Casey Anthony’s Former Roommates Speak out for the First Time

Two of Casey Anthony‘s former roommates, whom she lived with prior to the disappearance of her daughter in 2008, are speaking out about the case at last.

Casey Anthony’s daughter, Caylee, disappeared in June of 2008 at the age of two. The case drew national attention, as Anthony was charged with murdering her child. She was later acquitted in 2011, but the case was a contentious one every step of the way.

At the time of Caylee’s disappearance, she and her mother lived with Casey’s parents. However, for some time before that, the single mom and her daughter had stayed with two friends, Clint House and Nathan Lezniewicz. They appeared on Dr. Oz on Tuesday to discuss the case.

“I remember specifically that the police came over and wanted to search our apartment real quick,” Lezniewicz recalls on the show. “We asked them ‘Okay, what is the gravity of the situation right now, like what exactly is going on?’ The officers looked at us and said, “We do not know where Caylee is and apparently she’s been missing for 30 days.’”

“My heart sank,” Lezniewicz continued. “I’m thinking, ‘Wait. Thirty days? What do you mean 30 days?’”

Lezniewicz said he had a hard time believing the police because he had seen Casey Anthony during the time that Caylee was missing. “Nothing’s been wrong,” he remembers thinking. “She’s been over here, and nothing’s been wrong. Yes, Caylee hasn’t been here, but we thought she was with the nanny or the grandparents.”

“It was like a punch to the gut,” added House.

Both Lezniewicz and House say the case continues to haunt them to this day, especially because there was never a conclusive end to it.

“I have a year-and-a-half-old son,” says House. “About the same age. And the thing that really haunts me is thinking about that is if I was on trial for the murder of my child and I was acquitted, I wouldn’t sleep another day until I found out who killed my kid.”

“The other painful thing to think about is, ‘Was Caylee in the trunk of Casey’s car when we passed by it to go to school every day?’ That’s hard to think about.”

Caylee Anthony’s remains were found in December of 2008, in a wooded area just a few hundred feet from her grandparents‘ home. Casey Anthony was charged with murder, but was ultimately acquitted three years later.