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Nancy Grace
More George Anthony Interrogation Tapes Released
Aired November 07, 2008 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. Police desperately searching for a beautiful 3-year-old Florida girl, Caylee, after her grandparents report her missing, little Caylee not seen 20 long weeks, last seen with her mother. So why didn`t Mommy call police?
Bombshell. Just released today, caught on tape, grandfather George Anthony physically sick to his stomach describing the smell in mom Casey`s car and his fear Caylee dead in the trunk. And tonight, we have the tapes. On those tapes, from her father`s own mouth, we hear about tot mom Casey Anthony`s lifestyle, night after night out at Fusian lounge, a string of lovers, and Casey Anthony`s web of lies in the days and weeks after Caylee goes missing. This after 500-plus pages of highly sensitive police investigative files released.
And tonight, the search for Caylee back on. Texas Equusearch, a team of bounty hunters from across the country and literally thousands of volunteers converge in Orlando, mapping out key search zones by land, by air to find Caylee. Target? Heavily-wooded areas near the Orlando International Airport and the Anthony home. It`s all based on investigative leads and mom Casey`s cell phone pings placing the tot mom in the exact area at the time little Caylee goes missing. But still, tonight, where is Caylee?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE ANTHONY, MISSING TODDLER`S GRANDFATHER: I was really shocked to find out she was hanging out at this Fusian club. I guess that`s how she`s met all these people in the last two, two-and-a-half months. That`s what seems like that`s when Casey went really different for me.
Oh, after we pulled inside that garage, she said, her exact words were, Jesus Christ, what died? That`s exactly what she said. But then she said, in a way, she says, George, it was the pizza, right? And I said, Yes, it was the pizza. And that`s what left it go with that. But I`m sitting here as a grandfather, a father, as George Anthony and as a guy who smelled the smell before years ago and you just never forget. I even set my nose down on it and I`m concerned.
Where this is leading, I don`t want to think about it. I don`t want to think about that, but I had bad vibes the very first day when I got that car. I can be straight with you guys and hope it stays in the confines of us three. I don`t want to believe that I have raised, you know, someone and brought someone in this world that could do something to another person. I don`t want to believe that. And if it happens, all I can do is ask, if you guys can please call me so I can prepare my wife because it`s going to kill her.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: And tonight, a hometown Navy officer gunned down in cold blood. No, not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, in upscale Virginia suburbs, and the tragedy unfolds directly in front of the victim`s two little girls, his fiancee and the family dog on a stroll in a quaint, pristine neighborhood. Tonight, the manhunt. Who killed Navy Lieutenant Todd Cox (ph)?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We went from planning a wedding to a funeral. And it`s just the same nightmare every day you wake up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fiancee desperate for help, speaking out after her future husband brutally gunned down. Naval Lieutenant Todd Cox went for a walk with his family. Out of nowhere, a pick-up truck pulls up, a gunman walks up to Todd and fires at point-blank range, hitting Todd multiple times, the brutal murder right in front of his own fiancee and family. Now his fiancee begs for just one tip, so justice is served.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think for the whole family, we deserve answers, and whoever did this needs to pay for what they`ve done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening, I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Tonight, bombshell in the desperate search for a beautiful 3- year-old Florida girl, Caylee.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE ANTHONY: The wrecker -- I don`t know what the gentleman`s name, I still don`t know. I`m sure you guys know by now. But he -- as I opened up the door, he says, Whoa, does that stink! And I said -- I sat in the car for a second, opened up the passenger door because I was trying to vent that thing. And I smell, and I`m, like, Oh, God. I tried to start the car for a second, then I said, No, George, if there`s something wrong, you got to find out now. You can`t take it away.
I told the guy, I said, Will you please walk around to the back of this car and look inside (INAUDIBLE) As I walked around, I don`t believe I said to him anything out loud. I think I whispered out to myself, Please don`t let this be my Caylee. That`s what I thought. That`s what I -- my heart was there. Opened it up, and that`s when I seen that bag. I did see a stain. I think it`s right about where the spare time is at, basketball- size or something around there.
I have the same friggin` feeling that I did the day we found the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every tip that we get that`s out of state, the FBI calls up, not local agencies.
GEORGE ANTHONY: I`m not trying to get sick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.
GEORGE ANTHONY: I`m trying to be cool. But right now, my -- I`m just -- I don`t feel good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need a walk? Here. Come on. Let`s go for a walk. (INAUDIBLE) take a walk. I think we got everything we need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, George isn`t feeling good. He`s throwing up back here.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Just recounting what he went through made grandfather George Anthony physically sick, George and Cindy Anthony taken aback when they learned their little girl, their little granddaughter, has been gone over a month before tot mom Casey Anthony ever reveals it to them.
Straight out to Mark Williams at WNDB Newstalk 1150. What do we learn? You know, Mark, it`s very rare that juries, much less us, the public, gets to hear the actual interviews that police make during their interrogations.
MARK WILLIAMS, WNDB NEWSTALK 1150: Well, Nancy, one thing about these bombshell audiotapes, it shows you a different side of George Anthony we didn`t know existed. These explosive audiotapes just released -- we`ll hear them a little bit later on the show -- are just mind-boggling. For example, he talks about pulling into his -- into the garage with his car -- actually, it was Casey`s car, Cindy, his wife coming out, saying, and we`re quoting, Jesus Christ, what died? Was it the pizza? Kind of contradicting herself. And George says, yes, it`s the pizza, knowing that it wasn`t the pizza that was rotting in the back.
Also, shockingly, they had to stop the interview with George Anthony at least once because he became physically ill when he was starting to think about the smell of death he received from the car and literally threw up right there in the investigator`s office, Nancy.
GRACE: I want to go straight out to Dr. Lilian Glass, psychologist and body language expert, author of "I Know What You`re Thinking." Dr. Glass, from my own experience after a violent crime, I remember the smell of food literally made me sick. What is the mind/body connection that when you are facing a tragedy, you literally get sick?
LILLIAN GLASS, PSYCHOLOGIST: What happens is, you relive the situation and all of a sudden, everything just explodes, literally, because you have gone through what`s like a sensed memory. You`re reliving the whole situation, and so that`s what really made him sick, the reality of the situation.
GRACE: Joining me tonight, a famed medical examiner, Dr. Joshua Perper out of Miami jurisdiction. He`s the author of "When to Call the Doctor." Dr. Perper, it`s great to see you. Thank you for being with us. Doctor, medically speaking, we hear George Anthony physically getting sick. He had to leave the interrogation, he got so sick describing when he smelled the smell of death in the tot mom`s car and his fear as they opened up the trunk, Please don`t let it be Caylee, Please don`t let it be Caylee in the trunk. What is the mind/body connection? Why does your body physically retch when you are upset or afraid or you hear shocking news?
DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, our body and our mind are really one unit. In the Western world, we divide between them. And in the East, they recognize that they are one unit, and therefore, if you are upset, your parasympathetic system, nervous system, becomes involved and people become -- start to vomit. They become very pale. They become paralyzed sometimes. That`s -- those are the reactions which I expect.
GRACE: Well, you know what`s interesting, Dr. Perper, after many, many crime scenes and dead bodies I saw as a prosecutor -- none of that, blood, you name it, never made me sick at all. But when it happened to me in my personal life, that made me sick. I think you`re right. The way we view the mind/body connection is very, very separate. It`s very compartmentalized.
Everybody, we are taking your calls live. But first, let`s listen to more of these police interrogation tapes. They are just released. And is let me remind you this is extremely rare, very unusual that even a jury, much less the public, gets to hear actual police interrogations. Take a listen to grandfather George Anthony.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE ANTHONY: What does it mean? I don`t want to think about it. I don`t want to think about that. But I had bad vibes the very first day when I got that car. I can be straight with you guys and hope it stays in the confines of us three. I don`t want to believe that I have raised, you know, someone and brought someone in this world that could do something to another person. I don`t want to believe that. And if it happens, all I can do is ask if you guys can please call me so I can prepare my wife because it`s going to kill her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I first saw you that night, when I first came to your house, there was a mention of the car and there was a mention of what you smelled in the car. Do you remember what you told me?
GEORGE ANTHONY: Yes. I believe that there`s -- something was dead back there. And I hate to say the word human. I hate to say that. When I first went there to pick up that vehicle, I got within three feet of it, I could smell something. You look up and you say, Please don`t let this be. Please don`t let this be. Because I`m thinking of my daughter and my granddaughter first. I glance in the car on the passenger side, I see her seat`s there and I see some other stuff around in it. As I walk around to the driver`s side and I put the key in it, I said, Please don`t let this be what I think it is.
The wrecker -- I don`t know what the gentleman`s name, I still don`t know. I`m sure you guys know by now. But he -- as I opened up the door, he says, Whoa, does that stink! And I said -- I sat in the car for a second, opened up the passenger door because I was trying to vent that thing. And I smell, and I`m, like, Oh, God. I tried to start the car for a second, then I said, No, George, if there`s something wrong, you got to find out now. You can`t take it away.
I told the guy, I said, Will you please walk around to the back of this car and look inside (INAUDIBLE) As I walked around, I don`t believe I said to him anything out loud. I think I whispered out to myself, Please don`t let this be my Caylee. That`s what I thought. That`s what I -- my heart was there. Opened it up, and that`s when I seen that bag. I did see a stain. I think it`s right about where the spare time is at, basketball- size or something around there.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did your wife think about it being when she first noticed it? Did she actually notice it, or did she make any comments on it?
GEORGE ANTHONY: Oh, after we pulled inside that garage, she said, her exact words were, Jesus Christ, what died? That`s exactly what she said. But then she said, in a way, she says, George, it was the pizza, right? And I said, Yes, it was the pizza. And that`s what left it go with that. But I`m sitting here as a grandfather, a father, as George Anthony and as a guy who smelled the smell before years ago and you just never forget. I even set my nose down on it and I`m concerned.
When I drove around, I told my wife, I said, This car stinks so bad, I can`t -- I`m having a hard time driving it home. It`s raining outside. I have the windows down in this car probably this much to get home. I couldn`t freaking breathe.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: You are hearing extremely rare -- this is police interrogation tapes. And this is grandfather George Anthony`s police speak to him. I`ve got to go out to Brian Reich, deputy chief with Bergen County sheriff`s office. I know you`ve been on a lot of crime scenes, as have I, and I was just trying to describe it here to the people on the set. Once you smell the smell of a dead body, a rotting body, rancid human flesh, it`s -- somebody just asked me, What is it like? It`s like nothing you`ve ever encountered before, and once you smell it, nobody has to tell you what it is. You just know. You know what it is. And you know from then on what it is.
BRIAN REICH, DEPUTY CHIEF, BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: Absolutely. It`s a very distinct smell, and it`s certainly something you`ll never forget if you`ve had the unfortunate opportunity to have to smell it. And I have smelled that smell before, and I can certainly relate to the -- to not forgetting about what it would smell like.
GRACE: I`m trying to say -- out to Leonard Padilla, bounty hunter helping search for Caylee Anthony. He first put up Casey Anthony`s bond, came off that bond. He`s at the Orlando search command post tonight. Leonard, I`m sure you`ve probably on crime scenes, as well. And I was trying to explain, if you imagine the worst garbage, the worst smell you`ve ever smelled and then multiply it by about 50, that`s what you get. It literally -- just the smell can make you throw up.
LEONARD PADILLA, BOUNTY HUNTER: That`s right. And once you`ve smelled it -- my very first experience was in Contra Costa. A lady got killed on a Friday night, I think, or Saturday morning. And Monday, we were there because she failed to appear on her bond sometime before. And as you neared that motel room, you could see that something was wrong. And we couldn`t understand why the manager hadn`t been down there or -- well, she didn`t work over the weekend. But once you smell it -- and even right now, when you`re describing and you`re talking about it, I can still smell it.
GRACE: Yes, yes.
PADILLA: And I`m telling you, once you`ve been there, you`ll never forget it.
GRACE: Never forget it.
PADILLA: I`ll never forget it.
GRACE: Everybody, extremely unusual that the public is allowed to hear police interrogation tapes. Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE ANTHONY: I have the same friggin` feeling that I did the day we found the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every tip that we get that`s out of state, the FBI calls up, not local agencies.
GEORGE ANTHONY: I`m not trying to get sick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.
GEORGE ANTHONY: I`m trying to be cool. But right now, my -- I`m just -- I don`t feel good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need a walk? Here. Come on. Let`s go for a walk. (INAUDIBLE) take a walk. I think we got everything we need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, George isn`t feeling good. He`s throwing up back here.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE ANTHONY: I was really shocked to find out she was hanging out at this Fusian club. I guess that`s how she`s met all these people in the last two, two-and-a-half months. That`s what seems like that`s when Casey went really different for me. At least, that`s what I`m getting from her friends. Whether or not that`s true or not -- maybe she was doing it months before. I don`t know. I -- I -- she`s an adult. I`ve got no control over her.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Joining us right now, Mandy Albritton. She`s the deputy director of Texas Equusearch. She`s helping to lead the search for Caylee. She`s joining us right now from the Orlando search command post. Mandy, thank you for being with us.
MANDY ALBRITTON, TEXAS EQUUSEARCH: Thank you, Nancy.
GRACE: The search kicks off in just hours. Explain to me, what`s the first thing you guys are doing?
ALBRITTON: Well, one the most important things we`re doing right now is we`re holding a team leader training session. And we have 500 registered team leaders who are being briefed on Texas Equusearch`s policies and procedures. We also have our staff medical examiner, who is briefing them, as well. Once they`re trained, they`ll be able to come out in the morning and manage a team of 15 people, get out into the field, and hopefully, we can bring this to a close very soon.
GRACE: To Leonard Padilla, bounty hunter helping in the search for Caylee. He has been rounding up bounty hunters from all across the country to start the search tomorrow. Leonard, I understand everybody has to wear a badge, and I`ve got the form everybody`s got to fill out. Why is that? Why does everybody have to wear a badge?
PADILLA: Well, in other things that I`ve been involved in, you don`t want to go out with 2,000 or 3,000 people searching for somebody, and then all of a sudden, you lose somebody or something takes place that you don`t really know who it happened to. So it`s very important. I mean, there are times when people say, Well, you know, everybody knows who I am. Their ego is bigger than their brain.
GRACE: Right.
PADILLA: However, everybody wears a badge. I had mine made up last night by a young lady. And Tim has got -- Tim`s got probably, without a doubt, the best search organization I`ve ever run into. And I`ve seen law enforcement with organizations across the country that do the same work. Tim`s got it down to a science. He really does.
GRACE: Everybody, that search set to kick off in the Orlando area, thousands of volunteers converging in the search for Caylee. We are live there at the search command center. We are taking your calls live. We`ll kick it off when we get back from this break.
But first, in the last hours, a guilty verdict in the 2005 tragedy inside an Atlanta courtroom. A violent offender facing a jury on charges of rape and sodomy makes his way through a courthouse, gunning down a judge, an official court reporter and deputy, all before killing a federal agent while on the run. Brian Nichols confessed to the shooting spree, but claims insanity. Superior court judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Brandau, Sheriff`s Deputy Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm all murdered in cold blood. Monday morning, penalty phase, Nichols facing the death penalty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Words can`t express how proud I am to be called his daughter and to have his last name. Anybody who knows me will tell you that he`s my everything. And I am so proud that the world knows now, even under these circumstances, what a great man my father was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it a weekday, when you were working, or a weekend?
GEORGE ANTHONY: You guys are asking about the 24th? Maybe it was the 24th.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the 24th is the day she took the cans.
GEORGE ANTHONY: Took the cans. That`s...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess what we`re looking at is -- is that what -- it gets back to the -- if the cans are taken on the 24th, that`s because -- that`s in your report. So we know that`s a good date.
GEORGE ANTHONY: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think the thing with the pool happened...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the car is towed in the 30th.
GEORGE ANTHONY: (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you know she`s not driving from then.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight out to Mark Williams with WNDB. When he says, The pool thing, is he talking about when the ladder to the pool was misplaced?
WILLIAMS: Yes, Nancy, he was talking about that the pool area gate was open, the ladder was taken up. And that was around June 24 or so. That was the same day George Anthony had a confrontation with Casey over the gas cans that she had in the back of her car. He wanted to get close to the car, but she wouldn`t let him. It was not a pretty scene out at the Anthony household, Nancy.
GRACE: We are taking your calls live. Sheeba in Illinois. Hi, Sheeba.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy, dear. I know that I came down pretty hard on her mother the other day. But my question is, would the lawyer -- would the lawyer -- their lawyer have them maybe get some psychological help, whether or whether or not they find Caylee? Because I really worry about them.
GRACE: Excellent question. Joining us tonight, let`s unleash the lawyers, Paul Batista and John Burres. John Burres, have you ever suggested one of your clients get help, emotional help?
JOHN BURRES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, my clients, I just suggest that all of the time. I think it`s very important that they have -- get help in a case, whether they need it or not.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SGT. JOHN ALLEN, ORANGE COUNTY INVESTIGATOR: Do you think that Casey believes that nobody would forgive her if something happened, if some accident happened, some bad thing?
GEORGE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY`S FATHER: That`s -- that is -- that`s -- I`m not able to answer. I`m going to have to think about.
ALLEN: If she ever -- if she thinks that nobody would forgive her for.
ANTHONY: Right. Because when she started coming clean with the money she was taking, and this and that coming up, yes, she balled. I mean she literally balled. She didn`t -- because we just kept on catching her in stuff.
I`ll tell you one thing, I don`t know how one time she made a $4400 or $4,000 deposit into my wife`s account. We still don`t know how she did it. It looked very real, you know, the carbon copy type of thing, and it looked real.
CPL. YURY MELICH, ORANGE COUNTY INVESTIGATOR: Well, did she actually deposit that money or is it -- she just hand you a deposit slip that.
ANTHONY: Right. Now that`s the same amount, I believe, I gave my wife when I sold my Toyota Camry. But I sold my Camry last year, last August. That`s where I got my other car from.
MELICH: What do you think needs to be done?
ANTHONY: Have a chance to talk to her. I -- know one thing. She`ll confide in me probably to a point. Then again, my temperament of being the father might come out and say, listen, don`t give me any crap. Just tell me what`s going on. So that would be the wrong approach for her.
My -- wife is going to drill her from the toes to her head and.
(CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: And she`s not going to tell your wife. No, I really don`t think she`s going to tell her.
ANTHONY: The only one I really believe. I`ve said it before and I`ll keep saying it, her and my son have a different kind of communication that we -- even our son started telling us stuff after all this stuff happened.
ALLEN: Yes.
ANTHONY: Well, Casey told me about this guy. And she`s staying with this guy, and she`s been with this guy. And I`m like, oh man, oh man."
(END AUDIO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: And there we hear, our to Nikki Pierce with WDBO -- Nikki, the story George Anthony recounts about how his daughter presented a fake deposit slip for, like, $4,000, and it wasn`t real. The money had not deposited into the parents` account.
NIKKI PIERCE, REPORTER, WDBO RADIO: Yes. They -- she apparently said something along the lines of having that 4,000 or $5,000 to Jose Baez, saying that she was going to present $1400 now, and the balance when she, quote, "gets out of this situation." But she simply didn`t have the money, according to George.
GRACE: You were just seeing and hearing little Caylee Anthony.
Everybody, we are taking your calls live. I want to go back to John Burress, San Francisco defense attorney.
You just said you have your clients get counseling, whether they need it or not?
JOHN BURRESS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, I didn`t mean whether they need it or not. Obviously, I don`t have them do counseling unless they do need it. There are two considerations there.
GRACE: But that`s what you said.
BURRESS: One, you look at whether -- I know. What you`re looking for is clinical, whether or not they really need treatment for help. And the second, you`re looking at forensic point of view, and whether or not there`s some kind of psychological disorder that may be necessary to be used in court.
GRACE: Oh, you mean, you get them evaluated whether they need it or not. OK, I get it.
BURRESS: Yes, get them evaluated, because there may be a psychological disorder in existence that you may want to use.
GRACE: Got it.
BURRESS: On the other hand, there may not be and just clinically they need help because they`re suffering.
GRACE: They need to be -- OK, I understand now. To Paul Batista.
BURRESS: And that`s not discoverable.
GRACE: To defense attorney and author of "Death`s Witness," Paul, what the caller was asking about was George and Cindy Anthony, should they have some type of help dealing with little Caylee`s disappearance or death?
PAUL BATISTA, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, AUTHOR OF "DEATH`S WITNESS": Well, I can speak as a human.
GRACE: And dealing with the whole Casey situation.
BATISTA: Yes, I can speak as a human being, not as a lawyer.
GRACE: As a lawyer, do you tell your clients they need counseling?
BATISTA: Almost never, Nancy. I`m a lawyer, not a doctor. If I have a client who`s in a great deal of distress, I might say, hey, Mr. Smith, maybe it`s a good idea if you get counseling. But that`s not really a legal determination. I do -- I do it as a human being.
Here -- here, it may be appropriate. George Anthony is, obviously, in a great deal of anguish, and I might say to him, George, you might see someone.
GRACE: Everybody, we are playing for you tapes that have just been released in the past hour. Police interrogation tapes of grandfather, George Anthony. And boy, are they revealing. Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ANTHONY: On Sunday we had the prayer vigil type at our house. There were 15, 18 of not only a couple friends of my son`s that knows Casey and my son very well. We talked about so much stuff. What happened in the last two years? Guys, help us out. What`s going on?
Everyone kept on telling us, Casey`s a good mom, Casey, this, Casey would call her mom. Whenever she was out with Caylee, she always had to make sure Caylee was away from alcohol or someone smoking.
That`s what they told us. Now in the last two, two and a half months, these same friends that she`s had for -- since she`s been a little one. They`ve been over our house. They`ve been out of the picture.
ALLEN: Yes.
ANTHONY: Maybe she might call them, but then she tells lie upon lie upon something else to get them going in different directions.
I don`t like this freaking attorney that she has. I can tell you that right now from personal experience, I don`t like the guy. I told you that guy, I`ve become -- my daughter talked to someone when you guys initially incarcerated her.
And I guess whoever she talked to, you know, according to my daughter now, this is what Mr. Baez told me, or Jose, I`ll just call him that, says -- told, Jose Baez, I asked someone who`s a good attorney? And she has $5,000 supposedly or at least $1400 of it, to give to him as a retainer to assist.
We did not contact this man. We initially -- when he came to our -- called us, we thought the guy was a court appointed attorney. And you know, that`s what we though, because my daughter does not -- I don`t think she has any money.
My wife and I discussed this thing about the pool. My wife, when called me one day, after she was home from work, she called me, she said, George, did you shut the gate? I said, what gate? She said, the gate around the side. I said, Cindy, I always shut it. It`s always locked or I shut it, or make sure I have it shut.
She say, well, I came home and the gate`s wide open. And by the way, thanks for taking and leaving the ladder upon on the pool. I said, I didn`t go swimming. I`m not a real swimmer. I mean I go in it to cool off and I don`t really stay in it for periods of times. I didn`t put the ladder on it. I wouldn`t do that.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
GRACE: Straight back to Nikki Pierce with WDBO, according to George Anthony, grandfather George, what theories have he and wife Cindy Anthony discussed about Caylee`s disappearance?
PIERCE: I think the one that has gotten the most discussion between the two of them is evidenced in the clip that you just played, that they had been discussing the facts that Caylee loved to swim, and sometimes, very rarely, but sometimes the ladder may be left out on the pool, so that it`s accessible to her.
And perhaps it was a tragic accident, and she drowned in that pool. That was the one that was discussed the most when they did entertain the notion.
GRACE: Yes. Back to John Burress and Paul Batista, our lawyers tonight. A tragic accident does not account for the online searches for how to make chloroform, do-it-yourself sedative, and a lot of other forensic evidence.
If there was an accident, John Burress, why not call 911?
BURRESS: Well, of course, that makes sense to do it. But, you know, I think that if there is an accident, she very well may have panicked, she may well have thought that no one is going to believe this, and therefore, she disassociated and turned to what the right thing to do was.
I mean, this is a lady who apparently had a lot of emotional problems that she was going through. I don`t think it`s inconceivable that this was an accident in terms of what happened.
GRACE: To the lines, Bonnie in Pennsylvania. Hi, Bonnie.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy, thank you for taking my call.
GRACE: Yes, ma`am, what`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, Caylee seems to have a good relationship with her grandparents. Didn`t she -- didn`t the grandparents ever speak to Caylee about the babysitter or where she is doctoring during the day?
GRACE: Interesting question. To Natisha Lance, our producer at the search command post tonight -- Natisha, what do we know about whether little Caylee ever mentioned the nanny?
NATISHA LANCE, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s actually something that`s has never come up. That`s a great question. But they have never mentioned anything about Zenaida Gonzalez. There`s no pictures of Zenaida Gonzalez. Cindy has said that she`s never met Zenaida Gonzalez. She never had to pick up Caylee from the babysitter Zenaida Gonzalez.
So that`s a great question one that hopefully will get answered at some point soon.
GRACE: What about it, Mark Williams?
MARK WILLIAMS, NEWS DIRECTOR, WNDB NEWSTALK 1150: Natisha, wholeheartedly, there has never been any discussion in the Anthony household about Zenaida. Again, no pictures, nothing like that. So she was just Zenaida -- this Zenaida person was just somebody out there in space, an imaginary person that allegedly Casey.
GRACE: So, of course, the child never mentioned it.
WILLIAMS: Yes. So.
GRACE: Everybody, quick break. We are taking your calls live.
Just released in the last hours, bombshell interrogation tapes of grandfather George Anthony we are playing for you tonight.
And as we go to break, at your request, new photos of the twins, celebrating their first birthday. I`ll post these on the Web tonight. This is the day of their birthday.
Oh, first toothbrush. There you have it. They liked it. Here we are after party. A serenade on her birthday and his birthday. This is our little music class at "Moon Soup."
The tee-shirt said, "It`s my birthday." Yes, I dressed her in a tutu. I never thought as long as I lived I would do that to a little girl. But I did it. And isn`t she beautiful? Oh, yes, we had to have bubbles. There he is.
Oh, there`s his grandfather, just before the party.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The sounds of gunfire quickly turned this tranquil neighborhood in a chaotic crime scene. At around 8:00, police say Todd Cox, his fiancee and two children were walking their dog along Beverly Avenue when the shooter gunned Cox down.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Megan says she made eye contact with the driver who would become Todd`s killer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And a truck drove by, turned around a dead end and came back and pulled over behind us, and next thing I know, Todd pushed me down on to the ground, and I hear shots. And I -- looked over, and he was on the ground.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: A military man gunned down. No, not Iraq or Afghanistan, right here on U.S. soil. The worst part -- there is a worst part. He is gunned down in front of his fiancee and two little children as they`re out walking the family dog.
Let`s go straight to Jane Velez-Mitchell, investigative reporter and now host of "ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL" at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on HEADLINE NEWS.
Jane, what happened?
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST, "ISSUES WITH JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL": Well, this is a horrific story. You see he is such a handsome Naval officer, a war hero, good family man. He is walking last April 24th at about 8:00 p.m., down a quiet tree-lined street, in a very safe neighborhood, with his fiancee. They had gotten engaged less than a month ago.
His child from a previous marriage, a 9-year-old girl, and her daughter from a previous marriage, an 11-year-old girl, are up a little further ahead with the family dog. Just a beautiful scene.
Well, suddenly, this pickup truck drives past them, goes to the dead end, and then doubles back, and then this man -- this mystery strange man, gets out of the car, and guns this Naval officer, this war hero down. Execution-style. When he tumbles to the ground, they keep pumping the bullets into him.
This individual -- now, this is not a robbery, he didn`t take anything, he didn`t really interact with anybody else, just gets back in his pickup truck, drives off. This is seven months ago, they have absolutely no suspects, they don`t know why this happened. They talked to all the lieutenant`s friends. Nobody had a grudge.
It was certainly not motivated by money, because the suspect diplomat take didn`t take anything. It is a total mystery, and the fiancee is tortured and devastated, as are the children.
And I saw the letter that she wrote to you, Nancy, and I`m really happy you`re doing this story, because that letter broke my heart.
GRACE: Everybody, I`ve got to tell you about the tip. There`s a $2,000 reward, and the tip line is 888-LOCK-U-UP, 888-562-5887. And joining me right now, everyone, we need your help.
Who killed a man who has served our country for so long, on the verge of starting a new life with his girlfriend of three years, just engaged, blending their families, out for a walk, in a good neighborhood.
With me right now, Megan McGuire, Lieutenant Todd Cox`s fiancee.
Miss McGuire, thank you for being with us.
MEGAN MCGUIRE, LT. TODD COX`S FIANCEE, DAD & NAVAL OFFICER SHOT IN COLD BLOOD: Thank you.
GRACE: When did you guys plan to get married?
MCGUIRE: Either this October or November. We were going to do it this fall.
GRACE: And I understand it was going to be an outside ceremony with all of your blended family there together?
MCGUIRE: That`s correct.
GRACE: And you had just gotten your engagement ring, right here in the diamond district in Manhattan and were so excited you took the wrong train home.
MCGUIRE: We did.
GRACE: Megan, what has your life been like since this incident, and how are the little girls?
MCGUIRE: It`s been a nightmare. The kids are doing -- they`re doing well. All of them are in counseling. Just trying to move forward with our lives.
GRACE: You know, it`s hard enough when violent crime touches your life, but at such a young age, 9 and 11? What can you remember about that night? What do you remember about the shooter?
MCGUIRE: I just looked at him briefly, as he passed us, driving down the street. Just a black male. I believe he had on a white tee shirt and blue jeans. I really saw him get out of the truck out of my peripheral vision, and before I knew it, Todd had pushed me down on the ground, and the shots started. So I didn`t really get a very -- you know, very long look at him.
GRACE: What about the truck? What do you recall about the truck? What can you tell us about that?
MCGUIRE: It was a mid `90s model Ford F150. It was white, two-toned with green. So the base of the truck was white with green stripes. Just an older, kind of beat-up work-type truck.
GRACE: Did he say anything? Were any words exchanged?
MCGUIRE: No, he didn`t say a word.
GRACE: What did you do as soon as he was shot? What did you do?
MCGUIRE: I was -- I was laying on the ground, and I had my arms over my head. Basically, once I realized what was happening, really, I just laid there and waited to get shot myself. I thought for sure that he was going to shoot me, too.
And then as soon as the shots stopped, I heard the truck start, and the truck was leaving, and I looked over.
GRACE: Everyone, Megan, hold on one moment. We`re going to break. She is going to join us afterwards, and we`re going to give you the tip line again.
But right now, "CNN HEROES."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Heroes.
WYNTON MARSALIS, MUSICIAN: The most essential thing for the development of kids are those things that they do that`s not school-related. Started this group (INAUDIBLE), a talent show at a young age. You can do whatever you put your mind to it.
I`m Wynton Marsalis and my hero uses jazz music to inspire the minds and souls of young folks.
DAVEY YARBOROUGH, CHAMPIONING CHILDREN: Back in the `80s one of my visual arts students was killed due to his involvement with drug trafficking. To have an element on the streets take a student that was so bright and so promising was a trigger for me to open a music (INAUDIBLE) program to take young people and nurture them on their time.
One, 2, and -- I really wanted to be able to see the students develop. We have a mentoring system of professional artists. Sometimes I wonder am I really getting through? When I see that light go on in the students` face, I can wake up tomorrow and do it again.
MARSALIS: He is the next step of heroic actions. He sacrifices. He actually is fulfilling himself. The students, they all admire him and look up to him. And they love him.
ANNOUNCER: Vote now at CNN.com.
CNN Heroes is sponsored by.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: What a week in America`s courtrooms. Take a look at the stories and more important the people who touched our lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The murder weapon used to kill Jennifer Hudson`s mother, brother and nephew reportedly belonged to Hudson`s brother Jason. Jason Hudson allegedly owned a gun identical to the .45 caliber pistol used in the murders.
GRACE: What can you tell me about the weapon, Michael Sapraicone?
MICHAEL SAPRAICONE, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: It`s a killer`s gun, it`s an assassin`s gun. It`s often used by drug dealers and criminals.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: An attorney hired by tot mom Casey Anthony`s defense team is reportedly asking prosecutors to show Anthony some mercy and not seek the death penalty.
GRACE: They actually state this death did occur? It was almost certainly due to an unwitting overdose of sedative, and they allude to chloroform?
KATHI BELICH, REPORTER, WFTV, COVERING STORY: That`s right. They say it was almost certainly a tragic accident.
GRACE: There are not bonuses based on your client`s case.
MARK NEJAME, ATTORNEY FOR GEORGE AND CINDY ANTHONY: Nobody`s saying that. But -- hold on.
GRACE: No, you just said that, Mr. Nejame.
NEJAME: I said that.
GRACE: Yes, you did.
NEJAME: If you`ll allow me to finish, I don`t know what you`re afraid of hearing. If you`d allow me to finish, I`ll tell you.
GRACE: I`d like to hear the truth.
TIM MILLER, HEAD OF EQUUSEARCH, RESUMING SEARCH FOR CAYLEE ANTHONY: The check went to you show and you all mail that to us, and we opened that this morning and it was a check from one of your viewers that said, please, this donation is for Texas Equusearch for Caylee Anthony`s search. And it is in honor of your children`s birthdays.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: I want to remind you the tip line on that Virginia story is 888- LOCK-U-UP. We`re also putting the information on our Web site, CNN.com/Nancygrace.
Let`s stop and remember Marine Sergeant Glen Martinez, 31, Boulder, Colorado, killed Iraq on a second tour. Highly decorated. An Ottawa University grad. A smile lit up a room, loved baseball, football, wrestling, classical music, and the rock band the Eagles.
Leaves behind parents Ron and Carol, sister Laurie, widow Melissa, a Marine sergeant also killed in Iraq.
Glen Martinez, American hero.
Thanks to our guests and especially to you. Good night from the New York control room, there they are, Brett and Rosie.
And tonight, good night from Georgia and Alabama friends of the show, Derrick, happy birthday, Kelly and Donna.
Everybody, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.
END
