Cindy’s continued insistence that the horrific odor in the car was nothing but rotting pizza prompted WFTV news to carry out a little experiment of their own. The managing editor, Joel Davis, volunteered the use of his car. Reporters took the leftovers from a Domino’s MeatZZa pizza and put it in the trunk under the hot Florida sun. By their own admission, it wasn’t the most scientific study, but they hoped it would shed some light on Cindy’s story.
Joel said, “About every other day I’ve taken a look at it. The first day or two, you open the trunk and you have the smell of pizza. But after that, nothing. No smell whatsoever.”
A reporter confirmed Joel’s observations. “After seven days in the trunk, we decided to see what the pizza was like. Basically, all the moisture is gone. It’s got the consistency of shoe leather and you got to get really close to smell anything, and the only smell you can smell is pizza.” He added, “Our experiment doesn’t support the smelly pizza theory.”
The Anthonys advertised on MySpace for two unpaid personal assistants—one to help George, the other for Lee, who were coordinating the search for Caylee:
Need help handling flood of people offering help, donations and tips. Applicants need to be available 24/7 and have a personal cell phone, reliable transportation, a valid driver’s license and an ability to work on his own.
The quiet of the neighborhood around the Anthony home was now a distant memory. One neighbor even filed a complaint with the police—he was angry that a TV truck had scorched his grass.
In the early afternoon of August 6, Detective Yuri Melich, Sergeant John Allen and two crime-scene investigators arrived at 4937 Hopespring Drive with a new search warrant. In Casey’s bedroom, they asked Cindy about the clothing Casey had been wearing when Caylee disappeared. She pointed to a pair of charcoal gray pants, but said, “I washed them because they smelled like the car.” She said the black boots and black shoes that Casey would have been wearing then had been in the car, which was still in the forensic garage.
The crime-scene techs covered the windows in Casey’s room with black paper, and turned on the portable alternate light source to illuminate any suspicious stains. They confiscated the aforementioned pants, along with two pair of blue jeans, three skirts and five shirts.
After two-and-a-half hours, they were gone. But they were back again the next day. Cindy had gathered together a collection of items she claimed were connected to babysitter Zenaida Gonzalez. When the crime techs arrived, it was all laid out on the living room coffee table. They took a hair straightener, a soccer ball and a football, a pink “ready bed,” and DVDs of Bambi, Bambi II, Blades of Glory and a two-disc set of Transporter.
On August 8, George blew up at the media gathered around his home: “I’m not talking to anybody. Stay off my property! Stay away from me. Stay away from me right now!”
Still the questions peppered him, and he lashed out again: “You have no idea what we’re going through. You don’t give a—You don’t care about me. You don’t care about her,” he said pointing to his wife. “You don’t care about my granddaughter. You don’t care about any of us. Shut up, I’m talking! I am talking! I’m trying to find my granddaughter. You guys don’t care about that. All you care about is the sensationalism.”
Cindy turned to the media and said, “He’s been angry every day. You just haven’t seen it, okay? You hear something that finally comes to a head, you know, stuff that festers, okay? Anger has been there since day one. He’s been . . .”
“At who, though?” a reporter shouted.
“Anger at the situation. Anger at the fact that Caylee is not home. Anger at a lot of things. Angry that, you know, we are helpless.”
George shouted again, “Leave me alone! Leave me alone!”
“Why is he upset?” a reporter asked Cindy.
“This is why he’s upset,” she said, panning her arm across the media crowd. “Back off, okay? Please, before I lose my husband. Right now!”
George sped off in his car and Cindy turned to the reporters. “You guys see the tough George, the tough Cindy, the tough Lee in front of all you guys. We’re not like that all the time, okay? We’re falling apart.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office dive team worked in a pond near the Anthony home. Deputy Carlos Padilla said that fortuitously, the training exercise had been planned there before Caylee was reported missing. They found no evidence connected to Caylee’s disappearance.
Lee went to the jail visitation site to talk with his sister that day. Casey, however, refused to see him. At a vigil that night, candles were lit; the crowd joined hands and sang “Happy Birthday” to Caylee. Balloons soared from hands into the sky, and tears glistened on every face. George apologized for his outburst that morning and asked everyone to remember the family in their prayers.
Sorrow descended with the sharpness of a scythe on August 9—the day Caylee should have been celebrating her third birthday.
On August 10, Rick Cuza sent an email addressed to his sister Cindy, nephew Lee and brother-in-law George:
This is the hardest letter that I ever had to write. My heart is breaking with the passing of Caylee’s birthday and she is not home with you guys. You have to be going through hell. I love you guys and my heart is saddened with all that has transpired. I know you guys are right in the middle of it and it has to be a nightmare that is never ending. I have been watching this since it has happened and can see it in its entire perspective. I have a pretty good idea of what really happened. Please don’t get angry with me, but listen to what I have to say with an open mind . . . You guys are so close to it, you may not be able to see it the way I see it.
Here goes. You mentioned that the steps of the pool were back after you took them down on the fifteenth of June. The neighbors said that they heard someone in the pool on the afternoon of the sixteenth of June. The cell phone Records point out that Casey made a bunch of calls to you and George that you guys did not answer on the sixteenth of June. I think Caylee drowned in the pool and Casey was trying to call you guys. Since she couldn’t reach you, she panicked and put Caylee’s body in the backyard to hide her.
Then on the eighteenth of June, she returned to either bury her . . . or move the body . . . She put Caylee’s body in the trunk and drove away. That is why the dogs hit on your backyard and the car, Cindy . . . She made up the baby sitter a long time ago to cover up for when she said she was going to work. She figured since you “bought in” to that lie a long time ago, she could use the sitter as an alibi. Not one person has ever seen this sitter. Not one, Cindy. Is this making sense yet?
Casey knows she has to lie to cover everything up. The longer it goes, it will be harder to prove that the cause of death was accidental drowning as the body decomposes. Casey will be charged with murder instead of it being an accident. You must run this scenario past Casey before it is too late. I know you want to believe otherwise, Cindy, but it just don’t add up. This is your last chance to get through to Casey. That forensic evidence is due in at anytime now. God bless all of you.
Cindy replied:
Where did you hear that the neighbors heard someone in the pool on the 16th? I have not heard this. The only flaw with that theory is Casey would not cover up an accident and go to prison for it. Sorry. George and I have run through the scenarios. There’s a lot you guys don’t know and we cannot say. I can assure you I am not mad at you but the facts cannot be released for many reasons. . . . It’s tough but we’re confident we will have Caylee back with us.
Rick wrote back, explaining the swimming pool story:
Cindy, Greta [Greta Van Susteren, Fox News] ran the time line on Friday. No one knows the “ghost sitter.” This is a person that Casey made up to fool you about her having a job for two years. She pretended to go to work and said she used this fake sitter to scam you. Can’t you see this? There is no sitter.
. . . Nothing Casey has said is true. I know you want to believe her, but from the pregnancy on, she has lied. I would even bet that the boy that died in the car accident is not the father. 100% guarantee it.
. . . I am sorry, Cindy, but if you are pinning your hopes on Casey telling you anything true, you have a big letdown coming . . . She stole from mom and dad, stole THOUSANDS from you and George and stole from her friends. I know she wouldn’t purposely hurt Caylee, but she thinks that if they can’t find Caylee’s body, she won’t go to prison. She can and will go just on what they have now . . . Those dogs are highly trained and are not fooled.
. . . I know what is coming next and I hope I am wrong. The forensic evidence will tell the story. Then it will be too late to change her story because no one will believe her. God bless you guys. I am sorry if my candid comments upset you in any way but I had to say what I feel in my heart is true. I hope I am wrong for Caylee’s sake but I think she is in Heaven now. My thoughts and prayers are with you guys every day.
In her response, Cindy told Rick that he got the story on Greta wrong, cadaver dogs were unreliable and Brian Burner, the neighbor with the shovel, kept changing his story. Again, she came to her daughter’s defense:
Lying does not make someone a murderer. I am not in denial.
. . . The Sheriff’s Office thought Casey would crack being in jail this long. She hasn’t because she is protecting Caylee. We have a lot of people working to prove Casey’s innocence. We cannot come out with evidence until Caylee is safe. You need to keep an open mind. If you don’t you are just as bad as the media. Why don’t you spend your energy helping us find Caylee. What have you done to put the word out?
. . . I could go on all night, but I refuse to waste my energy justifying any of this to anyone, especially to my own family. I am not mad. I am disappointed. It’s bad enough you have little faith in Casey, but George, Lee and I are busting our asses out here every day to find Caylee. I do not see any support for her from my own family. We get more support from complete strangers. Thank God for all of them.
Frustrated with Cindy’s stubborn defense of Casey’s lies, Rick gave rein to his anger:
I have seen enough of Casey’s actions after the fact to know she is full of crap! . . . You can believe her all you want, but I don’t buy it for one second. She lied to you in front of me about being pregnant. She was seven months! It was so obvious, it was ridiculous.
Her own friends said she is a liar and a good, decent person does not steal from their parents and grandparents. If it was you that was in trouble, I would believe YOU. I do not believe anything that Casey says . . . Casey is the only person that really knows where Caylee is and what really happened to her. She is playing you, George and Lee like a bass fiddle and has for years. You need to wake up.
Rick challenged Cindy to prove the sitter existed and question why anyone would not step forward to claim the reward if Caylee was still alive:
This is a made up story by Casey to get the police to take the heat off of her. You have enabled Casey to lie and steal for years. As long as you support her, you won’t find out what happened to Caylee.
The “word” is already out. The “word” is Casey is a pathological liar and only she knows what happened to Caylee. No parent would be at a night club every Friday after their daughter is kidnapped . . . She has no remorse or doesn’t care about anyone except herself.
Get real, Cindy. This is hard for me but you have to face the facts here. You are so far out in left field on this you have lost touch with reality. There is nothing that anyone can do here or anywhere without Casey coming clean and telling the truth for once in her life . . . I know you want to believe that Caylee is still out there alive, but . . . the reality should have set in after Caylee wasn’t home for her third birthday. I would want to choke the life out of Casey.
You have my deepest sympathy. I truly am sorry for you guys and want this to have a happy ending. I am praying for you all.
Cindy was angry now:
This is why I am no longer going to reply to you again. You did not read a word I wrote. I cannot tell you everything that is going on. I am getting real. I know who is in my corner and it is not my family. We do not want or need your sympathy, or even pity. Please do not reach out to me again. Use your contacts to get Caylee’s face out there because she is alive. I believe that, as I believe there is a God. You need more faith. Please do not destroy our relationship. I forgive your ignorance at this point.
Rick was now enraged. He responded in all caps:
. . . YOUR IGNORANCE IS INTOLERABLE. I AM YOUR BROTHER AND I DEMAND TO KNOW IF ANYONE OTHER THAN CASEY HAS SEEN THIS STUPID SITTER. IF YOU CAN’T ANSWER THAT SIMPLE REQUEST, THEN YOU ARE ALL BY YOURSELF ON THIS. YOU NEED TO GET SOME PSYCHIATRIC HELP!
For five hours, Rick cooled down while waiting for an email from Cindy. When it didn’t come, he wrote to his sister again:
No babysitter. No kidnapping. Case closed. Mom never heard Caylee on her phone. It was a wrong number. Don’t bother Mom and Dad anymore. Bother Casey. Put the blame where it goes. It makes me sick to see you guys going through this because of Casey. I won’t bother you anymore. You couldn’t give me an answer if anyone other than Casey could verify a babysitter. Your silence is very loud and clear. There is nothing I can do for you if you can’t see reality. All the faith in the universe won’t bring Caylee back. It will take a long time for you to “heal” if you ever can. I know you are grieving, so I will let you have your peace.
All I wanted was a STRAIGHT answer which no one seems to be able to give. I have heard all the BS I can take. I would believe in the tooth fairy or ET or Santa before I trusted and believed in Casey. After I heard what she did to Mom and Dad and you guys, I wouldn’t donate a nickel to bond her out if I won the lotto.
That is the disdain that I have for her . . . I know you hate me right now but that is the risk I have to take to get you back to reality. You can hate me, but some day, you will see I was trying to help you.