Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [17]
And then there was Casey herself. There was an entry for Casey Anthony, but she was not an event planner, and even more surprising, she was not a current employee. Apparently she had worked at the park selling photos at a souvenir shop but had been fired on April 24, 2006. Yet more than two years later, she was still claiming that she worked there. Three lies.
Stunned, Melich leaned back in his chair. Over the course of a few short hours, her entire story had unraveled. Even though she’d sworn up and down that the version of events she’d given was completely true, his preliminary investigation had revealed just about every aspect to be a lie. And not only was she lying to the police, this woman had been playing everyone around her, including her parents and brother, for the last year at least. If not even those closest to her knew her reality, was there anything about her that was true? Did she really want to find her daughter, or was that the biggest lie of all?
After ten minutes, he called Casey back and asked her to come to Universal, saying he’d send officers to bring her and would meet her there himself. Melich also asked her to bring her Universal ID card, but Casey said she had misplaced it. Still, she agreed to meet him at the theme park, and a few short minutes later Sergeant John Allen and Detective Appling Wells picked her up in an unmarked car.
The scene at the security gate was almost comical. Sergeant Allen and Detective Wells followed Casey’s directions to the Universal employee parking lot and kept pace as she walked directly to the employee gate. There, they were met by Melich, Turtora, and the security guard working the gate. Everybody except the guard knew that Casey was not an employee there.
Casey approached the security guard and informed him that she had forgotten her ID card. He took her name and ran it through the computer. When he informed her that they had no record of her, she persisted, stating emphatically that she worked there. The guard requested the name of her supervisor, which she dutifully provided. He ran that name and again was unable to find it in the computer.
The three cops and Tutora watched the scene unfold, each intrigued to see how and when Casey would relent. She had completely committed to a lie that had no chance of being true—she knew it, and they knew it. Even if she made it past the security guard, what then? There was nothing she could show them that would make her an actual employee of Universal Studios. Their experience, not to mention simple logic, told them that sooner or later Casey would have to admit the truth.
As a prosecutor, I’ve spent a lot of time around people who aren’t telling the truth and have gotten caught. I’ve seen good liars and I’ve seen bad liars, but regardless of whether they’re good or bad at it, most people, when confronted with such an obvious lie, simply give in. Yet it was clear, even then, that there was something different about Casey. She was completely unwavering. She insisted to the security guard that she worked there, and she refused to accept his answer that neither she nor the supervisor she’d conjured up was in the system. She was adamant that what she said was true. If she wasn’t admitting to the lie now, when would she?
When this scene had gone on for long enough and everyone’s patience was becoming exhausted, Turtora presented his identification and instructed the guard to allow her to enter under his supervision.