Audio files detail meter reader's calls about site where Caylee Anthony found

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-casey2408dec24,0,6035195.story

Audio files detail meter reader's calls about site where Caylee Anthony found

Willoughby Mariano | Sentinel Staff Writer
December 24, 2008

An Orange County meter reader whose suspicions led to the discovery of missing toddler Caylee Marie Anthony's remains was at first unsure whether his tip was worth deputy sheriffs' time, according to audio files released Tuesday of calls he made to 911 dispatchers.

Roy Kronk, 46, made three calls Aug. 11, 12 and 13, less than a month after the 2-year-old's grandmother reported her missing. Kronk was working in the Chickasaw Oaks neighborhood, where Caylee lived with her mother and grandparents, when he noticed "something white" in a swampy, wooded area near the intersection of Hopespring and Suburban drives, according to a file of one of the calls.

"I have no idea what it was, and I don't want to waste any more of the county's money, but I'm just telling you I saw something," Kronk said during the first of those calls. Deputies checked and found nothing.

On Dec. 11, Kronk ventured back into those woods and found a human skull. Tests showed the remains belong to Caylee.

Deputies' failure to find the remains after Kronk's calls in August prompted sheriff's officials to launch a review of their actions. That investigation is not complete, sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said.

The toddler's mother, Casey Anthony, 22, is being held in the Orange County Jail on first-degree murder and other charges in the case.

Kronk made the first of his calls Aug. 11 at 4:28 p.m., saying he found something suspicious near "the Anthonys' home."

"I don't know what it is; I'm not telling you it was Caylee or anything of that nature," Kronk told a female dispatcher. He said he would not take a closer look because he saw a venomous snake nearby.

The dispatcher did not seem to understand what he meant by "the Anthonys' home."

"Is it Anthony house on Holly Street in Zellwood?" she asked.

The meter reader tried to give a location of his find but struggled to remember the names of nearby roads. Kronk called Hopespring Drive "Good Hope Road." The dispatcher thought he said "Good Homes Road."

Dispatchers sent a deputy to the scene, who spent about five minutes there, according to a sheriff's report.

Kronk gave more details in a second call the next night at 9:03 p.m. He said the suspicious item was near a fallen tree with a white board hanging across it. Something round and white was beneath it, he said.

"I don't know what it is, but it just didn't look like something that should be there," Kronk told a male dispatcher. The dispatcher encouraged him to call Crimeline and told Kronk he could remain anonymous.

"Not if they find a freaking body," Kronk replied. The meter reader relented and took down the number for the tip line.

That tip was documented and sent to a detective, who made a note that the area was searched by a cadaver dog that found nothing suspicious, deputies said previously.

Kronk called a third time on Aug. 13 at 3:15 p.m. at the instruction of law-enforcement authorities, who were to meet him in the Chickasaw Oaks neighborhood.

"They said they would dispatch an officer out to me when I got there, and I'm here," Kronk said. He said he would be waiting in a Chevrolet Cavalier.

Deputies cleared the scene at 4:02 p.m., according to a report on the call. Only trash was found.

Remains released

In other developments Tuesday:

*Caylee Marie's remains were released from the Medical Examiner's Office to a funeral home.

*George and Cindy Anthony said they intend to hold a public memorial service for their granddaughter Caylee, their attorney Brad Conway said in a statement. They have not determined a date or location and also plan to have a private ceremony. They are not seeking donations to fund services.

*Casey Anthony is not eligible to leave jail to attend her daughter's funeral unless a court order allows it. Jail policy bars inmates facing capital, life or first-degree felonies, and sex offenders, from doing so.

*The mother's defense may obtain photos taken by investigators when Caylee's remains were found, as well as X-rays that may have been taken of the remains before they were removed from the bag in which they were discovered. The defense said it wants to conduct a second autopsy.

Prosecutors must give the items to the defense within 14 days, Orange Circuit Judge Stan Strickland ruled.