Global General

Casey Anthony cries as trial starts in Florida

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-27 10:15

ORLANDO, Florida -- A Florida mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter began crying Tuesday as a prosecutor described the child's last day at the start of the first-degree murder trial.

Casey Anthony, who could face the death penalty if convicted, wiped away tears as prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick gave her opening statement. Drane Burdick told jurors that all the evidence points to the 25-year-old defendant as the murderer of Caylee Anthony, who was gone for a month before her grandmother alerted police that she was missing.

Casey Anthony cries at the start of the third day of her first degree murder trial at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, Florida May 26, 2011. The former boyfriend of accused murderer Casey Anthony denied on Thursday that she ever told him her father molested her. Tony Lazzaro, who was dating Casey when her 2-year-old daughter died in June 2008, said her description of her relationship with George Anthony "definitely was not sexual abuse."[Photo/Agencies]

"It is time to tell the story of a little girl named Caylee," Drane Burdick said.

The prosecutor also offered for the first time a theory that Caylee died from three pieces of duct tape being placed over her mouth and nose. An autopsy was never able to conclude a cause of death.

Casey Anthony has pleaded not guilty and says a baby sitter kidnapped the girl. The prosecutor told jurors that the baby sitter was made up.

Drane Burdick offered a timeline of Casey Anthony's whereabouts based on mobile phone records. The timeline stretched from the time Caylee was last seen by her grandparents on June 15, 2008, until her remains were discovered by a meter reader in woods near her home in December 2008. Jurors were shown images on a screen of a photo of Caylee taken June 15 alongside an image of the little girl's skeletal remains.

Casey Anthony waited a month before telling her mother that Caylee had disappeared, and that was only after her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, had recovered from the towing lot a car with a foul odor that Casey Anthony had been driving.

Drane Burdick asked jurors, between descriptions of how Casey Anthony spent her days shopping, visiting friends and hanging out with her boyfriend with no signs of her daughter, "Where is Caylee Marie Anthony?"

She also described Internet searches conducted on a computer at Casey Anthony's home that showed queries for chloroform, neck-breaking and alcohol.

The trial has attracted national attention and dozens of people lined up in the early morning hours to be one of the few spectators allowed into the courtroom. Television personalities Geraldo Rivera and Nancy Grace sat in the courtroom gallery.