A significant portion of this entry into the Anthony Encycliepedia has already been presented in other articles here at The Hinky Meter. The importance of the gas can, of course, is that it had a piece of Henkel Fire Resistant duct tape over the vent hole. The same Henkel Fire Resistant duct tape which was found (4 pieces in total) with the remains of Caylee Anthony. Let’s see what transpires when the issue of the gas can and its accompanying duct tape are brought up to the Anthonys.
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.
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. 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…
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.
What does Cindy have to say about whether George mowed the lawn, or whether the gas cans were used during this time? In her August 4, 2008 interview with OCSO the investigators bring up the contents of the shed in which the gas can was located when they did the August 1st search. Cindy states:
Yeah but that stuff’s been moved. George has…George has mowed the grass. On different occasions. Lee mowed the grass since all of that. And he borrowed the gas cans and the lawn mower…in between all of that.
But let’s pretend George didn’t mow the yard ANY during this 5 week period. 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.
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.
Of course, this flies in the face of what Cindy states George told her in her state deposition on July 29, 2009, beginning on page 425:
Q All right. When is the last time you would have seen duct tape in your garage?
A Oh, man. It’s not something I would use every day. But I know George had used it on several occasions. I know he used a piece when we got the gas can back in July or August. I think it was August we got the gas can back and the cap that was on the gas can was missing, so he put a piece on the gas can to keep the vent from having it evaporate.
Q All right. Did you see him actually do that?
A No. He told me he had done that.
Q I’m going to show you 24. Is this the gas can that you’re referring to? [Handing]
A Yes.
Q You’re saying that Mr. Anthony told you that 2 he put this piece of duct tape on this gas can after he got it back from the sheriff’s office?
A Correct. Because we got it back once and then they took it again. They took it on December the 11th. But they had taken it early on and they had given it back to us in August.
Q All right. There is a time designation on there of August 1st of 2008. Do you see that?
A Uh-huh. Again, I don’t know who wrote it and when. I wasn’t present when they wrote it and they have made date mistakes in the past. So I see the date, but it doesn’t mean anything to me.
Q All right. Did you learn where the duct tape came from that he utilized to cover the — you said the vent on this gas can?
A It would have been what he would have had in the — either the shed or the garage.
Oh my….somebody’s lying!
Valhall.
Related posts:
- The Anthony Encycliepedia: George comes home
- The Anthony Encycliepedia: George and the smell
- The Anthony Encycliepedia: George talks about Imaginanny
- The Anthony Encycliepedia: Cindy lies to John Allen
- The Anthony Encycliepedia: Lee talks about Imaginanny
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