Jury Watches Video Taped Conversations In Casey Anthony Trial

ORLANDO (CBS4) – Jurors in the trial of on an Orlando woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter spent Wednesday afternoon watching a pair of video taped conversations.

The first was a video of Casey Anthony and her brother talking, the second was a video of a conversation she had with her parents. A the beginning of the conversation Casey's mother reassures her daughter that everyone in the country is looking for 2-year old Caylee and her picture was going to be featured on the front of people magazine.  During he conversation, Casey says she would 'lie, steal or kill' to get her daughter back.

Anthony, 25, is charged with killing her daughter, Caylee, in the summer of 2008. The defense claims the girl accidentally drowned in her grandparents' swimming pool. The prosecution says she suffocated after having duct tape placed over her mouth.

First up on the stand Thursday morning was 26-year old Jeff Hopkins.  He told the jury that he's know Anthony since middle school but isn't a close friend.

Next up was Leonard Turtora, an assistant manager of loss prevention at Universal Orlando who testified about Anthony's employment status at the park.  He testified that Anthony did not work directly for the park, but for a sub-contractor.  He also testified about the day Anthony was brought to the park by two detectives and questioned about her employment and actions.

The third witness called to the stand was Orlando County Sheriff's detective Yuri Melich.

Jurors listened to Anthony's nearly hour-long interview with detectives the day after Caylee was reported missing.  In the interview, Anthony insisted she was not lying when she said a baby sitter kidnapped Caylee.

During testimony on Wednesday, Melich spoke at length about his initial interview with Casey Anthony on July 16, just hours after she told her mother that Caylee was missing. The revelation prompted Cindy Anthony to call 911, and police sent officers to the family home.  Casey Anthony gave them a written statement and eventually led deputies to the last place she remembered leaving Caylee —an apartment she said was the residence of her nanny, Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez.

The apartment was vacant and the complex's manager at the time said no one by that name had lived there in 2008.

"She's the last person to see my daughter," Casey Anthony told Melich in a recorded interview that was played for the jury. "... I just want my daughter back."

Also taking the stand Wednesday was Anthony's brother, Lee Anthony, who told the jury his unsuccessful efforts to track down his sister at a nightclub by text messaging and calling her in early July 2008, around the time the little girl was reported missing.

Caylee was last seen by her grandparents in mid-June 2008. Casey Anthony waited a month before telling her family the toddler was missing. Her mother then called authorities.

Casey Anthony has said she was conducting her own efforts to find her missing daughter, but prosecutors contend she was going to nightclubs, shopping and hanging out with friends during that month.

Casey Anthony wiped tears from her eyes as her brother testified about how he'd questioned his sister on why Caylee hadn't been seen by her family in weeks. She told her brother that Caylee was with a baby sitter and that she didn't want to interrupt her sleep schedule by getting her, Lee Anthony said.

"Nothing was making sense to me," Lee Anthony said. "Why couldn't anybody get Caylee and bring her home?"

After more questioning, Casey Anthony told her brother that she hadn't seen her daughter in 31 days and that the baby sitter had kidnapped her, Lee Anthony said.

Four police officers called to the stand on Wednesday recalled an odor from Casey Anthony's car as it was in her parents' garage, but none said it prompted them to investigate.

Prosecutors contend the odor came from human decomposition, but defense attorneys claim it was from rotting garbage.

Defense attorney Jose Baez focused on the officers' lack of urgency.

"It was a garbage-type odor. That's the best I can describe it," deputy Adrianna Acevedo told Baez.

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her toddler, Caylee. If convicted, she could be sentenced to death.

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