Jim Lichtenstein on the Anthonys (from FB)

Jim Lichtenstein
Okay people. I'm going to give you a little insight into my involvement in the Casey/Caylee Anthony case. From time to time I'll sit down and share some of my experiences with you here on Facebook.
Yesterday at 7:54am

Jim Lichtenstein Over the next few months, the Today Show would do the story dozens of times. From our perspective, there was a little girl missing and she may have been taken across state lines. Our coverage could help find her anywhere in the country. Casey as a suspect was secondary, but tremendously intriguing to us and the country.
Yesterday at 7:56am

Jim Lichtenstein Obviously, when working closely with the family, doing coverage like this, you spend many many hours with those involved. Early on, when strange people started to insert themselves into the case, I told Cindy and George to TRUST NOBODY. Not even me. Let people earn your trust. This was advice that was hard for them to take. As history would end up showing, their trust for people would bite them in the butt many times over...
Yesterday at 7:56am

Jim Lichtenstein More later... I'll alert everybody on Twitter when I update this. @JimLichtenstein .
Yesterday at 7:56am

Jim Lichtenstein Thanks!
Yesterday at 7:56am

Jim Lichtenstein Thanks Da Smith. Lee was making flyers and creating a web page to help find Caylee. He was on his laptop, not the family computer in the bedroom.
21 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein It didn't become apparent that Jose was going to go after George until the jury selection. That's when Ann Finnell starting asking jurors if it would sway their opinions of there was abuse. Don't believe they were in any way working together during the trial.
21 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein Hey Sally, These are my experiences, not opinions.
20 hours ago

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Jim Lichtenstein
Part 2
The first live shot we did was on Saturday morning, July 18, 2008. The crew and I arrived at the Anthony house at 430am to start setting up. When we do a live shot in somebody's house, it can be pretty disruptive. Moving furniture and plants to make room for the gear and make the shot look better.
5 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein Right when you walk in the door is the (i guess it's light pink) leather sofa that the most famous Caylee picture was taken. Cindy, months later, told me she took it while Caylee was resting her head on her hand while watching TV. Her eyes were huge in it. Adorable.
5 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein The rest of the room had kind of an Asian flair to it. To the right was a hallway that led to Casey's room, the guest room, and around then Caylee's room. Cindy took me in to Casey's room and we started to take pictures off the walls for my crew to shoot. There were pictures of her everywhere. When you first come into Casey's room there were several framed shots of the ultrasound of Caylee. We then went to Caylee's room. It was filled with books and stuffed animals. I remember lots of Beanie-Babies.
5 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein I brought the pictures to the camera crew to shoot and we fed them back live to the Today Show in NY. At about 630am, Kerry Sanders got there. We hadn't worked together before and had no idea that for the next 3 years, we'd be joined at the hip.
5 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein The way it works in TV is we will do what's called a "set-up piece" then a live interview. Kerry was outside the house leading into his taped report on what the case was about. In the first report he explained the head scratching complexity of what was going on. After Kerry was done, he then "tosses" it back to the studio in NY and they then leade into the live interview between Lester Holt and the family.
5 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein That morning I wanted us to interview the whole family. We lined them up, Cindy on the left, George in the middle and Lee on the right. Basically, Cindy ended up doing all of the talking. George and Lee only said a few words (you may remember in the beginning, most interviews were just with Cindy. This is why...).

After the interview, I remember saying to the Anthony's "Hopefully somebody who's seen her was watching...".

Jim Lichtenstein More later... I'll post to @JimLichtenstein on Twitter when I update.
5 hours ago

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Jim Lichtenstein
Part 3 of my Caylee/Casey experiences

We would go live almost every day on the Today Show for weeks. To us, this was a missing little girl. The other networks were mostly ignoring the story. ABC and CBS barely covered this in the beginning (and over the next 3 years). There's an unspoken attitude by some networks that if they don't "own" the story, they'd rather ignore it.
Gale St. John, Caylee Anthony Search, Orlando Flordia - www.BriansDreams.com
video.google.com
Yesterday at 3:04pm

Jim Lichtenstein The attitude is that if the Today Show is doing it every day (and the other nets are so far behind), then act like it's not a story. The problem with this theory in this case... There was a little missing girl. TV politics should not get in the way of getting her picture out to as much of the country as possible.
Yesterday at 3:05pm

Jim Lichtenstein So we forged on doing this story every day, and each day the story got stranger. The family was incredibly cooperative. they gave us pictures, the singing video, and interviews every day. The police were also cooperative, but oddly most of the information that would come out would be from "sources". It's hard to remember which details came from the Sheriff's press office and which came from "sources", but the "sources" were winning.
Yesterday at 3:05pm

Jim Lichtenstein Also very early on the Casey pictures started to surface. People came out of the woodwork with the party and hot body pictures. Each day more and more pictures came out. Most had no date, and were way before Caylee disappeared. At this point Nancy Grace had gotten on board the Casey wagon and just started putting all of the pictures up as if they had just been taken (eve though Casey's hair was sometimes different colors and lengths). In reality, I believe there were only two sets of pictures that happened while Caylee was missing. I always just referred to them as the Blue and Black dress pics.
Yesterday at 3:06pm

Jim Lichtenstein There were thousands of tips that came in to police and a good bunch of them were from psychics. The police understandably can't chase leads when somebody "has a feeling" or "had a dream". There was at least one psychic to they should have listened to. (we did not learn of her until after Caylee was found) Her name is Gayle St. John. In early August of 08, she and some of her helpers drove down from Ohio to do a "blind drive" to find Caylee. They started at the house and basically drove right to the spot Caylee was found. As they passed it, Gale felt "cold" and they pulled over. They did not go back in the woods because it was private property and apparently Gale had had some trouble earlier from entering private property. They called police, but were ignored. Here's the video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6142164224455400485
Yesterday at 3:06pm

Jim Lichtenstein I found out about this video from Jose in December after Caylee was found. I looked at it at night in my hotel room and immediately drove out to Suburban drive at about 1am to see just how close she was. You'll see in the video that there's not much in the way of markers to pinpoint a position. But there was a school crossing sign that was visible as they drove by. I counted how many seconds after that sign, that Gale said she felt something, and that put me right at the spot that Caylee was found. I was leery of psychics before, but that made me a believer, at least in Gale.
Yesterday at 3:06pm

Jim Lichtenstein More later. I'll alert all on Twitter @JimLichtenstein
Yesterday at 3:07pm

Jim Lichtenstein Thanks Beth and Stafanie. Early on people would ask if I was doing a book or movie and I always said no. Cindy, George and Jose also asked me. I promised I wouldn't. The family and all involved were very open with me in part because they trusted my word. That word on a book, movie or anything else, is still no. (I was approached about a book and turned it down)
Yesterday at 3:29pm

Jim Lichtenstein In the last days of the trial Cindy actually called me asking if the rumors were true, that I was writing a book. I said; How many years has that rumor been out there??!! I told you I'd never do that. She said; I know. I just had to ask...
Yesterday at 5:24pm

Jim Lichtenstein Sarah, You have to remember that for the first 5 months, Caylee was just missing. Cindy is well on record as believing that Caylee was alive until then. In fact she's actually on record that she believed Caylee was alive for long after the body was found. Cindy especially, never thought Casey could do anything to harm Caylee. I never saw Cindy as anti-Casey, because she wanted to believe that somebody else took Caylee. As for post trial thoughts of Cindy, you'll have to refer to Dr. Phil.
Yesterday at 7:04pm

Jim Lichtenstein The Cindy you see now is very different and mellowed from the Cindy in the early days. In the beginning, she was a whirlwind trying to do anything to find Caylee. As time when on, and especially after Caylee was found, she changed. It didn't break her, but she is definitely fractured (and medicated, which she as said publicly). Whether you like her or not, what she and George have been through has been horrific. I mean think about it... There has never been a case like this. Caylee was at the top of the list of victims, but it didn't stop with that smiling little girl...
Yesterday at 7:40pm

Jim Lichtenstein Thanks Tian. I think there's a big difference between Cindy knowing Casey was lying and being anti-Casey. Again, I don't think Cindy could conceive of Casey doing anything bad to Caylee. Remember in court, there was not one person who said bad things about Casey and Caylee's relationship. Only one person said he heard Casey raise her voice to Caylee, and ironically it was when she got too close to the edge of a swimming pool.
Yesterday at 8:08pm

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Jim Lichtenstein
Part 4 of my Caylee/Casey time.

So I had come to Orlando on July 17, 2008 planning on being there (and having packed for) 2 days. I ended up being there for 2 weeks as we did stories just about every day. The only reason I was able to come home, was because NBC had the Olympics in August and the Today Show moved to China. During that period we didn't have much of the story on.
4 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein I had to dip down to North Carolina to nose around on the John Edwards having a baby with a mistress story when that first broke. I would still talk to the Sheriff's office, Jose and Cindy almost every day to make sure we weren't missing anything.
4 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein I was back in Orlando pretty quickly dealing with the story even though we were not getting much on the air during the Olympics. Then word came from Jose that a Bounty Hunter from Sacramento, CA was going to post the 10% required of Casey's $500,000 bond. Within a few days, I and the other media was at the Orlando Airport waiting for the arrival of Leonard Padilla and crew. Leonard loved it.
4 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein He came strolling up to the cameras in his Black Cowboy hat, vest and his best toothpick. He told me he had to quickly get down to get his luggage because it had his guns in it. And he "felt naked" without a gun...
4 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein A few days when by and it came time for Casey to be bailed out. There was a tropical storm going on at that point and it was raining like crazy. I didn't have a camera crew there. We very often relied on footage from our outstanding affiliate, WESH. All of the media was huddled under an overhang at the front of the jail to hide from the rain. Then we saw Jose and Casey through the glass walking in the lobby toward the door. This was the mad rush video that you've seen 100 times. The two of them coming out with an umbrella hiding Casey. It was a mob scene. At one point Casey said something in Jose's ear. Jose later told reporters that she had said that "she was innocent, and she wanted to hold her head up high". We all knew that was BS at the time, and months later I would find out from Tracy (Casey's bodyguard while out on bond) that Casey told her she told Jose to "Get me the f*ck out of here!".
4 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein Leonard and his guys set up house outside the Anthony home with a rented Winnebago. Inside the house was Tracy. She spent 9 days, 24 hours a day in the home with the Anthony family and Casey. Months later Tracy and I started talking about doing an interview. Leonard did not like this. In fact I had her booked to be on the show in November of 08. Tickets bought, it was slotted in the show. The day before she was to appear on Today, she was to get on the plane. Leonard was so upset that she was going to talk, he fired her. Needless to say, Tracy backed out of the interview. I called Leonard and he said I was "trying to milk the cow through the fence". He eventually gave her her job back.
4 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein It took me three years, but I finally got Tracy to talk just before the verdict, and then again after the verdict. She was great. Worth the wait... Here's the video from that first exclusive. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43605388/ns/today-today_people/#.Tnpf3U_Dme0
4 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein Okay, back to 2008... When Leonard first sprung Casey, he wanted to find Caylee. He knew the only way to do that was to talk to Casey, but Jose forbid anyone from talking to her without him present. That first night, after Jose was gone, Leonard went in the house to grill her and she quickly kicked him out of the house. It's funny because all of those present say that Leonard was with Casey for about 5 minutes before being kicked out. He was able to milk those 5 minutes for the next 3 years as if he and Casey had long deep conversations. He made hundreds of appearances on Nancy Grace tossing out his "theories du jour". Of course, he never actually said how much time he spent with Casey... I like Leonard. He had fairly good intentions when he came to Orlando. He really wanted to find that little girl, and if along the way he got 20-million dollars of publicity for his $50k, all the better. He played it right and got at least half of what he set out for. I know he would've much rather have found Caylee and gotten his pub from that.
4 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein More later...
4 hours ago

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Jim Lichtenstein
Part 5

While Leonard Padilla put up the money for Casey to be bailed out, it was his nephew, Tony Padilla, who actually made it happen. Tony is a Bail Bondsman in Sacramento. He is one of the nicest and upstanding guys you'll ever meet. That first night with Casey at home, Casey and Cindy made a salmon dinner for Tony and Tracy (tracy, correct me if others were there). Tony stayed quietly behind the scenes while making sure things ran smoothly.
6 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein In front of the house was a Winnebago with a few of Leonard's hired guns. All seemed like nice guys. There were there round the clock. Them outside, and Tracy inside. The media was always there. The crazies were there most of the time too.
6 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein Jose was convinced that the house was bugged. You may remember that while Casey was out on bond both times, she would be brought to Jose's office each day. Jose didn't want her in that house talking. He wanted her in his office where he could hopefully keep her and her stories in check. So each day, at 10am sharp, Casey would get in an SUV in the closed garage and be driven to Jose's, 20 miles away, by Rob Dick and Tracy.
6 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein I never met Casey. There were several times that I would need to come to the house to talk about Today Show stuff with Cindy. I'd have to come at 10 and wait for a few minutes for Casey to leave before I came inside. There was one time I had to talk to Jose about something for the show. We were going to grab lunch, but decided to eat in his office. I stopped by Panerra, grabbed sandwiches for us, and a fruit cup for Casey. When I got there, I had to wait while Casey moved from Jose's office into a conference room. There was always a door between Casey and I.
6 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein In the early days, there were times that my reporters were switched out. I usually had Kerry Sanders, but Michelle Kosinski was also there a lot. At one point I had lined up an interview between Jose and Michelle. I had pushed to have Michelle be the first reporter to meet Casey. I got Jose to agree. He said that if Michelle got there before 5pm (her home monitoring required her to be on a schedule), she could meet Casey. Unfortunately, Michelle lived in Atlanta. She raced to get a plane, but it was a little delayed. She got the the office about 5:10pm and just missed Casey. We never had the chance again.
6 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein While Casey was hanging at Jose's office I knew she would spend time on her Facebook page (It was on the computer in Jose's office on fruit cup day). I sent her a friend request that night and before I knew it, were were FB friends. Most of the posts on her page were bashing her. Some were supporting her. Casey would write posts asking the negative people to stay away and asking all to help find Caylee. There were a ton of pictures of her and Caylee. I copied them all and hung on to them. We didn't use them right away because in network television, you have to have permission to use material like pictures, There are lawyers that go through everything before it airs to make sure we have out t's crossed and i's dotted. These pictures were eventually released by police.
6 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein Jose had told me that he went to NY to meet with ABC honchos. They took him to a Yankees game while courting him for a Casey interview. Geraldo also had him on his boat to cozy up to him. I had told Jose that we don't pay for interviews, so he was working out a deal with Good Morning America and 20/20. On the day I felt their deal was going down, I asked Jose if he could just give me the details of the deal, and I would keep my network in the loop. I didn't want Casey popping up on another network without knowing why we lost her. After finding out exactly what was for sale, DVD's of Caylee and an interview, I reiterated to Jose that we don't pay. He made the ABC deal that day.
6 hours ago ·

Jim Lichtenstein It drove me crazy that everybody was denying there was a deal for the interview. I knew the money figure was in the six figures, but I didn't know exactly how much until Jose had to reveal it in court 2 years later. $200,000. Wow...
6 hours ago

Jim Lichtenstein That meeting with Jose was on a Thursday and ABC camera crews were brought in for a Saturday interview. What nobody knew, is that the police WE'RE listening in. (I'll talk about this later) The night before the interview, police swooped in (during Nancy Grace if you recall) and arrested Casey for the check fraud charges. The did it so quickly, they didn't even have a warrant when they went to the house. The police were very proud that they prevented Casey from being interviewed. The money, however had been transferred and that money financed Casey's defense and bailed her out a second time...

More later.


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Jim Lichtenstein
I know this will tick a lot of you off and I'm sorry about that....

So here's the deal. I think I'm done with talking about the Casey case. I know there are lots of people who are a tad obsessed with the details, but at the end of the day... I'm not one of them. It consumed my professional life for 3 years, but those 3 years are pretty much over. I am moving on, and so should you.
32 minutes ago

Jim Lichtenstein It doesn't do us any good to have me rehash all of the details. It only feeds the beast that is this national obsession. It's just not healthy. There are so many people that let events of the world rule their lives. 9/11, Viet Nam, Elvis... Don't let this case define you! I'm sorry, but if you mention Caylee or Casey in your FB or Twitter name, then I'm talking to you.

Here's my suggestion. Go play with your kids; ride a bike; hit a movie. And each night when you kiss your kids as they drift off to sleep, squeeze them a little tighter. If this story causes us all to look at our kids a little differently, then something good came out of it.

Bad things happen. Horrible things... We deal with it and go on with our lives. Now is the time to do this.
33 minutes ago

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