She was only 2 how could someone take her life

[mammabear011909]

Caylee Anthony's Remains Identified; Death Ruled a Homicide

Friday, December 19, 2008

• 

 Orange County Sheriff's Office

This undated photo shows missing girl Caylee Anthony reading a storybook police say they found in the woods near her family's home.

This undated photo shows missing girl Caylee Anthony reading a storybook police say they found in the woods near her family's home.

The skull and bones found last week in a wooded lot outside Orlando, Fla., were positively identified as Caylee Anthony's on Friday, and Orange County officials declared the little girl was the victim of a homicide.

"With regret, I'm here to inform you that the skeletal remains are those of the missing toddler," said Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the medical examiner.

How the 2-year-old girl was killed remains a mystery. Caylee was two months shy of her third birthday when she vanished in June.

Garavaglia said Caylee's remains, which were found not far from the home where she lived with her mother and maternal grandparents, were identified through nuclear DNA analysis. "They are not intact. They are all disarticulated. They are completely skeletonized," the medical examiner said. She said some of the bones found were "tiny."

Click here for photos.

The news caps a five-month search for the girl, who was last seen in mid-June but wasn't reported missing by her mother until a month later. The mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, is behind bars without bond and charged with her daughter's murder.

The child's next of kin, including her mother and maternal grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, and other relatives, were notified of the findings before they were made public, the medical examiner said.

"The bottom line is, no child should have to go through this," said Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary, his voice breaking. He called it a police chief's "nightmare case."

The case has garnered intense national attention and media scrutiny. Federal authorities have assisted in the investigation.

As to the question of whether someone might have taken Caylee out of the Orlando area where she lived, the FBI said there wasn't any indication that was the case.

"At no time did we find any evidence that this young child left this location," said Tampa FBI Special Agent Steven Ibison.

Ahead of the announcement, Florida police released evidence photos from the scene where the remains were found. One of the photos showed a book that was found in the woods and that the child had been photographed reading before she vanished.

The pictures were among several cops publicized before the afternoon news briefing.

The book is among numerous pieces of evidence Orange County Sheriff's deputies say they found in the wooded area where Caylee's remains turned up.

Also Friday, police re-interviewed a county water meter reader who earlier this month discovered a bag with the child's skull and bones inside.

Detectives said the worker is not a suspect in her death.

The worker who found bones on Dec. 11 had called in a tip to police on three consecutive days in August, telling them to look in the same area for the remains, police said.

Orange County Sheriff's officials say they believe the unidentified tipster was in the area on Dec. 11, following up on his own lead when he discovered the bones and skull.

Capt. Angelo Nieves said police are questioning the worker again, as well as the sheriff's deputy who took the original call. They want to know more about what prompted him to contact authorities and how they handled the tips.

The meter reader first called on Aug. 11 to report a bag by the side of the road, MyFOXOrlando.com reported, but a deputy wasn't able to locate the worker.

On Aug. 12, the meter reader called a crime hotline. The information was passed on to the Orange County Sheriff's criminal investigation division.

And on Aug. 13, the utility worker called cops a third time, MyFOXOrlando.com reported. He met with police, and a deputy went into the wooded area to investigate the worker's claims, but didn't find anything, the station said. The scene was then cleared as a possible place of interest in the case.

There is now an internal probe under way within the police department into how the matter was handled.

"There are a lot of questions about the thoroughness of that response," Nieves told MyFOXOrlando.com.

Investigators were at the wooded crime scene all week in an exhaustive dig for evidence. They said late Thursday they found additional bones that also appear to be from a child.

Caylee vanished on or around June 16, less than two months before her third birthday. Her family reported her missing in mid-July. Her mother has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and other charges.

A representative for the defense lawyer of Caylee's mother accused police of lying to the press and suggested they could be tampering with evidence at the site.

Todd Black, a spokesman for Casey Anthony's lead attorney Jose Baez, complained that investigators wouldn't let the defense team observe their work at the scene where the bones were discovered.

"Some of their comments are blatant lies," Black told FOXNews.com. "History has shown that in some cases authorities have been caught tampering with evidence. That is something we hope is not happening. We're not accusing anyone of anything."

Anthony and her defense team have maintained that she last saw Caylee when she left her with a baby sitter named Zenaida Gonzalez in an apartment complex parking lot. Anthony's lawyers say Gonzalez and another woman drove away with the child.

Police claim that story and the sitter are fictitious and Anthony has lied to them repeatedly.

Black suggested last weekend that the defense would argue Caylee was killed by her purported kidnapper if the remains were identified as hers.

FOXNews.com's Catherine Donaldson-Evans and FOX News' Phil Keating contributed to this report.

[hilwiesemann]

Dec. 19, 2008 at 6:48 PM

Im glad they found her body, now lets hope her mother gets charged with murder-i've always thought she did it. and did you notice that the medical examiner is Dr G. from discovery health or tlc whichever one her show is on?

[Rebekahs_Mommy]

Jan. 6, 2009 at 4:29 PM

thats awful. i hope she gets charged! who could do that to anyone, let alone a 2 year old girl?