June 8, 2011 6:00 PM

Casey Anthony Trial Update: Search for "How to make chloraform (sic)" on Anthony family computer, says witness

By
Camille Mann
Topics
Daily Blotter

Casey Anthony stands at the defense table during a break in her murder trial, Wednesday, June 8, 2011 in Orlando, Fla.

(Credit: AP Photo/Joe Burbank)

(CBS/WKMG/AP) ORLANDO, Fla. - The head of computer crimes at the Orange County Sheriff's Department testified at the Casey Anthony murder trial Wednesday that someone specifically searched for the word "chloroform" on the Anthony family computer, three months before her 2-year-old daughter Caylee went missing.

Pictures: Casey and Caylee Anthony, Personal Photos

Sgt. Kevin Stenger said he used several tools to examine files from the computer, and found that someone specifically searched on Google for the words "chloroform," "alcohol," "inhalation," "death," "self-defense" and "head injury" within 15 minutes, reports CBS affiliate WKMG.

He said someone also searched the term "neck breaking," "making weapons" and "how to make chloraform (sic)," using Google four days after the first search for chloroform in March 2008, reports the station.

Sandra Osborne, another police computer forensics expert, testified earlier saying she found searches for "chloroform" as well as searches for "Zenaida-Fernandez Gonzalez " on July 16, 2008. Anthony told investigators Caylee was taken by a nanny by that same name, though the defense has since admitted that the nanny never existed.

All of the information, according to Stenger, was found in the computer's unallocated space, which means it is not filed in the normal system, but still exists on the hard drive. He said the Internet history file had been manually deleted, but it was not possible to tell under which username, the station reports.

Stenger said that he gave a copy of the data he extracted from the computer to John Bradley, a computer forensics expert from Canada who owns a software development company.

Pictures: Casey and Caylee Anthony, Personal Photos

Bradley was called to the stand after Stenger. He said Stenger gave him the 3.2 MB data file. He said he was impressed that such a large file in unallocated space had been left intact, as it is often overwritten and segments are lost over time, leading him to believe that the deletion of the history had happened recently. He could not say when exactly the deletion had occurred.

During cross-examination, Anthony's attorney Jose Baez noted short time span, sometimes a matter of seconds, between these searches, according to the station.

Earlier this week, a forensics expert testified that the chloroform level in an air sample from Anthony's car was "shockingly high."

On Tuesday, an FBI chemist testified that traces of chloroform residue were found in the trunk, and although the levels were not high, he was surprised to find any trace of the chemical at all in the trunk.

Caylee's skeletal remains were found in the woods near the Anthony family home in December 2008. Anthony could be sentenced to death if convicted of first-degree murder. She has pleaded not guilty and the defense claims Caylee accidentally drowned in the family's swimming pool.

The Casey Anthony case was recently reported on by "48 Hours Mystery."

Complete coverage of Casey Anthony on Crimesider

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Casey Anthony personal photos

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Add a Comment See all 20 Comments
by Cindyeee June 10, 2011 10:18 PM EDT
GEORGE had to be the one to put the body in the woods. When at the impoundment lot, that body was in there! When he drove home alone to meet Cindy there, that body was NOT in the car, although the stink still was, of course. He had to do it quickly, in those woods near the house. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pretribonly/message/9325
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by suese June 9, 2011 11:18 AM EDT
I don't think the threat of losing her Mom would have worked. Did you see on the tapes how she talked to her Mom. Casey also told Lee, "Maybe it is because I am a spiteful B-----! George saying he would kill Cindy is pretty out there. We just need paternity tests results on George and I think that would help to clear things up in a huge way. Killing Caylee is not going to get rid of evidence of whether George is the father of Caylee. If George was abusing Caylee, killing her and hiding the body would get rid of the evidence of the abuse. I sure hope George is not involved! He really seemed like he loved that little girl.
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by iamtinyhands June 9, 2011 10:41 AM EDT
LetThereBeLight, you are very gullible and easily manipulated by a sociopath. Open your eyes, keep it real. Look at the FACTS. Unlike YOU, I hope Casey either is given death or suffers her whole life behind bars. She killed her baby.
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by mrleme June 9, 2011 7:16 AM EDT
I don't know if it is how the story is being reported but somehow I get the feeling Casey is being framed and the circle of those involved could even extend to the police department. Certainly Casey has her problems, she's not smart and she implicates herself but does that make her guilty. Maybe she is but she doesn't seem smart or devious enough to pull this off all my herself.
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by MalloryDavis June 9, 2011 3:19 AM EDT
The ONLY sympathic person here is Cayley. I think Casey and her parents are absolutely looney. I don't care about their sadness or any of the stupidity of their lives. Lies, possible incest, murder of a child...(I don't believe the drowning story). I am watching the drama. It is enjoyable and frustratingly-wrenching at the same time.

Poor Cayley growing up with that weird family.
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by LetThereBeLight June 9, 2011 3:10 AM EDT
I don't really know, of course. I just feel that it is SO sad, it almost makes me cry. I feel for Caylee, of course, and also for Casey. Casey has always struck me to be a girl WITHOUT, without real family support, not strong and able to stand on her own two feet, who always HAD to depend on someone even in the wrong way and got into trouble for that too, WHO really needed love and help but what she got was quite the reverse most of the time. I just hope and pray that if Casey is convicted that she opts for the death penalty, even if they don't give it to her. Then, all these Self-Righteous SO_CALLED GOOD People can feel really great that whether Casey is guilty or really innocent, that she will die. I feel that only God really knows for sure, and even if Casey did do this, I feel that in the higher interest of what is really right and good, that the Court should not convict her of murder. I feel that Casey is a very disturbed young woman who really does need help, whether she commited murder or not. So, I really hope and pray that Casey is freed and given the mental help that I am sure that anyone in her position would require.
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by LetThereBeLight June 9, 2011 1:34 AM EDT
I don't really know, of course. I just feel that it is SO sad, it almost makes me cry. I feel for Caylee, of course, and also for Casey. Casey has always struck me to be a girl WITHOUT, without real family support, not strong and able to stand on her own two feet, who always HAD to depend on someone even in the wrong way and got into trouble for that too, WHO really needed love and help but what she got was quite the reverse most of the time. I just hope and pray that if Casey is convicted that she opts for the death penalty, even if they don't give it to her. Then, all these Self-Righteous SO_CALLED GOOD People can feel really great that whether Casey is guilty or really innocent, that she will die. I feel that only God really knows for sure, and even if Casey did do this, I feel that in the higher interest of what is really right and good, that the Court should not convict her of murder. I feel that Casey is a very disturbed young woman who really does need help, whether she commited murder or not. So, I really hope and pray that Casey is freed and given the mental help that I am sure that anyone in her position would require.
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by suese June 8, 2011 10:22 PM EDT
They do need to check George to see if he is Caylee's father. They tested Lee and he is not her father. They should be able to do the same test on George. Maybe Baez has the results and he is the only one that knows. If George is Caylees father, Casey did tell the truth about something. If he is not, I think Casey acted alone.
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by suese June 8, 2011 10:17 PM EDT
Killing Caylee was not going to be a way to keep her fathers identity from being found out. They have Caylee's DNA and all they need to do is check George's. That is how they ruled out Lee.
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by Rainsong2 June 8, 2011 7:44 PM EDT
Baez got it wrong and you have reported it incorrectly. Those few seconds were not between searches. When you enter any term into Google and hit enter, your results show up within seconds. In fact, the Google page will even tell you how many seconds it took to complete the search. From there, it's a matter of a few more seconds to click on one of the results and get to the new page. If the new site doesn't have the info you need, you go back and hit the next result. This probably contributed to the high number of searches for chloroform (84) showing up in the deleted history cache.
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