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July 18, 2011
Casey Anthony: to go far, far away
Casey Anthony eluded a determined media pack’s dogged pursuit, dropping out of sight after she was freed early yesterday, and public relations experts say staying scarce is the best short-term strategy for the widely despised mom who was acquitted of killing her little girl.
“I think she should definitely go underground for awhile,” said Boston public relations maven Peggy Rose. “Lay low, for several, several weeks. She is hated at the moment, but time does help fade the headlines. Time will tell what happens to Casey Anthony. I do think the world wants to hear from her at some point, but her big interview can wait.”
Flanked by heavily armed police officers in bulletproof vests and heckled by angry onlookers with taunts of “baby killer,” a blank-faced Anthony, 25, was released from Orange County Jail in Orlando, Fla., shortly before 12:10 a.m. yesterday, 12 days after a jury acquitted her of charges she murdered her 2-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony in 2008 and buried her in a garbage bag. Her lawyers said she has received death threats.
Asked how long it will take for the public to forget Anthony, attorney Elaine Whitfield Sharp, who defended British au pair Louise Woodward in the death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen of Newton in 1997, said, “It depends on when the public loses interest. Fifteen years wouldn’t be unreasonable. I don’t think she’s ever going to have a normal life. It’s very difficult to wipe the stain away.”
But Anthony, Sharp said, “may well decide to embrace” her infamy. “She may decide this is a turning point in her life and face her demons. We really don’t know what mettle she’s made of. She may surprise us all.”
KHJ Brand Activation chairman Greg John predicts Anthony will have a nearly impossible time rebranding herself. “Reality is perception, and 90 percent of the people in this country think she is guilty. The best thing for her to do is lay low and have everyone forget.”
Then there’s the question of how someone who lacks resources can disappear. Anthony is not without supporters, although she had just $538 in canteen money in her pockets when she was freed, and her parents reportedly don’t want her at home.
“If she goes somewhere remote — somewhere where no one knows her and she can set up roots — she can probably do it. It can be done,” said former Secret Service agent J.A. LaSorsa, a private investigator and security consultant. He cited Maine, Canada or the Northwest as places where Anthony might “disappear into obscurity” with a name change.
LaSorsa and Mark Chauppetta, a Norton gumshoe and author, suggested Anthony could still ink a multimillion-dollar book deal without compromising her safety or privacy.
“No publisher is going to out her,” Chauppetta said.
George K. Regan of Regan Communications Group added, “People may say they hate her, they despise her, but they’d read the book. Americans are obsessed with sex, athletes and public apologies, and she’s got two of the three.”
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0718experts_advise_casey_to_lay_low_urge_acquitted_mom_to_stay_out_of_headlines/srvc=home&position=4
Posted by Nealus at July 18, 2011 11:55 AM
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