Incriminating searches found on computer of murder suspect

ORLANDO, Fla. — Someone performed Internet searches for “neck breaking” and “household weapons” on the home computer of a Florida mother charged with killing her missing 3-year-old daughter, according to court documents released Wednesday.

The Orange County State Attorney’s Office released almost 800 pages of discovery documents in the case of 22-year-old Casey Anthony, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the June disappearance of her daughter Caylee.

On March 17, someone used the Anthonys’ home computer to do Google searches for peroxide, shovels, acetone, alcohol and how to make chloroform. Traces of chloroform, which is used to induce unconsciousness, were found in the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car during forensic testing by a Tennessee lab.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Cell phone records include text messages in which Casey calls herself “the worst mother,” and calls Caylee a “little snothead,” documents said.

Caylee has not been seen since June, but she wasn’t reported missing until a month later. The child’s grandmother first called authorities in July to say she hadn’t seen Caylee for a month and her daughter’s car smelled like death.

Anthony told authorities she had left her daughter with a baby sitter in June and the two were gone when she returned from work. She says she spent the next month trying to find her daughter and didn’t call authorities because she was scared. Investigators say they have poked several holes in her story.

Later Wednesday, Circuit Judge Stan Strickland denied a prosecutor’s request for a wide-ranging gag order. Strickland ruled the state did not prove that national TV appearances by officials and other comments in the media would sufficiently prejudice the jury pool.

“Even with a gag order the publicity and media attention would continue unabated,” Strickland wrote in his opinion.

Strickland said attorneys on both sides already are bound to a Florida Bar statue prohibiting comments that are false or would otherwise taint the jury pool.

The gag order would have not only affected prosecutors and defense attorneys, but Orange County sheriff’s investigators and Casey Anthony’s parents, George and Cindy.

“Given the fact the prosecution has been leaking information almost nonstop for months, a gag order wouldn’t matter at this point,” a spokesman for Casey Anthony’s lawyer said.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Vehicles travel along Mukilteo Speedway on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Mukilteo cameras go live to curb speeding on Speedway

Starting Friday, an automated traffic camera system will cover four blocks of Mukilteo Speedway. A 30-day warning period is in place.

Carli Brockman lets her daughter Carli, 2, help push her ballot into the ballot drop box on the Snohomish County Campus on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Here’s who filed for the primary election in Snohomish County

Positions with three or more candidates will go to voters Aug. 5 to determine final contenders for the Nov. 4 general election.

Students from Explorer Middle School gather Wednesday around a makeshift memorial for Emiliano “Emi” Munoz, who died Monday, May 5, after an electric bicycle accident in south Everett. (Aspen Anderson / The Herald)
Community and classmates mourn death of 13-year-old in bicycle accident

Emiliano “Emi” Munoz died from his injuries three days after colliding with a braided cable.

Danny Burgess, left, and Sandy Weakland, right, carefully pull out benthic organisms from sediment samples on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Got Mud?’ Researchers monitor the health of the Puget Sound

For the next few weeks, the state’s marine monitoring team will collect sediment and organism samples across Puget Sound

Everett postal workers gather for a portrait to advertise the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County letter carriers prepare for food drive this Saturday

The largest single-day food drive in the country comes at an uncertain time for federal food bank funding.

Everett
Everett considers ordinance to require more apprentice labor

It would require apprentices to work 15% of the total labor hours for construction or renovation on most city projects over $1 million.

Signs hang on the outside of the Early Learning Center on the Everett Community College campus on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021 in Everett, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett Community College to close Early Learning Center

The center provides early education to more than 70 children. The college had previously planned to close the school in 2021.

Northshore school board selects next superintendent

Justin Irish currently serves as superintendent of Anacortes School District. He’ll begin at Northshore on July 1.

Auston James / Village Theatre
“Jersey Boys” plays at Village Theatre in Everett through May 25.
A&E Calendar for May 15

Send calendar submissions for print and online to features@heraldnet.com. To ensure your… Continue reading

Contributed photo from Snohomish County Public Works
Snohomish County Public Works contractor crews have begun their summer 2016 paving work on 13 miles of roadway, primarily in the Monroe and Stanwood areas. This photo is an example of paving work from a previous summer. A new layer of asphalt is put down over the old.
Snohomish County plans to resurface about 76 miles of roads this summer

EVERETT – As part of its annual road maintenance and preservation program,… Continue reading

Apartment fire on Casino Road displaces three residents

Everett Fire Department says a family’s decision to shut a door during their evacuation helped prevent the fire from spreading.

Helion's 6th fusion prototype, Trenta, on display on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Helion celebrates smoother path to fusion energy site approval

Helion CEO applauds legislation signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson expected to streamline site selection process.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.