Posted on 09/17/2008 5:44:44 AM PDT by Red Badger
Homeless and without a job, Zenaida Gonzalez sat in her hotel room and took comfort in the arms of her youngest daughter.
Gonzalez has chosen not to show her face on camera.
She has been sucked into the vortex of one of the most highly-charged, controversial, missing child's case the nation has ever seen, and for Zenaida, it all started with her name.
On July 15 Orange County sheriff's deputies first learned that Caylee Anthony, then 2, was missing, and had been missing for 31 days.
Mother Casey Anthony, 22, claimed her daughter had been kidnapped by the babysitter. She said she dropped the toddler off with the babysitter on her way to work at the Sawgrass apartments in East Orange County.
According to the story Anthony told investigators, she returned to pick Caylee up, but both had vanished.
Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez was the name Anthony gave investigators during her interrogation.
"When she said Zenaida Gonzalez it turned my life around. It turned into a point where I wished I wasn’t Zenaida Gonzalez. I wish my name was something else because it made my life that impossible," Gonzalez said.
She said she never knew Anthony in anyway.
It’s still a mystery if Caylee ever had a babysitter by that name. Anthony’s friends never saw her, and her family never met her.
Investigators searched for the babysitter and never found her, but they did find a woman with the same name.
"I never thought my life would be like this. Never in a million years," Gonzalez said.
Although Zenaida Gonzalez never lived at the Sawgrass apartments, she did look at the complex while apartment hunting.
The June 17 record of Gonzalez’s visit is on file at the apartment office.
Law enforcement called her in for questioning.
Gonzalez said she almost died when she heard she had been accused of kidnapping.
"I was in shock," Gonzalez said.
She had to convince investigators that they had the wrong Zenaida, that she did not know Casey Anthony or Caylee.
A turning point came when detectives showed Anthony a picture of Gonzalez and she did not recognize the woman she claimed cared for her child.
For Gonzalez, the damage was done. She said she lost her job managing a cleaning crew. Her boss told her they couldn't let one name bring a company down.
Gonzalez said she is afraid for her family's safety. She gets hate mail daily for Zanny the nanny -- that's why she asked not to show her face on camera.
"She doesn’t know how much damage she has done. Not only to me, that she has done to them, my children. They came out of me. I raised them by myself and now she is hurting them more than me," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez is not sure how this will end -- or if it ever will.
“Look at the damage she’s done. No one in their right mind would do that,” Gonzalez said.
Any FReepers in the Orlando area that have businesses might want to look at hiring this lady........
Ping.........
Water board Mom until she talks...
I am (almost) serious...
Zanny the Nanny is code word for giving your child Xanax to knock them out while you go out.
Did Casey know someone at those apartments? Was it happenstance?
Someone else mentioned on prior posts that Zana the Nana (sp? and IIRC) is a street term describing using Xanax on kids so they'd be out of it and mommy can go out partying.
I'm just curious how such a specific name came up.
What is significant is that Ms. Gonzales actually toured the apartments as a prospective renter a few months before the Caylee case started. These are the apartments that Casey claimed she dropped off Caylee at Zenaida’s for months, but could not tell police which apartment she lived in, claiming Zenaida was always waiting outside to take Caylee. The apartment rental office keeps records of the names of people that tour. Casey may have gotten the name from their records somehow..........
What kind of a Women would not be hysterical over her missing child?
Saw her name on the visitors list.
A sociopathic one...........
Seriously?
Yes, very very sad.
Here’s a question: if Casey gets any money from a publicity deal on this case, could this Zenaida sue her for defamation of character????
She'd have a difficult time proving that SHE is the Zenaida that Casey was talking about. However, Zenaida might get some money from any movie made from this case.............
Oh well, I was just hoping to stick it to Casey in some way... lol
When you say “one county over” that can be a lot. Between Orlando and the coastal are of Brevard is a lot of swamp. My mother in law lives in Palm Bay/Melbourne. We drive that lonely stretch of road thru the swamp between St. Cloud/Kissimmee and Palm Bay fairly regularly......
Of course when this case first started, casey and her entire family swore that they hadn't seen Caylee since the 9th of June, which would have been the exact weekend this Zenaida was robbed.
That IS a coincidence! But I don’t think Casey is that clever. She may have had contact with the burglars tho............snicker.....
Thanks. Thought that may be the case. But wasn’t certain. This begs the question as to when she visited the apartment (had to have been on or near the same day Zenaida did). If before Caley’s disappearance, big issue, then was pre-meditated. If after, maybe looking for any way out she could. Why pick such a distinctive name, though? Why not the equivalent of Jane Smith?
Casey can claim whatever she wants. I have no doubt she killed her little girl.
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