Casey Anthony Allegedly Googled 'Fool Proof Suffocation' Methods

Investigators who looked into the 2008 death of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony have missed an important piece of evidence that could have possibly (though probably wouldn’t have) changed the verdict in the trial of Casey Anthony, the girl’s mother who was acquitted of murder in 2011. As it turns out, the prosecution overlooked some rather damning Google searches made from the Anthony household on the day Caylee was last seen alive. Most telling of all was a search for “fool proof suffication [sic],” which was then followed by the computer’s user clicking through to a site on suicide that advised taking poison and then putting a bag over one’s head. (During the trial, prosecution argued that Caylee died after being poisoned by chloroform and suffocated with duct tape.)

Though missed by prosecution, Casey Anthony’s defense team discovered the Google search prior the trial and the piece of evidence is discussed in the book by her lead attorney Jose Baez. Baez suggests that the search was made by Casey Anthony’s father, George Anthony, because the man, following the supposed discovery of his drowned granddaughter in the family pool (a theory pushed by the defense), wanted to kill himself. The browser used for the search, however, was one frequently used by Casey Anthony and was linked to her MySpace page.

Though this new piece of evidence seems to point to Casey Anthony as the guilty party, it is doubtful that it would have swayed the jury’s final verdict. Prosecution did use other online evidence during the trial, including a Google search for “chloroform,” but had no way of linking the internet activity directly to the young mother when the computer was used by several people in the Anthony household. If, however, prosecution could have proved that it was Casey Anthony who searched for “fool proof” suffocation methods, it would have blown holes in her timeline and placed her at home during the time of the child’s death.

Despite the new evidence, there is no chance that Casey Anthony will be retried for the murder of Caylee Anthony. Double jeopardy forbids that a defendant can be tried multiple times for the same crime.

Casey Anthony, Google search ‘Fool Proof Suffocation’ case evidence: Detectives overlooked search [WPTV]