Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [21]
“And I’ve had to help them try to explain it to their families, okay? And then I’ve also had to deal with people who have done horrible, unspeakable things to children, and have lied about it and lied about it and lied about it. And I’ll bet you that somewhere in there I’ve probably dealt with somebody who maybe made a mistake but continued to lie about it, and maybe they weren’t such a bad person, but maybe the whole world didn’t see it that way. Maybe their family didn’t see it that way because they kept lying about it.”
And then, for the first time, Casey gave an answer that wasn’t either an “uh-hmm” or a lie. She said her mother was having a horrible time with the news.
“My mom,” she began, “told me flat out yesterday that she will never be able to forgive me, and I even told her, I am never going to be able to forgive myself. Every single day I have been beating myself up about this. I’ve been running in circles, it’s all I can do at this point. I learned the biggest lesson from all this. I made the greatest mistake that I ever could have made as a parent.”
It appeared that she was getting more comfortable, but as with everything they’d heard that day, there was a question about honesty. Casey was either opening up with real emotions for the first time in the interview or aping the emotions that she felt the officers expected of someone in her position. Regardless, nothing the officers said convinced Casey to talk or explain where Caylee was. One of the things that struck Detective Melich was that at no time during any of his discussions with Casey did she show any obvious emotions about the loss of her child. She did not cry or give any indication that she was legitimately worried about her child’s safety. In fact, in his official report he noted that Casey remained “stoic and monotone during a majority of our contacts.”
They were trying to get her to confess to what had really happened to Caylee, but she remained emphatic about her original story. Her words were just as resolute as they had been earlier in the morning when she was trying to convince the guard at the security gate that she worked there. It was the same determination, the same steadfast belief she’d displayed then, only this time she was attempting to persuade them that Zanny had taken Caylee. But she didn’t realize how little the words of a liar are worth. The detectives weren’t biting.
“I think you have been in here a long time,” Sergeant Allen said, rising from the chair. “I appreciate you talking to us.”
One thing that is clear from the tape of this encounter is the sense of relief in Casey’s voice when she realized the interview with the detectives was drawing to a close. She was convinced that the officers were on board with her story, and that her biggest failure was not reporting Caylee missing earlier. The fact that she then went on to apologize for giving them the runaround was almost comical. As was the fact that she said she was available to help in any way.
“I just wish I honestly had more things to help with,” she added. “We’ve talked about going through my computer, maybe trying to find past conversations through instant messenger or through e-mails, something. I’ll offer up my computer in a heartbeat, just like with my phone logs and anything else, anything that can possibly help. That’s why we set up websites and have been making phone calls and trying to get ahold of people.
“I had such a limited number of people that I was actually trusting that could help at this point, thinking maybe they had some insight. I didn’t want to involve a bunch of people who maybe didn’t know the situation. The mistake was not calling you guys right off the bat. I understand all of that. It’s the biggest slap in the face to have done that to myself. The worst part is what I’ve done to my daughter by allowing her to still be with someone else.”
Sergeant Allen agreed. “By failing to notify somebody, you put your daughter in greater risk.” He said he was going to return to headquarters and try to track Zenaida down, first by putting