The family of a missing toddler have set up a MySpace profile in efforts to make contact with anyone who can help locate her. Two year-old Caylee Marie Anthony has been missing since around June 9th, but, in a bizarre story leaving her mother a prime suspect, wasn’t reported missing until July 15th.
Caylee Marie Anthony
Missing Since June 9 2008 Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony, told police she hadn’t seen her daughter in five weeks, but didn’t report her missing until confronted by her parents about the toddler’s whereabouts. She claimed fear of police involvement causing harm to Caylee as the reason for not reporting it.
But Anthony’s behavior is much stranger than simply not reporting her missing child. The initial story she gave police and her parents was she had dropped Caylee off at her babysitter’s July 9th between 9:00 and 1:00, which is a strange time lapse itself, and hadn’t seen her since. Upon investigation, however, Anthony’s story proved more and more fictional.
The apartment she gave as the babysitter’s residence had been vacant for nearly five months. No one at the apartment complex had heard of the babysitter, whose name matched a woman who had filled out a visitor’s card there once. Police said the woman had never heard of either Casey or her daughter Caylee.
Anthony’s employment was also fabricated, but went so far as to stick with her story to the point of leading police down her supposed workplace hallways in search of her office, which didn’t exist. Most disturbing: The investigating officer says in his report Anthony showed no emotion as to the loss of her child, no concern about the Caylee’s wellbeing.
The officer also notes: “In the course of this investigation, I received calls from several persons who know the defendant. All claim she is a habitual liar and she has been known to steal from friends in the past.”
Though forced to admit some falsehoods during the investigation, Casey has stuck to most of her original story that Caylee was kidnapped. She’s being held without bond on charges of child neglect, obstructing a criminal investigation, and giving the police false statements.
Interestingly, her name and phone number is still listed on the MySpace page as a contact for information regarding Caylee’s whereabouts, along with grandparents, her uncle, and the detective on the case.
A post below her picture reads as though she typed it:
i am almost 3 years old.
i have shoulder-length, light brown hair
and i have dark hazel (brown/green) eyes.
i have a birth mark on my left shoulder/arm.
i’m approximately 3 feet tall,
and weigh about 35 lbs.
Searching on MySpace for the word “missing” brings back results, but none on the first page appear to be legitimate missing persons postings. Even if any real postings came up, it seems because of the bizarre, highly sentimental, and timely nature of this case, Caylee will likely receive a lot more press attention.
But as far as search efforts go, posting Caylee’s photo and description on MySpace seems like a smart move, and MySpace could serve as a central bulletin board for such things in the future. Perhaps MySpace should delegate a missing persons section to make it easier to find the postings, at least.
