Mommy's Little Girl (14 page)

“Well, that's something I was thinking about doing.”

“Why would you put it down on a résumé? That makes no sense. If you're going to be taking an occupation doing that, you don't put it down unless you're already doing it.”

George couldn't win that battle, though. Whenever he said anything to his wife or daughter, they both insisted that Casey was working. Casey often claimed her check was locked up in her boss's desk. On one occasion, she even forged three deposit slips for her mother's account—a total of $4,400—and ceremoniously turned them over to her mother, saying that she'd finally gotten her back checks, and believed in paying back money she owed.

Cindy thought the money was in the bank, and spent accordingly. It wasn't until her $700 house payment check bounced that she learned the ugly truth.

That spring, Cindy discovered another way her daughter was stealing money from her. Casey had hacked into her mother's checking account on line to send payments of $300 to $450 per month to AT&T for her cell phone. Cindy demanded that she stop, and Casey did. Next time she needed money to pay her cell phone bill, she extracted $354 from the account set up for her grandfather's care after he went into the nursing home. The two small checks he got each month were directly deposited into an account without check-writing privileges. Shirley transferred it to her checking account when she needed to pay bills or the balance got too high.

Shirley was surprised when she saw the transaction on her statement. She went into the bank, where a manager tracked down the expenditure to Casey. “I don't know what you want to do about it,” he said.

Her patience this time had expired. “You can do whatever you want to. If you want to arrest her, arrest her. Press charges.”

The bank, however, did not take any action. Shirley emailed Casey because she didn't want to talk to her. Casey wrote back: “Dear Grandma, I'm so sorry. I apologize. I'll come down and do some cleaning for you.”

Shirley responded: “Casey, I don't want you down here.”

Shirley called her daughter and told her about everything. Cindy said, “Mom, I'll pay you back.”

“No, the bank paid me back,” Shirley said. “But if the bank wants to arrest her, they're going to, because I told them they could.” Shirley didn't want to file a complaint herself—Casey deserved it, but she couldn't do that to Caylee and Cindy.

Cindy demanded an answer from Casey. Casey explained that she'd been transferred into a brand new department at Universal, and the budget had not yet
gone through. She and all the employees were asked to buy their own telephones. They would be reimbursed for the expense when the financials were all in order. Then, Casey claimed, she was going to pay her grandmother back.

Shirley didn't buy this explanation when Cindy relayed it, but she didn't get on her daughter's case about it. Casey was in the wrong, not Cindy. Shirley later figured out that she'd gotten off easy. By her estimate, Casey had taken her own parents for as much as $45,000.

Cindy went to see a counselor through a service provided at her place of employment. She later related the conversation to her mother. The counselor said she should not be supporting her adult daughter. “You should kick them out on the street.”

“What about Caylee?” Cindy asked. “I can't kick my granddaughter out on the street.”

“Then just kick out Casey.”

“Casey would try to take her.”

“Well, you need to file for custody.”

Cindy told her mother she was going to look into the possibility. She said that she wanted Casey to still be part of Caylee's life, but she thought that she—not Casey—should be making the decisions about what was best for Caylee's welfare. She planned to pursue custody, she told her mother.

She also shared her concerns about the problems on George's side of the family. His sister, Sonie, she claimed, was bi-polar, and the symptoms included compulsive behavior and overspending. She saw those same traits in Casey, she said, and it worried her.

She explained that all the drama and upheavals George and Casey brought to her life had had a negative impact on her own mental health. “I've even thought of doing away with myself, and probably would if it weren't for Caylee, you and Dad. The only thing that keeps me sane is my work—I love my job.”

Casey sent a text to Amy on the afternoon of May 3, 2008: “Any more details on that party?” Two hours later, she wrote, “Cross your fingers that my parents get back soon. God, I need this tonight.” After 8 that night, she sent another message to Amy: “I'm trying to get a hold of my mom to see when they're coming home. Sitting around sucks.” After 11
P.M.
, Casey begged off of the party and asked, “Downtown tomorrow? My mom owes me.”

She also madly exchanged instant messages with Anthony, Jesse's colleague who was a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff's Office. He started the conversation with a simple message: “??”

Casey wrote back: “I'm going to have to call you in a bit. If I don't finish this shit for work, I'm screwed. I've been up since 5.”

“Ok, well what are the chances of chillin' today at all?”

“Very good as long as I can get this stuff done, and sent to my boss.”

Anthony pressed for a time and added, “Get over here woman.” He then continued urging her to come to his place, no matter how late it was when she finished her work. Casey didn't show up. Anthony tried to get Casey's attention on May 4 and 5, but although she responded, her messages were short and desultory.

On May 5, Casey's excitement was apparent the moment Jesse answered the phone. “Guess where I'm going? Puerto Rico! Rico has family there that we're going to stay with. All we have to do is pay for the flight and some food and expenses while we're down there.” Later when she shared her good news with her mother, Cindy refused to take care of Caylee while Casey cavorted in the Caribbean—another drop in the boiling pot of anger that Casey had for her mother.

After talking to Rico that Monday, Casey went over to Christopher Stutz's home. Christopher was out with friends when Casey arrived, and she chatted with his parents for a couple of hours. When Christopher returned, he and Casey went out.

The next day, she was more responsive to Anthony's messages. “Bring your fine ass over here sometime today.”

Casey wrote, “When I can, I will,” and then complained about having to rely on other people; at the moment, she said, she was waiting on her nanny to get back from her sister's wedding in Tampa.

“Is she willing to get the offspring?”

“As of right now,” Casey affirmed.

Anthony griped about the indefinite nature of that response and then wrote, “I could def. see you moving into a g.f. role, but not if I don't see you. I know it's like beating a dead horse, but it's how I feel. My point in all of this . . . if it's going to work, whether I ‘have to make this all up to you,' or whatever, you're going to have to suck it up, and come see me every once in a while, you're a lot more mobile than I am a lot of the time . . .

“As for the sex thing, let's clear this up right now. When it's as good as it has been, I need it, I told you me and my routine, but it's not my main concern for seeing but once in three weeks is a tease, plus again, your pretty damn good in bed.”

Casey complained about Caylee wanting more lunch, and when she said she didn't know what to eat, Anthony offered to cook for her if she came over. Casey wrote, “Ha, want me to bring this little snot head? Didn't think so.” She said, “Spending the day with Caylee is ten times more exhausting than working a twelve-hour event.”

The afternoon wore on, while Anthony and Casey exchanged more messages. Throughout the hours, Casey provided running commentary on the nanny's current location—there always seemed to be one problem or another. Then Casey got serious. “I'm sad, I've been sad all day, shit, I've been sad for days . . . Too bad I can't move out tomorrow, would make some of this a lot easier.”

 

Casey told friends she'd meet up with them on the night of May 10, but didn't make it. The next morning, she got
a text message: “I thought you were coming out last night.”

“Yeah, so did I,” Casey complained. “Mommy duties.” Once again, Caylee was her excuse.

The next day—Mother's Day—Casey did not spend the day with her mother. Instead she took Caylee and went over to one-time boyfriend Christopher Stutz's home.

On Monday, Casey told Anthony that her vacation—from the job she didn't have—started on Thursday. She put off seeing him that day, but dangled the promise that she would be free for twelve of the fifteen days she was off work.

On Wednesday evening, Casey went downtown to Voyage Nightclub with Rico and Troy. Afterwards they all went back to Rico's place, but Casey stayed there only ten minutes. On her way home, she hit a construction barrier on Route 408, running over something in the dark and popping two tires.

At first she kept driving, getting off of the highway and into a residential area. She traveled a half-mile before tire chunks and sparks from the rim forced her to stop. She called Troy and Rico for help. They came to her rescue.

Casey tried and failed to put on her one spare tire while she waited for their arrival. The two guys finished that job and then tried to put Rico's spare on the Sunfire. When it wouldn't fit on the rim, Casey insisted they drive her home, since she needed to be there for Caylee in the morning.

The next day, she told her father about her abandoned, crippled car and asked what she should do. His first concern was making sure that she hadn't been hurt. She assured him she was okay. George then wanted to know why she'd been on that particular highway if she was working at Universal as she'd said she had been that night.

Casey avoided answering the question by asking, “Dad, what should I do?”

“Just have it towed home,” he said. “Let me take a look at it.”

Amy loaned Casey the $80 she needed for the tow. After looking the car over, George bought two new tires for the Pontiac.

It was mid-May and the house where Amy rented an apartment was sold, and she had to vacate, moving in with Troy Brown on a temporary basis. She was counting on Casey, who told her that her parents were helping her buy a home. By the time she took up her new living arrangements, Casey told her that the deal had fallen through—someone else had made an offer on the house.

“But great news!” Casey added. “My mom is getting a condo in Winter Park. My grandparents are moving there from Mount Dora, since there's a better facility in Winter Park for my granddad. And, my mom is signing her house over to me.

“I'll take over the mortgage payments and we can just move in there. It's great news, 'cause I don't actually have to move and Caylee can stay in the place she's always been—that's awesome.”

“Cool,” Amy said. It sure beat her current nomadic existence. She made plans to move into the Hopespring Drive home in mid-June, when, Casey told her, the paperwork would be completed.

Ryan—who'd moved to Jacksonville in January to attend school—called Casey in May, to share his excitement about finishing his final exams. Instead of congratulating him, Casey attempted to top him. “Well, I'm working in event planning at Universal now. I even have my own office.”

Ryan recognized her one-upmanship, but wondered when that competitive quality had slipped into their nearly life-long relationship. It seemed to have been happening for a while, but he couldn't remember when it had begun.

That Saturday night, Casey and Caylee spent the night
at Christopher Stutz's parents' house—his mom and dad were away for the weekend.

On Friday, May 23, Amy invited Casey out to a party, but Casey wrote, “I'm going to stay home,” then suggested they go out together the next night. “I've already cleared it with my madre.”

Amy didn't make it to the Friday night party, since Casey couldn't go—but Casey attended after all. In the wee hours, Casey sent another text to Amy: “The cops came around 1:15 and broke up the party.”

 

Tony Lazzaro was new to town. He scouted around Face-book looking for interesting people in the area. He found “a good-looking girl” named Casey Marie Anthony, who claimed to be a student at Valencia Community College. He sent a friend request and she accepted. Soon, he had her phone number and called her on May 23 to tell her about a “no clothes” party the next night at the Villages on Science Drive near the University of Central Florida campus, an event where you had to dress in things that weren't normally worn. She said she'd like to go, and got directions. Over dinner at Waterford Lakes Buffalo Wild Wings, Casey invited Troy and Amy to go with her. They agreed. Later that night, she texted Amy about the party: “You will officially see the American flag in all its glory tonight.”