Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony (15 page)

In an odd twist of fate, Casey coincidentally ran into Jeff Hopkins that night at Waterford Lake Alehouse in Orlando. As investigators later learned from Jeff, he and Casey had been acquaintances in middle school and high school, but since then the two hadn’t remained in contact. At the Alehouse, they’d exchanged phone numbers, but except for an e-mail blast about a gathering at Fusian Ultra Lounge, Jeff hadn’t heard from her again. Not only were they not in contact, but Jeff, it turned out, had no children, no trust fund, no dead wife, didn’t live in Jacksonville, wasn’t interested in her, had never meet Caylee Anthony, and couldn’t provide any information about Caylee’s supposed babysitter, Zenaida.

On Thursday, July 3, Casey got her tattoo, the words “
Bella Vita,
” Italian for “beautiful life,” inked on her left shoulder. The tattoo artist told the police that the wording was popular among other younger customers he’d seen, as it was an expression of the desire to live the good life. Her choice had made sense to him. Since she seemed happy when he met her, he assumed she was living a
bella vita.
She made an appointment to return for another tattoo and even told the tattoo artist about her daughter, who was with her nanny, saying she would bring her along the next time.

Meanwhile, Cindy’s anger was growing. She was on a singular mission to see her granddaughter, trying Casey’s phone seven times that night and the next morning, without getting an answer. Eventually, Casey took a call and told her mother that Caylee was at Universal Studios, enjoying a day of fun at an event designed for the children of employees. Casey would have loved to invite Cindy, but unfortunately it was for employees only. Cindy drove there anyway, and called Casey from the parking lot, assuming that Caylee and Casey would have to come out sooner or later. Casey had been giving her the runaround about where she was for too long, and Cindy didn’t trust her anymore. Before Casey had left with Caylee in June, Cindy and she had been arguing about Casey’s lifestyle. Now Cindy felt she finally had Casey cornered.

Or so she thought. When Casey answered her mother’s call and learned that she was in the Universal parking lot, she realized she was trapped, and altered the story again—this time putting enough physical distance in the lie so that her mother couldn’t stake her out. Telling Cindy there had been a change of plans, Casey explained that Jeff Hopkins had invited her and Caylee to go to Jacksonville with him and his son. They were already en route.

After Casey hung up, George tried to call her, but he got no answer. Completely frustrated, Cindy recruited Lee to look for his sister at the clubs downtown. First, he attempted to locate Casey through the places mentioned on MySpace postings by friends. He went to one spot, but missed her by minutes. She had gotten word that he was coming and left before he arrived. He tried calling her cell phone, but she didn’t answer. He then enlisted his girlfriend to call, thinking Casey would pick up for her. They spoke briefly before the girlfriend passed the phone to Lee. Casey was nasty to her brother, blew him off, and hung up.

When Cindy heard this, she had her son create a MySpace page for her so that she could post a lengthy paragraph about hurt and betrayal for Casey to discover. Her subject line was “My Caylee is missing,” and she posted her mood as “distraught.” The seventeen-line entry was filled with sadness and anger: “What does the mother get for giving her daughter all of these chances? A broken heart. . . .” Cindy ended her indirect message to Casey with thoughts about Caylee. “Who is now watching out for the little angel?”

C
ASEY SPENT THE
F
OURTH OF
July holiday shopping and celebrating. When she finally responded to Cindy’s MySpace post, Casey told her mother to leave her alone. Elaborating further on her lie about Jeff Hopkins, Casey claimed that she was trying to pursue a long-term relationship with him. She told Cindy to accept that she was now an adult and that she and Caylee would someday move out for good. Apparently, Casey’s response had the desired effect. Cindy agreed to give her daughter some space.

On Saturday, July 5, Tony returned from New York. Casey met him at the airport, and they picked up where they left off, with Casey playing housemother for Tony and his mates. That day, Casey told her mother that her car was being fixed in Jacksonville, that she and Caylee were staying with Jeff Hopkins’s mother, Jules, and that they would be returning to Orlando on July 12.

Looking at all this together, I couldn’t help but wonder what Casey had planned for her end game. Since mid-June, her lies had taken so many different shapes that it was hard to believe they had gone on for so long. She seemed to move deftly from one deception to another, and yet couldn’t see that it was all going to fall apart. While it didn’t seem as if she had any way out, one thought that occurred to me was that, on some level, the Jeff Hopkins story was meant to be the end of it all, the culmination of the lie. Perhaps a sudden elopement with the wealthy young friend who was also the perfect family man—“Mom, it just happened so suddenly, sure I would have loved to have you and Dad there, but it was just so perfect”—followed by the impetuous honeymoon abroad—“Jeff is such a wonderful man, he insisted we bring the kids.” It’s hard to say what she was setting the narrative up for, but as her lies seemed only to be building in size and scope, it wasn’t hard to imagine her creating some kind of an escape scenario. It was easy for me to see that Casey’s explanation to her mother was her setup for the long-term solution, that Casey was maneuvering to set it up that she and Caylee had moved out for good. If only my talent for fiction were one-tenth of hers, I could have seen it, the ultimate storybook ending. But all I, or any of us on the prosecution, could do was speculate.

Surely, though, something was going to force her hand, whether it was the demands from Cindy, the interference from George, the discovery of the Pontiac, or simply fate. Until then, her lies would simply get bolder and more reckless, generating a momentum that could lead only to a dead end.

On July 8, Casey drove Amy and Ricardo to the airport in Amy’s car. Amy and Ricardo were headed to Puerto Rico. Somehow Casey also got hold of Amy’s wallet and checkbook, and within an hour of dropping off her friends at the airport, she was at Target, where she enjoyed a two-hour shopping spree. At 9:48
A.M
., surveillance cameras captured her entering the store, where she shopped until 11:55
A.M
., at which point she took her purchases to the checkout counter. She paid the $111.01 for the purchases with one of Amy’s checks.

Casey continued to forge checks on Amy’s account for the next five days, knowing that her friend was out of the country. During that time, she made two more visits to Target and a trip to a Winn-Dixie grocery store. Her purchases during this time included the light blue hoodie she was wearing when she was arrested, lingerie, oversize white sunglasses, toilet paper, cherries, orange juice, and a six-pack of Bud Light. At no time did she buy anything for her toddler, and Caylee is not seen on any of the stores’ video surveillance tapes.

Stealing from Amy seemed a natural progression for Casey. After all, Cindy and George had discovered the forgeries and thefts from their accounts, not to mention the more recent discovery that Casey was stealing from her grandmother as well. As a result, all the family accounts were under a watchful eye, so those avenues were now closed. Once Tony was out of town, Casey needed money again. Amy was so trusting it was like she was asking to be taken advantage of. If Casey was caught, she’d probably just plead desperation and promise to pay her back. After all, it had worked with Cindy, surely it would work again. Live for today, and deal with the consequences when and if they arise. In her experience, she could talk her way out of anything.

As it turned out, though, the law wasn’t far behind her. On Sunday, July 13, George Anthony found the notice of a certified letter from Johnson’s Wrecker Service stuck in his front door, which marked the end for Casey and the beginning of the mystery about Caylee. Having no idea what the notice was about, and scheduled to start a new job on Monday, George decided that the earliest he could make it to the post office was Tuesday, July 15. Casey, meanwhile, was still staying at Tony’s, though she told Cindy that she and Caylee had been invited at the last minute to Jeff Hopkins’s mom’s wedding ceremony in Jacksonville.

On the afternoon of July 15, Casey cashed a forged check for $250, written to her, by her, on Amy’s account. She then drove to the airport in Amy’s car to pick up her two friends, back from vacation. During the ride to Amy’s, Casey said that she had spoken to her daughter earlier that day. It was a lie that capped off nearly a month of lies, but it was all about to come to an abrupt end, as George and Cindy barreled toward the tow yard.

In my years as a prosecutor, I have seen my share of liars—but never one quite like this. If it was just the lies to her mother, we might be able to understand that. After all, kids lie to their parents from time to time, mostly because they’re young and immature. Still, if that was all it was—simply a lie taken to an irrational extreme—you’d expect to find Caylee stashed away with some friend, happy and healthy, while Casey laughed to herself about how she’d showed Cindy who the real boss was in the relationship.

But these thirty-one days were about more than just a series of lies. These days were about the adoption of a completely new lifestyle. A lifestyle that had no room for Cindy or George. A lifestyle that had no room for actual responsibilities. A lifestyle that had no room for Caylee.

Kidnapping seemed increasingly implausible. On August 15, the sheriff said as much when he announced that they had yet to turn up any credible evidence in support of the kidnapping theory. While they had not ruled out kidnapping, there was less and less for them to go on, with all of Casey’s “leads” proving to be lies.

With that said, none of this alone made it a murder. Yet it was looking more and more as if the case would have to be resolved with science. We had plenty of clues and evidence, but there were also many holes, holes that only forensics could help fill. It was now up to the scientific experts to help uncover the truth.

P
HOTOS

This shot of Casey and Tony Lazzaro was taken three days before June 16, 2008, the day Caylee was last seen alive.

This shot of Casey out partying was taken three days after June 16.

Casey spent much of the thirty-one days that Caylee was missing with Tony. Whenever Tony would ask where Caylee was, Casey always had a story.