Sick Casey Anthony Escorted From Courtroom After Seeing Skull Photos of Caylee

Casey Anthony trial judge calls early recess after Caylee's mom falls ill.

ByABC News
June 9, 2011, 8:11 AM

June 9, 2011 — -- Casey Anthony's murder trial was halted today when she became sick after prosecutors showed pictures of a skull from the remains of 2-year-old Caylee, the daughter she's accused of murdering.

Judge Belvin Perry called an early recess because of Anthony's illness. He did not offer more detail about what was ailing her.

The grim photos of Caylee's remains were displayed throughout the morning and afternoon. A visibly distraught Anthony breathed deeply and at times closed her eyes. During an afternoon recess she remained in the courtroom, shaking her head and even resting her head in her hands on the table.

Anthony wiped away tears and turned away from a monitor when pictures were first shown of Caylee's skull. ABC News has learned it was the first time she had ever seen these pictures.

George and Cindy Anthony, Caylee's grandparents, got up and left the courtroom before the photos were shown.

View a Slideshow of Casey Anthony Trial Evidence Photos

Jurors saw photos of a densely wooded area littered with fragments of beer bottles and signs for an old day care. A path through the wooded area led to Caylee's remains, barely discernible through all of the vegetation. They were near a rotting log and had been there so long that vines were entwined with the bone, witnesses testified. The skull was embedded in debris up to the level of the eye sockets.

The front of the skull had duct tape on it, Orange County crime scene investigator Jennifer Welch testified. Around the skull was an off white canvas bag, black plastic bags, a red Disney bag and a white blanket that was so worn the investigator originally thought it was a towel.

Watch "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. ET for more on Casey Anthony's story.

All that remained of Caylee's clothing were pieces of tiny shorts and the collar of a shirt.

"It is a collar with a tag still present," said Welch of the shirt.

The shorts were extremely dirty and had a huge hole in them.

Around the skull was medium length brown hair.

Orange County medical examiner Gary Utz testified that several pieces of duct tape were over the mandible of the skull, the portion where the nose and mouth would be. He said that he was astonished to find the mandible and skull still attached to one another considering the state of decomposition.

Remnant's of the tape's fabric were found in Caylee's hair.

Before seeing the photos, jurors listened to the 911 recording that reported the discovery of a human skull in a wooded area near the Anthony's family home. The remains of Caylee were found on Dec. 11, 2008, nearly five months after the toddler was reported missing.

Casey Anthony Views Photos of Caylee's Skull

The skull was found by meter reader, Roy Kronk. Legal experts believe the defense will attempt to villify Kronk.

Earlier today, Casey Anthony's brother, Lee Anthony testified that his sister altered her story of her daughter's kidnapping when she was briefly released from jail, telling her brother that her babysitter held her down on the ground with the help of another woman and took away Caylee because she was a bad mother.

Casey Anthony, 25, showed little emotion as her brother described conversations he had with his sister in August 2008. After being in jail for over a month, a California bounty hunter helped Casey Anthony post bail in late August. The bounty hunter would later rescind its bond, sending Anthony back to jail.

During that brief time that Anthony returned to her parents' home, she had private conversations with her brother about what she claimed really happened to Caylee.

The Florida woman stuck to her story that a nanny named Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez kidnapped Caylee, but gave it a new wrinkle, telling her brother that Caylee was kidnapped with the help of Zanny's sister when all three women were at a park with Caylee.

"During that meeting, Zanny held Casey down and told her that she was taking Caylee from her and she did that with the help of her sister," Lee Anthony testified. "In Zanny's opinion, Casey was not being a good mother to Caylee and wouldn't be a good mother to Caylee. She was taking Caylee from her to teach a lesson and also told her not to go to the police or anything like that."

Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez never existed, a point both the defense and prosecution agree on. Computer forensic analysts testified that there was no record of a Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez in Casey Anthony's cell phone.

Caylee was last seen alive June 16, 2008 but wasn't reported missing until 31 days later. Casey Anthony is accused of murdering her daughter and could face the death penalty if convicted.

With Casey Anthony's family and volunteers still frantically searching for Caylee, the young mom continued to lie to her brother, giving a different physical desciption of the fictional nanny. She also claimed that the nanny manipulated her in the 31 days that Casey Anthony knew her daughter was missing but didn't tell police.

Lee Anthony said that Casey Anthony claimed the nanny was sending her messages on MySpace. The nanny was sending them from and to Casey Anthony's MySpace account so it would appear that Casey Anthony was sending messages to herself.

Casey Anthony claimed that her MySpace password had been changed by Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez to Timer55. Lee Anthony said that his sister said the password's reference to "55" referred to the time between when Caylee disappeared, June 16, 2008, and Caylee's third birthday, Aug. 9, 2008.

"There were 55 calendar days in that time and it was her understanding or maybe her hope and belief that she would get Caylee back on that date," Lee Anthony testified.

On Wednesday, the prosecution in Casey Anthony's first degree murder trial claimed that Anthony not only murdered 2-year-old Caylee, but plotted it for months by making numerous Google and Wikipedia searches for things like "chloroform," "neck breaking," "internal bleeding," "head injuries" and "chest trauma."