Caylee Anthony – Orlando Search at Little Econ River

It was around 11:30AM,  November 13, 2008 when I received the
initial call asking if I would be willing to assist in a search for missing
2 year old Calyee Anthony.

3am, November 14, 2008. I wait outside a grocery stores parking
lot for a friend to arrive to share a ride. The search is to be
conducted in Orlando Florida’s Little Econ River. The river is dark,
filled with debris, and alligators.

We arrive at around 7:30am to see the site, find our spot and unload
our gear. Between the time we arrived and the time we entered the
water, which was around 10:20am, a number of news stations as well
as curious onlookers have set themselves up along the river.

Everyone was quite polite and respectful.  We received our orders,
if we find something, we bring it up, keep it below water level and
to pass it off to only one of two people. Jason and I were in the water
not more than 5 minutes when we feel something. I say feel because it
was pitch black and we were only in maybe 4 – 5 feet of water. Zero
visibility. We communicated through hand touching. We both knew
what we had to do next. Carefully we brought the item to the surface,
waved to shore (that is me waving in the video) to get the attention of
one of the individuals to transfer the item. Once we passed the item
over, we headed back into the water.

We remained working our way along the bottom, feeling with your hands
for objects, then feeling those objects to see if we found a soda can or some
garbage. Sometimes you could not tell and would have to come up into
the light to look and we usually headed right back down. Jason and I
remained in the water for over an hour.

I vividly remember sticking my head out of the water. I am wearing
a hood and I hear someone. I look in the direction of the sound and a
woman is at the edge of the river yelling something to me. I can’t make
it out, so I swim closer and as I near her, I pull the hood off my ear and
she saying “God bless you.” My heart skipped a beat and I am reminded
of why I am here, I have to find Caylee.

Jason and I exited the water after exhausting our tank. We exchange tanks
and eat lunch. Now here shows you the hearts of the people around the
world. We had so much food and fluids delivered to us by local businesses
where some of the items were paid for by citizens living in other states.
One deliverer tells us a woman from Arazona phone in the order. Literally
a large cooler full of quiznos sandwiches. We had folks walking up and laying
down cases of water, gatoraide, food at the police line we had set up.
I was pleased to see how well people respected the boundries. We had one
gentlemen pull up and unload water, food and even started the grill and
grilled burgers and dogs for us, right there. We were not alone!

Jason and I were taken for a walk to another potential area where Caylee
could be. We discussed priorities, possibilities, probabilities as we headed
back to the main search site.

Jason and I headed back into the water around 2pm. This time we were
given a different location and instructions on how they wanted the search
conducted. The second in, Jason and I had it down. We could now cover
more ground, more thorough after our first pass.

Here is where I heard . . . . the alligator. I promise you, when they tell you
sound travels in water, fast and clearer than air, believe me they’re right.
I’m searching through the silt when I hear the roar/moan of an alligator and
it sounded as though it was somewhere right around me. I could not tell which
direction, all I can tell is it was LOUD and clear. I freeze, turn a 90 towards
what I believe is the direction of our side of the river and move slowly and
cautiously. I turned out to be right. I ended up near our camp. Phew! I report
the alligator and the rifles come out.

We end up with one visible alligator that decided to visit our area. I believe
it was saying, I know you are there, and now you know I am here. This is my
territory. Now we understand this, I’ll go on my way and I’ll let you dive here.
Nice…

It’s around 4:00pm, a diver is sent into the water to retrieve Jason and I.
Upon exiting the water, all the staff diving, our shore support and bounty hunter
Leonard Padilla come over to shake our hands. We get together as a group.
This is when it got emotional for me again. The folks that were still around
came over to the line and started taking pictures. There must have been 40+
people and the news all around us taking picture. People saying, things to
me like, I have a whole new respect for divers. God Bless you. Thank you.

It humbles you, yet in the back of my mind, I did not find little Caylee Anthony,
I failed.

http://www.wesh.com/video/17983184/index.html?taf=orl

You may know the story from that point. Not long after our search, little
Caylee Anthony was found.

Larry Davis

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