Zanny the Nanny by Writer Keith

Journalist on Call

Zanny the Nanny © Journalist of Record – Keith Long

Casey Anthony and daughter, Caylee at two years old.

George Anthony was the prosecution’s chief witness against his daughter, Casey. 1

Narrative Nonfiction + Character Narration publisher’s note – This story’s reporter found the name “Zanny” mentioned more than any other person during the investigation by law enforcement into the disappearance and homicide of two-year-old Caylee Anthony. Zanny was falsely accused of involvement in the child’s death. Caylee’s family also falsely claimed Zanny was their caregiver for two years before Caylee’s death. What the family didn’t say, it turns out, was more important. Zanny played a key part in the family’s elaborate hoax to hide their crimes. According to the Anthony family, Zanny went everywhere Casey went. Zanny must have known everything Casey knew. She must have heard everything Casey heard. Most importantly, Casey must have told Zanny everything about how her daughter was killed. Casey’s parents, Cindy and George swore under oath to investigators that Caylee went “missing” from their home for 30 days. Law enforcement relied on them to help in the search for their “missing” child, two-yearold Caylee. The country followed media reports hoping they could hear an answer to the question constantly

heard in the media, in public conversations, and by law enforcement – where is Caylee Anthony? Nothing the family told law enforcement about Zanny was true. For that reason, the author brings Zanny back into the story to be his narrator. Zanny returns as a virtual member of the Anthony family on Hopespring Drive in Orlando. This time Zanny confronts the killer. Zanny as the narrator cleans up the false record so that she is no longer a name the killer can use as an alibi to hide behind. Zanny reveals what happened to Caylee and how. This clarity allows readers to sweep away the web of lies family members spun to law enforcement, the media, and the public. Original reporting by Keith Long is the story’s foundation. He is the journalist of record. Keith hands off his files and evidence to Zanny for her narration. The author’s unique literary model starts as narrative nonfiction, so conversations occurring around the evidence but not recorded or documented are included. Similarly, Zanny-as-narrator permits the first-ever intimate reveal of the Orlando family’s motives for creating the greatest hoax in American criminal history. One of these three, George, Cindy or Casey was 3

responsible for Caylee’s homicide. The other two gave false information to law enforcement which helped her killer hide the crime. Zanny the nanny surprises the Anthony family and rips open their hoax. Zanny the nanny gives readers their only look at answers to questions first asked a decade ago when the jury acquitted Casey Anthony and released her from jail.

The Most Hated Woman in America Introduction

I guess I know what attracted me to the televised trial of the most hated woman in America in 2011. 1 Every time I turned on the television or checked my Twitter feed, there she was in front of me, her face was everywhere. Six hundred media outlets had credentials

from an Orlando criminal court to cover her trial.

The

Ninth Judicial Circuit’s chief judge, Belvin Perry, presided. The Miami Herald and Washington Post livestreamed courtroom videos in an all-out effort to grab market share away from HLN’s gavel-to-gavel cable TV coverage. 3 From the multiple apps available, I chose to follow the trial on HLN, narrated by Nancy Grace. When the time came for the jury’s verdict, Nancy’s audience had the most viewers watching the jury’s decision {5.2 million}. Fox attracted 3 million, CNN had 2.3 million, and MSNBC registered nearly 1 million. Twitter had millions more following the nation’s first collective watch party on social media. 4

1 Luis Perez, Jury Finally Swore in for Casey Anthony Trial, Tampabay Times {May 20,2011}, http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/jury-finally-sworn-infor-casey-anthony-trial/1170870 T.L. Stanley, A Trial Too Juicy to Resist, Los Angeles Times {July 6, 2011}, http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/06/entertainment/la-etcasey-anthony-trial-20110706 3

4 Brian Stelter, Casey Anthony Verdict Brings HLN Ratings, New York Times {July 6, 2011}, https://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/casey-anthonyverdict-brings-hln-record-ratings/?_r=0

The Anthony family’s bizarre relationships were revealed during the trial. Shocked viewers, including me, returned to watch day after day. The defendant’s demeanor was called up from photographs entered as evidence by the prosecution that showed Casey Anthony partying at Orlando nightclubs just days after witnessing her two-year-old child’s death. We learned she never reported to anyone that Caylee was killed. She didn’t seem to feel sorry or grieve. As more and more details surfaced, her story went viral. Thirty days passed after Casey carried her child’s dead body into her bedroom. Finally, Caylee’s grandmother, Cindy, called the police to report she just realized Caylee was “missing.” 5 I was among millions watching television news coverage as searchers from around the country walked through flooded fields and turned over rocks looking for the two-year-old, Caylee. All that time Casey Anthony repeatedly insisted Caylee was alive. She swore to law enforcement that her daughter was kidnapped by a mysterious woman she said was Caylee’s nanny. I CNN Library, Casey Anthony Trial Fast Facts {June 29, 2016}, http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/us/casey-anthony-trial-fast-facts/ 5

parked myself in front of the TV the day news broke that Caylee’s body was found just a block from Casey’s home. But by then, five months had passed. Jeff Ashton,

Casey 5 days after Caylee’s death

the Orange County assistant prosecutor, seemed to understate the obvious when he said simply, “If a mother doesn’t report the death of her child, she must be guilty.” 6

Jeffrey Ashton, Imperfect Justice, {2012} p 64.

After Casey’s arrest, the twenty-two-year-old single mom continued lying about where she worked, when her daughter disappeared, and what she knew about it. My reporting discovered there was a witness’s statement in police files that Casey smelled the odor of a dead body coming from the trunk of the car she was driving during that time Caylee was “missing.” In April 2011 her trial started. The courtroom was by then a rival to nearby Disney World as a tourist destination. The courtroom’s 50 public balcony seats became the hottest tickets in town.

Social media

grabbed the country’s attention as news from the courtroom accumulated clicks and eyeballs to quickly become known as the social media trial of the century, according to Time magazine’s cover. Everyone seemed to have a favorite social media platform to watch the live trial feed on the internet. After seven weeks, on July 5, the last witness testified, and our collective anticipation braced for what everyone

Ann O’Neill, Casey Anthony’s Trial is One Hot Ticket, CNN {June 12, 2011}, http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/06/12/florida.anthony.trial.crowd/ 7

thought was certain to be a guilty verdict from her jury. Visitors in the courthouse physically fought each other for the last seats on the final day of the trial. There were fights to see who would be there when the jury declared “justice for Caylee”

with a conviction for the child’s

mother, Casey.

Time magazine cover story

There were occasional comparisons by some reporters in their commentary to another “trial of the century,” the OJ trial, as the only comparable criminal

John Cloud, Casey Anthony, Social Media Trial of the Century, Time Magazine {June 16, 2011}, http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2077969,00.html 8

trial in memory to generate as much public interest.

Fair to say, it seemed apparent that not one of the millions of trial watchers gave any thought to the likelihood of a “not guilty” outcome for the defendant who Nancy Grace called disparagingly, “Tot Mom.”

All the conversations I heard during the trial speculated that a guilty outcome was certain. Pam Bondi, Florida’s attorney general spoke for most of the country when she said, “There’s nobody else in the world who could have done this, except Casey Anthony.” The court of public opinion seemed to be holding its collective breath in anticipation of a slam dunk guilty decision, followed by an all but certain death penalty for the “Most Hated Woman in America.” The moment after her verdict was announced, Kim Kardashian squeezed 140 characters into her

Eric Deggens, Comparisons Casey Anthony & OJ Simpson Don’t Hold Up, Tampabay Times, {May 9, 2011} http://www.tampabay.com/features/media/comparisons-between-thecasey-anthony-trial-and-oj-simpsons-dont-hold-up/1168695 9

John Cloud, Id http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2077969,00.html 10

Twitter account and spoke for everyone. “What!!!???!!!! Casey Anthony is not guilty!!!! I am speechless!!!”

News of the jury’s inexplicable decision to acquit Casey Anthony of three felonies was the greatest shock to our collective social experience up to that time. The nation’s attention was transfixed on Twitter feeds, Facebook posts, and cellphone texts spreading news about the verdict instantly.

The media post-mortems

found voice in public statements issued by the trial judge and prosecutor. Judge Belvin Perry said, “I was surprised, shocked, and in disbelief reading the verdict. There was sufficient evidence to sustain a verdict of murder in the first degree for this case.” Jeff Ashton, the deflated assistant prosecutor faced TV cameras with his team and said, “The acquittal was the work of a jury that didn’t believe Casey deserved any punishment. But they

Christie D’Zurilla, Casey Anthony Trial…Flurry of Kim Kardashian Tweets, Los Angeles Times {July 5, 2011}, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/07/casey-anthony-trialnot-guilty-kim-kardashian.html 11

12 Doug Gross, Social Networks Rage Over Anthony Verdict, CNN {July 5, 2011}, http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/07/05/casey.anthony.web.reacti on/

gave a lot of thought and discussion about what movies they wanted to see.”

My investigative journalist’s antennae went up on the first day of trial. Now with everything over, I was ready to move on to other important stories that fuel the interest of journalists like me. I did have lingering questions about the trial: “OK, who did the jury think killed Caylee?” I watched an interview with the jury foreman who told a national television audience that the jury had considerable discussions surrounding that very question: If the jury didn’t think it was Casey, who murdered Caylee? I found it interesting that the alternative person of interest who raised serious suspicions for the jury was George, Casey’s “bad actor” father.

Michael Inbar, Ignore Casey Anthony Urges Former Prosecutor, Today Show, {Nov. 15, 2011}, http://www.today.com/id/45303921/ns/today-today_books/t/ignorecasey-anthony-urges-her-former-prosecutor/ 13

14 Camille Mann, CA Jury Foreman Says Doubt in Dad’s Testimony Swayed Verdict, CBS News {July 12, 2011}, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/casey-anthony-jury-foreman-saysdoubt-in-dad-georges-testimony-swayed-verdict/

The grandparents, Cindy and George were already on trial watchers’ radar. For one thing, some found it more than a little odd that George seemed anxious to testify for the state as its chief witness against his daughter, and his comments were framed in a way that anticipated her conviction. George seemed like he was counting the days until a death sentence for his daughter was made official. He said as much outside of the courtroom. The child’s grandmother, Cindy Anthony, was also a prosecution witness, and in the opinion of many, she committed perjury more than once on the stand.

The two grandparents sat together, holding hands during the trial as a team. It caught the attention of some in the media that both seemed willing contributors to a death sentence for their twenty-something daughter. I thought, wow, there must be huge amounts of bad blood baggage in the family to justify advancing the state’s decision to execute their daughter. The question Nicole Brochu, Should Casey Anthony’s Mother be Charged With Perjury?, Sun Sentinel Editorial Board {July 13, 2011}, http://articles.sunsentinel.com/2011-07-13/news/sfl-should-casey-anthonys-mother-becharged-with-perjury-20110713_1_cindy-anthony-roy-kronk-caseyanthony 15

remains to this day, ten years after Casey’s acquittal, who killed Caylee Anthony? At some point, I could not stop myself, this is like, what I do. Shortly after the trial, I committed to do a deep dive into the court record digitally recorded in Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit courthouse in Orlando. I tried to summarize my investigation in a few words, but my search of the court’s source files stopped me cold. I found prosecutors did have evidence pointing to Casey’s father, George. I found more evidence implicating him than the hated single mom charged with murdering two-year-old Casey. 16

The record disclosed overwhelming unreported

evidence that George’s wife, Cindy, misled investigators and was harboring criminal secrets about what went on in the Anthony home behind closed doors.

As I read through the complete trial record, what I uncovered blew my mind. No one following the trial on Alex Alvarez, Jury Foreman Breaks Silence over Jury’s suspicion of Casey Anthony’s Father, Mediaite {July 12, 2011}, http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jury-foreman-breaks-his-silence-overjurys-suspicions-of-casey-anthonys-father/ 16

17 Anthony Colarossi, Excerpts from Ashton’s Book Offer Unique Perspective, Orlando Sentinel {Nov. 15, 2011}, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-jeff-ashtoncasey-anthony-book-quotes-20111114-story.html

television or in the print press would have expected what was unreported from wading through copies of court records of witness interviews, depositions, and experts’ statements. Prosecutors interviewed family friends who said they heard whispers that Casey was sexually abused by George, beginning when she was eight years old. Prosecutors found serious questions within the family over doubts about Caylee’s paternity, and suspicions were raised by a principal witness against George as possibly Caylee’s father.

Perhaps my training from the investigative side of journalism, as opposed to the opinion side, left me openminded, if unsatisfied by the jury’s unanimous decision to free the most hated woman in America. An open mind is a burden. My principles of reporting are simple: never overlook the obvious, report both sides, and listen for what isn’t said. Now, I was committed to an exhaustive search through every court record from the case. I saw prosecutors accumulating

18 David Lohr, CA Thought Father, George, Was Caylee’s Father, Says Lawyer, Jose Baez, Huffington Post {July 5, 2012}, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/casey-anthonyincest_n_1652420.html

then dismissing witness statements pointing toward their case-in-chief’s lead witness {George} as Caylee’s killer. Prosecutors knew for certain George was having an affair with a woman who told them under oath he confessed involvement in Caylee’s death and the

Casey and her father, George months before pregnancy

coverup. He told her he was there when it happened. Six months after Caylee’s death, a passerby discovered Caylee’s body barely a block from the Anthony’s home. A short time later, George attempted suicide, hours 16

before Caylee’s DNA and paternity results were to be revealed by the medical examiner. The

media

dismissed

any

possibility

that

someone other than “Tot Mom” was Caylee’s killer. I talked to other journalists following the trial and found several who were as uncomfortable with the runaway media narrative as I was. One of the top journalists I talked to was Barry Sussman. He left the Washington Post after supervising Woodward and Bernstein in the Watergate series. He was leading Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism. Barry said to me he thought coverage of the trial had degenerated into a media circus. He invited me to write a comprehensive article for him at Harvard as the only journalist under his supervision reporting the trial for Harvard’s Nieman’s Foundation for Journalism. I had a role not unlike he gave to Woodward and Bernstein when they were engaged as exclusive reporters on Watergate for the Washington Post, and the Post’s iconic editor, Ben Bradlee. Barry’s confidence in my reporting had

rewards. My article got the most reader response in Harvard’s Nieman Foundation history.

I found Howie Kurtz, who was then at CNN’s Reliable Sources. Kurtz gave me an assessment of his coverage this way: “I refused to join the media frenzy after two-year-old Caylee was killed. The tone of the coverage was Casey Anthony must be guilty.”

leading legal journalist who covered the OJ Simpson trial, Jeffrey Toobin was also now at CNN. He said, the news media was very unfair to Casey Anthony, it is something we should all discuss.”

Investigative journalism is a journey. The best stories write themselves. Eventually, reporting on the

Keith Long, What if Casey Anthony Jury Hadn’t Been Sequestered?, Harvard Nieman Foundation Media Watchdog {Nov. 27, 2011}, http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ask_this.view &askthisid=540 19

Noah Davis, CNN’s Kurtz Criticizes CNN’s Casey Anthony Coverage, Business Insider {July 11, 2011}, http://www.businessinsider.com/cnns-howard-kurtz-critcizes-cnnscasey-anthony-coverage-2011-7 20

Jeffrey Toobin, Media Should Soul-Search After Anthony Verdict, CNN { July 5, 2011}, http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/05/toobinmedia-should-soul-search-after-anthony-verdict/comment-page-1/ 21

acquittal of Casey Anthony led this reporter to look for unreported answers to an unbelievably simple question lingering for years after the trial and which remains unanswered up until this day: Did Casey, George, and Cindy together construct an elaborate, sick hoax that misled law enforcement, the media, and the public? Did the three Anthonys protect Caylee’s killer to hide other criminal family secrets?

Author, Keith Long for launch on June 1, 2022 19

Preface

Cindy Anthony + George Anthony

The Casey Anthony trial left a mystery behind little Caylee Anthony’s death that occupies a unique place in America’s 21st-century experience. Ten years have passed since the first news story ignited national interest in the question, “Who Killed Caylee Anthony?” Despite massive law enforcement searches and national media attention, there is no resolution and no closure. There is no justice for Caylee, yet. More than a decade after the child’s mother was tried and acquitted for murder, there remains a shared 20

visceral need to bring justice forward for Caylee. The 40 million viewers following the news and watching streamed TV trial coverage are frustrated because her killer escaped justice. There has never been a family like the Anthony’s in American criminal history. My reporting on this story took me on a dive deep down into a strange world that outlines the Anthony family of Orlando. I researched every official source file and court record in Florida’s most infamous child homicide case, Florida v Casey Anthony. New evidence I uncovered makes it quite clear that anticipation of Caylee’s arrival into the Anthony home made her unwelcome. Caylee introduced fear to Cindy, George, and especially her mother, Casey. The evidence shows clearly that Caylee was not only vulnerable she was immediately treated as expendable. Warning signals got ignored when Cindy, Casey’s mother, claimed she didn’t believe Casey had a life growing inside her body. The lengths that this family would go to deny the reality of Caylee’s beautiful life defy belief. Cindy was the family’s alpha, and it is clear from the record that her rejection of Caylee’s birth was a planned signal that Caylee had no future in their family. 21

On the day of Caylee’s birth, her grandparents -Cindy and George Anthony, made the decision that Caylee was going to have to leave. The question was when not if. They wanted Caylee out of their sight, and out of their home. Three years later her body was found in a field, only a block away from the Anthony’s home. Cindy and George became a team that constructed the greatest hoax in American criminal history. They couldn’t have done it without an alibi. They found one and called her Zanny – Zanny the nanny. My task as the journalist of record for Caylee’s death began with this task to write a preface to their sick story. I felt obligated to find a word that best characterizes the relationships among the three. I leaned toward a phrase with three words: fraught with infighting. That description, unfortunately, is a gross understatement of the family environment Caylee was born into. Then there was a single word I wanted to use, “internecine.” That one captured the enmity present in their home located on a street with the unlikely name of Hopespring Drive. The Anthony family employed divorce, eviction, abortion, adoption, disowning, and 22

eventually homicide in battles among themselves to prevent their secrets from escaping to law enforcement, media, and the public. But at the end of the day, I chose a different word – “existential.” The fight for secrecy between Cindy, George, and Casey occurred daily. They each knew that for the loser, it was game over. Their defensive relationships fit the meaning of what an existential threat is. Caylee was for sure, “the existential issue” for all three. If their role in Caylee’s death or its coverup became known, it was going to be game over for all of them. Finally, a decade after Casey Anthony’s trial, the involvement of Cindy, George, and Casey in a coverup of crimes is revealed. Is it too late to bring justice for Caylee? That is for readers to decide. George’s reaction when he saw Caylee was a full-on freak-out. The ex-cop feared revealing family secrets meant jail for him, and there is no doubt he would rather be dead. Indeed, he attempted suicide shortly before the medical examiner issued a press report on Caylee’s potential father. Cindy’s career was threatened by the implications of George’s potential paternity 23

connection to Caylee. There was also the leverage he gained with his divorce filing immediately after Caylee’s birth. Cindy was getting squeezed, as was George, as was Casey. They all fought each other to keep the family secrets. For Casey, her parents’ declared intention to take Caylee away from her meant losing her only connection to reality. Cindy and George were serious planners. They wanted to prevent anyone from claiming to know the name of Caylee’s father for an obvious reason. They were afraid that the name could be “George.” Such existential battles become obvious to an investigative journalist. I was thunderstruck by evidence that this family’s divisions traced directly to Caylee. The baby was a threat to all of them. One of the three Anthonys ultimately gave up fighting and killed Caylee. She was vulnerable because she trusted her killer, completely. But they all made Caylee collateral damage. As my reporting progressed, I grabbed the first bit of evidence that seemed to have a string attached in hopes that would lead to her killer. I soon realized her story was taking readers down a path of incredible twists, turns, briar patches, and a complex web of 24

Anthony family lies. It would be impossible for readers to keep up. The Anthony family functioned with a strict topdown decision-making hierarchy. At the top was its undisputed alpha leader, Cindy Anthony. Second in command was her husband, George, and at the bottom of the power pyramid was Caylee’s mother, Casey. In most families, a newborn is a blessing. Not so in Caylee’s family. The new baby provoked a defensive response from the family alpha. Her husband, George, followed alpha’s lead and reacted to the baby’s birth with his characteristic fight or flight response. I am a journalist who connects reporting of the story to the audience. I recognized my primary responsibility is to use a style of reporting so readers understand how a newborn baby could become a threat to her family. Someone in the Anthony home found it impossible to live with Caylee. By her third birthday, Caylee was groomed to trust her killer. When her appointment with death arrived on that fateful day in June, she died in the family’s backyard pool. Finally, readers will learn how Caylee was killed, why, and by whom. 25

My sources are people prosecutors brought in for interviews. Investigators thought they were fortunate to have a slam dunk suspect gifted to them for prosecution, and they expected a conviction. The charges against Caylee’s mother were First Degree Murder, Aggravated Child Abuse, and Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child. Those charges got everyone’s attention when they hit the news. There were 40 million TV watchers following her trial as it was live-streamed from Judge Belvin Perry’s courtroom in Orlando, Florida. Today, a decade later, those trial watchers have evidence never reported from the court record. Readers see how the Anthony family covered up Caylee’s homicide and hid evidence identifying her killer from law enforcement. The family’s coverup of the killer continues to this day, and as a result, there can be no justice for Caylee. Her killer’s name remains hidden. My work on this story kept evolving until finally, my reporting made a radical decision for me. This story needs a natural narrator, one who was part of the story. The record shows the Anthony family made Zanny the nanny a virtual member of their family. Zanny knew 26

everything the family kept secret. My principles of reporting made me bring her back into the story on these pages and let her narrate the factual record to reveal the identity of a killer. Reporting for this story required a unique new form of fact-based storytelling. The dynamics of the Anthony family remain rooted in a web of lies told to law enforcement that kept getting new life in the media. The more the lies were reported, the more they were repeated, and the more they

became

accepted

true.

The

media

sensationalized everything. The family kept lying so much that I had to make a strategic choice to combine a literary device known as narrative nonfiction with another writing device known as character narration. Together, they break new ground, and in the event, provide invaluable support by telling this story in a new way. The new format permits readers to follow the story’s continuity in their reading experience as if they were looking over Zanny’s shoulder, listening to her conversations, and sharing her thoughts. Readers know when Zanny knows how the death of Caylee went down, and that it was carried out according to her killer’s plan. 27

Once Caylee died her homicide transitioned into the contours of a nationwide hoax with multiple layers. The first six months had Caylee “missing.” The search for a “missing” Caylee raised the question for me did all three of the Anthonys know Caylee’s body was decomposing a block from their home in a field. Did they have trouble sleeping? How sick did this family become? The coverup has remained a family secret for the past decade. Zanny’s role in the narration moves back and forth from post-trial references because she must pause and look back to comment on the evidence being read out from the records. She adds invaluable nuance by creating a context for what others are telling detectives. Because the family made Zanny part of their coverup she can introduce her perspective from those “virtual” moments she would have been alone with Caylee and Casey. That transition by Zanny from the post-trial observer to her virtual Zanny character in the factual record provides continuity in narration that readers have not experienced before. Cindy assured law enforcement that Zanny was her trusted member of the family. Investigators believed 28

the family was comfortable leaving Caylee in Zanny’s care. The media did not report that Zanny was an alibi for a killer, and law enforcement did not follow up on the real role of Zanny in their investigation. Zanny’s contribution exposes the family dynamic as Caylee herself experienced it and reveals how she was targeted as collateral damage by Cindy, George, and Casey while they were fighting battles amongst themselves. Zanny is the best one to credibly share those private family relationships with readers.

Zanny’s narration

cries out to be heard from these pages. Included with the official source files are depositions by nine court-appointed psychologists who interviewed and evaluated the mental condition of the accused killer, Casey. There is also a complete transcript of the trial as it was live-streamed from Judge Belvin Perry’s courtroom. In addition, there is access to media reports and interviews that confirm the criminal coverup of Caylee’s homicide as well as the family’s ubiquitous sociopathic behavior so evident in their

https://www.frvpld.info/genre-guide-narrative-nonfiction

relationships. My sources confirm, verify, and reference Zanny the nanny’s narrative. Detectives were baffled when Zanny’s name kept surfacing throughout witness statements given to the FBI and Orange County Sheriff’s investigators. Yuri Melich (lead detective): “Alright, did Cindy ever mention Zanny, before this year?” Charles Crittenden Cindy’s supervisor): “Yes absolutely. She (Cindy) talked about Zanny for a couple of years.” Yuri Melich: “You’ve personally never seen Zanny, never?” Debbie Bennett (Cindy’s colleague): “I only heard Zanny’s name out of Cindy’s lips, that ‘Caylee’s with Zanny. Who is watching her? ‘She’s with Zanny, always Zanny.” For 30 days Caylee was “missing” from the family’s home, but nobody said a word to the police. Casey’s mother, Cindy, eventually called detectives to say she didn’t know anything about her “missing” granddaughter. But she said she was comfortable believing Zanny was watching Caylee. 30

Scott Bolin FBI: “So, June 16th?” Cindy: “(On June 16th and 17th) Casey wasn't home. they were going to crash at Zanny's. Zanny’s narration shares with readers the fact evidence that Caylee Anthony’s homicide occurred in her home by a family member who groomed her for that homicide. Zanny’s character narration supplements file transcripts published on the pages of this book alongside Zanny’s character narration which connects those facts throughout my manuscript. Readers see how prosecutors’ charging strategy evolves as they run up against dead-end evidence trails based on what Cindy and George were telling them. They expect the jury to return a verdict of guilty as charged. State Attorneys notify the prison administration to prepare and carry out the guilty defendant’s execution. Florida law permits Casey to choose to die by lethal injection or by the Electric Chair. The jury’s acquittal after a short deliberation is shocking for everyone. The court of public opinion assembles its jury of 40 million shocked TV trial watchers.

The media coverage of the verdict continued to sensationalize the case for ratings. Readers who depended on information by following the trial in the media have never recovered from their disbelief over the lack of justice for Caylee. My role as the journalist of record is to recognize the characteristic media fault lines and pierce tabloid commentary to provide a sense of justice for Caylee through fact-based reporting which is different from the Nancy Graces of the contemporary media world. My readers’ expectation of justice for Caylee is helped by bringing Zanny back into the family’s story. This time, instead of hiding the family’s crimes, Zanny exposes them. She is a narrator who can speak as a virtual member of the Anthony family, something prosecutors needed. She proves to be a critical valueadded for readers --- as you confirm for yourselves the answer to the question asked at the beginning – Who killed Caylee Anthony?

23 https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/g/the-great-gatsby/characteranalysis/nickcarraway#:~:text=Nick%20Carraway%2C%20the%20story's%20narrator,is%20both%20nar rator%20and%20participant.

“Little Caylee Anthony trusted her family. That made it easy for her killer. I lived with Caylee for two years. I was there when it happened. I am Zanny, her nanny. I know all Casey’s secrets. Casey shared one horrible secret with me. She believed George was Caylee’s father. I grew frightened of George. Everyone was – except Caylee. Poor Caylee. She trusted her killer.” By Zanny the nanny