I apologize in advance if this offends anyone.
http://www.540wfla.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=227698&article=4756058 DNA Tests Confirm Remains Are Caylee Anthony Cause of death death listed as murder according to Orange County medical examiner.
ORLANDO, FLA. -- After a roller coaster five months, a major piece of the Caylee Anthony puzzle has been put in place.
Orange County Sheriff's officials confirmed during a 2 p.m. press conference Friday that the remains found in the woods two blocks from the Anthony home were indeed that of missing toddler Caylee Anthony.
"With regret, I am here to inform you that the skeletal remains found on Sept. 11 are those of the missing toddler Caylee Anthony," Medical Examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia said.
According to Dr. G, the cause of death is being listed as a homocide, but officials have not yet discovered how the toddler was killed. He also said he would not discuss any specifics of the findings.
Casey Anthony, Caylee's mother, who is in Orange County Jail awaiting trial on murder charges in the case, was notified but her reaction was not known. Jail officials said a psychologist would be available for Anthony.
Caylee's grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony were notified at their home on Hopespring Drive less than half a mile from where the bones were discovered last week.
Garavaglia determined the bones found in a privately-owned wooded lot were 2-year-old Caylee's 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."
The news caps a six-month-long search for the little 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 maternal grandparents George and Cindy Anthony; Casey Anthony and other relatives, have been notified of the findings, according to the medical examiner.
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."
Ahead of the announcement, Florida police released evidence photos from the Caylee Anthony crime scene, among them one of a book they say they found in the woods 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 what likely are the girl's remains.
Detectives deny the worker is a suspect in the child's death.
The worker found bones Dec. 11 near the Orlando house where then 2-year-old Caylee lived with her mother and maternal grandparents. He also had called in a tip to police on Aug. 11, 12 and 13, 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 Aug. 11 to report a bag by the side of the road, MyFOXOrlando.com reported. A deputy wasn't able to locate the worker, the station said.
The following day, 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. He met with police, and a deputy did go into the wooded area to investigate the worker's claims, but didn't find anything. 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 said.
Investigators were back at the wooded crime scene Thursday in their exhaustive dig for evidence. They said late Thursday they found additional bones that appear to be from a child.
Meanwhile, a representative for the defense lawyer of Caylee's mother Casey Anthony accused police of lying to the press and suggested they could be tampering with evidence at the site where a little child's bones were found.
Todd Black, a spokesman for Anthony's lead attorney Jose Baez, complained that investigators won't let the defense team observe their work at the scene where remains believed to be those of Anthony's daughter Caylee were discovered.
"Some of their comments are blatant lies," Black said. "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."
