This trial is getting crazier by the day! TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Reuters
ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – A meter reader recounted on Tuesday how he found the skull of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony in August 2008 but couldn’t get anyone to take him seriously until four months later when investigators recovered the body in the spot he identified.
Roy Kronk is a key witness for the defense in the first-degree murder trial of 25-year-old Casey Anthony, accused of smothering daughter Caylee on June 16, 2008 and dumping her remains in woods near their home.
Kronk is one of several people who defense attorney Jose Baez has said may have played a role in the disposal of Caylee’s remains.
Kronk has so far said that on August 11, 2008, he parked his work truck on Suburban Drive — around the corner from the Anthonys’ home — and walked into the woods to relieve himself. Kronk said he noticed about 30 feet away what appeared to be a small, white skull.
He said he told two co-workers with him what he saw, but they were too distracted by the body of a water moccasin snake to pay attention. Kronk said he called a crime tip line later that night to report the skull-like object.
At the time, a nationwide search was underway to find Caylee, who Casey claimed was kidnapped by a nanny.
But detectives were zeroing in on Casey, who they knew had lied extensively about Caylee’s disappearance. Special tip lines were created to handle the thousands of tips and leads sent to authorities.
Kronk said he called the Orange County Sheriff’s Office again a day or two after his first call. This time, two deputies met him on Suburban Drive. But they did not go into the woods or ask him to show them the skull-like object.
“I just pointed in the area,” Kronk said.
Kronk’s meter route brought him back to Suburban Drive on December 11, 2008. This time when he reported the skull, investigators came to the scene and found Caylee’s remains.
PSYCHIC TIP
The defense maintains that Caylee drowned in the Anthony family’s backyard pool, and no one reported her death. Defense attorneys have also tried to raise questions about what happened to Caylee’s body in the six months between her death and the recovery of her remains.
Earlier in the morning, the defense team continued for a second day to stress that numerous other people had fruitlessly searched the same woods in the general area where Caylee’s remains ultimately were found.
Private investigator Dominic Casey and his helper, James Hoover, testified on Monday that they searched the same general area in November 2008 based on a psychic’s tip and did not find the body.
Casey’s mother Cindy denied under questioning by defense lawyers on Tuesday that she had directed the private investigator to follow up on the tip.
However, Casey’s brother Lee testified that his mother told him prior to October 2008 that she had sent the private investigator to follow up on the psychic’s tip.
Lee said he specifically remembered the incident because it was the first time anyone in his family had indicated a willingness to search for a body rather than a live Caylee.
Casey’s father, George Anthony, also took the stand briefly again on Tuesday, denying assertions by defense attorney Baez that he had an affair with search volunteer Krystal Holloway. George testified he only went to Holloway’s condominium to comfort her after learning she had cancer.
“I never had a romantic affair,” George said.
He denied ever telling Holloway that “Caylee’s death was an accident that snowballed out of control.” He also said he never told her that he grabbed Casey by the throat, threw her against a wall and demanded Casey tell him where Caylee was.
“She (Holloway) is not a good person,” George testified.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Johnston)
