Post by Milisha on Dec 19, 2008 14:48:13 GMT -5
ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- The remains found in a wooded area last week in Orange County, Florida, are those of Caylee Anthony, authorities confirmed at a news conference Friday.
Caylee Anthony, 2, had been missing since June in a case that has received national attention.
"It is with regret that I'm here to inform you that the skeletal remains found December 11 are those of the missing toddler," said Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the Orange County medical examiner.
The remains were confirmed to be Caylee's through a DNA match, authorities said.
Garavaglia said the cause of death was homicide, but she could not determine how Caylee was killed.
Casey Anthony, 22, faces charges including first-degree murder in the June disappearance of her daughter.
Authorities said they called the jail where Anthony is being held to let her know about the discovery.
Caylee's remains were found last week a half-mile from Casey Anthony's parents' home, in the area where a meter reader first directed police.
At the news conference, Garavaglia said that the remains were completely skeletonized and that no tissue was present. She said there was no trauma to the bones before Caylee's death.
Garavaglia said toxicology testing was still being done on the remains.
The announcement marks the end of a six-month search for the 2-year-old.
"This is a sheriff's nightmare," Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said. "I think there's been an open wound in the community. No child should have to go through this, and we have far too many incidents like this across the country all the time."
At a separate news conference Friday, police are expected to identify the meter reader who, they said Thursday, called the department four months ago, directing them to the site of the remains three times.
At a Thursday news conference, Capt. Angelo Nieves, a Sheriff's Department commander, said investigators were looking into whether the tips, called in August 11, 12 and 13, were properly followed up.
In one of those phone calls, the meter reader reported seeing a gray bag on the side of the road, Nieves said. On August 13, a deputy responded to the site and did a "cursory search" but found nothing, Nieves said.
Nieves said police were getting more information from the tipster and the deputy who responded to the tips. He said the department was investigating the "thoroughness" of the deputy's response but would not identify the deputy.
The meter reader "is not a suspect," Nieves said. "He is a credible witness."
Nieves' latest announcement is raising questions about whether police missed several chances to find Caylee's remains.
The meter reader is not the only one, or the first, to have pointed police toward the site containing the remains.
KioMarie Cruz, Casey Anthony's childhood friend, also told police to investigate the same wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School a month before the meter reader, according to CNN affiliate WFTV.
In an interview with detectives, according to WFTV, Cruz said that she and Anthony "pretty much used to hang out there most of our time," would "snack on food for hours" and went there to "get away from our parents."
The Sheriff's Department followed up on that tip, but the wooded area was covered in floodwaters, preventing a search. Nieves said the water may have been present at the time of the meter reader's tips as well.
Nieves also said Thursday that searchers combing the site after the skull's discovery had found "significant skeletal remains" consistent with those of a small child on the outer perimeter of the search area.
The area will be enlarged, and processing and searching of the site will continue, probably into the weekend, he said.
Some of the remains were sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, in an effort to identify them.
Sheriff's spokesman Carlos Padilla said last week that authorities believed the remains were Caylee's for three reasons: No other children were reported missing in the area; the remains were consistent with those of a child of Caylee's age; and the remains were found near the home of the grandparents, where the 2-year-old and her mother were living just before Caylee disappeared.
Casey Anthony could face a sentence of life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors said this month that they would not seek the death penalty.