Forensic detectives have inspected the skeletal remains of a child’s body found less than half a mile from the home of 3-year-old Caylee Anthony, who has been missing since July.
The body was found in the woods by a utility worker around 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
“We found a skull that is the size consistent of a young child,” said Orange County sheriff’s spokesman, Carlos Padilla.
Although there was nothing to immediately indicate the remains were those of Caylee, authorities said there were no other recent reports of missing children in the area.
Mr. Padilla did not indicate how long it would take to identify the remains.
Caylee’s grandmother reported her missing on July 15, saying she hadn‘t seen her for a month and her daughter’s car smelled like death. The child’s mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, insisted she left her with a babysitter and had not seen her since June.
Detectives determined the baby sitter was nonexistent and the apartment where Anthony said she had last seen Caylee had been empty for months.
Troubling details in the case include photos of Casey Anthony partying after her daughter went missing, and documents that show Anthony’s home computer was used to search terms like “neck breaking” and “household weapons.”
Someone in the home also used the computer to search Google and Wikipedia for peroxide, shovels, acetone, alcohol and chloroform. Traces of chloroform were found in the trunk of Casey’s car.
Casey was indicted on November 14, and charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators about Caylee’s disappearance.
She faces life in prison if convicted.