Caylee Marie Anthony (August 9, 2005 – 2008) was an American two-year-old girl who was reported missing July 15, 2008, in Orlando, Florida. Her skeletal remains were found in a wooded area near her home on December 11, 2008. Her then 22-year-old mother, Casey Marie Anthony, was tried for the first degree murder of Caylee but acquitted. She was, however, convicted of misdemeanor counts of providing false information to police officers.

 

Caylee lived with her mother, Casey, and her maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony. On July 15, 2008, Caylee was reported missing to 9-1-1 by Cindy, who said she had not seen Caylee for 31 days and that Casey's car smelled like a dead body had been inside it. She said Casey had given varied explanations as to Caylee's whereabouts and finally admitted that day that she had not seen her daughter for weeks. Casey fabricated various stories, including telling detectives the child had been kidnapped by a fictitious nanny on June 9, and that she had been trying to find her, too frightened to alert the authorities. With the child still missing, Casey was charged with first degree murder in October and pled not guilty. On December 11, Caylee's skeletal remains were found with a blanket inside a trash bag in a wooded area near the family home. Investigative reports and trial testimony alternated between duct tape being found near the front of the skull and on the mouth of the skull. The medical examiner mentioned duct tape as one reason she ruled the death a homicide, but officially listed it as "death by undetermined means".