56: Casey Anthony: The Problem With the Truth

What if Casey Anthony finally told the truth—would anyone believe her?

Nearly twenty years after Caylee Anthony disappeared, the case remains one of the most controversial mysteries in American true crime. Casey lied about her job, invented a nanny, misled investigators and waited 31 days before her daughter was reported missing. But a jury still found her not guilty of murder.

In this episode of UNMARKED, I sit down with lead prosecutor Jeff Ashton and challenge him on the evidence, the timeline and the questions I still have about what happened on June 16, 2008. I also speak with reporter Steve Helling, revisit the places at the center of the case, and dig into Casey’s extraordinary pattern of lying.

Research in This Episode:

Tejasvi Kainth et al. (2026), “Pseudologia fantastica: a systematic review of sociodemographic features and psychiatric comorbidities,” Annals of Medicine & Surgery, 88(7), 4487–4497.

Miethe, S., Wigger, J., Wartemann, A., Fuchs, F. O., & Trautmann, S. (2023). “Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and its Association with Rumination, Thought Suppression and Experiential Avoidance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 45, 480–495.

Show Notes:

If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last Words documents years researching the story and speaking directly with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself.

Read it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7

If you want to follow the cases as I’m working on them, you can find me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbuddyday/

For those who want to examine the evidence directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes.

Join here:
https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast

UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.