Torchde Team | December 8, 2022
The Casey Anthony documentary, Where The Truth Lies, is a three-part mini-series in which Anthony tells her side of the story surrounding the 2008 death of her 3-year-old daughter Caylee. The documentary is directed by Alexandra Dean. Dean is best known for producing the Netflix documentary Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Secrets of Playboy, and This Is Paris, which aired on YouTube.
Media Reaction to the Casey Anthony Docuseries
Casey Anthony, and the team behind the miniseries are facing a barrage of criticism since the show debuted on Peacock. Many media personalities, like Nancy Grace and Vinnie Politan are condemning the series. According to Politan, the idea that George Anthony was involved in Caylee’s disappearance is “laughable.” Nancy Grace told Fox News, “Now she [Casey Anthony] has a platform to spew another batch of lies.” Grace added that she was supposed to be interviewed for the documentary but declined.
Our Take On The Casey Anthony Documentary
Where the Truth Lies is obviously a pro-Casey Anthony documentary, but it didn’t feel one-sided. It wasn’t like Leaving Neverland where the audience is forced to listen to someone tell a story without hearing the other side. The show provides the damaging evidence against Casey and conducts interviews with the detectives who were prosecuting the case. Not only this, but the allegations that Casey made in the docuseries are the same ones she made in 2011.
The series highlights how prosecutors and detectives dropped the ball in multiple ways. They had a crime scene that led them straight back to the Anthony home. It’s understandable to target Casey, but everyone who was regularly in the home and had access to Anthony’s car should have been investigated. The defense team also highlights how prosecutors didn’t determine a cause of death.
We’re still not content with Casey’s answers and it felt like she was still holding back information. Sadly, this is one of those cases where no one can say what actually happened.
Episode One – Summary of the Case, Sexual Abuse, and No Answers
The show opens with Casey Anthony describing her current mental health status and how she is still mourning the loss of her daughter. Detectives John Allen and Eric Edwards are interviewed. They help summarize the oddities and inconsistencies in Casey’s story that resulted in her being convicted of “providing false information to police.” The episode cuts back to Casey – who isn’t giving any detailed answers about why she waited 31 days to report her daughter missing, or why she lied to officers. This made the first portion of the episode frustrating to watch and I almost turned it off.
Allegations of Sexual Assault and Abuse
Casey starts to open up more about her childhood and her experiences with sexual abuse. She claims her father would come into her room at night and sexually assault her from age 8 to 12. After she turned 12, her older brother would come into her room and molest her. The abuse ultimately stopped when she was around 15 years old.
When asked how she became pregnant with Caylee, Casey said she “was raped at 18.” She further explained: “When I was 18 I was at a house party and had a couple of beers and completely lost my memory because I was drugged,” she recalled, adding that she woke up with her jeans on the floor. “I was extremely disoriented and I could feel like I had forcible sex … I was scared, confused, and full of questions”
Toward the end of the episode, we finally get an answer. According to Casey, she didn’t report Caylee’s disappearance for 31 days because “she was doing as she was told” by her father.
Episode 2 – Where Starting To Get Somewhere Here
At the beginning of the episode, Casey describes what she witnessed before Caylee’s disappearance. She claims that her father woke her up frantically, asking her where Caylee was. After searching the house she found her dad with Caylee in his arms, lifeless. “He was standing there with her. She was soaking wet. He handed her to me. Said it was my fault. That I caused it. But he didn’t rush to call 911 and he wasn’t trying to resuscitate her. I collapsed with her in my arms. She was heavy, and she was cold,” Casey continued. “He takes her from me, and he immediately softens his tone and says, ‘It’s going to be OK.’ I wanted to believe him. He took her from me, and he went away.”
Why Did Casey Anthony Wait To Call The Police?
There’s no mention of Casey trying to call an ambulance or resuscitate her daughter either. Dr. Krop speculates that when Casey saw her daughter’s lifeless body, she mentally shut down and could not emotionally or physically deal with the situation. This is what could make her susceptible to what her father was allegedly telling her to do at that time.
So why didn’t Casey call the police when her daughter first went missing? Why didn’t she appear like a grieving mother in the 31 days? According to Casey, she wasn’t going through the patterns of grief at that time because Caylee wasn’t missing and she was told that her daughter was fine. She also claims she was instructed to act as normal as possible.
Casey Anthony Had No Signs of Psychopathy
Because Anthony has a history of compulsive lying and criminal activity, (signs of psychopathy or mental disorder), she was evaluated by forensic psychologist Harry Krop. Krop said that “there were no diagnosable psychiatric or personality disorders,” and he concluded that Casey Anthony is not a psychopath. Casey was also evaluated by Doctor Steven Gold, who came to the same conclusions. Krop also revealed that Anthony showed symptoms of PTSD.
The Prosecution’s Case Against Casey Anthony Was Problematic
The defense team details the issues with the prosecution’s case. Dorothy Clay Sims, the defense’s forensic expert, referred to the evidence found in Casey’s trunk as “junk science”, it was not credible. The Prosecutors made allegations that Casey Anthony used chloroform to kill her daughter but forensic tests on Caylee’s remains showed no signs of chloroform or drugs.
Next, they speculated that the duct tape that was found near Caylee’s nose and mouth could have caused suffocation. Caylee’s DNA was not found on the duct tape, and no evidence suggests that it was on her face at all before she died. Many speculate that the tape must have come off the bag. Overall, the laundry bag, the duct tape, and the blanket that were found at the scene matched the contents found at the Anthony family home. The main issue is that there wasn’t any evidence pinning Casey Anthony to the location where Caylee’s remains were found.
Episode 3 – Speculation, Father Under Suspicion
Casey’s defense team speculated that Caylee accidentally drowned in the pool, but Casey’s not buying it. She claimed that there was no way for Caylee to climb up and get into the pool. She and Patt McKenna believe that George molested Caylee, accidentally killed her, then placed her in the pool to cover up the sexual abuse.
Even though Casey’s take on what happened is merely speculation, it becomes clear in this episode that there were inconsistencies in George’s story. The jury foreman said that George’s testimony also impacted the final verdict. “He had a very selective memory for me, and that in itself was something I always kept in the back of my mind,” the foreman told Fox News. “There was a suspicion about him; that was a part of our conversation that we had.”
George quickly became the primary source for detectives and the star witness of the prosecution. Most of the information that officers collected came directly from him. When the interviewer brings this to the detective’s attention – the looks on their faces…it’s almost comical. It starts at the 00:23:30 mark. When asked why they didn’t investigate Casey’s father, the general paraphrased answer was “George is a nice guy.”
Patrick McKenna, the lead investigator on Casey’s defense, had this say: “When there’s a murder, everybody’s a suspect until you eliminate people. You don’t eliminate a guy because ‘he’s a good guy.'”