Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [35]
George choked back tears as he told his daughter how much he missed her and Caylee, and how hard it was to see all their belongings around the house. He told his daughter the Anthony family was like a hand, and he was the thumb. He appeared heartened when Casey agreed to communicate with the FBI.
On July 28, Lee returned to the jail. Without using names, he asked if any of the three people she had communicated with by phone or text on the day Caylee went missing could be involved in her disappearance. Casey left that open as a possibility. She told Lee that she had been doing her own search for Caylee during the daytime, but not at night.
During the visit, Lee asked Casey about her new MySpace password, Timer 55. On June 16, she had used her computer to change the password to her account, a move that had been discovered by the police computer forensics lab. She would later tell Lee that the password had something to do with Caylee. We in the prosecutor’s office did some calendar arithmetic and discovered that the number of days between June 16, when Cindy last saw Caylee, and August 9, Caylee’s third birthday, was fifty-five. That, combined with the word Timer, led us to conclude that fifty-five was the number of days Casey thought she could hold Cindy at bay, knowing that on Caylee’s birthday, Cindy would be unstoppable.
The two discussed the tremendous outpouring of support for Caylee. Lee asked if she had a message she wanted to communicate to the people holding Caylee. “I know with every ounce of my gut we will be with her again,” she dictated. “You know how much I love you and how much I appreciate this every day.” Casey then repeated her father’s message to her brother: “Our family is like a hand,” she said, telling her brother she loved him.
“I love you, too,” Lee replied, tears welling. “I know we are going to find Caylee.”
That morning, Jose Baez made a motion to keep the visits between Casey and her family private. One reason he cited was that “the release of any visitation video-conferencing could impede the investigation, chill the public’s willingness to report any leads, and compromise the integrity of the Defendant’s right to a fair trial.” This was the beginning of a trend by the defense to attempt to control the media message. They would routinely appear before the cameras to give opinions or leak information favorable to Casey, and then complain when unfavorable information was released.
Rather than simply being something on which the judge could rule, however, this was an issue dictated by Florida law. The public and the media are afforded the right of access to a broad range of records maintained by government agencies. The law was clear that the jail was obligated to release the recording; the motion had no chance of being granted.
The following day, the motion was denied.
ON JULY 30, GEORGE AND Cindy visited again. This time both parents were wearing Caylee T-shirts. Casey was once again happy and relaxed. George took the receiver and told Casey how much he loved and missed her, and she said, “Ditto” back to him.
George discussed the outpouring of support for Caylee. After about two minutes, Cindy took over the visit. She discussed Caylee’s picture on the cover of People magazine.
“God, I just want to go home,” Casey blurted out. “Every day I wake up just hoping and praying that I just get to go home. I just want to be with you guys, I just want to help find her.”
The situation was much the same a few days later, on August 3, when George came to see his daughter alone. Casey arrived looking more jubilant than usual. She smiled when she saw her dad. She seemed much more comfortable with her father now that her mother was not with him.
“Hi,” she chirped.
“Hey, good morning, beautiful. How are you?” George looked equally happy as he went on about how all the extended family was missing her. “Hopefully