Ages ago doctors and police used to explain away as accidents the terrible injuries sometimes visited upon children by their parents.
In the recent past that terrible practice has been replaced by one even more pernicous - wrongfully accusing parents of murder when their children are killed by others or die in accidents.
The Jonbenet Ramsey case is typical. Even though there was evidence that an intruder entered the Ramsey home, Boulder Colorado police never looked for who that intruder was because it was much easier to simply accuse the parents of homicide. The Boulder police never conducted any thorough investigation. They satisfied themselves that the first circumstances they saw [which suggested the parents killed their child] was the truth. They latched onto that belief because it made their job easier. It's always easier to blame the parents then admit that you don't know who the culprit is. Police usually blame whoever is available when some circumstances justify such, and build theories based on that rather than explore alternative theories or investigate further.
Given this situation it's natural that today when a child dies in an accident or is killed by those unknown that the parents are often frightened to tell the police.
In the Casey Anthony case her father is a police detective. He of all people knows the peril any parent puts themselves in when informing the police of the death of a child in their care. It is not surprising that the Anthony family simply hid from anyone what happened to their child.
Watching the ridiculous prosecution case against Casey is very discouraging for anyone interested in justice.
The prosecution has no witnesses, no material or other physical evidence demonstating homicide. They have no facts to prove their hypothesis of homicide whatsoever. Instead of such they only produce junk scientists who claim that something must of decomposed in the trunk of Casey's car [a bird or cat perhaps?] The simple fact is their relying purely on conjecture to persuade the jury. So far it's worked pretty well with the public, which is solidly convinced that Casey is a murderer. Everyone from Bill OReilly to Nancy Grace to People magazine have all drank the koolaid in declaring the the "defense's case is weak."
They seem to have forgotten the defense doesn't need to put forward a case. All the defense need do is point out that the prosecution hasn't met the burdon of their case, which in a murder trial is a very high standard of proof indeed - much beyond the theorizing and speculation upon which the accusations against Casey Anthony reside.
This case will not be rendered on the facts however. The jury will find based on their prejudices and emotion. So far the rule of law is all but absent in Casey's courtroom as well as the media.