Casey Anthony.
HowCaylee Anthonydied has always been a mystery.
In the summer of 2008, the 2-year-old girl vanished and wasn’t reported missing for more than a month, when her grandmother contacted police and said the toddler was last seen with her mother,Casey Anthony.
For more than six months, Casey — and her parents — insisted that the little girl was alive, even though Casey’s car smelled like human decomposition and there was forensic evidence that seemed to indicate that the little girl’s body had been placed inside the trunk.
After Casey Anthony was charged in connection with Caylee’s death, she faced a high-profile 2011 trial. She was found not guilty of homicide charges.
Caylee’s fate still remains a mystery — but Casey Anthony, now 36, told her version of events onCasey Anthony: Where The Truth Lies, a three-part limited series that is now streaming on Peacock. In the documentary, she sits down for her first on-camera interview ever.
Caylee Anthony.Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT/Getty
In her interview, Anthony insists that she is innocent of Caylee’s killing and that she loved her daughter fiercely. She says that she would never have hurt Caylee and that she regrets that she could not protect her.
Instead, she placed the blame for her daughter’s death squarely on her father,George Anthony.
“I wasn’t feeling that great, and I wanted to lay down,” she said during the docuseries. “I had [Caylee[ lay in bed with me.”
Casey says she then saw George Anthony holding her daughter.
“He was standing there with her,” she says. “She was soaking wet. He handed her to me. Said it was my fault. That I caused it. But he didn’t rush to call 911 and he wasn’t trying to resuscitate her. I collapsed with her in my arms. She was heavy, and she was cold.”
“He takes her from me and he immediately softens his tone and says ‘It’s going to be ok.’ I wanted to believe him. He took her from me and he went away.”
George and Casey Anthony.Peter Kramer/NBC/Getty Images; Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/MCT/Getty Images
Casey says she went to stay with her then-boyfriend, Tony Lazzaro — but she didn’t tell anyone what had happened. She says she wasn’t under the impression that Caylee was dead.
“During the 31 days, I genuinely believed that Caylee was still alive,” she says. “My father kept telling me she was ok. I had to keep following his instructions. He told me what to do. I tried to act as normal as I could.”
Casey, in her interview, also speculates that George may have staged Caylee’s drowning in order to cover up that he had been abusing his granddaughter — an allegation that even Casey admits she doesn’t know for sure.
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But when asked if she had been truthful to the police, Casey Anthony acknowledges that her story changed several times. “I lied,” she says. “My lies always have a kernel of truth in them. But I lied, because that’s what I was told to do.”
According to a source in the Anthony family’s inner circle, George Anthony is privately denying the allegations. “He’s outraged and appalled,” the source tells PEOPLE. “It wasn’t true in 2011, and it’s not true now. He denies it all, and will continue to deny it all until his final breath.”
Casey Anthony: Where The Truth Liesis now streaming on Peacock.
source: people.com
