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Orange County Deputies Say Search For Tot Still On

The Associated Press

Casey Anthony wipes tears from her eyes at a bail hearing at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando on Tuesday. The 22-year-old mother reported her daughter missing last week, more than a month after the girl is said to have disappeared.

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The Associated Press

Published: July 24, 2008

ORLANDO - Hope remains that a missing 2-year-old Orlando girl is still alive, although prosecutors say the case is beginning to look like a homicide.

The girl's mother, Casey Anthony, 22, is charged with child neglect and lying to investigators. Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland set her bail at $500,000 Tuesday, saying the law did not allow him to hold her without bail.

He set the unusually high amount after being told there was evidence of human decomposition in Anthony's yard and car. Her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, has been missing since mid-June.

"Not a bit of useful information has been provided by Ms. Anthony as to the whereabouts of her daughter," Strickland said. "And I would add that the truth and Ms. Anthony are strangers."

Anthony is charged with child neglect, making false statements to officials and obstructing a criminal investigation. Authorities say she did not report the girl missing until last week, and only then at her own mother's insistence.

Sheriff's deputies said Anthony's car smelled of decomposition, and a cadaver-trained German shepherd noted a smell of human remains in the car and her yard. They said they found a stain, dirt and what seemed to be Caylee's hair in Anthony's trunk. A search of the yard turned up no body.

"The risk of her flight if she is released on some low bond increases exponentially, especially now that she's heard this additional evidence and that she is their person of interest," Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane-Burdick said.

Deputies emphasized they are still looking for the girl — alive — and asked that anyone with information step forward.

Defense attorney Jose Baez requested bail be set around $10,000. He said Anthony's family can't pay a high bail and she has the right to freedom while facing lesser charges.

"This is not a capital case, and if it were they certainly would file it, if they had evidence to," Baez said. "There is circumstantial evidence of a possible homicide, I will give them that. But circumstantial evidence has not made them confident enough to charge her with any specific homicide or kidnapping, or any capital offense."

Anthony's parents became concerned after her car was towed from a check-cashing business where it had been parked for days. She and the child lived with her parents, and she told them she worked as an event planner at an area theme park.

Investigators say Anthony was unemployed, and a purported babysitter seems never to have existed. The mother and child had not been home in the month before investigators were notified that Caylee was missing. Investigators think the girl's father is dead.

Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, acknowledged in court that her daughter had lied before, but said she was a caring mom. The registered nurse thinks the girl is alive and that Casey Anthony lied to deputies because she felt threatened. Cindy Anthony said she would be willing to sell her house to free her daughter.

"I know Casey as a person," she said. "I know what she is for a mother, and I know there's only one or two reasons why Casey would be withholding something about Caylee. I believe that it's something that someone is holding over her and threatening her in some way."

Casey Anthony's face filled with tears at the hearing while watching her parents at the witness stand and again after Strickland set bail.

"Casey, we love you!" yelled Cindy Anthony as the courtroom cleared.

Her daughter nodded and sobbed before being led away in chains.

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