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Deputy Fired After Lying About Alleged Secret Affair With Casey Anthony

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 – updated: 7:58 am EDT August 27, 2008

An Orange County deputy was fired following allegations that he had a secret affair with Casey Anthony. The lead investigators working on Caylee Anthony's disappearance, questioned rookie Tony Rusciano twice about his relationship with Casey.


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It turns out Rusciano met Casey's ex-fiancé, Jesse Grund, while at the police academy. Grund introduced him to Casey Anthony and they began a relationship. But when Rusciano was questioned by detectives about it, they said he denied a relationship.

Detectives seized computer records that proved the two had been communicating. Detectives said Rusciano lied twice about their relationship until he was confronted with the records. Deputy Rusciano was still a probationary employee, so he was fired for lying on August 22.

"This is something we will not tolerate under any circumstances or any case especially a case that has national implications. We're talking about a situation where we're expending many man hours," said Capt. Angelo Nieves, Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Sources told Eyewitness News the deputy had nothing to do with Caylee's disappearance.


DOCUMENTS SHOW CASEY'S PARENTS HAD YARD SEARCHED

Where is Caylee Marie Anthony? It's a question Casey Anthony never even asked even though she told investigators she spent an entire month searching for her missing daughter.

Casey Anthony ran from cameras and into her attorney's office Tuesday morning, where she had planned to spend another whole day. Her attorney said once Casey got out of jail she'd be able to say where Caylee is.

Six days later, attorney Jose Baez told ABC's Good Morning America he hasn't had any better luck than investigators in getting her to open up.

Court records reveal how Orange County Detective Yuri Melich grilled her, saying she could seem "cold, callous and a monster who doesn't care, who's just trying to get away with something." He told her Caylee "may not be the way we or the way your family last remembers her. We need to find out from you where Caylee is. This, this, this right now is just, this has gone so far down hill and this has become such a mess."

Casey replied, "Uh-huh." Then Melich said, "We need to end it. It's very simple. We just need to end it." Casey answered, "I agree with you. I have no clue where she is."

The documents also show Casey's parents actually led investigators to search a new depression in the dirt near their backyard pool after they had done their own search and that they had their own lawyer the day after her arrest. The documents include a poem Anthony wrote on July 7, eight days before she reported her daughter missing: "What is given, Can be taken away. Everyone lies. Everyone dies."

The tattoo artist who etched "Bella Vita" on Casey's back two weeks after Caylee disappeared told Eyewitness News all Casey talked about was her new boyfriend, until she was asked where Caylee was and she said Caylee was fine and that she was with the nanny.

Investigators said they found a dinnerware knife among the items in the car Casey abandoned about two weeks after Caylee disappeared. Records show even the tow truck driver noticed the "smell of death" coming from the car.


CASEY MEETS AGAIN AT HER ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

Casey Anthony was meeting with her attorney Tuesday afternoon while investigators were trying to decide if results from her alcohol and drug test should be made public.

Casey Anthony left her parent's house shortly after 10:00am. A vehicle pulled into the garage, the door closed and, when it reopened, the vehicle drove off with Casey sitting alone in the back seat.

Unlike other visits to her attorney's office in Kissimmee, her parents did not make the trip.

The 22-year-old mother of missing 3-year-old Caylee took a drug test Monday. Investigators are still deciding whether or not to make the results from that test public.

Casey remains in home confinement. She's scheduled to leave several more times this week to meet with her attorney, Jose Baez. She also plans to attend church this Sunday.


DOCUMENTS REVEAL CASEY WANTED TO GIVE UP CAYLEE

The State Attorney's Office released more than 400 pages of documents Monday that include a transcript of Casey Anthony's interrogation by detectives. Eyewitness News also found out Casey wanted to give little Caylee up for adoption before she was born, but her mother, Cindy Anthony, was against it.

The documents revealed a side of the 22-year-old known only by those close to her. Casey's own mother called her a sociopath and warned friends to stay away from her. Casey's ex-fiancé told detectives she had deleted more than 200 pictures of her with her daughter Caylee that were posted online.

The documents also showed Casey wanted to give her daughter up for adoption before she was born, but her mother, Cindy Anthony, wouldn't let her.

According to the transcripts, hours before Casey's arrest one detective told her, "Caylee's out there somewhere and her rotting body is starting to decompose." Casey replied, "I know my mom will never forgive me. I'm never going to forgive myself because there's that chance that I may not see Caylee again and I don't want to think about that."

The documents also show investigators grilled Casey about what happened to her daughter, telling her after the lies she told them they were thinking either she "gave Caylee to someone that you don't want anyone to find out because you think you're a bad mom or something happened to Caylee and Caylee's buried somewhere or in a trash can somewhere and you had something to do with it."

Casey kept insisting to investigators the last time she saw Caylee was June 9. The detective told her, "The longer this goes the worse it's gonna be for everyone, everyone."

Casey kept insisting she doesn't know what happened to her except that she was last with Zenaida the nanny, who no one knows. She also told investigators she's absolutely petrified.

It's been 41 days since 3-year-old Caylee was reported missing. According to investigators, Casey continues to hold back information. Casey will be allowed to leave her house to meet her attorney and go to church. She is required to meet with her case manager at least once a week.


CASEY ANTHONY MEETS WITH CORRECTIONS OFFICIALS

Casey Anthony was on the move again Monday. She was wearing a t-shirt that asks for help to find her daughter, but she's still not helping investigators find Caylee.

Attorney Jose Baez refused to respond to the discovery documents released Monday. In fact, he filed an emergency order to try and keep the media from getting them.

The bounty hunter who helped get Casey out of jail said the documents solidify his theory that Casey gave her daughter away.

Wearing a missing child t-shirt with her daughter's picture, Casey Anthony ran out of the Orange County jail Monday and ignored questions (Images | Raw Video). She was back at the jail to get tested for drugs and alcohol and to meet with the case manager who oversees her home confinement.

Flanked by a security guard and her mother and brother, Casey didn't say a word. But the bounty hunter who helped bail her out of jail had plenty to say about court documents that reveal she wanted to put Caylee up for adoption before she was even born

"She handed the kid off to somebody and has herself in a bind right now and she doesn't know what to do. She could simply tell the cops, 'I didn't want my daughter anymore and I gave her away," Leonard Padilla told Eyewitness News.

Padilla said he plans to start searching for the 3-year-old on Friday.

"The child was not kidnapped, the child is not dead," Padilla said. "We are going to start actively looking for the people who might have wanted Caylee."