The mother of a missing 2-year-old Florida girl was caught by photographers partying at a club June 20 -- after the date she claims her daughter disappeared.
The photographs, obtained by FOX News, show Casey Anthony smiling and posing with various people at an Orlando club called Fusion. She later would tell police that her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, had been missing since earlier in the month.
John Azzilano, the nightlife photographer who snapped the images, said 22-year-old Casey Anthony was enjoying herself.
"She seemed happy, as were most of the people there that night," Azzilano told FOX News. "She seemed all right, having a good time, just like people our age would that night."
Casey Anthony remains in jail on charges of child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation. She is being held on a $500,000 bond and is a person of interest but has not been charged in Caylee’s disappearance, which prosecutors say is beginning to look like a homicide.
When Anthony and her family first reported Caylee’s disappearance on July 15, she told police the girl already had been missing for a month. She also claimed that Caylee had been taken by a baby sitter, who also vanished.
Since that time, police have expressed doubt in many of the details of Anthony’s story. They also have testified that they found hair samples in the trunk of a car Anthony had been driving and said the trunk had an odor of decomposition.
Michael Walsh, one of Anthony’s attorneys, told FOX News on Tuesday that she initially had not been forthcoming with the timeline of Caylee’s disappearance because the babysitter had made threats and Anthony feared for her daughter’s safety.
“I think this young girl was going through the pressures and stress of what she was dealing with,” he said.
Walsh confirmed that Anthony had been at the club Fusion but disputed that the photos were taken after the daughter’s disappearance. He also said that Anthony was working at the club as "one of the promotion girls at that club," but declined to elaborate.
The nightclub photos have surfaced following the release of phone conversations she has made from jail, videotaped meetings with family members and other recordings related to the case. A judge Tuesday denied Anthony's request to stop the further release of such recordings.
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