breaking news tonight in the search for a 2-year-old florida girl, caylee. six months of searching culminate when skeletal remains found in a heavily wooded area 15 houses from the anthony home confirmed to be caylee. a utility meter reader stumbles on a tiny human skeleton, including a skull covered in light-colored hair. the killer duct-taping and

placing a heart-shaped sticker directly over the mouth, then triple-bagging little caylee like she's trash. bombshell tonight. torpedo to the defense. reports surface, grandfather george anthony not only starts an affair around the time litt caylee goes missing -- irrelevant. but what is relevant is that the alleged other woman insists grandfather george confides little caylee was killed by accident that "snowballed out of control." well, so much for the defense claims somebody else did it. grandfather george anthony vehemently denying any affair or any statement. the so-called mistress caught on video leaving orange couy sheriffs after speaking to police. tonight, is she telling the truth? and if so, what will it mean to

tot mom's trial on the murder of her 2-year-old little girl? >> i was sworn under, and i've de my statement. and i've told the truth. that's it. >> george anthony striking back against river cruz, a woman who claims she had a year-long affair with anthony. cruz says george anthony told her caylee's death was an accident that snowballed out of control. but george anthony through his attorney denies her story. >> she was in love with george. she told him that i would never ask you that. and in reply he said it was an accident that snowballed out of -- out of control. >> anthony expressly denying any sexual relationship with the woman and denies making the statement about caylee's death "being an accident that snowballed out of control." >> this would apparently foreclose any defense that someone outside of the anthony family is responsible for that child's death.

>> george anthony's attorney, brad conway, says the woman and her sister have multiple aliases and keeps trying to do background checks on them. >> the zanny that my daughter described to me is 24 to 25 years old, about 5'7", 125, 130 pounds. she has straight white teeth, long brown hair. >> what do you have to say about the new theory that caylee might be dead, it might have been an accident? >> shut up! shut up! shut up! and tonight, live, washington state. a beautiful young mom and her 8-year-old boy head out to visit the grandfather. they never make it. only clue? her gold minivan found abandod. mommy's wallet still inside. doors unlocked. tonight, where is 29-year-old shantina smiley and her 8-year-old little boy?

>> it looks to be an abandoned car or a stolen vehicle on my beach property. >> i miss her more than you could ever imagine. >> and it's partially submerged. >> the only one that knows for sure is god. >> shantina smiley and her son, 8-year-o azriel carver, are still missing. >> it makes no sense. >> baffling. >> it's really bizarre. >> we just don't know. >> there's no rational explanation for why shantina's van ended up abandoned and stuck on a puget sound beach saturday night. >> we have no idea what happened. >> the van doors were open. >> i can't put it into words. >> and no one was inside. >> empty. >> shantina and he8-year-old son were last seen driving all over olympia. >> this video shows santina and her son at a west olympia minimart about 8:00 p.m. saturday. >> she's very intelligent, well read, well spoken. >> she was apparently lost and can be seen on the video looking at a map and getting directions. workers say her behavior was odd and she fell in the parking lot. >> i wish i knew where or asked the right questions to be able to say this is a person who's trouble. >> search and rescue crews scoured the wooded terrain

looking for clues and answers. >> i just want my fami back. if you know where she's at, please get -- please help her get home. just help her get home. i want her home. good evening. i'm nancy grace. i want to thank you for being with us. bombshell tonight. torpedo to the defense. reports surfacing grandfather george anthony not only starts an affair around the time little caylee goes missing -- irrelevant to the investigation -- but what is relevant is that the alleged other woman insists grandfather george told her little caylee was killed by accident, then "snowballed out of control." well, so much for the defense claims somebody else did it. >> you don't want to be knocked down, get out of my way. >> i'm done with you guys. leave me alone. do not come past here.

>> new allegations of an alleged affair surface against the father of casey anthony, george anthony. alleged mistress river cruz says she had a year-long affair with george anthony. allegations anthony denies. wftv rorts a month before caylee's remains were found anthony allegedly told cruz caylee's death was an accident that snowballed out of control. >> she's loving, she's caring. you know, she cares about even people that she don't know. >> have you seen the pictures? >> i've seen them. i've seen them. >> naked pictures? >> yeah, i've seen them. yeah. >> wftv also reporting the woman claims she gave george anthony almost $5,000. but george anthony through his attorney denies the alleged affair and any sexual relationship. the torney also denies george anthony ever said caylee's death was an accident that snowballed out of control and ao makes clear george anthony denies acpting any money from river cruz. >> you want sensationalism? shut up.

i'm talking. all you care about is this sensationalism. >> you never laid eyes on anyone named zanny who was a baby-sitter, in your life? >> the pronunciation, sir, is zanny. >> zanny. >> instead of zenny, what you're saying. so you need to pronounce things better so i understand what you're saying. >> i don't mean to confuse you. >> you're not confusing me, sir. i'm the ball. >> straight out to kathi belich with cnn affiliate wftv. what can you tell us, kathy? what do we know about this woman that claims she had an affair with george anthony and his confiding to her that caylee's death was an accident? that flies in the face of the entire defense. >> well, i'm told that he visited her many times at her gated community. i was told that an investigator took records from the security gate that would document george's many visits to her house. >> wait a minute. wait a minute. kathi?

would you repeat that? what was documented? >> i'm told that geoe made many visits to her home. she lives in a gated community. and that -- i was ld that investigators, by her and her sister, that investigators did go to the security gate and did get records to that effect to show that george had been -- had visited her on a number of occasions. >> did they have surveillance there? >> i don't know about that. i don't know if there's surveillance video there. >> okay. go ahead. >> she says that investigators came to her on february 18th. acrding to her, out of the blue. and she never wanted to get involved in all of this. and now she's very afraid of how she will be portrayed for obvious reasons. but she said that she never pressed george about casey and caylee and what happened. she said that during the course of a conversation where he was actually thanking her for that,

and she believes it was sometime around thanksgiving, maybe a month before -- >> thanking her for what? >> for not pressing him to find out, you know, what happened to ylee, whether casey was involved. that he appreciated she wasn't asking h about that. but she says during the cose of thanking her for not pressing him about that issue that he told her it was an accident that snowballed out of control. and e beeves that conversation happened sometime around thanksgiving in the fall, before caylee's remains were found. >> okay. kathi, how does e alleged other woman, river cruz, claim that they met to start with? >> she says that she actually was grocery shopping in the shopping center where he had one of the early tents during one of the early searches for caylee. she saw him in the parking lot, she recognized him after having seen him on television, started talking to him. and she says she wanted to help in the search. so that's how she met him.

and then she started to come to volunteer helping with the searches and over time they talked a little more. and she says that she was donating money that was in a bucket at one of the tents. and according to her, george made it clear that that money would go to a charity and not to him, and it went from there. >> with us tonight in a primetime exclusive joining us from orlando is the so-called other woma river cruz's family, with her durg much of this skye benhaida, the sister of river cruz. miss benhaida, thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me, nancy. >> miss benhaida, you just heard kathi belich of wftv's brief summary of the affair your sister claims she had with grandfather george anthony. is that -- do you agree with those facts so far?

>> yes, i do >> so miss benhaida, what i don't understand is during the whole time she allegedly slept with george anthony, which he denies, she never once said, what do you think happened to caylee? >> no. my sister never did ask him rectly that question. >> why? >> i'm not pretty sure why. you have to -- i'm not -- i'm not sure why she never asked him that question. but she did tell him that she wouldn't -- would never ask him. >> did he, according to your sister, ever reveal what type of accident it was? >> no, he didn't. >> and when he told her it was an accident, she didn't say, well, what happened? >> no.

my sister's not like that. she wouldn't ask him. >> i don't understand. why? >> i'm not sure. i really don't know how to answer that question. >> okay. have the defense attorneys contacted your sister yet? >> actually, one has today. >> really. now, it's my understanding she has cooperated with police, miss benhaida. >> yes, she has. >> has she met with them and spoken with them? >> yes. we both have.

i already answered the question. i'm not answering it again. >> if you say the remains one more time, sir, i'm walking out this door. okay. >> how dare you say that about my granddaughter? how dare you? i'm not going to answer any further questions.

>> again, i'm not answering those questions. >> i'm not going to discuss that with you, sir. i'm not going to tell you. i'm not going to discuss anything about my daughter, sir, any further with you. >> i already answered the question. >> you're trying to badger me here. i don't appreciate that. i have no knowledge of that, sir. >> i'm tired of getting beat up. he asked me a question, and he won't let me finish it. he's just like everybody else. they want to cut you off -- >> cindy, let -- >> they don't want to hear the answer. >> you'd better get this over in five minutes. i'm giving you five minutes more of my time. otherwise i'm walking out of here. >> i don't need to mike anything. >> ma'am? >> i never agreed to have a mike on. >> ma'am. >> i'm not miking up. >> i'm over this. i'm over you. i'm over all this other stuff. >> where she was -- >> i already answered this question. >> and you believe she was fabricating -- >> i already answered the question. i'm not answering it again. >> do not ask me that again, sir, because i will walk out of here. do not do that to me again. >> i don't want to make it hard on you. >> yes, you are. yes, you are. i've already answered everything about this lady right here, and i've done it in the best possible way that i can. and i've told you this is not the lady that my daughter described to me.

so we can end this right now. >> there's something wrong, all right. a woman has come forward named river cruz. she has gone to cops and cooperated with them. she says around the time little caylee goes missing that grandfather george anthony initiates an affair with her and that during that time he confides little caylee was killed by accident that snowballed out of control. now, as you all know, the defense has always been some other -- someone otherhan tot mom kidnapped and brutally murdered this 2-year-old little girl, found her face covered in duct tape, a homemade knockout drug in a syringe nearby. but the theory of an accident, that tot mom had an accident and then staged the remains to be found in this cold and calculated manner, that's a whole other animal. is she telling the truth?

and what does it mean to the trial? i want to go straight back to river cruz's sister here on her sister's behalf tonight. skye benhaida. miss benhaida, again, thank you for being with us. now, i understand what you told me a few moments ago, but it seems to me that if your sisr were so intimate with george anthony that they had been sleeping together for some time and under the theory that tot mom didn't do it, that she wouldn't s george, who do you think took caylee? i mean, they met, as you say, at the tent where people were volunteering to look for caylee. so it wasn't like she didn't know about caylee. i just find it very difficult to fathom her never saying george, what happened, what do you think, who took caylee?

>> well, i'm not saying that that wasn't said. my sister would have to answer those questions. >> okay. because earlier you said she absolutely never asked him that and that he thanked her for not asking him that. >> yes. and in return, after that was said, in return that's when the comment george said it snowballed out of control. >> now, your sister also says that he took money from her? >> yes. >> or she didn't take it but s gave him money. >> correct. >> would that have been money in the effort to help find caylee? >> i'm not sure exactly what it's for. i know that he -- he told her that he could not find a job because nobody would hire him. his face was plastered all over the news media. and my sister, the first time she did offer him some money and he took it. and as far as the rest of the

time i'm not too sure -- >> yeah. >> -- on if he asked her. but it was given to him. >> who broke off the affair? >> i would say he did. he was supposed to meet. i'm not sure theay. he was supposed to meet her -- he actually was supposed to co over to the house for breakfast, and it didn't happen, and he -- he called her and told her that he would come the next day, and that didn't happen, either. >> does your sister have phone records or texts or e-mails to prove the affair with george anthony? >> yeah, she does.

i'm not answering the question. >> i'm not going to have you put wos in my mouth. no, sir. >> i'm not trying to. that's why i -- >> oh, yes, sir, you are. and we'll end it at that. how about that? >> i'm not answering it. >> i'm telling you the best answer i can give you. so i suggest you go to another qution. >> i'm not going to answer this any further with that. >> you won't tell me? >> i just answered that to you. >> actually not. >> i have no idea, sir. i have no idea.

i just answered that for you. >> i'm done. i've already answered th question. she's not the one. i'm done. >> her birthday's not september 1st. she's not 25 years old. she's not 5'7." she's not 140 pounds. she doesn't have black hr. she doesn't have perfect teeth. she's not a 10. i'm sorry, ma'am. you're cute, but you're not a 10. >> come on, don't -- be nice, w. be nice. am i upset, sir? you're darn right i'm upset being here. because i think thiss just uncalled for. >> i'm not answering it. >> okay, i'm going to cut to your chase right now so you can get away with all these questions. okay? let's just cut to the chase and why don't we just end this right now, today? the zanny that my daughter described -- >> a woman comes forward -- at first i thought she went to the police. now i learned that's not true. at h phone number popped up repeatedly in george anthony's cell phone. that's what i'm learning now. she claims that george anthony initiated an affair with her around the time little caylee went missing. that is irrelevant to anyone

interested in the murder case. or the whereabouts of little caylee. what does matter is that she also says george anthony told he conded in her that little caylee's death was an accident that snowballed out of control. those are his words, not mine. accordg to her. now, i find it highly suspect. i haven'seen any e-mails. i haven't seen any texts. i've seen one photo that was taken in a public place, kind of a vigil on caylee's fourth birthday of them together. but now let's unleash the lawyers. bill sheaffer, former prosecutor, wftv legal analyst, orlando. eleanor odom, felony prosecutor who has tried many death penalty cases herself out of the atlanta jurisdiction. raymond giice, veteran defense attorney, including defending homicide cases, out of the atlanta jurisdiction. and peter odom, defense

attorney, former prosecutor, former felony prosecutor in multiple jurisdictns, now practicing atlanta. welcome. first to you, bill sheaffer. now, you are telling me something brand new. i've been extremely skeptical and on george anthony's side. until you're telling me this woman passed a polygraph. >> that's correct, nancy. she took a polygraph exam and passed it as to her relationship -- >> put him up. put up sheaffer. >> and the statements that george made. >> says who? who says she passed a polygraph? >> river. >> who? >> river. >> the sister? >> the sister says she took a polygraph and that she passed the polygraph. and i'll tell you something, the way the police have conducted this investigation, the polygraph was taken early on. the police continued to investigate, gethe cell phone, get the records, get the

photographs, and by the way, there's a photograph that is more intimate than the one that you saw that depicts george and this young woman. so it >> wait, have you seen it with your own two eyes? >> i have not seen it with my own two eyes. >> put sheaffer up! >> what? >> then how do you know it exists? >> i believe the sister. i have had conversations with the sister. and when she's not in the glare of the camera, she comes off very, very credible. if her sister is half as credible as she is, then the prosecution's not going to have a problem with her information. but the police -- >> i can tell you this -- i can tell you this, mr. sheaffer. >> yes, ma'am. >> if my sister or brother told me something, i'd take it to the bank. i'd believe them too. but you know, i'm going to go back to skye benhaida. she is the sister of river cruz, who claims she had an affair with george anthony. miss benhaida, is it true your

sister went and took a police polygraph, that police administered the polygraph, and she passed it? >> yes. she was given a polygraph, and she's passed it. >> have you seen yourself, have you seen, miss benhaida, photos of tm that prove to you they had a ving relationship? >> yes. i've seen the pictures myself. >> i don't mean just a photo of them out in public like this one you've showed us. i mean -- >> he's been to our house. so i've seen them in -- i've seen them together. >> you've seen them together? >> yes. >> when they were together, where were they? >> at our house. >> and what were they doing? >> they were conversating -- most of the time i would leave. the majority of time i was not there because i know that he was -- he would be coming there. so i would either leave or be in my bedroom. >> okay. is it true that this story has been sold to the "national

enquirer"? >> i have no idea where that comment came from. >> okay. so you would deny that it's been sold to the "nationaenquirer"? >> i'm denying it. she -- this situation here has nothing to do with the money. my sister's not getting anything behind it. >> in fact, according to her, she's lost money. >> she has. she's turned over five grand i different occasions to mr. anthony, and she has not gotten it back. >> let's go back to the lawyers. bill sheaffer, you say that these two sisters are believable. and to me skye benhaida is extremely believable when i'm talking to her right now. i just find based on this one text and this one photo i'm not buying it. but if you're saying that she's passed a police polygraph, that gives her a lot of credibility out to you.

eleanor odom, if, if, big if, this is true, thistatement by george anthony absolutely will come into evidence because somebody's going to call him to the stand, the state or the defense. >> yes. and when he says i know nothing, this statement can be used t impeach him. and if they did have an affair, nancy, it's an intimate relationship, which would give some credibility to the statement. >> or to you, ray giudice, if he takes the stand and ys casey told me she was at sawgrass apartments and dropped the little girl off, that was the original story, then this could come in as an inconsistent statement once the foundation, time, location, conditions, circumstances, date, once all that has been laid. it absolutely will come in. >> right. and let's just say it's still an if. however -- >> big if. >> -- this may cau casey anthony's defense to make a sea change in its approach. no longer the stranger and the kidnapping but now maybe go with the accident and use this

woman's witness -- as a witness to bolster george anthony's testimony that it was in fact an accident. it may actually come to help the defense. they'll take accident any day. >> it's going to help the defense? >> yes, nancy. listen to me quickly. >> go ahead. >> does the state really want to take a chance introducing a theory of accident into this capital case? of course it does not. this is a capital one homicide case. >> okay. please put giudice up. ray, let me just remind you that her remains, her bones, her skull, were found -- >> nancy. >> -- hidden with duct tape across the face and a syringe and a homemade knockout drug. >> they could still argue that the death was accidental and those are the effects of hiding the body. all i'm saying is that george, who i always thought was casey's best witness -- >> you're right. >> -- is now going to cause potentially, if this is true, a complete reversal in their pretrial strategy.

>> i agree with you, ray. >> i'm not saying it's a great strategy. they have to do what they have to do. >> throughout this entire thing george anthony has been sympathetic. he's had righteous anger. he has seemed believable to me. >> right. >> and somebody that a jury is going to like. they're going to like george anthony when he takes the stand. okay, peter odom, i agree with raymond that they can say whatever they want to at trial. they can argue all they want to accident. but given the way the body was found, it's going to be to the jury that they're fishing for a defense. an accident doesn't ring true based on how she was found. if there had been an accident, why the lies? why the deception? >> nancy, we have to step back. >> okay. >> let's assume george made the statement the child's death was only an accint. that's only relevant if the source of his knowledge is casey. if he's speculating along with everybody else, then it's absolutely irrelevant. if his only source of knowledge

is just guessing at it, then it's never going to come into evidence. and you know that. >> eleanor, let's help them. peter, don't you see what a big booboo that is that you just said? because if she told her father it was an accident, it admits -- she's admitting she was there when the child died. it's even better if it comes fromer. agree or disagree, eleanor? >> oh, i completely agree. and we all know she was there. how else do you think the child was murdered? >> you know criminal procedure, peter odom. >> if it's speculation, it's not coming in.

straight out to leonard padilla, bounty hunter out of sacramento, california, who got tot mom out from behind bars. what do you make of all this? clearly, if it's true and george anthony vehemently denies the whole thing, if it's true, what does that mean to you that tot mom told him? >> well, first of all, i don't think that that's any conversation that tot mom had

with george along those lines. i think crystal holloway is the young lady's real name. she's from upstate new york. and i would tend to believe that george has gotten himself into something that first of all is not of his making. i think it's all fiction on this lady's part. the times that we were there and george was around there was no indication that anything like this was going on. and i can tell you this, that if cindy had even got wind of something like this george wouldn'te around to talk about it today. >> that is a very good point, leonard padilla. thank you for bringing that to my attention. i don't know how i managed to get past that. to andrew scott, former chief of police boca raton, vp scott roberts and associates out of miami, what do you make of it, andrew? and how do police confirm something like this? >> well, clearly they're going to be able to confirm some of the accusations made by the young lady by the text messaging, also any additional photographs that she claims she has. i just find it interesting, nancy, that this comes to light now as opposed to why not in december?

and if, in fact, this is true, does that make the family a accessory to this as to hiding the incident in and of itself? so it's all very interesting, but i think it's very provable by the evidence that may be presented to the detectives. >> right. out to the lines, cindy, ohio. hi, cindy. >> caller: hi, nancy. >> hi, dear. what's your question? >> caller: if that roy kronk is supposed to be reading meters at people's houses, why is he out in fields and stumbling over a little girl's body? >> natisha lance, our proder on the story, what was he doing out in the wooded area? >> he actually went back into the wooded area to relieve himself, nancy, which is when he stumbled upon the bag that -- he kicked it. it was hollow. it made a noise. he went back later on, and then that's when he discovered it was caylee's remains. >> now, natisha, you have been on the story about the alleged affair from whenever it started. anthony denies it. why didn't the so-called other

woman ever ask him about caylee's death? >> well, nancy, i can tell you while we were in the show river cruz did give me a call and she said that she did not want to seem like everyone else and that is why she did not ask george anthony. it seems that she was trying to be a friend to him, she didn't want to stress him out in the way in which the media and the rest of the public was. >> to psychotherapist out of new york, lauren howard, what do you make of it, lauren? >> you know, i can't speak to the legal ascts of ts, nancy, but i can speak to the human perception, what does a jury think if, in fact, this information is presented to them? what it really does is it casts all of a sudden -- and as you had said, you sort of found george believable for a jury. there's all this smoke. there's all this mess. there's all this noise. there's all this, i dot kn, anger, information, allegations. it really creates a reasonable doubt. and that is where -- and when i say reasonable doubt, i mean in terms of believing the family. because there's just too much

smoke here. something's wrong. >> you have counseled people that are in horrific grief before. >> that's correct. >> isn't it true that during those months and even years immediately following a death or in this case a murder the loved oneso all sorts of things that they wouldn't do normally? >> absolutely right. absolutely right. but lying would not necessarily -- would not be one of them. >> but i mean an affair. >>ot aroblem -- i don't have a problem -- completely believable. and not that important. >> i know you're not condoning an affair. >>o. no. but yes, believable. >> but having dealt with people who've gone through ief, they do the craziest things they would normally never consider doing. >> absolutely right. and if, in fact, george did say to someone who he was having an affair with this w a terrible accident, that does not mean he has knowledge of it. it could be hysterical blindness, what he believes in his heart because it's too

horrific to think otherwise. so -- >> very quickly to -- i think i've got joan in pennsylvania. >> caller: yes, you do. >> hi, dear. what's your question? >> caller: oh, listen, thanks so much for taking my call. you're wonderful. your babies are super precious. and thanks for putting will sheaffer and kathi belich on the top. >> they're great. >> caller: my question is, do u think this passes the smell test? now, i believe that, indeed, there was an affair because quite frankly i dot know any man who could stay married to cindy and not want anybody else. but that's my own opinion. but the issue is i believe -- she gaveim money, and i think he viewed her as a friend and was just sort of like this was his thought about this accident. but if it was an accident, it doesn't pass the smell test. why wouldn't casey just fess up rather than this whole big, you know, entourage of it with the nanny, it was blanchard park, it was sawgrass apartments -- >> you know what? good idea. to bill sheaffer, what about it? and another thing. about cindy anthony, i know that she has come across harshly on

many occasions. but you've got to remember the context in which we are seeing her. her granddaughter, the joy of her life, is dead, murdered, and her daughter probably did it. and that's how we meet cindy anthony. so you know what? as harshly as she appears sometimes, sometimes i feel like we've got to give her a break, a little bit of a break. ll sheaffer, what about joan's question? >> the bottom line is is that george made this statement, that the child was dead, one month before the body was found. when i public, shows that eithe direct knowledge of that death of the child, or that the killer confided that information to him, that the child was dead. and the only person that has that relationship with him is the killer. the mother.