The parents of "the most hated mom in America" want to clear their name.
George and Cindy Anthony, whose daughter is Florida woman Casey Anthony, agreed to take a polygraph test for a two-hour special, "Casey Anthony’s Parents: The Lie Detector Test."
The special, airing on both A&E and Lifetime, will delve into the 2008 death of their granddaughter, Caylee Anthony. The case made international headlines and resulted in a bitter divide within the family. Casey, 37, was charged and later acquitted of the 2-year-old’s death in 2011.
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The polygraph examination was administered by retired FBI Special Agent George Olivo, who has conducted thousands of polygraphs in more than 20 years. He wasn’t allowed to divulge the results to Fox News Digital. Olivo also hasn’t seen the special ahead of its Jan. 4 airing, which will show George and Cindy reacting to the other’s answers and the lie detector results.
"When I met them, they were soon separated, and I tested George first," Olivo told Fox News Digital. "Nothing really stood out to me. They seem like, on the surface, just a regular couple that have been together for a very long time."
Olivo said that despite critics insisting the special might be a publicity stunt from the Anthonys, their motive for coming forward was the real deal.
"You’ve got your daughter that’s accusing you of some pretty horrific things," he said. "If they claim that they didn’t do anything, it’s like the old saying goes, you’re darned if you do and you’re darned if you don’t. If you say nothing, those same critics will say, ‘Well, there you go. They didn’t say anything, so they must be guilty.’ And if they speak up and say, ‘I’d like to respond to that publicly the same way [my daughter] made her accusations publicly,’ then critics will say, ‘They’re trying to capitalize on it.’"
"You can’t win either way," Olivo added.
In 2022, Casey participated in a Peacock docuseries, "Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies." It was the first time Casey appeared on camera since she was found not guilty of Caylee’s murder but guilty of lying to law enforcement.
While Casey stopped short of alleging her father intentionally killed Caylee in the docuseries, she heavily accused him of being somehow involved.
Casey was arrested in 2008 for Caylee's disappearance. While the child was supposedly last seen on June 16, 2008, she was first reported missing by Casey's mother on July 15. Casey told police that Caylee had disappeared with a babysitter.
For nearly six months, volunteers conducted a nationwide search for the toddler and followed up on hundreds of leads. On Dec. 11, a utility employee working in a wooded area near Casey’s Florida home found skeletal remains that were later determined to be Caylee’s. Experts would testify that air samples indicated that decaying human remains had been present in Casey's trunk.
Casey was charged with murder and her 2011 trial was a media spectacle. Prosecutors proved Casey was a liar but convinced the jury of little else. The government failed to establish how Caylee died, and they couldn’t find her mother’s DNA on the duct tape that they said was used to suffocate her.
Lead attorney Jose Baez from Casey's defense team argued that Caylee accidentally drowned and that her death was covered up, though Casey said she does not believe her daughter drowned in the family's above-ground pool. Meanwhile, prosecutors argued that Casey suffocated the girl using chloroform and then covered the toddler's mouth with duct tape.
After a trial that lasted for more than a month, the jury took less than 11 hours to find Casey not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse. Casey was convicted of four counts of lying to police (though two counts were later dropped) and credited for the three years she was in prison while awaiting trial.
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Casey didn’t immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. A source told The Messenger that Casey "doesn’t give a s--t" about her parents wanting to do a polygraph test.
"She says she knows the truth, and so do her parents," the source told the outlet. "A polygraph won’t change the truth."
According to Olivo, when a polygraph is done correctly, it’s "85 to 90% accurate." It is believed there will be pointed questions about whether George molested Casey and whether he had anything to do with Caylee’s death or hiding her body.
According to Olivo, 19 states admit polygraph results in court by stipulation, which means both parties agree on admitting the polygraph results and who conducts the test. He said that while polygraph tests can be used in pretrial and post-trial to negotiate a sentencing or even get a case thrown out of court before a district attorney files charges, the Supreme Court has determined that polygraph tests should not be placed in front of a jury.
"The Supreme Court – and I agree with them – want the jury to be the final [arbiter] of truth," Olivo said.
Olivo also said that according to studies conducted by the FBI, 75% of guilty people will agree to a polygraph exam if asked properly.
"I taught investigators and agents to ask someone to take a polygraph exam, not in a challenging way but in a more cooperative way," Olivo said. "Like, ‘I believe you. Let’s take a polygraph exam to verify your statement. That way you can put all of this behind you.’"
"Guilty people have two strategies. If they think they can get away with it, they always appear cooperative. Otherwise, you’re going to look guilty if you aren’t. … But often, they will start backpedaling before you even start the test. ‘I’m pretty nervous’ or ‘I heard these things don’t really work. They’re not admissible, right?’ They’ll start getting all their ducks lined up because they’re already anticipating that it may not go well."
Olivo also said that a participant in a legitimate polygraph will be aware of the questions they will be asked beforehand. There should be no "zingers" or "gotcha" moments. The goal of the test isn’t to unleash any surprises on the participant but rather to collect all the physiological data.
"A legitimate polygraph test will have repetition," Olivo said. "We ask the same questions several times. A truthful person can be nervous at first, but they will habituate after a little while. They will show patterns of truthfulness. A deceptive person will get more anxious every time they have to lie. They feel like they’re sticking their neck out further and further every time they have to lie. We see the opposite; a deceptive person won’t habituate."
Olivo is hopeful that, regardless of the outcome, there will be a form of closure.
"In the end, this is still a family," he said. "… But some wounds are just too deep. I hope they can pick up the pieces somehow. There are still a lot of scattered pieces on the ground."
