Okay if I suspend all skepticism and you outlined the basic facts of this case as we know them to be and I had to write a story to fit them, and Casey killing her is not an option:
Casey gets pregnant as a teen, she knows she is not equipped to raise a child at this point in her life, but her controlling and domineering mother convinces her that the best thing for the baby is to be raised by her own family. Cindy promises Casey that Casey will be able to live her life as she wants and to pursue her plans and dreams while Cindy raises little Caylee as her own. Against her better judgement Casey agrees to this arrangement.
Reality turns out a little different than these plans and we end up with much tension in the house. Casey and Cindy are trying to be the primary care giver to Caylee. But Cindy controls the finances, the insurance, the groceries, the very roof over their heads. Casey knew she was not able to provide those things and this is why she wanted to place her child for adoption, but she can't turn back the clock now, so she once again gives into Cindy and Cindy becomes the primary caregiver to Caylee. Cindy is making all the rules.
Casey feels trapped. Her education has been delayed. She is not employed at a level that would enable her to get out on her own. And even though Cindy told her she would be able to pursue all of those things while Cindy raised the baby that has not been true. Casey has to care for Caylee while Cindy is at work.
Cindy and Casey fight endlessly about these issues. It is getting so bad in the house that George and Cindy may divorce. Things come to a head in this power struggle with Cindy and Casey the weekend of June 15th with Cindy saying it is all or nothing. Either Casey lives under her roof and complies with Cindy's wishes regarding Caylee or Casey gets out from under Cindy's roof.
Casey leaves to go stay with her new boyfriend Tony, leaving Caylee in Cindy's care. During the next month she finally has some of the freedom she has yearned for, she is out at clubs, she is meeting new friends, she is entertaining Tony's roommates. They will all tell you she did not seem concerned at all for Caylee's wellbeing because she wasn't. Caylee was at home with Cindy to Casey's knowledge.
Now keep in mind the Sunfire is not Casey's car. It belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Anthony. Casey drives it at Cindy's discretion. She does not have Cindy's car the 16-18th, even her friend Chris has testified in a sworn statement that she was driving Tony's jeep. Casey gets the Sunfire between June 19th and 20th. Around June 23rd to June 25th Casey notices a bad smell in the vehicle is getting worse and worse, she comments on it to friends, but she cannot identify the source, it is like nothing she has ever smelled before. After speaking to George she finds out that he has supposedly run something over recently. Again she relays that info to her friends.
On the 27th the Sunfire runs out of gas near the Amscott parking lot. Casey lets her father know of this and he says he will handle it. Unbeknownst to Casey George lets the car get impounded, possibly hoping it would go to scrap, but the certified letter shows up, they debate for a couple of days and decide to retrieve it. Casey does not see the vehicle again until July 15th. On that fateful day Cindy collapses the entire house of cards on this situation. She drags Casey home where Casey finds that Caylee is not there and a chain of events outside of Casey's control has already been put in motion. She is told quickly that Caylee has been kidnapped and these are the instructions.
The police arrive and Casey's only concern is Caylee and following the instructions Cindy has relayed to her. Within hours Casey is arrested and the police are implying that Caylee is dead. The dogs indicate a body has been in the Anthony's backyard and in the Anthony's Sunfire. Casey knows in her heart that Cindy could not hurt Caylee, at least she hopes not, but she cannot go there. She is being told by her parents that Caylee is alive, that they know where she is, they have people watching them and this will come to an end soon, but she must continue to follow instructions for the life of her daughter depends on it. Now she sits in jail, possibly facing the death penalty, while her very own mother makes ridiculous claims on TV, progressively making Casey the most hated woman in america, and prevents searching for looking for the very evidence that might clear her of these horrible charges.
Once again at Cindy's control, Casey's word against her Cindy's. The incompetent teen mom that by all appearances was out partying after her child was murdered versus the suffering Grandmother. Other family members give damaging statements to the police and then claim to be supporting her. She has no idea who she can trust, if anyone, so she talks to no one but her attorney. The attorney that will prove the last verifiable sighting of Caylee was with Cindy, the forensics will prove that a decomposing body was in Cindy and George's sunfire, the dogs indicate a body has been in Cindy and George's yard. The world has dug to see what Casey was doing that month, what were Cindy, George and Lee doing?
