Casey Anthony Trial: Cindy Anthony Searched for Chloroform on Computer

June 23, 2011 — -- Cindy Anthony, the mother of Casey Anthony, testified in an Orlando courtroom this afternoon that she was the one who did computer searches for chloroform, stunning prosecutors who hoped to use the searches to link Casey to the alleged premeditated murder of her daughter, Caylee.

Cindy Anthony caught the prosecution off-guard by taking responsibility for some of the computer searches made in March 2008, nearly three months before Caylee disappeared.

Caylee, 2, disappeared on June 16, 2008. Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with her daughter's murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Following the shocking testimony, an attorney for Cindy and George Anthony refuted for a second time a report in another media outlet that the couple believe their daughter is guilty of murder.

"My clients support their daughter," said Mark Lippman, attorney for George and Cindy Anthony. "They don't know what she's guilty of, if anything."

Lippman said that the couple is there to support Casey Anthony and do not want to see her receive the death penalty.

"They simply want to know the truth. They have no idea what happened. ... That's why they're there [in court]," he said.

Lippman also denied that George Anthony had anything to do with Caylee's disappearance or that he had sexually abused Casey Anthony. Both are accusations the defense hurled to jurors during opening statements when they said the child accidentally drowned in the family pool and George Anthony helped dispose of the body.

The prosecution contends that Caylee Anthony died from potent chloroform and duct tape placed over her nose and mouth. Trial witnesses have testified that Casey Anthony's car reeked of death and tested positive for chloroform.

Computer analysts have previously testified that someone from the Anthony family home searched under Casey Anthony's profile for things such as "chloroform," "neck breaking" and "household weapons."

Cindy Anthony said today that she searched for "chloroform," "alcohol," "acetone," "peroxide" and "inhalation."

Evidence photos in Casey Anthony murder trial

She told jurors that she searched for chloroform because she suspected her smallest dog might be getting poisoned from eating leaves in the backyard. Her search started with "chlorophyll" and spiraled to "chloroform," she said.

Prosecutors were aware that she had searched for for "chlorophyll" but her testimony about searching for "chloroform" appeared to catch them off-guard.

Cindy Anthony then searched for things relating to hand sanitizer after a work colleague told her that the substance was possibly dangerous to young children, she told jurors.

"That scare came out in March, and during the same timeframe I was looking up the issues about the dogs," Cindy Anthony said. "I was looking up ingredients in the hand sanitizer, the alcohol, and that prompted me to look up other things we had in the house."

She said she started searching for the ingredients in household products such as acetone in nail polish remover and hydrogen peroxide, things that were used on or around Caylee.

Anthony also said that she did searches on her home computer because she didn't have access to regular Internet at work.

When asked if she went to a site called druglibrary.org, which was searched from the family's desktop computer, she responded, "all the time."

She also said it was possible "neck breaking" might have come up on her computer during her searches because she recalled a youtube video with "neck breaking" in the title popping up on her screen.

"A good friend of mine was in car accident and had multiple chest and head injuries," she said.

Cindy Anthony said she did not search for the words "shovel" or "household weapons," which were also searched from the family computer.

The prosecution alleged that only Casey Anthony could have conducted the computer searches because she was the only one home at the time of the searches. Cindy Anthony said today that she did the searches and that she was home at the time, despite her time sheet from work indicating she was working. She was working as a nurse at the time of Caylee's disappearance.

She said her time sheet from her job as a nurse might not have reflected that she was home because she was a salaried employee and required to enter hour hours whether she worked or not.

"If those computer entries were made, then I made them," she said. "I was home. I know I took some hours off. During that week was Casey's birthday and my anniversary and I did go home early a couple days that week," she said. "The only thing that triggers that day for me is those computer entries. It was not a traumatic day for me like the last three years."

She also said that she did the searches from home because she didn't have "regular internet" at work.

Cindy Anthony Said Stains in Pontiac Sunfire Were in Car Before Caylee Disappeared

Cindy Anthony dropped another bombshell regarding Casey Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire, the car that the prosecution alleges held Caylee's decomposing remains.

The prosecution has said that the car showed two stains that could be from decompositional fluid.

Cindy Anthony said today that the stains had been there since the family bought the car.

"There was a few little stains in the car when we bought the car," she said.

Cindy Anthony Offers Explanation for Stained Casey Anthony Car

She said that the only new stain found in the car July 15, 2008, after George and Cindy Anthony picked it up from a tow yard was the indentation of a gas cylinder. The same day that the couple picked up the abandoned car, Cindy Anthony reported Caylee was missing.

Cindy Anthony's testimony followed forensic testimony by hair and fiber experts and a toxicologist.

Defense attorney Jose Baez attempted to poke holes in a forensic expert's statement that hair found in Casey Anthony's car showed post-mortem banding, proof that a dead body had been in her car. The hair evidence is crucial in linking Casey Anthony to the crime.

Baez grilled FBI hair and fiber analyst Stephen Shaw about his research, making him show slides of hair taken from people that were alive that showed darkening similar to post-mortem banding. In showing the slides, Baez made a gaffe by inadvertently allowing evidence to be admitted that he had successfully objected to during the state's case.

Upon cross-examination, however, Shaw said that only hair from a decomposing body can show post-mortem banding.

Evidence photos in Casey Anthony murder trial

The toddler's remains were found Dec. 11, 2008, in a wooded area near the Anthony family home.

A single strand of hair found in Casey Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire showed signs of the banding and the hair was similar to hair found with Caylee's remains.

Three pieces of duct tape were found with Caylee's skeletonized remains. Hair found on the duct tape matched the hair found in Anthony's car, Shaw said today.

A toxicologist was called by the defense in an attempt to debunk air samples analyzed by Arpad Vass, an expert in the odor of human decomposition.

It was ruled that the toxicologist is not an expert on air samples. He had not worked on a study of air samples in 20 years.