Casey Anthony trial: Caylee Marie drowned in family swimming pool, defense says

It's been a day of bombshells during opening statements in Casey Anthony's first-degree murder trial.

First, the prosecution said, for the first time, that duct tape was the murder weapon Casey Anthony used to kill her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie, in the summer of 2008.

Then, it was the defense's turn, and right out of the gate, a revelation:

Caylee was never missing.

On June 16, 2008, she drowned in the family swimming pool on Hopespring Drive, according to defense attorney Jose Baez.

"For a horrible tragedy, a common tragedy, are we all here today," Baez said.

And then the most salacious bombshell: Starting at age eight, Casey's father, George Anthony, "came into her room and began to touch her inappropriately," Baez said.

"These ugly secrets will come out at this trial. And you'll see what makes Casey Anthony act the way she does."

While the prosecution used its opening to outline the lies Casey Anthony told for the 31 days her daughter was missing – and beyond — the defense couched this case as a horrible accident.

"This is not a murder case. This is sad, tragic accident."

Baez, during his opening, continued to verbally nail George Anthony, calling him an abuser who instilled a "dark place" of denial in his daughter with sexual abuse that she was able to access even after her own child was dead.

Defense attorney Jose Baez said Anthony never reported Caylee missing because she was never missing.

"We're not here to talk about how inappropriate Casey acted," Baez said. "We're here to find out exactly how Caylee died. That's the key issue throughout this entire case," reports CBS affiliate WKMG.

Baez said it is not a case of murder or child abuse. He went on to describe alleged sexual abuse Casey Anthony had sustained from her father George Anthony, according to the station.

At the beginning of his statement, Baez also promised to tell jurors exactly what happened, saying it will have a lot to do with the meter reader who found Caylee Anthony's remains, whom he identified as Roy Kronk, reports WKMG.

Opening statements began just after 9 a.m. with the prosecution providing a timeline of Anthony's whereabouts from the last time Caylee was seen till the day her remains were found in the woods near their home in December 2008.

The state attorney concluded her opening statement at 11:40 a.m. stating the Caylee was not kidnapped as Anthony had claimed before, and instead Anthony is guilty of first-degree murder.