Bear with me please ... this is gonna be long!
A lot of people seem to believe that there is no motive in this case, when to me the motive has always been clear, as this fictional case clearly illustrates, as well as many other real life cases eg. Susan Smith, Diana Downs ... These women remove the objects that are holding them back from achieving their goals in life: Love of a certain man. That is all Caylee became to KC ... an object that was in her way. Since her birth, Caylee had been a "prop" for KC ... you can see it in her photos. Think of the way that in most of the ones where they were pictured together, with both of them mugging for the camera ... Caylee was only in those pictures to accessorize KC. Even the ones of Caylee by herself ... IMO you can spot the ones that KC took, because Caylee was all dressed up ... like a doll ... a toy ... a frivolous plaything. Some people her age take pictures of their cars all tricked out ... KC took pictures of Caylee all tricked out. As long as Casey was choosing men that liked this "style" ... she was fine with her ... when she chose a man that didn't think Caylee was all that "fashionable" she ditched her like a pair of old acid washed jeans. She needed to invent this elaborate story only because she got caught. If her parents hadn't found her and brought to light that Caylee was missing, I think in her mind she thought that she and TL would have moved to NY together and lived happily ever after. She would explain to TonE that her mother wouldn't allow her to take KC to NY and so she gave Caylee up so that she could be with him ... She sacrificed her relationship with her daughter for him. "Who wouldn't see that as a testament to true love, right?" She would also pepper the story with the lies necessary to make him believe her, understand, and even make her seem the victim ... "They said that if I took her that they would sue for custody and so I let Caylee stay in FL with my mom because that was where Caylee was comfortable and happy." At the same time, KC would have told her parents that they had pushed her to the point that she was forced to take Caylee and that they would never see the two of them again. Of course there are a few flaws that we all see with this scenario ... but you have to remember ... we are dissecting the mind of KC ... not a normal person. KC's "business" was making people believe whatever she wanted them to believe and she was very good at it!!! If she could have parlayed that into a career, a way to make a living, she could have lived a very comfortable life. Most people have enough hubris that we all believe ourselves to be excellent judges of character, when in fact just this very thing puts us at risks to the skilled opportunist! And so when we are taken in, it is very hard to admit!! Many victims of financial schemes never come forward ... out of embarrassment. It brings into question one of our dearest virtues ... our faith in others. GA and CA prove this ... they still cannot admit that they were duped by KC, though we see it happened to them time and again. With GA and Ca it is especially hard since KC's character also reflects on their family on their parenting. "KC would never hurt her child" -- Cindy, at this point in life should and does know that no statement should be prefaced with "KC would never ...” She knows that KC is capable of triple layer deception ... yet admitting so would be admitting that she failed as a parent. So she stays, outwardly, in denial. I think that the nanny/kidnapping story was just KC's plan B - and yes, she thought this through enough that she probably had a plan C-Z as well - all spotlighting herself as the victim. I see KC's mind as a big chart of complicated algorithms ... if this happens then I will do this ... if that causes this to happen then I will say this ... and on and on. She is pathological in that way! The only problem is that KC doesn't think the way that the rest of us think ... to her, the explanations are entirely believable ... after all it isn't like she is saying that aliens came down from the heavens and abducted Caylee ... all of her lies are within the realm of possibility! Pseudologia Fantastica is probably a more specific way to explain KC's mind than even pathological liar ... Pseudologia Fantastica is hallmarked by the spattering of truths mixed with lies ... that in the liar’s mind make them believable and the lies ALWAYS paint the liar in a positive light!!