Caylee Anthony's grandmother reported her missing 31 days after she was last seen
Caylee Marie Anthony was two years old.
Her family last saw her in mid-June 2008, in Orlando, Florida.
On July 15, 2008, her maternal grandmother, Cindy Anthony, called police to report her missing.
That is 31 days between the last sighting and the missing person report.
Thirty-one days.
The call did not come from the child's mother.
The mother, Casey Anthony, later told investigators that Caylee had been kidnapped by a babysitter named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez.
Investigators found no evidence that such a babysitter existed.
What happened to Caylee during those 31 days is not established by the record.
The record shows the gap.
It shows who made the call.
It shows what the mother said.
It does not show what happened in that month.
That would require evidence.
THE GRANDMOTHER'S CALL
Cindy Anthony made the call on July 15, 2008.
She was the maternal grandmother, and she reported her two-year-old granddaughter missing in Orlando.
The investigation began with that call, after Casey Anthony had allegedly not produced the child for over a month.
Casey Anthony told investigators a story.
She said a babysitter named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez had taken Caylee.
Detectives, including Yuri Melich, looked for that babysitter.
They found no evidence that such a person existed.
No records.
No witnesses.
No Zenaida.
Casey Anthony gave multiple false statements, according to the case record.
She was later charged with four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.
What Cindy Anthony knew or suspected before making that call is not in the record.
She said her daughter had the child.
She said she had been asking to see Caylee for weeks.
What she believed on the morning of July 15 is a question the record leaves open.
It does not show what she thought.
It does not show what she had been told.
That would require evidence.
The record shows the call was made.
It shows the grandmother was the one who made it.
It does not show what happened in the month before.
THE CAR AND THE WOODS
The car had been found abandoned.
Forensic analysis revealed the presence of chloroform.
The analysis also detected a decomposition odor.
A stain in the trunk was later identified as consistent with human decomposition.
That is what the record states.
It does not state what the stain was.
It does not state what the odor was.
It states what the analysis indicated.
On December 11, 2008, a utility worker found skeletal remains.
The remains were in a wooded area near the Anthony family home.
The remains were positively identified as Caylee Anthony through DNA analysis.
Duct tape was found near the skull.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.
The exact cause of death could not be determined.
That is not established by the record.
The record shows the remains.
The record shows the duct tape.
The record shows the ruling.
It does not show how Caylee died.
The evidence closes in.
The cause remains open.
Was it the chloroform?
Was it the duct tape?
Was it something the record never captured?
That would require evidence.
There is none in the record.
TWO STORIES, ONE JURY
The prosecution told the jury one story: Casey Anthony killed her daughter to live a carefree life.
The defense told another: Caylee had accidentally drowned in the family pool.
The death, the defense argued, had been covered up.
That cover-up, the defense suggested, involved George Anthony disposing of the body.
The prosecution rejected that theory.
The jury did not accept it either.
There was a computer search for "foolproof suffocation" traced to the Anthony home computer.
The defense argued it was not Casey who performed the search.
The record does not say who did.
Two stories, one jury.
On July 5, 2011, the jury acquitted Casey Anthony of first-degree murder.
It acquitted her of aggravated child abuse.
It acquitted her of aggravated manslaughter.
She was convicted only of four counts of providing false information to law enforcement.
Neither story was fully accepted.
Which story, if either, is true is not established by the verdict.
The verdict was widely criticized by the public and legal commentators.
It left the chasm open.
It left the question standing.
It left a two-year-old girl's death without a cause the medical examiner could determine.
The jury heard both explanations.
The jury accepted neither.
That would require evidence.
The record does not have it.
AND THE STORY STILL ISN'T OVER
She has maintained her innocence.
The real Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez — the woman, not the fictional babysitter — sued her for defamation.
She won a judgment in 2012.
The amount was later reduced on appeal.
George and Cindy Anthony have remained in Florida.
They stay near the same ground where their granddaughter's remains were found.
No other person has ever been charged in Caylee Anthony's death.
Not a suspect, not an accomplice, not a single additional name on the record.
The case has been the subject of documentaries, books, and endless media coverage.
The coverage keeps the story open.
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Casey Anthony has largely remained out of the public eye.
She has occasionally appeared in media interviews.
She says the same thing each time.
She is innocent.
The jury acquitted her of the murder and abuse charges.
It convicted her only of lying to law enforcement.
Four counts of false information.
She served her time and was released.
What actually happened to Caylee Anthony is not established by the record.
Not by the medical examiner, who ruled the death a homicide but could not determine the cause.
Not by the duct tape found near the skull.
Not by the prosecution's story of a carefree life.
Not by the defense's story of a pool and a cover-up.
The jury accepted neither.
The story is not closed.
It is paused.
A two-year-old girl was last seen in mid-June.
Her grandmother reported her missing on July 15.
That is the gap that started everything.
It remains a gap.
The family remains.
The mother insists.
No one else has ever been charged.
That would require evidence.
The record does not have it.
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