Everyone thinks they know Casey Anthony’s story. But Where the Truth Lies explores the possibility that the familiar case was mediated by dysfunctional dynamics in her family.
In the documentary, Casey says her father, George Anthony, an underemployed former cop, sexually abused her from the ages of 8 to 12. “He smothered me several times,” she says. “I’d wake up the next morning or even hours later knowing that it had happened again.” (George and Casey’s mother, Cindy Anthony, released a statement in 2017 denying Casey’s claims of sexual abuse: “George, who has continued to try and move forward from this tragedy and who was vindicated on multiple occasions, is once again forced to relive the hints, rumors, lies and allegations that are being made by Casey Anthony.” They both refused to talk to Dean for the documentary. BuzzFeed News tried to contact Anthony through a lawyer and publicly listed information but has not yet received a response.)
Her mother, Cindy, worked as a nurse. Casey says she was mostly invested in selling an image of the perfect family, clinging to that idea even if it involved making her daughter have a graduation party even when she didn’t have enough credits to graduate.
When Casey was drugged and raped at a party at 19, she got pregnant, and she says Cindy asked her to pretend she wasn’t. “I spent my entire life protecting our perfect beautiful little family,” Casey says, sadly, in the documentary.
By the time Caylee was born in 2005, Casey, who aspired to be a photographer and had worked as a contractor at Universal Studios, was trying to save money so she could move into her own place. Cindy had kicked George out for alleged infidelity. But then he came back. “I didn’t leave when I should have,” Casey says in the documentary. “The moment I found out I was pregnant I should’ve left.”
Instead, Casey would say that she was leaving Caylee with her friend “Zanny” when she was actually bringing her to hangouts with friends, so as not to leave her with George. And her boyfriends and friends featured in the docuseries all recall that she was a doting, devoted mother. She became a club promoter to save money but didn’t tell her mother out of fear that Cindy would try to stop her.
Then, on June 18, 2008, George woke Casey up, saying 2-year-old Caylee was missing. They went to look for her.
She explains that all she remembers is George standing there with Caylee. “She was soaking wet,” she says. “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.”
Then she switches into the present tense. “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.” That was the last time she saw her daughter.
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alessadominguez/casey-anthony-caylee-death-peacock-documentary
