Carlos Padilla, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, told reporters that investigators are still finding new evidence near the site where investigators found a child's remains almost a week ago.
He said investigators are still finding unspecified items of interest on the property, which is about a quarter mile from the Anthony house.
He said it's unknown how long the work will continue.
"They're still finding some items of interest, evidence," Padilla said. "We're just going to stay as long as we need to stay."
WESH-TV reported that the FBI is testing a tooth and samples of hair and that invesigators found clothing items in the bag that was recovered from the scene last week. It was from that bag that a human skull, believed to be that of a little girl, rolled out.
Unnamed sources told WESH they believe the victim's body was dumped soon after the victim died.
Investigators likely to remain at at crime scene until Thursday afternoon
12:32 p.m.
Investigators probably will remain at the crime scene where a child's remains were found until Thursday afternoon, Orange County Sheriff's Capt. Angelo Nieves just said during a noon news conference. The body is thought to be of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, though an official identification has not been made. The body was found Dec. 11.
He said authorities are still pulling brush out of the area, which is about a quarter mile from the Anthony house, and they are finding "additional items."
He wouldn't identify those items.
"We continue to sift through the location," he said, adding it has grown to more than half an acre.
Various experts for the state are being flown in to examine the scene.
An anthropologist was there this morning, and an entomologist from Illinois was there earlier.
State prosecutors and FBI agents arrive at scene of remains
9:49 a.m. Assistant state attorneys Jeff Ashton and Linda Drane Burdick, as well as FBI agent Nick Savage arrived at the scene of the remains this morning.
The area is much quieter this morning, with only a handful of newscrews at Suburban and Hopespring drives. There is no media parked outside the Anthonys' home, which is down the street from the remains.
More items, including stuffed animals, balloons and a pink Christmas tree ornament with a silver cross, continue to be left at a nearby makeshift memorial. Some have left personal notes.
One note signed by several people read, "Caylee Marie you are loved. May you rest in comfort in the arms of Jesus."
A judge refused Tuesday to let Casey Anthony's lawyer monitor evidence emerging from the discovery of a child's remains last week, saying he wouldn't assist in "interfering with a murder investigation."
Attorney Jose Baez wanted Circuit Judge Stan Strickland to force investigators to turn over pictures, video and schematic drawings of a wooded area off Suburban Drive where crime-scene technicians continue to collect evidence.
The lawyer also sought permission to conduct a second autopsy on the bones, along with assurances the remains would be preserved for examination by his experts. Strickland refused these requests, too, saying Baez would have to wait until the state completes its inquiry.
Authorities have not identified the decomposed remains found in a plastic bag, but many suspect they are those of Anthony's missing daughter, Caylee Marie, who was last seen in June. Anthony, 22, is charged with first-degree murder in the case.
Strickland conceded the circumstances were unusual -- people usually are charged with murder after a body is found, not before. He said he understood why Baez filed the requests but that he couldn't tell the medical examiner what to do or interfere with authorities' process.
"There is not a time clock on an investigation," he said.
Baez said media reports have shown investigators sifting through soil and hauling debris out of the crime scene, which is a quarter-mile from the home of Anthony's parents. The defense has several experts, including an entomologist and an anthropologist, ready to review what is left after federal and local crime-scene officials finish at the site.
If forced to wait, defense experts will have little of the original scene left to inspect, he said.
"We are in a situation where it is no longer a crime scene but an excavation site," Baez said.
In addition to crime-scene photos, the lawyer wanted pictures of the remains, out of fear testing procedures might destroy evidence.
"This is an ongoing process. You never know what is not important today may become important later on in the case," Baez said after the hearing. "You want to make sure it's preserved. . . . That was our entire goal here."
Ann-Marie Delahunty, an Orange County Sheriff's Office attorney, said it's an active investigation and that authorities are not ready to turn over all their photos to the defense.
She said some photos -- those approved by investigators -- could be released to Baez if he makes a public-records request.
"We will not release photographs of the skull of this little girl to then be broadcast all over the news before the body has even been identified, before the parents have been notified," Delahunty said.
It was the first time an official had referred to the remains as a "little girl."
Even the defense is working the case as though the bones will be identified as Caylee's.
Baez said, "We are operating under every assumption that it is because the fact the law enforcement is paying so much attention to it."
Before the parents have been notified. Are the police actually going to the jail and notify Casey after this little girl's body is proved to be Caylee. And more than likely there is a father out there because you know that more than likely that dead man is not the father. How is he to be notified? And will they test the blood sample from Jose Ortiz's autopsy against that of the little girl's body?
Other Caylee Anthony Posts
source
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment