Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony by Jeff Ashton Read Free Book Online Page A

and when the right moment arose, Casey would fess up about Caylee’s whereabouts. If that was the case, though, Casey was taking this incredibly far, and was now using police resources to fight with Cindy. It was a concerning possibility, but not nearly as concerning as what actually happened next.
    With new questions arriving by the minute, Melich went about trying to confirm other aspects of Casey’s story; only this time he knew he was dealing with a liar. By 9 A.M . Melich was at Universal Studios, looking for the friends, Jeff and Juliette, whom Casey claimed to have confided in about Caylee. More important, he wanted to see if the suspect, Zenaida Gonzalez, worked there, and if so, to learn more about her. He began with Universal Studio’s security manager, Leonard Turtora, and from Turtora’s office he called Casey, putting her on speakerphone.
    Even though he was already at Universal, Melich lied, telling her that he was about to go to her place of employment and needed to confirm some contact information before he went there. Deception like this is a common tactic during an investigation. You never want a witness to know what you know; otherwise you lose your advantage. The hope is that if you let them lie to you and catch them in some small part of it, they will crack and abandon the lie in its entirety. Most people aren’t good at adjusting their lies on the fly, so their only options are to tell the truth or clam up altogether. At least that’s how it usually works.
    Melich asked for her work number, direct extension, and boss’s name. She provided a number, an extension, and the name Tom Manley, who she said was her direct supervisor. After hanging up with Casey, Melich tried the extension she had provided, but it wasn’t a valid number. The name “Manley” did not exist in the company’s database, and Zenaida Gonzalez, who Casey claimed worked at the park on a part-time, seasonal basis, was also not in the system. A man named Jeffrey Hopkins had worked for Universal, but according to their records, he had been fired in May of 2002. Turtora could find no record of a Juliette Lewis, past or present.
    And then there was Casey herself. There was an entry for Casey Anthony, but she was not an event planner, and even more surprising, she was not a current employee. Apparently she had worked at the park selling photos at a souvenir shop but had been fired on April 24, 2006. Yet more than two years later, she was still claiming that she worked there. Three lies.
    Stunned, Melich leaned back in his chair. Over the course of a few short hours, her entire story had unraveled. Even though she’d sworn up and down that the version of events she’d given was completely true, his preliminary investigation had revealed just about every aspect to be a lie. And not only was she lying to the police, this woman had been playing everyone around her, including her parents and brother, for the last year at least. If not even those closest to her knew her reality, was there anything about her that was true? Did she really want to find her daughter, or was that the biggest lie of all?
    After ten minutes, he called Casey back and asked her to come to Universal, saying he’d send officers to bring her and would meet her there himself. Melich also asked her to bring her Universal ID card, but Casey said she had misplaced it. Still, she agreed to meet him at the theme park, and a few short minutes later Sergeant John Allen and Detective Appling Wells picked her up in an unmarked car.
    The scene at the security gate was almost comical. Sergeant Allen and Detective Wells followed Casey’s directions to the Universal employee parking lot and kept pace as she walked directly to the employee gate. There, they were met by Melich, Turtora, and the security guard working the gate. Everybody except the guard knew that Casey was not an employee there.
    Casey approached the security guard and informed him that she had forgotten her ID