Cayie Anthony: The Murder Of Casey Anthony

The death of Caylee Anthony

June 2008, Caylee Anthony, a 3 year old girl goes missing, her disappearance is not brought to police attention for 4 weeks from her grandmother, Cynthia Anthony, last saw her. It is Cynthia Anthony who places the call to the police and informs them that her daughter Casey has told me her that Caylee’s nanny has kidnapped her and has been trying to find her on her own.
When Caylee’s mother, Casey, spoke to police she told them that she last saw her daughter on the 9th of June, 2008, when dropping her off with the nanny. Casey told the police that Caylee’s nanny was named Zanieda Fernandez-Gonzalez and provided an address. On searching the address the police found that the apartment had been vacant for a couple

An investigation was then open.
Evidence that was lifted and admitted in court were; human hair found in trunk of Casey Anthony’s car, detection of decomposition, a stained paper towel, insect activity and cyber-evidence.
The testimony lasted 33 days in court after which the dury found Casey Anthony not guilty on the charges of aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and first degree murder of Caylee Anthony. On four counts of false information in a criminal investigation and cheque forgery the dury found Casey Anthony guilty. She was also served with a defamation suit from Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez and a state suit for the costs of lying to law enforcement and the time spent looking for Caylee

The detection of decomposition;
One of the first things to spark the investigation of Casey Anthony’s car was the smell which was associated with a dead body. When the evidence was admitted to court, the prosecution had to call Dr Vass to the stand as he was the one to develop the odour analysis technique. Once Dr Vass had tested the air found in the trunk of the car he found 41 out of 424 compounds connected with decomposition.
The FBI also had a technician use a gas chromatography mass spectrometer to distinguish compounds from the air sample. 67% of the gases were found to be associated with decomposition. Along with these, abundant levels of chloroform were also found.

Errors
A notable marker found in decomposition is Undecane, which can be found in decomposing bodies for up to 16 years post burial, was not found in the air found in Casey’s trunk. The absence of Undecane and other compounds was not explained by Dr Vass.
Analysis experts could not prove if the chloroform was used on the body of Caylee Anthony or if it was in trunk from another unknown