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Permanent Memorial Planned For Caylee Anthony

ORLANDO (CBS4) – There's a push to build a permanent memorial on the spot in Orlando where the skeletal remains of Caylee Anthony's body was found in 2008.

Years after her death, months after her mother was acquitted of murder, people still visit the swampy area in her Orlando neighborhood which has become a memorial to the 2-year-old girl.

It is a sort of shrine with signs and stuffed animals, pictures, posters and crosses but the group that maintains the memorial sees something different here, something bigger, something permanent.

The permanent memorial is being planned by Bring Kids Home, a national organization for missing and abused children.

Bring Kids Home has temporary use of the land and says it is in the process of buying it.

Plans for the $200,000 permanent memorial include a walkway which will guide visitors over "Poohsticks Bridge". The bridge and memorial boardwalk serve as public message board. Visitors will be able to place private notes attached by magnets, cubbyholes for stuffed animals and punched holes for flowers. Within the collage of personal displays of affection are circular glass disks that contain names of over 300 missing children in Florida. The discs contain interactive quick response bar codes (QR Codes) that allow visitors to acquire information on the missing child via smart phone and link to a National Database for Missing and Exploited Children. These discs are illuminated at night as a symbol for when neighborhood porch lights are left on as a beacon for children to come home. When a child returns home their light will turn off.

After crossing the boardwalk, visitors arrive at the center platform which is cut out at the location of where Caylee was discovered and preserved as a reflection pool and water wall. A 31' diameter ring (representing days missing) provides a barrier from the reflection pool and is made of glass. The glass ring is suspended in the air by cables and illuminated at night to create the illusion from a distance of a halo floating in the woods.

The entire project is composed of 1042 planks of wood symbolizing the number of days Caylee was alive and 340 glass disks representing the number of other missing children that need our help finding their way home.

For information on the project, go to www.bringkidshome.org.

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