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Investigators Search Anthony Home After Body Found

Associated Press

Orange County Sheriff Dept. Detective Sgt. John Allen points crime scene technicians toward the area where skeletal remains of a small child were found.

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By JENNIFER LEIGH and TOM BRENNAN

News Channel 8 and The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2008

Updated: 12/11/2008 09:56 pm

Related Links

• Photos From The Scene
• Officials Keep Mum
• Map: Where Remains Found

Caylee Marie Anthony

ORLANDO - Authorities won't say the skeletal remains found Thursday a three-minute walk from the home of Caylee Anthony are those of the missing 3-year-old.

Orange County sheriff's spokesman Carlos Padilla said the find is enough for authorities to seek a search warrant for the Anthony home.

Padilla said investigators cordoned off the home belonging to the grandparents of Caylee Anthony, who often stayed there with her mother.

Authorities remain tight-lipped about their efforts.

"It would be premature to speculate," said Angelo Nieves, another sheriff's office spokesman. "We're not going to release any more information at this time. We don't want to compromise the investigation."

Authorities searched the home where Caylee and her mother lived again on Thursday night, looking for more clues.

Caylee's mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, insists that she left the girl with a babysitter in June, but she didn't report her missing until July. The mother has been charged with first-degree murder.

Thursday, a utility worker stumbled upon remains of a small child less than a half-mile from where the girl lived. Investigators were trying to identify the remains. The medical examiner left with the remains about 3 p.m.

News of the discovery attracted onlookers who lined the sidewalks and roadways in the area of Hopesprings Drive.

They ignored the constant rain and wind.

They – people who had followed the disappearance of 3-year-old Caylee Anthony -- couldn't stay away.

"This has really captivated this entire community," said Luis Carpena, one of the people who drove to the neighborhood because of the discovery. "You never think this will be so close, something like this will happen so close to home."

The child's skull was under water during previous searches for the toddler, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Kevin Beary said Thursday that investigators could not immediately say whether the remains are those of Caylee.

That didn't stop those in the crowd from reaching that conclusion.

"She can finally have a decent burial, and I know that's been my wish all along," Dorothy Jackson said. "One way it's sad, because the reality is there. And the other way is joyful because she's not thrown out like a bag of garbage anymore."

Beary says authorities have searched the surrounding neighborhood several times since she went missing in June.

Beary says FBI and forensic investigators will work through the weekend to identify the remains in what they consider a top-priority case.

Forensic experts said it was harder for investigators to identify a child's remains than an adult's, but they would have a few methods to pursue.

Medical examiners would probably look at photos of the child along with the skull, hoping to make a bone structure comparison, said Lee Jantz, coordinator of the forensic anthropology center at the University of Tennessee.

Bill Manion, a pathologist and an assistant medical examiner for Burlington County, N.J., said DNA testing could determine an identification even without other DNA from the victim, "as long as we know who the parents are or siblings."

Many in the crowd today wore "Find Caylee" T-shirts. Some cried.

Friends of Caylee's family didn't want to jump to the conclusion that this was Caylee. They also said they hoped the discovery would not cast more suspicion on her mother.

Todd Black, a spokesman for Casey Anthony's defense attorney, told the Orlando Sentinel he hoped the discovery is not related to their case.

"If it is, it is a sad day," he said.

Nieves said officials told Caylee's grandparents about the find.

The FBI and forensic investigators were working at the scene, which sits on the edge of the Anthonys' neighborhood about 10 miles southeast of downtown Orlando.

For several months, Anthony's family, police and volunteers from across the country have searched for the little girl.

The child's grandmother told investigators in July that she had not seen Caylee for a month and that her daughter's car smelled like death.

Earlier Thursday, a judge had delayed the mother's trial from January to March.

This month, the Orange County State Attorney's Office turned over almost 800 pages of documents that showed someone at the Anthony home had done Internet searches for terms such as "neck breaking" and "household weapons."

In mid-March, someone used the Anthonys' laptop to do Google and Wikipedia searches for "peroxide," "shovels," "acetone," "alcohol" and "chloroform." Traces of chloroform, which is used to induce unconsciousness and also is a component of human decomposition, were found in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car during forensic testing, the documents state.

Orange County Jail officials also released several hours of videotape of visits to Casey Anthony by family from July and August, when she was arrested on charges of neglect and other counts but before she was charged with first-degree murder.

During the videotaped visits, Anthony's parents tell her they are trying hard to find the little girl. Anthony does not appear to add information to aid that search beyond her account that a babysitter took the girl.

The Orange County State Attorney's Office said in a news release last week that "it is not in the best interest of the people of the state of Florida" to pursue the death penalty against Anthony.

Danielle Tavernier, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors' office, said the office was sticking by the decision for now but reserved the right to reassess the situation once the investigation of the body is concluded.

Tavernier and representatives of other prosecutors' offices said criminal charges could be amended.

Messages left with Caylee Anthony's grandparents and her attorney were not immediately returned.
Orange County Circuit Judge Stan Strickland today agreed to continue Casey Anthony's case until March. It was set to begin in January.

Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, asked for the delay to have additional time to review the pretrial discovery in the case.

Baez said he would ask to have the trial moved from Orlando.

"I do know where, but I don't want to discuss it at this time," he said in an interview on the courthouse steps.

Leonard Padilla, a bounty hunter who had bailed Casey out of jail and searched for Caylee, told WKMG-TV that "it's a bittersweet day."

"We drove by it dozens of times. We heard that there were searches going on in that area," he said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. News Channel 8 reporter Jennifer Leigh contributed to this report. Tribune reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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