After years of shrouded mystery surrounding the disappearance and death of Caylee Anthony, her mother, Casey Anthony, 36, is not only sharing her truth, but casting blame. After her attorney, Jose Baez, theorized that Caylee drowned in the family pool, Casey tells cameras in the anticipated Peacock docuseries Casey Anthony: Where The Truth Lies set to drop on November 29, 2022 – that her father, George Anthony, staged Caylee’s drowning to cover up possible abuse on his part. 

“I wasn’t feeling that great, and I wanted to lay down. I had her lay in bed with me,” Casey explains oncamera of June 16, 2008, the fateful day that Caylee was seen alive for the last time. 

“I was awoken by [my father] shaking me and asking me where Caylee was. That didn’t make sense. She would never even leave my room without telling me,” the photographer continues in the docuseries. “I immediately started looking around the house. I go outside and I’m looking to see where she could be.”

“He was standing there with her. 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,” Casey details. “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.” After the events on June 16, 2008, Casey went to stay with her then-boyfriend, Tony Lazzaro, reportedly leaving Caylee with her parents under the impression she was alive and well. 

Casey’s recalled experiences oncamera come after Baez asserted that she never would’ve waited a month to report Caylee missing if she had thought her daughter was in danger. 

casey anthony, jose baez getty images

“How in the world can a mother wait 30 days before ever reporting her child missing? That’s insane, that’s bizarre,” Jose said during Casey’s defense trial, according to ABC News. “The answer is actually relatively simple. She never was missing. Caylee Anthony died on June 16, 2008 when she drowned in her family’s swimming pool.” He went on to claim that Casey’s father found Caylee’s body and helped dispose of it.

Motive is a key component of the anticipated Peacock docuseries, and Anthony asserts oncamera that her father abused her starting when she was just 8 years old. When the alleged abuse on her father’s part stopped around her 12th birthday, Anthony accuses her brother of picking up the act, assaulting her until she was 15. In the docuseries, Anthony then casts blame on her father, telling cameras that he targeted Caylee in her short life, motivating him to murder the young child to cover up wrongdoing. Both men have denied the allegations and have never been charged. 

Six years after Casey was found not guilty, her father denied the drowning theory created by her defense team. “I don’t believe [the drowning]. That’s a bunch of bull to me,” he said in 2017. “That’s too easy of a story to bring up ‘cause if that would’ve happened, I think my daughter would’ve at least had the common decency or common sense inside to call 911 and say something. That’s a bunch of crap.”

True crime aficionados agree with her dad, taking to social media over the years to present evidence Caylee’s death was not a “simple” accident. “So if Caylee Anthony ‘DID’ drown in the pool, why was there duck tape covering her mouth? What would be the point if she had already died?” one person asked. Another pointed out, “Why else would there be 84 chloroform searches on her computer and chloroform in her car!?”

Despite the doubts cast by spectators, Casey – who is shedding a new light on her perspective in the forthcoming Peacock docuseries – maintains that she never “hurt” Caylee. “No one can ever tell me I should just get over the fact that my daughter isn’t here, and I’ve been blamed for her being gone,” Casey tells cameras. 

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