not searching
anywhere else.

- Running a blind test and
seeing Callie, the dog, at work,

was just very
instructive for me.

But like anything, no
science is perfect.

So how sensitive is their
sense of smell and scent?

- Very sensitive, we've
actually put a drop

of blood inside drywall,
and the dogs have been able

to find that drop of
blood inside the drywall.

- How do you know whether
he's hitting on blood

that's from somebody
who cut their finger

when they were closing
the trunk of a car

or somebody who passed away?

- We don't know.

That's for forensics
to figure that out.

All I do is say
there's blood there.

- Let's say, if someone rests
a body down in a location,

and then they move the body,

does it, the odor
evaporates or dissipates?

- Residual odor is one
of the big problems

that we have with cadaver dogs.

And you have a body
that had been left there

for even a short period of
time, like a couple of hours,

it will leave a
scent picture there

that the dogs can detect.

Now some people would call
that a false positive,

because there's no body there,

but with the cadaver dog,
there could be something there.

We just don't know what
it is, or we can't see it.

So it is a problem.

That's one of the reasons why
search warrants aren't given

just for cadaver dogs, because
it's not an exact science.

- Our experiment showed the
cadaver dog was not distracted

by garbage or dead animals when
searching for human remains,

which is what the
prosecution stated.

But as we were told, it's
not an exact science.

- There are things
called false positives.

The reliability of this
dog is questionable.

- The prosecution
has built their case

on circumstantial evidence
collected from the trunk,

which under closer
examination is proven

to be less than reliable.

But there's one more piece
of evidence from the car

that we need to consider.

Another key piece
of evidence found

in the trunk was a nine-inch
hair, the prosecution claiming

the hair may have come
from a decomposing body.

- The evidence that you
had wasn't sufficient

to make that determination.

- It's not enough.

Investigators believ

Casey's abandoned car
holds important clues.

- This investigation
involves intricate forensics

that are on the cutting
edge of science.

- One key piece of
key scientific evidence,

a single strand of hair
recovered from

the trunk of Casey's car.

Investigators say that it
showed signs of decomposition,

meaning that it came
from a dead body.

- They took hair from the trunk.

They took hair
from the trash bag.

They took hair from
Casey's clothes.

They took hair from her home.

And what's more important
is they cannot say it came

from a dead body.

- Among all the hair collected

from the trunk of Casey's car,

forensic investigators
found just a single hair

that showed signs of
postmortem banding.

This led law
enforcement to believe

that a dead body had
been in the trunk.

However, recent scientific
developments called

into question the science
that this claim is based on.

- We wanted to meet
with Dr De Forest,

an independent
expert and specialist

in postmortem banding, in
order to discuss the claims

about the strand of hair
collected from Casey's car.

- So Dr Forest, we're actually
conducting a reexamination

of the death of Caylee Anthony.

And part of that investigation
includes one hair

that they said has
evidence of decomposition.

And I believe that's
called postmortem banding.

- Yeah, it's evidence of
decomposition taking place

in the follicle.

- Have you testified in cases
about postmortem banding

and identified cases in
which hair must have been,

in your opinion, in the head
of a person after they died?

- Yes, whether the body or,

like at the wood chipper
case in Connecticut

where the guy put the woman
through the wood chipper,

and there were
little bits of scalp

that were all set
out in the ground.

There were about 1,000
hairs they brought me,

and all of those showed the
postmortem root banding.

So it's the decomposition taking
place within the follicle.

- So can you perhaps show us

what the death banding
looks like on a hair?

- Yup, this one here, I think
is a nice one to show this.

So we have this just dark band,

which is an area where
there's material missing

from the inside of the hair.

- And how long would you
say, after somebody has died,

would you expect to
see this dark banding?

- This doesn't happen,
you know, overnight.

Two to three days is
what I would commonly see

with normal root banding.

- And so in our case, if we can
relate it to the facts here,

is that what you were
talking about there?

- This hair was found
in the trunk of the car.

- If I were to opine on
something that looked like that,

I would say that this is a
typical postmortem root banding,

but it's not absolute.

One of my former students
has done some experiments

where in the laboratory
he can change the pH

and put in certain solutions

and actually create something
that looks like that.

- So postmortem banding
isn't really definitive?

- It is not, no.

- The further we dig

into the evidence
surrounding the car,

the less convincing
the prosecution's

So we called in someone
who knows firsthand some

of the challenges with
the prosecution's case.

- Casey Anthony, in jail,

her lawyer has assembled
high-profile experts,

including Dr Henry Lee.

- With 56 years of experience

and having worked cases
all around the world,

Dr. Lee is a renowned
forensic scientist.

During the original
investigation,

Jose Baez and the defense
sought his expert opinion

on the case of Caylee Anthony.

- This is a replica of the
make and model of the car

that Casey Anthony drove.

- Yeah, I remember.
- Does this bring back

any memories for you?
- I remember.

10 years ago,

- When you examined the vehicle
in the Casey Anthony case,

where was that vehicle?

- The vehicle is in the
police department garage.

- Still, in November?
- Still.

- What kind of odor?

- When you say typical,
what do you mean?

- So garbage, not
human decomposition?

- When the trunk was
popped, what did you see?

- So the glue that was
used to hold the carpeting,

you're saying that
could be responsible...

- Is it possible,
after everything,

the chloroform came
from the trunk liner?

The prosecution
said that one hair

that was found in the trunk,
in the original search,

appeared to have
postmortem banding.

Generally, when we see
postmortem banding,

it occurs while the hair is
still attached to the head

of somebody who is decomposing.

- Right.

- So we've learned that
death banding characteristics

can present in a hair when
subjected to unique conditions.

And of course, this conflicts

with the prosecution's assertion

that it can only happen when
attached to a dead body.

Do you think it's unusual
that there was just one hair?

- So it doesn't tell you
one way or the other.

To be,

it'll present
itself out in court,

and it will withstand the
rigors of cross-examination.

And everyone shouldn't
jump to conclusions

and automatically conclude
that a person's guilty

until proven innocent.

- The closer we
look at the evidence

from the trunk, the
weaker the case seems.

None of the evidence
links directly to Casey.

But the prosecution included
first-degree murder charges.

At this point,

the search for Caylee has
reached critical mass.

The EquuSearch
organization has hundreds

of volunteers combing the area

where Caylee was
reportedly last seen.

- A total of
2,500 volunteer searchers

from 14 states braved
mosquitoes, high water

and soaring temperatures to
try to find Caylee Anthony.

- We're not gonna
give up, folks.

- The head of
EquuSearch says standing water

from Tropical Storm Fay
is making it impossible

to search thoroughly.

- My God, let's have
this water dry up.

Let's have it go away,

because it's impossible
to complete these areas.

- The odds of
finding the toddler alive,

at this point, are
almost nonexistent.

- Sheriff Kevin Berry says

if Casey Anthony wants
to provide information,

he could have EquuSearch
back in 24 hours.

- And if she's got information,

it's probably best to
come clean with it.

- With authorities
desperate for leads,

they again turn to
Casey for answers.

Immediately following her
arrest, in October, 2008,

Casey was brought to the
Orange County Sheriff's Office,

instead of the jail, in order
to give her the opportunity

to tell the FBI, once and
for all, anything she knew

about Caylee's disappearance.

- So how was she acting
after her arrest,

considering the magnitude
of the charges against her?

We want to take a look
at the video footage

to examine Casey's
behavior, given the context

that her daughter
has now been missing

for four months.

- Let's have a look
and see what happens.

- I have to use the restroom,

so if you'll give me a minute...

- That's fine.

- And then we'll get you phone,

and we will call your attorney.

- Okay.
- Okay?

- We have a surveillance video
from the Sheriff's Office

of Casey making small
talk with FBI agents

as she waited for her
lawyer, Jose Baez.

We're going to analyze the
tape with Jim Fitzgerald

and Nick Savage, who was at
the Sheriff's Office that day.

- Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm.

- She says, "My daughter,"
but you don't get,

you get distance from it.

You don't get a
connection from it.

It's almost like she's
talking about somebody else.

It's not her reality and
the fact she's being charged

for first-degree murder.
- Of that same daughter.

- Of that same daughter.

- She's just been
charged with a crime

that could potentially
carry the death penalty.

So that's you
entering the scene.

- I am.

- What is your intention here?

- I certainly just want the
opportunity to talk to her.

I'll be honest with you.

It's about looking
for a little girl.

And it may pay off.

It may be effective.

- Obviously, it
was a custodial situation,

so nothing we're
gonna talk about

is gonna be used against her.

- However, I guess, there
is a remote possibility,

even though she had been charged

with the murder of her child,

that maybe she would come
out and say something

about where Caylee is
actually located right now.

Perhaps that thin slice of hope
that she's even still alive.

And you wouldn't really
care if that could be held

against her in court or not.

- The defense will later
claim that Casey actually went

into extreme denial.

- Casey did what she's
been doing all her life,

hiding her pain.

She went back to that deep,
ugly place called denial,

to pretend as if
nothing was wrong.

Something's not
right with this girl.

- They argued that Caylee
was the love of her life.

And the fact that Casey
knew she was gone meant

that she couldn't face
life in that reality.

- We had a discussion.
- Okay.

- You're gonna
discuss that with her?

- Um, she knows.
- Okay.

- And I have to say,
she's incredibly polite.

- She's very conscious of her
interaction with everybody.

And she does come across...

- Yeah, she's very charming.

She is.

- It's all just inherent
to her personality.

- The prosecution
believes strongly in her guilt.

But you have to explain the
cause of death in a homicide.

And they didn't have a body.

They took a risk, including a
charge of first-degree murder.

But did they have the direct
evidence linking Casey

to the crime?

- With regret, I'm
here to inform you

that the skeletal
remains are those

of the missing toddler,
Caylee Anthony.

- It was a cold day.

The bag was in place.

You could see the skull.

You could see the duct tape.

I could shut my eyes
and go back there today

as if it were yesterday.

- Casey Anthony was charged in
the death of Caylee Anthony,

despite no weapon, no
motive and no body.

Two months later, December
the 11th, 2008, sadly,

Caylee Anthony's
remains are found

in a wooded area,
a quarter of a mile

from the Anthony home,
in Suburban Drive.

- Today, investigators are
still examining the remains

of a small child found
near Caylee's home.

- Investigators tell NBC news

they have a high degree of
confidence the body found

in the woods is Caylee Anthony.

- With regret, I'm
here to inform you

that the skeletal remains found
on December 11th are those

of the missing toddler,
Caylee Anthony.

- Nick, can you just tell us

where exactly were you.

So presumably, you got a phone
call that Caylee was found.

- John Allen called me.

I almost halfheartedly,
at the time, said,

"John, we've been through
this so many times."

And he said, "No, I
think you really need

"to get down here as
soon as possible."

The thing I remember most
about it was it was a cold day.

I mean, it was freezing,
and it was raining.

It was just a cold rain

that kind of slipped
right through you.

And I can remember kind
of walking up on the scene

and then just kind
of looking down.

I swear everything
was magnified,

the sounds, the... everything.

- So you saw the bones in place?

- The bag was in place.

You could see the skull.

You could see the duct tape.

Again, I could shut my eyes
and go back there today

as if it were yesterday.

- Going back to the place

where Caylee Anthony's
remains were discovered,

now this is about a
quarter of a mile away

from the Anthony home,
in a wooded area,

off of Suburban Drive.

All the while, during the course

of the missing
person investigation,

she was around the corner,
close to the main road,

and yet they didn't find her.

- In the FBI behavioral
analysis unit,

we immediately search
concentric circles

around the last
known sighting area.

And they didn't do
that in this case.

Nick, we've done hundreds,
if not thousands,

of child abduction
investigations over the course

of our career, and
you search every house

and every child-sized
container, and you focus

on abandoned houses,
right, and wooded areas.

- Yes, we certainly know

within a one-mile
radius is generally

where a body would be left.

And then a lot of those
areas were searched.

But from the initial start
of this investigation,

we were looking for
potentially a child

that had been abducted,
not necessarily one

that could've been
in that field.

- Right, and what
we had heard was

that the Sheriff's
Department relied heavily

on volunteers, none of
which were really trained

in search of a decomposed child.

- Correct.

- We think it was
the perfect storm,

because Casey led the police
investigation far away

to Sawgrass Apartments, where
the nanny supposedly lived,

and said that's where
Caylee was last seen.

And so from the beginning,
investigators were misdirected.

And then in December we
learn that Roy Kronk,

the witness who located
Caylee's remains,

actually had found her remains

in August, four months earlier.

- The mystery man who
found Caylee Anthony's body

has gone public.

Roy Kronk, a water meter reader
for Florida's Orange County,

spoke out after Caylee's
remains were identified.

- I discovered and
reported to my management

and appropriate
authorities the remains

of a human body located
in a wooded area.

Back in August of this year,

I had previously
reported to Crimeline

and to the sheriff's
communication center

that I had spotted
something suspicious,

a bag in the same area.

- So Roy Kronk calls up
three times in August.

Why wasn't her body found?

At this point, I
would definitely want

to learn more about Roy Kronk.

He claimed that they stopped
in the area, Suburban Drive,

and he needed to go into the
woods to relieve himself.

He says that's when he
first saw the skull.

He then found this rattlesnake,

and so he and his colleagues
kind of got wrapped up

with this dead snake, and
so they went back to work,

taking the snake with them

to sort of scare
their colleagues.

But his girlfriend
appeals to his conscience

that you should call the police.

- A deputy goes out on
August the 11th, after work.

He goes up through some
of the grass verge area.

He says he can't see
anything, and he drives off.

And so Roy Kronk does
call again the next day.

- Looking through
the police reports,

police did respond this time

but could not see
Caylee's body, either.

They placed a call to
headquarters and were then told

that the area had
already been searched.

- Such a damned shame.

They missed such an opportunity,

because there's a high
likelihood, at this point,

that they're
searching for a body,

not a live child who's lost.

- That's the travesty of it.

On his third try, Roy
Kronk went to meet police

and show them
where the body was.

- The worst part of this
is that on August the 13th,

two officers did respond
and meet Kronk there.

The deputy started to go
down the hill a little bit,

slipped and fell and
decided I'm not interested

in going any further.

- You said that he
just did a cursory sort

of looking around, didn't
do much of anything.

- Yes, ma'am.

- And then proceeded to
either argue with you

or berate you about why
you were wasting his time

or the county's time?

- Yes, he was berating me.

- And because of how
you were treated,

you let the matter go.

- Yes, ma'am.

- Three times, back in August,

Roy Kronk called investigators
to report a suspicious bag

in the woods.

- We'll get to the bottom of it.

- The sheriff says

an internal investigation
is now underway

to answer why detectives
missed those critical clues.

- Well, maybe they just
weren't thinking like that.

I mean, at the time,
she's a missing person.

They think that
they're searching

for a little toddler, alive.

- They had a
responsibility to find out,

rather than just
making assumptions

and then discounting a
sighting that was so close

to her house and turns out
to be absolutely credible.

The chances of that child
being alive, I mean,

of kids who are
abducted and killed,

44% are killed in
the first hour.

That officer didn't know that.

- We're headed to the site

where Caylee's body was
found to try and understand

how the police could have
missed discovering her body

for six months.

So given the fact we
know that Kronk did try

and call this in
three times, I mean,

what would the advice
have been or your thoughts

around that and the FBI?

- Well, certainly, if
they had told us that,

we would've advised
the officers to go

and do a forensics
search of that area.

If it's a swampy area,
then we would've had them

pump out the water
and actually look.

I think if they had listened
to Kronk, there would've been

so much more forensic
evidence available.

- Would've changed everything.

- I'm really looking forward

to seeing the actual site.

- It'd be great to
talk to Detective Allen,

just about what that
area looked like.

- Hi, how are you?
- How you doing?

Thanks for bringing us here.

- It's been 10 years,
but this is pretty similar

to what it looked like
the day we got here.

- Was this sort
of a natural pathway

out here? - Yeah.

No, I think this has
probably been made.

Over the years, there have been,

well, you see the cross.

For years, people come out here

and been putting mementos
and stuff out here.

- Who put the
cross up, in particular?

Was it the family?
- I don't know.

I mean, people from all over
have come, and, you know,

there have been several
different shrines put here

throughout the 10 years...

- Really?
- Since she was found.

- Walking up to the recovery
site was nothing like

what I expected to
find from the pictures.

This was an area where people
would throw their trash.

And so understanding
this little girl,

her body was placed in this
area, or even possibly thrown,

made me feel very upset.

I certainly think, too often,

that professionals can
get caught in the process

of trying to join
all the dots up

for it to make sense, rather
than really think about

why you're doing
what you're doing.

Caylee Anthony lost her life
in tragic circumstances.

This was a little girl

who would've been 13
today, a teenager.

She was left along in a
wooded area and disposed of

like rubbish, like garbage.

So what strikes me, John, is
that it's just much closer

to the road than what
I initially thought

- There's sort of like water
lines on some of these trees.

This is an area that
appears to fill with water.

It's very swampy.

You know, you can see where
the roots are grown out

of the ground.

You know, that typically
happens in a swampy area.

That would have been
pretty good concealment.

- Yeah.

- One good thing about
going to see this site,

at this time of year, in
December, is that it mirrors

when the body was
actually discovered.

In December, the foliage
is much less abundant.

Therefore, you have a
clearer view of that area.

The fact is, during
June and July,

when the body was most
likely placed there,

it was much more
overgrown, and most likely,

there was standing
water in that area.

You know, even with six
to 10 inches of water,

this would've been really marshy

and just kind of foreboding.

In other words, I don't,

I now understand why a cop
might not get out of his car

and say, "You know,
it's just a trash dump.

"I know, I've seen trash
there all my life."

- It's really, I mean,
we picked up a lot

of trash out here,
during the search.

Even now, you'll see where
people begun dumping trash

out here again.

- It's pretty clear that this
place has a history.

I mean, I'm looking here.

There's a plastic bag here,
buried under a bunch of debris,

you know, which I
didn't even notice

when I walked by the first time.

- You know, in the summertime,

when it's grown up and wet here,

you could be standing literally
on top of it and not see it.

- Summer's the rainy season,
in this part of Florida.

And in addition, there was a
tropical storm in August, 2008.

So it makes sense that there
would be standing water

during the summer months.

It's a reasonable possibility,

especially if it's the summer
and there's water in there,

whoever did this could've
gone down just a few steps

before you get down
to the elevation where

and easily just tossed it in.

And just the fact that
they were removed from it,

probably means
that any searchers

at the time would've
done the same thing.

They would've stopped
before the water's edge,

and a dark plastic
bag, in mucky, muddy,

leafy, swampy water,
would just disappear.

Had it not been for the
persistence of Kronk,

she would never have been found.

- This is exactly why going out

to a scene tells you so much
more about what has gone on

than just from looking
at the pictures.

We've learned that it was
an area with standing water.

And the fact that Caylee's
remains were found outside

and exposed to the elements
for six months means

that critical evidence
significantly deteriorated.

And this evidence could
well have been instructive

in determining how
Caylee Anthony died.

- The body disposal
site was so close

to the neighborhood
where the Anthonys live.

I mean, literally, to be
just beyond the backyard

of the last house
in the neighborhood.

- That was astounding.
- Yeah.

- I mean, I had no
sense of that before.

- When I consulted
this case as part

of the FBI's behavioral
analysis unit,

I was working in Virginia.

I had never visited the scene
where her body was recovered.

I didn't realize, one,
the desolation of it,

and two, how close
it was to the home

where she grew up and lived.

It was literally just
beyond the backyard

of the last house
in her neighborhood.

- Jim and I went out to look

at the scene itself with
Sergeant John Allen,

one of the sergeants
who worked on this case.

- And literally, what struck
us the most was the location.

- The recovery site itself
was by the roadside.

Caylee's remains were missed,

because they wouldn't be looking

for a skeleton at that time.

- It wasn't just
like walking through

and suddenly there
was a crime scene.

That area was almost
jungle-like, heavy foliage,

and I don't think it was
underwater at the time

when Caylee's remains were
initially placed there.

I think it was only
subsequent to some

of the tropical storms
that had rolled through

where that land did in
fact become underwater.

- There was a tropical
storm, Storm Fay,

that hit pretty hard. - Correct.

- And it seems that it was
significantly underwater

at that time.

- EquuSearch instructed
its people not

to search any area that
had standing water,

because it's a danger
for them to do so.

This area clearly is one
in which water would pool.

Law enforcement relied on
the EquuSearch results.

They did not go back
and research areas

that they said they
already searched.

Kronk called in, in August.

An officer responded, but
Caylee's remains appeared

to have been there at the
time, by all accounts,

and yet, they did not
recover her remains then.

- Maybe the deputy does,
you know, have a look,

but a cursory look,
from the verge.

We have to also remember that
a body wouldn't be preserved

in the same way.

There would have
been decomposition.

- Looking at a skull
in that environment,

it took weeks for a team of
trained forensic anthropologists

to, in essence,
excavate that scene,

doing really an archeological,
layer-by-layer evaluation

to figure out exactly
what was there,

how big it was,
the full skeleton.

- Now it's one of the
biggest challenges,

particularly with a child.

And when decomposition
can set in,

they might be thinking
they're looking

for the body of a little
girl, rather than looking

for something much
smaller, the human remains.

- I believe whoever
threw her body

in that location threw
her into standing water,

hoping that it
would decay faster

and that maybe animal activity
would increase the fact

that her body is
easily disposed of.

Before Caylee's
remains were found,

the prosecution was
hanging their case

on evidence collected
from the trunk.

Scientists believe they'd
identified the presence

of chloroform, the
smell of decomposition

and a single hair
exhibiting death banding.

But all of this
was circumstantial

and the subject of
intense disagreement.

But now they have a body,

and with it, significant
new evidence.

- Tomorrow, on
The Case of: Caylee Anthony.

- Cause of death will
be listed as homicide

by undetermined means.

There wasn't one piece of duct
tape placed over Caylee's face;

there were three.

Why use duct tape?

Anybody could actually
reach across and

just smother a child like this.

If Caylee had decomposed all
over that duct tape,

there would have been cell
material on there.

There would have been some DNA.

Did you travel to a hotel for
the purposes

of taking your own life?

-Yes, sir.

Suicide letter...

He goes into questions. Who
placed her there?

Why is she gone?

They told us, "You got it all.
It's all there."

Later we learned they missed a
computer search

the day that Caylee disappeared.

We may have been dead before
we started.