ORLANDO, Fla. — A team of medical examiners and detectives were hustling to identify the skeletal remains of a child found in a wooded lot in central Florida on Thursday, hoping to solve the six-month-old mystery of a missing toddler.
Caylee Anthony, 3, has been reported missing since July. On Thursday, less than a half-mile from where the girl lived, a utility worker stumbled upon remains of a small child.
There was nothing that immediately indicated the remains were Caylee’s. But Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said his investigators and the FBI would work around the clock and through the weekend to identify the child. They were seeking yet another search warrant for the home where Caylee and her mother lived, looking for more clues.
“Now the investigation continues,” Beary said. “There is a lot of lab work to do. There is a lot of DNA work to do. There is a lot of crime scene work to do.”
Caylee’s mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, was indicted in October on first-degree murder and other charges, even without a body. She has insisted that she left the girl with a baby sitter in June, but she didn’t report her missing until July.
For the past several months, Anthony’s family, police and volunteers from around the country have searched for the little girl.
A member of EquuSearch — one of the volunteer groups — said they did not check the wooded lot at the edge of the outlying suburb in early September because it was submerged from heavy rains. When they returned in November, the site had been fenced off.
EquuSearch volunteer Deborah Smith said she believed the remains belonged to Caylee.
“I’m glad she was found before Christmas so they can give her a proper burial,” Smith said.
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