Is Casey Anthony about to break her cover? Family wants her to make secret return to her Florida home to say goodbye to her dying grandmother

Is Casey Anthony about to break her cover? Family wants her to make secret return to her Florida home to say goodbye to her dying grandmother

By Paul Thompson
PUBLISHED: 11:13 EST, 7 September 2012
UPDATED: 11:34 EST, 7 September 2012

Casey Anthony’s family is hoping she’ll return to her Florida home for the first time since being cleared of murdering her daughter Caylee, Mail Online can reveal.

The 26-year-old, who is considered the most hated woman in America, is considering paying a secret visit to say goodbye to her dying grandmother.

Anthony, who has not been seen in public since her acquittal of murder last July, is known to have been close to Shirley Plesea.

The 85-year-old has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given weeks to live, family members confirmed.

Plesea is under the care of hospice staff in Orlando, Florida, and being looked after by Casey’s mother Cindy and her brother Dan at the home where she lived until her three year old daughter's death.

Family members said Casey would want to say a final goodbye to her grandmother and would break cover to come out of hiding and pay her respects.

Casey has been in hiding after receiving numerous death threats after walking free from court.

Family members said she has been in contact with her mother and was aware of her grandmother's illness.

Dan Plesea, Casey's uncle, told Mail Online: 'Cindy does know Casey's whereabouts. They are in contact. I am not saying anymore.'

Asked if Casey would be returning to the family home he said: 'No comment.'

Speaking outside the Anthony home in Orlando, Plesea said his mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was in the final stages of her life.

'To be honest I did not think she would last as long as she has,' he said.

'Cindy and I are taking turns to look after her.'

Plesea said he traveled from his home in North Fort Myers to stay with his sister in Orlando.

Going home? If Casey Anthony returns to her family home in Orlando, Florida, it will be the first time since she was acquitted of murder

Friends of the family told Mail Online Cindy and her daughter Casey were now talking to each other after months of silence.

The pair did not initially speak following the sensational murder trial that gripped America.

Cindy was always a vocal supporter of Casey, even excusing her odd behavior after Caylee went missing.

Many trial observers believed by changing her testimony during the trial, where she claimed she was responsible for internet searches on the use of chloroform and not her daughter, played a key part in getting Casey acquitted.

'There might have been a time when Casey wasn't talking to her mother, but not now,' said a friend.

'She will have been told all about her grandmother's illness. I am sure she will come home to pay her respects.'

Should Casey return to Orlando it will be the first time she has set foot inside the house since being arrested for the murder of her daughter in 2008.

Neighbours in the housing development about five miles from Orlando International Airport are not so enthusiastic about the possibility of Casey's return.

'We don't want her back here,' said one neighbour, who declined to be named.

'We do not want all the attention that she will bring. Wherever she goes she will be followed the media.

'We had all that through the investigation and the trial, and we don't want it to start up again. As far as I am concerned I never want to see Casey Anthony again.'

Since her acquittal in July 2011 Anthony has been living at a secret address, believed to be somewhere in south Florida.

She has not spoken publicly, but in a phone interview with CNN's Piers Morgan admitted she feels like a prisoner in her own home.

She spends her time cooking, reading books, exercising and watching television.

Anthony denied media reports that she had piled on weight and planned to flee to Costa Rica to start a new life.

She was reported to be living in West Palm Beach, but there were no confirmed sightings of her.

As part of a yearlong probation order for an earlier offence of cheque fraud she has had to live in Florida.

The probation period expired late last month meaning Anthony is free to choose where she wants to live.

With her lawyer Cheney Mason confirmed she has received death threats, there remains the possibility she will seek to forge a new life abroad.

Officials have not said if Anthony will qualify be given a new identity as if she were in a witness protection programme.

It is usually only defendants who give evidence in favour of prosecutors and whose life is at risk that are granted new identities.

Casey was a murder suspect who was cleared by a jury, but given the level of hate that she still generates there remains the possibility Justice Department officials could look favourably on a request for a new name, social security number and passport.

Although Caylee died over four years ago her death remains fresh in the minds of many members of the public who were outraged that Casey walked free from court.

Caylee Anthony disappeared from her Orlando home in June 16th 2008.

Her mother did not report her missing until July 15th and gave parents and authorities various excuses of where she was.

Police searched for the toddler for five months, eventually finding Caylee's remains in a wood a mile from her grandparents' Orlando home.

Casey was charged with first degree murder and prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty.

At her trial which began in May her lawyer Jose Baez stunned the courtroom by claiming Caylee had drowned while playing in her grandparents pool.

To the astonishment of the prosecution lawyers he claimed Casey's father George helped cover up the young girl's death. He also said Casey had been sexually abused by her father - a charge he vehemently denied when taking the witness stand.

Casey did not give evidence during the three month long trial and her lawyer described the mass of forensic evidence linking her to Caylee death as a 'fantasy'.

The jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated manslaughter of a child.

While Anthony has remained silent the two principal lawyers in the case have written books about the trial

She was found guilty on four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer and sentenced to a year in jail.

As she had spent 1043 days in custody she walked free 11 days after the end of her trial.

It was expected that Casey would make more than $1m by talking about her acquittal to the TV networks.

There was even talk of a multimillion dollar publishing deal.

But such was the backlash from the public - with online polls overwhelmingly saying she was guilty - that no media outlet dared strike a deal.

The NBC Today were considered front runners for an interview but after talk of the negotiations leaked out and complaints made to the network the planned interview was shelved.

While Anthony has remained silent the two principal lawyers in the case have written books about the trial.

In an explosive tell-all, defence lawyer Jose Baez accuses George Anthony of abusing his daughter, and speculates that George could have murdered 2-year-old Caylee to hide evidence of abuse.

In his book, 'Presumed Guilty, Casey Anthony: The Inside Story,' Baez reveals aspects of the Anthony’s private lives that were not looked into during the trial.

The lawyer accused George of killing the toddler to hide evidence of abuse.

The book says Casey confided in Baez that she was worried her father might have fathered Caylee, because he had sex with her around the time she had become pregnant.

DNA tests later revealed that George was not the father.

Baez said prosecutors offered in 2008 to allow Anthony to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child and serve up to 13 years in prison. He said that in those early days he thought taking it might be in Anthony's best interest.

'There were times, difficult times, when the evidence didn't look good for Casey,' Baez said, adding that it was his obligation as a lawyer to convey any such plea offers.

Jeff Ashton, the lead prosecutor, also wrote a book called 'Imperfect Justice.'

It is being turned into a Lifetime movie with Rob Lowe playing Ashton.

The 322 page book was scathing of Anthony and her defence team saying the single mother produced numerous stories to explain away the disappearance of her daughter.

The claim that Caylee drowned was dubbed 'Casey 4.0' – the fourth version of what she claimed happened to her daughter.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199918/Is-Casey-Anthony-break-cover-Family-wants-make-secret-return-Florida-home-say-goodbye-dying-grandmother.html