I do not believe there was a "staged" suicide attempt.
I can easily accept that George was distraught over the entire situation, i.e., Caylee was missing, and IMO he knew she was dead. He knew Casey had killed her, but at that time I believe it was very difficult for his mind to process that Casey had deliberately murdered her child. His comment about things having "snowballed out of control" has, IMO, been taken way out of context. I think George was in his mind trying to figure out what happened that resulted in his granddaughter being dead at the hand of her mother and in his reach for an answer he steered toward it had to be some kind of accident or chain of events where things just got out of control. IOW, he was in a state of mind where all he could accept was this being anything but murder.
In that state of mind, George probably began thinking of many instances where he felt like a failure as both a dad and a granddad. I do not think it is too far out there to consider that a person feeling that way might consider suicide.
George's suicide attempt was not a fool proof method, obviously, but often a person can feel such despair that they feel suicide is their only out, while still wishing there were another way. For many, times of despair have led to a suicide attempt, but not a suicide success.
I do not recall any searches for "suicide." Are there any documented? Because from what I have read, there were none--there were clicks on links that mention suicide, but not an actual search for suicide. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.