There are a few statements in Cindy Anthony’s August 4th, 2008 interview with OCSO that I’d like to discuss. With us being almost 2 years into Caylee’s death, there are no real eureka moments left, but revisiting these statements in one place even though they have been discussed in various places at different times will further some good discussion, I’m sure. So with that, I’ll start with Cindy’s statements about Caylee’s backpack.
Beginning at the bottom of page 19 of the linked pdf Cindy begins to describe the contents of Caylee’s Dora the Explorer backpack which was in the Pontiac when the car was recovered from Johnson’s impound lot. It would be more accurate to state she begins to describe the lack of contents of the backpack. Cindy explains that when she retrieved the backpack from the backseat of Casey’s car the only things in it were…
…a couple of diapers in there, her toothbrush, a couple hair things. And then maybe some wipes and that was it.
Cindy’s statement here about the contents of the backpack remains fairly consistent all the way through her July 28th, 2009 deposition with the State Attorney. In that deposition, beginning at the bottom of page 154 of the linked pdf, Cindy states the contents of the backpack were…
…baby wipes…a few Pull-Ups in there, her toothbrush, a comb and maybe some hair bows or something in there.
So we have one of those rare moments in this case where the story actually remains the same for the time being.
Now the reason Cindy brought up the contents of the backpack in the August 4th interview with OCSO is not because she was specifically asked but because it struck her so odd. In fact, the question she had just been asked by Detective Edwards had to do with the contents of the bags retrieved from Tony’s apartment by Lee. He asked if those bags contained any clothing for Caylee. Cindy’s response was as follows:
A No nothing….
Q No diapers or anything like that?
A No the only thing that was left that was Caylee’s was what was in the car, her backpack and that’s what George had seen her with the 6, the morning of the 16th of June when he left. And he said Caysee had her backpack and her backpack was some of the stuff at Tony’s. And then um, Caylee’s backpack only had a couple of things in it. There was no clothes in there like there would be. There was couple of diapers in there, her toothbrush, a couple hair things. And then maybe some wipes and that was it. Which is unusual cause their backpacks are usually full…
A …to the brim and usually books, toys, clothes. Caysee from day one wherever she took Caylee, whoever was watching her she said there was always, there was always clothes and things for her there. And, and diapers and stuff even though Caysee did a pack a bag. Cause I used to unpack Caylee’s bags all the time and take stuff out. Take you know, left over food, you know cause she’d take a little baggies of you know pretzels or Cheerios or she’d have different juice things and stuff like that. And I would usually empty stuff out, clean the stuff up and put it away and then we’d repack it every day cause you don’t wanna leave anything in there that would like spoil.
Now, we’ve all read how the Anthonys (namely Cindy and George) paint their family life as idealic and tend to exaggerate just how good life was in that house. So if you’re like me you’ve become a bit jaded as to whether the alleged attention and care Caylee got on a daily basis actually was as supreme as they want us to believe. But the issue that makes whether Cindy is exaggerating or not less of a concern is when we take into account that the last day we know Caylee was cared for (June 15th) was by Cindy. To be clear, any doubts I have about the “daily routine” Cindy describes above land more on the side of how vigilant Casey was in that routine, not Cindy’s part. (I think as far as immediate comfort and care when Caylee was in her charge, Cindy was most likely an excellent grandmother. It was just the big, looming dangerous things she didn’t take heed of too well.)
So on June 15th Cindy and Caylee made the trip to Mt. Dora to visit Cindy’s father for Father’s day. We see in the video from that visit that Caylee had several things with her on that trip – a book, crayons, a color book, a cup, etc. It goes without saying that on a trip out of town for several hours, with a 2 year old who is still not fully potty-trained, a grandmother is going to take a bag of some sort to stash the diapers/pull-ups, cup, books, etc. So when Cindy states, in her July 2009 deposition that she’s relatively confident she did take the Dora the Explorer backpack with her on the visit, I have no reason to believe she wouldn’t have. This is what Cindy says about this in her deposition (starting on page 158 of the pdf):
Q Did you take this bag with you to your — to the home where your father was?
A I may have packed it the morning of the 15th, but not the night of the 15th. Because I probably did take her bag.
Q This one specifically?
A Yes. That one.
Q The Dora bag?
A With some of her books and then a change of clothes. Because I always took a change of clothes with Caylee. Excuse me. And probably a big –
Q Did you –
A — and a sippy cup and some snacks –
Q Okay. Did you –
A — and coloring book and some crayons.
When asked if she unpacked that bag that night, Cindy’s response was:
A Probably. It was pretty much routine to go through her bag and take out the food so it wouldn’t stay in there and remove her sippy cup –
Q Uh-huh.
A — and that kind of thing. But I would leave the diapers and the wipes, the normal stuff that we’d leave in there, the toothbrush, and the comb, and some hair things. Those are constant. We wouldn’t change those out.
Now, the importance here is two-fold. One, we can establish, based on the fact it makes sense, that the backpack being in the backseat of Casey’s car was not from it being left in there prior to June 15th. That means sometime after Cindy came back from Mt. Dora, and after she unpacked the backpack, it made it back into the car. One would assume that would be on the 16th when Casey and Caylee left the house. So the statement “Casey took the backpack with her and Caylee on the 16th” is most likely accurate.
But the other important point is that Casey took an empty backpack with her on the 16th. Basically, it appears Casey picked up the backpack as it was, didn’t care what was in it, and took it with her. She didn’t pack any clothes in it, she just grabbed it as Cindy had left it on the night of the 15th. There’s several things this could indicate: 1. She didn’t have any intention of being gone for a long period of time with Caylee when she left the house on the 16th; 2. Caylee was already dead when she left the house on the 16th; or 3. she took the backpack for show.
I’m not sure if Casey and Caylee ever left the house on the 16th. I do know that if George saw them leave that afternoon, I don’t think it went down the way he is recalling it, and I don’t believe it happened at the time he states. As JWG and others have speculated, I believe his memory of watching a particular show and it being a particular time is probably off by a week – God knows the whole family’s memory seems to be a mish-mash of events they just stick together like monkey-cake. But, when we take into account the ping data from Casey’s phone, if George did see them leave, I believe it was for show. Based on the ping data, and the computer activity, I don’t believe Casey went very far at all if she even left. If she did leave, she just did so to make her dad think she was. And if that’s the case, the backpack not having any change of clothes, or other necessities for an extended period of time away from the house makes sense.
So, based on the pings, we have two scenarios: 1. Casey left for show and returned as soon as her dad was gone, or 2. George is mixed up (possibly recalling the prior Monday) and she never left.
It should be noted that while George maintains that Casey and Caylee left that afternoon, Cindy states that George’s recollection of the last time he saw Caylee was in the morning and it was when “he left” not she or they. Now, this could be misspeak on Cindy’s part. Lord knows when you flap your lips that much it happens. But that is worth noting. When we take into account Casey’s cell pings never have her leaving the area of the Anthony home until well after George is at work – could it be that he left earlier in the day?
So two explanations come to mind about why this empty backpack made it to the car: 1. Caylee was already dead when she left the house, and therefore Casey just grabbed the backpack so as not to leave it behind and back her story that Caylee was at the babysitter, or 2. She left that house knowing Caylee wasn’t going to need anything.
I’m not much for applying evil genius to Casey. While I can’t declare her “dumb-as-a-stump”, I don’t think she’s anywhere near someone who thinks everything through…or even thinks past her nose. And I think that conclusion is supported with the way she has “winged” everything from June 16th on. She just seems to operate on “open mouth let lies flow” and then rework them on-the-fly when they don’t work out well for her. I’m saying all of this because, I’m having a hard time believing that Casey thought “I need to grab her backpack to make it look like she’s at the babysitter”. In fact, I would offer, that if Casey DID think that far ahead, then the backpack and the mama doll would have been stuffed in the trash bags with Caylee’s body. And if not, at least dumped in any number of dumpsters around Orlando as she roamed the streets in her death-mobile. I tend to believe that the backpack was grabbed because it was part of a routine – it was habit. Caylee, backpack, doll, purse, go.
That the backpack and mama doll were not discarded is indicative of Casey not being an all-considering, “evil genius” who attempted the perfect crime. In fact, leaving those items in her backseat was a major blunder. (But then again, so is driving around with a dead body in your trunk to the point it decomposes.) But the backpack and doll are also something else – they are a clear indication that Casey really didn’t seem to be thinking about Caylee past the 16th. And I mean – not thinking about her at all! Not even from a “how will I explain these items” kind of way. Casey literally never looked back!
Valhall.
Related posts:
- Today’s hearing: Casey asks for her Bloody Black Backpack Back
- Curious Questions about Casey’s Cash Flow
- Is Premeditation Pending?
- Tim Miller’s Interview with OCSO
- The Anthony Encycliepedia: George comes home
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