Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [94]
In all fairness, the intervening months had been difficult for him. After Caylee’s body was found, his life had been like a cliff jump. In January 2009, he had made a serious attempt to kill himself. The suicide attempt was an eye-opener for me. I came to realize just how despondent he was. His world had been torn to shreds and was as public a spectacle as the OJ trial. He didn’t want to live without his granddaughter. He was overwhelmed with tremendous guilt and pain.
I felt really bad for him. I am a father of six, and have never had a situation close to as despairing as his, but I could only imagine the pain he must have been in, having his granddaughter die and his daughter the only suspect. The Anthony family lawyer, Brad Conway, was the one to call 911 on Saturday, January 22, with the alarm that George had left the house at 8:30 that morning with several bottles of prescription medication and some photos. No one had seen or heard from him since. “We are worried that he has done something to himself,” Conway told the dispatcher.
The following day George was located by police in a motel room in Daytona Beach. He was despairing and barely coherent. A six- to eight-page suicide note addressed to his wife was unfinished. In it, he apologized to Cindy for all the disappointments he had caused her over the years.
“This should be no surprise that I have decided to leave the earth, because I need to be with Caylee Marie. I cannot keep on going because it should be me that is gone from this earth, not her.
“I have lived many years, I am satisfied with my decision because I have never been the man you, Lee, Casey & especially Caylee Marie deserved.”
George blamed himself for the child’s death and Casey’s incarceration. “For a year or so I brought stuff up, only to be told not to be negative. . . . I sit here, falling apart, because I should have done more. She was so close to home, why was she there? Who placed her there? Why is she gone? Why? . . .”
George was taken to a medical center for evaluation and held for a short time before he was released and returned home to Cindy. The next time we spoke was at his deposition in August 2009.
George had been cooperative with law enforcement when Caylee was first reported missing. His early statements and the fact that he’d sought to speak to investigators without Cindy present reflected the conflict between the logical assessment of facts from the view of someone with law enforcement experience, and the desperate hope of a loving father and grandfather. Emotionally, he hoped that his granddaughter was alive and well and his daughter was not some murderous monster. But logically, especially from the perspective of someone with a law enforcement background, things looked dire.
I have always believed that there came a point when, either consciously or unconsciously, George was faced with a choice: either to follow the facts and fight for the truth or to drink the Kool-Aid that Casey was serving and Cindy was enjoying, to buy into Cindy’s denial and let the truth be damned. If he followed his intellect, it meant that he had lost his granddaughter to the grave, his daughter to prison, and his wife to her unfounded theories—which might lead to divorce.
As days turned to weeks and weeks to months, George’s choice became clear. During his recovery following his suicide attempt, he had apparently made the decision to get behind his wife and daughter. In public appearances, he always stood at Cindy’s side and supported her in her denial. When he spoke, he echoed her sentiments, although with a little less conviction. His relationship with law enforcement