Synopsis of Evidence Against Casey Anthony
Synopsis of Evidence Against Casey Anthony
1. CAYLEE IN CASEY'S SOLE CUSTODY WHEN SHE WAS MURDERED - Caylee Anthony was last seen alive leaving the Anthony home at 12:50 PM on 6/16/08 with Casey Anthony in the Sunfire. Casey moved out of the Anthony home that day. Casey reported the smell of death in her car to Amy Huizenga on 6/25/08. Caylee Anthony died sometime between 6/16/08 and 6/24/08 when both she and the Sunfire were in the sole custody and control of her mother, Casey Anthony. Only Casey had custody and control of Caylee from the time they left the Anthony home on 6/16/08 until the time we are sure that Caylee is dead, 6/25/08. Casey is the only person who had custody and control over Caylee during the time period in question, and we know that she knew Caylee was dead and was hiding that fact. 2. THE SMELL - Casey told Amy Huizenga on 6/25 that her car smelled like something died in it. Since that time, everyone who had more than incidental contact with that vehicle and had experience with the smell of human decomposition said that's what the car smelled like, especially after the car was impounded on 7/16/08. Even the defense's own entomologist said that anyone who works around dead bodies can readily and reliably identify it; he also testified that the car still stunk 2 years after all the garbage had been removed from it. Two trained cadaver dogs, with two different handlers on two different occasions, hit on the trunk; this is just another layer of verification because if humans can smell it, dogs will certainly smell it. The defense's chemist, Dr. Furton, testified that there is a significant difference between the chemical makeup of the odor of animal decomposition and the odor of human decomposition, thus verifying that there is a distinctive difference between the smell of animal decomposition and human decomposition. Neither the amount nor the kind of trash that was in the trunk of Casey's car is enough to explain why the trunk smelled like it did, as much as it did, for as long as it did. Nor does it explain why 2 cadaver dogs that are trained to distinguish decomposition from trash hit on the trunk of Casey's car. No reasonable person can accept that the odor permeating Casey's car was the result of any garbage that was in it since garbage would not make the car smell for two years after it was removed. 3. THE INTERNET SEARCH - Someone manually typed the words "how to make chloroform" into the Google search engine on the desktop in the Anthony home. This proves that someone in that home wanted more information about chloroform than just learning about what it is; it proves that someone wanted to POSSESS chloroform. Cindy testified that she did not do this search but did search for "chloroform" on the two days searches for chloroform were done at the Anthony home in March of 2008, the 17th and the 24th, but records from Gentiva show that she was at work on the days and times the searches were done at the Anthony home; there also was never a search done for "chlorophyll." These searches were the only searches that were ever deleted in the life of the computer. The person who did those searches for information about chloroform and how to make it was Casey. There is only one reason someone would want to possess chloroform based on its traditional use - to render someone unconscious. 4. THE CHLOROFORM - Dr. Vass and Dr. Wise found extremely high levels of chloroform in the air sample from the trunk of the Sunfire when they did a quantitative test of the sample using the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer; the highest levels they had ever seen. The level of chloroform in the trunk was found to be in the parts per million range instead of the parts per trillion range as it normally is found in environmental samples; this is 1,000,000 times greater than what is normally found in such samples. Dr. Wise testified that when he conducted this test for Vass, he told Vass not to expect high levels of chloroform due to the fact chloroform is a volatile liquid, and the readings would be significantly lower than what they would have been when the chloroform was first deposited there; despite that fact, the levels of chloroform were still extremely high. The internet searches for chloroform show that Casey wanted to possess chloroform, and the high levels of chloroform in her trunk prove that she did possess it. The proof that she was in possession of chloroform also
proves acquisition of chloroform since someone cannot possess something without acquiring it in some manner; the mode of acquisition is irrelevant once possession has been proven, as it was here. The defense could easily have refuted Vass/Wises quantitative test for chloroform by doing a quantitative test of their own. They did not do this because if they had done that, they would have gotten the same results that Vass & Wise did, and that would have meant they would have to concede that there were high levels of chloroform in the trunk instead of attacking this evidence presented by the prosecution; it would not have been in their best interests to validate the Vass/Wise test with their own test. Dr. Rickenbach, a chemist who works with the FBI, testified that he did a qualitative test of the carpet sample; this test is different from the quantitative test done by Vass and Wise did in that Rickenbach's test only looks for the mere presence of compounds rather than their levels. 5. 31 DAYS - No one goes for 31 days without reporting an accident, especially where their own child is concerned. The defense's theory that any of the Anthonys would be afraid that they would go to jail if they reported it is bogus. Cases of where a child dies in a pool accident are not charged or prosecuted unless there is evidence of gross negligence, usually the parent(s) being high on alcohol or drugs. George would know this; he was a cop. People report accidents, not murders, and if someone fails to report an "accident" it is, categorically, a murder. The murderer does not get to benefit by being successful at hiding a dead body long enough such that the body becomes a skeleton and a cause of death cannot be determined. Simply not calling and reporting an accident shows that the person involved is trying to hide something regarding the circumstances of the death. Murderers know that the passage of time and exposure to the elements destroys evidence, and that's why Casey Anthony kept the body hidden as long as possible by lying to those trying to locate Caylee. Murderers also try to prolong the body being hidden in order to give themselves more time for freedom since they know that once the body is found, they will come under intense scrutiny by the authorities. 6. 1/2 A MILE - Caylee's body was discovered in a wooded area a half a mile from where Casey lived. The fact that Casey first reported the car smelled on 6/25 and the car being abandoned on 6/26 or 6/27 because it ran out of gas shows that Casey had no other place to put the body, so she put it in a place she had easy access to, knew well and could conceal the body. She was familiar with this area, and it was close by. In addition, she had no gas to drive any significant distance away from Orlando to dispose of it. It is also important to note that Caylee's remains were found in this trash dump wrapped in a Winnie-the-Pooh blanket and packed in a laundry bag from that came from the Anthony home. 7. THE DUCT TAPE - As Dr.G said, there is no reason for duct tape to be on any dead body. The only possible reason for duct tape being on a dead body is to bind that person. The tape was over the face, but the prosecution has failed to prove exactly where it was. All of the forensic pathologists, including Dr. Spitz, agreed that the tape was on Caylee's face. If there had been nostril or mouth impressions on the tape, there would be a much better case of where that tape was; there were none. Given that there is no evidence that the tape was over both the nose and the mouth, the doubt must go to the defendant since it has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt of where the tape actually was on the face. Given two or more possibilities with equal probabilities, the jury must find for the defendant. What the duct tape amounts to is a bad fact for Casey since it was on the body and proves that there was something unusual going on. 8. THE LIES - Casey lied to her parents from 6/16/08 to 7/15/08 about the whereabouts of Caylee. After 7/15/08, she continually lied to her parents, the police, and everyone else who was trying to find Caylee. The lies were a cover up for the fact that she killed the child; it happens in just about every murder case, and this one is no different. All murderers know that the longer they can keep the body of their victims hidden, the better it is for them. All of her lies from 6/16/08 prove beyond any doubt consciousness of guilt. Casey isn't guilty because she lied; she lied because she's guilty.
9. THE FORENSICS - There were 2 crime scenes where one would expect to find forensic evidence - the trunk of the car and the trash dump - but due to events that occurred at each of these, there was almost a complete lack of forensics. When the car was retrieved from Johnson's, Cindy cleaned the car, and this did away with most of the forensic evidence there. A blowfly leg was found in the trunk by Dr. Haskell. This is significant because blowflies only colonize a body in the first two or three days after a person dies, and they only lay their eggs on dead flesh. There can only be one reason any blowfly parts were in that trunk - there was a dead body in that trunk. In addition, some late colonizer fly larvae were found in the paper towels that had adipocere on them in one of the trash bags. One of Caylee's hairs from the trunk showed postmortem root banding. Had Cindy not cleaned the car out, there would be a great deal more entomological and other forensic evidence. It is also very possible that Casey had cleaned the trunk as well as evidenced by the paper towels that had adipocere on them in the trash bags. At the trash dump, the body and everything associated with it was exposed to the Florida summer elements for 5 or 6 months; the remains were also partly submerged for some of that time due to the fact that during summer rains, the area where her body was often flooded. This kind of environment is not conducive to preserving forensic evidence such as DNA since hot, humid weather is a major factor in DNA deterioration. By the time the remains were found, Caylee's body had become a complete skeleton, and any DNA, trace or otherwise, associated with it was long gone.