Casey Anthony/Misty Croslin

In case you're not familiar with Casey Anthony and/or Misty Croslin, both involving missing and/or dead children in Florida, briefly:

Casey's 2-year-old daughter Caylee was murdered and Casey is the prime suspect. Casey claimed the baby was missing; she made up an elaborate story about a nanny who took Caylee, and how her whole family was in danger if they did anything! So...she failed to report Caylee "missing" for more than a month. It was her mother who, upon learning that Caylee was missing, contacted the police. Casey then proceeded to tell lie after lie to the authorities, including taking the police on a wild goose chase to Universal Studios, where she claimed to work--but didn't.

Casey was in and out of jail at first, finally landing there for good as she awaits trial for murder--Caylee's completely skeletonized body was found about 6 months after her "disappearance," with duct tape tightly wrapped around her mouth, and just blocks away from the Anthonys' home.

Misty Croslin is a 17-year-old who was living with her boyfriend and his two children. Haleigh Cummings was 5 years old when she was supposedly taken from her bed one night. Misty, being the last known person to have seen Haleigh, was questioned intensely, and rightly so. Her story has changed many times, and she's failed multiple polygraph and other tests that detect deceit. Failed miserably. She continues to deny any knowledge of Haleigh's "disappearance" or whereabouts. Interestingly, Ron Cummings, Haleigh's dad, married Misty Croslin a couple months after Haleigh went missing. I have nothing to back this up except my gut feeling, but I think they married under the incorrect belief that they'd have spousal privilege not to testify against each other. Unfortunately for them, Florida has a law that says spousal privilege doesn't apply in cases involving harm to children. Oh, they just got divorced last week.

There are two shows I watch every day that have done a great job of following these cases closely, Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell and Nancy Grace. I highly recommend them as they're always right on top of any developments in either case.

I've seen many clips of George and Cindy Anthony, Casey's parents, vehemently denying that Casey killed their granddaughter. They've tried to recant or change the meaning of various statements they made when they first discovered Caylee missing. For example, on a 911 call that Cindy Anthony made, she says that she found her daughter's car and it smells like there was a dead body in it. George Anthony made similar remarks. If anyone should know the smell of a decomposing human body, it's George: He was a police officer. Since then they've attributed the smell to rotting pizza. Yeah, rotting pizza does not have the distinct odor of a decomposing body. Besides, cadaver dogs hit on the car, a hair was found in the car belonging to either Casey or Caylee--but that person had to be dead. Hair has "death rings" that don't appear in living people; when confronted with this info, Casey said "well, I'm alive!"

The entire Anthony family is in deep, deep denial. They know that Casey is a pathological liar--even her friends admit that--but they refuse to see the truth here.

As for Misty Croslin, this is what I think happened and, again, it's purely gut instinct. We know that Ron left for work (he worked the night shift), leaving the kids in Misty's care as usual. I think Misty left to go somewhere, probably a party, and took the kids with her. SOMETHING happened to Haleigh, either an accidental drug overdose or some other unintentional harm. She died. Misty panicked. She then did something with Haleigh's body--buried her, dumped her in a lake, who knows. She went back to the trailer and put Junior (Ron's son) to bed, and started thinking up stories to tell. When Ron arrived home from work around 3:00 AM, he found Misty [outside, I believe] saying that Haleigh was gone. Oh--Ron's cell phone records from that night show that he called Misty some 20-odd times but never got her. Also, Misty's brother says that Ron called him and asked him to go over to the trailer to check on them, and that he pounded on the door but there were no signs of life inside.

When Ron got home Misty hadn't called the police. She only did so when Ron told her to. From that point on it's a confusing myriad of stories, all with the same bottom line: she doesn't know what happened to Haleigh.

Her behavior is, in my opinion, very indicative of someone with a guilty conscience. Unlike some of the pundits I've seen on various shows, I do believe that when she cries it's genuine. I think she feels terrible that Haleigh died on her watch, even if she's the one responsible for it. I think she misses Haleigh, and I think she feels genuinely sorry for Ron, his family, and Haleigh's mother, Crystal Sheffield, and her side of the family. She's probably scared to death that she'll be sent to prison forever if she tells the truth, so she's essentially compelled to keep up the lies.

Although the cases both involve women and "missing" children, they're really very different. Casey Anthony went out partying--HARD--during the time her daughter was supposedly missing, but hadn't reported it yet. There are MANY photographs of Casey living it up at parties, nightclubs, etc., without a care in the world about Caylee. Not only that, but she even got a tattoo during that missing month that translates to "the good life." What parent with a missing child--and who isn't involved in the disappearance--would have THAT tattooed on them? Misty, on the other hand, I see as a young, unsophisticated person who [probably] participated somehow in Haleigh's death, and is now wracked with guilt and remorse but can't bring herself to tell the truth. I wish she would give Haleigh's family some closure by telling what really happened that night.

If you're planning on attending a vigil or other gathering for either of these girls--or you're going to be outside the courthouse on days when Casey will appear--or if you want to show your support on a daily basis, please look at these Justice for Caylee, Casey did it and Misty, where is Haleigh? products. There are buttons, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and a lot more.


.