It has been over a decade since Casey Anthony was aquitted of murder and manslaughter charges relating to the death of her three year old daughter Caylee Anthony in 2008. Since her acquittal, there have been numerous articles, books, and documentaries made and written about her that have tried to get to the bottom of the case that gripped the nation. 

   The most recent documentary to be released is called “Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies”, which is exclusively available on the streaming platform ‘Peacock’. It is divided into 3 episodes and is an opportunity for Casey Anthony to do just as the title says, explain in her own words what happened. This is perhaps a very significant documentary in regards to the case it is noted in the first episode that “she [Casey Anthony] has not done a single on-camera interview since she was aquitted in her murder trial”. 

   Due to the extremely high profile nature of the case and the intense media coverage, were waves of people across the country who wanted justice for three year old Caylee Anthony. Casey Anthony quickly became the villain of the story and perhaps one of the most hated women in the world. Most everyone believed she was guilty and there was no reason to not believe she would be swiftly convicted at her trial, but just as this case shook the nation when it first broke, it did not stop there.  Casey Anthony was aquitted at her trial in 2011 which left countless people heartbroken that Caylee Anthony did not receive justice. Since her ‘not guilty’ verdict, Casey Anthony has remained mostly quiet over the past decade. No further charges have been brought against anyone in relation to Caylee’s death. 

   If the producers goal in creating this docuseries was to help provide closure to the countless grievers then they failed in the highest regard. The documentary paints Casey Anthony as a victim and essentially became a sob story of woe-is-me. 

   The documentary makes the case for Casey’s innocence and still leaves many gaping holes that have failed to be answered since Casey’s mom, Cindy Anthony, made the 2008 call to local police that her daughter’s child was missing for 31 days. 

   Casey starts by showing off what remains of her daughter’s legacy, which is a few framed photos she has of her daughter. We learn that Casey has started working as a research assistant for Patrick McKenna, who was the lead investigator for her case. She claims to have done this in an effort to make sure what happened to her happens to nobody else. Casey appears to have a close relationship with most of her legal team. She refers to them as her second family and it is obvious they continue to care about her. Perhaps most notably is the fact that Jose Baez, Casey’s lead attorney who was launched into the national spotlight failed to make an appearance in the documentary and was not mentioned by Casey. 

   Later on in the documentary Casey made abuse claims against her father George Anthony, and speculated that he was the one who murdered her daughter. She claimed that both her father and brother had abused her as a child and that she believes that this was done to her daughter. These claims of course dispute what her attorneys argued to the jury during her trial, and George Anthony has continued to deny that he ever abused his daughter or granddaughter. 

   The last part of the docuseries involved four investigators who retraced the case from the very beginning. While all of them acknowledged the tragic death of Caylee Anthony, their final verdict was that there was indeed reasonable doubt and too many questions left unanswered to definitely say that it was Casey Anthony who murdered her daughter. 

   During this part of the docuseries they also conducted interviews with the judge who was in charge of Casey Anthony’s case who said he believed that Casey was indeed guilty, but that her lead lawyer Jose Baez did a phenomenal job of showing reasonable doubt and making the defense’s case. 

   To be blunt, this docuseries is a disgrace and is wholly deserving of the negative reviews it has gotten since its release. If they were going to make another documentary about Casey Anthony, it should be made to try to fill the many holes left in this story. It should not be an avenue to give a serial liar another opportunity to tell her latest version of the truth, which should be taken with a grain of salt. We must begin to shift the narrative. Yes, this was Casey Anthony’s trial, but this is far from the case of Casey Anthony, rather it is the case of Caylee Anthony, a murdered three year old child who has not received the justice she deserves. From now on we have an obligation to make the story about Caylee, not Casey.