The prosecution introduced several images to prove that Casey Anthony murdered her daughter, but defense attorneys countered with a different narrative. Read how the defense instilled doubt using the prosecutions’ own photos.
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The prosecution presented this photo of Casey and Caylee, with the toddler wearing a “Big Trouble Comes in Small Packages” T-shirt. The lettering was significant to the prosecution’s case, as remnants of the same lettering were found near Caylee’s remains, along with a pair of shorts. Casey’s mother, Cindy, testified for the defense that she had never seen that shirt before, and she frequently did the laundry in the house. She said the first time she had seen the shirt was when she was presented with this photograph during a deposition for the case in 2009. As for the shorts, the defense countered that they were a size 24 months (the toddler reportedly wore a size 3T) and claimed the shorts must have been placed there by someone who didn’t know Caylee very well.
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The prosecution entered this photo of two gas cans in the Anthony family shed that George Anthony reported stolen right around the same time Caylee disappeared. Prosecutors believed the cans were stolen by Casey (who apparently had stolen gas before) and used to hide Caylee’s remains. Defense lawyer Jose Baez said in his opening statement that George himself planted the evidence to implicate his daughter—having disposed of Caylee’s body himself after she allegedly drowned in the family pool.
Casey’s former boyfriend Anthony Lazzaro testified that he helped Casey break into her parents’ shed on June 23, 2008—about a week after Caylee reportedly disappeared—to steal the gas cans. Taking the stand a day after Lazzaro, George Anthony testified that he confronted Casey about the missing gas cans, and she handed the one pictured here back to him and said, “Here’s your f------ gas cans.” The gas cans are significant, prosecutors said, because they had the same type of duct tape that was found on Caylee’s skeletal remains. But George testified, “I’m probably the one who put that on,” saying there was no tape when Casey returned them and that he wanted to block the smell of gas from leaking out, as one of the vent caps was missing.
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This is the wooded area where Caylee Anthony’s skeletal remains were found in December 2008. While the prosecution said the remains were found less than a mile from the Anthony home, the defense countered that the amount of root growth and leaves around her skull indicated that she had only been there about two weeks. Casey was already in jail in connection to Caylee’s disappearance two weeks before the toddler’s remains were found.
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Jurors were shown this photo of Caylee Anthony’s skull, but Judge Belvin Perry instructed the media not to publish the graphic images. Caylee’s remains were found less than a mile from her family’s Florida home by a meter reader in December 2008, nearly five months after the girl went missing. When shown the photos of the girl’s skeletal remains, Casey got so sick that the judge called a recess for the day. Cindy and George, meanwhile, left the courtroom before the photos were shown.
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Casey Anthony’s ex-boyfriend Ricardo Morales told investigators that Casey had joked about giving Caylee “baby medicine putting her to sleep.” Morales’ MySpace page had this picture posted with the caption “Win Her Over With Chloroform,” but Morales testified he posted the photo as a joke. But Casey’s lawyers countered that Casey’s 84 chloroform searches could have been related to wanting to learn more about this photo, not trying to murder her daughter.
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Cindy Anthony testified her daughter’s car smelled like a “dead body.” The manager of a Florida impound lot said the car had a “very, very unique and distinctive smell” consistent with “human decomposition.” But the defense offered these photos showing that the car had been filled with trash. The smell, a forensic entomologist testified, came from thousands of trash-eating insects, many of which died in the car too.
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While prosecutors claimed the fatty acids found on paper towels in Casey Anthony’s car came from Caylee’s remains, the defense showed this PowerPoint presentation proving “the same compounds” could have come from milk substances that are found in Velveeta cheese and Oscar Mayer salami. Both items were found in the trash bag in Casey’s trunk.
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Prosecutors said this bag of trash found in Casey’s car had once contained Caylee’s remains, as biochemist Arpad Vass testified that the chemical compounds in the air suggested a dead body had been in the trunk. But Casey’s attorney Jose Baez challenged the evidence, saying the bag had been damaged when police had let it air out in a “dry room” for two days. An evidence technician said the bag smelled like normal trash before going into the dry room.
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