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Sarasota couple builds crosses for Caylee Anthony memorial

<p>Wally and Jeanie Goodnough have built -- and replaced -- a memorial to Caylee Anthony in Orlando. WTSP photo</p>

Today, would have been Caylee Anthony's 11th birthday.

She was murdered 8 years ago. While her murder made national headlines, no one was convicted in the toddler's death.

Crosses at the Orlando site where Caylee's body was found back in 2008 keep getting stolen. The most recent theft reported a couple weeks ago.

The memorial is just around the corner from Casey Anthony's former home where folks have left flowers, trinkets, and toys over the years.

The man who built that cross is from Sarasota. When he and his wife heard it had been stolen again, he immediately built another one.

Wally Goodnough shows the pictures of the original cross he built to create a memorial for Caylee Anthony. He says he knew he had to do something after Caylee's body was found in a wooded, swampy area in December 2008. A few days later his wife called him from work and asked what he was doing. "I said I'm making a present for a little girl ... that's when it started."

Wally and Jeanie Goodnough have built -- and replaced -- a memorial to Caylee Anthony in Orlando. WTSP photo

"It was just something that I knew spoke it him and it also spoke to me," said Wally's wife, Jeanine.

When Wally and Jeanine heard a few weeks ago that the original cross had been stolen, he built another one. Then they went back to the memorial site, cleaned it up and placed the new cross. "It's here ... in my heart. It needed to be done." said Wally.

The Goodnoughs can't say why exactly they built the crosses, they just felt led to do it. Jeanine tries to explain. "Maybe being a parent and a grandparent and the compassion and the love that we have for our children."

Wally hopes this is the last cross he will have to build. "To the people that come up here and steal those crosses ... they need to leave them alone. It's for a little girl."

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