Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [44]
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