Casey Anthony Blames Caylee's Death On A Family Member In New Docuseries
Casey Anthony, the Florida woman acquitted in the unsolved murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, has broken her silence for an upcoming docuseries that will air in late November.
The three-part documentary, "Casey Anthony: Where The Truth Lies," which will stream on Peacock on Nov. 29, has Anthony claiming that her father, George, and her brother, Lee, had sexually abused her. She feared her father did the same to Caylee and attempted to cover it up by drowning her in their backyard pool.
The docuseries provides a recounting of the events from Anthony's perspective. The 2011 trial drew national attention due to a young mother's perceived lack of concern over her missing toddler.
Caylee's remains were found six months after her disappearance in a wooded area near the family's home. Anthony was not convicted of murder but did serve jail time for providing false information to law enforcement.
Anthony, who is now 36 years old, had claimed in the trial that her father sexually abused her as a child and disposed of Caylee's body. Anthony claims in the docuseries that her father planned the murder and disposal of her daughter's body.
Anthony's father and brother have both denied any abuse allegations and involvement in Caylee's death.
People Magazine shared information from the series on Monday.
Anthony said she fell asleep with Caylee on top of her on June 16, 2008. Anthony was then reportedly awoken by her father, who asked about Caylee's whereabouts.
"I was awoken by [my father] shaking me and asking me where Caylee was," Anthony said. "That didn't make sense. She would never even leave my room without telling me. I immediately started looking around the house. I go outside and I'm looking to see where she could be."
Anthony then claims that her father presented her with Caylee's dead body, which was cold and soaking wet. He said Anthony had caused the incident and then had taken Caylee's body away.
"He was standing there with her," Anthony claimed. "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."
She added that George had taken her and that he immediately softened his tone and said, "It's going to be O.K."
"I wanted to believe him. He took her from me and he went away," said Anthony.
Anthony left her home to stay with her then-boyfriend Tony Lazzaro. She said that she thought Caylee was still alive at that point.
"During the 31 days, I genuinely believed that Caylee was still alive. My father kept telling me she was O.K. I had to keep following his instructions. He told me what to do. I tried to act as normal as I could," Anthony recounts.
She claimed that with no ladder or way to climb up to the above-ground pool, it would be difficult for Caylee to drown in the pool by herself. Anthony claimed George had smothered Caylee with a pillow in order to incapacitate her before drowning the child in the pool. She says that her father had also smothered her with a pillow as a child, leaving her body "limp and lifeless."
"There was no ladder ... no way for her to shimmy up. There's no way to explain that, unless [George] put her in the pool to cover up what he did," Anthony claimed.
Anthony claimed that she worried that George had abused Caylee.
"That's what I think about," she said. "I wish every day I had said something to someone about something. Maybe then things would be different."
The docuseries has drawn criticism for providing a platform for Anthony. CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski tweeted, "I don't have a peacock subscription but if I did I would cancel it over this."
Documentary director Alexandra Dean defended the decision to make the docuseries.
"Since her acquittal in 2011, public opinion of Casey Anthony has been largely shaped by the media convinced of her guilt," Dean said. "Casey had never given an in-depth or on-camera interview explaining her actions until now, and as a filmmaker and journalist, my interest was in getting closer to the unbiased truth by hearing all sides of the story — from opposing voices to Casey herself."
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