ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida utility worker might have found what dozens of investigators and search crews have been looking for during the past five months — the bones of Caylee Marie Anthony.
A meter reader walked into a patch of woods Thursday and discovered a plastic bag on the ground. When he lifted the bag, a child’s skull rolled out.
The location of the remains is less than one-quarter mile from where Caylee lived with her mother, Casey Anthony, and her grandparents.
Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary confirmed the bones belong to a child but would not verify that they are the remains of the toddler.
However, Tim Miller, the founder and leader of Texas EquuSearch — the mounted search-and-rescue group that has been helping detectives search for the missing girl — said a sheriff’s investigator in the case thinks the remains are Caylee’s.
The bones “appear to be Caylee, but with any case, we have to wait until a positive ID is made,” Miller said. “It looks like finally it’s over with.”
Mandy Albritton of Equu Search said their workers did not search that location in September because it was under water.
The fastest the bones can be tested for DNA identification is a couple of days, if the case is given priority, according to Dr. Marcella Fierro, former chief medical examiner of Virginia.
Caylee was 2 when she was reported missing on July 15.
Casey Anthony, 22, was indicted in October on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, providing false information to law enforcement and check fraud. She is being held without bail in the Orange County Jail.
Anthony; her parents, George and Cindy Anthony; and her defense attorney, Jose Baez, have insisted that Caylee is alive and that the girl’s mother is innocent.
Hours after the remains were found, Baez filed an emergency motion in court requesting that the defense be present for all forensic testing. A hearing is set for today before Circuit Judge Stan Strickland.
