Ten years ago,Casey Anthonylived in a modest Orlando home with her parents, George andCindy Anthony. The three of them helped raise Casey’s 2-year-old daughter,Caylee.
Frequently, Casey’s brother, Lee, would come visit the family home.
“They really seemed like a typical family,” says a source close to the Anthonys. “If you saw them, you’d think everything was functional. They were doing well.”
That all changed when Caylee vanished. By the time she was was reported missing in July 2008, she had already been missing for a month — but her mother hadn’t reported her disappearance to police. Cindy was actually the one who reported the toddler missing, screaming at a 911 operator that she had found Casey’s white Pontiac and “it smells like there’s been a dead body in the damn car.”
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That phone call launched a case full of twists and turns. Casey Anthony was tried andacquittedof killing her own daughter — and the case unearthed shocking secrets about a middle-class American family.
A decade later, the family is still picking up the pieces — and they’ve never been the same.
“Ten years later, this case stills affects everyone who was involved in it,” the Anthony family attorney,Mark Lippman, tells PEOPLE.
George has nothing to do with his daughter, saying he never wants to speak with her again. In recent interviews,he called her a “bad seed”and flatly said “no” when asked if he wants to see his daughter.
Cindy and George Anthony.Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
Casey has also moved on from her father. “She just doesn’t need to have him in her life,” a source close to her tells PEOPLE.
Casey’s brother, Lee, was also accused in court of molesting her — an allegation he denied. Despite the allegation, he initially maintained contact with his sister but he no longer does.
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Casey has spoken to Cindy sporadically since her release from jail, but was unhappy that Cindy recentlyalleged that she was mentally ill.
“She will never have a relationship with her family,” says the source. “Too much has happened, and that will never change. Those bridges have been burned.”
source: people.com
