Open Thread Nancy Grace 12/16

sorry my clock was off

Filed under: caylee anthony

Wanna read something cool?

Cooler than the other side of the pillow.

I know that I’ve mentioned in posts and comments about the good we’ve all done with this website.  What started on a whim has really turned into quite a voice of awareness, not only for this particular case but for the missing in general.  Everyone on here has taken part in the growth and awareness this site has created.  There are sites all over the internet linking to here, quoting our posts, and quoting comments from you guys as we discuss this case.  I can’t even count how many times I’ve been surfing around the web for news unrelated to this case and ended up back on this site by accident from some link somewhere.  Thanks for the links cnn, foxnews, greta, nancy, etc…

We’ve had several of our bloggers travel across the country to aid in the search for Caylee.  I’ve connected numerous searchers that wanted to help, to searches that are looking for people to help, through emails, that all originated because people bumped into this site.  We’ve raised funds for organizations like Texas Eqquusearch.  We’ve brought attention to several cold cases whose loved ones bumped into this site and sent me an email.  I mentioned them in a blog here and there and linked to them (left side of blog) and then I get emails thanking me for all the people that have visited their site.  Again, if not for each of you taking part in these discussions this would not have happened.

I mentioned this in a comment thread yesterday and I’ll repeat it here.  Do you really think that a utility worker would have taken the time to stop and pick up a trash bag in the woods were he not aware of this case?  I doubt it.  It has been the demands made by so many that have kept the spotlight on this case, and spread the word.  Some of the first words out of the workers mouth when he called 911 to report he’d found a skull were “the Caylee Anthony area”.  He knew, of course he knew, and it’s all because of people like you.

I have been receiving emails from one of our members, and I won’t say who she is because I didn’t really ask her permission or let her know I was writing this.  Some of you may already know.  But, she’s been telling me about this project she has started.  It’s big HUGE, and she wanted me to know that it was the inspiration of this website, all of you, from which this project was born.

She has created a TV series Docu-drama that has already been picked up and will start airing early next year.  The title of the show is The Y-Files and it will provide a voice for unsolved cases and survivors of exploitation encountered by today’s children in Jamaica.  They are also working on an alert system similar to the Amber Alert here in the states that will instantly mobilize the entire community island-wide to assist in the search and safe recovery of every child.  They recently had a march in Kingston for international child abuse day, and her new tv series crew was there to cover it and do interviews for the show.  Here are some pictures she sent.

I read all the time in comments about your significant others saying things like “you spend too much time on that case on that website”.  Hell, my wife this one lady I know even told me I could no longer grill steaks during the Nancy Grace show because I always burn them.  But next time someone tells you something like that, tell them what all you’ve accomplished already by bringing awareness to this situation.  And then tell them they ain’t seen nothing yet.

We’re just getting started.

Filed under: caylee anthony

OCSO Lawyer: Skull Belongs To Girl

(RED HUBER, ORLANDO SENTINEL / December 16, 2008)   George Anthony takes out the garbage Tuesday morning.

An attorney for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department confirmed for the first time that the skull found near the Anthony home was that of a little girl.

 Sources said the skull had long light hair that was still intact because of the duct tape found on the skull.

Caylee Anthony was reported missing in July at the age of 2. Her mother, Casey Anthony, 22, is charged with her murder. Remains were found on Thursday in a wooded area one third of a mile from the Anthony home where Casey and Caylee Anthony had lived with the missing toddler’s grandparents.

 Earlier Tuesday, an emergency hearing was held to rule on three motions filed by Casey Anthony’s attorney, Jose Baez.

 Judge Stan Strickland denied all three motions.

 The motions asked the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to turn over photographs, video recordings and drawings taken at the crime scene where a child’s remains were found on Thursday. The location is very near the Anthony home. 

A second motion asked that the defense be allowed to conduct a second autopsy on the remains, and the final motion seeks to preserve forensic evidence and appoint a forensic expert for the court.

 ”I can’t assist you in interfering with a murder investigation,” Judge Stan Strickland said.

 Strickland said he would consider the second autopsy after the remains are positively identified.

 Baez expressed concern that Anthony will be unable to receive a fair trial. 

Meanwhile, investigators continued to work to identify the remains of the child found last week.  Sources said bones are still being found at the crime scene.

 Members of the FBI’s evidence response team and sheriff’s CSI technicians have sifted through mounds of debris that has been removed from the once densely wooded crime scene. 

“Once they spend quite a bit of time and don’t find anything then they will call it we’ll pack up and we’ll leave,” sheriff’s office spokesman Carlos Padilla said.

 For the first time, Caylee’s grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, said they believe the toddler has died.

 The FBI has taken DNA samples and fingerprints from George, Cindy and Lee Anthony. Family attorney Brad Conway said that’s to exclude them from investigation. 

Conway said the Anthonys continue to support their daughter. 

“Everybody wants to make sure that there are no mistakes made. Everybody wants to make sure that the person responsible for this crime is held responsible for it, and if that happens to be Casey (Anthony), a jury of her peers will have to make that decision,” Conway said.

 A memorial to Caylee continued to grow on Tuesday. What started as a single cross with flowers attached to it now includes flowers, Teddy bears, balloons and other stuffed animals.

 The Anthony’s neighbors said the number of onlookers in their neighborhood has grown exponentially since remains were discovered nearby.

WESH.com News   5:31 pm EST December 16, 2008

Filed under: Casey Anthony, caylee anthony , Casey Anthony, caylee anthony

What Do You Think About The Duct Tape?

Filed under: caylee anthony , Casey Anthony, caylee anthony

Open Thread For Emergency Motion Hearing

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) — Judge Stan Strickland of the 9th Judicial Circuit Court will hold an emergency motion hearing Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Orange County courthouse.

The hearing is in reference to motions filed by Casey Anthony’s defense attorney, Jose Baez on Tuesday December 15, 2008.

Judge Strickland will rule on the following: emergency motion to compel photographs, video recordings and schematic drawings taken at the crime scene, continuing request for second autopsy and all related materials, emergency motion to preserve forensic evidence and appoint forensic expert for the court.

FOX 35 will stream the emergency motion hearing LIVE on MyFoxOrlando.com

READ: Emergency motion to compel photographs, video recordings and schematic drawings taken at crime scene

READ: Continuing request for second autopsy and all related materials

READ: Emergency motion to preserve forensic evidence and appoint forensic expert for the court

FOX 35 NEWS  Tuesday, 16 Dec 2008, 12:20 PM EST

___________________________________________________________________

Also can be watched on Channel 13:

The hearings are scheduled to be heard in front of Judge Stan Strickland at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Watch the hearing LIVE on News 13.

Watch wftv.com on now: http://www.wftv.com/video/18289853/index.html?CFID=624966&CFTOKEN=43617457

UPDATE:

I don’t take issue with you for having filed your motions I just can’t help you with what you’ve asked for

- Judge Stan Strickland

Filed under: Casey Anthony, Jose Baez, caylee anthony , Casey Anthony, caylee anthony, Jose Baez

Casey Anthony’s Connection with Sawgrass Apartments?

There’s an interesting thread going on over at websleuths that DramaQueen copied and pasted in one of our threads.  Several of our users have requested this be a thread of it’s on for other input.

http://67.19.158.169/forums/showthread.php?p=3062986

Originally Posted by Meemom
Katie Sue R., an employee of Sawgrass Apartments, stalled and then flatly refused to give LE an interview regarding whether she knew of any friends Casey Anthony had at Sawgrass.
After refusing to give an interview, she advised Corp Eric Edwards that Vicky A. lived at Sawgrass complex and was “a good friend of Casey’s.”
See Doc 5, page 1

Katie S is/was good friend of Vicky A.
Katie S is possibly an employee of Sawgrass (looking for documentation of this- anyone have quick access?)

Vicky is 21 and has a 3 year old child

Listed as a Daycare Teacher

Went to Colonial High

Listed as going to Valencia

Friends with the Lake Vaj group

Myspace/facebook has friends all inter-connected:
Iassen
Melina
Jeff H
Dante
Matt C
sean D

Vicky has friends/relatives named…
RAQUEL
JASMIN
VICTOR
SAMANTHA

These last four names are the unique names KC used in her ZFG story. Coincidence?!

H/T Meemom, good work.

Filed under: Casey Anthony, caylee anthony , Casey Anthony, caylee anthony, sawgrass apartments

Additional items recovered at crime scene

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) — Monday morning, Orange County Sheriff’s spokesperson Carlos Padilla confirmed that additional items were recovered at the crime site where the remains of a child were found on Thursday.

He would not say whether those items were additional bones or clothing, noting that the sheriff’s office wanted to keep the integrity of the case at hand.

At least five FBI agents and a slew of investigators from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office continue to comb through a heavily wooded area less than one mile away from the home of missing toddler, Caylee Anthony. The Sheriff’s Office says they will expand the area as much as necessary and have removed several bushes and trees from the site.

There is still no confirmation on whether the bones found in the plastic bag are those of Caylee’s. Padilla said the FBI and the Sheriff’s Office are attempting to expedite those results as quickly as possible. They confirmed that the medical examiner’s office has stayed in close touch with the FBI lab in Virginia, but would not elaborate on what other items other than the remains are being examined.

“Truly the victim here, aside from the Anthony’s, is Caylee Marie Anthony,” Padilla said. “Assuming that that is her, we shouldn’t lose focus that we should do whatever we can for her memory,” he added.

Also on Monday, Tim Miller, the leader of Texas Equusearch, spoke with FOX 35’s Mike Dunston about the case. Tim Miller says he is angry with Casey Anthony. “When we walked into the Anthony’s house the first time, Casey could have taken me for a two minute walk and it would have been over,” he said.

He said investigators at the crime site got emotional after the find. “We hugged and wiped tears out of our eyes and said ‘My God, it’s finally over, it’s finally over.”

Investigators allowed Miller close to the area where the child’s remains were located, but they said he, as well as Casey Anthony’s defense team, were not given access to the actual site.

Filed under: caylee anthony , Casey Anthony, caylee anthony, FBI, Tim Miller

Crime Scene Investigators Return To Site

George Anthony is overcome with emotion as he sits inside his car today. (Red Huber, Orlando Sentinel)

For five days, federal and Orange County authorities have toiled in the woods where a child’s skull was discovered in a plastic bag.

Investigators hauled out boxes of brush and dirt. Crime-scene technicians on their hands and knees combed through debris. Others shook soil through sifters, searching for any tiny particle that might help determine whether the remains are of missing Caylee Marie Anthony.

Five long days — and yet the work has just begun.

Sheriff’s officials said Monday that the lot, a quarter-mile from the home of the child’s grandparents, could remain a crime scene for several more days as the evidence crews and various experts, including an anthropologist, an entomologist and a botanist, search methodically for more clues.

After that will come weeks of careful laboratory work designed to make sense of what investigators have found. Already, pieces of the remains have been sent to the FBI lab in Virginia. More will follow.

Forensic experts say the process of identifying a decomposed body — especially a child — is not easy, and finding out how that child died can be an even greater challenge. DNA typing, bone inspections, toxicology tests and trace-evidence analysis are just some of the work to be done in the coming days.

“It’s just like an archaeological excavation in some cases,” said Bill Schneck, founder of Microvision Northwest, a forensic-consulting company in Washington state.

Investigators want to confirm whether the bones belong to Caylee, who disappeared in June. Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony, 22, insists her daughter was kidnapped by a baby sitter, but a grand jury has charged her with killing her daughter, who was 2 when she disappeared.

For now, there is no solution to the puzzle, just many new pieces and players:

Medical examiner

Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia must make the final decision — who is the child in the woods off Suburban Drive and how did the youngster die? She’ll get assistance from a slew of scientific experts.

Typically, the medical examiner starts by separating evidence from the body, said Palm Beach County Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Bell, who is not associated with the case.

“If there’s clothing, clothing comes off. If there’s other stuff that’s on the body, that will get removed. Everything gets documented, photographed,” Bell said.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE:   http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-casey-anthony-121608,0,394601.story?page=2

Sarah Lundy | Sentinel Staff Writer 10:47 AM EST, December 16, 2008

Filed under: Casey Anthony, caylee anthony , Casey Anthony, caylee anthony

New Motions filed, hearing later today 12/16

ORLANDO – The case against Casey Anthony heads back into the courtroom Tuesday for a new emergency hearing.

The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon after Anthony’s defense team filed several new motions, calling for the prosecution to turn over photographs, video recordings and drawings taken at the scene where the remains of a small child were discovered Thursday.

The bone size and hair color of the remains match Casey’s daughter, Caylee, who has been missing since June.

Casey Anthony remains in jail, charged with her 3-year-old daughter’s murder.

The defense has also asked for a second autopsy on the skull found among the remains.

The hearings are scheduled to be heard in front of Judge Stan Strickland at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Watch the hearing LIVE on News 13. (source)

Filed under: Casey Anthony, caylee anthony , anthony hearing 12/16, Casey Anthony, caylee anthony