Casey Anthony Visited By Pastor In Jail

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 –

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Casey Anthony received a visitor at the Orange County jail Tuesday. Pastor Thomas Stutzman of the Eastside Baptist Church visited her for the second time. He is the only pastor that is permitted to visit and he may visit once a month.

The pastor is the only person, other than her defense team, who has visited Casey since she was arrested on murder charges for the death of her daughter. Stutzman represents the same church where the Anthonys held a vigil for Caylee.

Channel 9 was told that Casey Anthony was removed from psychological observation, but she remains in protective custody.

This is nice of Rev. Stutzman. I suppose she'll now find Gee-zuss, and use that as a sympathy attempt to avoid the death penalty. If she HAD attended services, she'd have only stolen from the collection plate. Skank.

Drew Peterson Engaged to 23-year-old woman. What can she be thinking?

December 17, 2008
BY JOE HOSEY Joliet Herald News
Looks like it’s bride number 5 for Drew Peterson.

“Yeah, he proposed and she accepted,” Peterson's attorney, Joel Brodsky, said of his client's impending nuptials.

But Brodsky added, “I guess he's got to get divorced.” Peterson’s current wife, Stacy, has been missing since last year.

Peterson said he does not believe his marital status should prevent him from becoming engaged. “I was married to Kathleen when I was engaged to Stacy," he said.

Kathleen — Kathleen Savio, wife number 3 — was the victim of an unsolved March 2004 homicide. Stacy — wife number 4 — vanished in October 2007. State police say she is the victim of a potential homicide and have named Drew Peterson their sole suspect.

Peterson's publicist, Glenn Selig, said Drew's betrothed is a 23-year-old woman from the Bolingbrook area, making her even younger than Stacy, who would be 24.
A sleepy Peterson on Wednesday morning seemed perturbed that news of his engagement had leaked.

“I can't believe this is happening," he said. "How the f--- did this get out?"

Peterson said he wants to keep details of his new love under wraps.

“Last time I had a relationship, you guys screwed it all up," he said of 22-year-old tanning salon worker Kim Matuska. "The police had her, the grand jury had her. I'm not putting her through all that."

He's old, he's ugly, he's not rich and will soon be poorer when Kathleens estate is redistributed. So, this 24 year old wants to raise four kids, two half grown, and wants to be step-mom to two men older than her. And just look at the guy...would you want to have sex with him? yuck.

Which reminds me. Where is Eric Peterson, the son who quit associating with his dad after Kathleens death? The one that's not a cop. Did he testify in front of the grand jury? I'll bet he has a lot to say.

No Reward For Meter Reader Who Found Skull

Monday, December 15, 2008 –

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- It was a meter reader who found the remains that could be Caylee Anthony. He's having a tough time and does not want to talk with the media and he is so disturbed by what he found his bosses have given him some time off of work.

When the Orange County meter reader discovered a skull in the woods not too far from Caylee Anthony's home his supervisor called 911.

VIDEO REPORT: No Crimeline Reward For Meter Reader

911 CALL: Discovery Of Human Skull

That phone call makes the meter reader ineligible for a $5,000 Crimeline reward. To collect the reward, you have to call Crimeline first before you call 911.

"You have to initiate a tip with Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS," explained Detective Barb Bergin, Crimeline. "We don't have enough money to pay rewards to everyone who calls 911."
Bergin encourages people to call 911 if there is an emergency, but Crimeline calls are answered 24 hours a day.

"As calls come in, if it's something that needs an emergency or needs law enforcement, we have people in place for that to happen immediately," Bergin said.

Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla offered a $50,000 reward for Caylee's body, but pulled the money when people complained searchers were tearing up their yards looking for remains.
"I don't want to get sued," Padilla said.

Still, Padilla plans thinks the meter reader deserves some kind of reward and he plans to write him a check if the remains belong to Caylee.

"It's going to be a figure between five and ten grand involved easily," he said. "Nobody looks at bags out here in these palmettos, they just walk by it. This guy had the foresight to go over and do it."

Crimeline detectives told Eyewitness News they never make exceptions. You have to call the tip line first if you want to be eligible for a reward. While they have received complaints from people who called 911 first and then tried to collect the money, they always stick to their policy.

Crimeline has achieved a lot fighting crime in Central Florida. During the last year, Crimeline tips have generated 1,100 arrests and solved 1,200 cases.

Crimeline gave out $340,000 in rewards. That money comes from a trust fund in the Attorney General's Office.

Can you believe this crap?

Shoe insult: abusive or just lost in translation?

By Hugo Rifkind

"Ow!” as Austin Powers famously said to the assassin Random Task. “That really hurt! I'm going to have a lump there! You idiot. Honestly! Who throws a shoe?”

Muntazer al-Zaidi throws a shoe. Or rather, he threw two. Both were aimed at the head of George W. Bush, as he gave a press conference in Baghdad this weekend. “This is a farewell kiss, you dog,” the Iraqi TV journalist shouted. “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”

It was a powerful sentiment, rendered strangely ridiculous. Because he threw a shoe. Who throws a shoe?

Arabs do. In fact, in the global scheme of things, we in the West (you, me, George Bush, Austin Powers) are somewhat in the minority in not having a problem with feet at all. In much of South East Asia, it's considered rude to cross your legs while sitting down, for precisely this reason.

In the north Indian town of Dharamsala, my friend Hamish was once nearly lynched by a mob of pacifist Buddhists for accidentally pointing the soles of his feet at the Dalai Lama. True story.

As you may already know from that slightly tiresome bank advertisement, it's very easy to cause foreign offence, inadvertently.

In Japan it's rude to blow your nose (nobody seems sure quite why) and, as in China, rude to leave your chopsticks standing up in a bowl of rice (because this mimics a funeral rite) . In the Philippines, you can be arrested for beckoning somebody by curling your finger, because this suggests that he or she is a dog.

In much of southern Europe and North Africa, the “thumbs up” sign doesn't mean “yes” or “super” or even “I'm doing a Paul McCartney impression”, but in fact means “sit on this”. The “this” in question does not necessarily refer to your thumb.

When in Turkey, don't make the "OK" sign with your fingers. It's considered to be a very vulgar sexual gesture. Also, don't put your thumb in between your index finger and middle finger. It's another vulgar gesture, much like "giving the finger" in the U.S.

Almost everywhere else in the world, it is deeply rude to point. In India, you are expected to point with your chin. Somehow.

Such is the potential for inadvertent rudeness when dealing with another culture, the poor shoeless al-Zaidi should probably consider himself lucky that George Bush didn't just pick up the missiles and say: “Excuse me sir, you seem to have dropped your shoes.” Effective rudeness requires research. If you are going to insult somebody from another culture, it really pays to know what you are doing.

You can go a long way with hand gestures. The extended middle finger is fairly widely understood, but the same cannot be said for our beloved British V-sign, which even Americans might associate with Winston Churchill, or hippies, which is rude to most everyone else.

Other global alternatives include the French fist (clench, punch to the sky, put your other hand in the crook of your elbow) and the Greek moutsa, which is similar to the American “talk to the hand”, but with the strong, unspoken insinuation that the hand contains something. Something brown.

You may also wish to try the Indo-Pakistani coutis (open your hand, put your thumbnail against your teeth and say “cutta”), or one of the many, many Arabic alternatives such as the one where you clasp the fingers of your left hand, and touch this fist with your right forefinger.

Italians are particularly fond of what has become the rockstar Satan sign (clenched fist, first finger and small finger extended, twist your wrist) which is traditionally supposed to suggest cuckoldry.

Pretty much all of these, it goes without saying, are intended to convey the message that the victim really ought to go off and have sex with something and/or endure the ordeal of something else having sex with him or her.

Exceptions to this rule include the Japanese four-fingered stab (similar to the moutsa but with the thumb tucked in against the palm), which suggests that the insultee is some kind of four-legged beast.

There is also a little-known Saudi Arabian sign which involves making a V-sign with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, and placing this over the side of the other, which roughly translates as “I shall ride you as I would a donkey”. This should also be non-sexual in nature, although that obviously depends on exactly how fond your interlocutor is of his ass.

The best spoken insults, internationally, also tend to be uniformly sex-based, although there does seem to be a heartwarming diversity therein. Almost all of these are obviously unprintable in a newspaper such as The Times.

Still, if you really need to know the best ones, fire up Google and search for the Bulgarian one about what you should do with a “Carpathian long-haired she-wolf”, the Spanish one about from where you should suck butter, and the Mandarin one about just why you ought to wear a green hat.

Or just Google the phrase “Arabic insults”. Some of those will make your eyes water. Don't even get me started on the one about “your mother's ribcage”. In a midst of a list of the kind of horrific things that Arabs have figured out how to say to each other, the phrase “Surmayye a'raasac” rears up like an old friend. It just means “A shoe is on your head”.

In the case of George Bush, it was about six inches out. No idea how you'd say that.

Judge Shoots Down Anthony Defense Team Motions

Tuesday, December 16, 2008
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Casey Anthony's defense team lost another round of legal battles Tuesday afternoon when a judge rejected its request to quickly examine material gathered from a scene where a child's remains were found last week.


Anthony's defense team had asked for an emergency court hearing Tuesday afternoon to force investigators to turn over photographs, video and sketches of the scene. The lawyers also requested a second autopsy be performed on the remains.
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Judge Stan Strickland denied two motions and put aside one.
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"Part of this is just pure folly," said Strickland. "I just can't do some of what you're asking for."
Baez had wanted to get his hands on evidence investigators continue to dig up at the scene, which is not far from the home where Casey Anthony, her daughter Caylee, and her parents, George and Cindy, live...
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"They're not sure when they're gonna be done," Baez said of the investigators. "It's no longer a crime scene, it's more of an excavation scene."
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But Strickland quickly shot down that argument, ruling the defense team has no right to interfere with detectives as they process the crime scene.
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"There's no time clock on an investigation and if law enforcement doesn't do an exhaustive job, defense will argue it was shoddy and inadequate," said Strickland.
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Strickland also said there was no need to appoint someone to oversee the work of the Orange County medical examiner and said the motion on a second autopsy was a moot point since the body hadn't even been identified yet.
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WFTV legal analyst William Sheaffer called the motions "ludicrous." Sheaffer said it was unheard of for a defense team to ask to be part of a murder investigation. He also pointed out that the request for a second autopsy was a moot point because either Casey Anthony, or her parents, George and Cindy, would have the right to have that done once the remains are turned over to them, if the remains do indeed belong to missing 2-year-old Caylee Anthony.
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Baez said his client was having a hard time with the discovery. "She's not taking it well due to the severity," said Baez. "As far as giving specifics, it wouldn't be appropriate."
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SEARCH COULD GO PAST WEDNESDAY
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Investigators hoped to finish searching the scene some time Wednesday but now are not sure that will happen. They say they continue to turn up new evidence and will stay as long as it takes. They've been looking for clues among dirt and branches they've pulled out of the woods.
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Casey's childhood friend told deputies that the wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School was where they used to hang out as kids. Five months before a utility worker discovered a child's remains Casey Anthony's childhood friend, Kiomarie Cruz, told deputies they needed to look in the woods near the school.
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In an interview, Cruz told detectives she and Casey, "pretty much used to hang out there most of our time," would "snack on food for hours," and went there to "get away from our parents."
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However, when the sheriff's office got that tip the area was covered in flood water and deputies said they couldn't search there. Forensic investigators continue to look for clues and more remains in the woods. They will closely look at the plastic bag where the child remains were found to see if there are any fingerprints, hair or DNA evidence from Casey.
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Investigators will closely look at the plastic bag where the child remains were found Thursday to see if there are any fingerprints, hair or DNA evidence from Casey. They are also looking for any clues on the duct tape that was found wrapped around the child's remains.
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Detectives have taken fingerprints from Cindy, George and Lee Anthony to try to rule out their involvement.

If the remains are Caylee Marie Anthony's, and if investigators find out that the duct tape was stretched over her mouth before she was killed, prosecutors potentially could view the murder as cold, calculated and premeditated. Those actions are legal justification for pursuing a death sentence and could bring the death penalty back as a possibility. Prosecutors recently said they would not pursue the death penalty.
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WFTV legal analyst Sheaffer says prosecutors may argue financial reasons were behind the murder so Casey would not have to support Caylee. There is evidence showing that Cindy was going to kick Casey out of her home.
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The trial is scheduled to begin in March, so prosecutors would be in no hurry to make a decision.
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ANTHONYS RELEASE STATEMENT ABOUT REMAINS
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The new lawyer for George and Cindy Anthony spoke to the public Monday (watch video). He said he didn't know about plans to prosecute them on charges related to the case, but he did tell Eyewitness News that he is seeking immunity for Caylee's grandparents.
Attorney Brad Conway says he just wants to make sure his clients are protected. He wants to make sure charges aren't filed later.
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Eyewitness News has learned George and Cindy, along with their son Lee, were fingerprinted over the weekend so investigators will have them on hand as they search for fingerprints on evidence they've collected at the scene.
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George and Cindy Anthony were not ready to address the media Monday, but issued a statement (read statement) through their attorney. The Anthonys do not plan on making a public statement until the remains found near their home are identified. Conway said the family is realistic, but hopeful it's not Caylee.
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"The last six months have been the hardest six months of our lives and we understand that the ongoing investigation and prosecution of our daughter, Casey, will consume our lives with conflict," Conway read from the statement. "Based on recent developments we are realistic but continue to hope and pray that these remains are not those of our precious granddaughter Caylee Marie."
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Once the medical examiner and the defense examine the remains, the remains, if Caylee's, will be released to the Anthonys.
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"If it is Caylee Marie, they will make proper burial," Conway told Eyewitness News.
Eyewitness News reported last week that sources close to the investigation said they are possibly building a case against Caylee's grandparents for obstruction of justice. Sources told Eyewitness News, if charges were pursued, it would be after the remains were identified and it would come from the forensic evidence that was recently taken from the Anthony home.
"They have cooperated. They have done nothing," Conway said.
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Conway said he plans to meet with the lead prosecutor and detectives later this week to ask for full immunity for the Anthonys.
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"We will not speculate. If the attorney officially decides to ask our office, well will address it then," said Danielle Taverneri, spokesperson for the State Attorney's Office.
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Conway admits the Anthonys have made conflicting statements in the past. They will be re-interviewed by investigators. He said, for the next interview they give to authorities, there will not be any conflicting statements.
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Attorney Brad Conway also said he is representing the Anthonys for free.