It's fairly incredible to me how we can all have such differing feelings...and read things so opposite.
For me this River chick was one pathetic actress, but an actress nonetheless. Hate to say it, but I can't imagine George finding her physically attractive at all. On the contrary, I can't believe he had any interest in her in that fashion at all -- she doesn't "appear" to be of his taste (my guess was that he was probably more into fair haired, light eyed chicks, though I could be wrong.)
I do think it was an error in judgment, at a particularly vulnerable time in his life, that let him go to her place without a female alongside him (on more than one occasion particularly, but how many?) Unfortunately, we make bad judgment calls (I've made FAR too many to point the finger at George, just sayin.) My guess is that she was really doing a great job of conning George, acting like someone he might be able to confide in while using him to inject herself into the case for gain. Unfortunately, he didn't have another safe lady friend alongside him to "read her."
I happen to believe that what George said was true... I believe she spun an "I'm sick and maybe dying" story, he bought it, and went to visit needing that "feel good" of maybe helping or befriending someone who was possibly terminally ill.
That woman gave me the creeps -- big creeps. Her acting so forlorn, almost weak before she even hit the stand was the first clue. She kept "breaking character" in her acting -- did anyone besides me notice?
What I saw was a woman who set out to feign the poor broken believable woman (she wasn't believable at all for me). From the get go, her brow was set into an overacted "poor me - believe me" positioning (all drama), but if you kept watching her closely, intermittently you saw her break of character with her right eyebrow being lifted into a wierd "con" type position. I've seen this in others who con...and never seen this with a broken "please believe" me woman telling the truth.
Frankly her acting was sooooooooo pathetic, she needs to get some acting lessons if she is going to keep up this line of con work up... She tried to go from the poor forlorn, into the very believable calm - "yes sir, that's not what I said sir," but for me the snake under the wrinkled brow regularly reflected as she tried to "act" believable, frustrated, flustered or upset...again hugely BAD acting. For me "nearly" everything about her behavior was Sarah Heartburn at her worst.
Perhaps the "only" thing that might not have been acting was that I think George might have mused to her about what might have happened with Casey at some point in time, perhaps an accident and Casey let it get out of control... I'd have a tendency to agree that the "limelight" and big bucks failed for her until a little "sexy" came into the picture... There is no way that I can separate her sister being on board at the jail, and her sister contacting the press... This was a tag team thing, to be sure...or so it was IMO.
Finally, when George's body language seemed awkward and questionable, and I agree it did, and he commented to me, thats very funny (two times) he was saying, "Oh puhleeze don't push me until I spew truths that will only hurt people..." As in commentary about how she was totally unattractive to him and he couldn't have gotten "excited" about her no matter what she might have done. Aside from that, he might have said, "Do you know what blood pressure medicine does to some men?" (as if it is any of anyone's business.)