Caylee Anthony Crime Scene Aerial

Pieces of a tiny skeleton found in swampy woods

ORLANDO, Fla. – Pieces of a tiny skeleton found in swampy woods can tell authorities one thing: Missing 3-year-old Caylee Anthony was killed. What they can’t help explain, authorities said Friday, is how or when she died. Authorities said at a news conference that DNA tests conducted on remains found by a utility worker last week less than a half-mile from where the child lived matched Caylee’s genetic profile. But the only clue they give about her death is that her bones didn’t suffer trauma, said Orange County medical examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia.

“Bottom line is, folks, no child should have to go through this,” said Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary.

The discovery of the child’s remains came after months of searches, twists and turns in the investigation. Caylee’s mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, was indicted in October on first-degree murder and other charges, even though no body was found. She has insisted that she left the girl with a baby sitter in June, but she didn’t report her missing until July.

A search team said they did not check the wooded area sooner because it was submerged in water from the summer’s heavy rains. But the utility worker who made the tip, Roy Kronk, said he had contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s office in August to report that he had seen “something suspicious, a bag, in the same area.”

The sheriff’s office said he first called on Aug. 11 to report the bag. A deputy responded but didn’t find anything and was unable to locate him. Kronk called a crime hot line the following day and the information was passed on to the sheriff’s office criminal investigation division. On Aug. 13, he called the sheriff’s office a third time. He met a deputy, but authorities cleared the area as a place of interest in the search a short time later.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_re_us/missing_florida_girl