The public has a chance today to say goodbye to little Caylee Anthony, the Florida toddler allegedly murdered by her mother:

The funeral will be held in Orlando at 10 a.m. EST for the 2-year-old, whose remains were found in the woods near her home in December.

Thousands of mourners were expected to pack into the First Baptist Church of Orlando Tuesday morning for the service, which is open to the public and will be broadcast live on local television.

Many gathered outside the church more than an hour before the funeral was expected to begin.

And Casey Anthony is none too pleased about the public memorial service:

Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony, will remain at the Orange County Jail. A jail spokesman said Anthony has not asked to watch the service on television.

Anthony said Monday she didn’t approve of the service, which was planned by her parents, George and Cindy Anthony.

“I still don’t want the public with cameras and everyone around for Caylee’s funeral service,” Anthony said in a prepared statement read by her attorney. “I can’t stop my parents from doing what they want. I truly hope it will help them.”

Oh hooray.  Yet more manipulation and mudslinging between the two primary women in this case.  Quite frankly, I find it amazing that Casey has managed to keep up appearances for so long now.  I’m also curious as to what Cindy will have to say at the service, if anything.  Perhaps she and George will decide it is better for everyone if they just keep their mouths closed…but I doubt it.

There are also some basic rules to follow if you are going to the service:

Q. Where is the First Baptist Church of Orlando?

A. 3000 S. John Young Parkway , which is at the intersection with Interstate-4.

Q. Who is allowed to attend?

A. The service is open to the public, but the Anthony family is reserving the right to refuse entry to certain people. California bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, who once helped bond Casey Anthony out of jail, is one of those not welcome.

Q. When will seating for the memorial open?

A. 9. a.m.

Q. What if the church’s worship center gets full?

A. Additional overflow seating may be available. If that’s the case, the attendees would watch the memorial service on a video feed, which will be available at OrlandoSentinel.com.

Q. Are still or video cameras allowed inside?

A. No. The use of cell phones, still or video cameras will not be permitted inside the building.

Q. What else is prohibited?

A. No purses, backpacks or bags will be allowed inside.

Q. Can Casey Anthony watch the memorial service on television?

A. It’s possible. She can request to watch television during the one hour per day she is allowed out of her cell, but as of Monday afternoon, she did not make a request to do so. Anthony does have a transistor radio, so she could listen to broadcasts of the service.

Oh, and to add to the mix, those wonderful people from Westboro Baptist Cult Church in Kansas are planning to show up:

Members of a controversial Kansas church known for protesting military funerals plan to picket Caylee Marie Anthony’s memorial Tuesday.

Westboro Baptist Church detailed its plans in a recent news statement, which concludes with the phrase “GOD HATES AMERICA.”

The Topeka church claims that U.S. troops killed in combat are God’s punishment for a nation harboring homosexuals.

Westboro Baptist Church is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

What are those lunatics going to try and accomplish?  There will be no deceased American soldiers for them to mock.  Oh wait, perhaps God hates little innocent toddlers too.  Do not get me started on these people.  Fred Phelps can no longer beat his own kids, so he sends people to beat up on everybody else’s.

All in all, it should be both an interesting and sad day.

The sorry, sordid mess that has become the Caylee Anthony murder investigation almost claimed another life.  George Anthony, grandfather of Caylee and father of murder suspect Casey, was found in a Daytona Beach hotel after texting suicidal messages to his family:

Law-enforcement’s rapid response and search for a despondent George Anthony early this morning saved his life, his lawyer just told the Orlando Sentinel.

Anthony, who reportedly sent several text messages to relatives suggesting that he wanted to end his life, was found alive in a Daytona Beach motel with what appeared to be a suicide note after his family reported him missing late Thursday.

“Had it not been for (law-enforcement), this might have been a different outcome,” lawyer Brad Conway said. “They deserve a huge thank you.”

It seems that George was reported missing after he didn’t show up for a scheduled meeting with his wife and lawyer, and everyone immediately became concerned:

Daytona Beach police took Anthony into custody under the Baker Act after finding him in a motel on South Ridgewood Avenue. The Baker Act allows authorities to hold someone at a mental-health facility for up to 72 hours while they are evaluated by physicians.

Anthony, 57, was taken to the Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach where he is being evaluated. A hospital spokeswoman said this morning Anthony was in stable condition and would be receiving a physical evaluation before being admitted to the hospital.

Anthony left his home on Hopespring Drive in east Orange County Thursday morning and failed to show up for a 4 p.m. meeting with his wife, Cindy, and Conway.

Beginning at about 11:30 p.m., Anthony began to send his family text messages. Conway wouldn’t disclose exactly what the messages stated, but said they “caused us great concern.”

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office was notified last night and the felony squad immediately began its search for George Anthony. Allen drove to the Anthony home to meet with Cindy Anthony. He left after George Anthony was located.

Orange County detectives were able to use pings from George Anthony’s cell phone to track him to Daytona Beach near Bethune Point, according to Daytona Beach police. Officers began searching for George Anthony’s black vehicle and spotted it at the Hawaii Motel in the 1300 block of South Ridgewood Avenue.

Chitwood, Daytona Beach’s police chief, spoke with George Anthony and convinced him to seek medical attention.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel this morning, Chitwood said he and several officers had to knock on the motel room door several times before Anthony answered.

Anthony was well dressed, laid back and low-key. Chitwood introduced himself, shook Anthony’s hand and explained why he was there.

“(Anthony) basically said to us, you know, I just need to get away. I need to think things through. That’s why he was there,” Chitwood said.

Anthony was not agitated, but he did want the chief and other officers to leave.

“He just wanted to be alone,” Chitwood said.

But the chief explained to Anthony that because of the situation, they could not leave. Chitwood offered to drive Anthony in his unmarked car to the hospital. Anthony agreed.

On the way to the hospital, Chitwood said, Anthony commented to him, “You don’t understand, do you? You just don’t understand what this is like.”

In that sense, I agree with George.  It must be horrific to know that not only has your beloved granddaughter has been murdered, but that your own daughter, whom you have loved as any parent would, is accused of the crime.

One thing that has stuck out to me was the comment made by George to police when they found Casey’s car, which had been abandoned…George, as a former police officer, recognized the distinct smell of death which fouled the air around the car and that you could apparently smell from quite a distance away:

“I had bad vibes the very first day when I got that car,” the little girl’s grandfather George Anthony told investigators on July 24, adding: “I don’t want to believe that I have, have raised someone, and brought someone in this world that could do something to another person. I don’t want to believe that.”

The former cop told police that he was concerned about a familiar odor wafting from the trunk of his daughter’s Pontiac Sunfire. As a former investigator, he said, he recognized the smell of death.

George Anthony’s wife Cindy, who told the media the smell was that of decomposing pizza, noticed the odor in their daughter’s car too, he said in interviews with detectives.

“After we pulled inside the garage … her exact words were, ‘Jesus Christ what died?’” George Anthony told police. “That’s exactly what she said. But then she said it in a way, she says, ‘George, it was the pizza right?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, it was the pizza.’

“And that’s what I left it go at that, but, I’m sitting here as the grandfather, as the father, as George Anthony and as a guy who smelled the smell before years ago, and you just never forget it. I even stuck my nose down on it and I’m, I’m concerned.”

I realize that I’ve been as hard as anyone on the parents of Casey Anthony, and with good reason.  But I believe that of the two, George is the one who has not only harbored doubts about the authenticity of his daughter’s story, but who has publicly stated those doubts…unlike Cindy, who went from thinking the car smelled like a dead body to convincing herself it was just a rotted pizza, and then attempting to convince the rest of us as well.  While Cindy’s actions are still suspect to me, I’m thinking I was too hard on George.

I understand, as a parent, that you don’t ever want to believe that a child you raised could ever be accused of such a vicious crime, much less be guilty of it.  But while Cindy continued to delude herself, George seemed to waver between wanting to believe his daughter and admitting to himself the truth he had apparently figured out on his own.  He’s stated on various occasions that Casey is innocent, then he has shared with police his private fear that perhaps everything is not as it seems.

He’s had to deal with the conflicting feelings within himself, the enormous stress that has come with the global coverage of this case, the knuckle-dragging monosyllabic troglodytes which have showed up in the middle of the night to “protest”, the continual reminders of Caylee in his own home, the emotional machinations of Casey and her twisted tales, and undoubtedly many other things which we have no idea of.  It all seems to have come together and created a situation which George apparently found unbearable.  He’s lost his daughter, granddaughter, and any semblance of normality in his life…can you blame the guy for feeling as he has?

And in the middle of this whole manipulative spiderweb is Casey herself…

The Aug. 14 jailhouse visit between Anthony and her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, goes quickly from a pleasant exchange to tension once the subject of Caylee Anthony is raised.

• Cindy:We need to have something to go on.
• Casey:Mom, I don’t have anything. I’m sorry. I’ve been here a month. I’ve been here a month today. Do you understand how I feel? I mean do you really understand how I feel in this? I’m completely, completely out of the loop with everything.

Casey Anthony said she needs to get out to be able to help.

• Casey:There is nothing more that I can say or do until I’m home, and even then, I don’t know what I can do from that point, but I can at least do something other than sit on my butt all day and read or look up stuff for my case because that has to be my focus right now. That has to be my focus because it’s the only thing I can focus on.

Cindy Anthony then asked a more pointed question.

• Cindy:I was in Lake County two days ago.
• Casey:OK.
• Cindy:Is there anything there?
• Casey:Mom. Geez! I’m sorry. I love you guys. I miss you.
• Cindy:Alright sweetheart. Here’s dad. Hold on.
• Casey:No. I’m going to hang up, and just walk away right now because …
• Cindy:Please don’t.
• Casey:I’m frustrated. I’m angry, and I don’t want to be angry. This is the first time I’ve truly been angry this entire time, but I’m so beyond frustrated with all of this. I can’t even swallow right now. It hurts.
• Cindy:Just understand we’re all going in so many directions. We just want to go in the right one.
• Casey:W ell, I can’t point you in that direction when I’m literally at a standstill.

At one point in the conversation, Casey Anthony did express a desire to have Caylee back.

The conversation came on the very same week that meter reader Roy Kronk reported three times his suspicions about a bag along Suburban Drive near the Anthony home to law enforcement.

…who wants to be seen as a victim in her little manipulative play:

George Anthony tried to tell his daughter that she is in control and that her defense attorney works for her.

“I’m not in control over any of this,” Casey Anthony said. She complained about not knowing what’s going on.

“My entire life has been taken from me. Everything has been taken from me. You don’t understand.”

Anthony complained about not getting to talk to anyone except her attorney.

“I have no one to comfort me but myself,” she said.

Anthony told her mother that she wanted investigators’ help, but that the detectives needed to help her, too.

“I need to be looked at as a victim because . . . I’m just as much of a victim as the rest of you. And it hasn’t been portrayed that way.”

No, Casey.  You are not the victim.  Your innocent little daughter Caylee, however, was.  And your father almost was as well.  But hey, anything to get your manipulative little kicks, huh?  Wonder which man you’re going to pick from to “comfort” you this time?

We are a blog, not hard-hitting news. These are our opinions. GlossLip has continuing coverage of the disappearance of Caylee Anthony here.

Breaking news in the case of missing toddler Caylee Anthony…authorities have confirmed that the remains are hers:

“It is with regret that I’m here to inform you that the skeletal remains found December 11 are those of the missing toddler,” said Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the Orange County medical examiner.

The remains were confirmed to be Caylee’s through a DNA match, authorities said.

Garavaglia said the cause of death was homicide, but she could not determine how Caylee was killed.

Casey Anthony, 22, faces charges including first-degree murder in the June disappearance of her daughter.

Authorities said they called the jail where Anthony is being held to let her know about the discovery.

Caylee’s remains were found last week a half-mile from Casey Anthony’s parents’ home, in the area where a meter reader first directed police.

At the news conference, Garavaglia said that the remains were completely skeletonized and that no tissue was present. She said there was no trauma to the bones before Caylee’s death.

There is to be another news conference where the meter reader is expected to be identified:

At a separate news conference Friday, police are expected to identify the meter reader who, they said Thursday, called the department four months ago, directing them to the site of the remains three times.

At a Thursday news conference, Capt. Angelo Nieves, a Sheriff’s Department commander, said investigators were looking into whether the tips, called in August 11, 12 and 13, were properly followed up.

In one of those phone calls, the meter reader reported seeing a gray bag on the side of the road, Nieves said. On August 13, a deputy responded to the site and did a “cursory search” but found nothing, Nieves said.

Nieves said police were getting more information from the tipster and the deputy who responded to the tips. He said the department was investigating the “thoroughness” of the deputy’s response but would not identify the deputy.

The meter reader “is not a suspect,” Nieves said. “He is a credible witness.”

Nieves’ latest announcement is raising questions about whether police missed several chances to find Caylee’s remains.

The meter reader is not the only one, or the first, to have pointed police toward the site containing the remains.

KioMarie Cruz, Casey Anthony’s childhood friend, also told police to investigate the same wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School a month before the meter reader, according to CNN affiliate WFTV.

In an interview with detectives, according to WFTV, Cruz said that she and Anthony “pretty much used to hang out there most of our time,” would “snack on food for hours” and went there to “get away from our parents.”

The Sheriff’s Department followed up on that tip, but the wooded area was covered in floodwaters, preventing a search. Nieves said the water may have been present at the time of the meter reader’s tips as well.

Nieves also said Thursday that searchers combing the site after the skull’s discovery had found “significant skeletal remains” consistent with those of a small child on the outer perimeter of the search area.

The area will be enlarged, and processing and searching of the site will continue, probably into the weekend, he said.

Hopefully now this poor child can have a decent burial and justice can move forward to put away the only person suspected in her death; and no matter what we might think about George and Cindy, they have now definitely lost their granddaughter.  They have my prayers as they grieve.

In what could turn out to be a total blunder by law enforcement, the meter reader who found a bag containing a human child’s skull in an area near the Anthony home tried three times in August to report the suspicious bag:

An Orange County utilities worker tried three times in August to alert law enforcement of a strange gray bag on the side of Suburban Drive near the home of missing Caylee Marie Anthony, a sheriff’s official said Thursday.

Three times, deputy sheriffs checked the tips with no results. When curiosity led the same utility worker back to the same spot last week, he found the remains of a small child.

Now, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is trying to figure out what happened four months ago and how its deputies handled the calls. The tipster, who has not been publicly identified, is not considered a suspect and has been cooperating with deputies, officials said.

“We are attempting to be as thorough, as clear and as concise as possible with the information that we received. There was a window of opportunity, possibly …” Capt. Angelo Nieves said. “We had a deputy respond to this location.”

The meter reader “provided several phone calls to our Crimeline as well as our communications center,” the captain added during a late afternoon press conference. “We are currently following up on that sequence to determine the thoroughness of the response here to the scene.”

Over a three-day period in August, this meter reader attempted three different times to report what he felt was a suspicious-looking bag:

A sheriff’s official offered this outline of the three tips by the utility worker in August:

– On Aug. 11, the meter reader called the sheriff’s office communication center to report a bag on the “right side” of the road near the intersection of Suburban and Hopespring drives. The meter reader was not there when a deputy arrived. The officer cleared the scene.

– On Aug. 12, the worker called Crimeline, which collect tips on unsolved crimes. That information was documented and sent to a detective, who made a note that the area had been searched by a cadaver dog and the tip was closed out.

– On Aug. 13, after the worker called the communication center again, two deputies responded to the area — each arriving separately — and they met with the meter reader. At least one deputy checked the woods and cleared the scene for a second time.

“We will conduct an administrative follow-up to try to determine what occurred with the deputy when he responded out to the scene, why he handled himself how he did,” Nieves said.

I’d certainly hope so, although I have a feeling they will decide that the policeman did nothing wrong.  After all, a bag found in a wooded area in the relative vicinity of a missing child’s home couldn’t possibly warrant further investigation.  I mean, didn’t this deputy even poke the bag, or open it to look inside?  Even if it was just trash that someone had thrown out, at least it would have been a definitive conclusion.

At first glance, it seems that this guy has been cleared of any wrongdoing and is just a concerned citizen who followed this on the news, like the rest of us, and remained doggedly determined:

VAN SUSTEREN: FOX’s Phil Keating is live at the scene in Florida. Phil, this is a very strange coincidence, that this man — the meter reader who found the skull on December 11 also saw a bag in August. If it’s the same color bag, it’s less weird to me, I guess. But what can you tell me about this?

PHIL KEATING, FOX CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of bags that were in those woods at the time when Caylee Anthony was reported missing. We even sent our own photographer in those woods, roughly 30 to 40 feet away from the present crime scene. You could see in that videotape there was a lot of litter, bags, trash, debris. This is an area which is known in the neighborhood as a place for teenagers to go get away from adults. An din fact, back in July, we spoke with one of Casey’s friends who told us when she was a kid, she would go back there.

So this gentleman, the county water meter reader, is one of so many in the Orlando area that are absolutely consumed with everything about this story about a missing child named Caylee Anthony. It has been on the news day in and day out here, not just the first month, but basically, until last Thursday. And it continues to be in the paper and broadcast nightly on the news. This is one of those many people who’s following every inch of the investigation. He looks at maps at home, I presume, sees this wooded area right near the house and suggests in three phone calls in August, You should go check this out. Next day, You should go check it out. Next day, You should go check it out.

According to the sheriff’s department, four months go by. No one’s ever found Caylee Anthony’s remains. The guy happens to be reading meters in the Anthony neighborhood. According to the investigators, last Thursday, gets to the corner, sees the woods down the street and decides, You know what? I’m going to go ahead and take a little break and take a walk through those woods and just whatever became of my tip, was there anything actually back there. And then in what has got to be the most shocking coincidence of the year, he actually discovers the remains he suggested police may find or deputies may find.

Of course, everything here is pertinent, whether or not these remains have been here five or six months and whether they ultimately will be identified as Caylee’s. If both of those come true, then there’s going to be serious questions raised (INAUDIBLE) Orange County sheriff’s department as to why it wasn’t until August 13…

VAN SUSTEREN: But that…

KEATING: … Following the third tip from this guy, that they finally went thoroughly into those woods and not so thoroughly at all.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Well, that’s a whole different issue. That’s whether the police have done their job effectively, the way they’re supposed to according to procedure. The more bizarre thing to me is why this guy in August is the one who gives the tip, and he’s the one who actually finds it in December. And quite reasonably, I’m curious about that because the whole idea of the defense is whether or not somebody’s moved it, move it, if, indeed, that is Caylee, and whether or not somebody else did something. So I mean, it’s, like — it’s more than just whether the police have followed up on a tip. There’s a lot more to this.

The site was flooded in September when Texas EquuSearch was there, and when they came back in November the site had a fence around it.  A volunteer said that searchers had attempted to canvass the area, a secluded place where Casey and her friends used to party, but the terrain was steep and full of snakes.  The meter reader initially said that he found the bag when he went into the woods to relieve himself, but now it seems that he was possibly following up on what the police didn’t seem to be able to.  This time, instead of calling a tipline, he went straight to 911.

It is kind of weird, though, that he is the one who found the remains, seemingly by accident, after the area had already been searched, and after he had been there three times already.  But, Florida has had so much rain and flooding that I’m sure trash and debris has moved from one spot to another.  It’s hard to say at this point and only time will tell if he is truly an innocent citizen or if there’s something more to this story.

Another interesting thing about the site is that there appears to be what might be a hardcover book in the underbrush, and it is believed that it could be similar to one that we’ve seen Caylee reading while sitting at her kitchen table.  If you look at this photo gallery, you can see what they are talking about (I put an arrow in the photo above).  Caylee was last seen leaving her house with a backpack.  When my kids were little, they took their favorite toys with them in their little backpacks, and often took books in them to look at.

I don’t mean to come down too hard on the police, because this sounds like an isolated case of incompetence and not indicative of the department as a whole.  In their defense, they  have received many, many tips on where Caylee might be, from neighbors and psychics and people all over the country.  They may have thought this guy was just another crackpot and there may in fact be more to his story that it appears.  But then again, if you’re faced with a bag in a wooded area in fairly close proximity to where a missing child was last seen, wouldn’t you at least open it to see what was inside?

We are a blog, not hard-hitting news. These are our opinions. GlossLip has continuing coverage of the disappearance of Caylee Anthony here.

[k's note: I'm sorry that the comments sections on the various posts here seem to be wonky.  We're working on fixing it...in the meantime, the comments on this post are now working.]

CNN is reporting that a utility worker discovered the skull of what appears to be a small child in Orlando, Florida this morning. The location of the discovery is within half a mile of the Anthony home, grandparents of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, whose case has captured national headlines since word of disappearance was released this past summer. While investigators are staying tight-lipped about the remains, news sources seem to indicate that the proximity and timing of the discovery make it likely it is the missing body of the 3-year old.

Here’s more from CNN breaking story:

The discovery was made about 9:30 a.m. by a utility worker who alerted authorities, spokesman Jim Solomons said. Investigators, including those from the Anthony case, were on the scene, he said.

The remains will be sent to the FBI lab at Quantico, Virginia, Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said.

The agency has told its lab analysts that the case is top priority, Beary added. “If they have to work through the weekend, they’ll work through the weekend.”

“Bottom line, it’s real simple, folks,” Beary said. “We’ve recovered this human skull, it appears to be that of a small child, and now the investigation continues. We’ve got a lot of lab work to do, a lot of DNA work to do, a lot of crime scene work to do. We could be here all night.”

Police also have stated that while this area was previously searched by LE, that it is possible the area where the skull was found was likely underwater due to severe tropical storms which plagued the state during the summer months.

We will post more updates as information is released.

As we reported earlier, today began the extensive search for missing toddler Caylee Anthony, orchestrated by Tim Miller of EquuSearch. Orlando’s WESH is reporting that at least 1300 people showed up from all over the country to assist in searching areas in and around Orlando for the 3-year old Caylee, who’s big brown eyes have both haunted and captured a nation. This number is significantly higher than the initial estimates of 500, but still lower than Mr. Miller had hoped for set at 5000. Maybe tomorrow will bring even great numbers.

Caylee, who was first reported missing in July, actually was missing sometime in June. Her mother, Casey Anthony, waited 31 days to report her daughter missing, and only did so after her parents became involved with the case. Casey Anthony has since been charged with several felonies in the case, number one being first degree murder.

Here’s more on today’s search from WESH.

A total of about 1,300 volunteers came out to help today in the search for Caylee Anthony and Jennifer Kesse.

There have been some discoveries of what appear to be animal bones at Blanchard Park and a few other locations.

An Equusearch representative said as far as she knew, sheriff’s investigators had not been called in to look at any evidence. The volunteers have come from as far away as Canada and plan to search until dusk tonight.

They will resume searching tomorrow morning and Equusearch says, on Monday, it will reassess its plan.

In addition to the volunteers, dozens of bounty hunters have come in from all over the country at the request of bounty hunter Leonard Padilla.

Glosslip commenter Jeff was there, and has posted some pictures of today’s search on his MySpace page. Thank you Jeff for taking the time and effort to be a part of this important search. We are all praying for some news and closure to this heartbreaking story.

For more on Glosslip’s coverage of this story, click here.

More details are emerging on the case of missing Orlando tot, 3-year old Caylee Anthony.

Tim Miller, founder and leader of EquuSearch, has organized another effort to search for the presumed deceased body of Caylee. Previous efforts have been hampered by weather and Miller is hoping that with the right conditions they will have luck in location the child’s body. Here’s some info from WFTV.com:

Officials of the Texas-based search group EquuSearch estimated earlier in the week they would draw as many as 5,000 volunteers to comb through woods and swampland to look for skeletal remains of the child. However, as of the 8:00 a.m. start time, only about 500 had showed up.

Much speculation has been made about where the body might be located and the police have some clues based on cell phone records. We do the specifics where EquuSearch will focus their attention:

Search teams will focus on four places in east Orange County: Jay Blanchard Park, Moss Park, the woods near the home of Casey’s parents, George and Cindy, and an area of land near the Orlando International Airport. They’re searching those spots based on eyewitness reports and cell tower triangulations that show where Casey Anthony was around the time Caylee disappeared.

For those interested in helping with the search, here are the details about where searchers are meeting:

The command post is near the corner of Judge Road and Shadowridge Drive (see map), almost directly north of Orlando International Airport. The search is set to begin at 8:00am Saturday and they are expecting as many as 5,000 people. If you want to be one of them, you can show up Saturday morning at the command post.

George Anthony admits car smelled like “death” to investigators. I highly recommend those interested in the case listen to this interview with George Anthony, it’s extremely revealing into the mindset of George, who so far, is the only reasonable member of the entire Anthony family. Either George is a smooth talker, or he is a true victim in all of this, from start to finish. While Cindy and brother Lee have certainly lost precious Caylee, their behavior in this case has been more than sketchy, not necessarily “criminal” but definitely “off” from normal reactions to the loss of a loved one.

If you listen to the whole thing, it’s apparent George and Cindy initially suspected the smell from the car was from a dead body. George said his first reaction upon retrieving the vehicle was that he was afraid he’d find his daughter and his granddaughter dead in the car and asked the tow yard employee to accompany him in opening the trunk. He admits to seeing the pizza box, a bag with “insects on it” (later confirmed to be maggots) and a stain by the spare tire. George admits that smell in the car was so bad he didn’t think he could drive the car home.

On a side note, I recently had the misfortune of dealing with a dead animal and the smell from this deceased animal (only 3 days old) was the foulest, strongest, most distinctively awful smell in my entire life. These people know that something is not right and that the bottom line is this: a dead body was in that car.

Casey Anthony, mother of Caylee has been charged with murder and her trial is set to begin in February January. We will keep you posted on any additional details.

There’s been a ton of news in the case of missing little girl Caylee Anthony.

After her indictment and news that she is due back in court on November 5 on those bad check charges,  probably the biggest news to come out so far is that there’s been a possible trial date set for her mother Casey, who has been accused of her murder:

Eyewitness News was the first to find out a trial date has been set in the case against Casey. She’ll be tried for first-degree murder on February 9 and the case is going to be expensive, especially if it’s moved out of town.

She is expected to enter a “Not Guilty” plea at her arraignment on Tuesday:

Casey Anthony is not required to be in court Tuesday for her arraignment. She is accused of killing her daughter Caylee who was reported missing in July.

Eyewitness News first reported that Casey Anthony entered a written not guilty plea on October 17, which means she does not have to be in court Tuesday when a judge is expected to officially accept her plea.

Tests done on Casey’s car have come back with evidence of both decomposition and chloroform:

Scientists who conducted forensic tests in the Casey Anthony investigation concluded that human decomposition and evidence of chloroform were present in the trunk of Casey’s car, according to the report released Friday.

The report details findings from FBI tests on items found inside Casey’s car, including DNA results on hair samples and forensic testing of debris and clothing [...].

Among the results is confirmation that a hair sample found in the vehicle “exhibits characteristics of apparent decomposition.” The report also says that specific hair is “microscopically similar” to hair investigators took from Caylee’s hairbrush.

“The hair found in the trunk establishes that Caylee’s dead and that her dead body was in the trunk of the car. Even if they don’t find the body, it’s enough evidence, scientific evidence, to establish that she’s dead,” said Dr. Michael Baden, nationally-renowned forensic pathologist.

DNA testing done on that piece of hair and compared with a sample provided by Casey confirmed that neither Casey nor Caylee can be “excluded as the source of the hair,” because the “mtDNA sequences … are the same.”

Tests also confirmed “residues of chloroform” within a spare tire cover found inside the trunk of Casey’s car. “Residues consistent with chloroform” were also found within the left and right side trunk liner. The report says no other chemicals were detected within those items. Coupled with evidence that someone on Casey’s computer was researching how to make chloroform, it could explain how Caylee was murdered.

“That would indicate that chloroform has to be considered as a cause of the baby’s death,” Dr. Baden said.

Odor tests that were conducted on the carpet inside Casey’s car concluded that 80 percent of the chemicals identified were “consistent with decompositional events.” The results of the FBI’s Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) on the same carpet concluded that “while these are still preliminary results … both odor analysis and LIBS results appear to be quite consistent with a decompositional event having occurred in the trunk of the vehicle.”

The report also clarifies that the tests conducted appear to point to human decomposition and not animal. Meanwhile, a hair fragment the FBI found on the shovel Casey borrowed from her neighbor days after investigators believe Caylee was murdered, but that hair did not match Caylee or Casey.

The report’s final conclusion is that the results of the tests and comparisons indicate “that a portion of the total odor signature identified in the Florida vehicle trunk is consistent with a decompositional event that could be of human origin.”

It seems that somebody was on Casey’s laptop looking up do-it-yourself recipes on how to make your own chloroform:

There was evidence of high levels of chloroform in the trunk of Casey’s car and sheriff’s investigators found that someone on Casey Anthony’s computer was researching not where to buy chloroform, but how to make it yourself, which can be done easily.

Eyewitness News legal analyst Bill Sheaffer says, if you were up to no good, there would be an advantage to making it as opposed to buying it.

When you Google “how do you make chloroform,” more than a million websites are listed with instructions. On the first one, page one had an explicit warning about chloroform’s dangers, calling the chemical extremely dangerous and unpredictable and warning never to allow children to come near chloroform. [...]

Sheaffer said it’s significant because, if Casey made the chloroform as opposed to buying it, she could have been trying to cover her tracks. Buying it would have generated some sort of record.

“This way certainly, she could argue, ‘Alright, I was interested in looking into how to make chloroform, but I never did.’ Or, ‘That’s why you smelled chloroform in the trunk area, because I was experimenting in making it,’” Sheaffer said.

Record or not, the jury would be faced with a compromising question for Casey.

“Why would you need to make chloroform. For what purpose?” Sheaffer questioned.

George and Cindy Anthony, Casey’s parents and the grandparents of little Caylee, continue to insist that the little girl is alive:

George and Cindy Anthony looked tense and tired as they sat on the couch next to “Today” host Meredith Vieira.

Even when Vieira pressed the Anthony’s about their daughter’s role in Caylee’s disappearance, they continued to stand by their daughter.

The Anthonys said they think Caylee is still alive and believe she is going to be found. They said they are not going to give up and they are getting tips and leads every day as to her whereabouts.

The family has now established its own tip line for people to report any information that might lead to Caylee. The number is 1-888-231-5618.

However, the majority of the “tips” received by the tip line have been from psychics.  Expect those details to be released soon.

UPDATE:  Read some of the “info” the so-called “tipsters” have been giving.  Truly amazing stuff.

And in the same interview, George (who had to testify against his daughter to the grand jury) and Cindy deny that they are in denial:

George and Cindy Anthony said on national television that they think their granddaughter, Caylee Marie, is still alive and have not given up hope, despite a first-degree murder indictment against their daughter, Casey.

The couple appeared on the Today Show this morning and were interviewed by Meredith Vieira.

George Anthony refused to answer questions about his subpoena to testify in front of a grand jury last week. “I cannot comment,” he said.

Orange County officials announced last week that they think the child is dead and charged Casey Anthony with first-degree murder, among other charges, following the grand jury indictment. Cindy Anthony called the move another “tactic” to prevent her daughter’s lawyers from viewing their evidence.

The evidence that points to a decomposing body in the back of Casey Anthony’s car and traces of chloroform found in the same place have not been released yet to the public. Cindy Anthony thinks it’s all circumstantial and can be disproved.

When Vieira asked George and Cindy if they are in denial about their granddaughter’s death, they said no.

“My granddaughter is still alive,” George Anthony said. “My granddaughter is still out there and we are going to find her.”

Finally, a couple of the more rowdy protesters at the Anthony home might be charged with battery:

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the suspects, whose names were not released, are accused of attacking George and Cindy Anthony in the middle of the night at their home.

According to the police report, one of the women involved grabbed George’s shirt and a man pushed Cindy, Caylee’s grandmother.

The suspects fled in a blue Jeep, the Anthonys said.

It’s now up to the State Attorney’s Office to decide whether to file formal charges.

Good.  I’m very glad to see some of these knuckle-dragging monosyllabic troglodytes getting what they deserve.  Yeah, acting like a moron for the world’s media is really keeping the focus on Caylee and on getting her home.

There’s something that has always confused me.  Why use chloroform?  Something like NyQuil is much easier to get, easier to explain in the household, and possibly easier to explain how the child could have gotten hold of it (someone didn’t tighten the cap down far enough, the child thought it was Kool-Aid, etc).  It occurs to me that chloroform is widely used in the movies, on television shows, and in noir-type mystery books as a quick and effective way to knock people out leaving no evidence behind.  However, there are many bad side effects to using chloroform, the worst of which is death:

Exposure to chloroform occurs mainly through breathing or skin contact. Exposure to the vapour can irritate the eyes, nose and throat. Lower concentrations of chloroform can cause dizziness, fatigue, light-headedness, nausea, confusion and headaches. Higher levels may induce anaesthesia with changes in respiratory rate, cardiac effects (e.g. irregular heart beats), gastrointestinal effects (e.g. nausea and vomiting) and effects on the liver and kidneys. Exposure to very high levels can result in death. A fatal oral dose of chloroform may be as low as 10 mL (14.8 g) with death due to respiratory or cardiac arrest. Breathing chloroform or ingesting chloroform over long periods of time may damage liver (such as hepatitis and jaundice), kidneys, skin and central nervous system (such as depression and irritability). Skin contact with the liquid can cause a rash or a burning feeling. Repeated skin contact may produce dermatitis. Absorption through intact skin occurs rapidly. The liquid can cause severe eye burns. Chloroform is a probable carcinogen (agent that causes cancer) and it may be teratogenic (may cause foetal abnormalities).

I mean, it seems to me that if Casey were using chloroform to knock out Caylee so Casey could go party, that would cause more problems than it would “solve”, as a child exposed to chloroform might be more likely to be throwing up and complaining of a headache than sleeping soundly and peacefully.  As difficult as it used to be to regulate the dosage in adults (when chloroform was used in surgery, during WWII and before), the fine line between sleeping and death might be even finer in a child.  Chloroform to make a child sleep just does not seem practical to me.  Like I said, why use that when something like NyQuil or Benadryl is handier, easier to obtain, and easier to explain away in the home?

No, if there are traces of chloroform in the trunk of the car, and if Casey’s laptop shows evidence that someone searched out how to make chloroform, then what else could it be?  Cleaning fluids, drugs, or perhaps evidence of a murder?  I think the latter…I hope I am wrong, I hope it can be explained some other way, but at this point I don’t see what it would be.

We are a blog, not hard-hitting news. These are our opinions. GlossLip has continuing coverage of the disappearance of Caylee Anthony here.

According to CNN, which stated in an earlier report that Casey Anthony, mother of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, would surrender to police if indicted by a grand jury today. It seems as though that indictment has come to pass. Here are more details from CNN:

Casey Anthony was taken to jail after officers observed her switch cars on a highway and pulled her over, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

Earlier Tuesday, Anthony’s lawyer said his client would turn herself in if the grand jury returned an indictment against her.

“She’s not running from this,” attorney Jose Baez said as his 22-year-old client wiped tears from her eyes during an impromptu media briefing before the charges against her were announced. “She’s doing her best to stand strong, to stand up to the powers that are working against her. And they threw the kitchen sink at her a long time ago.”

After the indictment, undercover officers followed Anthony as she traveled in her mother’s SUV. The officers saw the SUV stop under a highway overpass, at which point Anthony got into another vehicle and drove off. Officers made the traffic stop after she entered the second vehicle, the spokesman said.

Prosecutors are asking Anthony be held without bond.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to police.

Lawson Lamar, the state attorney for Orange County, Florida, said the first count is a capital charge — which could carry a penalty of life in prison or death.

The 19 grand jurors — 10 women and nine men — deliberated for about half an hour after hearing from police, a cadaver dog handler, an FBI agent and the missing child’s grandfather.

The article also pointed out, that despite efforts to recover the missing child, 3-year old Caylee whereabouts remain unknown. As the article stated, George Anthony, father to Casey and Caylee’s grandfather, testified before the grand jury. Mr. Anthony made a statement before stepping before the court:

“This is going to be very hard for me to do. The focus has always been on my granddaughter and always will be. I love my daughter, I love my wife, I love my son,” Anthony said.

He asked for the public to keep his family, especially Caylee, in their prayers. “If someone could take a moment out at 11 o’clock this morning and 11 o’clock tonight and just pray for her. That’s all I’m asking for. That’s all I can say.”

Prayers are something we can all afford to give for little Caylee.

For Glosslip’s extensive coverage of the Caylee Anthony case, please click here.

Just a quick update on the continuing case of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, and her mother Casey, who continues to maintain her innocence in the face of ever-mounting evidence against her.

First, Casey wants her house arrest terms to be lightened up, so that she can get out there and visit certain places, presumably to “help” find her daughter:

A hearing on the motions is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando. Anthony made a brief visit with her home confinement manager on Monday morning, and then went to her attorney’s office in Osceola.

While with her home confinement manager, she mapped out where she could go this week and when. Any violation of that schedule would send her back to jail. [...]

As early as this weekend, the head of Texas Equusearch said he’d like to resume his group’s recovery efforts in and around Orlando. He said he would love to have Anthony’s help.

“If she said she was willing to take us to areas of interest, I’d be on the next plane out,” Tim Miller said. [...]

Baez turned down an interview request but his spokesman said Anthony is not interested in helping Texas Equusearch as that would be equivalent to admitting her daughter is dead. The spokesman said she is only interested in pursuing live sightings.

Yet another slap in the face to Texas EquuSearch, who’s only purpose is to get out there and find missing children. Casey wants to be able to visit “key points of interest” in the case. I think that’s great, but only if she leads them to where she hid Caylee’s body, because that’s the only point of interest I think she knows about.

Also, last Friday, Casey was named an official suspect in her daughter’s disappearance:

Anthony, 22, was previously called a “person of interest” by investigators looking into what happened to 3-year-old Caylee Marie.

Sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Angelo Nieves said Thursday there was no new evidence to prompt the change — just a culmination of several factors, including Anthony’s persistent deception.

He cited “the subsequent totality of those deceptive responses, lies, uncooperativeness, coupled with the investigative efforts that are still ongoing in this investigation, cause her to be a suspect in the continuing missing-person investigation,” in an e-mail to the Orlando Sentinel explaining the change.

That’s actually a very good summation.

The prayer vigil, usually held in the front yard of the Anthony home, has now been moved to a nearby church in hopes that the protesters will be kept at bay:

Caylee’s grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, thanked the crowd for its support and told it how difficult the past months of worry have been. Friday, for instance, “I think I cried probably 23 out of 24 hours,” Cindy Anthony said.

Caylee was reported missing in mid-July, and her mother, Casey, this month was named a suspect in the disappearance.

Nonetheless, the couple encouraged people to keep their faith that Caylee, 3, would return safely to her family in east Orange County. Cindy Anthony also said they should not believe media coverage of the case — presumably the reporting of investigators’ suggestion that Caylee may be dead — that she says is “fabricated.” [...]

Previously, vigils were held in front of the Anthonys’ home, but the location was moved to deter protesters who have denounced the family and demanded that Casey Anthony cooperate with detectives.

While I believe that the Anthony family know more than they are letting on, I also believe that they are struggling with the fact that little Caylee is gone. It is entirely possible to have both emotions working within oneself at the same time…guilt (for whatever reason) and grief can run parallel to each other. I just hope they come to their senses before it is too late, because if they do know more than they are telling then it is better to get it out now than in a court of law. And I do wish they would stop bucking against the police. It is working totally against them and making them out to be totally unsympathetic figures.

Speaking of which, charges are expected to be filed in a couple of cases concerning the Anthonys and undisciplined protesters:

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office will file charges against two protesters for misdemeanor battery. The sheriff’s office said the protesters lost control and committed an act of violence on George and Cindy Anthony.

Kathy Harris confronted George Anthony while he was asking supporters for donations and getting the word out about his granddaughter Caylee. Harris is from a new, organized group of protesters called Justice For Caylee. The group has logos and a new sign.

Harris followed Anthony to the location he was raising funds, because she wanted to know why he isn’t looking for the child and instead asking others to do it for him. George Anthony called deputies for help when the exchange got ugly.

“They want the right to show their side and what they believe. That’s what we’re asking too,” Harris said.

She believes the child is dead and it’s time to look for Caylee and prosecute her mother, the person they think is responsible.

“Someone just disposed of this body like it was trash and there is no justice for this baby,” she said.

Meanwhile, Orange County investigators got the last piece of evidence they need to move forward on charges against two protestors. Video at the Anthony house shows one protester pull George by the shirt and another push Cindy Anthony. The two protesters face misdemeanor battery charges.

“This is a reminder, don’t commit a battery, have control of yourself,” Detective Freddie Sams said.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Protesting peacefully and lawfully is one thing, acting like a thug is another. No matter what you believe the Anthony family should or should not be doing, there is a line that should never be crossed.

Casey has been caught on CC cameras purchasing items with a stolen checkbook from her supposed best friend, and has been sighted actually wearing the illegally-purchased items on camera several times now:

Casey Anthony bought 4 pounds of cherries, Popsicles and a bra on sale.

There’s also a blue Mossimo brand hoodie — the one she wore the day she posed for her first jail mugshot — and the oversize white sunglasses she’s often photographed wearing when going to see her attorney.

What these items and a list of others have in common, according to sheriff’s investigators, is that Anthony bought them with hundreds of dollars she stole from her friend Amy Huizenga. [...]

From July 8 to July 12, authorities say, Anthony used Huizenga’s checks to buy more than $400 worth of clothes and groceries at area Target and Winn-Dixie stores, according to police records.

None of the items listed on the receipts appears to have been purchased specifically for a child.

Huizenga told detectives that she had loaned Anthony her vehicle July 8 while she traveled to Puerto Rico. She said Anthony picked her up at Orlando International Airport on July 15.

After talking to Anthony’s mother later that day, Huizenga learned her friend had drained her checking account.

On July 15 — before Caylee was reported missing — Anthony went to a Bank of America branch and withdrew $250 from Huizenga’s checking account by making a check out to herself. She also attempted to pay a $574 AT&T cell-phone bill, but there wasn’t enough money left in Huizenga’s account.

Because buying a bra and a nice hoodie using a fraudulent check are so much more important than looking for your daughter. Oh, and let’s not forget the sunglasses. We absolutely must look good for the cameras. Button your blouse, for cryin’ out loud, you’re supposed to be upset over your missing daughter, not picking up a hot piece.

And finally, a grand jury is to decide whether or not to seek a homicide charge against Casey:

Anthony already is charged with child neglect in the case of her missing 3-year-old, Caylee, who has not been seen since June. Now, sources say, prosecutors will present evidence to a grand jury on Tuesday seeking an indictment, charging Casey Anthony with causing the death of her daughter.

The state attorney’s officce will ask the jury to indict Casey Anthony with homicide-related charges in connection with Caylee’s disappearance. One top investigator said they don’t have a smoking gun. In his words, “We would like to have a body, a crime scene, a confession, or even a witness.”

A spokesman for Casey Anthony’s attorney would only respond by saying that if prosecutors are going to charge her with homicide, they should just do it and lay out the charges.

It has been theorize that both George and Lee Anthony are scheduled to give evidence, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

It is evident that the noose is beginning to tighten around Casey Anthony. Let’s let the police and law enforcement do their jobs properly and thoroughly without interference. Yes, it might seem to us to be taking an agonizingly long time, but I think the last thing any of us wants is to see Casey walk on a technicality.

We just want Casey to tell the truth. Her daughter deserves at least that.

We are a blog, not hard-hitting news. These are our opinions. GlossLip has continuing coverage of the disappearance of Caylee Anthony here.