Casey Anthony’s brother testifies

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

Prosecutors in the murder trial of a Florida woman charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter called her brother and members of law enforcement to the witness stand Wednesday, trying to give jurors a better look at the conflicting statements she told them before and after the child was reported missing.

Lee Anthony, the brother of Casey Anthony, recounted to jurors his unsuccessful efforts to track down his sister at a nightclub by text messaging and calling her in early July 2008, around the time the little girl was reported missing.

Casey and Lee Anthony were born in Warren to George and Cindy Anthony, who lived in Howland before moving the family to Florida in 1989.

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her toddler, Caylee. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death. She has pleaded not guilty.

Caylee was last seen by her grandparents in mid-June 2008. Casey Anthony waited a month before telling her family the toddler was missing. Her mother then called authorities.

Casey Anthony has said she was conducting her own efforts to find her missing daughter, but prosecutors contend she was going to nightclubs, shopping and hanging out with friends during that month.

Casey Anthony wiped tears from her eyes as her brother testified about how he’d questioned his sister on why Caylee hadn’t been seen by her family in weeks. She told her brother that Caylee was with a baby sitter and that she didn’t want to interrupt her sleep schedule, Lee Anthony said.

“Nothing was making sense to me,” Lee Anthony said.

After more questioning, Casey told her brother that she hadn’t seen her daughter in 31 days and that the baby sitter had kidnapped her, Lee Anthony said.