In this return to the duct tape issue we will center on the connections between the pieces of duct tape at the crime scene and the Anthony family and George’s very apparent attempts to “cut the tape that binds”. As reviewed previously, in Part 1 of this series, the microscopic differences detected between the 4 pieces of duct tape found with Caylee’s remains and the piece of duct tape on George Anthony’s old metal gas can are easily explained. With that fully discussed and assuming that because the Henkel specifications mandate that at one time this minor cotten-content discrepancy for the cloth did not exist, we move to looking at the evidence of connectivity for Henkel Fire Resistant duct tape with the Anthony family.
Of course, there is the piece on the gas can. The duct tape on the gas can was first photographed by OCSO on August 1st, 2008, during the execution of a search warrant in which they retrieved the two gas cans previously stolen by Casey. At that time those in law enforcement would not have, could not have, had an idea of the importance of the tape that was captured in their photograph. Caylee’s remains, along with the disturbing finding that 3 pieces of Henkel tape had been placed over her mouth (and in some accounts also her nose) and wrapped around her skull, would not be discovered for 4 more months. The search on August 1st to retrieve the two gas cans was centered on the fact they had been in the trunk of Casey’s car. Since there was evidence, at least on an olfactory level, that decomposition had taken place in that trunk, law enforcement were retrieving the items they suspected had been in close proximity to Caylee’s dead body.
(Photo taken by OCSO)
On December 11, 2008, the importance of the photograph taken on August 1st became evident. OCSO immediately requested a new search warrant and descended on the Anthony home again in hopes of retrieving items that would tie to the evidence they were concurrently collecting at the crime scene. (I should clarify that I call the dumping grounds of little Caylee’s body the “crime scene”, but I do not believe this is where she died. Casey’s trunk may actually be the more proper place to assign the label “crime scene”. But since we really don’t know where little Caylee died, I’ll stick with my current convention.) This time they took the red metal gas can again, but for a difference reason…it had matching Henkel Fire Resistant duct tape on it. (They also logged two brackets that were noted to have duct tape on them, but we have yet to have confirmation it was Henkel tape.) So, the gas can alone ties the damning Henkel duct tape at the crime scene to the Anthony home, and gives Casey the opportunity to have had access to it to be used in a macabre preparation of her dead daughter’s body – or possibly even as a means to murder.
This finding was well publicized by the time the State’s prosecutors conducted their deposition of George Anthony on August 5th, 2009. Let’s see how things went when the August 1st, 2008 photograph of the gas can was brought up during that deposition.
Beginning on page 159…
Q Let me show you the next photograph. Let me show you State’s Exhibit 3. Do you recognize what that’s a photograph of?
A It looks like a gas can.
Q Do you recognize it as being a gas can of yours?
A Yes.
Q …was that one of the gas cans that was involved in the incident on the 24th with Casey taking the gas cans? Was that one them?
A Yes. I mean, this is the gas can. It looks — – looks like the one that was taken on the — the one that I reported taken from my shed.
Q Now, that gas can appears to have a piece of duct tape on it. Do you recognize that?
A I didn’t put the duct tape on there.
Q Do you recognize it, though?
A I recognize this can, but I didn’t put that duct tape on there. I wouldn’t do a sloppy job like that.
Q Okay. Have you ever seen that piece of duct tape on that can before?
A Not this particular size, no. No, sir.
Q Have you seen that duct tape in a different size?
A I put duct tape on there one time myself because the plastic cap that was on there was broken off. But when I did it, it was very methodical when I put it on there because it was very neat.
Q All right.
A I didn’t do that right there.
Q You didn’t do that.
A No. I didn’t.
Q …So at some point you say you had put a piece of duct tape over the vent of the can; is that correct?
A Yes. I did. Yes.
Q …When would you have done that?
A I don’t know when I specifically did that, but I know that I did it. Because whenever I put the duct tape over that particular vent hole that you’ve described or you told me about, I did it very neatly. I would not have put something on there like this. That’s not my style.
Q Okay
A I would not have done that.
Q But you do recall that particular can having duct tape in that particular area; right?
A That would go over the vent; yes.
Q And do you recognize that duct tape that’s on that can?
A No. I mean, to me it’s just duct tape. I never looked at a particular brand or anything like that. No. I never have.
Okay, so far we have established that George wants us to know “he didn’t put that there”. After several pages of him repeating himself (almost to the point of sounding like Rainman), pointing out his anal retentiveness on duct tape application, and his almost phobic reaction to sloppy duct tape jobs, we’ve got that down pat. But my question at this point is…has ANYONE asked George up to this point about the brand of the duct tape? And since the answer is a resounding – No, they haven’t – why has George just focused in on the brand of the duct tape? And why is he answering a question “do you recognize” with “No. I never have”?
Q So you — are you indicating that you just don’t remember if that’s duct tape from your house?
A It could be from my house. It could not be from my house. I’m not really — I’m not really sure. All I know is I did not put that on this can. And a particular brand or something like that, I’m not sure what I had…
Okay, let’s move away from George’s inexplicable obsession with the brand of the tape and the neatness of application, and see what he has to say when asked about when the duct tape may have been stealthily applied by some slinky, intrusive sloppy-duct-tape-vandal.
Q This photograph was taken August 1st of 2008, according to our records. When you got this can from Casey on the 24th, did it have duct tape on it?
A Did not.
Q It did not.
A Did not.
Q Did it have duct tape on it the last time you saw it before she took it?
A As far as I can remember, yes.
Q So it had duct tape and then when she brought it back, it didn’t?
A Yes.
Q…Did you use that gas can between the 24th and the 1st?
A No. I did not. I went out and bought new cans.
Q Why did you do that?
A Because I needed to get gas for the lawnmower and stuff that I had and I didn’t have these in my possession.
Q Oh, so did you get gas on the 24th, you’re saying or bought gas cans on the 24th?
A I think a day or two after that. I went to — and purchased a couple new gas cans.
Q Okay. Casey brought the gas cans back on the 24th and you put them in the shed. Why did you go and buy new ones if those were in the shed?
A Because I had purchased them just prior to that. When they were gone — I didn’t — I did not see my shed was broken into until the 24th.
Q Right.
A I had purchased cans prior to that, two plastic cans I still have in my possession, Jeff.
George is visibly upset at this point. Aside from the fact he is either admitting some discrepancy in prior statements concerning when he found his gas cans were gone relative to the time he finally reported them missing, and then finally got them back from Casey, he’s resorted now to using the threatening tactic of first names.
Q Okay. But why did you buy them if you did not yet know that these were missing?
A Okay. I’m going to be very, very blunt with you. Don’t try to confuse me.
Too late…you beat him to it, George.
Moving to the bottom of page 168:
Q Okay. I’m just trying to understand if you get the cans back without the duct tape over the vent hole that you had previously had on them, why you wouldn’t have replaced it.
A Because I didn’t go get any gas in it. I would only replace that if I had went and gotten gas in it.
Q So between –
A The gas cans were — this gas can was empty when I got it back.
Okay, let’s stop here for the sake of our own sanity. The 12 lb breech baby is bearing down hard at this point. Later in the deposition George would go on to state that he is fairly religious about lawn work, doing it once every week, and that there is no one else who does the yard work but him. In a five week period, from June 24th to August 1st, George expects us to believe he didn’t once mow his grass. Now in reviewing, the lawnmower had less than 1/4 inch of gas in the tank on the 24th of June (per George’s statements in the deposition). The gas cans were gone on the 24th and we are safe to assume the grass needed cutting on the 24th or George wouldn’t have been bothering to try to mow it. George states Casey brought the gas cans back on the 24th empty (one particular statement we shouldn’t have any problem believing). So here sets George on the 24th of June with a yard needing to be mowed, an empty lawnmower and two empty gas cans.
From June 24th to August 1st 8.66 inches of rain fell in Orlando, Florida. As I’ve stated before, unless George was growing wheat in his backyard, HE MOWED THE DAMNED GRASS IN THAT FIVE WEEKS.
But let’s pretend he didn’t. Let’s pretend he just went native on us and let it grow. He still used the gas can before August 1st when it was taken by OCSO. Because Simon Burch, owner of the impound lot, specifically described George’s 20 year old metal gas can, that George had with him on July 15th, in his statement to OCSO on July 24th, 2008.
Starting on page 9:
SB …And I looked, he was sitting in the car and I looked in the car and the gas gauge was on empty. I said, “Oh, it’s out of gas.” And he said, “Okay.” He said, “Well I brought gas with me.” Okay. That’s kind of unusual.
GW So it seemed like he already knew it was out of gas?
SB That was what I thought too because it’s kind of unusual that you would carry gas around with you, but some people do.
SB …And then he got his gas can and we walked back to the car a second time. And it was a small, round, very battered gas can. An old, metal one.
GW Right.
SB All the paint was chipped off it. It was you know, kind of like my dad had for the lawnmower.
It appears the gas can took one trip in George’s vehicle, with gas in it, before August 1st. And according to George’s own statements, that means it had a piece of duct tape over the vent for that trip.
Of course, later in the deposition George would go so far as to intimate that OCSO had planted the duct tape on the gas can. He states the duct tape wasn’t on the gas can when OCSO took it in December, but was on the gas can when they brought it back. This in the face of the photographic evidence that the duct tape was already on the gas can on August 1…but that seems to be just a minor technicality for George.
The gas can isn’t the only place that Henkel duct tape is following George around like a 5 o’clock shadow. Kathi Belich located footage that shows Henkel duct tape holding up a poster of Caylee at one of the “command centers” in July 2008.
(As captured by WFTV footage)
Or the second piece of tape on a poster found by Websleuth member CBTampa (remember, Henkel Fire Resistant duct tape constituted 0.2% of the duct tape sold in the U.S. when it was made…and it hasn’t been made since 2007. We’re up to 7 pieces associated with Caylee and the Anthonys):
(From WESH footage)
So let’s see how George responds to this in his deposition.
Page 172:
Q When the police searched your house in December of 2011 [sic], there was no duct tape anywhere in your home. Do you recall running out at some point before that or –
A If you’re asking me if I purchased any more duct tape, I know I did different times through the months when we had our command centers. I did.
Q All right.
A Did I ever keep it back at the house? I don’t believe I did because the command center was my priority, to keep that going.
Several things are apparent in this review:
1. Henkel duct tape is tied to George Anthony and the Anthony home, which in turn means Casey Anthony had opportunity to use it in the management of Caylee’s dead body, if not as a means for murdering Caylee.
2. George Anthony knows that (1.) is true. And he is more than prepared, yet extremely unskilled to, lie in sworn depositions, and most likely on the stand, concerning the Henkel duct tape.
3. And when (2.) takes place during the trial – I’m going to have my DVR going…because I wouldn’t miss this train wreck for the world.
Valhall.
Related posts:
- Will Duct Tape be Casey’s Sticking Point – 95% ‘Shurity’
- Will Duct Tape be Casey’s Sticking Point? – Loose Ends
- Will Duct Tape be Casey’s Sticking Point? – A Possible Source – Update
- Will Duct Tape be Casey’s Sticking Point? – The Cloth
- Will Duct Tape be Casey’s Sticking Point? – The DNA
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