Dr. Keith: The Search for Caylee – True Crime or Entertainment?
With 3-year-old Caylee Anthony missing for more than two months, her mother Casey is being bailed out of jail for $500,000 by Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla.
Padilla says his motive is to use his many years of experience tracking down criminals to learn enough from Casey to find the little girl.
It isn’t surprising that Padilla’s quest has captured the imagination of the media. His name is now known from coast-to-coast. The drama of a black-hatted, toothpick chewing cowboy riding into town to break open a case that police haven’t been able to crack sounds like a made-for-TV movie, or maybe the launch of a reality TV series.
The trouble is that the drama now unfolding according to Padilla’s script is encroaching on a very real investigation. And it feels like entertainment eclipsing truth, clouding the search for Caylee, rather than focusing it.
This is a particularly unwelcome event in the context of searching for a little girl who we pray could still be alive. Because successful investigations require an obsessive commitment to separating fact from fantasy, in a quest for the truth. And that pure motivation can be contaminated by a desire to court an audience and maintain their interest.
As a forensic psychiatrist I worry that Casey Anthony will be less motivated to tell authorities what she really knows about the disappearance of her toddler once she is free to take center stage outside a prison, in the public eye. For someone who has the ability to spin tall tales in service to self-preservation, perhaps without feeling guilt, the making of a 24-hour-a-day TV drama out of a real tragedy could free her to fictionalize even more. It could embolden her to conclude that nothing has genuine meaning in the context of this story—not the suffering of her daughter, nor the call of her own conscience.
Sometimes the truth emerges because the world seems to be dark and unyielding without it, as it must have seemed to Anthony before Padilla rode into town. Now, the days can speed by like a DVD spinning, projecting images that have little to do with reality, other than providing a refuge from it.
Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His newest book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement. Check out Dr. Ablow’s website at livingthetruth.com.
Tags: bounty hunter, Casey Anthony, Caylee Anthony, Dr. Keith Ablow, Florida, Lenoard Padilla, Orlando, reality TV, Sacramento
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I agree with you completely. I wrote in earlier blogs about how life is a movie to her, with her being the leading lady. She does not live in reality, and has obviously not been for a long time. In her head that is how things play out, just like a DVD. I believe her to have mental problems, unfortunately Cindy and George have just let her slide for too long, enabling her fantasies to become more and more elaborate. She does not live in the same world the rest of us do. She does not have the “normal” feelings that go along with motherhood. She is able to completely disassociate from, well, anything that doesn’t fit into her “reality”. This includes her daughter. I think the fact that she referred to a babysitter as a nanny, shows she fancied herself on a different level socially than she actually was. Only the wealthy have nannies. The fact she told everyone she worked at universal studios in another example of glamourizing her life, a lot of the names she gave police have a famous ring to them. Juliette Lewis, etc… She will see all this media attention, which is what she feeds off of, and run with it. It would not surprise me if her stories become more and more grandious in the coming week. This Padilla person has no idea what he’s signed on for here. He’ll just be another actor in her movie. She needs a cruel reality check.
When Mr. Padilla first announced his intention to free Casey and charm the truth out of her, I only thought it might be interesting to see how that went down. I wondered how Casey would behave, given she has stated several times that she needs to be out of jail in order to help find Caylee. There will be a certain amount of pressure on her to perform…
It hadn’t occurred to me that the attempt to bail her out could fail. As of this writing, she still isn’t out, and suddenly it does occur to me that the best possible thing for Mr. Padilla personally will be if he is for some reason unable to bail her out.
Then he will have garnered a great deal of publicity, appeared to have been on his way to rescue the damsel in distress, without ever having to actually do anything. And he can always say, “If only they had let me bail her out, I would have got the truth, I would have solved the case for them!”
I AGREE AT LEAST SITTING IN JAIL GIVES HER TIME TO THINK AND POSSIBLY CRACK AND TELL US WHERE SHE REALLY IS, I BELIEVE IF SHE IS SET FREE SHE’LL GO ON LIVING HER LIFE LIKE NOTHING EVEN HAPPENED JUST LIKE BEFORE, I’M SORRY, IF THIS WAS MY CHILD MISSING I WOULD BE A WREAK AND NOT PARTYING AT A CLUB AND LYING TO MY MOTHER ABOUT MY CHILD BEING MISSING
I have been following this case for a while now,and the thought of this women actually getting bail,when we all know she is Guilty.Is crazy this poor little girl never stood a chance in life.The police have enough evidence already to keep her there and thats where she should stay.She has magor issues with her self and everyone else thats trys to help her,she wants nothing to do with.If she wont even let her parenys visit her,How the hell is she gona live with them when she out?She don’t even like her family or her child.She only cares about herself,her boyfriend and getting out of jail.My hopes and prayers are they keep her there for life,That poor little girl never got to live her life,and it sure aint fair that she lives hers on the outside.She needs to be kept there till she desides she wants to tell what she did to Caylee,and where she is so the rest of the family can have closure.This women makes me sick to stomach.
I completely agree the focus should definatly be on Caylee, i have a 3 yr old little girl myself and would not be able to sleep if i knew she was anywhere that i didnt know about. The bounty man is a joke, lets let her out so she feels like she can give more clues. I know I am not crazy when i say any mom in there right mind would be doing everything they could to get there child back , regardless of there circumstances or what would happen to them. One of the first things you learn when you become a mother is selflesness, its not about you anymore its whats inthe best intrests of the child .
MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY
does anyone know if Casey could refuse to be bailed out? I’m curious. The more I think about it, I don’t know if that would be want she really wants. It will box her in, no more excuses not to talk to her parents. Which is where she would stay right? No recorded phone calls, people listening in, etc… then what reason would she have for, at least telling Cindy and George this info. she supposedly couldn’t say over the phone. That’s assuming that they (Cindy and George) aren’t already in on it. Will she lead the search for her daughter? Yea right, she’s just going to continue her game. Only if she’s out, there will be new “players” for her to contend with.
I have to admit it appears to me this woman is guilty too, but I have also wondered what besides mental illness would make Caylee’s mother tell such outrageous lies?
So I have wondered, what if she were involved in drugs, and someone in that world took her daughter until they were repaid for drugs, and told her if she told the police anything about them, her daughter would be killed immediately.
Because prior to this incident everyone who knew them said mother and child had a loving relationship. The pictures of them together surely look happy and loving.
So perhaps everyone is wrong about the mother. Perhaps it is her fear for her daughter’s life that is making her choose jail over having her daughter killed by someone. Any loving and caring parent would do the same thing, although of course that would not excuse drug use while you are a mom, but unfortunately, it happens all the time.
And lastly I think it is a HUGE HUGE HUGE mistake that this “trial” or any other, is playing out in the media. The media should focus entirely on the reward for child’s safe return, period. Because they are missing big chunks of information, I think it is terrible for them to be condemning anyone for any crime without all the facts.
Unfortunately, releasing Casey will only give her access to information in which she can use to spin more stories on what happened to Caylee. With all the speculation in the media she may see something she did’nt even think of and use it to lead us on a completely different trail. She’s not talking right now because she cant think of anything believable that cant be proven false. Hopefully Padella is smarter then we give him credit for and solving this mystery and convicting Casey is what he really is after.
I have a problem with the fact that Casey’s father is a retired cop and he never picked up on anything being out of the ordinary, and then Casey’s mother’s behavior has been out of the ordinary from the onset of this dramedy. Seems to be a family of unbalanced people at the cost of a little girl. Put it all together and you have someone who can cover up a situation very well to protect a famly member (or two) and eyebrows won’t really raise to quickly since this is a person that vowed to uphold the law. This whole “she is telling them…in her way” and “for her protection”, “we are getting closer”, headed towards the mountains” and ” a woman called, left a message saying they saw her boarding a plane, pronounced her name the same way,etc (all kids that age pronounce Anthony like that) – I’m sorry, it’s a bit too much to believe. I need to see\hear something more credible – so far no member of that family is. At least in my book….at least that is how they are portrayed in the media.
This is just a thought. Keeping in mind that Casey’s father George is a former police officer and the mother Cindy being a trained nurse as well as loving parents are the ones that made up this crazy story.
My guess is that something went wrong, an accident or Casey loosing her temper and hurting Caley.
Instead of calling 911 the frantic phone calls to mom and dad begin after she borrowed a shovel from a neighbor and buried little Caley in the back yard. After talking to Mom and Dad she digs her up, takes her into the garage to wrap her up in something, then she backs her car up to the garage ( as was reported as being very strange for Casey ) loaded the body into the trunk taking her to the unknown destination.
Mom and Dad return home and daddy policeman tells Casey that as long as we make this unbelievable and confusing it will be an unsolved kidnapping , the police and media can have all of the assumptions they want but without proof there is no murder case. Heartless, but they may feel that this choice is better than loosing a daughter along with their granddaughter .
I don’t know, just a thought.
I heard that they were going to do a mental evaluation tomorrow morning prior to releasing her from jail. Wouldn’t you agree that any mother who has acted like Casey has acted from day one concerning her missing daughter…….would be grounds enough to continue keeping her in jail…..and not out on bond. She isn’t stable. Any mother who is worth her children’s love could contest to that. Casey has not shown us “normal characteristics” of Motherhood. We’ve seen her dab her eyes while awaiting the Judge’s decision on her bail instead of hearing hysterics over her missing daughter. We’ve heard her unconcerned attitude during her phone conversations with her family, not once breaking down in tears begging them for help in finding her baby. The list goes on and on. The woman has problems………mental problems……….and in my opinion, should NOT be released from jail out of fear she would harm another family member.
It seems obvious to most of the world that she is a liar and most likely a murderer. NO ONE would wait so long to report a child missing, unless they had done something. She isn’t even the one who finally reported her missing, it was her mother. It seems like her parents have always protected and/or defender her no matter what. I know that parents are supposed to do that, but isn’t here a point where you need to say.. “something is wrong here and I need to tell the truth?”. The interests of this child should have come first and if the grandparents had done that, maybe this would have never happened. My question is this: If the grandparents were as involved in this baby’s life as they said, why didn’t they see her for over a month?
Casey is lying about her daughter Caley. ABSOLUTELY! Only in AMERICA where someone can walk away being guilty as hell and walk free! Her daughter is probably buried some place. No loving mother would wait 1 month to report her child missing! Lies and more lies will be heard. Her parents are accomplices and probably helped her with everything. Everyone, step out of the movie screen and look at the picture. Good grief, she was out partying supposedly after she said her daughter was abducted. If at first she was concerned about the safety of her child with abductor, would she not have still told the FBI and they could handle it without the world knowing anything until case was investigated? As I said, ONLY IN AMERICA!
It appears Casey has a histrionic personality,
thus she will play this out until fear is replaced
with reality. I do not feel she is dealing with
the current situation and until she is confronted
with the repercussions of her actions, we shan’t
know where or what happened to her daughter.
Her guilt creates her silence.
Get rid of the guilt and you will have your
answers…
Just my thoughts…
i’m innocent don’t cover my face. i’m walking out with my head high. omg, help me please before i get sick, drama queen, sicko, not guilty, no emotion no tears she loves every moment of this drama. but the fact is this the police have nothing, let’s face it folks the girl is going to walk free. if in fact there was dna, the police would have charged her. i agree with the one person, the family had a month to dispose of evidence and daddy is a cop, mom a nurse oh cmon, mom finally says it’s time to call 911 and the drama begins. all evidence is gone. she may walk free, but i believe her life will be a living hell. who is ever going to want her? will she be able to get work? doubtful. she will never be free, she has to face her creator. i hope and pray i’m wrong and that Caylee is alive, beautiful child.
I could not agree more with the intelligent thinking on here-there is just so much rubbish being talked about (and by some of the people directly involved) this whole case-that it is so refreshing to hear speak in realistic terms.
I personally hold a few certain asertions in relation to this case-
(1) In pursuant to this latest theory that Casey Anthony was involved with some local drug kingpins/ known criminals-I think not-there is a certain honour amongst this class-and certainly her uncanny ability to lie to a pathological degree and steal from everyone she meets, suggests these people would not have her involved in anything in anyway-because SHE IS A LIAR & CHEAT-but that has got nothing to do with what has occured in relation to her “missing” child-even for the sake of argument, lets assume she was criminally involved-if(and a big if at this point)her child was snatched/taken-why did Casey Anthony NOT GO IMMEDIATELY TO HER FATHER(EX COP-ALLEGEDLY)OR HER EX-FIANCEE(EX-COP 20TH JUNE 2008)-WHY DID CASEY ANTHONY NOT CONFIDE IN EITHER OF THESE MEN, AND ENLIST THEIR HELP-that Casey choose to just hang about & conduct her own search for the babysitter just totally defies logic& belief, especially when the resources of two experienced men(ex cops) were at her disposal.
(2)I feel utterly certain and confident in my personal belief that Casey Anthony was ably assissted in the concealment of her crime. I consider that she post the incident itself, confided that some awful accident had befallen her-and Caylee as a consequence of the events had sadly lost her life,(this of course may not in fact have borne any truth) to a very significant person to her in her immediate family. I absolutely agree that Casey Anthony together with that person disposed of little Caylee’s body(may in fact, have moved it)and conducted a clean-up of any and all evidence pertaining to these events. I think this significant other person helped concoct the story of the 3rd party-the babysitter.
(3) I think Cindy Anthony was not party to the events which led to the “disappearance” of little Caylee. I think Cindy Anthony was only aware of the fact,(post Casey’s arrest) that she was being lied to in relation to the prolonged and continued absence from the family home. I think it significant that it was Cindy Anthony alone and by herself that managed to track Casey down (through information she received from Casey’s friend, Amy)and arrived alone at the apartment of Tony (the boyfriend) demanding to see Caylee. This is especially significant when you realise that by this stage, the Anthony family had discovered the car abandoned, had discovered the credit card theft, had discovered that Casey Anthony was not in fact where she had purported to be. The abandonened car ordinarily would be sufficient to any family to sound the alarm-the grand-daughter was just 2 years old. The absence of concern shown by other significant family members in relation to this discovery remains inexplicable-and can only imply that they did not care, that they did not want to know-or that they possessed prior knowledge of the car & the event that led to it being abandonened. Certainly if they did not know-it is extraordinary that they did not conceive the thought that perhaps the occupants of that car may have met with an accident/or fallen been the victims of foul play.
(4)Having repeatedly heard/read reference to the conviction that the Anthony parents were in denial, were deluding themselves, were fools to lend creditability to the astonishing lies & subsequent un-copoperative silence maintained by their daughter in relation to the child, their beloved grand-daughter-and I was so very much in agreement with this analysis-I considered that these people were desperate, desperate to keep their hope alive. But having witnessed the incredible lengths that these very people have chosen to stretch the truth-having witnessed time & time again the manner in which they have become so complicit with Casey’s lies-I have concluded that, on July 15th Cindy Anthony did not believe the lies of her daughter-so much so, she drove her down to the local police station in a desperate attempt to illicit the truth from her in relation to Caylee. I had to consider just what had taken place, that could so dramatically alter Cindy’s perception? Casey’s arrest on negligence and lying to the police, was more or less points in accordance with what Cindy herself professed (the grand theft was not included in the arrest warrant). Cindy choose to remain silent-when Casey informed the police that the last time she had seen Caylee was in the week prior to the Sunday, Fathers day when she knew that Caylee was alive & well as she had accompanied her on a vist to her fathers rest home-It was only after the police discovered the video footage of the child reading her fav book, that Cindy accepted that Caylee was in fact with her on June 15th( reluctantly making a liar of her daughter in the process) The Anthonys have been actively engaged in creating a defence of their daughter-(so much so, that unwittingly they have made accomplices of themselves-in the eyes of so many people by the questionable nature of the information they have chosen to elect to the press.) I am absolutely certain that Cindy Anthony now knows what has occured to lead to the “disappearance of Caylee( think she has learnt this information post Casey’s arrest)I think Cindy Anthony has endeavoured to support & assist/protect Casey because indirectly it means that she is supporting/assisting/protecting the other person’s involvement in this case. Cindy Anthony is unable to face the thought of loosing this other person too, to a prison cell.
I really hope the police investigation has not already been so compromised as to be made redunant in obtaining an indictment and a conviction for the persons involved. In the name of Caylee, these people should not be able to just walk away from this.
I think they need to start looking for Caylee where Casey was loitering. I have compiled a map that details her hot spots.
http://shunammite.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/map-of-casey-anthonys-hot-spots/