Casey Anthony, mother of missing toddler Caylee Marie Anthony, will be released from jail for a second time Friday after her parents made new arrangements for her half-million-dollar bail on a child-neglect charge.
Bond documents show that George and Cynthia "Cindy" Anthony put up the collateral to obtain their daughter’s freedom. The paperwork did not explain the source of the collateral but said the couple signed off on a "promissory note indemnity agreement" — essentially a contract that requires the parents to repay the bondsman for any losses.
A public-relations firm that represents Casey Anthony’s attorney, Jose Baez, issued a statement saying that said an "individual" who wishes to remain anonymous posted bond for Anthony because of concern that her constitutional rights have been violated.
"She is going home," said Todd Black of Press Corps Media.
Anthony, 22, will live with her parents at their southeast Orange County, Fla., home and must wear an electronic monitor at all times, Orange County jail officials said.
This will be her second shot at freedom. Anthony, whose 3-year-old daughter was reported missing more than seven weeks ago, was released Aug. 21 on similar terms but was rearrested Aug. 29 and jailed on bad-check charges. Her previous bail bondsman then revoked her bail on charges of child-neglect and giving false information to authorities.
Jail officials said Thursday that bond had been arranged on all the charges. Bond companies combined forces to meet the $500,000 bail for child neglect, the most serious offenses with which she is charged.
Anthony has told investigators she left the child with a baby sitter, who cannot be found. Investigators have disclosed that tests of air samples from the trunk of the abandoned car she drove detected gases from human decomposition, and that traces of chloroform also were found. The lead investigator in the case has said there was a body in the trunk and that it likely was Caylee’s.
Earlier Thursday, Cindy Anthony blasted Texas EquuSearch, the volunteer search-and-recovery team the family summoned to find the toddler.
The grandmother complained that the group’s founder, Tim Miller, had suggested that Caylee might be dead, accused Cindy Anthony of not cooperating with the search and didn’t spend enough time with Caylee’s family. She maintained that Miller agreed to look for a living child, not a dead one.
"It is evident his motives were to obtain publicity for his organization at the expense of exploiting my granddaughter’s disappearance," Anthony said in a release sent by a family representative. "Although I feel his organization has a purpose, his misrepresentation has tainted the efforts of so many people with good intentions."
Miller said he is working hard to find Caylee Marie, alive or dead. He has been searching for the missing child’s possible remains in Orange County since Aug. 29.
"We are holding onto that little bit of hope that Caylee is still alive," Miller said. "But if not, it’s important that her little body is found."
EquuSearch, along with volunteers and the Sheriff’s Office, have combed about 15 square miles since the search began, but not all areas have been completely cleared, Miller said. Heavy rains have made some places impassible or difficult to search.
More than 100 volunteers were looking for the child Thursday, Miller said.
In other news related to the case, George and Cindy Anthony have enlisted high-profile Orlando defense attorney Mark NeJame to help them with intense media scrutiny and refocus attention on the search for Caylee, NeJame said Thursday.
"They’ve been maligned, and I think there’s been just a real mischaracterization of them in the media and on the Internet," he said. "People have completely lost sight of the fact that they are victims."
