IMO, we learened a great deal about te power dynamics in that family through the email exchanges between Cindy and her brother:
Refernced here :
http://www.wftv.com/news/18181289/detail.html
and in detail here:
http://www.acandyrose.com/caylee_anthony_transcript_R_PleseaEmails.htm
Casey has always been the manipulator, the power player. I just do not see her as some zombie from parental abuse of any kind. She has found a way to get everything she wants without working, without responsibility, without one thought for anyone else. Cindy's family has seen her spoil this girl for years.
If she had even hinted at abuse to Cindy...George would not only have been out of the house but in jail. But it suited Casey to have them both there to play off each other...to con and collect from. Daddy to clean her car every weekend. To run her errands. Grandma to rip off with bad checks. And Mom who would ALWAYS take her side.
If Caylee had drowned, Casey could have just told them anything and in days Cindy would be blaming the pool manufacturer. But Cindy would not forgive that precious little face wrapped in duct tape, reeking of chloroform. So Casey needed Caylee to be in that swamp...until enough time had passed for a story she COULD pass off.
Reading these emails again...THAT is a real picture of the real family dynamic. Rick Pleesa doesn't have to guess. He and his parents have seen Caylee bloom into a monster before their very eyes.
This is no powerless abused child. This is THE power player of that family...who became the chief abuser.