Sunday, August 31, 2008

Investigator: Decomposing Body That Of Caylee Anthony


Casey Marie Anthony, August 9, 2005-June 16, 2008. Rest in Peace little one.

It is with a heavy heart that I post this article, published this afternoon on WESH.com.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- For the first time on the record on Sunday, Orange County investigators acknowledged that recent FBI lab tests confirmed that Caylee Anthony's body was in her mother's trunk and that the child is dead.

Evidence from a Central Florida body farm showed that an odor emitted from Casey Anthony's car's trunk was human decomposition.

A lead investigator in the case told WESH 2's Bob Kealing that lab results indicated Caylee's dead body was in the trunk of that car. Sources also confirmed that a stain in the trunk was not what clinched the decision that Caylee was in the trunk, but it was the strands of hair that investigators suspected all along were Caylee's.

Investigators had not, until Sunday, disclosed that the decomposing body was, in fact, Caylee.
"The information we've gotten back from the lab that she was in the trunk of that car and that she is dead is certainly something we take seriously," said Orange County Sheriff's Office Sgt. John Allen.

The 3-year-old's grandmother, Cindy Anthony, called 911 in June saying she had not seen her granddaughters in several days and her daughter's car smelled like a dead body.
Cindy Anthony later rescinded her comment, saying the smell was an old pizza and some cleaning fluid.

On Sunday, 150 volunteers came out to help Texas Equusearch, an organization using computer mapping and other high-tech means to try to find some evidence of Caylee Marie Anthony.
"We've come across a lot of areas," said Mandy Albritton with Texas Equusearch. "We've ruled out a lot of areas she's not, so that's progress."

Orange County detectives are directing search teams to areas associated with their investigation, like a wooded area near the Amscot where Casey Anthony abandoned her car.
"The information we've gotten back from the FBI lab has clearly helped us focus our investigation," Allen said.

Police sources said the lab test that clinched the decision was on strands of hair belonging to Caylee that showed signs of decomposition. However, those tests did not provide a probable cause for how the child's body ended up in the trunk. Investigators said they're continuing to look into that.

"I want an apology from Sheriff Kevin Beary," Cindy Anthony said.

Meanwhile, Cindy Anthony said she's still fuming over her daughter's re-arrest on Friday. She refuses to buy into evidence that her granddaughter is dead.

"We need to start looking for a little girl that's walking and living and breathing and someone actually has her," Cindy Anthony said.

Sheriff's investigators said the timing of the arrest Friday was not orchestrated. They said these latest economic crime charges are a separate matter from the child neglect case.

With two new felony counts and one misdemeanor, Casey Anthony is now facing to 17 years in prison if convicted of everything.

Casey Anthony Timeline -- Tentative

Please go here for the latest updated timeline: Anthony Timeline, Aug 26, 2009

Summer 2005 Casey tells ex-fiance Jesse Grund that she is pregnant with his baby. Jesse is willing to accept responsiblity, but requests a DNA test at Caylee's birth.

August 2005 DNA tests show Jesse could not possibly be Caylee's father.

June 2007 there-about, Casey met Ricardo Morales and Amy Huizenga and their pals at a birthday party. Amy left for six months to work a cruise ship and when she came back in December, Casey was hanging with her people. (Note about Amy: she hired-on in the entertainment dept of the cruise line and ended up just setting-up and breaking-down for various bands.)

August 2007 Ricardo Morales moved from Jacksonville FL to Orlando for employment reasons.

January 2008 Ryan Pasley says they hung out (with Casey) about every other day. Caylee was there about a third of the time, the rest of the time Casey said she was with her parents or the nanny who had a Caucasian name like Krista or Kristen. When prompted by police said Christina sounded more like it. He said he saw Casey on and off until the end of May.

February 2008 Casey and Amy became friends on a steady basis, ie calls/texts, etc., by Feb 2008.

February 23 2008 Casey and Ricardo start seriously dating, with Casey sleeping over many times and Caylee sleeping with them when she was there.

April 15 2008 on or about, Casey and Ricardo stop seeing each other. He says it just petered out. He said he likes, who Caylee had a favorite Teddy bear she named Mama and a cloth bodied baby doll with a plastic head.

May 21 2008 Casey met Anthony Lazzaro on-line.

June 2 2008 Anthony Lazzaro last saw Caylee on this date at the swimming pool of his apartment complex. It was the last of only a few times he had seen Caylee at all.

June 4 Wednesday, at 7:33 am Casey Anthony wrote to Amy on Facebook: oh, the times we will have! i can’t wait for us to become roomies in another week! seriously… by the end of next week, it will be just us girls. i can’t believe it! Author’s note: Casey had been telling Amy that her parents were splitting up and moving out and she was going to get the house and Amy could move in with her there on Hope Spring Drive. That is a pretty bold lie. I wonder if she ever pondered killing her parents to make it look like homicide/suicide so she could have the house. Just a thought.

June 4th Wednesday, at 12:12 pm Casey Anthony wrote to Amy on Facebook: si!!! good times to be had, from tonight, until, well, forever. what time do you think you’re getting done tonight????

June 7 Saturday, at 9:04 am Casey Anthony wrote to Amy on Facebook: i’m so glad you’re ok! seriously, you scared the life right out of me! i love you girl.

June 8-14 Casey told Cindy that during this time Casey took a mini-vacation with Jeff Hopkins. Author’s note: His name is familiar because she used it later as an outcry witness and we now know he has not seen Casey since high-school except for once, a few weeks before Caylee disappeared when they ran into each other at a restaurant and said cursory hello’s; the Anthonys asked the Hopkins family not to talk to reporters.

June 9 Casey and Caylee spent their last night with Ricardo Morales. Anthony Lazzaro states that Casey lived with him June 9 through July 16, the day she was arrested. Caylee was not there with them, Casey repeated saying she was with the nanny or grandparents.

June 9 From Casey (not sure how or to who, but looks like MySpace maybe)
Hey baby! I hope NY is treating you right. Question!!!!! do you know any local girls, that can sing? my boyfriend Tony, and his business partners are looking for an up and coming female R&B artist let me know!!! i miss you!

June 9 - June 15 Casey Anthony told Cindy that she was going to work every day, Casey was really just holed up at Tony Lazzaro’s apartment.

Jun 12 6:41 AM from Casey to Jeff Hopkins
(Fusion poster was here)
you guys should definitely check it out! cover is only $5. there’s going to be live artists, a full bar, and an album release that you shouldn’t miss! hope to see you out there!

Jun 12 9:14 AM From Casey (not sure to who) so i’m thinking, you should bring your happy ass back into orlando tomorrow night, for a BADASS hip hop showcase/album release party. google the address on the poster, on my MySpace page. i’d love to see you out there!

June 12 George Anthony says Caylee was spotted by friends of the Anthony family in a shopping area near the Orange-Seminole county lines. She was wearing a pink and blue outfit and white-rimmed sunglasses.

Jun 12 7:54 PM From Casey (not sure to who) sounds good hun.

June 12 or 13 Kristina Chester recalls herself, Casey and Caylee taking a walk, between 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm.

June 13 Friday Roy House, Lazarro’s roommate says he saw Caylee on June 13 at the Fusion bar with her mother, when Casey attended a party thrown by House and Lazarro. It was noted because several people noticed and commented that it was inappropriate to have Caylee there.
I think this is important, that Casey was told by her friends that Caylee shouldn't be at a night club on Friday night, three days before Caylee goes missing. Why didn't she have a babysitter on that night, if they were so freely available?

June 14-15 Anthony’s neighbors report loud argument at the Anthony’s house over the fathers day weekend.

June 15 Caylee and Cindy visited Cindy’s father at 12:00 noon at Nursing Home. Last photo’s of Caylee taken, time taken from camera.

June 15 In the evening, Cindy and Casey used the pool. When they got out, Cindy remembers moving the stairs away from the pool.

June 16 Monday, Cindy goes to work sometime in the morning.

June 16 Per George Anthonly, Casey and Caylee leave the house at 1:50 pm. Casey is wearing gray dress slacks and a white dress shirt. Caylee is wearing a blue-jean skirt, a pink blouse and her sunglasses with white frames. She also has a white Dora the Explorer backpack and her cloth-bodied baby doll.

June 16 George leaves the house at 2:30 to go to work.

June 16 Interesting flurry of phone calls from Casey’s cell phone on this day as follows:
3:03 to dad’s cell
4:10 to mom’s work
4:11 to mom’s cell
4:13 to mom’s cell
4:14 to mom’s work
4:19 to Tony Lazarro
4:21 to Jesse Grund
4:24 mom’s cell
6:32 mom at home
6:33 home voicemail
7:06 mom at home
7:20 Amy

June 16 Cindy returns home from work and finds the pool ladder is attached to the pool and the fence gate is open.

June 16 Per Amy H official statement, Casey spent June 16 thru July 4 with Tony Lazzaro, July 4-8 with Amy Huizenga at Ricardo Morales apartment, then July 9 thru 15 with Tony.

June 16 Casey’s boyfriend Tony told investigators that she was not in a panic, not searching for her daughter.

June 17 1:30 to 2:30pm The neighbor Brian Burner told LE that Casey had asked to borrow a shovel.

June 17 Tuesday, at 3:15pm Casey Anthony wrote on Facebook to Amy: cheer up me lady! i love you and can’t wait to finally get you moved in.

June 18 Wednesday, another flurry of phone calls that could mean nothing, or could mean something.
12:33 to home
12:34 to mom’s cell
12:35 to home
12:36 to dad’s cell
1:09 to mom’s cell
1:11 to home
These phone calls look to me like she is just trying to find out where everyone is so she doesn't get caught in the act of whatever.

June 18 Casey was witnessed by same neighbor backing her car up to the garage.

June 19 Casey introduces Tony Lazzaro to Matthew Crisp. Tony wants to rent from Crisp and get out of his current lease. Caylee was not with them, Casey was in good spirits.

June 19 Thursday, Casey’s Facebook comments to Troy on the 19th at 3:57pm: you, ric and dave should definitely come out tomorrow night. i’ll give you a buzz later. i haven’t see you in ages!

June 19th, 2008 at 9:09pm Casey Anthony wrote:
until 2. i’ll be there all night.

June 20, Friday, 2008 15:46 you’re online!!! come out to fusion tonight…mandatory attendance Alexander Ryans

June 20 Casey’s facebook comments to Chris Tutz, Friday, at 2:36pm Casey Anthony (Orlando, FL) wrote: trying to get back in shape?! how about you come and hang out with me tonight, at Fusian!!!! call me!

June 20, Friday Big bash at Fusion—photo’s taken. Casey say’s she was “working” there. The club owners say she was an unpaid “promo” girl, hot chicks that get free drinks to hang out and be friendly and draw a crowd.

June 21st Saturday, 6:43pm on MySpace: good times last night!

June 21 about here, Casey ran into Jeff Hopkins II, a high-school acquaintance she had not seen since high-school, nor since the chance meeting at a restaurant.

June 21st 7:02pm Casey wrote to “little one” on MySpace: Oh yes I know! haha. you’re amazing girly! looking forward to the all white party this weekend.

June 22 6:00pm Sunday, when George Anthony is sure he locked the shed.

June 22 7:29pm From Casey (not sure who to): its been ages I’ll give you a call this week

Jun 23 2008 Monday, 12:40 AM From Casey to Lee: here’s my question…is ‘the windy city’ an appropriate nickname for chicago? is it really THAT windy? i’ve always wondered.

June 23 on or about, Cindy Anthony calls Ryan Pasley, while he was in class, and warns him of Casey’s erratic behavior, her having stolen money from Cindy and Cindy’s mother, and she tells him she thinks Casey is a sociopath.

Jun 24 10am Tuesday: Shed at family home found having been broken into, 2 gas cans stolen by unknown thief. George makes a police report. Casey tells George “it’s too bad what happened in the shed”. Later George needs a tire tool from Casey’s trunk and finds the gas cans in the trunk. So, on the 24th Casey visited home without Caylee.

June 24 2008 at 2:40pm Casey Anthony (Orlando, FL) wrote to troy on Facebook: she still has yet to move into the house. hell, in the past 9 days, i haven’t even been living at the house. DRAMMMMMA. i’ll fill ya in later on. miss ya, yo.

June 24 2008 at 2:46 Amy Huizenga (Orlando, FL) to Troy on Facebook wrote: I’m still at Ricardo and JPs… hopefully everything works out soon! Hey, so I forwarded my mail a little late… any idea how to get my insurance stuff that got mailed to the Oviedo house?

June 25 Wednesday, Casey called Jesse Grund on the phone and he said he heard Caylee in the background. He later said he wasn’t SURE he heard Caylee. He notified LE and gave a statement. On June 25 he received a call from Casey A who told him she was free the upcoming weekend and did he want to spend the weekend together.

This is also the day Jesse said he resigned from his job in LE (per his employment recorded on his signed statement; but later found out he was fired for not revealing he had a relationship with Casey A)

Jun 25 2008 10:36 AM From Casey (not sure to who) on MySpace: hey girly! long time. are you going to be in orlando this weekend?

Jun 25 2008 3:35 PM from Casey to Alex on MySpace: come to orlando friday!!!!i miss your happy ass, plus, you need to join me for a few beverages, and the ALL WHITE PARTY, at fusian. i never asked…do you like sushi?? get at me brotha!

June 27 Friday, Casey abandoned the White Pontiac in front of Amscot, a Check Cashing Business. Tony Lazarro picked her up from from Amscot store. She left her purse in clear view on the front seat; the child seat was still in the backseat. Author’s ponder: did she leave the purse in the car to try to entice someone to steal it or the whole car, thus confusing the crime scene?

June 30 Monday Tony Lazarro leaves for New York. Returns July 4.

June 30 Monday, The car Casey had been driving is towed from the Amscot store on Goldenrod Road and Colonial Drive by Johnson’s Towing Co.

July 2 2008 at 1:46pm Casey Anthony wrote to Troy on Facebook: you taking a cab tonight?

July 2 at about 12:00pm noon, Casey went to Cast Iron Tattoo’s and got “Bella Vida” (Italian for Beautiful Life) tattoo’d on her shoulder.

July 3 Cindy posted this on MySpace Thursday, July 03, 2008: my caylee is missing She came into my life unexpectedly, just as she has left me. This precious little angel from above gave me strength and unconditional love. Now she is gone and I don’t know why. All I am guilty of is loving her and providing her a safe home. Jealousy has taken her away. Jealousy from the one person that should be thankfull for all of the love and support given to her. A mother’s love is deep, however there are limits when one is betrayed by the one she loved and trusted the most. A daughter comes to her mother for support when she is pregnant, the mother says without hesitation it will be ok. And it was. But then the lies and betrayal began. First it seemed harmless, ah, love is blind. A mother will look for the good in her child and give them a chance to change. This mother gave chance after chance for her daughter to change, but instead more lies more betrayal. What does the mother get for giving her daughter all of these chances? A broken heart. The daughter who stole money, lots of money, leaves without warning and does not let her mother now speak to the baby that her mother raised, fed, clothed, sheltered, paid her medical bills, etc. Instead tells her friends that her mother is controlling her life and she needs her space. No money, no future. Where did she go? Who is now watching out for the little angel?

July 4 Friends reported Casey celebrated Independence Day with her boyfriend Tony Lazarro. She partied and cooked dinner for him and his roommate, they took photo’s.

July 5 on or about Casey tells friend Ryan Pasley that she has been doing drugs, smoking pot and such.

July 7 about noon, ran into Matthew Crisp at the Subway Shop. She said Caylee was in Sanford, Florida with the nanny.

July 7. Monday (exactly 2 weeks since June 16, Caylee’s last day…) Casey Anthony wrote these lines from "American Psyco", that she called the Diary of Days, which was posted on July 7
It reads, in part:
“On the worst of worst days, remember the words spoken
Trust no one, Only yourself.
With great power, comes great consequence.
What is given, Can be taken away.
Everyone Lies.
Everyone Dies.”

July 8 before 9:00am Casey drives Amy to the airport and has permission to use the car for the week Amy was on vacation.

July 8, Tuesday, 2008 at 9:31am Casey Anthony wrote to Amy on Facebook:
oh puerto rico….has stolen my friends. we shall be reunited shortly

July 9, Wednesday, Tony was out of town so Casey spent the night at Ricardo’s and JP’s house.

July 10 Thursday, 9:12pm Jesse Grund’s Updates on his Facebook: “Jesse will be moving again in August…to Georgia!

July 10 Casey wrote to “little one ” on MySpace you’re the best adopted little sister ever! we need a new picture tonight ”

Jul 10 2008 11:47 PM From Casey to Red Fuzzy Balloons
oh my sexy boys. i love fuzzy red balloons!

July 13 7:36am Casey wrote to “little one ” on MySpace: you little hoochie! where are “our” new pictures????

July 13 Sunday at 9:34am on, 2008 Casey Anthony wrote to Chris Stutz on Facebook: happy birthday love!!!!

July 14, Monday, 10:10pm From Casey (not sure to who) she sent a video to this user about drums because he is a drum player it is by killer chops tv on you tube

July 15 Tuesday. The car found abandoned is picked up by the Anthony family from the wrecker company. Simon Birch, manager at the wrecker yard, noticed the stench coming from the vehicle both on June 30 when it was originally towed, and when he brought it up to George Anthony. George said the smell of decomposition was so bad they drove home with all the windows open.

July 15 abt 12 noon, Casey says she received a phone call from “personal call” and spoke to Caylee herself, but was then disconnected. Phone records later show no call was made in or out at any time around noon

July 15, Tuesday, at 2:30 pm Casey picks up Amy Huizenga at the airport in Amy’s car.

July 15, Casey returns to Cast Iron Tattoos between 2:00 and 4:00 pm and makes an appointment for herself and a friend at the tattoo parlor for July 19, 2008, the next Saturday.

July 15th, 2008 at 4:02 pm Casey Anthony wrote to Amy on Facebook: so glad you’re home. i better not see you online. life is on hold until tomorrow

July 15 Cindy found Amy’s # in the car and called her; Amy told Cindy that Casey was at Tony Lazarro’s apartment and that Caylee was not with her.

July 15 Between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm, Amy discovered checks missing and her $300 balance gone, not to mention that in the past, $700 in cash Casey stole from her then convinced Amy that she had sleepwalked and hidden it.

July 15, About 7:30 pm, Cindy, with Amy, drove to Tonys and picked Casey up. They drove around and when Casey would not tell her where Caylee was, went to a closed police station, then back to Anthony’s house where George and Lee were.

July 15 George is called and arrives home at 9:50pm. Ten minutes later police are called.

July 15 I think we have all heard the 1st, 2nd and 3rd 911 calls. Insert here.

July 15 While they were waiting for the police, Casey and Cindy got onto MySpace to contact all her friends to “get the word out”. She said she called the police around 10:00.

July 15 The Sheriff’s Office is notified that Caylee Anthony has been missing since June 16.

Police report from Casey: Casey Anthony said that on June 9, she dropped Caylee off at a babysitter who lived at the Sawgrass Apartments (Somewhere I thought she said about 1:00pm, but George said they left the house at 1:50pm.) She said the babysitter’s name was Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez. She got the date from her hysterical mother, who was trying to figure out the last day she saw her while in a blind panic. Date turned out to be June 16, the day after Fathers day.

July 15, 2008 at 11:38pm on Amy Huizenga wrote on facebook to “her friend”: A person who I thought was my friend stole money one night while I was sleeping and made up a story about how I got up in my sleep and put money away for the trip I was going on (I got back today, it was a great trip!). I bought that, she’s my friend, but after today I know it was her. I let her use my car while I was gone and my check book was in there. Account cleared out. Hopefully I’ll be able to get that back… but yeah… overall… about a grand. Which isn’t even the worst (for me it is…) apparently her kid has been missing for a month. She claims the nanny stole her and was too afraid to tell her mom. So, as bad as all this is, there is a little girl out there (hopefully) that I’m way worried about.Anyway, how are you?

July 16 9:42am mass e-mail to everyone in her addy, plus out-cry on MySpace. In a response to a text message from Brittany Schieber, she says to keep an eye out for a Silver four-door Ford Focus.

July 16 Wednesday, Casey Anthony is arrested after taking the police to phony addresses and lying continuously, making up imaginary people and places.

July 16 Anthony Lazarro’s house was searched early in the morning. Amy tells Anthony Lazarro about the theft. Tony encourages Amy to contact detective Yuri Melich. Amy calls LE and tells them what she knows.

July 16 Police begin to check Casey’s stories only to find them all fabrication. They debunk the Zanaida Fernandez-Gonzales story, as well as the Universal “Event planner” tale.

July 17 Casey Anthony is officially charged with child neglect, lying to investigators and interfering with a criminal investigation. The judge denies bond because she showed a “woeful disregard for the welfare of her child”

July 17 Thursday, The Sheriff’s office starts to search the backyard of the Anthony house, with family consent. Cadaver dogs hit twice in the back yard in a slight depression at the far side of the pool and in the trunk of the car Casey was driving. A second dog confirmed the findings.

July 17 The Sheriff’s Office takes possession of the car and finds evidence of possible human decomposition. Samples taken for DNA analysis.

July 17 Casey Anthony cell phone records subpoenaed.

Jul 17, 2008 12:05 AM Written to Lee on MySpace from MayFizzle
With great love from the Mayfield Family!Erika, Karla, Carlos, and The Fizz

Jul 19 2008 5:36 AM (To Lee) from MayFizzle
Caylee! Always on my mind!I miss the whole fam! So, next time I see ya George, Cindy, Lee, Casey, and Caylee hugs r on me!

July 21 Anthony Lazzaro’s cell phone records subpoenaed.

July 21 Anthony house searched per warrant for DNA samples, toothbrush, thermometer used by Caylee, hair brush. Took strands of hair from Casey at the jail.

July 25 Lee A visits Casey at the county jail and she tells him bogus crap about people who could lead him to her, but they are in danger, then goes all code-talking on him.

August 6 & 7 Investigators make two additional visits to the Anthony home, gathering clothing of Casey and Caylee Anthony.

August 7 Orange County Sheriff’s Office held press conference to announce that LE has dispelled any and all involvement between Zenaida Gonzalez and Casey or Caylee Anthony.

August 8 Casey’s boyfriend Tony Lazarro gave interview to WESH2.

August 8 Casey refuses to receive a visit from her brother Lee.

August 10 WESH2 confirmed that air sample tests taken from Casey’s car trunk are sent to “the Body Farm” at the Uof Tennessee.

August 21, 2008 Casey A was released from the county jail when a bounty hunter Leonard Padilla and his nephew, a bail bondsman, made arrangements and posted the $50,000, under conditions that included a bounty hunter living in the home and a cute trendy ankle bracelet for Casey to wear.

August 30, 2008 Casey A was arrested for stealing and cashing Amy H checks. Leonard Padilla withdrew the bond he posted for her on the child neglect charges, and she was taken back to jail. A demonstration against Casey was going full-tilt outside the family home when six police cars descended like the wind, handcuffed her and whisked her into the paddy wagon all within about 10 minutes and fully documented CNN and the OS in Orlando.

August 31, 2008 Caylee confirmed dead. Results from hair samples came back from DNA analysis and it was confirmed that the dead body that had been in the trunk of Casey's car WAS in fact, Caylee Marie Anthony.

Please go here to access the latest revision to this timeline: Anthony Timeline, Aug 26, 2009

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Bondsman rescinds Casey Anthony's bail


Check charges put Casey Anthony back in jail
Sarah Lundy, Amy L. Edwards and Helen Eckinger

Sentinel Staff Writers
August 30, 2008

Hours before she was to see a judge this morning on new charges, the earlier bail keeping Casey Anthony -- mother of missing 3-year-old Caylee Marie -- out of jail was rescinded early Saturday by the Clearwater bondsman who helped secure her freedom last week.
This afternoon, Anthony appeared before Judge Mike Miller at the Orange County Jail on new charges stemming from $746.87 in checks a friend accused her of stealing in July. During the hearing, which lasted for little more than a minute, Anthony looked impassively at Miller as he informed her of her rights and set her bail on the latest charges at $3,000.
To get out of jail now, Anthony would have to post $503,200 in bail. Investigators took her back into custody Friday night as people gathered outside her home and jeered, calling her a murderer and baby killer.

Al Estes Bail Bond Agency of Clearwater endorsed, or turned in, the bail bond on the original charges. Anthony again is being held on those original counts as well. Officials were expected to retrieve the ankle-monitoring system from her parents' home, pretty much ruling out any immediate release.
Friday, the 22-year-old mother showed little emotion as she walked out of her parents' east Orange County home with her wrists handcuffed behind her back and was placed in the front seat of an unmarked patrol car. Anthony, who was ironically wearing a T-shirt that read, "Have you seen me?" with Caylee's picture on the front, was taken to the sheriff's headquarters before being transported to the Orange County Jail. She had not been booked by early today.
Casey Anthony's attorney, José Baez, said law enforcement is more interested in making his client look bad than finding the missing girl. Speaking outside the Anthony house late Friday night, Baez said sheriff's detectives "decided to make a spectacle of this event.""They chose this moment to grandstand and to utilize their power to go ahead and make an arrest on something that they knew two months ago," he said as Cindy Anthony, the child's grandmother, stood by his side. Baez pointed out that homicide, not economic-crimes detectives, arrested Anthony. The attorney said he was aware Anthony was possibly going to be arrested Friday night. He said he told detectives via fax he would surrender her. But that didn't happen.
"When they knew a lot of people were going to be here, a lot of cameras were going to be here, and they decide to put on a little show on minor economic crimes," he said. "They're more interested in making her look bad . . . instead of finding Caylee. "Many in the crowd clapped at seeing Anthony taken away by authorities about 8:30 p.m. "I'm happy that they finally took her," said Theresa Rider, 71, of Orlando who went to the house because she wanted to express her opinion to the Anthony family.
Like Rider, many in the crowd showed up at Anthony's Hopespring Drive home out of frustration that Casey Anthony was free. She was released last week after a bounty hunter from California helped post her $500,200 bail. Several came with signs that read, "Rot in Jail," and "Who is the bigger liar? Cindy Anthony or Killer Casey? May God have mercy on you."
Earlier in the evening, Cindy Anthony came outside to talk to a woman who was chanting, "Casey Anthony is a murderer!" She invited the woman who identified herself as Kittie Gonzalez to come inside to sit and talk, but Gonzalez refused.Gonzalez asked Cindy Anthony whether she asked her daughter where Caylee is located. "Yes, and she doesn't know," Cindy Anthony replied. "She deserves to go to jail," Ashley Griffin, 23, of Christmas said, standing on the sidewalk in front of the Anthony house with a sign.

Those milling about Hopespring Drive watched as more than a half-dozen patrol cars pulled up shortly before 8:30 p.m. The lead detective -- Yuri Melich -- went inside with others. They emerged less than 10 minutes later with Anthony. The allegations of stealing checks were first mentioned when Anthony was arrested July 16 on charges of child neglect and filing a false statement to law enforcement. Her friend, Amy Huizenga, 24, filed the complaint with Orlando police after she found checks missing from her car, which she had lent to Anthony. Detectives say Anthony stole checks and cashed five of them -- three for purchases at Target, one for groceries at Winn-Dixie and one for $250 in cash.

She was being held Friday night on charges of uttering a forged instrument, fraudulent use of personal information and petty theft. Bail was set at $3,000. Orange County sheriff's Capt. Angelo Nieves said there is no significance to the timing of the fraud charges. Detectives simply finished investigating the case.
The toddler was last seen in mid-June and was reported missing to authorities July 15. This week, air-sample tests from Casey Anthony's car showed that the trunk once held a decomposing human body. DNA samples were taken and sent to FBI forensics labs. The results have not been made public. Nieves would not say Friday night whether the evidence in the trunk had been linked to Caylee.
This capped a day that started out with Casey Anthony receiving good news. The bounty hunter who helped secure her release decided he would not withdraw her bond, which he considered the day before. And members of a Texas-based group began to organize a search for Caylee. Volunteers are expected to convene today near the Anthony home in the Lee Vista area at 8 a.m. to begin searching for Caylee, said Mandy Albritton, search director of Texas EquuSearch, an organization that looks for missing people.
The search command center is located in the parking lot behind the Holiday Inn Select, 5750 T.G. Lee Blvd., near Orlando International Airport.

Broward deputies Taser mentally ill inmate twice in court


A Broward circuit judge had ruled the man, 22, was mentally incapable to stand trial
Joel Marino South Florida Sun-Sentinel August 30, 2008

FORT LAUDERDALE - Upset by a judge's ruling, a mentally ill defendant asked deputies to let him catch his breath before they carted him from the Broward Circuit Court back to jail on Friday, his lawyer said.
The deputies told him he had to go, according to Assistant Public Defender Anne LeMaster, and when he resisted, they shocked him with a Taser -- twice.
The county's Public Defender's Office says the deputies used excessive force and filed a complaint with the Broward Sheriff's Office. David Jones, 22, the inmate, was handcuffed and shackled, LeMaster said."It just seems as though Tasering was not necessary in this case," said Doug Brawley, head of the Public Defender's mental health division.
Jones asked for a brief break after Judge Geoffrey Cohen ruled the inmate was mentally incapable to stand trial and ordered transferred to a state mental hospital, LeMaster said.
Jones faces several charges from an April 21 arrest, including domestic battery by strangulation. Two deputies told him he had to leave. LeMaster said they tried to get Jones to stand up and one punched him in the face when he resisted. She said they then shocked him with a stun gun.
"He told them to remove the prongs and then became very abrasive," she said. "When they didn't, he said 'Why don't you just Tase me again?'" They did, she said.
Jones was hospitalized, but it was unknown if he returned to the Broward Main Jail on Friday night. "Any time a Taser is used, it's well documented and we'll look into it," said sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedal.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Deputies arrest Casey Anthony, take her to jail


Cool! Just like on Law & Order!
Amy L. Edwards, Sarah Lundy and Walter Pacheco
Sentinel Staff Writers
August 29, 2008

Orange County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the Anthony home shortly before 8:30 p.m. More than half dozen vehicles - some marked and some unmarked - pulled up to the house. The lead detective - Yuri Melich - got out and went inside the home.
Moments later, the door cracked open, showing Casey Anthony inside standing near Sgt. John Allen, who is supervising the investigation. The crowd who was gathered outside cheered. Someone yelled, "she's in handcuffs."
At 8:33 p.m., deputies escorted her out with her hands cuffed behind her back. She showed little emotion as detectives put her in the front of an unmarked patrol car. She was wearing a t-shirt with Caylee's picture on the front and read "Have you seen me?"

Some in the crowd yelled "murderer" and "baby killer." It's unclear on what charges deputies are taking in custody for.
Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, released a statement after his client's latest arrest. "This is nothing more than an attempt by law enforcement to play mind games with my client. They leaked the arrest to the media and deliberately avoided telling me so she could turn herself in in a dignified fashion. They clearly wanted the media to capture my client is the worse possible light. Coincidentally, I was on the phone with her when police arrived at her home to arrest her."
"What's clear is that law enforcement is more interested in making my client look bad than finding Caylee who's still missing and likely in danger."
EARLIER STORY: More than two dozen people tonight are milling around Hopespring Drive outside the home of Casey Anthony -- the mother of missing 3-year-old Caylee Marie. Some started yelling at the house. One woman who identified herself as Kittie Gonzalez walked by the house chanting "Casey is a murderer! She needs to go back to jail!"
Casey Anthony's mother, Cindy, came outside and spoke to Gonzalez for several minutes. As reporters swarmed the two, Anthony invited Gonzalez inside to sit down and talk. She asked her to calm down so her blood pressure would not rise. Gonzalez asked Cindy Anthony if she asked her daughter where Caylee is located. "Yes and she doesn't know," Cindy Anthony replied.
Other people began yelling at Anthony and eventually she went back inside. Two women in a Ford Explorer drove by with "Rot in jail Casey Anthony" written on the window. Two teenagers and a 23-year-old from Christmas showed up carrying signs that read "Casey Anthony is a baby murderer and Rot in Jail" and "Who is the bigger liar? Cindy Anthony or Killer Casey? May God have mercy on you. God knows the truth and so does detectives. Baby killer!"
"She deserves to go in jail," said Ashley Griffin, 23, as she stood on the sidewalk in front of the Anthony house. James Harris, 15, who was there with his sister and mother, agreed."The baby is dead," he said.

Harris's mother, Cathy, said they plan to be out there every night at 7 p.m. She was there when members of Texas-based EquuSearch, a group of volunteers that help search for missing people, arrived in and went inside the house. When Cindy Anthony opened the door for the volunteers, Cathy Harris yelled "liar!" Not everyone had a sign. One woman said she showed up to represent the good babysitters out there.

A Texas group of volunteers plans to join the search for Caylee Marie and has set up a command center in the Lee Vista area. The group, EquuSearch, will start sending volunteers out to search areas on Saturday morning. The locations are being figured out tonight, said the director Mandy Albritton. They use horses, dogs, choppers, divers and other resources to search for missing people. One of their tools is a remote-controlled plane that shoots pictures over wooded areas and bodies of water.
"We came in at the request of the Anthonys and in cooperation with the Orange County sheriff's office," Albritton said. "Our mission is search and rescue and we are still hoping that we will find Caylee alive." The group met with Caylee's grandmother, Cindy Anthony, today. More than a dozen volunteers have been arriving in Orlando this week to help search for the missing toddler.
Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and must bring a driver's license. They will register and be briefed before being sent out in groups of 7 to 10 people. Officials suggest volunteers who plan to do ground searches should wear long pants and sun screen, Albritton said. Joining in the search for Caylee is Beth Holloway, whose daughter Natalee Holloway was reported missing during a high school trip to Aruba in 2005...
Albritton and others set up the command center in the parking lot behind the Holiday Inn, off T.G. Lee Boulevard, near the Orlando International Airport. More volunteers are expected over the weekend from Miami-Dade County. She said the search will be costly - possibly more than $20,000 - and will accept donations, including ice, water, food and even a copy machine.
Meanwhile, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla has apparently changed his mind and told the Orlando Sentinel he no longer plans to revoke Casey Anthony's bond on Saturday and send her back to jail. On Thursday, Padilla told the Sentinel he feared for Anthony and her family's safety, and that's why he planned to put her back in jail. He said he and the bondsmen responsible for posting Anthony's $500,200 bond last week would revoke it on Saturday.
But at noon Friday, Padilla told th e Sentinel he spoke with Anthony's defense attorney, Jose Baez, about the security concerns.Padilla said he told Baez, "I want these changed because I don't feel comfortable." "If he takes care of those by this afternoon or by tomorrow we won't revoke [the bond]," Padilla said.

Padilla said people have called and e-mailed threatening to kill Anthony. He would not say what the safety concerns are and referred those questions to Baez. A telephone message and e-mail sent to Baez have not been returned. Meanwhile, e-mails released Friday morning by the State Attorney's Office shows that Baez approached Orange County investigators on July 25 about meeting with prosecutors about a possible limited immunity.
Prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick e-mailed Baez on July 29, saying she had not heard from him about what information Anthony could provide. As part of the deal, Anthony would have to waive - in writing - any evidence obtained as a result of her statements to investigators, Drane Burdick wrote.

On August 25, Drane Burdick sent another e-mail to Baez about the immunity they discussed on Aug. 12 and how it will expire on Thursday, Aug. 28."By that date, you will have had sufficient 'private time' with you client to determine if she wishes to participate in locating her child," she wrote. Since then, that deadline has been extended to Tuesday at 9 a.m.
"If you would like to attend to this matter over the Labor Day weekend, please send an e-mail to my work e-mail address and I will be able to retrieve it immediately on my Blackberry," Drane Burdick said. There was little activity outside Anthony's home this morning as the 22-year-old headed to Baez's office for yet another afternoon. Baez's office is one of the few places the mother of missing 3-year-old Caylee Marie is allowed to go. No reporters saw Anthony get into the minivan to go to Baez's office because the vehicle was in the closed garage.
Anthony's mother Cindy briefly opened her garage door this morning and stepped outside, but said nothing to reporters. The family recently posted "no trespassing" signs in their front yard. A woman, who only identified herself as a "friend," left the Anthony's Lee Vista-area home this morning and said they will find Caylee."
A lot of departments that are supposed to be trying to search with the tips they've received that are very -- the tips are right on target to where Caylee could be," the woman said before driving away. "No one's helping them. No one is helping them."
Meanwhile, State Attorney Lawson Lamar spoke Friday morning about the limited immunity offered to Anthony. He said prosecutors offered the immunity - which would only include her direct statements but other evidence generated from her information can be used at trial - weeks ago when they hoped Anthony may lead them to a live child. But that "hope is diminishing" with recent test results that prove a dead body was in the back of Anthony's car.
The limited immunity deal is off the table by 9 a.m. Tuesday. The lead prosecutor - Linda Drane-Burdick - is in daily contact with sheriff's investigators. An Orange County sheriff's official disclosed earlier this week that air-sample tests from Anthony's abandoned car showed the vehicle once held a decomposing human body."I think [Caylee's] dead," Padilla said Thursday. "I can't figure anybody else that would be in the trunk deceased."
At the same time, Anthony has made no effort to help him find Caylee, he said. Investigative findings detailed in 431 pages of legal documents released this week also made him question the mother's innocence. "You add all three of those up, and you're headed in one direction," Padilla said. Anthony was placed on home confinement after leaving the Orange County Jail on Aug. 21. Anthony spent more than a month behind bars before her bond was posted...
During a bail hearing in July, a sheriff's detective said investigators found strands of hair, a mysterious stain and dirt in the trunk of Anthony's Pontiac, which had been abandoned in a parking lot. A cadaver dog also alerted on the trunk, indicating the presence of human-decomposition odor.
That evidence led investigators to suggest that Caylee could be dead and her mother might be involved. On Thursday, tight-lipped sheriff's officials said they were continuing to look for Caylee as they receive analyses of the evidence by FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratories. "We do not deal in assumptions," Capt. Angelo Nieves said. "We deal in factual information."
Larry Garrison, an Anthony family spokesman based in Los Angeles, refused to comment on the developments Thursday. He said he and the Anthony family are "outraged" at the Sentinel and would not speak to its reporters.

Caylee Vigil Organizer Hospitalized Due to Stress Over Evidence Against Casey

Lois Peters, 12 year old Dakota Skii's grandmother, speaks out regarding the hospitalization of her granddaughter. After hearing that evidence is pointing to Casey Anthony's involvement in the disappearance and/or murder of her child, old Caylee, Dakota suffered a stress-related medical emergency and had to be hospitalized.


Watch the Video: Dakota Skii's Grandmother Speaks Out


Dakota just recently helped organize a vigil for missing Caylee Anthony and has been in contact with the Anthony's, including emails and a hand written note from Casey. Casey also sent Dakota a handmade bracelet that reads, "My Friend, My Sister"

6 year old Bitten by Shark off New Smyrna Beach

08 May 2008

DELTONA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) –

Officials say a 6-year-old boy was bitten in the foot by a shark off the waters of New Smyrna Beach.

Authorities say the boy was bitten Wednesday morning no morethan a couple of yards from the shore. His injury was minor. He received stitches at the hospital.

It's the 11th shark bite this year in Volusia County.

Just last week, three surfers were bitten on their leg or foot. Their injuries were also minor.

Shark bites teen at New Smyrna Beach


25 Jul 2008


New Smyrna Beach, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) -- A teenager is in the hospital after a shark bite. It’s the second time a shark bite in New Smyrna Beach has landed a surfer in the hospital.

17 year old Ethan Fulton was surfing near Ponce Inlet with friends Friday morning when a shark clammed down on his right foot. The staff and the physicians in the Bert Fish emergency room assessed cleaned the wounds started dealing with it and determined surgery was needed says Gary Mac, spokesperson for Bert Fish Medical Center.

Scott Petersohn with Volusia County Beach Patrol says Fulton’s friends never called his lifeguards for help. Petersohn says Fulton’s friends loaded him into a car then headed to the hospital.

During the trip, Petersohn says, Fulton began to lose consciousness so the friends stopped and called for help. According to Fulton’s father that’s not all his sons friends did. They did use a surfboard leash to put a tourniquet above the knee says Bruce Fulton.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Bondsman: Casey Anthony going back to jail on Saturday


Walter Pacheco, Bianca Prieto and Amy L. Edwards

Sentinel Staff Writer
August 28, 2008


Casey Anthony's bond will be revoked Saturday and she will be booked back into the Orange County Jail, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla just told the Orlando Sentinel. Padilla, the bounty hunter who helped bail Anthony out of jail last week, said he fears for Anthony and her family's safety.
Padilla also just told the Sentinel he no longer thinks Anthony's 3-year-old daughter Caylee Marie is alive. Officials said Wednesday that air-sample tests from Anthony's car showed it once held a decomposing human body.


"I think she's dead," Padilla said. "I can't figure any body else that would be in the trunk deceased." Padilla said of that information, coupled with other recently revealed investigative findings and the fact Anthony refuses to speak with him to help find Caylee: "You add all three of those up and you're headed in one direction." Padilla said he and the bondsmen who helped bond Anthony out of jail are not going to revoke her bond Friday because she has a scheduled appointment to meet with her attorney Jose Baez. "It's just a courtesy," he said.


Anthony was at Baez's office for several hours today and left quickly without speaking to reporters just after 3 p.m. Baez will not be making a statement to the press today. Padilla said neither Anthony nor her parents have talked to him about the plans to revoke her bail on Saturday. "She knows what's going on," Padilla said of Anthony. Al Estes, the Florida bondsman who actually posted the bond at the jail, was unavailable for comment Thursday morning and did not return a telephone message left at his office.


Padilla's comments come a day after air-sample tests from her car showed it once held a decomposing human body. Authorities investigating the Caylee's disappearance have offered Anthony a limited-immunity deal if she will lead them to the child, the Orlando Sentinel learned. If she takes the deal, the specific information Anthony provides could not be used against her by prosecutors.


The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office would not discuss details of the inquiry Wednesday, but spokeswoman Danielle Tavernier said Anthony has been "invited to our office to shed light on the disappearance of the victim in this case." During a bail hearing in July, investigators said they had found strands of hair, a stain and dirt in the trunk of Anthony's white Pontiac, which had been left in a parking lot. That evidence led investigators to suggest that Caylee could be dead and that her mother might be involved.


Family members publicly dismissed the strong odor in the car, saying it must have come from a spoiled pizza. But during the July 15 phone call in which Cindy Anthony -- the missing girl's grandmother -- reported the disappearance, she said it "smelled like there's been a dead body in the damn car." Samples of air from the car were sent to the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Center near Knoxville, where researchers gather data on how bodies decay and other information to help law-enforcement agencies determine time of death. A police dog trained to detect human decomposition also indicated the presence of a body in the trunk, sheriff's investigators have disclosed.


On Wednesday, Baez said detectives had not given him information about the anthropology center's findings. He said the information leaked to reporters and the resulting speculation "was very disappointing and shocking to us."


About 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, sheriff's Sgt. John Allen, the supervisor on the case, and three FBI agents arrived at Baez's office, where the lawyer was meeting with Casey and Cindy Anthony. Casey Anthony -- wearing big sunglasses and a T-shirt with Caylee's picture on the front -- left about 20 minutes later. She rode alone in the back of a vehicle driven by a bounty hunter associated with the man who helped bail Anthony out of jail earlier this month. She has been charged with child neglect and giving false information in the case.


At 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, Cindy Anthony walked out with Baez, giving no comment to reporters. The two climbed into Baez's car, and he drove her home. She left her Toyota sport utility vehicle, which has "Missing" posters about Caylee on the doors. Allen and three men with him left without commenting.


Baez would not give any details about the meeting but said no plea deal was discussed. When asked how Casey Anthony was doing, the lawyer replied: "This doesn't help any. . . . We are doing the best we can." Earlier in the day -- before news of the air samples and the possible legal deal -- the California bounty hunter who secured Casey Anthony's release said she has made no effort to help him find Caylee.


"She has not communicated with us at all," Leonard Padilla said. "She has no interest in communicating with us."Padilla, whose nephew posted Anthony's $500,200 bail last week, said that if he knew then what he knew now about the case -- and that the 22-year-old wouldn't cooperate with him -- he probably would not have helped get her out of jail.


Padilla said he still thinks Caylee is alive and that Anthony handed her off to someone. But he dismissed the story that the toddler disappeared in mid-June after being dropped off with a baby sitter named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, which is what Anthony has told detectives."We don't believe [Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez] exists," Padilla said. Anthony's "got an invisible friend that's called Zenaida," he said. "She's got a world that she lives in that's apart from ours."

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Caylee Anthony wasn't a child who was wanted, court records show


Amy L. Edwards, Sarah Lundy and Bianca Prieto

Sentinel Staff Writers
August 26, 2008


Casey Anthony wanted to give up her unborn child for adoption. But those plans were nixed by her mother, who insisted she keep the baby.

These new details and dozens more about Anthony, her family and her missing daughter, Caylee Marie, were made public for the first time Monday when prosecutors released more than 431 pages of documents in response to an Orlando Sentinel public records request...

The documents include interviews with Anthony's friends, who depict her as a caring mother and are shocked by the disappearance. Yet the same friends say Anthony lied and stole. Writings on MySpace show a family in turmoil. Detectives seeking the truth questioned Anthony but got little in response.

Among the investigators' findings:

*Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, posted a lengthy message on the social-networking site MySpace on July 3 -- nearly two weeks before Caylee was reported missing -- "This precious little angel from above gave me strength and unconditional love . . . Jealousy has taken her away. Jealousy from the one person that should be thankful for all of the love and support given to her . . . "

*A posting titled "diary of days" that appeared on Casey Anthony's MySpace page July 7 stated: " . . . What is given, can be taken away. Everyone lies. Everyone dies. Life will never be easy. . . . " Anthony posted the message while she was apparently watching American Psycho, a horror movie about a New York executive who is also a serial killer.

*Anthony's ex-fiance' Jesse Grund discovered she had deleted more than 200 photos of her and her with Caylee that were online.

*Childhood friend Kiomarie Torres Cruz said that during Casey Anthony's pregnancy, she wanted to put the baby up for adoption. Cruz told Anthony she would be interested in adopting the unborn child because she couldn't have children herself. Cruz said she thought Anthony was bipolar. At times, Anthony would ask her something one day, and then would not remember later that she asked the question.

*Longtime friend Ryan Pasley got a call from Cindy Anthony earlier this summer. He said she warned him against talking to Casey because "she's been lying about a lot of stuff and . . . stole money from her and her grandmother." Cindy Anthony called her daughter a "sociopath." When asked what would make Casey Anthony open up to detectives, Pasley replied, "the fear of God."

*Ricardo Morales said when he dated Anthony, she often brought Caylee to his home. All three slept in the same bed. "I feel like the person we're talking about now and the person I knew before are two different people," he said.
*Anthony Lazzaro, Anthony's most recent boyfriend whom she met online, said she was a loving and caring mother. Though he said Anthony "pretty much shacked up here," he saw Caylee only a few times. Anthony would tell Lazzaro that Caylee was at Walt Disney World or the beach and repeatedly would say they stayed an extra day. He felt "weird" about that. He described Anthony as being "a perfect girlfriend." While she stayed with him, Anthony did his laundry, cleaned and cooked.

*On July 2 or July 3, Anthony got a tattoo, "Bella Vita," which means "Beautiful Life," on her shoulder. On July 15, she went back to the tattoo parlor and made an appointment for herself and a friend for July 19.

*Simon Birch, a manager at the wrecker yard where Anthony's vehicle was towed June 30, noticed the odor from her vehicle. When Anthony's father, George Anthony, picked up the car July 15, the manager said the vehicle smelled like another once stored on the lot -- in which a man had committed suicide.

*Anthony's friend Amy Huizenga said Anthony "is someone who starts believing her lies." She said Anthony brought Caylee to a few adult parties held at night, which Huizenga didn't like. When questioned by detectives, Huizenga said, "I think something accidentally happened . . . Casey freaked out. I don't know how she solved that problem. But then created this story in her head . . . "

*On July 16, the day Anthony was arrested, detectives pressed her for truthful answers. A detective asked, " . . . Unless we start getting the truth, we're going to announce two possibilities with Caylee. Either you gave Caylee to someone that you don't want anyone to find out because you think you're a bad mom. Or something happened to Caylee and Caylee's buried somewhere or in a trash can somewhere and you had something to do with it . . . Either way, right now it's not a very pretty picture to be painting."

The detective continued, "Everything you've told us is a lie. Every single thing.
Anthony replied, "No it isn't."

Near the end of the interview, Anthony admitted she should have notified authorities sooner."I didn't want to involve a bunch of people that maybe didn't know the situation. The biggest mistake was not calling you guys right off the bat. . . . But the worse [sic] is I've done this to my daughter by allowing her to still be with a baby sitter."

Joseph Edward Duncan III: Molester admitted 3 other child deaths


Tuesday, August 26, 2008
By REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho — A convicted murderer confessed that he killed three children before his 2005 attack on a northern Idaho family that left four people dead, an FBI agent told a federal jury.

FBI Agent Mike Sotka testified that after Joseph Edward Duncan III was caught at a Denny's restaurant with a kidnapped 8-year-old girl, he eventually confessed to the 1996 slayings of half-sisters Sammiejo White and Carmen Cubias in Seattle and the 1997 slaying of Anthony Martinez in Riverside County, Calif.

Authorities are trying to convince jurors at Duncan's federal sentencing hearing that the convicted child molester should be executed for the kidnapping, torture and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene in 2005. Duncan has already been convicted in state court of murdering the boy's older brother, mother and stepfather at their Coeur d'Alene area home.

Testimony in the case was to resume Tuesday.

At Duncan's request, an attorney advising him asked U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge to bar the testimony about Sammiejo, Carmen and Anthony, saying it was irrelevant and prejudicial.
Since the jury only has the choice of imposing the death penalty or life without parole when it comes to sentencing Duncan, there's no likelihood he could prey on children in the future, the attorney, Mark Larranaga, said.

But Lodge sided with Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson, who argued the confessions to multiple murders show a lifelong pattern of violence.

"All of his crimes ... certainly illustrate that he could be a danger in the prison setting," Olson said.

Margaret Delaney, the mother of Sammiejo, 9, and Carmen, 11, sobbed frequently on the stand as she testified about the day her daughters disappeared.

Delaney said she left the two girls with their 15-year-old brother and another younger sibling with instructions to stay at a motel where they were staying. Then Delaney went to pick up a change of clothing for the children and to a friend's house where she could get money to buy some groceries.

While she was gone, the two girls decided to walk to a nearby fast food restaurant to see if they could get some food, Delaney said.

Their bodies were found months later in a suburban subdivision in Bothell, Wash. Duncan said he grabbed the girls on an impulse, and that he killed them by hitting them in the head with a crowbar, Sotka testified.

Anthony's stepfather, Ernesto Medina, told the jury about the day his 10-year-old boy disappeared, April 4, 1997. Medina said he was in his apartment with his wife, mother-in-law and 4-year-old daughter when he heard other children outside screaming "A man's got Tony! A man's got Tony!"

Medina called 911, then jumped in his car and began searching the neighborhood, thinking the abductor was on foot.

Vultures in a remote part of a canyon led authorities to the little boy's body, bound with duct tape and partially buried under a pile of rocks.

The boys who had been playing with Tony Martinez before his abduction reported that a man in a white car had offered them a dollar each to help him find his lost cat. After looking for a time they approached the car to get their money, and that's when the man grabbed Tony.

Sotka said Duncan told him he bludgeoned the boy with a rock that he found at the scene and wasn't sure whether the child was dead when he left him in the desert, but knew the wound was fatal. Duncan also said he taped the boy's mouth shut to stop him from crying out, because he'd been haunted by hearing Carmen scream "No!" after seeing her older sister murdered, Sotka said.

Authorities matched a partial fingerprint found on a roll of the duct tape near the body with Duncan's thumbprint, Richard Kinney, a fingerprint expert with the California attorney general's office, told the jury. Prosecutors in Riverside County have charged Duncan in Anthony's slaying and are seeking the death penalty.

King County sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said from Seattle on Monday that Duncan remains a "person of interest" in the murders of the two Seattle girls but has not been charged.

Of the seven people Duncan has acknowledged killing, only two are adults _ the rest are between the ages of 9 and 13. All but one were bludgeoned to death. Dylan Groene was shot twice.
Shasta Groene was rescued when Duncan was arrested in July 2005. Bless her soul.

FBI: Couple Offered Sex With Girl, 5, for Used Car

Sunday, August 24, 2008
Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio couple is accused of trying to trade sex with the woman's 5-year-old daughter for an apartment, a used car and child care for her 10-month old daughter.

Jennifer Richards, 25, and her married boyfriend, Sean Michael Block, 40, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Stein Nowak on Friday. Richards is charged with using interstate facilities to transmit information about a minor. Block is charged with distributing child pornography.

Nowak ordered Block held. Richards' detention hearing was delayed until Tuesday, the San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday.

According to an affidavit unsealed last Tuesday, the investigation began when an informant told the FBI about a text message allegedly sent by Block reading: "Nice piece 5 yrs old belongs to my gf and she wants to sell it."

Richards and Block crafted a deal that, in addition to the apartment and used car, included child care for Richards' 10-month-old daughter, whose sexual service the couple intended to sell later, Rex Miller, the FBI's lead agent on the case, testified.

The couple had also hoped to blackmail the informant, Miller said.

Richards "was of the belief that these sexual interactions would be a positive experience for (her daughter) and that Richards would receive sexual gratification" from watching, according to the affidavit.

Authorities said both children are no longer in Richards' custody and that neither child was sold for sex.

After reviewing computers the couple used and listening to taped conversations, Miller determined Block and Richards were making further plans to abduct, rape and "carve up" a teenage runaway.

Block allegedly sent an e-mail with a link to a Russian child pornography site, according to the affidavit.

Ronald Guyer, Block's lawyer, acknowledged the severity of the charges. But Guyer told the judge that there was no evidence that the behavior progressed beyond Block's fantasy.
"There has been no action on his part," Guyer told Nowak.

Richard's attorney did not immediately return a call or e-mail left Sunday by The Associated Press seeking comment.

The couple worked at the Cheesecake Factory at North Star Mall, where he was a bartender and she was a waitress.

Court records show that Block's now-estranged wife Sarah Block filed for a protective order earlier this week on behalf of the couple's 14-month-old child. Her lawyer said she filed for divorce Friday.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Leonard Padilla, Bounty Hunter: I Know Who Has Caylee Anthony


ORLANDO -- Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla came to Central Florida to pay the more than $500,000 bond to get Casey Anthony out of jail.

Padilla said he thought having her out would lead to Caylee's safe return. But on Sunday night Padilla said he thinks Casey handed off Caylee to a friend, because she was trying to get away from her parents.

He said he knows who has the girl and is giving them a deadline to turn her over before he goes after them. Meanwhile, Casey Anthony will report to the jail Monday to meet with her case manager for a weekly visit.


I think this guy is a great big blow-hard. I'm totally unimpressed with the howdy-doody outfits and tough talk. It's really going to hurt when he swallows that toothpick.

Arrest reports, other documents released in Casey Anthony case


Amy L. Edwards and Sarah Lundy
Sentinel Staff Writers
August 25, 2008

The State Attorney's Office just released more than 400 pages of court documents -- including arrest reports, transcripts of interviews with witnesses, poems on MySpace and pictures of Caylee as part of the Casey Anthony case.
The release was in response to a public record's request made by the Orlando Sentinel.
Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, tried to get the state to delay the release by filing a motion for a temporary injunction. Orange Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland denied Baez's request this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Anthony met with her home confinement case manager this afternoon. The case manager told Anthony, 22, she was allowed to meet with her attorney this afternoon, but she must return to her family's Lee Vista-area home by 6 p.m.

According to the Orange County Corrections Department, Anthony is allowed to leave her home at the following times:
Wednesday: Attorney visit. Out at 10 a.m. Return by 4 p.m.
Friday: Attorney Visit. Out at 10 a.m. Return by 4 p.m.
Sunday: Church. Out at 10 a.m. Return by 2:30 p.m. (weekly until further notice)
Sept. 2: Case Manager visit. Out at 12:30 p.m. Return by 3:30 p.m.
(weekly case manager visits will be on Mondays but will be on Tuesday next week due to a county holiday)
Check back for updates on the content of the court documents. Now, this is going to be interesting.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Casey Talking Freely With Parents


Friday, August 22, 2008

ORLANDO -- The Anthony family spokesman, Larry Garrison, said Caylee Anthony’s mother, Casey, is talking freely with her parents, and helping with new leads into the whereabouts of the missing 3-year-old.

Casey Anthony was released Thursday after spending over a month in jail.

Garrison said he has no doubt the child was kidnapped, and Casey is worried about her well-being.

He also said she was providing more details she couldn't give in jail, but he refused to go into details.

Prairie dogs possibly help aquifer


BY LAURA BAUER
Kansas City Star

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Jeffrey Harsh admits he would try just about anything to save the prairie dog.

Not content to sit and watch counties and landowners across the Plains wipe the land clean of the critters, he wants to do something -- plead the case of the prairie dog, if you will.

His recent plea has some wildlife preservationists nodding their heads in agreement but others chuckling.

The theory -- espoused by others over the years -- is that by burrowing the land above one of the world's largest underground water supplies, prairie dogs loosen the soil and allow rain to seep through and recharge it.

More prairie dogs throughout the Plains would mean more rainwater into the dwindling Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water to eight states, including Kansas.

"Prairie dogs can penetrate the zone (of the Ogallala) that rainwater can't do on its own," said Harsh, who owns an animal refuge in western Kansas' Logan County. "People have deemed them as being from the dark side... but, yes, the prairie dog is a major player in allowing the aquifer to be replenished."

Some say that's just a myth, one more effort to save the prairie dogs. Many farmers and ranchers have maintained that the animals cause havoc on their land. Through the years, their population has been significantly scaled back to a fraction of what it was.

The war over the critters has become so fierce it landed in a Logan County courtroom last year. One farmer, Larry Haverfield, understands the need for prairie dogs and wants them on his land. But when other farmers complained, the county intervened and did what state law allows counties to do: lay poison when landowners won't.

But as for that theory about the water supply? "Help recharge the (Ogallala) aquifer?" Joel Schneekloth, a regional water resource specialist with the Colorado State University extension, said with a laugh. "I've heard a lot of wild, goofy ideas, and this is one of them."

Schneekloth says there's no scientific evidence that one of cattle ranchers' worst nightmares could be a water-supply blessing. As Schneekloth put it: "In our business, we have to go with science and what you can prove."

OK, Harsh and some wildlife preservationists said, then do some analysis. See whether it's true. And do it soon.

"Do it before it's too late, before they're all gone," Harsh said. "My goal is to lighten up on the poor critters. they are being obliterated."

Rare Ferrets Thriving

Rare ferrets seem to thrive
BY BECCY TANNER AND TRAVIS HEYING
The Wichita Eagle

Love blossomed on the Kansas prairie this spring and summer.

Some of the 24 rare black-footed ferrets reintroduced to western Kansas last December survived -- and at least four reproduced, wildlife volunteers confirmed after attempting to count the ferrets last week.

"The results have been superb," said Ron Klataske, executive director of Audubon of Kansas. The exact count is unknown. Klataske is hopeful that a third to half of the ferrets released in December survived.

The newest residents of Logan County are grouchy and reclusive. They can be spotted only briefly at night and are often tricky enough to avoid human contact.

But Thursday night, volunteers finally captured one of the ferret young. They checked his health, gave him a microchip and released him.

"He was chattering at us and barking at us. He was feisty," said Samantha Wisely, assistant biology professor at Kansas State University. "The moms are more mellow. They were captive raised and have seen people before. It was really nice to see a wild-born acting up and not wanting to be around people. He was doing his thing."

That's the best officials could have hoped for.

The young ferret is probably from the first litter of ferrets born in Kansas in more than 50 years.

Black-footed ferrets were believed to be extinct, until a small colony was found near Meeteetse, Wyo., in 1981. A successful captive breeding program has led to the reintroduction of the endangered species in several Plains states.

Federal wildlife officials hope to establish 10 self-sustaining populations across the nation by 2010, with 1,500 breeding adult ferrets. They plan to release an additional 30 ferrets on the same Logan County land in October.

Wildlife experts checked in on the ferrets last week to see how they were getting along.
All week long, beams of light scanned western Kansas cattle pastures like floodlights searching a prison yard.

The ferrets live in prairie dog holes and prey on prairie dogs. "Their eyes will be bright green," Klataske said. "Almost teal, really, and brighter than any other eyes you'll see out here." Wednesday night, volunteers like Klataske had little luck.

Klataske figured his best chance was to return to a prairie dog hole where a ferret had been seen the previous night. Much to his surprise, the hole had been filled in by prairie dogs attempting to entomb the small predator before it got to them.

Klataske dug out the hole, planted a trap, and hoped for the best, knowing it was unlikely the ferret would emerge from the same hole and into his trap.

The traps were checked hourly. In the meantime, Klataske continued searching the landscape for the bright green eyes. There was no shortage of jackrabbits, coyotes, deer and even a burrowing owl. But no ferrets.

Finally, at 5:30 a.m., Klataske's searchlights revealed what looked like two bright emeralds.
"It's a ferret!" he exclaimed. "And he's in the trap."

The ferret was a male. A microchip confirmed that it was one of the original 24 released last December. The ferret was sedated while biologists and veterinarians looked it over for ticks and parasites, vaccinated it and judged how it had been doing. All indications were that the animal was thriving.

Two hours after its capture, the ferret was taken back to the hole in a pet carrier and released. After a quick look around, it scurried into the hole.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Casey Anthony meets with lawyer for several hours


Susan Jacobson and Sarah Lund

Sentinel Staff Writers
August 23, 2008


A day after her release from jail with a monitor strapped to her ankle, Casey Anthony stayed out longer than the terms of her home-confinement allow but was given a one-time reprieve.
"We won't be doing this again," Orange County Corrections Department spokesman Allen Moore said.Anthony was scheduled to meet with her attorney, Jos� Baez, at his Kissimmee office, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. The office called to ask for an extension to 5:30 p.m. and again at 5:27 p.m. to request 45 more minutes because of rain and traffic, Moore said. Anthony, 22, got home at 6 p.m., he said.
Meanwhile, Anthony is talking freely with her parents and helping them with new leads into the whereabouts of her missing daughter, Caylee Marie, 3, the family's spokesman said.
"There is no doubt that this child has been kidnapped," said spokesman Larry Garrison, who would not elaborate.Anthony, who is charged with child neglect and filing a false report, was released Thursday from the Orange County Jail.
Baez said in an e-mail: "The only person who Casey has made any statements concerning her case [to] since being arrested is myself."
Detectives have not received new information from Anthony or her attorney, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.Caylee was reported missing July 15 -- after Anthony said she hadn't seen the child for 31 days.Garrison also released a statement from Anthony's mother, Cindy, about media coverage.
"At what cost are you going to allow this media frenzy to affect my husband, my son and our well-being? All you want is your next picture. I refuse to see you cast aside the search for Caylee."

Friday, August 22, 2008

Bloggers Scouring Blanchard Park Woods In Missing Girl Mystery


Group Of Bloggers Find Clothes, Book Bags
August 17, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A group of Internet bloggers following the case of a missing Orlando girl have united and are searching wooded areas of Central Florida for the child in a mystery that continues to grab the nation's attention.

The group of bloggers scoured several wooded areas of Blanchard Park over the weekend for clues into the disappearance of missing Caylee Anthony.

The group found what they believe may be items of interest; two colorful book bags and some clothing hidden in the woods about a mile from a location where a car belonging to the Casey Anthony (Caylee's mother) was abandoned.

"Everyone's heart dropped," searcher Wyatt Locke said. "This is the first time in our search that everyone unanimously was like, 'Oh my gosh, this might be something.'"

A yellow sandal, a size-five pair of pants and a small tank top were also found in the woods.
Sheriff's deputies took possession of the found items and were trying to determine if they could be linked to the case.

The group plans to continue investigating the case.

"It is heart-wrenching," Locke said. "This is a little girl who has disappeared and been gone for two months. We want to help and want to find closure for this case. We are looking for anything. Anything and all that might give any type of information as to the whereabouts or what happened to her."

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Searching for Bigfoot group to sue Georgia hoaxers


By CHRISTIAN BOONE, KATHY JEFCOATS
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

They claim their hoax was not for profit, but Atlanta residents Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer received $50,000 from a California Bigfoot tracker who now plans to sue to get the money back.

The two Georgia men’s tale of having found a Bigfoot carcass in the North Georgia woods really started to stink when California Bigfoot enthusiasts finally examined the body and found it was just a costume.

“There will be legal action” said Catherine Ortez, who works for Searching for Bigfoot, Inc. in in Menlo Park, Calif. The organization paid for rights to the men’s story and their find. “If this was a joke, it was very methodical and thought-out,” she said.

The Searching site was founded by Tom Biscardi, who authenticated and promoted the alleged Georgia Sasquatch. Biscardi, who did not return calls requesting comment, has his own credibility issues, according to a police officer in a nearby jurisdiction.

“He was involved in a similar hoax a few years back,” said Agent Dan Ryan with the Palo Alto (Calif.) Police Department.

In an interview with WSB-TV Wednesday night, Whitton and Dyer’s attorney, Steve Lister, blamed Biscardi for blowing his clients’ joke out of proportion.

“It started off as some YouTube videos and a Web site,” said Whitton, “We’re all about having fun.”

Whitton, 28, a Clayton County police officer for six years, was fired Tuesday after news of the hoax spread. Dyer, 31, is a former Clayton County corrections officer.

Though, according to their site, the pair are not averse to making money off their amusement. For $500, you can join them for a Bigfoot expedition. They also sell Sasquatch-related T-shirts and caps.

Repeated attempts to reach both men were unsuccessful, and Lister did not return calls seeking comment

Former La. police officer arraigned in Taser death


By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press Writer
August 21, 2008
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A former police officer accused of repeatedly jolting a handcuffed man with a Taser before he died pleaded not guilty Thursday to a manslaughter charge.

Scott Nugent, 21, also pleaded not guilty to a charge of malfeasance in office during his arraignment in court. The former Winnfield police officer was freed on $45,000 bond last week after a grand jury indicted him on both charges in connection with the death of Baron Pikes, 21.
Nugent faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted of the charges. Fired in May, he is appealing his dismissal.

Nugent allegedly shocked Pikes nine times with a 50,000-volt Taser while arresting the handcuffed man on a drug possession warrant Jan. 17, according to authorities.
Winn Parish coroner Randolph Williams ruled Pikes' death was a homicide.

George Higgins, one of Nugent's attorneys, called it "nonsense" for the coroner to conclude that the Taser jolts caused Pikes' death.

"It's not supported by science," Higgins said in a telephone interview after the arraignment.
A study released in June by the National Institute of Justice didn't find any "conclusive medical evidence" that exposure to so-called conducted energy devices, including Tasers, carries a high risk of serious injury or death.

Taser International Inc. spokesman Steve Tuttle said he couldn't discuss the Winnfield case because it involves an "ongoing legal matter."

"However, it should be noted that there are facts in this case that are disputed, including the findings of the medical examiner, and urge that judgment be withheld until the legal proceedings are complete," Tuttle said in a statement.

Taser International says it has sold more than 365,000 of its devices to more than 13,000 law enforcement agencies.

Amnesty International has identified 332 cases in the U.S. since 2001 in which people died after police struck them with a Taser, Amnesty researcher Angela Wright said Thursday.

Autopsy reports in more than 40 of those cases cited the Taser as a contributing factor in the death, but medical examiners usually attributed the cause of death to other factors, such as drug intoxication, Wright said.

"It's very rare that officers are charged" with a crime in connection with a Taser death, she added.

Nugent is scheduled to return to court Oct. 23 for a hearing on motions in the case. A tentative date for his jury trial is also expected to be set then, authorities said.

Last week, the mother of Pikes' 4-year-old son filed a wrongful death suit in federal court against city officials, Nugent and Taser International.

Taser International says it has a nearly perfect record in product liability lawsuits, with all but one of those 73 cases resulting in a dismissal or a verdict favoring the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company.

In June, a federal jury in San Jose, Calif., held Taser International partially liable for the death of a man who had a Taser used on him during an arrest. The company was ordered to pay $1 million in compensatory damages and $5.2 million in punitive damages.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...