I don't post much, but like some others on the board I feel like I want to interject my two cents here. I am local, just about 8 miles outside of Orlando. I found your board because of a link that was posted on a blog in the Orlando Sentinal online site, came on over and was fascinated about all of this. We've been hearing about this case since very minute one and, as it grew and the whole nation got involved little Caylee became especially special to all of us. We see George and Cindy every weekend when we do our grocery shopping, my father-in-law's truck was towed to the same lot as Casey's when my nephew got in trouble with it, and my husband works for Orange County Parks and Recreation and Blanchard Park is part of his workday. I was never a "sleuther" and had never really felt compelled to get involved in anything in such depth.
Why in the world is she telling me all of this you may ask? Well, I also never knew of Tim Miller and his crew prior to this (although I did briefly hear about his efforts in the Natalie Holloway case), and I never heard of Leonard Padilla prior to this case. That being said, I have no real emotion ties to either of these gentleman, never was a big fan either way, not really "emotionally" involved with either one. Here are my observations:
1. Leonard Padilla has never one time mentioned the cost of anything he has ever done in behalf of Caylee. Yes, we know what the bond was because that was public knowledge, but I have never heard him once express how much anything is "costing him". As a matter of fact, every time I ever heard Leonard talk about money it was referenced to "donate it to Tim".
2. On the other hand, however, it seems as though every time Tim Miller was interviewed, somehow or another, he let everyone know how much this was costing him. As a matter of fact, when he was interviewed on the local stations this last time, that was pretty much all he talked about was his funding and how much this was costing him. And trust me, locally this has been covered morning, noon and night on every channel at every news time for a long time now. Well, you haul all of your enormous arsenal of equipment into town, search for a short period of time, leave, go somewhere else, come back, leave again. It seems to me that would be an enormous burden on your expenses.
3. The night that the meeting was held prior to the last search it was naturally covered locally and there were a lot of surprised locals to see the pomp and circumstance surrounding that meeting. From the news coverage (granted, I was not there) that nightclub looked decked out to Tim's organization. The local reporter was there talking to some of the volunteers as they came out the door and there were more than one person saying that "it was not what they had expected".
4. Cindy did an interview this afternoon with all of the reporters locally and she was talking about "speaking with Tim Miller last night" and that Tim told her personally that someone had planted "cow bones or something" at the last search, perhaps insinuating this is what could happen if Leonard found anything.
I have watched the whole tone and demeanor of Tim Miller change here in the last week. There were many, many people that were shocked when he pulled up stakes and left town this last time. First he was on television talking about "the conditions couldn't get any better" and "if she's there we're going to find her" and then almost overnight he changed to "I don't think she will ever be found". It was awfully strange.
Leonard, on the other hand, may have been duped in the beginning, but right after he realized who and what he was dealing with, he has never wavered, not once, from his theory and his goal of bringing that baby home. Oh, he might be a bit brasher than we may all like, but he has NEVER ONCE wavered, never asked for money and never left !!
Trust me, my heart goes out to Tim Miller and his tragic experience with his daughter. I lost a child to tragic circumstances myself, a shy, young 16-year-old who was invited out of town with her girlfriend and her family for a long weekend. Didn't want to go, but I encouraged her that it would be fun and fine and sent her on her way. She died in a car accident - talk about feeling responsible. So, emotionally I take nothing from this dear man whatsoever.
I personally think that Leonard Padilla, as brash and cowboy as he is, has behaved like a true gentleman and really wants to bring this baby home. He has nothing to gain by any of this. Tim, on the other hand, has been made to be the hero by a lot of people. There is fanfare when he arrives, disappointment when he leaves and even more fanfare when he returns. His behavior and name calling and demeaning the efforts of others speaks volumes - who really has something to gain or lose by not bringing this baby home? Does he do good for others - he certainly does - but isn't the goal of everyone involved to bring the baby home?
I'm sorry for the long post, I will go back to being just a reader now and leave the sleuthing to the experts !! I just thought I could bring some perspective from an almost "neutral" audience.
