More than a year after Casey Anthony made explosive accusations that her father molested her two-year-old daughter Caylee and was responsible for the child’s 2008 death, he is putting his story to the test – via lie detector.
In the new A&E and Lifetime special Casey Anthony’s Parents: The Lie Detector Test that premiered on 2 January, Casey’s parents George and Cindy Anthony each took a polygraph in front of the cameras.
George, now 72, became emotional as he confronted the questions related to allegations Casey’s defence team made about him at her trial – including that he helped cover up Caylee’s death.
“I didn’t know where she was at,” he explained on the special after appearing to struggle through some of the questions. "Did I conceal her whereabouts? I did not know where she was at.”
In December 2008, five months after Caylee was reported missing by her grandmother in July, her remains were found in the woods near the Orlando, Florida home where she lived with her mother and grandparents. Her death was ruled a homicide.
George Anthony, 72, became emotional as he confronted the questions related to allegations Casey’s defence team made about him at her trial— (A&E)
During Casey’s murder trial in 2011, her lawyer Jose Baez alleged that Caylee drowned in the family swimming pool and that George helped to cover up the accidental death.
Now, years later, her parents have volunteered for the test in response to the allegations.
When the test administrator asked George if he knowingly concealed the toddler’s whereabouts during the six months authorities were searching for her, he responded, “No. I mean, I didn’t know where she was at.”
Casey Anthony at the Orange County Courthouse on 30 June 2011 in Orlando, Florida— (Red Huber-Pool/Getty Images)
The administrator then asked why he appeared to be “struggling” with the question.
George responded, “Maybe it’s because I – it was close to our house, that she was found.”
The polygraph comes more than a decade after Casey’s highly publicised trial in July 2011 in which she was infamously acquitted of killing her two-year-old daughter – a verdict that shocked the country.
She was, however, convicted on four counts of providing false information to the police. Her defence team had said that Casey lied about the nanny due to a dysfunctional upbringing.
Casey served prison time for those charges and was released later that same month with credit for time served.
Caylee Anthony’s remains were found in the woods near the Orlando, Florida home— (Caylee Anthony)
Last year, in her first on-camera interview for the docuseries Where the Truth Lies, Casey claimed she had “protected her abuser”, explaining that her father sexually assaulted her and alleged that he killed her daughter Caylee to cover up that he had been sexually assaulting the child as well.
Casey was dubbed “America’s most hated mom” by cable television news amid reports she went to nightclubs and got a tattoo in the month her daughter was missing.
