Casey Anthony May Have Accidentally Killed Caylee: Judge

ORLANDO, FL — It’s been almost nine years since 2-year-old Caylee Marie Anthony’s disappearance rocked the Orlando community. It’s been nearly six since her mother, Casey Anthony, was acquitted on first-degree murder charges in the child’s death.

Now, the judge who presided over the case is offering his own theory as to what might have happened to Caylee. It involves the chloroform that investigators say Anthony went online to research. The substance was also found in the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car, where prosecutors alleged Caylee’s body had been placed.

Former Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr. says that chloroform may indeed have played a role in the child’s death. Perry, however, isn't asserting that malicious intent was involved.

“There was a possibility that she may have utilized that to keep the baby quiet,” Perry told the Orlando Sentinel. That, he told the paper, might have led the jury to a second-degree or manslaughter conviction if they'd come to the same conclusion. Even so, Perry told the paper he had no issue with the verdict jurors arrived at but did point out that Anthony’s research centered on how to use chloroform as a sedative.

Caylee was reported missing in July 2008. Her body wasn’t found until Dec. 11 of that year. A cause of death was never identified.

Investigators charged Anthony with first-degree murder. Prosecutors sought the death penalty. She was acquitted on the murder charge but convicted for providing false information to law enforcement. The jury seated in the case was selected in Pinellas County and was transported to Orange County to hear the evidence. Perry drew the jury pool from the Tampa Bay area county because of concern the Orlando area would produce a tainted selection, a previous Patch story noted.

While Anthony, now 30, has lived primarily in seclusion in the South Florida area since her acquittal, her name continues to make headlines. Last year, court documents revealed that a PI on Anthony’s defense team alleged a cover-up in the case. Dominic Casey claimed in affidavits filed in Anthony’s bankruptcy case that her lawyer, Jose Baez, told him that “Casey had murdered Caylee and dumped the body somewhere and, he needed all the help he could get to find the body before anyone else did.”

What exactly happened to Caylee, Perry told the Sentinel, is something only Anthony knows.

Read Perry’s full interview on the Orlando Sentinel website.

Booking photo from the Pinellas County Jail