Mysterious PR Man Backtracks On Comment That Caylee Anthony Is Dead

Casey Anthony's defense team is backtracking after they finally admitted, on national TV, that Casey's daughter Caylee is dead.

BAEZ PRESS CONFERENCE:Discusses Todd Black's CommentsTODD BLACK RESPONDS:Says Comment Was Taken Out Of ContextDEFENSE TEAM CONTRADICTION:"The Loss Of The Life Of This Little Girl"TEAM COVERAGE: Baez Defends PR Man After He Says Caylee Is DeadCASEY SIGHTING? Eyewitness Leads WFTV To Wooded Area RULING ON MOTION: Judge Denies, Grants Parts Of Final Motion (PDF) CAST YOUR VOTE: Should Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty? TODD BLACK STATEMENT: Read Statement From PR Firm Representing Baez (PDF) CASEY'S FIRST APPEARANCE: See Images | Raw VideoBAEZ PREPARED?Murder Case Could Create Challenges For Attorney MUG SHOTS: See All 4 Mug Shots From Casey's Arrests

"This is a very serious case, involving not just the loss of the life of this little girl, but the loss of whatever is going to happen with Casey Anthony," Todd Black said on CNN Wednesday night (Hear It All).

Black is Casey's attorney's spokesman. Not only is he trying to take back his words, so is the attorney and Casey's family.

Todd Black, the spokesperson for Casey Anthony's legal team, admitted on national television late Wednesday that Caylee Anthony is dead. Eyewitness News reached Black by phone Thursday and he denied that is what he meant. He insisted the Baez legal team is confident Caylee is just missing and Casey had nothing to do with her disappearance.

"I did not say that on national television. I responded to what someone else said," Black told Eyewitness News (full interview).

He scrambled for more than five minutes during the call, coming up with different excuses and explanations about what he meant by the comment. But, the bottom line is, he admitted what investigators have long said.

George Anthony brushed it off Thursday morning before he hit the road to drive around the billboard with his granddaughter's picture on it, because he still believes she's alive.

"I don't know why someone would say something like that when everything is circumstantial," George said.

A spokesperson for George and Cindy Anthony called the statement made by Todd Black, someone who's supposed to be on Casey's side, inappropriate.

"If he said something like that and that's what he meant then he shouldn't be representing, working for, Jose Baez because that's an inappropriate statement," said Larry Garrison, Anthony family spokesperson.

The family told Eyewitness News they are even setting up a new tip line that should be ready by Thursday night or Friday. Volunteers from all over the country will help.

WHO IS TODD BLACK?

Eyewitness News has been doing some digging to try to find out exactly who Todd Black is, but he doesn't have a professional track record or paper trail. He works for Press Corps Media. The company claims to have more than 200 employees and an $11 million profit margin, but Press Corps Media doesn't even have a website.

Todd Black has never appeared on camera, only doing interviews over the phone.

ATTORNEY JOSE BAEZ DEFENDS TODD BLACK

Whoever Todd Black is and whatever he looks like, Casey Anthony's defense attorney, Jose Baez, says Black is still working for him and Baez on Thursday also tried to explain Black's comment and tried to downplay the impact of what Black said.

Baez Talks 101608 BAEZ SPEAKS OUT Watch Raw Video Baez said that Black's comments were taken out of context and that he said it after some jokes were being made about the case to bring back the appropriate gravity to the conversation.

"There were jokes being made about the case. I don't see how anyone could be joking about the case of a missing child or a case of first-degree murder and that is what I believe he was referring to," Baez said during a Thursday afternoon press conference (watch it).

Baez tried to convince reporters that his mysterious PR man, who never shows his face, wasn't really saying Caylee is dead; he was saying the case involves accusations that Caylee is dead.

"Todd Black is not a lawyer. He doesn't sit in on our meetings. He doesn't sit in on our client conversations," Baez said.

Black's comments came after a caller to a CNN Headline News program asked how Casey could party right after her little girl disappeared. Black never answered that question.

"Todd Black still does work for us. In my opinion, he has done a very good job," Baez told Eyewitness News.

Baez said he wants to make it clear that the defense team believes that Caylee is alive and that it's still getting new leads about her whereabouts that are being shared with law enforcement.

"My case looks extremely good if we find Caylee," Baez said.

Baez also said Thursday that he has a death penalty qualified attorney on his team, but that attorney remains as mysterious as PR man Todd Black, because Baez won't say who it is.

JUDGE RULES ON TWO MORE MOTIONS

Late Thursday afternoon, a judge ruled on two more of the motions filed by Casey's attorney (read ruling). Baez's request to stop forensic testing was just denied by the Orange County Circuit Court.

The defense team did have one small victory in Thursday's ruling. The judge said they will be told before any tests take place and may have one of their experts present during those tests.

THREAT OF DEATH FOR CASEY ANTHONY

Casey Anthony had a look of dread on her face in court Wednesday and she knows she could face the death penalty.

Casey is living in her tiny jail cell where she'll stay until her trial. She appeared before a judge Wednesday morning, facing first-degree murder charges for the death of her daughter Caylee. The judge told her she would not be allowed to bond out of jail.

Casey Anthony appeared tense as the judge told her she won't get bond. She was all tears Tuesday just before she was indicted for first-degree murder. Hours later, after her latest arrest, she created the bespectacled look of a law student, wearing slacks, a button-up shirt and eyeglasses, not at all like her image before anyone knew her daughter Caylee was missing.

Eyewitness News has learned the party girl in her could have contributed to Caylee's death in a big way. In March, friends told investigators, Casey was disappointed that she couldn't join friends for an island party vacation in July, because she couldn't find a babysitter for Caylee.

Starting in March, Casey's computer shows that someone researched the stories of missing children on several websites. Now prosecutors could pressure Casey with the death penalty to open up about where Caylee is.

"No body, no death penalty," Orlando defense attorney William Sheaffer told Eyewitness News.

Sheaffer, a former prosecutor, believes prosecutors will back off the death penalty to ease the pressure that could discourage jurors from convicting Casey of first-degree murder without Caylee's body in evidence, but says the defense team's insistence that Caylee is alive has blown their chance to negotiate Casey out of a possible life sentence.

"The defense has missed the boat on bargaining with the state other than taking the death penalty off the table," Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer told Eyewitness News an experienced defense attorney would have argued it was accidental and negotiated a lesser charge.

With more and more evidence against her in her daughter's murder coming out, Sheaffer told Eyewitness News he believes this is one of Orlando's highest profile cases ever and would not expect the trial to be held in Central Florida or in any of the large television news markets in Florida where Caylee's disappearance has captured people's emotions almost constantly for the last three months.

"I believe it'll be a rural community, not Orlando or Jacksonville or Miami, probably somewhere more toward the Panhandle," he said.

Cutting-edge forensic evidence and results from air tests taken from the stain in Casey's trunk are expected to be presented at trial. State Attorney Lawson Lamar's team was the first to win a murder conviction with DNA evidence decades ago.

Sheaffer said it won't be daunting for Orlando prosecutors and believes it won't be difficult to prove even to today's rural jurors who've come to expect scientific evidence before they'll convict.

"I believe that those individuals would be prepared to receive it and weigh it," he said.

As soon as the defense asks to see the evidence in the case, prosecutors have 15 days to turn over what they know at that point that they will use at trial.

Previous Stories: October 15, 2008: Casey Anthony Denied Bond During First Appearance On Murder Charges October 15, 2008: Casey Anthony Jailed On First-Degree Murder In Daughter's Death October 13, 2008: George Anthony Set To Testify Against Casey In Front Of Grand Jury October 10, 2008: Texas-Based Group Considers Resuming Caylee Anthony Search October 10, 2008: Casey Anthony's Father To Testify Against Her In Front Of Grand Jury October 9, 2008: Grand Jury To Consider Charging Casey Anthony With Killing Caylee October 7, 2008: Casey Anthony Wants To Search For Caylee Without Public Knowing Details October 3, 2008: Cadaver Dogs Used To Search Wooded Areas For Caylee Anthony October 2, 2008: Zenaida Gonzalez' Lawyer Says Casey's Team Wants To Profit From Case October 1, 2008: Casey Anthony Enters "Not Guilty" Plea On Fraud Charges October 1, 2008: HOA Says Residents Held Hostage Due To Protesters In Anthony Neighborhood September 30, 2008: Casey Impersonator Joins Protests, Residents "More Than Fed Up"