Pathological: The Casey Anthony Story — The Science of the Swamp — Ep. 3 | MK Confidential

The Megyn Kelly Show

This episode of MK Confidential examines the pivotal opening statements in the Casey Anthony trial, contrasting prosecutor Linda Drane Burdi

Key takeaways

• Prosecutor Burdick built her case not with science first, but with Caylee's life story to humanize her before introducing the timeline of disappearance.
• Defense attorney Baez strategically introduced Roy Kronk early, implying a critical gap in the prosecution's narrative and casting doubt on the state's evidence chain.

Main topics

• Casey Anthony trial opening statements
• Roy Kronk's discovery of Caylee's skull

Notable quotes

"This isn't just a case about Casey Marie Anthony. It's a story about Kaylee Anthony as well." – Linda Drane Burdick

Conclusion

The prosecution laid a detailed emotional and chronological case for murder, while the defense began

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore. Because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Turning dreams into direction. Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. So, where will your Speaker 2 (0:24) journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 2 (0:30) It is 8.30 p.m. on July 19th, 2008, a sweltering night in Orlando. The sun has just gone down and the nearly full moon is about to rise. Kaylee Anthony has been missing for 33 days and no one has the slightest idea where she is. A woman named Kiyomari Torres calls the detective leading the search for Kaylee, Detective Yuri Melek, and tells him, I'm a childhood friend of Casey's. We grew up together. and I have something to show you. There is a place you need to see. An hour later, Kiyomari meets Melek behind Hidden Oaks Elementary School. The last of twilight is gone, and dark is settling in. The moon is still down as they leave the school parking lot and walk down a hill into the woods. Once under the trees, it is very dark. Melek switches on his flashlight, but Kiyomari knows the way. She says she and Casey used to ride their bikes down here after school, carrying blankets, toys, and food. They would hang out for hours. After a while, Kiyomari stops. This is the place, she tells him, the woods where she and Casey used to disappear as girls, where they went when they wanted to be out of sight from their mothers. It was their favorite hiding spot. It is only a six-minute walk from Casey Anthony's house, about a quarter mile away. Kiyomari says this area floods when it rains and turns the ground into a swamp, but no danger of that tonight, no rain. just humid and mostly still, an occasional light breeze. Detective Malik and Kiyomari decide to search the spot and see what they can find. Perhaps a trace of Kaylee, but they don't find anything. Kiyomari is the first person to point police toward this swampy ground, toward the woods, but she is not the last. In August, a local meter reader named Roy Kronk calls the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Three times, about that same stretch of swamp in the woods. That same month, a man from the neighborhood, Keith Williams, goes into those woods after talking to a psychic who tells him Kaylee will be found in the woods near the road. Keith finds a deflated balloon, stuffed animals, and several pieces of children's clothing. He takes them to the Anthony house and Cindy says they are not Kaylee's. Keith calls the Orange County Sheriff's Office. None of those items will be officially tied to Kaylee, but they do bring police back to the woods again. Months pass. Then, on December 11, 2008, Roy Kronk is back in the neighborhood reading meters. He returns to the woods to relieve himself. This time, he sees something white in the woods. He walks closer. and finds a child's skull. Speaker 7 (3:28) I looked down at my feet, and that's when I discovered the skulls that were basically at my feet. Speaker 2 (3:34) Kaylee Anthony had been there for months, in her mother's favorite hiding spot. I'm Megan Kelly. This is MK Confidential. Speaker 2 (3:51) Everyone's talking about weight loss injections because the results can be so dramatic. They work by lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. But what if you're looking to lose weight, yet are not interested in painful weekly injections, especially when you hear about some of those intense side effects? That's why doctors created a weight loss supplement called Lean, and the results could be remarkable. Lean says the studied ingredients in their product have been shown to lower your blood sugar Burn fat by converting it into energy and curb your appetite and cravings so you are not as hungry. But listen, lean is not for the casual dieter with only a few pounds to lose. The doctors at Brickhouse Nutrition created lean for frustrated dieters with 10 or more pounds to lose. You could get started with 20 % off and free rush shipping, adding lean to your healthy diet and exercise plan. Visit TakeLean.com. Enter Kelly for your discount. That's promo code Kelly at TakeLean.com. Check it out. For two and a half years, the state of Florida builds a murder case against Casey Anthony. Then comes May 2011, and prosecutors have to stand up in a court of law and prove it. The jury does not come from Orlando. Three years of nonstop TV and other coverage has made that impossible. So the court goes west to Clearwater on the Gulf Coast and selects 12 jurors and five alternates from Pinellas County. Then it buses them across the state to Orlando and sequesters them in a hotel where they will live together for the next six weeks. Their meals are private. Their television channels are stripped away one by one as coverage of the trial spreads. By the end, the only channel left is the home shopping network. Even the movies they watch have to be approved by the prosecution and the defense. They will not go home until the case is over. Prosecutor Linda Drain Burdick stands up for the state a little after 9 in the morning. She does not begin with the chloroform or the duct tape or the trunk of Casey Anthony's car. She begins with a baby. Speaker 4 (6:02) This isn't just a case about Casey Marie Anthony. It's a story about Kaylee Anthony as well. Speaker 4 (6:14) Kaylee Anthony was born on August 9th of 2005. It was a Tuesday. And Kaylee lived nearly every day of her life on a quiet residential street in Orlando called Hope Spring Drive. Casey Anthony, Kaylee's mother, appeared to all outward observers. Speaker 4 (6:44) to be what her parents thought she was, a loving mother working hard to provide support for her daughter. But as the evidence in this case and the investigation into the background of Casey Anthony will show, Speaker 4 (7:06) That was an illusion. Speaker 2 (7:08) Then Linda starts moving forward, laying out the timeline of events from Kaylee's birth and her relationship with her grandparents to Father's Day and the last photograph anyone would ever take of Kaylee alive. And finally, the 31 days after Kaylee disappears. Linda has Casey's cell phone records, receipts, photographs, the people Casey saw and the places she went. Linda walks the jury through those days one at a time, and she keeps coming back to the same question. Where is Kaylee Marie Anthony? At the defense table, Casey begins to cry when Linda reaches the last day her daughter was seen alive. The jury sees the last pictures of Kaylee. Then they see something else, a photo of her skull. Linda's opening statement lasts more than two hours. For much of it, she does not need a laboratory. She does not need science. She has a calendar. And she gives the jury a rule for understanding the woman sitting at the defense table. Speaker 4 (8:15) It's up against the wall. And when the stakes increase, what does Casey Anthony do? Casey Anthony comes up. Speaker 4 (8:31) with a new, a bigger, and a better lie. Speaker 2 (8:40) And Linda tells them one of the biggest lies. A babysitter Casey had been describing to her family for two years, whom none of them has ever met, did not exist. She was entirely made up. Then, near the end of her opening, Linda Burdick tells the jury what the state says will explain how Kaylee died. Speaker 4 (9:03) And you will learn that the only evidence Speaker 4 (9:09) indicating the cause of death of Kaylee Marie Anthony are the three pieces of duct tape covering her nose and mouth. The evidence in this case will establish that there is no other reason for the placement of multiple pieces of duct tape on this child's face, mouth, and nose other than a specific intent to end that child's life. As difficult as it may be for anyone to accept that a mother would intentionally kill her own child, from the evidence that you will hear in this case, there is no other conclusion that can be drawn. Speaker 2 (9:59) Linda finishes her opening statement sometime before lunch. The jurors file out, the lawyers gather their papers, and the courtroom empties for food. That afternoon, Jose Baez opens for the defense. And he begins by telling the jury what he says was missing from the prosecution's opening statement. Speaker 5 (10:18) We sat through almost two hours. There was day one, day two, day three, day four, and so on and so on. No one ever told you what happened. But today, you will be the first people to know exactly what happened to Kaylee Marie Anthony. Speaker 5 (10:40) I will also discuss with you Mr. Roy Kronk. That name was silent throughout the first two hours of this morning. And I think you're going to find after I conclude that it's going to be shocking why that name wasn't mentioned to you previously. And what, if any, role Mr. Kronk will have in your evaluation of the evidence? Speaker 2 (11:08) Then the witnesses start coming through the courtroom. Family members, friends, detectives, scientists. For four weeks, the state builds its case one person and one exhibit at a time. By the end, much of it comes down to a handful of things. Casey's Pontiac Sunfire, a strand of hair, searches on the family computer, and three pieces of duct tape. Some of that evidence looks different when the defense gets its turn. Start with the car. Go back to June 23rd, 2008. Kaylee has not been seen for a week. No one in Casey's circle knows she's missing. That night, Casey's boyfriend, Tony Lazaro, drives her to her parents' house so she can get gas. The shed is padlocked. Lazaro breaks the lock with a tire iron. Casey takes two gas cans out of the shed and puts them in the trunk of the white Pontiac. And Lazaro just stands there while she does it. Years later in court, the prosecutor asks Tony about that moment. What did the trunk