The Memorial & The Evidence: Casey Anthony Case

A few days ago the Anthony family held a very public memorial for their murdered granddaughter.  I watched it live.  The music was beautiful.  George Anthony was destroyed as he tried to control his sobbing.  Cindy Anthony seemed at peace, yet broken.  During one of the songs performed which was the Celine Dion hit, "My Heart Will Go On", the camera moved over to film a picture on an altar of Casey Anthony holding a kissing her daughter.  For some reason this image made me tear up.  Not because I felt pity for Casey Anthony, who sits in jail accused of murdering her baby girl, but because I felt saddened that the image was false.  The image of a mother holding her child and kissing her, something so wonderful, seemed like an illusion of what should have been, what could have been.

I felt sorry for the Anthony family, for they lost not only their granddaughter, but their daughter and the future of that relationship.

Then Lee Anthony spoke to the large crowd of people, he asked us not to judge his family, he asked us to remember Caylee and to put our anger aside.  I agreed with him.

George Anthony then began to speak of sweet things he and Caylee did together.  I began to tear up again, his words were not rehearsed, they were real and so very sweet.  But soon the tide turned and George began to ask the hundreds of people assembled in the church and those thousands watching from home to write letters to his imprisoned daughter, to help lift her spirits.  Write letters of encouragement to help her smile.

Cindy then took the pulpit, her words began with expressing her love for her daughter and telling us she wishes her daughter could be there to honor Caylee, the very daughter she is accused of killing and dumping in the woods.  Cindy goes on to say how much Casey loved Caylee and that she knows that Caylee knew how much she was loved.

The entire time I was thinking to myself:  What do these people think actually happened?  

Do they actually believe that their daughter had nothing to do with the death of the very child they are gathered there remembering and wishing to have back?

How could their view be so twisted?  Why would George think the public would want to write letters to lift the spirits of a girl we have seen numerous times incriminate herself, cause her family pain and lie so easily?  A mother who never reported her daughter missing, it is often reported that she waited 31 one days before calling police, but the fact is, she did NOT call police, her mother found her after searching for her granddaughter and once she found her with no child, she herself called police.  Had Cindy Anthony not found Casey that day, who knows how long that child would have been out in the woods.

I thought maybe they know something we don't know.  Well yesterday there was a release of discovery documents and the evidence linking the murder of their granddaughter to their daughter is even clearer than before.  

How can they read these documents and not see the connections?

In these documents we find out that the duct tape used to silence Caylee was found at the Anthony home.  The same garbage bag she was placed in was also found at the home along with the pull up diapers found at the crime scene.  The heart shaped sticker that was placed over the duct tape was from a group of stickers found at the home or at least very similar.  

Various other items were found, including white sunglasses which Caylee was seen wearing the very day her mother claims she went missing.  A disposable camera was found as well as strangely enough, a pregnancy test which may not be linked.  Also found was a Gatorade bottle with a syringe and toilette paper stuffed inside, an unknown liquid was also found in this bottle. The laundry bag found with the body has also been linked back to the Anthony home.

Most disturbing is the information that a best friend of Casey Anthony used to live at the Sawgrass Apartments, the very place where Casey claims she left Caylee with a non-existent babysitter.  

The report claims Caylee died at a time between June 16 and June 27, which is a direct contradiction to Casey claiming she spoke to Caylee in July as late as the 15th.

Not to mention that no one, not even her best friend has ever seen, met or spoken to a Nanny by the name of Zeinada.

In Casey's room they found a diary entry dated June 21st, however the diary itself is dated '03, in which she claims she has no regrets about doing the right thing and the end will surely justify the means.  It could very well be that this is an old 2003 entry, however this would make Casey about 16 at the time.  Her words seem more current as she talks about new friends and finally being happy and yet worried about something she has done, which to me explains why authorities felt the need to photograph it and take it into evidence:

I have not read all of the documents yet, but I did read that when the second warrant was served after Caylee's body was found, that Cindy Anthony read the entire warrant out loud and that George Anthony was angry about authorities searching their home for a third time.

As Cindy Anthony read the warrant it indicated that a Winne the Pooh blanket was found with the body at this point she tells authorities out loud that there was indeed a Winnie the Pooh blanket missing from the home.  Cindy Anthony had claimed early on that nothing was missing from Caylee's room, only now did she admit this was not the case.

Many people have asked what it is I want the Anthony family to do, condemn their daughter?  

My answer is no.  I don't want them to abandoned their daughter.  I want them to stop telling the world that Law Enforcement are the bad guys and that their daughter has been falsely accused without a shred of evidence proving otherwise.  I don't want to be told to write letters to their daughter to make her smile.  I want Casey Anthony to tell the truth.

The only answer I can think of for their behavior is that they really do believe their pathological daughter.

Why? What is her new story?

Also in the documents we read that Casey Anthony hyperventilated and asked for medication when she heard a body was found in the woods near her home.  

Why would she hyperventilate without knowing for sure if it was Caylee?

JonBenet Ramsey Case Back Where It Belongs?

The 1996 JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation has long ago turned cold.

The infamous claims of a botched crime scene and the umbrella of suspicion over the Ramseys, has for years been placed on a back shelf.

The Ramsey case was the very first case that pulled me into the world of true crime, if only to see this savage murderer brought to justice.

This beautiful little girl was taken from the world too soon and in a tragic, and evil way, but most surprisingly in her own home, under some very strange circumstances.

I have long flip flopped over who I thought was responsible. Who killed JonBenet? Was it a stranger intruder? John Ramsey? Patsy Ramsey? Her brother Burke? The Santa Clause guy? A neighbor? A drifter in the area? The one armed man?

The years of waiting never did bring any answers and Patsy Ramsey died of cervical cancer never confessing a single thing from her death bed as some hoped she would.

Back in 1996 the Boulder Police were ambushed and criticized mostly by John Ramsey's attorney and John Ramsey's friends. The investigators were dragged through the mud in the media, accused of only focusing on the Ramseys as suspects and botching the evidence and investigation. The Ramsey's went on a media parade claiming the police were ignoring vital evidence that pointed to an intruder. The Ramsey's claimed they were cooperating with the investigation and had nothing to hide, but behind the scenes, the statements were proven false. Countless tabloids were accusing John of raping JonBenet even though there were no signs of rape on the body. It was a circus made up of stumbling clowns, evil monsters, and greedy fat cats, all the while a little girl lay dead.

In 2002 the Boulder County District Attorney's office took the case away from the Boulder Police and began investigating themselves only to never solve the case and suffer a colossal embarrassment with the John Mark Karr fiasco.

Today in 2009 they decided to hand the investigation back to the Boulder Police.

I cheer and hope JonBenet gets her justice and I live to see it.

Should John Ramsey be nervous?

There are some hardcore supporters of the theory that the Ramseys are the murderers and then some hardcore intruder theory believers.

I am going to post a recap in the next day or so and hope to refresh my memory on the case that nearly destroyed a community and captivated the world.

BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder police are taking over the investigation into JonBenet Ramsey's 1996 slaying, six years after handing the case over to the Boulder County District Attorney's Office.

Police Chief Mark Beckner said Monday that he and newly elected District Attorney Stan Garnett agree the police department should take back the lead on investigating Boulder's most infamous unsolved homicide.

The department agreed to give the case up in December 2002 partly because of public criticism of how police first handled the case, Beckner said.

“If people felt it was better off with the District’ Attorney’s Office,” Beckner said. “We were OK with that because it was in the best interest of the case.”

But now, Beckner said he and Garnett agree that “a traditional law enforcement/prosecution relationship is appropriate in this and other cold cases.” His agency is eager to take over the investigation with new technology and expertise available, Beckner said.

“Some cases never get solved, but some do,” he said. “And you can’t give up.”

The department, he said, plans to approach the homicide as a cold case, and he’s invited a team of veteran investigators from several state and federal agencies to participate in an “advisory task force.”

The group will meet for a two-day “pow-wow” some time in the next few weeks to review all evidence in the case and identify additional testing that might be done and evidence that might be looked at.

The goal of the task force is to “explore all possible theories about what happened the night JonBenet was killed.” Beckner said he wants to go into the pow-wow “clean” and with no preconceived notions.

“We are open to all possibilities,” he said.