11:22
DIRECT EXAMINATION OF ROY KRONK BY CM
In the summer of 2008 he was a meter reader for Orange County. He has been employed there since May 27, 2008. He read water meters. Routes were assigned the night before - every night before. They never knew what route they had the next day. There was no particular area or route.
In August of 2008 he was assigned to read meters by Hopesprings Drive. He is not familiar with the A's residence. He read all the meters on Hopesprings, Suburban and the school.
On 8/11 no one was with him. He started the route by himself. Later in the afternoon two of his co-workers joined him - David Dean and Chris.
He remembered 8/11/08 because he found a dead rattlesnake. He doesn't really remember anything.
On that date he stopped his county vehicle on Suburban Drive and went into the woods to relieve himself. They don't have bathroom facilities so they went where ever they could.
Do you know where the nearest gas station is? The shopping center at the end of the road.
Prior to that day, were you aware of the search for Caylee? Yes.
He was not watching news. He had a roommate who watched news about the search, but he did not discuss that with him very often.
On 8/11, he was not really aware where the A's house was in relation to Suburban Drive. It was the first time he had run this route. While relieving himself, nothing unusual happened to him. He looked around while he was in the woods. He saw an object that appeared a little odd to him. He really didn't see a bag per se. He did not lift a bag.
Did you see a small human skull? He was never closer than 20 to 30 feet from it and he saw something that appeared to be that.
They found a dead rattlesnake and that took up the rest of the afternoon.
He was aware Mr. Dean was there when he went into the woods. He did not specifically see a skull at that time and he did not say to Mr. Dean at that time that he saw a skull. Mr. Dean did not walk to where he was. Mr. Dean did not step on a dead rattlesnake. Mr. Dean got a shovel from his truck to pick up a rattlesnake on that date.
He told Mr. Dean that he saw something that looked odd to him - that looked like a skull, but they were enthralled with the dead rattlesnake. They then went back to the office and showed everyone the dead rattlesnake. He then went home.
He called LE and told them he believed he saw a skull. He originally called OC and they told him he needed to call Crime Line. No one responded to him. He told them he saw an object that looked like a skull. He did not tell them that it was in the vicinity of the A's. No one from LE came and talked to him.
He worked 8/12/08. He did not remember where his route was.
On 8/12/08 he did not call LE. He read his route and went home.
On 8/13/08 he called OCSO again and was told that an officer would meet him out there. 2 officers came out. He believes it was Officer Cain and a female officer. He never took the officer into the woods. They did not ask him to show them where the skull was. They never went into the woods and he pointed in the area where he believed he had seen it.
On 8/11/08 he did not call 911.
CM showed him a transcript of the call on 8/11/08 to 911.
He lives in Osceola County and did not call 911. He called dispatch in Orange County. He called the non-emergency line and told them that he was a meter reader with Orange County and had the route that included the A's home. (He did not know that he had the A's route when he took it in the morning.) He told the operator that he was by the school and then was coming back and told them there was a grey bag and that there was something white. He was not saying it was Caylee. He told them the general area and that there were 2 in areas and a big long tree and a lot of swamp. This was the truth. He had seen a fallen tree, a gray bag and something white. He was never any closer than 30 feet. He said it appeared to be a skull.
On the next day, 8/12, he called again. He told them he had to relieve himself and went there and behind one of the trees was a gray vinyl type bag, like a pool cover, and it looked suspicious. He didn't touch anything. He told them there was a fallen tree that looked like someone had tried to cut on it at one point, but there was a white board...
OBJECTION - reading from something not in evidence - SUSTAINED
He told the operator there was a tree that looked like someone cutting on it.
OBJECTION - same - OVERRULED
He didn't remember if he told them there was something round and white beneath it.
Did you draw a map for LE as to where you had been on any date? Yes.
Did you draw in the privacy fence that extended from the last house? I don't remember.
Witness was shown a drawing and stated he recognized it as his drawing. It was drawn on 12/17/08. The drawing was marked as Defense Exhibit #66.
He saw where he labeled the wooden privacy fence. He then drew an area - the line represents the water and the other line represents the tree and he believes the X next to the board was where he saw what he saw. He indicated where the tree was and where the bag was. The skull would have been where the X was.
He did not know how far from the edge of the road "his find" was.
On 8/13/08 neither of the two deputies went with him to the spot.
On 8/11 and 8/13 he did not smell anything peculiar.
He did not lift a bag.
On 8/11/08 he did not go into the woods. He then said he did go into the woods to relieve himself, but never went back into the woods after that.
He did not tell the deputies that he had found a bag that he thought may have had bones in it. He told Deputy Cain that he saw an object that appeared to him to look like a skull. He did not tell him that the bag looked like it had bones in it.
He was never any closer to the bag than 30 feet.
On 8/11/08 the area where he was was dry.
He believes he was aware of the reward - something like $250,000.
On 8/11/08 he was aware there were a lot of media trucks and people right around the corner. He did not tell anyone he had found a bag of bones and something that looked like a skull.
Other than Mr. Dean, did you tell anyone? He stated he never said that - he said he saw something that appeared to look like that. He told his roommate, not any of the media in the area.
On 8/11/08 he did describe something white that appeared to be a skull sticking out of he top of a bag.
He did not know if the bag he saw in August was the same bag he saw in December.
He recalled his 7/30/10 depo. Page 18, Line 19 - Do you believe the bag was the same? Yes, Sir. He remembers this. He was told that it was the same bag. He never came to that conclusion on his own. He doesn't remember. If he said yes, then yes it is.
Did you try to get your co-workers to go look at it on August 11. He told him he saw a white object, they saw a dead snake, and everything from there went to the snake.
Depo - "I tried to get the 2 guys with me to look at it but they were too busy playing with the snake."
Lunch recess to 1:30