ORLANDO, Fla. – Casey Anthony's defense team claimed during opening statements on Tuesday that Caylee Anthony drowned in the Anthony family pool, but in a recorded conversation from jail with her parents, Anthony dismisses that possibility when suggested by her parents.
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A meeting between Anthony and her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, at the Orange County Jail in August 2008 was recorded and released to the public.
During that meeting, George and Cindy Anthony suggested the possibility that Caylee could have drowned in the pool.
"Someone just said that Caylee was dead this morning. That she died in the pool," Cindy Anthony told her daughter.
"Surprise, surprise," Casey Anthony responded.
Casey Anthony scoffed at the suggestion during that visit, but now, her defense said that is exactly how Caylee died on June 16, 2008. The defense said George Anthony found and retrieved the body.
The state will likely play the recorded visit for jurors, including the part where George and Casey Anthony express their love for each other, exchanging "I love yous."
The defense could argue that Casey Anthony was so traumatized by the alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her father that she was in a defensive mode, Local 6 reporter Tony Pipitone said. George Anthony has denied the accusations.
Casey Anthony's ex-fiance, Jesse Grund, discussed the possibility that Caylee could have drowned in the family pool with police in an interview in August 2008.
"I never, I didn?t know enough about Caylee and the pool. I knew that they like to, and I knew that Caylee loved the pool. But I never ever actually saw Caylee in the pool. Now I was under the understanding they had actually had to move the ladder because Caylee kept trying to get into the pool and things of that nature," Grund said.
Grund went on to hypothesize about how Casey Anthony would react if Caylee had died in an accident.
"I believe at any point in time something possibly could have accidentally happened to Caylee. And if something accidentally happened to Caylee I literally believe that Casey would have an emotional breakdown; a mental breakdown to the point where I almost believe that she would take Caylee and put her somewhere and then uh, tell herself a new story, a new reality of what happened to her," Grund said.
Anthony, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in Caylee's death. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.