Casey Anthony
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Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez (above left) is suing infamous Casey Anthony for defamation. (
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The woman Casey Anthony falsely accused of abducting her doomed 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, tracked Anthony down to her Florida hideout and slapped her with a subpoena.
Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez says Anthony ruined her life when she lied to police in 2008 by claiming a baby sitter named Zenaida Gonzalez kidnapped the girl, whose body was later found dumped in some woods.
Anthony, the most hated mother in America, was acquitted of murder last year — even after her lawyers admitted she made up the bogus “Zanny the Nanny” story.
But Gonzalez, who is not a baby sitter, said she had already lost her real job and apartment as a result of being implicated in the murder case. She filed a defamation suit and her lawyers convinced a Florida judge to reveal Anthony’s whereabouts.
Gonzalez’s investigators staked out Anthony’s new home for days, but their target refused to appear and be served with a subpoena, they said.
Anthony’s lawyers eventually gave up and agreed to accept the court papers for the defamation lawsuit that is scheduled to begin next January in Orlando.
“Our investigative team had her whereabouts pinned down,” Matt Morgan, one of Gonzalez’s attorneys, told People magazine. “Their backs were against the wall, so her attorneys said that they would accept service on her behalf.”
That means the public may finally get to see Anthony answer questions under oath about the crime that shocked the country.
She never testified at her trial and her lawyers didn’t put on witnesses to back their claim that Caylee accidentally drowned. Caylee’s remains were found in woods near the family home.
Gonzalez’s defamation suit revived the case. Last October, she briefly forced Anthony out of hiding to appear at a 45-minute deposition at an undisclosed location.
Anthony was filmed wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses and a long, black wig. She and invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination for much of the questioning.
Anthony was “composed” but clearly annoyed and breathing deeply, according to another Gonzalez attorney, John Morgan.
“She did not want to be there,” he told the Orlando Sentinel.
The closest Anthony has come to appearing in public since her trial was a YouTube video posted in October in which she talked about how “surreal” things had been.
Before the subpoena, Anthony planned to leave the country in September, after she had finished her probation for a check-fraud charge. That plan is now on hold.
“Ms. Gonzalez is happy to hear that Casey Anthony finally will be held accountable just like everybody else,” Matt Morgan said.