(CNN) -- Cindy Anthony testified Tuesday, sometimes tearfully, of her efforts to rid her daughter's car of a terrible smell -- and her sadness at finding her granddaughter Caylee's favorite doll propped in the little girl's car seat.
On July 15, 2008, Cindy Anthony had not seen 2-year-old Caylee since June 16. She testified that she asked her daughter Casey Anthony about the little girl daily. Casey -- who she also had not seen -- gave her reason after reason why Caylee was unavailable, she said.
Caylee's skeletal remains were discovered in a wooded field in December 2008.
Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police in the death of her daughter. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
Cindy Anthony said Tuesday she asked repeatedly to speak to Caylee by telephone. "I missed hearing her little voice," she testified.
She said in testimony Saturday and Tuesday that when she asked about her granddaughter, Casey Anthony always had a reason why the girl wasn't available, including work meetings, a car accident and sudden plans to hang out at a hotel with a wealthy suitor Cindy Anthony said she had long heard about but never met.
"There was always a reason I missed her," Cindy Anthony said.
She testified Tuesday she and her daughter had a heart-to-heart on July 3 about several issues, including that Casey Anthony had moved out of her parents' home without warning. Casey Anthony asked her mother for space to work out some things, Cindy Anthony testified. She said she "backed off" but continued to call daily asking if she could speak to Caylee.
On July 15, George and Cindy Anthony received a notice on their door. George Anthony picked up a certified letter from a tow yard, which said that Casey Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire -- registered to her parents -- had been there for a couple of weeks.
Cindy Anthony testified that her daughter had told her that the car was with her in Jacksonville, Florida, and she called her and told her "she had a lot of explaining to do." She asked her to come home.
After George Anthony drove the car home from the wrecker yard, Cindy Anthony, a nurse, said she smelled the car and asked, "What died?" She testified that she knew what human decomposition smelled like, but said it was just an expression and that she didn't really believe someone had died or decomposed in the car. She said that at the time she was satisfied that the smell was some garbage her husband said he found in the trunk.
But "the smell in the car was like something I had never -- it was pretty strong," she said.
After her husband left for work, Cindy Anthony said she retrieved her daughter's purse from the car, along with the doll. She broke into tears as she described finding the doll in Caylee's car seat, "like it was sitting where Caylee would have sat."
She tearfully recalled putting the doll on an ice chest in the garage and wiping its face and hands with a disinfecting wipe, then spraying its body and the interior of the car with Febreeze, a substance that helps eliminate odor. She said she also put a dryer sheet in the car.
Cindy Anthony also cried when photographs of the car seat and the doll were introduced into evidence, and when she testified about removing a toothbrush and other items from the little girl's backpack she found in the trunk.
"I went through and held some of Caylee's things, just because," she said.
Before testimony began Tuesday, Anthony's defense attorneys argued unsuccessfully to bar her brother, Lee Anthony, from the courtroom, saying he should not be able to listen to other testimony before he testifies. Defense attorneys previously were unsuccessful in barring Anthony's parents from the courtroom.
Prosecutors allege that Anthony used chloroform on her daughter, then suffocated her by putting duct tape over her nose and mouth.
Anthony's defense has claimed the little girl drowned in the Anthonys' pool on June 16, the day she was last seen, and that Anthony and her father panicked and kept the death a secret. George Anthony has denied that claim in testimony.
Anthony's defense attorney explains her behavior in June and July 2008 by saying she had been sexually abused as a child by her father -- and, to a lesser extent, her brother -- and was taught from a young age to hide her pain. George Anthony has also denied abusing his daughter in previous testimony.
Anthony has pleaded not guilty and denies harming her daughter or having anything to do with her disappearance. Defense attorney Jose Baez has said that once all the facts were known, it will become clear his client is innocent.
Despite what Anthony was telling her mother during the time Caylee was missing, testimony in the trial and evidence has showed she was still in Orlando, spending time with friends, staying with her boyfriend, going shopping and hitting nightclubs. Her former boyfriend and numerous friends and acquaintances have testified that she did not mention her daughter was missing. Instead, she insisted she was with a nanny, at the beach and other places.
Cindy Anthony testified her daughter was not answering her phone after the car was picked up July 15, so she contacted one of Casey Anthony's friends, Amy Huizenga. She picked Huizenga up at a mall and told her to take her to her daughter. She was directed to the home of Casey Anthony's then-boyfriend, Tony Lazzaro.
She convinced her daughter to leave with her and told her they were going to get Caylee, who Casey Anthony said was with the nanny. But she said Casey Anthony told her it wasn't a good idea for her to see Caylee and refused to direct her to where the child was. Cindy Anthony testified her daughter also didn't explain what had happened with her car. At one point, she testified, her daughter asked her to take her back to Lazzaro's and "I told her she wasn't going anywhere."
Later that night, Cindy Anthony notified police her granddaughter was missing. Her daughter told her that the nanny had kidnapped Caylee weeks ago, and that she had been looking for her on her own, authorities have said.
The prosecution
From the prosecution, the jurors have heard about an Anthony free of remorse who had an affinity for parties, drinking and sleepovers with men. During opening statements on May 24, the jury heard about how Anthony waited nearly 31 days before reporting Caylee missing.
During that period, she got a tattoo, participated in a "hot body" contest at an Orlando club and spent many nights at the apartment of her then-boyfriend Anthony Lazzaro, the prosecution said.
"No one else benefited from the death of Caylee Marie Anthony" said Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane-Burdick in her opening statements last week. "Caylee's death allowed Casey to live a good life, at least for those 31 days."
Prosecutors allege Anthony forced Caylee to inhale chloroform and then suffocated her by placing duct tape on the toddler's nose and mouth.
The defense
The defense painted a picture for jurors of a loving mother, whose dysfunctional family forced her to live in a state of denial. They argued the family held dark secrets, including that Anthony was sexually abused by her father and brother.
"It all began when Casey was 8 years old and her father came in and began to touch her inappropriately," Anthony's lead defense attorney, Jose Baez, said during his opening arguments Tuesday.
The defense says Caylee drowned in the family pool as the result of what Baez called "an accident that snowballed out of control."
He said Anthony's father, George, was privy to the accident and tried to cover up the drowning at Anthony's expense.
"As soon as Casey came around this corner and went back, she saw George holding Caylee in his arms," Baez said as he showed a diagram of the Anthony home and pool. "And shortly thereafter George began to yell at her, 'Look what you've done!'"
George Anthony was the first witness called after Baez's opening argument. He denied the molestation and any knowledge of the alleged drowning.
The witnesses
The prosecution team has brought in witnesses ranging from ex-boyfriends to women who partied with Anthony. But even those who knew the defendant seemed to describe two very different people.
When asked by prosecutors if Anthony's behavior changed after June 16, 2008 -- when Caylee was last seen -- some of the witnesses said Anthony was her usual self. She was friendly and upbeat, never mentioning that her daughter was missing and making excuses for the toddler's whereabouts, some of them testified.
When pressed by Baez, the same witnesses affirmed Anthony was a good mom with a strong bond with her daughter. During Friday's testimony, Mallory Parker, the fiancee of Anthony's brother Lee, broke down on the stand as she described the relationship between Anthony and Caylee as "amazing."
Anthony's father, George, recounted the day he retrieved her abandoned car from an Orlando tow yard. When pressed by Assistant State Attorney Jeff Ashton, the former police officer said the odor that came from his daughter's car smelled like a human corpse.
On Saturday, Anthony's mother, Cindy, recounted the answers Anthony gave her when questioned about Caylee's whereabouts.
Anthony told her Caylee was with a nanny while she was busy with work meetings, Cindy Anthony testified.
Anthony's demeanor
If the jurors are looking for answers in Anthony's face, they may come away empty-handed. While Anthony has broken down in court on several occasions, particularly when the subject turns to her relationship with Caylee, she is often stoic as she hears the recollections of the men and women who once made up her life.
On Saturday, Anthony was essentially stone-faced until a court recess in the middle of her mother's testimony. Then she was seen sobbing and speaking passionately to her lawyers. The defendant regained composure when her mother retook the stand.var cnnOmniPartner="TV-Nancy Grace"Watch Nancy Grace Monday through Sunday starting at 8 p.m. ET on HLN. For the latest from Nancy Grace click here.
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