Missing Girl's Grandma Speaks Out

Mother Heard In Recorded Jailhouse Phone Call Saying She Does Not Know Toddler's Whereabouts

(CBS/AP)  The grandmother of a missing 2-year-old Orlando girl said that she believes her daughter does not know where her missing granddaughter is.

Casey Anthony, 22, is being held on $500,000 bond after investigators said she lied to them and did not report daughter Caylee Marie Anthony missing for more than a month.

Appearing on CBS' The Early Show, Cindy Anthony, the mother of Casey Anthony and grandmother of Caylee, said that her daughter had requested a sketch composite artist to do a drawing of the person she says took her daughter.

"She is saying that she will speak to authorities like the FBI," Anthony said. "She has been trying to cooperate. She has not changed her story. She maintains that she knows who has Caylee, but does not know where Caylee is, and I would like to make sure that this is set straight."

Anthony criticized what she called distortions in reports of Casey allegedly changing her story, or not cooperating with police.

"The first 24, 48 hours were very … we were all in shock and very frustrated," she said. "It's been reported she is not cooperating, does not want to speak with police. We were told we had to wait to speak to our daughter; we found out yesterday we could have spoken to her Wednesday or Thursday of last week.

"I'm not sure why people are doing what they want, but what I want is the media to report responsibly … because what we don't want to take away from all of this is that there is a missing child. That is a fact."

Anthony also criticized authorities who said that the person her daughter claimed kidnapped Caylee does not exist.

"There's nine people with that name in Orlando, Florida," she said. "There's four people with that name in Winterhaven, Florida. There's people with that name in Miami. There's four people in New York City, three in the Bronx. So, come on, folks. Someone needs to start listening to my daughter, and if it's not the local authorities, or the FBI, please, get involved in this case and come and interview my daughter like she's been requesting."

Her comments followed Friday's release by the Orange County Corrections Department of a July 16 call from jail between Cindy Anthony and her daughter.

In the call, Cindy Anthony complained to her daughter that she wasn't telling her where the toddler was. Casey Anthony responded angrily that she didn't know where the girl was.

"Are you kidding me?" Casey Anthony said.

Cindy responded, "Don't waste your call to scream and holler at me."

She added that her daughter's incarceration is her own fault.

"You're blaming me that you're sitting in the jail? Blame yourself for telling lies," Cindy Anthony said.

Prosecutors said in court earlier this week that Casey Anthony is a person of interest in what is beginning to look like a homicide investigation, though she has not been charged. Sheriff's deputies testified that her car smelled of decomposition, and a cadaver-trained dog noted a smell of human remains there.

Early Show anchor Chris Wragge asked Anthony, who he said has been very supportive of her daughter through many interviews with the press, about the recording of her telephone call released by the police: "It sounded like you're intimating maybe your daughter's not telling the truth and not being forward with authorities. Do you now believe she has been 100% forward with authorities and that you do believe everything she's saying?"

"I've said this over and over again: We all were in shock over my granddaughter being missing," she told Wragge. "Casey has maintained her story all along, that Caylee was kidnapped. That's the first thing she stated when the authorities arrived. She told me over the last month that the baby-sitter had her on many occasions when I asked if I could speak with my granddaughter. She made excuses for a reason, because she was trying in her own way to plead with this person.

"I asked her yesterday, while I spoke with her, 'Is there a message for this person?' And she said, 'Yes. I forgive you, and will you, please return Caylee?'"

Anthony also said her daughter had a message for her granddaughter: "Her message to Caylee is, 'Mommy loves you so much. Continue to be brave, because we know you are coming home to all of us. We love you dearly.'

"I was in shock did not know what to believe, and when I can step back and look at facts, I know what I believe."

Casey Anthony has been charged with child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation.

In the same call, Casey Anthony said calling her family was a waste of time and told an unidentified female the family isn't supporting her.

"Nobody in my own family is on my side ... They just want Caylee back. That's all they're worried about right now, is getting Caylee back and you know what, that's all I care about right now," she said.

A telephone message left after business hours at the office of Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, wasn't immediately returned.

Cindy Anthony called 911 on July 15. In one call, she asked police to arrest Casey Anthony for stealing a car and money.

She told a dispatcher that she had just found Casey, who had been missing for a month, as well as the car she was driving, which had been towed. She also expressed concern that her granddaughter was not with Casey.

She called 911 again about an hour later, crying, after she said Casey Anthony finally told her Caylee had been missing for a month.

[meanbiker]

what kind of parent would not report their child missing right away.. let alone wait a month.. Something smells rotten here..

[eggy1620]

Michelle, your childhood was heartbreaking, but must you tell your life story with every post?

[corald1]

To answer ladyephesus1 I also got that email on my phone with a little girl standing under a tree it does look a lot like Caylee but its not its a little girl missing from North Dakota and if anyone has info to contact Sue & Barry Wilcox. @ 406-961-4064.

This case with Caylee Anthony touches home because I only live 30 minutes away from Orlando and I myself is a single mom that happens to live with my parents to get back on my feet. My son will be six years old the day before little Caylee turns 3 in just two weeks. I am lucky to have my mom & dad and I do sometimes feel like my mom trys to control my life but that is only because I live under her roof and that doesn''t mean I am going to go and kill my own child to try and have some sort of freedom in my life like Casey I feel has done. My son is my world. My parents adore him and give him way more than I ever got as a child but I am not jealous I am greatful. I think unfortantly this mother killed her little girl out of jealous rage because the grandparents seemed to care more about Caylee than Casey. You even hear it in the jail conversation you care only about Caylee not me. You hear the jealousy in her voice. I pray I am wrong but in reality this little girl has been missing way to long for a safe return. :(

[barbaram99]

Parents DO kill their children..Over the dumbist krap. Ye had them did ye so the party stops. They are 24/7. Yep they are demanding. Yet an adult knows better or should. It is sad that a little one is dead. I believe she is dead. The time frame and common sense. The girl is a 2 year old. Ihe awful twos some say. The child has needs. Ye just don''t walk away and yep that''s happened to me. Mum sat me on the floor and knew I could not see or walk very well. Walked out. Lady should have been jailed and that was 59. My Dad was forced out by Mom''s then boyfriend. my birth Mum. She was too young to have kids. I never bonded with her. Cold yes.
Let that child''s mother sit in jail. Put the granny there too.
I never had children. I never ever paid a paw on one. I lived homes where abuse was every dsy. One home ran a day care as well as foster home. She did beat. She crossed the line. Yep she lost her licince. I told that parent who beat her boy. I was right.
That girl where ever she is if alive needs
Food,a place to stay,clean clothes,baths, held, taught.etc the basics and love. I am 53.

[eggy1620]

This woman must be proud of the way she raised her daughter.

[ty20201]

I think Casey Anthony may have done something terrible and the Grandmother feels it, and thats why she wants to desperatly get her daughter out of jail so she can talk with her alone about Caylees disappearance. I hate to believe that a mother would hurt her own daughter, but the Homicide cop said the car smelled of human remains and the grandmother also said it smelled lioke a dead body.

[shippg-2009]

I hope she is alive.

[barbaram99]

i am a trek fan..seen them all. It brings to mind children that was taken from the Enterprise. The parents were upset as they were robbed of them. Picard got them back. Yes it is a TV show.
this is real life a child is missing one of many. Some one know her where abouts.
Was she dumpped
The cuteness wore off
Mum was not the centre of attn
A man
State aid stopped
No child support
Homeless
family fights
who knows .

[tamtomj]

If you''ll go to cnn.com and look up the transcripts for the Nancy Grace show, you will find the womans name that supposedly took Caylee. You will also see that during a jail phone Caylee''s mom is more interested in getting her boyfriends phone number (which you would think she would already know) and she get''s very angry because all her family is worried about is Caylee and getting Caylee back. She sounds like a very sick woman and I think we will find out that she killed her daughter.

[wattermelann]

If the mother knows who took Caylee then why hasn''t that person''s name been revealed and why hasn''t the FBI tracked this person down? Why isn''t Casey''s lawyer protecting his client''s rights? There is something amiss here. The mother should have called the authorities immediately when her daughter was taken and she should sit in jail because she didn''t call authorities. Each hour Caylee is missing brings her closer to danger.