Forensic test results released Friday show that hair found in the car trunk of a missing Orlando toddler's mother came from a decomposing body.
Police had already determined that the strands found in Casey Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire belonged to her daughter, Caylee, and said DNA evidence suggested a corpse had been in the car's trunk.
The results of tests, some done at a so-called "body farm" at the University of Tennessee, released by the state Friday morning confirm those theories.
Head hair taken from the trunk is "microscopically similar" to that taken from a brush used on the child, the forensic report says.
The judge in the case, Stan Strickland, ordered prosecutors earlier this month to hand over documents outlining the evidence collected from the Pontiac's trunk. In addition to the hair, that included air samples and traces of chloroform.
Caylee Anthony was 2 when she disappeared in mid-June, two months before her third birthday.
Her 22-year-old mother was charged with her murder last week, after a grand jury brought a homicide indictment against her.
Prosecutors dropped the child neglect charges against Casey Anthony on Tuesday.
The State Attorney's Office in Orange County, Fla., explained in a prepared statement that the neglect offense was dropped from the case because it was filed on the premise that little Caylee was still alive.
"As the investigation progressed and it became clear that the evidence proved that the child was deceased, the State sought an indictment on the legally appropriate charges," prosecutors said. "We remain prepared to proceed to trial on the charges in the indictment."
Anthony remains jailed on first-degree murder, manslaughter and other charges, capping an exhaustive four-month-long investigation into the little girl's whereabouts.
Anthony is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday Oct. 28. In addition to murder, Anthony faces charges of aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators.
If convicted at her trial, Anthony could face life in prison or the death penalty.
The State Attorney's Office also said it still will not comment on whether capital punishment will be sought, in part because it doesn't want to generate the type of publicity that would require a change of venue for the trial. The case has already created a media frenzy for months.
"Remember, these charges are only allegations and do not constitute a proof of guilt," prosecutors said. "Ms. Anthony has the right to a trial by jury and is cloaked with the presumption of innocence."
Anthony told authorities she had left her daughter with a babysitter in June and the two were gone when she returned from work. She says she spent the next month trying to find her daughter and didn't call authorities because she was scared.
Investigators say little that Anthony has told them has proven to be true. The apartment where she said she dropped her daughter off had been vacant for months, and she also lied when she told them she had been working at an area theme park as a photographer, according to police.
Police had already determined that the strands found in Casey Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire belonged to her daughter, Caylee, and said DNA evidence suggested a corpse had been in the car's trunk.
The results of tests, some done at a so-called "body farm" at the University of Tennessee, released by the state Friday morning confirm those theories.
Head hair taken from the trunk is "microscopically similar" to that taken from a brush used on the child, the forensic report says.
The judge in the case, Stan Strickland, ordered prosecutors earlier this month to hand over documents outlining the evidence collected from the Pontiac's trunk. In addition to the hair, that included air samples and traces of chloroform.
Caylee Anthony was 2 when she disappeared in mid-June, two months before her third birthday.
Her 22-year-old mother was charged with her murder last week, after a grand jury brought a homicide indictment against her.
Prosecutors dropped the child neglect charges against Casey Anthony on Tuesday.
The State Attorney's Office in Orange County, Fla., explained in a prepared statement that the neglect offense was dropped from the case because it was filed on the premise that little Caylee was still alive.
"As the investigation progressed and it became clear that the evidence proved that the child was deceased, the State sought an indictment on the legally appropriate charges," prosecutors said. "We remain prepared to proceed to trial on the charges in the indictment."
Anthony remains jailed on first-degree murder, manslaughter and other charges, capping an exhaustive four-month-long investigation into the little girl's whereabouts.
Anthony is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday Oct. 28. In addition to murder, Anthony faces charges of aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators.
If convicted at her trial, Anthony could face life in prison or the death penalty.
The State Attorney's Office also said it still will not comment on whether capital punishment will be sought, in part because it doesn't want to generate the type of publicity that would require a change of venue for the trial. The case has already created a media frenzy for months.
"Remember, these charges are only allegations and do not constitute a proof of guilt," prosecutors said. "Ms. Anthony has the right to a trial by jury and is cloaked with the presumption of innocence."
Anthony told authorities she had left her daughter with a babysitter in June and the two were gone when she returned from work. She says she spent the next month trying to find her daughter and didn't call authorities because she was scared.
Investigators say little that Anthony has told them has proven to be true. The apartment where she said she dropped her daughter off had been vacant for months, and she also lied when she told them she had been working at an area theme park as a photographer, according to police.
No comments:
Post a Comment