The Problematic Abuse Defense

The new story contained the additional twist that George had sexually abused Casey, and that Caylee had drowned while George was abusing her. The defense called two therapists as witnesses to support the story, and they explained Casey’s version in great detail—including her suspicion that she was drugged the night of Caylee’s death, and that George’s upper body was wet when he brought Caylee’s body into her room, leading her to believe he had held Caylee under water. “That was the bombshell,” says Ashton, calling the story “the nuclear lie.” But Casey had told one of the therapists after she was first arrested that George had never molested her, and tests that the therapists performed at the time showed no sign of trauma.