This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," January 12, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Tonight, a new tape surfaces in the Caylee Anthony murder case. And here's the important question. What was this man doing at the scene, taping weeks before little Caylee's skull and other remains were found? Now, look at this video. A private investigator for the Anthony family captured on tape searching and ramming a metal rod into the ground in the very wooded area where little Caylee's remains were found. This video was shot over two days, November 15th and 16th, nearly a month before Caylee's body was found by a meter reader on December 11th.
WOFL reporter Holly Bristow joins us live. Holly, first of all, whose video is this? And I know there's a controversy over that.
HOLLY BRISTOW, WOFL: There is quite the controversy over that. Technically, the video was taken by a man by the name of James Hoover. He is a private investigator. He was working under the umbrella of DNA Investigations that is run by Dominic Casey. He is Cindy and George Anthony's current private investigator.
Now, since the Anthony family had both Dominic Casey and this other man, James Hoover, working for them at the time and this James Hoover guy was working under Dominic Casey's license, everybody on the Anthony side of this believes that this video does belong to the Anthony family and DNA Investigations.
And I will tell you that we did get ahold of the video. In fact, Geraldo's show got ahold of the video. That's basically how we've all been able to get ahold of this. FOX did not pay for this, but I have been told by some people from some other national media organizations that was peddled out there and this man was looking for money for this video almost a month ago.
VAN SUSTEREN: How was it that he happened to be in this particular area about three weeks before the remains were found?
BRISTOW: Well, Greta, I actually talked to James Hoover for the first time today. I've been calling him for more than a week, and he finally returned my phone call. He says that this is the first time that he actually did any sort of investigation with Dominic Casey. That's George and Cindy Anthony's private investigator.
Now, Dominic Casey tells me that he had read through the same discovery that we've all been poring through for months. And you may or may not remember, there was a woman by the name of Kiomarie Torres. She was a woman that grew up with Casey Anthony. They were friends. They were around the same age. They lived down the street. Well, in the discovery, she does say that there is a wooded area, that she took investigators back there, that that was a place that they used to go when they were teenagers to get away from their parents. They used to have, you know, just little, like, almost picnics back there.
And then this same woman told The National Enquirer that this was a place that she and Casey used to bury their gerbils and hamsters when they died throughout their childhood. Kiomarie Torres also, it says in some of the discovery, actually took one of the investigators from the Orange County sheriff's office back near that area -- I'm actually told it wasn't to the exact same area -- but said, You know what? If Casey did kill Caylee, if there is a body, I think that this is a place where you guys should look. Dominic Casey says he'd read over that another time and said, You know what? Maybe I should go check this out for myself.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, so here's the question. Did he videotape or were they in the place on November 15th and 16th, where on December 11th, the remains were found?
BRISTOW: From what Dominic Casey and from what James Hoover tell me, they weren't in the exact place. Dominic estimates that he was maybe about 150 feet to 200 feet away from where they believe Caylee's remains were found. It's pretty much the same wooded area. It's on the same side of the street. To the average person, it's pretty much the same area, just, you know, about 150 to 200 feet away.
VAN SUSTEREN: Holly, thank you.
BRISTOW: Certainly, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: There's more potentially significant news about the crime scene where Caylee's remains were found. Was Casey Anthony's car spotted near that wooded area? We're learning new information tonight from the group EquuSearch. The same private investigator who shot the video we just showed you also reportedly tells EquuSearch some stunning information. Could this end up placing Casey at the scene where Caylee was ultimately found on December 11th?
Tim Miller from EquuSearch joins us live. Tim, what was the information you did learn about that area? What was the tip?
TIM MILLER, TEXAS EQUUSEARCH: You know, this is one of the things that I've actually been with the investigators on. Unfortunately, Leonard Padilla said some things about, you know, what Jim Hoover came and told us, and it's one of the things that I've been working with the detectives on.
Of course, the story that we got from Hoover I can't really say what it is. It's part of the investigation. But it was nowhere even close to the stories that you're just reporting.
And you know, Greta, if I can say this real quick, I think everybody has just lost sight of what this whole thing is about. I mean, we find all these people out -- all these players out here that are making money off this and exploiting this thing and just forgot about this little girl and all the work detectives have done and we've done and other people have done from the bottom of their heart. You know, it's just saddening. None of these stories are consistent with anything. And again, people are exploiting this for their own personal profit. It's simply disgusting.
VAN SUSTEREN: Tim, I'm trying to figure this out, though, because Jose Baez, the lawyer for Casey Anthony, who sits in the slammer tonight facing the murder charge of this little child who's her daughter -- he's trying to get some information from you. What is he trying to get from you?
MILLER: Jose Baez, as far as I'm concerned, is not going to get one single piece of paper from me. Not one piece of paper.
VAN SUSTEREN: What does he want?
MILLER: He wants every single record...
VAN SUSTEREN: What is he trying go get?
MILLER: He wants every single record that we have. We have over 20,000 copies of paper, and Jose Baez is not getting one piece of paper. If the judge rules on that, you know, my attorney, Mark Nejame, that we will appeal that. We've got many reasons. We were never notified. I'm not going to put the information of 4,000-plus searchers out there with all their personal information.
You know what? These volunteers have been very, very valuable in the past on searches. They're going to be very valuable in the future on searches for missing children. And will they come the next time, when they're afraid that their information is going to be given out? We have not one piece of paper that will be valuable to Jose Baez in any way, shape or form. So I will fight this to the very, very end and -- and you know -- again, we're going to fight that one to the very end, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Did you receive a tip on November 8th, your organization, that was the least bit instructive in this investigation?
MILLER: I'm going to answer the question that is yes. And again, Leonard Padilla went on another show and said that we got a tip leading us to the area. It was not to there by Jim Hoover. I can say this, it was close to there. And the reason he gave us, the witness he gave us was nowhere close to what you reported. And then, of course, Leonard Padilla went on to say that EquuSearch lost the -- you know, lost the records and stuff.
And you know, I'm working very, very close with law enforcement on this. And law enforcement does have that written report from that lead that we got from Jim Hoover. So you know, all these stories are so inconsistent, it's -- it'll just make your head spin.
VAN SUSTEREN: Tim, thank you, as always.
MILLER: Thanks, Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Let's bring in your legal panel, Florida prosecutor Pam Bondi and criminal defense attorney Jeff Brown join us. Pam, there's obviously -- everyone seems to be crawling all over everybody else, trying to sort out the facts and the timing and everything else, but it does really matter what was in that area where her remains were found on December 15th -- you know, it matters when those remains were placed there, whether it's back in June or at some subsequent time. How do you sort this out?
PAM BONDI, FLORIDA PROSECUTOR: Well, Greta, as we've been saying, it's all going to come down to the timeline. They're going to use when her cell phone pinged in that area. I think they're going to argue that that's when she put the body there. And as we've discussed before, I think the plants that were growing -- I think the forensic evidence is going to be very important in this case because we've heard scientists say that those plants had been growing around that body for some time, so it had been placed there -- it had been there for quite a while. Could you imagine if those two investigators had actually been in the exact right spot and found that body?
VAN SUSTEREN: Actually, I mean, you know -- I mean, that's what the defense is probably going to be talking about, Jeff. I mean, I guess they're going to -- they want this tape. If I were the defense team, I'd want this tape and see if in any way, they were in the precise place where the remains were later found. You agree?
JEFF BROWN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, absolutely. And if you look at that videotape, which was about three weeks earlier, there doesn't seem to be a lot of water there. It looks to me like it's dry ground. And you know, the state's been saying, Oh, this area was covered under water. That's why the body wasn't found. Well, it doesn't look that way. It looks pretty dry to me. It doesn't look like there's water on the ground. So the big question's going to be, How long was that body there? And if it was there at a time when she was in custody, and then it wasn't there beforehand, you know, she's going to have a great alibi for that.
VAN SUSTEREN: It's the weirdest story, Jeff, how that meter reader happened to just stumble upon -- and having made calls in August -- I still don't get this. This is either the most incredible coincidence, or someone (ph) missing.
BROWN: And that's what I said from the beginning is it's just so weird that in this entire case, you have this meter reader that comes out there and literally tells law enforcement to come out. They look, they don't find it. And then he calls again. It's, like, if you know there's that body there, if it's so odd to you that you want to call, I don't understand why you're not there the next day, why you aren't pointing this out. Why is this so mysterious? People want to say...
VAN SUSTEREN: Well...
BROWN: ... Animals took it or something. It doesn't make any sense. And that's just the part that I come back to is...
VAN SUSTEREN: But in fairness to the sheriff's department, they probably got, like, 80 million, zillion crazy tips that they've got to chase down. And I mean...
BROWN: But this guy was out there.
VAN SUSTEREN: That's not -- you know, I understand that, but they probably got so many psychics and everybody else saying all sorts of things. But I guess the weird thing is, I'm thinking, like, what are the odds that someone could make a phone call in August and say, You better check this area -- and I think there were two phone calls, or maybe three - - and then four or five months later, in December, Pam, is the one who finds the remains. That's just peculiar to me. That's so weird.
BONDI: Oh, sure, it is. And her high school friend, you know, who was saying the same thing, that the body was out there. But then, the prosecution has Tim Miller to back up the fact that, yes, they did, indeed, try to search that area. It was under water. But of course, what Jeff just said, this video could end up helping the defense in that three weeks prior, the area was dry.
But I've been out there. I was out there with FOX. And that's a huge wooded area. It's just such a big, big area, and that would make sense why those defense investigators wouldn't have seen the body or...
BROWN: But the meter reader saw it.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: But then that just makes it weird again.
BROWN: That's what's so odd.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: That even makes it weirder that the meter reader saw it.
BROWN: The meter reader -- yes, he saw it, and then he brings them back and he doesn't point it out to them? That doesn't make sense. If I see a body, trust me, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be camped out there.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, I don't think...
BROWN: And then...
VAN SUSTEREN: ... He said he saw a body...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: OK, but what does he see that's so odd? OK, but something there makes him call. It doesn't make any sense.
VAN SUSTEREN: And something there makes him...
BROWN: It's not just a log.
VAN SUSTEREN: ... Makes him go back.
BROWN: Yes...
(CROSSTALK)
VAN SUSTEREN: But I don't know. Anyway, we'll find out. We're not going to give this one up, obviously. Everyone's all over this story. Pam, Jeff, thank you.
BONDI: Thank you.
BROWN: All right.
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