Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
The story of Casey Anthony and her two-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony, first made headlines in 2008. In the next few years, Casey was accused of murdering Caylee and also stood trial when she was acquitted in 2011. Since then, several true-crime episodes and documentaries have chronicled the case. These include the Peacock docuseries Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies and A&E’s Casey Anthony’s Parents: The Lie Detector Test.
According to Today.com, Casey Anthony’s daughter Caylee went missing on June 16, 2008. Casey’s mother, Cindy, filed a missing person’s report on July 15, 2008, which resulted in Casey’s arrest on child neglect charges. She also faced murder charges when a subsequent investigation found incriminating evidence in her cell phone, computer, and car. Eventually, Caylee’s skeletal remains were found in a wooded area not far from the Anthony family home in Florida.
In 2011, Casey stood trial, which resulted in her acquittal. The jury only found her guilty on lesser misdemeanor charges. On July 7, she received a four-year prison sentence but walked out of prison ten days later, per People Magazine.
Business Insider stated that Casey Anthony lives in Florida now. CNN further reported that after her acquittal, Casey went on to work with the lead investigator in her defense team, Patrick McKenna. Moreover, in December 2020, she filed paperwork to start her own private investigation business in South Florida, per People Magazine.
What was Casey Anthony accused of?
According to CNN, prosecutors had alleged that Casey Anthony gave chloroform to her daughter Caylee Anthony. After that, she suffocated Caylee with duct tape and dumped her body in the woods. During Casey’s trial, her defense argued that the two-year-old accidentally drowned in the swimming pool on June 16, 2008. The accused and her father then covered up the death. The jury rejected the prosecution’s allegations and found her guilty of four lesser charges of lying to law enforcement officers.
People Magazine reported that Casey Anthony lived with her parents, George and Cindy, in Orlando, Florida, when the incident occurred in 2008. She reportedly left the house with Caylee on June 16. A month later, George discovered a strong smell from her car trunk. Then, on July 15, Cindy called authorities and reported Caylee missing and also claimed that Casey’s car smelled like a dead body.
When questioned about Caylee’s whereabouts, Casey claimed that the babysitter may have kidnapped the two-year-old. The young mother alleged that she left her daughter at the babysitter’s apartment and that she worked at Universal Studios.
Police then arrested Casey after learning that she lied to them about her work and leaving Caylee at the babysitter’s. At first, authorities charged her with child neglect, making false official statements, and obstructing an investigation on July 16. They also declared her a person of interest in Caylee’s disappearance before charging her with first-degree murder later that year. The two-year-old’s skeletal remains were discovered on December 11.
Casey Anthony’s murder trial began on May 24, 2011. Her defense attorney Jose Baez argued that Caylee Anthony accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool and that Casey and the child’s father, George, covered up the death. The defense’s allegations further accused George of sexually abusing Casey when she was a child, which caused her to develop a habit of lying. George has since denied any such claims, as well as any involvement in Caylee’s death.
The prosecution’s case primarily centered around the lies Casey told during the course of the investigation and police, per People Magazine. They also focused on the evidence against her, which included internet searches like “how to make chloroform” and about neck-breaking, traces of chloroform, and human decomposition in the trunk of her car.
On July 5, 2011, the jury announced that they found Casey Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter of a child. Instead, they convicted her on four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer. Two days later, Casey received a four-year sentence. Then, on July 17, she was released from prison after getting credit for the time she had already served.
Per the outlet, Peacock’s Casey Anthony: Where The Truth Lies was Casey’s first televised interview. She told her side of the story, entirely blaming her father, George, for Caylee’s death. Casey said, “He [George] was standing there with her [Caylee]. She was soaking wet. He handed her to me. Said it was my fault. That I caused it. But he didn’t rush to call 911 and he wasn’t trying to resuscitate her. I collapsed with her in my arms. She was heavy, and she was cold.”
George and Cindy Anthony appeared on a true crime reality show on A&E, Casey Anthony’s Parents: The Lie Detector Test, in January 2024. The duo took lie detector tests on camera and recounted Caylee’s death. In the series, George denied knowing Caylee’s whereabouts while taking a lie detector test. Meanwhile, Cindy claimed she believed Casey knew exactly what happened to Caylee. Cindy said, “And I kept hoping upon hope that she would confess.”
Elsewhere, Casey Anthony has said, “I still don’t know what happened to Caylee.” She admits that she still has no answers about her daughter’s death, reported CNN.
