Where is missing 2-year-old? Her mother may know

Casey Anthony knows who has her missing 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, but may have lied to investigators to protect the little girl, her mother and attorney said Monday.

“I know Casey knows who has her,” Casey Anthony’s mother, Cindy Anthony, told TODAY’s Ann Curry from the family’s home in Orlando, Fla. “I know Casey doesn’t know where they are right at the moment.”

Cindy Anthony said she might know more if investigators would allow her to speak with her daughter for more than a few moments. She has had one phone call with her since Casey was arrested last week for lying to investigators. She also said that a visit with Casey was cut short by police.

“I think my daughter loves Caylee so much that she will do whatever it takes to protect her,” Cindy Anthony said. “In her own way, she has those reasons inside her why she’s protecting her, and we don’t understand those right now.”

Casey Anthony told her parents last week that Caylee had been missing since June 9, but she didn’t tell anyone for five weeks. Cindy Anthony and her husband, George, called police to report the girl missing, and authorities arrested Casey Anthony when they determined that she had lied to them about the disappearance of her daughter.

The grandparents have started a Web site and distributed fliers to help find Caylee, but Casey Anthony’s attorney, Jose Baez, indicated that the jailed mother knows where her daughter is — or at least who has her.

Why won’t she talk?
Curry asked Baez why his client is unwilling to share the information she has with authorities.

“I know the reason why,” Baez told Curry. “Unfortunately, I can’t disclose that at this time. Based on my conversations with her, I can understand what she’s going through and basically the reason why she did what she did. There is an explanation for all of this. Unfortunately I’m not at liberty to say at the time.”

“Do you fear for her safety?” Curry asked Baez, referring to Caylee.

“Obviously when she’s away from where she’s supposed to be, we all fear for her safety,” Baez said. “She needs to be back home with her family, with the people who love her, and that’s really our ultimate goal here — to have her home and to be with the people who love her.”

Caylee’s grandmother Cindy Anthony told local media that Casey told her that she received a

TODAY From left, Caylee Anthony’s uncle, Lee Anthony; her grandmother, Cindy Anthony, and her grandfather, George Anthony, on TODAY.

phone call from Caylee, but that the line went dead when the mother asked to speak to an adult. In her TODAY appearance, Cindy said her daughter had also made that statement to others. She added that her own mother told her on July 5 that she thought she heard Caylee’s voice in the background during a phone conversation with Casey Anthony.

It is unclear who the girl’s father is, according to media reports in Orlando. Casey Anthony has reportedly told authorities that she was employed at a local theme park, but in reality she had been fired from the park two weeks ago. She also reportedly said that the child’s father is dead. She also said she had left the child with a baby sitter who then disappeared — but the address she gave for the baby sitter turned out to be an unoccupied apartment.

‘I forgive her’
Last Thursday and Friday, investigators with shovels and cadaver-sniffing dogs dug up Casey Anthony’s backyard, but found no sign of Caylee.

Cindy Anthony said that Orange County authorities acted too quickly in arresting and jailing her daughter without bond last week and said it was a mistake to keep the single mother in jail.

“I think that was a huge mistake by arresting her that quickly, because she was not able to

TODAY Casey Anthony with her daughter Caylee, now missing.

reach out to her friends and her family to maybe shed some light on the reasons,” the distraught mother said.

A former nurse, Cindy Anthony said that she and her husband George, a former deputy sheriff, saw no signs of drug abuse in their daughter. She said she’d told Casey Anthony that she loves her and supports her.

“I forgive her,” Cindy Anthony said. “I have not said that to her.”

“Forgive her for what?” Curry asked.

“For not telling me sooner, for not telling the police sooner,” Cindy Anthony answered. “Someone can’t come to grips until they’re forgiven. She’s probably not going to be able to tell me everything until I can forgive her.”

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