Testimony: Caylee’s remains found near road

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

Caylee Anthony’s skull and most of the rest of her remains were 19 feet from the road when they were found, a crime scene investigator testified Saturday.

Stretching a tape measure across the courtroom, defense attorney Jose Baez demonstrated the remains were virtually steps from the road, nearly the same distance as the jury from the defense table. The testimony that the scene was easily accessible from the road could be significant because defense attorneys claim the meter reader who found the remains tampered with them.

The defense has said that the 2-year-old girl accidentally drowned in her grandparents’ swimming pool.

More than 50 investigators recovered more than 390 pieces of evidence during 10 days at the wooded scene where Caylee’s remains were found in the same residential neighborhood as the Anthony family home, said Jennifer Welch of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Among the items recovered were pieces of trash and black trash bags.

The area was thick with vegetation, and investigators used a county-issued machete to clear some of the area so they could do their work, Welch said. Wearing blue gloves, she held up for the jury pieces of evidence recovered from the scene, including a piece of duct tape and pink lettering. The lettering was dirty and weathered and appeared to spell the word “package.”

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. Anthony has pleaded not guilty.

Casey Anthony was born in Warren in 1986 to George and Cindy Anthony, who lived in Howland before moving the family to Florida in 1989.