tonight on "nightline," where the truth lies. stunning new tapes in the trial of florida mom casey anthony, accused of murdering her daughter. we are in the courtroom as the evidence piles up and the defendant breaks down. python posse. it's a job with serious hazards. but these snake hunters say the thrill is the point. >> you got him? >> join news the everglades. just be careful where you step. and, the race is on. sarah palin and mitt romney drop in on new hampshire. but only one of them declared a presidential candidacy today. so, second time's the charm? we are on the campaign trail. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with

terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," june 2nd, 2011. >> announcer: good ev . >> good evening, i'm bill weir. it's only be a week, but the jury in the casey anthony trial has heard enough to fill an an thol. . conversations with police, her own defense lawyer's version, no two stories agree or begin to explain how the defendant's 2-year-old daughter turned up dead in 2008. here is ashleigh banfield in orlando, florida. >> reporter: it just keeps getting worse for casey anthony. in her trial today, damning testimony from the lead detective on the case. >> every single thing that you told us has been a lie. we're proving all that. >> reporter: the courtroom fell sigh leapt as a taped interrogation revealed the moment casey was caught in her lies. about where she worked, who her friends were and when she last

saw her little girl, caylee. >> i know and you know that everything you told me is a lie, correct? >> not everything i told you. >> reporter: the desperation in the officer's voice could only be matched by the disbelief in the courtroom. disbelief because casey seemed so convincing on the tape. >> we're tired of the lies. no more lies. what happened to caylee? >> i don't know. >> you do know. >> i don't know where she is. >> reporter: but we now know her child wasn't missing at all. in fact, casey has admitted that caylee was dead from day one. accidentally drowning in a backyard swimming pool. >> we have two people we were talking about, a person who had an accident and a person who was just a come blooded monster? that's telling me that you're the second person. >> reporter: but casey wouldn't budge. not to cops and not to her brother. >> how are you? >> oh, man, i don't want to start crying. >> reporter: the audio tapes were followed by these tapes of

casey's jailhouse conversations with her family. her older brother lee was the first to visit. again, knowing what we know about casey's defense, that little craylee was never missin, listen how she leads her brother on a wild goose chase. >> where should i focus the search or tips or reaching out to people? >> check things locally, lee. in all honesty. places that are familiar to us, to our family. >> reporter: now, watch casey's emotion boil over as she immroeimplor implores her brother to bring her daughter home. >> all i want is to see her again. to hear her laugh, to see her smile. and to just be with our family. >> reporter: the sheer detail in casey's lies is astonishing. here she is with her mother,

describe i describing a nanny we now know to be 100% make believe. >> i know she went by both last names. she always has. i think her dad's first name is victor? her step-dad -- that could be her real dad. i remember he saying victor. >> so, victor is her step-dad? >> that's her step-dad. i know she has a lot of money. that's where she got the car from. her sister's name is samantha. they have different dads. and i know she went by both last names. >> and what about zanny's roommates? >> jennifer. they each came from families of decent amounts of municipal. which is why they didn't have to have substantial jobs. >> reporter: that visit was june 25th, 2008. by casey's own admission, the child had been dead for six weeks. there was no nanny, no kidnapping. but her defense points the

finger at everyone else. she insists her father helped cover up the accidental drowning and dispose of the child's body. he has denied all allegations against him. but she explains her wild behavior in the month that followed as severe denial,er ifmented by years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of lee and her father, george. >> i miss you, sweetie. >> the same man jurors watched visiting casey in jail. >> you've been a great dad and the best grandfour. don't for a second think otherwise. >> reporter: george also suggested that if casey didn't want to talk to detectives, there was always the fbi. >> would you be interested in talking to, like, an fbi guy or something? >> anyone that you guys want to bring in, i'll talk to. >> okay, that's great news. okay. >> reporter: watching the tapes today, casey's mother cindy, who was doubled over on the stand

just days ago, listening to her own 911 call reporting her daughter. >> there's something wrong. we found my daughter's car today. and it smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car. >> reporter: cindy has been side by side with her husband george who has been back and forth to the witness stand. and her son, lee, who had once suppo supported his sister and doesn't want to see a death penalty conviction but is devastated his sister accused him. >> you know how much i love you and appreciate this. i wish i could be with you. i love you so much. >> we're going to find caylee and -- that's it. >> reporter: and find her they did. six months later. her tiny bones scattered in the woods just a half mile from the anthony's home. for "nightline," this is

ashleigh banfield in orlando. >> "good morning america" will have much more coverage of the casey anthony trial tomorrow, direct from orlando. our thanks to ashleigh tonight. well, legend has it that thanks to a snake breeder and a hurricane, the everglades are teeming with dangerous pythons. only one way to find out. we'll take you inside next. [ male announcer ] at quicken loans, we're obsessed with finding a better way for our clients to get a mortgage. maybe that's why j.d. power and associates ranked us "highest in customer satisfaction in the united states." so, we thought we'd take a little time to celebrate. ♪ ♪ all right, then, back to work helping clients. individual attention from our highly-trained mortgage professionals. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. >> it has been almost 20 years since hurricane andrew ripped across south florida. but according to local lore, one of the scariest legacies slithers on today. one that came out of a shattered

reptile breeder's hatchery. a number of captive pythons were blown into the everglades where the snakes bred their numbers into the hundreds of thousands. but how many are really out there? three daring men say they know, and they took matt gutman along to prove it. >> reporter: they're among nature's most efficient killers. the stuff of phobias, right? >> that's a sexy snake. >> reporter: wrong, if you're one of the python hunters. >> get it, get it! >> reporter: the stars of the national geographic channel's friday night show, they rarely rely on nets and never on guns. these guys are way too macho about this. how do you feel about doing this in shorts? what's up with that? >> i don't know. some dudes are just tougher than others. >> reporter: preferring a bare handed approach. >> there you go. there we go.

>> reporter: they took us to their office for a day. like walking on a marshmallow or something. the home of 2 million gators, insects and those pythons. >> you got it? >> yeah. >> reporter: the snow's title suggest these swamps are slithering with them. the state has estimated 100,000 pythons live there. but in two seasons of the show, it's not what the hunters have found. >> the estimate was 3,000 to 100,000. so, people ran with that. the 100,000 pythons out here, they would be hanging from the trees. we could be catching them three and four at a time. >> reporter: but they don't. so, these guys spend a lot of time stomping through the woods, punking each other. even educating, taking their pets to schools. and when snakes are few, they hunt the minnons of iguana, giant lizards and the occasion alligator. none appear that easy to catch.

loathed since the garden of eden, snakes have figured prominently in our phobias, but not for these guys. >> at 7 years old, i captured my first snake. i thought it was a worm. it bit me. it was dark. >> reporte >> at 7, i was born and raised in ohio on a farm in the middle of nowhere. i came across an e hmer i came across an e hmegence of snakes. and this is where they came out in mass quantities and there's typically one female and there can be hundreds of males and they are all just withering around. this is a giant snake orgy. i see this and i think -- that is the best thing i've ever seen in my life! >> reporter: they all became breeders. snake gods of sorts. selling their creations for as much as $50,000 each. they blame the python hysteria on politicians who did for

pythons what j"jaws" did for sharks. >> about 150,000 was really perpetuated by politicians. politicians got ahold of that top end of that scale, which even the biologists who came up with that says, it's unrealistic. >> reporter: good for your business? >> well, yes and no. >> reporter: it got you the show. >> well, it wasn't good for our personal, our businesses dealing with reptile, both in the pet trade and conservation, because what they did was, they demonized, they used the python as a poster child for not releasing pets. >> reporter: the trio claimed the infestation started in a homestead hatchery in florida that was demolished by hurricane andrew. open season was declared on the criteriaers. some were permitted to shoot the snakes. and remember that bit about education? you want me to try to catch it?

>> yeah. i tell you, i've seen a couple of people be able to do this. if you do get bit, freeze. >> reporter: see the sweat? now i'm sweating. >> this right here is what we do. we're going to take your fear and turn it into respect. >> reporter: all right. all right. >> don't keep backing up, you're going to -- get on this side of him. >> reporter: i'm scared. >> you go, go. there it is. look at that. perfect, man. >> reporter: fear. wow. hi, buddy. >> all right, guys, let's go. >> and we're out. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm matt gutman in the everglades. >> gutman the python tamer there. and you can see more of "python hunters" tomorrow night on gnat geo wild. next, sarah palin hosted a claim back in new hampshire today, which may have stolen some of the excitement away from mitt romney's chicken chili. ♪

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there was a hay whack, a bunch of tiny american flakes and crock pots bubbling. must be time for someone to run for president. former massachusetts governor mitt romney was in new hampshire today, as was a certain other former governor. but only one stepped up to the podium. here's john berman for our series "the contenders." >> she said what? >> yep. quote. not that talented. >> reporter: in what had the feeling of a high school-like competition straight out of "gle "glee," the former alaska governor brought her free wheeling vacation/publicity tour to new hampshire, the very day

romney was announcing his candidacy in new hampshire. romney came up with reasons he thinks he should win, palin didn't. >> i think he'll have maybe a bit more of a challenge with the independents who make up the tea party movement. >> reporter: do you think she's trying to step on your tauoes? >> oh, no. she's trying to rally people behind a legitimate concern. government is too big, spending too much. >> reporter: today was meant to be romney's day in the sun. and on the farm. >> i'm mitt romney, i believe in america. and i'm running for president of the united states. >> reporter: mitt romney took on the president. >> barack obama has failed america. >> reporter: the former businessman took off the tie -- do you own neckties anymore? >> absolutely. my favorite item of apparel for

a man is a necktie. i don't wear them all the time. >> reporter: but the republican front-runner took a pass on the issue of sara h palin. >> reporter: you think it's just a coincidence she's here today? >> i do. >> reporter: she's done this before. in 2008, he was a big, ocean pensive also-ran. but this time, he says, it's different. and it's not just the tie. the campaign t-shirts are cheaper. only two of his five sons came to the announcement today. >> things are leaner today. a campaign has to be wiser and leaner. we'll not be doing all the fancy stuff we did last time around. and want to make sure that people understand why it is i'm running for president. and this is about creating jobs, fixing our economy. >> reporter: jobs and the economy. romney made it clear that is what he wanted to talk about. >> from my first day in office, my number one job will be to see

that america once again is number one in job creation. >> reporter: it's his campaign strategy, and as a former ceo worth hundreds of millions, he feels his strength. >> what's happened, for me, politically, is, i'm in the right spot at a time when -- what i've done during my life is most needed. >> reporter: and as for the president? >> our current president has no experience in the private sector. and he surrounds himself with people who by and large don't have experience in the private sector. so, if you are wondering why what he's done has hurt the private sector and made it difficult for jobs to come, it's not hard to understand. >> reporter: not romney's strength, if you listen to his critics, health care. romney made only this tiny mention of this massachusetts plan that helped insure hundreds of thousands by penalizing people who don't get coverage. >> not perfect. >> reporter: but plenty in his own party find it less than not

perfect. including some tea party groups who have vowed to defeat him, including "the wall street journal" who suggested he run on president obama's ticket. these groups are on your team. i mean, these groups are conservative groups. does it sting, this type of criticism? >> you know, if you worry about criticism, you really shouldn't get into politics. if people don't like what you represent, or what you talk about or your visioning then they can choose someone else. >> reporter: and so it guns, for the republican front-runner. fending off attacks, staking out his own territory, all without the help of a tie. though, he says he does still wear them. >> i do it at church, fund-raisers. if i'm at a farm like i am today, you know, you dress like you're at a farm. >> reporter: the question is, will he get to wear one at the white house? i'm john berman for "nightline" in new hampshire. >> and only 17 months of wardrobe changes to go.