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Skeleton Found Near Caylee's Home

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By JENNIFER LEIGH jleigh@wfla.com and TOM BRENNAN

tbrennan@tampatrib.com

Published: December 12, 2008

Updated: 12/12/2008 12:22 am

ORLANDO - Authorities would not say skeletal remains found Thursday only a three-minute walk from the home of Caylee Anthony were those of the missing toddler.

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

Thursday night, investigators searched the home belonging to the grandparents of Caylee, who often lived 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.

Caylee's mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, insists that she left the girl, who was 2 years old when she disappeared, with a babysitter in June. The child's grandmother reported to law enforcement in July that she had not seen Caylee for a month and that her daughter's car smelled like death.

Caylee's mother has since been charged with first-degree murder.

On 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.

News of the discovery attracted onlookers who ignored the constant rain and wind, lining the sidewalks and roadways in the area of Hope- spring Drive.

"This has really captivated this entire community," said Luis Carpena, 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 skull that was found was underwater 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 were those of Caylee. "Now the investigation continues," he said. "There is a lot of lab work to do. There is a lot of DNA work to do. There is a lot of crime scene work to do."

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.

Beary said authorities had searched the surrounding neighborhood several times since she was reported missing.

Allen Moore, a spokesman for the Orange County Jail, said Casey Anthony was told about Thursday's discovery. She was placed under psychological observation, not suicide watch, and remains under protective custody. Her attorney, Jose Baez, visited her at the jail for about 90 minutes Thursday.

He said FBI and forensic investigators would work through the weekend to identify the remains.

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."

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 Anthony's defense attorney, told the Orlando Sentinel that he hoped the discovery is not related to their case.

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

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

This month, the Orange County State Attorney's Office turned over almost 800 pages of documents that showed that 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 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.

After Caylee's grandmother first called authorities in July to say she hadn't seen Caylee, police immediately interviewed Anthony and said that everything she told them about her daughter's whereabouts was false. The babysitter was nonexistent, and the apartment where Anthony said she had last seen Caylee had been empty for months. Anthony also lied about where she worked.

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 Thursday that 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.

Anthony's attorney, 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.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. News Channel 8 reporter Jennifer Leigh can be reached at (813) 314-5317. Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698.

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