I have frequently said to DH about many cases, "Forget looking at tiny little details to see if there is one magic ta-da clue that makes it all click, like on TV shows. Most of the time, you can just look at the big picture and use common sense and the answer will be staring you in the face." That's how it is here. Aside from the gigantic red flag of not reporting her child missing for a month while she partied her nights away, seemingly carefree, the biggest "in your face" clue, IMHO, is the whole issue of the nanny.
1. Unemployed people do not NEED a nanny. They have no job to go to. She lied about having a job for 2 years, but since there was no job, there was no need for a nanny of any sort.
2. People who are leeching off others for money, stealing friends' checkbooks, stealing cans of gas from their parents because they can't afford to buy gas, etc., have no MONEY to pay a nanny for a week, let alone two years. I know women who don't work, yet have nannies, but their husbands many a LOT Of money. There is ample evidence that Casey scraped by any way she could, on a constant basis. Therefore, there was no money for a nanny.....the nanny an unemployed person did not even need.
3. Aside from the strange fact that NO ONE ever met, talked to, or saw a photo of this supposed nanny, there is the sobering reaction of little Caylee herself when asked about the nanny. George told police that he had, from time to time, asked Caylee about her day with Zanny.....what they'd done.....had she had fun, etc. She always gave him a blank look and was nonresponsive. She had no answer, In other words, she had NOTHING to tell him EVER. From the videos and interviews with friends and relatives, anyone can see Caylee was a bright and extremely verbal child who was what I call "a talker." (Kind of like my DD) The sort that would yak on about her day, what she saw, what she'd done or learned, etc. The kind you love to listen to because they are so animated. In fact, George told police that when he asked Caylee about seeing ANYONE else, such as Casey's friends, she jabbered about them immediately. Anyone with a lick of sense could see the child knew no one named Zanny. Zanny did not exist...There was no nanny.
The whole "nanny" issue is a huge, glaring red flag in this case. Not the fact that no one can find her, so much as the fact that Casey wouldn't have needed a nanny, couldn't have paid a nanny, and chatty little Caylee clearly didn't know this "nanny." Casey's bad guy is obviously pure fiction.
George is not a stupid man and on top of that, he's been a policeman. On some level, he KNOWS Casey killed Caylee. As I said to DH last night, "You have to wonder if Casey was created by the family dynamics or was she just born a sociopath." Because scarily enough, some people appear to be. What must George be going through (whether he ever helped her cover up or not) to know his daughter killed his granddaughter and then have to wonder what part, if any, he played in creating such a monster? The guilt must be overwhelming, whether it's deserved or not. Because parenting mistakes or not, the guilt lays squarely on Casey's shoulder's, not George and Cindy's.
I haven't listened to the news, so I don't know about any suicide attempt. But I don't doubt it, if he finally reached the point when he could no longer deny the obvious and had to face the truth. Losing a granddaughter to murder is enough to send you over the edge, but to know your child/her own mother was the killer may be too much to endure.