True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

*Please be aware that I will be sharing some very disturbing details in this post to do with murder, mutilation, dismemberment, physical and sexual abuse and assault, substance abuse and sex work. I will, as always, aim to be as sensitive as I can be with the details without taking away from the facts of the case. If you would like to contact me about this post, please feel free to do so at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com* 

He's known as one of the most prolific, most evil and most sadistic serial killers that the USA has ever seen, Dayton Leroy Rogers. To the outside world he painted himself as a quiet family man, a supposedly happily married and hard-working father of one young son, who ran his own business that he built up from scratch repairing lawn mower machines. To his local community he didn't stand out, he came across as quite a polite, well-spoken man and appeared to not be a danger to anyone. Little did his family, friends and neighbours know, Dayton was leading a double life. 

Away from playing the busy father who did all he could to help put food on the table to support his wife and child, on paper he sounded like such a great guy but what he really was under this facade and performance, was a cold-blooded sexual sadist, rapist, torturer of women and evil murderer. Whilst his wife and son were at home, Dayton was out searching the streets for vulnerable women in the red light district of Clackamas County in Oregon, USA. His victims of choice were young women who had fallen on to the wrong path in life, who'd struggled to battle drug addiction and worked on the cold streets, selling their bodies to either pay for their habit, buy some dinner or both. It was a hard life for them and any drop of kindness that came their way, they were going to snap it up like a shot. Dayton trawled through the streets looking for his victims and used his average appearance, nice, family guy persona, to lure, manipulate, lie and ultimately murder his victims and he grew such a taste for it that one victim soon became two, then three, then four and then so on. He even had a favourite location where he would dispose of his victims after brutally sexual assaulting them, torturing them, then murdering them and if that wasn't sickening enough, he would cut off their feet. He would promise sex workers more drugs and more money. There was women he had encountered before who worked the streets and he engaged with them but no violence took place, they were the lucky ones. He was a frequent customer of sex workers and like a lot of sexual sadists, the fantasies that he kept locked away in his mind were not good enough anymore, he wanted the real thing. 

In his childhood it may come as no surprise when I tell you that the red flags were always there. He was born into a dysfunctional family on the 30th of September 1953 and his relationship with his parents was said to have been a very distant one, especially with his father who was reportedly very strict and abusive. Dayton was one of three children and despite his parents not exactly being the affectionate type, they decided to adopt more children. Dayton was not pleased with having more children join the family because he saw himself as the baby and there was a jealousy that the new kids would be taking his place as they were younger than him. Whatever was his cause for choosing to travel on to a very dark path is up for debate but as the years moved forward, Dayton became more and more rebellious and began indulging in petty crimes. 

At the age of 16 he thought it would be a good idea to shoot at cars with a BB gun in the hopes of causing some unsuspecting motorist a serious accident. He enjoyed that feeling of having power over people, as he believed it to be, deciding who was going to live or die. This sadistic past time was met with a basic slap on the wrist and this became a running theme throughout the years. Dayton would get himself involved in trouble but managed to get out of it and the more he got away with things, the more he pushed and pushed to see how much more he could get away with. Recently we have seen a number of shocking murders that have been committed by perpetrators who have been given numerous pathetic sentences and allowed back on the streets to go that one step further to the point that some innocent person loses their life. There is an imbalance in the so-called justice system both here in the UK and in the USA, they'll lock someone up for the least little thing but in some serious cases they'll give short sentences or suspended sentences and it leaves you in utter disbelief. 

The petty crimes escalated as he continued to get away with his behaviour and whilst all of this was going on he was harbouring these sick fantasies about sadistic sex with women, torturing them and murdering them. In 1972 he took a girl to the woods for some 'fun'. He was pretending that both of them being in the woods was some sort of kinky game that he was trying to play on her during a sex act. The girl, who was 15 at the time and he was 19, ended up being attacked with a knife but managed to talk him out of causing her any more harm and convince him to take her to the hospital. Luckily the girl survived and was in safe hands when she was able to finally get away from him. 

For this shocking crime he was hardly punished (basically given 4 years probation) and so his violent fantasies and evil behaviour just continued to escalate. His temptation to carry out his fantasies was becoming overwhelming for him, despite being newly married at the time. 

Not long after this, at the age of 20 he committed a violent attack on two teenage girls using a glass bottle but was able to get away with this too by pleading insanity. He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and spent less than 10 months there before being released. With all that had gone on before and an obvious pattern emerging, you would have thought that it would have been obvious to the authorities that Dayton Leroy Rogers was a ticking timebomb but no, they chose to turn a blind eye which is, sadly often the case until something even more disturbing happens. 

His first marriage had ended in divorce and that lady was lucky to have been able to get away from him unharmed but he soon found himself a new wife who he married in 1975. Probably feeling that he was untouchable at this point because he had been getting away with his crimes for so long, he took another step further with his sick fantasies and attacked another two teenage girls, one girl was brutally raped and can you believe this?........he was acquitted of this due to his excuse of having a mental illness. He was finally convicted and sent away for five years for coercion and spent just over five years behind bars before being released, the sentence was not enough. 

Not long after serving time in prison he reportedly committed his first murder of a sex worker who was just 21 years old. This began a chain of horrific murders of eight women that authorities are aware of with one of them being sadly unidentified to this day. Each victim was vulnerable and working on the streets when he lured them away, manipulated them into providing sexual services and then suddenly turning violent towards these vulnerable women who found themselves trapped in his car and terrified at his mercy. He forced himself upon them and tortured them before strangling them. He also stabbed the women and placed their bodies in a wooded location known as the Molalla Forest, hence why he is often referred to as 'The Molalla Forest Killer. 

Dayton's victims were all female aged between 16 and 35 and he was suspected of murdering eight women in total but there may be more unidentified victims. Seven of the victims were found at Molalla Forest, six were identified and one remains unidentified. Dayton was a chronic alcoholic so would often carry around miniature bottles of alcohol and orange juice, these were found at the scene. 

A witness who had been walking through the forest had discovered a decomposed body and when the authorities arrived and a thorough search conducted, they found more bodies, it was clear that these poor women had suffered a great deal at the hands of their murderer. Feet had been cut off and one victim had a deep knife wound that started at her vagina and all the way up to her sternum, it was a very sickening scene indeed and only a complete monster could do such a thing. 

Dayton was finally caught and arrested after customers had heard some commotion coming from a truck in a Denny's parking lot. Dayton had been assaulting another victim who sadly died from her injuries. Dayton was taken into custody and investigators were able to connect him to the innocent victims who's remains were found at Molalla Forest. 

Dayton's murder spree was reportedly from 1983 to 1987 but how can anyone be really sure if he just committed murder in that space of time? Having his criminal background and knowing he had been having sick fantasies from a young age and committing petty crimes at 16, one wonders if he actually started killing way before 1983 but the victims are still yet to be identified?. What makes it very difficult to know for sure is his choice of victims always being sex workers and women who were dependent on drugs, often then poor women don't have family to rely on or run away and there's nobody to check up on them so they slip through the cracks and forever remain a mystery. 

He was found guilty for his evil crimes and sentenced to death and that should have been the end of it but no, so began a pathetic merry dance of death penalty changed to life sentence, life sentence changed to death penalty, death penalty changed to life sentence. So right now, at the age of 72, Dayton Leroy Rogers is currently serving his life sentence at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla which is a city in Florida. 

It's clear at the age of 72 that he'll never see the light of day again and it's a relief that he is no longer on the streets but what of the families of these poor women? I know there is often some judgement passed on families of sex workers, especially sex workers who lose their lives to drugs or murder. Some people ask where the families were and why didn't they stop their loved one? It's a very complicated situation and it's not really for us to judge but life can get in the way sometimes and a person's reasons for ending up on the streets isn't always so black and white. Drug addictions can take hold of someone and it can be hard for some families to get through to the person going through the addiction. There may have been families who had lost contact, these were the days before mobile phones and the internet so it wasn't so easy to track people down. Family members may have lost contact with one of these poor girls and then the next thing they knew they were seeing the news reports on TV. Whatever the situation, these poor girls and women did not deserve to lose their lives and to lose their lives in such a horrific way. Investigators believe that some of the horrendous mutilation (ie the cutting of the feet) may have occurred whilst the victims were still alive. 

Why did Dayton Leroy Rogers do all of these evil and horrific things to all of these innocent people? I've watched him in a video where he is making a pathetic attempt at one of his trials to have his sentence reduced. Reading from a piece of paper he gives a really bad performance attempting to convey what he thinks is a display of remorse. I could even predict the pauses in between the fake sniffles. I don't buy his act of remorse for one second and I'm sure you don't either but seeing him stood there, this pathetic looking individual who caused so much hell, he was just a little nobody who had managed to fool so many people with his lies and manipulation over the years and for the most part, in the beginning he got away with it. 

At 72 years of age, it'll soon be time for Dayton Leroy Rogers to meet his maker and what a hell of a disgraceful and disturbing legacy to leave behind. I'm sure his son and ex wives are still suffering and no doubt trying to recover from the trauma of being connected to such a person.

RIP to the known victims, may they always be remembered for who they were and not for the difficult times that they went through or the horrific and cruel ending of their lives......RIP Cynthia ''Dee Dee'' Diane DiVore (21), Maureen Ann Hodges (26), Reatha Marie Gyles (16), Nondace ''Noni'' Kae Cervantes (26), Lisa Marie Mock (23), Christine Lotus Adams (35), Jennifer Lisa Smith (25) and the unidentified lady who was also found as well as any possible others, you are all in our thoughts. Thoughts are also with the survivors and their families too. 

Further Reading & Sources:

- Victims of Dayton Leroy Rogers | Find A Grave

- Dayton Leroy Rogers: Article | Statesman Journal

- Dayton Leroy Rogers | Murderpedia

- Dayton Leroy Rogers | Wikipedia

- State v. Rogers | Justia Court Documents

- Dayton Leroy Rogers: Article | Oregon Live

- Oregon | Wikipedia

- The Big Book of Serial Killers | Book by Jack Rosewood & Rebecca Lo

If you have made it this far in the post, I really appreciate your time and would love to hear your thoughts on this case, either below in the comments section, by contact form or email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com. I hope you will join me again for my next post. In the meantime, I hope to see you elsewhere on my Socials. 

Take care, stay safe and I hope to see you here in my next post x 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who was horrified at the horrendous and sheer evil murder of Debrina Kawam in New York on a subway train, just days before Christmas 2024 (22nd of December). At the time Debrina was known as 'The Woman Who Was Burned To Death On The Subway' and it was utterly heartbreaking, unbelievable and it took investigators some time to identify her badly burned remains. It was a horrible situation like something out of the worst horror movie. 

Like a lot of shocked members of the public, I watched the news reports and read the newspaper articles and I couldn't believe the details that were emerging. Debrina, who had fallen on some hard times, was simply on a New York Subway train, she had been homeless after experiencing a difficult period of her life and was on the train around 7:25 am and had fallen asleep. She was just a 57 year old woman, who was homeless, minding her own business and had her belongings beside her. 

As Debrina was asleep, a 33 year old man named Sebastian Zapeta-Calil just randomly walked past her and set fire to her clothing before casually walking off of the train, sitting down on the platform and watching Debrina as she literally (and I'm sorry to say this but this is the facts of the case) burned alive. The monster just sat there. Witnesses said that he did try to 'fan the flames' at one point but his heartless demeanour was there for all to see and captured on CCTV cameras. 

Who could do such an evil thing and why? Debrina and Sebastian were not known to each other, they never even spoke to each other, and even if he did know her or an argument had taken place etc, this horrific and cruel murder should never have happened. 

I never knew Debrina personally but my heart broke for her and when I see her yearbook picture, it still does. The picture I have included of Debrina was her yearbook photograph from high school and when I first saw her picture, I couldn't believe how beautiful she was, like a movie star or a model. This beautiful girl in 1985 with the amazing smile and her whole life ahead of her was so full of promise and the possibilities were endless. She was very talented and popular, former school friends remember her as having time for everyone and always loved a good laugh and a party. She was quoted in the yearbook as saying that her secret ambition was to ''Party Forever''. 

Debrina was involved in a lot of social activities and events in high school, she was known for her ''million dollar smile'' and participation in cheerleading. She was very intelligent and went on to university to study business and marketing but somewhere along the line things just fell off. In the early 1990s, Debrina had been caught working as a sex worker to make ends meet after she fell into a huge amount of debt. She loved her family but from what is known there wasn't a very close relationship with them and a lot of Debrina's circumstances from that time are difficult to track. All we know is that she continued to face a lot difficulties during the 1990's and that continued right up until her heartbreaking death. 

There had been relationships in the past and moments where it looked like she had turned a corner but sadly they didn't last and she fell back on difficult times and an addiction to alcohol would take over. More heartache was to follow when her father passed away. Debrina adored her father but they didn't always communicate and when he passed away she had written online how she loved her father and didn't realise how lucky she had been to have had him in her life until it was too late. Her relationship with her mother wasn't very close but she would still turn to her for help. Not long before Debrina's death, her mother had moved away and for some unknown reason, failed to tell Debrina that she was moving. A neighbour of her mother's recalled later that she used to see both Debrina and her mother out and about from time to time and the relationship between the pair appeared to be quite strained. The neighbour also said that she thought Debrina appeared to have some sort of disability and needed the aid of a walker. 

Debrina had only recently shown up on her mother's doorstep only to find that another woman answered the door and told her that her mother no longer lived at that address, Debrina appeared to be shocked. When the lady offered to take a note of Debrina's phone number just incase her mother did show up again, Debrina simply replied that she didn't own a phone and she just left. 

There is some record of Debrina staying at a homeless shelter in the city for a short period of time before sleeping rough in the Subway. It seems that Debrina had been up and down with difficulties in the 1990s but when her father passed away things took even more of a nosedive and she ended up spending a lot of time homeless. She was a very vulnerable person and many people mentioned they were used to seeing her around the subway. Obviously when she was younger, these difficulties didn't appear to be there but as she got older she had a lot of physical as well as psychological struggles and one wonders if this was due to her addictions and life on the streets. Whatever the case is, it is just truly heartbreaking and her story has really touched me and I just felt that I wanted to share her story, a bit more of her background. I don't feel that it's right that a lot of people just know her for the horrific way that she was murdered. 

Looking again at Debrina's yearbook picture, you see so much light in her glowing smile and positivity of what the future was to hold and then you think of the difficult years that she ended up struggling through and her horrific death. 

Her heartless killer was an illegal immigrant who claims to have been drunk or that he couldn't remember carrying out the evil crime. His face is just soulless, not a shred of remorse or emotion. He's pleaded not guilty despite witnesses and CCTV footage showing every step and action he took. 

Opinions on this case have been divided and some people are uncaring due to the fact that Debrina was homeless and had been in trouble with the law and alcoholism in the past but that should not matter, nobody has the right to walk up to a complete stranger on a public mode of transport and take their lives, whether it be with setting someone on fire, a gun or a knife, nobody has the right to do that. 

As I have been writing this post, arguments are continuing to take place on X about various countries facing a lot of serious problems due to illegal immigration. As we begin 2025, we have already begun to see divides and heated discussions on various issues, one wonders if a compromise or peace can ever be found but one thing is for sure, we have to look out for each other and I just wish that more people could have stepped in to help Debrina. There's rumours that people were stood around filming the whole horrific scene that terrible morning, instead of jumping in and helping. We are living in a world where that is becoming more and more commonplace, people picking up their phones to record crimes but not getting involved. In many ways that is understandable, cause you could put your own life at risk but if you see someone in sheer pain or on fire, at least try something, not just stand there and film it and quite frankly, why would you record that? Anyway, that is just my thoughts on the situation. I would love to read/hear yours. 

Sebastian Zapeta-Calil will be back in court at the end of March and faces life imprisonment. At his recent court appearance in Brooklyn, New York, he needed an interpreter because he could barely speak a word of English (or he pretended not to be able to speak English) and claims to be not guilty. I will update this post if any more news comes up. 

One wonders what it must be like also for Debrina's former high school friends as I can probably imagine with how hectic Debrina's life was, she probably lost contact with a lot of her school friends. I'm sure we've all had those friends or people we knew in high school and wondered whatever became of them, imagine turning on the news to see this type of horrifying story, it must be a terrible shock for them. 

Debrina's nickname at school was 'Deb' or 'Debbie' and as heartbreaking as this case is, I do hope that her school friends remember her how she was back then, full of fun and excitement for the future and not what happened later because there was so much more to the beautiful and intelligent person who just somehow lost their way in life and ended up having her life taken in the most evil way. 

I wish I had a magic wand, not just in this case but in all the cases I've covered. I wish we could go back so that Debrina would be in a better place and not on that train on the 22nd of December but that is just wishful thinking. 

RIP Debrina, you will never be forgotten and to many, many strangers like me, you are not just the woman who was murdered on the subway, you are so much more and will be remembered for the light that you did bring into the world in the good times and your glowing smile. I hope you are at peace. 

Further Reading & Sources:

- Subway Murder Case: Article | CBS News

- Subway Murder Case: Article | Times of India

- Subway Murder Case: Article | The New York Times

- Subway Murder Case: Article | CBS News

- Subway Murder Case: Article | The Free Press

- Debrina Kawam: Article | BBC News

- Debrina Kawam: Reddit Discussion Thread

- Debrina Kawam: Article | NBC News

- New York City Subway | Wikipedia

As always if you have made it to the end of this post, I appreciate your time in reading it and I always welcome everyone's thoughts and opinions, you may have known Debrina personally or just want to share your views, whatever you would like to say, please do so below in the comments section or email me in confidence (I never share anyone's messages or emails) at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com 

I hope you will join me in my next post, please take care of yourselves x 

*Please note, as you may see by the title of this post. I will be covering the disturbing case of Caylee Anthony's death and the circumstances that may or may not have surrounded that and the trial of her mother, Casey. I will be talking about child abuse, neglect and murder. As always, I will try to be as sensitive as I can with the details without taking away from the facts of the case.*

The heartbreaking death of little three year old Caylee Anthony from Orlando, Florida, is and always will be, a great pain in the heart of anyone who followed the case and hoped so hard for justice to be served. So many people took Caylee to their hearts and it's clear to see that no matter how many years have gone by, the strong emotions that this case brings out in people, is still very much there. 

I've been contacted numerous times to cover this case and I was reluctant to write about it because of the fact that this little angel was treated in such a disrespectful and cold manner (it's always difficult to write about cases involving children). I followed parts of the trial as it was happening and that was bad enough, it made me feel angry as it did a lot of people. 

I found it a very hard case to follow because it had more twists and turns than a roller coaster and some of the ridiculous things that were shared in the courtroom made me scratch my head a few times that this was allowed to take place. The harrowing details, the ridiculous and obvious far-fetched lies along with the behaviours of those involved just baffled me. And then there was that verdict that shocked not just America, but the world. 

By the time the verdict came around I saw the reaction of people and it was mostly of utter outrage, shock and disbelief. Casey Anthony is a free woman as many of you know and there's a lot of people out there who believe she is a murderer, but what do you think? This case has been gone over so many times that another reason I was unsure as to write about it. I didn't think I would bring anything new to the story, but I'm always been told that my readers want my take on a particular case, my way of telling it and possibly my opinion. 

So, here we are, going back over this shocking case and looking at some of the details. I would love to hear your thoughts on this at the end of the post (either in the comments section below or in confidence via my email at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com). It's such a controversial story that it divides opinion, I feel it's important to hear what everyone has to say, after all, none of us were there but it's human nature to have our own opinions about what we think may have happened and what our views may be of Casey Anthony's behaviour and the behaviours of that of her family. 

It's hard to know where to begin with this case so I suppose starting with a bit of background into Caylee's Mother, Casey might be an appropriate place to start. Casey Marie Anthony was born on the 19th of March 1986 to parents George and Cindy. Her parents already had a child, her brother Lee so it seemed like the perfect set up in the beginning, one girl and one boy. However, early on there were some red flags in Casey's childhood. There was a lot of tension between Casey and Lee growing up, both wanting to be the centre of attention and Casey was known to be a bit over-dramatic and a bit of a fantasist at times. She would tell little lies and it was viewed as something that she would grow out of as it was quite common for children of a young age to make up stories in infancy. I remember doing this myself at a young age but grew out of it, so it was seen as harmless at the time. 

Casey grew up in quite a comfortable household financially, her father had worked in law enforcement and she had quite an ordinary upbringing apart from a little rivalry with her brother and making up stories. She was popular and well liked as well as being quite a confident child and sociable. Everything more or less looked positive from the outside looking in. Casey would later say that this was not the case and would give a different story of her childhood later on especially in regards to her father and brother. 

Casey was quite a bright child and as she grew up she was academically gifted as well as being very active in sports at school. She was a pretty girl and had no problem with attracting the attention of boys at school that she liked, however, the habit of telling lies, even about the silliest of things, had never left her, almost like she had a compulsion to do it. In the beginning the lies were not that serious, it would be about little things but the older she got, the worse they got, including lying to her parents that she was all set to graduate and was taking her education and her future very seriously only for them to find out that she had been going off the rails and had not attending school. 

Her parents were not happy about the lying and the situation with Casey not graduating, Being the people that they were (and this becomes clear the more you go into the case), George and Cindy were very much about appearances, they were quite narcissistic and many people believe that this was handed down to their children, in particular, Casey. Instead of accepting that their daughter didn't graduate and looking at other possible options, they decided that they couldn't face the shame of telling the neighbours and everyone they knew that Casey didn't graduate, it was a huge deal for them. So they threw a ridiculous party pretending that Casey did indeed graduate and she went along with it too. It was all one big performance and it was clear to see where Casey had gotten her art of lying from. 

It did seem that Casey could do no wrong in her parents eyes and she was able to play on this and manipulate them. They started to notice that she had put some weight on but didn't think anything of it at first and didn't want to say anything incase it upset Casey and they didn't want to make her feel self-conscious about her body. It was starting to be obvious though that the weight that Casey was displaying, was indeed pregnancy weight even though she kept trying to convince her parents that she was still a virgin. 

There was a huge amount of denial going on at the time from both Casey and her parents, there seemed to be this attitude of not wanting to acknowledge that she was pregnant but eventually they had to face facts and after much discussion (despite Casey's reservations about becoming a mother at such a young age) Cindy convinced her to keep the baby and that they would support her in any way that they could. 

As for the baby's biological father, there's always been a mystery around that with Casey being very vague about it. Despite being a single mother to now, a beautiful little girl whom she named 'Caylee Marie Anthony' (she gave Caylee the same middle name as herself 'Marie'), it didn't effect her love life in any way. She was still a beautiful young woman and had romances with guys who were so besotted with her and adored Caylee. They wanted to bond with both of them but it seemed that Casey was the one who was standoffish. Although she demonstrated on many occasions that she adored her daughter and both she and Caylee could often be seen playing together and hugging each other, there was also this sense of wanting to be young, free, single and out to party sort of vibe that was coming from her. It appeared that the responsibility of being a parent was something that she had a love/hate relationship with. Casey was very lucky because she had her parents there constantly to help her with Caylee. Both George and Cindy were besotted with Caylee and spend almost every single day with her. 

(Caylee Anthony. Picture credit: Medium)

Casey was continuing to live with her parents who were helping her everyday with Caylee. She was also in a relationship with a guy that she had been with for quite some time, Jesse Grund and he was convinced that he was Caylee's biological father but after a DNA test revealed that he wasn't. Jesse still wanted to make things work because he adored them both and asked Casey to marry him. The relationship was not to be though as Casey decided to break it off because she felt that Jesse was paying too much attention to Caylee and not enough attention to her which was another demonstration of her narcissistic personality disorder. Cindy was quite happy that the relationship had come to an end because she had grown extremely attached to Caylee and saw Jesse as being in the way. The more you look into this family and their behaviours, they more it just baffles you and leaves you with a 'what the hell was all that about' sort of feeling. To say this family was odd is an understatement and it's hard to keep track (at least, in my experience of researching this case) of what was going on because there's so many lies, twists and turns to this case, it is not a straightforward story. 

Cindy appeared to be an overbearing mother and often acted like she was Caylee's mother because she looked after her most of the time. Casey had the habit of picking and choosing when she wanted to be a parent, at times she would be affectionate with Caylee and other times she couldn't be bothered and just wanted to go out shopping or have nights out with friends. It was clear that she wasn't mentally mature enough to be a mother and certainly wasn't maternal (this would also be demonstrated in her behaviour later on). As predicted, Cindy and Casey would often come to blows about Casey's irresponsible behaviour when it came to Caylee. Casey didn't want her mother telling her how to bring her daughter up but at the same time she would keep acting like a teenager with no responsibilities. Arguments in the family home became a regular occurrence and it all came to head one day with Casey walking out the house with Caylee. 

The exact circumstances that occurred between Casey and Cindy differs depending on who you believe or want to believe but the next few weeks, Cindy became frantic with worry, missing her granddaughter. When she did get a chance to speak to Casey, she consistently asked where Caylee was and each time there was a different excuse. Casey came up with the infamous and ridiculous lie that Caylee was with a babysitter by the name of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez (nicknamed 'Zanny'). Every time Cindy or someone else asked where Caylee was, Casey gave a story that Caylee was with Zanny. 

This went on for weeks and tensions grew more and more between Cindy and Casey with Cindy demanding to know where her granddaughter was, she was tired of the stories about Zanny, she knew her daughter was a practiced liar and maybe it was a grandmother's instinct but she knew that something was wrong. 

Whilst all this was going on, Casey was hanging out and partying with friends in nightclubs with Caylee being nowhere to be seen. She was staying over at guys houses, having sex, partying, telling her friends that Caylee was with Zanny. She also told her friends that she worked for Universal Studios as an event planner. In the whole time that she was with these friends, the guy she was seeing and anyone who had witnessed her partying those nights, everyone repeatedly said that she seemed happy, with not a care in the world, no indication in the slightest that anything was wrong. 

It's hard to keep up with the lies but everything was unravelling, as well as everything else, George and Cindy discovered that Casey had been lying about working, she didn't even have a job. Casey had been using her brother's car and when her parents were notified that the vehicle had been found at a tow yard, they began to panic. Communication with themselves and Casey had become scarce and they didn't know what was going on, they were worried and they had no idea who this supposed babysitter 'Zanny' was that Casey had previously been telling them about. 

George checked out the car and noticed all of the belongings inside, Caylee's car seat and toys were still in there. Why would they be in there? She would need them wouldn't she? As well as wondering why these items that every parent needs for their young child, were still in this abandoned car, there was a strong, overpowering smell coming from the trunk of the car and George (who had worked years as a police officer recognised this smell, it was the smell of decomposition) began to fear the worst. There was also items of rotten food in the car along with other bits of clutter. He was terrified that he was going to find Casey and Caylee in the car deceased, he later said his heart was pounding as he opened the trunk. To his relief, they were not there. He got into the car and drove it home. As soon as he pulled up, Cindy came racing out in a panic and the first thing she noticed was the smell, she even said (kind of a unfortunate choice of words at the time) ''What died?''. 

With the state of the car and Caylee still nowhere to be seen, George and Cindy managed to track Casey down to a boyfriend's house and demanded to know where Caylee was. Getting nowhere with Casey, Cindy gets on the phone to the police and tells them she's worried that something has happened to her granddaughter, that she hasn't seen her in weeks, that Casey is constantly giving her excuses and now her son's car has a horrendous odour coming from the trunk. Out of nowhere, Casey comes out with this story that the mysterious babysitter Zanny has kidnapped Caylee and has been missing for just over a month. Cindy and George appeared to be beside themselves.

Casey was questioned about Zanny as she gave more lies about this mysterious woman being Caylee's babysitter for nearly two years. The whole scene was unbelievable, Casey was so unbothered and not acting like a parent who's child had been missing for 31 days. The fact that she had kept this to herself all of this time? To lie to her parents continuously and go out partying with her friends, laughing and joking all the while her little girl is supposed to have been kidnapped. 

As investigators sat back and listened to Casey tell lie upon lie upon lie, they knew that this was ridiculous and instructed Casey to take them to her place of employment, Universal Studios. Casey kept the lies up and when they got to the gate she couldn't get in, she didn't have a security pass obviously and just told the police that she forgot her work ID. The staff at the gate who were used to seeing hundreds, maybe thousands of people everyday, recognised that she was with the police (even though they didn't have a clue who she was) and decided to let everyone in. Even inside the studios she still pretended that she worked there until finally she hit a brick wall and told the cops she didn't work there after all. What did she expect them to do? Take her word for it? She really thought she was a convincing liar. In fact, at her trial, a former friend mentioned that Casey once bragged ''I'm such a great liar''. 

Investigators grew tired of her lies and were highly suspicious of her from the get-go, she was remanded in custody. Her parents came to visit her some time after and they tried to get some proper information out of her because as far as they knew, Caylee was just missing. Casey is still keeping up this performance that Caylee has been kidnapped by the mysterious babysitter who's phone number no longer works anymore funnily enough. Her whole demeanour during her parents visiting her was that of a couldn't care less attitude, Casey was always 100% concerned with herself and that's all she ever cared about was herself and that was true of her from her childhood, right up to the moment she sat in that courtroom not even shedding a tear until they began talking about her supposed hard times during her childhood. 

To be talking about Caylee in the past tense coupled with everything else that had gone on, the ridiculous lies, taking the police to Universal Studios and then admitting she didn't work there, acting care-free despite her daughter supposedly being kidnapped. Her whole behaviour was not one of a terrified parent worried about their missing child. 

With the search for Caylee growing and media attention now on the Anthony family, Cindy and George began to suffer abuse from members of the public who believed (even though no body had been found at that time) that Casey had murdered Caylee. 

Despite the dreaded fear that Caylee was no longer alive, everyone did hope that there would be a positive outcome to all of this and that by some miracle she would be found safe and well but it wasn't to be. In August of 2008, a maintenance worker by the name of Roy Kronk had contacted the police on three separate occasions stating that he had seen what he thought was a human skull. There was a bit of back and forth between Roy and the police until eventually they discovered the rest of what looked like a child's remains in a trash bag. The skull had bits of hair, tissue and duct tape still attached to it, it was clear that this child (who was sadly, later identified as Caylee) had their mouth and nose taped up, in fact the duct tape had been wrapped around the head of this child. In my opinion this was done to suffocate Caylee. 

On the 19th of December 2008 after more remains were found and positively identified to belong to Caylee Anthony, the medical examiner was able to conclude that Caylee had died from homicide but her death was listed as undetermined. There were high traces of chloroform found during the examination but due to the advanced stages of decomposition there was no way they would be able to determine what caused her death. 

As you can imagine, as soon as the news was revealed that Caylee's remains had been found, Cindy and George were devastated as was the rest of the family and members of the public. Casey was still not up or down about it and her coldness spoke volumes about who she really was. George found life difficult at this time, unable to cope with the grief, he tried to take his own life and had a left a five page suicide note. Luckily he survived but the grief for him, Cindy and Lee continued. 

Not only did they have to cope with the horrendous death of their granddaughter and niece, they now had to face a public trial with Casey and found themselves getting the finger of the blame. 

Casey's lawyer was a force to reckoned with despite working on behalf of her, he really did try to paint her in a certain light and he succeeded because Casey Anthony is a free woman. Casey's team had thrown everything they could at the Jury until something stuck. Yet another story emerged of the death of Caylee being in fact, George's fault. They claimed that Caylee had drowned in the family pool and George helped Casey cover it up. Another story was that Casey was now saying that George had sexually assaulted her as a child and that Caylee had died as a result of drowning. Casey and her team claimed that George killed Caylee to stop her speaking out about sexual abuse. Casey also told the court that her father abused her when she was a child and she suspected that he had been abusing Caylee. 

So despite praising her father during one of his prison visits and never saying a thing up until this point, she was now claiming to be a victim of George and that she only lied because that is how George ran the family home. George refuted Casey's claims and sat shocked and in disbelief as he heard her team talk about sexual abuse as well as the claim that George had either drowned Caylee or that Caylee died as an accident from drowning and that he helped cover it up. 

Casey Anthony's trial was broadcast to the nation and beyond, a lot of people believed that the Judge was going to throw the book at her. That's not what happened sadly, she was let go because they couldn't prove if she was responsible or not, they knew she lied and she had spent some time in prison leading up to this moment so they just classed it as time served. 

Casey has been out of prison now for a very long time and has tried her hand at various things from photography and is supposed to be writing a book about Caylee. In the Double Jeopardy law in America, it means that a person cannot be tried for the same crime twice. Many people believe that Casey Anthony got away with murder, what do you think? 

For someone who's daughter was murdered or drowned in the family swimming pool, depending on who you want to believe, there's never been an outpouring of grief from her, no emotion. She's not even looking for the supposed proper justice for her daughter, she's not even bothered. 

George had strongly denied any inappropriate behaviour towards his children. Casey and George do not speak to each other to this day. Casey is still in touch, briefly, with her mother and her brother. Her relationship with her brother is still a tense one as she had told a few stories about him in the past, whether or not these stories were true, one can only wonder especially with Casey's track record for lying. 

In September of 2024, the New York Post reported that Casey Anthony was reportedly in a relationship with a married man of two children. Apparently the man had become infatuated with Casey and had always been attracted to her, telling relatives that she had an ''attractive aura''. The man left his wife and children to be with Casey. It's not the first time we've seen a situation where a guy (for whatever reason, life crisis, bored with married life, tired of being single...who know's the reason) will become fixated on someone who has been in the public eye for all the wrong reasons. If you are a long-time reader of my blog you will remember the Tracie Andrews Case where she abused and murdered her boyfriend and then tried to cover it up by saying his death was the result of a road-rage incident. Well, she ended up marrying a male fan who'd become fixated on her and he left his wife for her. It seems that serial killers are not the only ones who have groupies, for some reason these men are attracted to unstable and dangerous women. I think it's a sexual interest, a turn-on for them to be with someone that they are not supposed to be with. What are your thoughts about this? 

It's clear that no matter where Casey Anthony goes or whatever she does, there's always some sort of drama around or behind her, there are always people left hurt as a result of her actions. 

RIP beautiful angel Caylee, you will never be forgotten x

Further reading & Sources:

- Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony | Book by Jeff Ashton

- Presumed Guilty: Casey Anthony by Jose Baez

- The Mother of All Lies | Book by David Kennedy

- Death of Caylee Anthony | Wikipedia

- Casey Anthony: Article | People

- Casey Anthony: An American Murder Mystery | IMDb

- Casey Anthony: Article | New York Post 

- Caylee Anthony | Biography

- Casey Anthony: Report | CNN

- Casey Anthony: Article | The Guardian

- Casey Anthony | Trial Playlist 

- Casey Anthony | Interrogation Playlist

So, what are your thoughts on this horrendous case? Let me know in the comments below. 

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Stay safe & I'll see you in the next post x

(Arthur Hutchinson. Picture credit: gazettelive)

*Please be aware that the details I will be sharing in this post are extremely horrific and disturbing. I will be talking about murder, sexual assault and domestic violence. I will be as sensitive as I can be with the details whilst also not taking away from the facts of the case. Any enquiries, please feel free to email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*

Arthur Hutchinson is still a name that sends chills down the spine of many people who live in Hartlepool, England to this day. He nicknamed himself' The Fox' and from childhood it was plain to see that Arthur was never going to be on a positive path in life. Having been born into poverty on the 19th of February 1941 in Hartlepool, County Durham, his upbringing was difficult and his sisters often tormented him and taunted him. Despite the difficulties in the household, Arthur was close with his mother and had gotten on well with his step-father, very little is known about his biological father. 

He'd suffered an accident when he was a young child which resulted in him being hospitalised. He reportedly spend three days in a coma and when he finally came around he was confused and his personality had changed. The trauma of what had happened to him had a profound physical and psychological effect on him and according to those who knew him closely, he was never the same. Some people believe that it was this particular accident and head trauma that resulted in what was to be come of him later on. 

There was an incident when Arthur was around the age of seven when he and one of his sisters got into an argument. He flew into one of his rages (which were becoming something of a regular occurrence since the accident) and lunged at his sister with a pair of scissors. Luckily she escaped with minor scratches but this was another frightening sign that Arthur was becoming out of control and his temper was getting worse. His mother and family hoped for the best that he would grow out of it and put his erratic behaviour down to his age and still recovering from the trauma of the accident. 

However things did not improve, they continued to get worse....far worse! As a child of just 11 years old, Arthur was continuing his spiral out of control and his behaviour was becoming more disturbing as he developed an urge to commit sexual crimes. It's not known if he saw something on TV that he shouldn't have been exposed to, or that he had been abused himself (there's been no mention over the years about himself being abused) but he was involved in a sexual attack of a young girl. It's a horrific thought to think that he could have been capable of such a sickening act at such a tender age but that is what was happening and it continued throughout the following years, he'd faced the courtroom numerous times because of his disgusting and predatory behaviour.

It wasn't until he attempted to murder his half brother over a dispute about money that he was finally locked up for just over five years. His behaviour up until this point was not addressed properly. Arthur had been in nothing but trouble from a young age he'd been involved in petty crime, violence, attempted murder and sexual assault, it was clear that things were only going to get worse but still, he learned nothing from his time in prison, as soon as he was released he was set to go on and commit the most evil and sickening crimes imaginable. 

During his time out of prison there were moments when it looked like Arthur could have had a chance at a normal life and worked on changing his ways but he was too far gone and any moments where he had demonstrated a 'nice side' was short lived. He'd been married a few times and each marriage did not last long due to his constant infidelity and he couldn't keep his temper in check, often lashing out violently and during sex he would often be extremely aggressive. Arthur was a danger to women and even his own mother fell victim to his evil rages, he had struck his mother quite a few times over the years and had no problems doing this in front of other people. 

Arthur was never out of trouble, constantly committing burglaries and had also committed a horrendous sexual assault. The police finally managed to get their hands on him but whilst he was at the police station he asked if he could use the bathroom, before anyone knew what was happening, Arthur Hutchinson had escaped out of the bathroom window (it makes one think about the time that infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy, managed to escape from a courthouse after he tricked officers into letting him use the library for study. You can find my post on the Ted Bundy case here as well as the '10 Facts You May Not Know About Ted Bundy' post here).

So Arthur was on the run for nearly a month and it was during this time that on the 23rd of October 1983 his horrible career or crime was to take and even more sickening and evil turn. Whilst on the run he had been trying to keep a low profile and was continuing to break into homes, steal items, steal food and drift from place to place. However, on the cold night of the 23rd of October his plan to break into another home turned deadly. 

Arthur had broken into the family home of the Laitner family who had just been celebrating the wedding of Basil (59) and (55 year old) Avril's oldest daughter, Suzanne. It was a beautiful ceremony which took place at the house and the two parents couldn't have been more proud. After the celebrations were over, Basil, Avril and their younger daughter (18 year old Nicola) and their son Richard, all settled down in the house for the night when Arthur Hutchinson broke in via a patio door. The Laitner's were a well respected and hardworking family who had worked hard for everything they had, they had a beautiful, luxurious home and the wedding had been attended by numerous relatives and friends who'd travelled far and wide. They were well liked in their local community and were very popular, but on this night, which was supposed to be a night of joy, happiness and contentment after a beautiful celebration of marriage at their dream family home, it all ended with a horrifying nightmare. 

Arthur managed to get into the house after he had been watching the house all day, he knew there had been a wedding and could see how well-off the family were. His first victim was reportedly Richard who was repeatedly stabbed to death in his bedroom. It was a ferocious attack and the scene was horrifying. A very gruesome and horrifying end for a young man, who at only 28 years old, had his whole life ahead of him and dreams and goals he was working on never to have the chance to accomplish. With all the commotion Richard's father Basil decided to get up and check on him, this was the horrible moment in which the 59 year old man was greeted by Arthur Hutchinson who stabbed him three times, the force and shock of the vicious attack caused Basil to fall backwards down the stairs. 

Arthur was not yet done his horrendous rampage on this innocent, lovely family who did nothing to deserve this evil. Avril was next to suffer with repeated stabbings that reportedly totalled 26 times, she fought as hard as she could for her life against this evil monster. There was no need for this level of sick murderous violence, he could have just burgled the house and then left but he was full of rage, full of demonic anger, who knows what was going through his sick mind but if all that wasn't enough hell, he coldly walked up the stairs to 18 year old Nicola's bedroom and planned for her to be his final victim. 

There was blood all over the place and the demon himself, Arthur Hutchinson, was covered in blood. Nobody could imagine the sheer terror that Nicola must have felt seeing this evil thing in her bedroom. He threatened to kill the poor girl if she didn't do what he demanded, he sexually assaulted her as he was covered in the blood of her family. His sickness knew no bounds, after what he had just done, he was turned on by it all and it just makes you feel sick to think of such evil but these were his actions that night. Nicola at this point was unaware that he had murdered her parents and her brother but seeing the blood gave her an idea that something horrendous must have happened to her family. 

It was only when the sick killer and ra*ist forced the poor girl to walk down the stairs after he'd finished attacking her that the realisation of what he had done to her family had come to be known. The deceased body of her father Basil was lying on the ground, his blood everywhere and she was forced to walk through her father's blood in her bare feet and out into the wedding marquee that was still in the garden from the wedding celebrations just hours before. 

It was in this beautiful marquee that more hell was to be suffered as the sick and evil monster that is Arthur Hutchinson, handcuffed the utterly terrified and traumatised young girl to a chair where she was subjected to more sexual assaults before he blindfolded her. He only stopped the sexual assaults when he decided that he wanted to take a break and eat some of the leftovers from the wedding buffet that was still left on one of the tables. He even drank wine and talked random things about what he had done to her parents and brother. He was determined to put this poor child through never-ending hell. The ordeal was still not over as Nicola was dragged back up to her bedroom where more sexual assaults continued over and over and over again. Nicola believed that she was going to to die and at that point, any bit of strength left in her had evaporated, she was beyond traumatised. Nobody could imagine the sheer pain and trauma of what going through that must have been like, none of us ever want to know for that matter. 

He finally brought Nicola back downstairs, still covered in the blood of her family and in utter despair to her surprise he left her there alive. It took Nicola three days to be able to talk after this horrifying ordeal, the hell was unimaginable for this young girl. Investigators were able to take the details of what Nicola had been brave and strong enough to have given them plus the teeth marks that had been left on a piece of cheese found on one of the tables in the marquee which had partially been eaten by Arthur. There was also a thumb print off his which had been left behind on a glass. He was very careless in leaving evidence behind but he was that pathetically sure of himself and how clever he thought he was that he probably assumed that the police wouldn't examine them because hundreds of people had been in the marquee previously. So he probably believed that evidence of the murderer would be hard to track. 

He managed to evade justice for about two weeks but was finally caught on the 5th of November 1983, hiding on a farm in Hartlepool. Initially he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 18 years which horrifically he would have been out right now if it wasn't for Leon Britton (who was the home secretary in 1983) having it determined that he serve a whole life tariff, meaning he will never leave prison alive. I'm sad to say that this monster is still breathing at the current age of 83 (at the time of writing this post - 2024), he's appealed his sentences numerous times to no avail and never expressed any remorse for what he did. 

Despite how evil he truly is and everything he had done, his mother (Just like Ted Bundy's mother) had this never-ending unconditional love for him and stood by him despite everything. She refused to believe that he was responsible for the horrifying events that occurred on the 23rd of October 1983. The red flags had always been there from his childhood right up until the prison gate was shut behind him for the final time, she lived in denial about him. Maybe because the thought of your own son being this horrific monster was just too much to take. You can't help but feel sorry for her in some regard because obviously she never wanted any of that to happen. She was also a victim of her own son and possibly psychologically damaged in some ways herself. I think the knowledge that your own son could do such things is enough to drive anyone insane and mentally ill. 

Nicola who was incredibly brave during the trial as well as on that horrific night in which she was subjected to the most unbelievable nightmare as well as losing her family in the most evil way, stood and faced Arthur Hutchinson in court. The evil monster claimed that she was actively part of everything that had happened. Nicola bravely stated the facts of the case and it was revealed how she was so incredibly brave that night that she went into automatic survival-mode. Whilst the sexual assaults were taking place, Nicola pretended to Arthur that she was enjoying what was happening in an attempt to survive, she knew that if she protested against him, he would most likely kill her too. Despite the horrendous ordeal that she was going through she had the remarkable presence of mind to keep composure, follow his demands, play the role and keep herself alive. When she was able to speak about what happened her information which was in remarkable detail, was invaluable to the police. 

She may have only been 18 years old but she was an incredibly strong and brave young woman to be able to do everything that she did. Today Nicola would be 59 years old (I hope she is still alive and well and has been able to go on and live a full and healthy life), the same age her father Basil was when he was horrendously murdered. Wherever Nicola is I wish her nothing but the best and truly admire her. I can imagine that knowing that monster is still alive must be hard, one wonders what she must think about that. Would his death bring her some sort of closure? Maybe she has come to some sort of peace in her mind knowing that he's been behind bars all of these years? It's hard to imagine what she and the rest of her family have been going through all of these years. 

This case might be 41 years old but time has done nothing to dull the horrendous facts of this case, it truly is the stuff of nightmares. I know it must have been a very difficult read and it was a very difficult case to research and write about. My heart goes out to Nicola and the surviving members of her family as well as anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of having had Arthur Hutchinson in their lives. RIP Basil, Avril and Richard, you will never be forgotten. 

Further reading & sources: 

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | BBC News

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | Hartlepool Mail

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | Scottish Legal News

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Independent

- Arthur Hutchinson: Documentary | Britain't Most Evil Killers - Sky TV

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Guardian

- Arthur Hutchinson | Wikipedia

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Times

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Northern Echo

- Leon Brittan | Wikipedia

- Hartlepool | Wikipedia

- List of Prisoners With Whole Life Orders | (UK) Wikipedia 

Thank you as always for taking the time to check out my latest post, I know it was a difficult one to get through. I hope you will join me again in the next post and if you would like to share your thoughts on this case please do so below in the comments section or in confidence by email to jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com 

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