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Bounty Hunter Holds Prayer Vigil For Caylee

Posted: 6:38 am EST November 11, 2008Updated: 6:06 pm EST November 11, 2008

What was supposed to be a memorial service for Caylee Anthony turned into a prayer vigil Tuesday morning as bounty hunter Leonard Padilla and dozens of others gathered at Blanchard Park to pray for Caylee.

"I'm not here to represent anybody but two people. I'm here to represent the Lord and I'm here to represent Caylee, and that's it," Minister Richard Grund said at the beginning of the short service (watch full service).


SEE VIGIL: Raw Video | View Images
ANTHONYS CONFRONT PADILLA: Video | Images
PADILLA TALKS: Comments On Memorial, Cindy
VIDEO REPORT: Bounty Hunter Holds Prayer Vigil For Caylee
TEMPERS FLARE: Raw Video | See Images
SEARCH IMAGES: Teams Look For Caylee's Remains
INTERVIEW: Cindy Speaks With GMA
MESSAGE BOARD: Case Against Casey Anthony
ARCHIVE: Previous Reports On Anthony Case

The man, who once thought he was Caylee's grandfather, spoke at the event. Richard Grund is the father of Jesse Grund, who once dated Casey. Richard Grund, a man of the bible, sought to keep the anger over Caylee's disappearance at bay.

"Evidence says one thing," Grund said. "Love says another. Sometimes those two don't go together."

Minister Grund said he wanted to diffuse the community's anger against Casey, against George and Cindy for not believing their little granddaughter is dead and can now be remembered.

"The truth is we're angry. The bigger truth is we're afraid because we don't understand," Grund said.

It was an emotional outpouring for 50 people moved to be by the bank of the Little Econ River. It's the spot where bounty hunter Leonard Padilla believes Caylee's mother Casey dumped the toddler's body in late June. A search Monday found no signs.

Padilla is leaving town now, brushing aside remarks George and Cindy Anthony posted on Caylee's MySpace site that the prayer service was immoral and spiteful and despite their pleas during a confrontation Monday afternoon (video | images).

"Everybody's entitled to their language. I'm just here for Caylee today. I'm not here for myself," Padilla said.

During the service, a sole supporter of the Anthony's held up her sign declaring Caylee is alive. While that angered some, a group of women at the vigil from Baltimore to help in the search said they're content to leave their prayers by the riverbank.

"Why not pray for Caylee at the jail, so Casey can see that? Is that an idea you'd embrace?" WFTV reporter Robert Maxwell asked the women.

"She knows what's going on," one replied. "Casey doesn't want to know what I have to say."

Before the service, Padilla said Cindy and George Anthony would be there, but they never showed.

The Anthonys have held numerous prayer vigils for Caylee outside of their home. Casey Anthony remains in the Orange County jail facing a first-degree murder in the death of her little girl Caylee Anthony.


EQUUSEARCH LEAVES TOWN AMID FRUSTRATION

The man who spent thousand of dollars to look for Caylee's body was so fed up with the Anthony family he packed up and left town Tuesday.

Tim Miller runs EquuSearch. The group searches for missing people all over the country. He organized several expensive search parties for Caylee's body over the weekend, but called them all off Monday.

Miller told Eyewitness News he's never had a case like this where the family offers only criticism instead of actually helping in the search.


CINDY ANTHONY SPEAKS OUT ON GMA

Caylee Anthony's grandmother told Good Morning America on Monday people should be looking for Caylee alive, because there's no evidence she's dead (watch video). She lashed out at prosecutors for wanting to put a gag order on the defense and the Anthony family.

Cindy said prosecutors don't want them to talk publicly about tips they are getting that suggest Caylee is still alive. She went on to say they received a tip just Saturday night that Caylee was spotted in Florida. Cindy said she watched surveillance video and believes it could be her granddaughter and investigators are now looking at that video.


HEARING FOR MOTIONS POSTPONED

The case against Casey was expected back in court Monday, but it won't happen due to a scheduling blunder by Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez.

Baez set a hearing Monday to request more evidence from the sheriff's office. The judge was also to hear the prosecutors request for a gag order on the Anthony family.

Baez, though, later said he has another court appearance and can't make it.


CASEY'S EX-FIANCEE'S FATHER ATTENDS SEARCH

The father of Casey Anthony's ex-fiancee showed up at Sunday's search, but did not participate. Richard Grund once thought Caylee Anthony was his granddaughter, because his son Jesse almost married Casey.

"I'm an old New York Italian. When I make you part of my family, you stay part of my family, so Caylee's still part of my family," he said.

Grund claimed that Cindy Anthony led investigators to believe the Grunds had a hand in Caylee's disappearance, but they have since been cleared.

"I wanted to participate in the search, but considering the accusations made against my son and me by Cindy, I figured it wouldn't be the best thing to be in the area when she's found," Grund said.

Casey's former best friend, Amy Huizinga, also showed up in support of Grund. They all said they shared the hope that Caylee Anthony will soon come home for a proper burial.


AUDIO RELEASED OF GEORGE ANTHONY INTERVIEW

Late Friday afternoon, Eyewitness News obtained new audio tapes of interviews with George Anthony. They indicate he feared the worst when Caylee disappeared.

"My, my heart is killing me right now to say it's going into my granddaughter is not, no longer alive," he said (listen to full interview).

He also said, if he lost his granddaughter, he'd probably lose Casey, too.

Those tapes and documents show that George Anthony told investigators he felt something was wrong from the very beginning. The documents focus a lot on interviews George and Cindy Anthony did with sheriff's deputies.

When sheriff's investigators questioned George nine days after Caylee was reported missing, George told them he had "bad vibes" the very first day he got his car back and smelled a rancid smell in the trunk, a smell, he said as a former law enforcement officer, he knows and would never forget. The smell was that of a dead body.

Casey's father George told investigators, "I don't want to believe that I have, have raised someone and brought someone in this world that could do something to another person. I don't want to believe that."

George also told them, "I, I, I believe that there's someone dead back there and I hate to say the word human. Um, I hate to say that."

George told them, when he opened the trunk of the car, he said to himself, "Please don't let this be my Caylee."

But Thursday, Cindy Anthony told Eyewitness News she's holding on to hope.

"No one's brought me a body. No one's proven that she's dead. I'm not gonna give up on someone that I love that easy. And if I did, then what kind of person would I be? I'm not that person," she said (full interview).

But George also told sheriff's investigators that the very first night they found out Caylee was missing, Cindy told him, "We lost her. We lost her." When he asked who, she said "Caylee."

George also told investigators his daughter Casey lives on the edge, that she takes things as far as she can take them and then she piles on more. He said they caught her in lies about work and money and said she's really good with computers.

Casey spent the Tuesday through Saturday around the 4th of July with Amy Huizenga, her former best friend. She told Amy that Caylee was at the beach with the nanny and with Cindy, but no one's met the nanny.

George says Casey has lied to her attorney, Jose Baez. She told him she had $5,000, even though she didn't and then she told him that he'd get the rest after she gets out of the situation.

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