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Judge throws out defamation lawsuit against Casey Anthony

Zenaida Gonzalez filed suit against Anthony 7 years ago

A federal judge has thrown out a defamation lawsuit filed against Casey Anthony by Zenaida Gonzalez.

[READ: Gonzalez v. Anthony ruling ]

In a defamation lawsuit Gonzalez filed against Anthony in 2008, she claimed Anthony framed her as the babysitter who kidnapped and killed Anthony's 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

The judge ruled on Friday that the lawsuit will not proceed.

In 2008, video from the Orange County Jail captured Anthony complaining to her parents that detectives were not doing enough to question a woman named "Zenaida Gonzalez," who lived in Kissimmee.

The Zenaida Gonzalez who filed the defamation suit believe she is the one who Anthony was referring to and claims her reputation was ruined as a result of the connection.

That Gonzalez lived in Kissimmee and had visited the exact same apartment complex where Anthony originally told detectives she had left her daughter with a babysitter named Zenaida Gonzalez.

For years, Anthony has denied she was talking about the plaintiff.  During her criminal trial, Anthony's lawyers claimed Caylee Anthony drowned in a swimming pool and was not kidnapped by a babysitter.

A jury acquitted Anthony of murder in 2011.  After her acquittal, Anthony filed for bankruptcy.

Federal bankruptcy judge K. Rodney May, who discharged Anthony's debts in 2013, was asked to decide whether Gonzalez might be entitled to money from Anthony.

In his ruling dismissing Gonzalez's claim, Judge May concluded that Anthony's statements to her parents did not harm the Gonzalez.

"(Anthony's) fabricated version of events did not implicate Plaintiff in the disappearance of the child," May wrote in his ruling.

News 6 has reached out to Gonzalez's attorneys to see if they will appeal the ruling.

A defamation lawsuit filed against Anthony by Roy Kronk remains open in bankruptcy court.  Kronk, a former Orange County meter reader, found Caylee Anthony's skeletal remains in 2008.

Check back for more on this story.


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