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Caylee Marie Anthony Missing Sunday, June 15, 2008 - Orlando, Florida Age: 2, Caylee Anthony was reported missing by her grandmother, Cindy Anthony, on July 15, 2008. At that time Caylee's mother, Casey, said on the July 15, 2008 911 call that her daughter had been missing for "31 days." Date of disappearance is unknown at this point as the mother Casey is not cooperating with authorities CALL *Orange County Sheriff's Department 1-407-254-7000* or Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477

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CAYLEE ANTHONY CASE TRANSCRIPTS Simon Burch INTERVIEW 07/24/2008 (After original 911 call) http://www.acandyrose.com/caylee_anthony_transcript_S_Burch072408.htm

Transcribed by "Scooter" for www.acandyrose.com (from .pdf file) 1 TAPED TRANSCRIPT OF SIMON BURCH 2 INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY DETECTIVE WHITE 3 CASE NUMBER - 08-069208 4 JULY 24, 2008 5 GW - DETECTIVE GERALD WHITE 6 UF - UNKNOWN FEMALE 7 SB - MR.SIMON BURCH 8 SB: Where do you want me to start? 9 GW: Uhm, let me uh, set this up first. I'm Detective White with the Sheriff's Office uh, 10 Domestic Violence Unit. Today is uhm, July 24, 2008, and it's 9:20 a.m. And 11 we're at uh, [BLACKED OUT] And I'm with Mr. Simon Burch. Uhm, Mr. 12 Burch, what's a good address for you? 13 SB: [BLACKED OUT] 14 GW: Alrighty. Uhm, Orland[BLACKED OUT] 15 SB: [BLACKED OUT] 16 GW: And uh, what's a good phone for you? 17 SB: [BLACKED OUT] 18 GW: Alrighty. And what's your date of birth? 19 SB: [BLACKED OUT] 20 GW: Okay. Uhm, are you an employee of uhm, Johnson's Wrecker? 21 SB: Yes sir. I'm the Operations Manager for our east side location. 22 GW: Okay. And on uhm, can you tell me how you came about uhm, meeting uhm, 23 George Anthony and uh, possibly Cynthia Anthony? 24 SB: Yes sir. They came uh, to our location to pick up uh, a car that belonged to them 25 on July the 15th. Uhm, the car, we had towed the car for a private property. 1 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 removal from the Amscot that's uh, I believe it was 75, is [BLACKED OUT] 2 [BLACKED OUT] We were contracted by Amscot to uh, pick up the vehicle because it was 3 illegally parked. Uhm, we have tow away signs located at the Amscot in 4 accord...in uh, accordance with Florida Statutes. And when we went to pick up 5 the vehicle we had a, a private property tow sheet filled in and signed by the uh, 6 employee at Amscot who called the two in. Uhm, the original tow was done on 7 June the 29th, June the 30th. We received the vehicle here. And it's been sat in 8 our impound yard until July the 15th when the Anthony's came to retrieve it. 9 GW: Okay, who, who towed it? 10 SB: It was towed by employee Gary Ridgeway, uhm, who's an employee here at 11 Johnson's Wrecker Service. 12 GW: Okay. Uhm, did you, did you uh, have, did you, did you come into contact with 13 uh, the Anthony's when they came over? 14 SB: Yes sir, I did. 15 GW: Uh, how did that go? 16 SB: Uhm, as normal, when most people come to pick up their vehicles from this 17 location, uhm, they're not in the best of moods. 18 GW: (Laughing.) They're not happy that their car is here? 19 SB: Uhm, their car's been impounded. It's normally going to cost them a couple of 20 hundred bucks, if not more, to get it back, especially one that's been here for twp 21 weeks as this one had. Uhm, and so they're not normally, people are not 22 normally in the best of moods. The Anthony's were no exception to that. Uhm, 23 Mrs. Anthony was the one if I remember right, was the one that came to the 24 window first and approached uhm, the girl here that works in the office, Nicole 25 (spelling), who uh, she gave her the information that she needed to retrieve the 2 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 vehicle, the cost and everything. Uh, Mrs. Anthony was uhm, certainly not in the 2 best of moods. 3 GW: Okay. 4 SB: Uhm, which is understandable. Obviously at this point in time we had no idea 5 who she, she was just a customer. We had no idea it was anything else that 6 could have been, you know, influencing her, her attitude I guess. 7 GW: Fair enough. 8 SB: So uh, uhm, she wanted to know why the bill was so expensive and why it took 9 eleven days to notify her that we had the car. 10 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 11 SB: And I explained to her that per Florida Statutes uhm, on the fourth day that the 12 vehicle is here we're required by law to send out a certified letter to the registered 13 owner of the vehicle. Uhm, we have the information of who the vehicle belongs 14 to and, and uh, our computer system uhm, automatically generates those letters 15 and they're sent out you know, with our mail, certified mail, as this one was. And 16 however four days from the date the vehicle came in would have been in July the 17 Fourth. 18 GW: Right. 19 SB: Uhm, it puts a day in it there. And I explained to her that you know, the, the Post 20 Office is out of our control. Looking at the calendar we figured out that due to the 21 July the Fourth holiday, and then the weekend, the upcoming weekend uhm, was 22 the reason that the letter took so long to get to her. 23 GW: Okay. 24 25 3 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 SB: We mailed it out as requested. And once I'd explained that to her she 2 understood. I mean she was like, "Okay, I, I, I understand and I appreciate it." 3 She was still agitated def...very definitely. 4 GW: Right. 5 SB: Uhm, and there was some definite uhm, bickering I would call it between the two 6 of them. 7 GW: Between her and Mr. Anthony? 8 SB: Between her and Mr.,uh, Mr. Anthony, yeah (affirmative). Uhm, and, and purely 9 reference to the car and nothing else. You know, the, uhm, it went back and 10 forth for a couple of minutes. Uhm, but at that point they, uh, she asked me if I 11 could give her a discount and I said, "I'm sorry ma'am I'm not at liberty to do that. 12 You know it's, unfortunately this is a business. It's not a particularly pleasant job 13 sometimes, but it is a business that you know, that you're in a business to make 14 money and we don't give discounts." 15 GW: Right. (Chuckles.) 16 SB: (Laughs.) Uhm, at that point they paid the bill and uh... 17 GW: They paid in cash? 18 SB: Yeah (affirmative). Yeah (affirmative), they paid in cash because that's out 19 those are our required form of payment for impounded vehicles. We don't accept 20 anything else. 21 GW: Okay. 22 SB: Uhm, and uh, at that point she uh, I said, "Okay, I'll" uhm, "do you have," I asked 23 them if they had the keys and he said, "Yes, I have the keys." And I said, "Okay, 24 no problem. I'll uh, I'll come around and and get you." Uhm, the car had been 25 here for two weeks. Uhm, I, as my, one of my jobs here is uh, you know I 4 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 maintain the yard and make sure all the vehicles are, are correct and were 2 parked where they're suppose to be. We have a procedure to go through. And 3 I had been around that car a couple of times while it was here. 4 GW: Okay. 5 SB: A car sits here for two weeks I start paying a little bit of attention to it. I'm curious 6 as to maybe why it was here for two weeks. You know, is it a piece of junk? You 7 know, pull the sheet. Why was it towed? I knew this was a removal. Uhm, I had 8 noticed uhm, a smell emanating around the car uhm, on one occasion. I didn't 9 really think anything of it. We get cars in here with garbage in them, fish in them, 10 all, all the time. 11 GW: Right. 12 SB: All the time. It, it's, it's fairly common uhm, to have... 13 GW: So you get stuff out of (unintelligible) coming home from the store and you got 14 milk and ... 15 SB: Exactly. 16 GW: ...eggs and things in your car. 17 SB: Exactly. 18 GW: And you're... 19 SB: Exactly. 20 GW: You go to jail... 21 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 22 GW: ...and your car sits... 23 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 24 GW: ...in the lot for a while... 25 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 5 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: ...and... 2 SB: Yup (affirmative). 3 GW: ...it tends to... 4 SB: Exactly. 5 GW: ...create a (inaudible) odor? 6 SB: The worst one are the ones that leave the restaurants at night with that piece of 7 steak in the doggie bag, or a piece of fish in the doggie bag and they put it 8 under the seat and they get a DUI or whatever, and then four days later they 9 come and pick up their car and it's rancid. 10 GW: Right. 11 SB: Yeah (affirmative). So I didn't think anything of it. Uhm, when I took Mr. George 12 back uh, to get the vehicle, uhm, he opened the car of the driver's side door. I 13 walked around to the driver's side with him and he put the key in and opened the 14 driver's side door. And when he did the, the, the smell was pungent. I mean it 15 was, it knocked me back. It knocked my back. Whilst we were going out to the 16 car uhm, he was conversing with me and saying, "Hey, I'm sorry," blah, blah 17 blah, "You know I, I'm sorry. I apologize. We'll probably get divorced over this." 18 The daughter is telling up crap, a bunch of lies. And I really didn't pay a great 19 deal of attention to it. 20 GW: Right, because it's the same banter you get... 21 SB: The same banter I... 22 GW: ...most of the time. 23 SB: ...get day in, day out, you know. Uhm, but I sympathized with him. I said, "I'm 24 sorry of your situation." I'm, you know, I assume that it was just a domestic 25 issue that they were having. And again, I didn't really you know, and he said uh, 6 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 "I just, I just need to see my granddaughter. You know my grand, you know she 2 won't let us see our granddaughter, " blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and this, that 3 and the other thing. And again, I said, "I'm sorry for your situation sir. you know 4 I'm sorry your car got impounded but this is what it is," you know, and, and. An 5 then when he opened the car door and that stench come out, by, like my heart 6 dropped because he was, all of a sudden he was, he'd been telling me about his 7 granddaughter missing. 8 GW: Right. 9 SB: There was a car seat in the car. I knew there was car seat in the car. It'd been 10 there since it came in because uh, you know I'd looked through the window of the 11 car and there was a car seat. 12 GW: Was it the full size seat or like a booster seat? 13 SB: No, it was a full size seat. 14 GW: Okay. 15 SB: Yeah (affirmative). It was probably a full size car seat. Yeah (affirmative). I 16 don't remember if there was anything in the car seat, but it was definitely in the, it 17 was in the back, where you would have a car seat if you uh, you, 18 behind the passenger seat. Most people... 19 GW: So you could see it... 20 SB: So you can... 21 GW: ...in the mirror? 22 SB: Yeah (affirmative), they can see, look in the mirror or over your shoulder and see 23 it. So uh, and I said, "Well here, let me, give me the keys and we'll open the 24 trunk up and there's, there's probably something really garbage in here or 25 whatever." So at that point he's like, "Yeah (affirmative)." And uh, we open the 7 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 trunk up and there was flies and stuff and a real bad smell like oh, my God. And, 2 and in the back of my head I'm going that isn't rotten garbage. You know I know 3 what rotten garbage smells like. That doesn't smell like rotten garbage to me. 4 Uhm, we do have, well actually we did have a car in the yard at the same time 5 that this car was here down the other end of our yard that uh, a guy had 6 committed suicide in. 7 GW: Oh. 8 SB: Uhm, and stayed in the car after he committed suicide for five days. 9 GW: Oh my. 10 SB: A very similar odor. 11 GW: Okay. 12 SB: And that's when I went ah. And I took a garbage bag and I said,"Look," and it 13 was very light. I re...I remember reaching in and I, and I grabbed it and pulled it 14 back. And uhm, I said, "Let's just make sure it's garbage in here." And we 15 opened the top of the bag up. He stood right next to me and I opened the top of 16 the bag up and we looked inside. And (unintelligible) it was, there was many 17 papers and stuff on top. Uhm, I think in the bag, I, I think I remember seeing a 18 pizza box, but I'm not sure. 19 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 20 SB: That may by because I've heard it on the television. I can't, I wouldn't swear that 21 I saw a pizza box in there. But in my mind I'm thinking maybe I did. 22 GW: Alright. 23 SB: Again, at this point I'm still really not paying a tremendous amount of attention to 24 it because I'm, it doesn't occur to me there might be something else going on 25 here. 8 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: Right. 2 SB: And you know, so now we look in and, and I'm, I said, and it, it really didn't 3 weight very much. It was a very light bag. And I said, "Well here, I'll get rid of 4 this for you." And uh, I took the bag and I walked across the front of the car. I 5 mean I have a fence between the car where the car is and where our dumpster 6 is, and I threw it over the fence... 7 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 8 SB: ...with my left hand. But I'm right handed, so it was just an easy, just a quick lob. 9 GW: Right. 10 SB: And then, and anyway, I went back to the car with him and the car wouldn't start. 11 And I looked, he was sitting in the car and I looked in the car and the gas gauge 12 was on empty. I said, "Oh, it's out of gas." And he said, "Okay." He said, "Well I 13 bought gas with me." Okay. That's kind of unusual. 14 GW: So it seemed like her already knew it was out of gas? 15 SB: That was what I thought too because it's kind of unusual that you would carry gas 16 around with you, but some people do. 17 GW: Yeah (affirmative)... 18 SB: Hey, if you... 19 GW: ...it's four dollars a gallon now and... 20 SB: Well yeah (affirmative), but plus the uh, the car was abandoned. Maybe, maybe 21 it was abandoned because it was out of gas. I remember saying to him, I said, 22 "You know we tow for all the Amscots." We have a contract with Amscot and we 23 do all the removals for all the Amscots. We have signs at them all. That's a lot. 24 And we do very, very, very few removals. This is the first on for this yard I 25 believe. 9 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: Right. 2 SB: And I said to him, I said, "You know that tells me that they are probably pretty 3 lenient. That car was not just there for a couple of hours." I said, "For, for as few of 4 calls as we do uh, for them, for the amount of places that they have, I would have 5 to say that they're pretty lenient with, with people leaving cars there." It's 6 Amscot. 7 GW: Right. 8 SB: People who go to Amscot don't have a lot of money. You're there for a reason 9 you're... 10 SB: You know you're ei...uh, you're either getting a money order, or you, you, 11 you're... 12 GW: You need cash, yeah (affirmative). 13 SB: ...cashing, you need cash, you know. And it was odd to me, it seemed really odd 14 to me that it was parked at Amscot, in a parking stall, but it was out of gas. I just 15 didn't, I just, I went, "That's weird." 16 GW: Right. 17 SB: You run out of gas on the side of the road. You don't run out of gas sitting in a 18 parking stall. 19 GW: Right. 20 SB: Uhm, but again, I just, I didn't think anything of it. And when I told him this, when 21 I said, I said uh, you know, the uh, about the Amscots being lenient and what- 22 have-you he said, he said, "Yeah (affirmative), I called them and they said it had 23 been there for three days." Well I hadn't told him it was at an Amscot. I don't 24 know how he knew it was at an Amscot. 25 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 10 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 SB: I don't know that our letter says it's Amscot. I think it just gives an address 2 but I might be wrong. 3 GW: Right. 4 SB: But he told me when he called them it had been there, they told him it had been 5 there for three days. 6 GW: Okay. 7 SB: So anyway, we, her, we, I took him back to his car, walked him back there, and 8 again, her was still talking about his daughter telling lies an blah, blah, blah and 9 I kept sympathizing with him. And then he got his gas can and we walked back 10 to the car a second time. And it was a small, round, very battered gas can. An 11 old metal one. 12 GW: Right. 13 SB: All the paint was chipped off of it. It was you know, kind of like my dad had for 14 the lawmmower. Kind of, you know (unintelligible)... 15 GW: It looks like it's had some good use with it? 16 SB: It's been around. Yeah (affirmative), it's been around, you know. And the guy 17 was super nice. I mean he was super. He, he, you know, he was just very, he 18 was distraught. He, he, apologized about his wife's behavior again. I said, "I 19 totally understand dude." I said, "You know it's, we get it all the time. It's no big 20 deal. Anyway, he put the gas in the car and it fired right up." And uh, I escorted 21 him out of the yard and uh, he drove his car out and uh, uh, yeah (affirmative) he 22 went, as he came by I saw him again as he came by me he, again he said, "you 23 know, thank you. I'm sorry." I said, "Yeah (affirmative), no problem. No 24 problem. Have a good day now." And uh, they conversed out here for a couple 25 11 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 minutes, got in the car and drove away. And I went and picked up the garbage 2 bag now... 3 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 4 SB: ...and brought the garbage back and threw it in the dumpster. Uhm... 5 GW: So tell me this. Well what time of day was it when they came> Was it night time, 6 daytime? 7 SB: It's, it should say. Well it was in the middle of the day. It was in the middle of the 8 day. It will say, uh, right here, [BLACKED OUT] 9 GW: Okay. 10 SB: That's the time of release. So yeah (affirmative), in the the middle of the day 11 (unintelligible). 12 GW: Okay. Uhm, when you guys get to the car and, and you open it up and the smell 13 comes out, does he say anything? 14 SB: (Sighs) I think her reacted, but it uh, he didn't, he didn't say anything that stuck in 15 my mind. 16 GW: Okay. Did you say anything. 17 SB: "Poof, that's rotten." 18 GW: Uh-hum ( affirmative). 19 SB: I was kind of half expecting it to smell bad because I had already observed an 20 odor around it... 21 GW: Right. 22 SB: ...the couple of days earlier when I'd been out in the yard doing my rounds and 23 checking on it. Uhm, but until we opened the car it didn't have that... 24 GW: It wasn't... 25 SB: ...deceased smell. 12 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: It wasn't that bad? 2 SB: It wasn't like that car that was down here that the guy offed (sic) himself in that 3 smelled very similar. 4 GW: Okay. Now tell me this. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst thing 5 you've ever smelled in your life, where would you put the smell that came out of 6 that car? 7 SB: About a seven. 8 GW: Okay. 9 SB: But I've seen a lot of cars with dead people in it to. I've, you know I've been 10 around it. I've been in this job for twenty some years so I've been around it quite 11 a bit. 12 GW: Right. Now, uhm, in relation to the car with the guy that committed suicide, do 13 you, do you remember how he committed suicide? 14 SB: No. I, I, he just, he was, he was found dead in the car. It was at a Wal-Mart. It 15 was a, it was probably not long ago. 16 GW: Okay. 17 SB: Uhm, probably the beginning of the year. 18 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 19 SB: We've had the car here for quite a while. It's gone now. We got a certificate of 20 destruction and got rid of it. Uhm... 21 GW: And that one smelled pretty bad? 22 SB: It was awful, oh, it, I had to move it out of the yard. It would, we had it up here in 23 the barn in here and uh, you could smell it in here. They did the investigation on 24 it and I tool it out of the building and I took it out of the yard, out of our impound 25 area and put it in out outside impound area... 13 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 2 SB: ...away from everything. Uhm, and then it got, the smell got better with time. I 3 left the doors open on a few, for a few days uhm... 4 GW: Let it air out? 5 SB: Let the air (unintelligible) uh, and then close the doors. And it got to the point 6 where you couldn't smell the, like unless you were right up against it you couldn't 7 smell it anymore uhm, until you opened the car. 8 GW: Okay. 9 SB: And when you opened the car then it was pretty bad. But... 10 GW: Comparison. The car where the guy was found in it after what, five days? 11 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 12 GW: Versus uhm, the Anthony's car... 13 SB: Uhm, the, the, the other one was way worse. 14 GW: Okay. 15 SB: The one with the, the, the, the guy that was in it for five days was way worse. 16 GW: Was way worse? 17 SB: Way worse, yeah (affirmative). 18 GW: How similar were the smells? 19 SB: Man, if I was, when I opened the, the Anthony's car up that was when it was a 20 similar kind of odor. 21 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 22 SB: Similar. You know I'm, I mean, I'm, I'm no nose test... 23 GW: (Laughs.) 24 SB: ...you know (laughs). But it was definitely, it was definitely, it was riper that ripe 25 food. 14 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: Okay. 2 SB: You know, it, it, it's to me (unintelligible). 3 GW: Now you stood next to the dumpsters before? 4 SB: Yes. 5 GW: You know you're, you, you throw trash in dumpsters. 6 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 7 GW: How close was to a dumpster smell was... 8 SB: Uhm... 9 GW: ...the Anthony's car? 10 SB: ...no, not really, not really a similar smell. Uh, and, but again, you know 11 maggots and what-have-you, I guess I assume that every garbage smells 12 differently. 13 GW: Right. 14 SB: I've had rotten fish here in cars under the seats. I've had steaks left under the 15 seats and they smell totally different. A piece of rotten steak that's all maggot 16 infested smells way different than a piece of rotten fish. 17 GW: Right. 18 SB: Uhm, I do remember saying to uh, uhm, one of my employees when I came back 19 (unintelligible) girl I said, "You know he was telling me on the Mr., the, the guy 20 was telling on the way over there about his granddaughter missing and I opened 21 the car door and there was a stench." And I said, and I said, " And it's just like a 22 flash went through my mind and I went oh, my God, you know, she's in the trunk 23 kind of thing." 24 GW: Right. 25 15 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 SB: But it didn't, I, I really genuinely, it was, it was just like one of those things, it's a 2 natural reaction. You got to think now, you know, if someone says well my 3 granddaughter's missing and then you open the car up and it smells really bad, 4 you know. But I didn't, uh, they left and I didn't think anymore of it. I picked the 5 garbage up and threw it in the dumpster. I didn't think anymore of it. 6 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 7 SB: And uh, and then later on that evening our company, because we tow for Orange 8 County Sheriff's, was called by Orange County Sheriff's to come and pick up the 9 Anthony's car and take it to Crime Scene. 10 GW: And you were like, wait a minute... 11 SB: Well I didn't know. 12 GW: ...we just had the car. 13 SB: I didn't know. I, right, I didn't know at the time but my uhm, (sighs), my driver uh, 14 that went to pick it up called me and said, "Hey that car that we released today 15 uhm, that, that you were telling Nicole about with the smell in it, uhm, was that a 16 white Pontiac?" And I said, "Yeah (affirmative), why?" And he said, "Well I'm 17 picking it up right now." (Sound of cellular phone beeping.) Excuse me a 18 second. 19 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 20 SB: (Speaking into cellular phone to an unknown person.) Standby. Uhm, let me call 21 you back in a minute. Let me. (Resumes speaking with Detective White.) Uhm, 22 and then I said, "Why?" And he said, "Well I'm picking it up and taking it to uh, 23 the Crime Lab." And I went, "Oh, that's kind of weird." 24 GW: So what do you start thinking? 25 SB: Nothing at that point still. Uh, it didn't, nothing at that point. 16 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: Just that it was just kind of weird? 2 SB: Yeah (affirmative), I thought it was weird. Uhm, but I, I'm like, you know, 3 (unintelligible), I'm like, "Well that's weird." Because they were talking the whole 4 time that their granddaughter was missing, or they haven't seen her. Sure 5 there's a lot people that say they're missing. You know I mean missing means 6 maybe that the, maybe, maybe you pissed your kid off and she doesn't want you 7 to see the, you know what I'm saying? 8 GW: Right. 9 SB: It wasn't until the morning, the following morning when I got up and uh, I was, I 10 got up at six-ish and put, and turned the news on and there it is all over the news. 11 And there's the Anthony's that came to pick up the car, on the couch being 12 interviewed. 13 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 14 SB: I'm like, crap. Oh, crap. 15 GW: Yeah (affirmative). 16 SB: Garbage bag. Dumpster. Smelling car. And now all of a sudden everything just 17 goes in my brain like oh, my God what's, you know? 18 GW: So now the computer in your brain is running? 19 SB: Yeah (affirmative), now I put, now I put it all together. Until that point it was just a 20 few pieces that there were floating around. Now it's like oh, shit. So I cannot, I 21 was, I haven't even gotten dressed. I was in my pj's and I threw my flip-flops on 22 and I ran out of the house and cam out to the dumpster. 23 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 24 SB: And I didn't remember what day the car was picked up. This was Thursday 25 morning. And I didn't remember if the car was picked up Monday or Tuesday. 17 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 Our garage day used to be Tuesday and then they moved it to Monday. I 2 opened the dumpster up. There was some, there's quite a lot of garbage in there 3 as we normally accumulate up. Almost a week's worth and I went, "Oh, good the 4 garbage hasn't been picked up." So I start going through the dumpster. I 5 couldn't find the bag. 6 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 7 SB: I couldn't find the bag. I'm like the garbage must have been picked up and then 8 we just refilled it and I didn't know that we got that much garbage in a couple 9 days. 10 GW: Right. 11 SB: Uhm, at that point I called the Sheriff's Department and I told them. And I said 12 "Listen, I, I," I called and talked to Dispatch and I, because they know who I am 13 you know because we'll, we talk to Dispatch all the time with out business here. 14 And uh, and eventually she had a, a couple of different call me. Uhm, Detective 15 Melich... 16 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 17 SB: ...called me and like somebody else called met. And I told him the story about 18 the father picking up the car and blah, blah, blah, and I said, "But I can't find the 19 garbage bag." Excuse me. I said, "I don't think the garbage has been emptied 20 but I can't find the bag." 21 GW: Right. 22 SB: And... 23 GW: But you didn't climb in? 24 SB: Oh... 25 GW: You just, you were looking from the outside? 18 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 No, I climbed, I climbed, I went right in. I was like, like let, like I was in the bottom 2 like this picking, going through it all. 3 GW: Oh, my goodness. 4 SB: Oh, I wanted to find the bag. 5 GW: Right. 6 SB: Because I think that could have been important. So at that point now I'm thinking 7 well this is important now. You know this is obviously the, the, it was obviously 8 more than just my daughter's not showing me, not bringing my granddaughter 9 around. 10 GW: Right. 11 SB: If they feel compelled enough to call the police department not there's obviously 12 something more to it. 13 GW: Right. 14 SB: Uhm, so anyway I, so I told uhm, Detective Melich on the phone the whole thing. 15 Uhm, maybe not as much detail as I just gave you. And I said, "But I can't find 16 the garbage bag." And he said, "That's okay." and said, "I have it." And "What 17 do you mean you have it?" And he said, "I have the garbage bag." I said, 'How 18 do you know about the garbage bag and how did you get it back?" He said, "We 19 came to your yard last night and your night driver's let us in and we took the 20 garbage bag out of your dumpster and took it away." And I said, "Okay." And he 21 said, and then he told me that they'd interviewed Mr. George and he had told 22 him, Mr. Anthony, sorry, George Anthony. And he had told Detective Melich the 23 whole thing about the garbage bag and pretty much all I did was corroborate his 24 story of what he was... 25 19 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: So, so how'd you feel as you're standing there in filth, knowing that the bag was 2 already gone? Did you feel better that, that the bag was, had been recovered? 3 SB: Uh, uh, yeah (affirmative). Oh, I was glad, I was glad that somebody was already 4 on it and you know that, and that you know, obviously it was being handled. 5 GW: How long of a shower did you take afterwards? 6 SB: (Laughs.) 7 GW: (Laughs.) 8 SB: Yeah (affirmative) (laughing). 9 GW: (Laughing.) That might have been a sit down bath on, huh? 10 SB: Yeah (affirmative). Yeah (affirmative), fortunately we don't do, we don't generate 11 a tremendous about of really bad garbage here, but yeah (affirmative), it's a... 12 GW: What, what was different about the bag that, that stood out in your head... 13 SB: Uh... 14 GW: ...that you thought you'd be able to find that one bag? 15 SB: Oh, because it was a white, it was a white garbage bag and uh, it had yellow 16 uhm, handles on it I believe. If I remember right it had yellow handles on it. 17 GW: The little draw, the drawstring? 18 SB: Yeah (affirmative). Yeah(affirmative). And my garbage bags that we have here 19 we use black ones and all the ones with red handles in it. And I just, I remember the 20 bag, okay? 21 GW: So it, that... 22 SB: (Unintelligible)... 23 GW: ...that bag stuck out in your head? 24 SB: Yeah (affirmative), it, it would have done. I'd have seen, I'd have recognized it in 25 the, in the dumpster, which was mostly black garbage bags. 20 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: Right. 2 SB: I would have spotted it, and then the flies would have probably given it away too. 3 GW: Well that too? 4 SB: Yeah (affirmative). So I figured I had a pretty good shot of finding it, you know? 5 GW: Okay. So uh, so while the car's here, and let me just summarize. Make sure... 6 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 7 GW: ...I got it right, Uhm, the car gets towed in and it's in the lot from uh, from the Amscot. 9 SB: Uh-hum (affirmative). 10 GW: And uh, being the, the uh, facilities manager, you're out and about all day... 11 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 12 GW: ...walking. 13 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 14 GW: And every time you walk by the car you can smell something coming from the 15 car? 16 SB: Uh, I only really went by it once like close up and like peered through the window 17 and looked inside the car. 18 GW: Because it's been here for a while and... 19 SB: It's... 20 GW: ...cars aren't... 21 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 22 GW: ...normally here for that long? 23 SB: Uh, yeah (affirmative), we get, we have such a high turnover of vehicles because 24 we do all the DUI's for this sector for Orange County, all the drug busts, 25 everything, and... 21 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 GW: Then people really come back and get their cars? 2 SB: Oh yeah(affirmative). Oh yeah (affirmative). Yeah (affirmative), we do, we do 3 a lot of releases, yeah (affirmative). 4 GW: So when you see a car that doesn't look like it's been crashed up too bad or 5 anything else... 6 SB: Yeah (affirmative), it was in pretty good shape. You know and at that point, well 7 and see what we take, uh, we take ownership of the vehicles through out legal 8 li...our lien process after the vehicle has been here for thirty-seven days... 9 GW: Right. 10 SB: ...we either get a certificate of destruction on it or we'll, you know we'll take 11 ownership of it, you know, and to recoup our, some of out losses. 12 GW: Right. 13 SB: Uhm, it's, it a, you know, we, it's a leg...a legal process that we got through. And 14 uh, cars that are in pretty good shape, that'll look pretty decent, I kind of keep my 15 eye on just to see how long you know, you wouldn't believe the stuff that people 16 have left. I mean, you know... 17 GW: Right. 18 SB: ...and, and that car, although it's a, and older Pontiac, it was in pretty good shape. 19 GW: Right. 20 SB: You know it's a sharp, you know, in decent shape. So I thought that was, so at 21 that point after about, probably after about a week or so that it was here, I 22 couldn't tell you exactly what, how long, but it would have been about a week or 23 so. 24 GW: So you walk up, look in the window, well why is this car still here? 25 22 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 SB: Yeah (affirmative), I'm thinking, I'm looking it, thinking uh, yeah (affirmative), 2 maybe, maybe, maybe there's something wrong with it. Maybe the motor blew 3 up. 4 GW: Right. 5 SB: You know maybe they got their money or... 6 GW: But it's no different then if it had been a, a brand new black Mercedes Benz that's 7 been here a week just... 8 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 9 GW: You, you started thinking what's wrong with this picture? 10 SB: Not really what's wrong with the picture. No, because especially with a private 11 property removal the ... 12 GW: It's not like it was towed by the police and... 13 SB: Right. 14 GW: ...this person's in jail? 15 SB: Yeah (affirmative). 16 GW: It's... 17 SB: A private property removal, (sighs), the, a lot of the times they don't get picked up 18 because they've normally abandoned them because there's something wrong 19 with them. 20 GW: There's a reason why it was left there? 21 SB: There's a reason why. You know the car could look really nice on the outside 22 and it could have a blown motor. 23 GW: Right. 24 SB: They could have, they could have coasted into the Amscot. I'm familiar where 25 that Amscot is. I don't know the layout of it particularly well but I know where it is. 23 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 Uh, and they could have pulled in off of 50. They could have blown the engine 2 up. Somebody could have pushed her in there, towed it in there on a rope. 3 GW: Right. 4 SB: Hey, can I leave my car here? I got to go get a tow truck, and then not come 5 back for it. 6 GW: Never come back? 7 SB: Yes, It happens all the time. 8 GW: Right. 9 SB: So I, I didn't think anything other than, I didn't think anything was suspicious 10 when the car was here at all. 11 GW: Right. 12 SB: Not even with a smell in it, uh, just observing it in the yard. It was literally about 13 five seconds when he opened the car door up after he'd been telling that his 14 daughter was lying and his granddaughter was missing and blah, blah, blah, and 15 her car seat was in the car, and he opened the door when that was there I went 16 "oh, shit." 17 GW: Yeah (affirmative). 18 SB: And uh, that was the first time that I really thought anything could have hooky. 19 GW: And when the door opens up you, you remember saying... 20 SB: Oh, yeah (affirmative). Yeah (affirmative), I knew it was, it was, yeah 21 (affirmative), I knew... 22 GW: You, you said, "That's pretty rotten?" 23 SB: Yeah (affirmative), "That's pretty rotten," something like that. Something on 24 those lines, yeah (affirmative), uh... 25 GW: And he said, did he say anything in reply? 24 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 SB: (Sound of cellular phone beeping) Uh... 2 UF: (Inaudible). 3 SB: Not, not that I remember specifically, no. (Speaking into cellular phone to 4 unknown female) Hey, I'm in a meeting right now. Uh, can I call you back in a 5 minute? (Speaking to Detective White) Sorry. 6 GW: Okay. 7 UF: I've been calling (inaudible). 8 SB: (Speaking again into cellular phone to unknown female) Let me call you back in 9 a minute hon. (Resumes speaking with Detective White.) 10 GW: So do you have any other information that we, that you think we need to know 11 about? 12 SB: I really don't. I thought about this after I talked to Detective Melich on the phone. 13 I really don't. I mean you, you've got the car. You got the garbage bag. 14 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 15 SB: Everything in the car is as it was when it was here unless they took something 16 out after. Because you remember they drove it home. 17 GW: Right. 18 SB: Yeah (affirmative), he, they drove it out of here. Seeing them on the news and 19 seeing, and, and, and watching their reaction on TV, I don't know if you're 20 following it. Oh, you know we all have uh, you know. 21 GW Uh-hum (affirmative). 22 SB: Because we're somewhat connected to it. Uhm, they don't seem any different 23 than they did when they were here. 24 GW: Okay. 25 25 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 SB: Uhm, she was definitely, and I don't know want to use the word aggressive is 2 wrong, she was definitely the more vocal of the two of them. 3 GW: Right. 4 SB: Uhm, now knowing what she's been going through for the last month I totally 5 understand why she was off, you know, why she was a little agitated when she 6 came. 7 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 8 SB: You know not only has she got to go through all this crap, she said something 9 about uh, she said something about Jacksonville. I remember one con..one 10 thing she said was, "We thought the car was in Jacksonville," or something like 11 that. I wouldn't swear to that. I wouldn't, but it was, she said something to that 12 effect that either they were in Jacksonville or they thought the car was in 13 Jacksonville or something on those lines. Again, I don't pay a lot of attention to 14 it. We hear it day in/day out. 15 GW: Right. 16 SB: Uhm, but now, you know now seeing, seeing them as much as I have on, you 17 know, on the, on, on the media, they're as they were when they were here. He's 18 much more the, he was much more the quieter one of the two uhm, (inaudible). 19 GW: Kind of in the background? 20 SB: Y...yes, but not, I wouldn't say kind of like sheltered in the background. Not kind 21 of like timidly in the background. Just a, a, a, quieter personality I think. 22 GW: Okay. 23 SB: But he was, he was, he was charming. He was very apologetic. He was very 24 upset. You know you could tell in his demeanor that he was upset. 25 GW: Uh-hum (affirmative). 26 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 SB: ...uhm, that his daughter had been lying to him and blah, blah, blah and, and uh, 2 you could tell they'd been rowing. Mr. and Mrs. Anthony they've been rowing, 3 bickering, whatever. You could just tell. You, you, but uh, again, their car got 4 impounded and they uh, you know they, they've got a two, three hundred dollar 5 bill, whatever it is to pay and I'd have been pissed off too, you know, so. 6 GW: Well I, I don't know why you wouldn't be. 7 SB: So other than that I don't, I really don't have, and I've thought about it and 8 thought about it and thought about it to see if there's anything I can up with extra, 9 but I wish, I mean, hindsight oh, you wish, you'd pay more attention to something, 10 but why would you? 11 GW: Well... 12 SB: I get... 13 GW: Uh... 14 SB: ...a hundred, a hundred and something cars a month through here. Why would I 15 pay any more attention? 16 GW: Obviously you, you know, believe it or not you've paid a ton of attention. You've, 17 you know the, the mind is an important thing and a lot of times we, we don't give 18 the mind the credit that it does. But I mean look at the information that you 19 processed, you know that you didn't know you were processing. 20 SB: Well unfortunately we live in a society like that, don't we? 21 GW: Yeah (affirmative). 22 SB: Uhm, and Orlando is. 23 GW: It's getting rough. 24 SB: Yes. 25 GW: Alright. 27 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG 1 SB: Yeah (affirmative), it is. 2 GW: Raise your right hand for me. Do you swear that the information you provided is 3 true and accurate to the best of your knowledge? 4 SB: I do. 5 GW: Alrighty. Okay, well it is still uh, July 24, 2008. It's 9:48 a.m., and that'll conclude 6 this interview. 7 End of recorded statement. 8 This transcript has been viewed for accuracy. 9 10 11 12 ________________________ 13 CORPORAL YURI MELICH, OSCO DEPUTY SHERIFF 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 28 Burch, Simon/Case #08-069208/GG

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