DNA Test Results Of Hair, Stain Found In Car Indicate Caylee Anthony Is Dead

[Blonde]

DNA Test Results Of Hair, Stain Found In Car Indicate Caylee Anthony Is Dead

POSTED: 4:21 pm EDT August 27, 2008
UPDATED: 10:07 am EDT August 28, 2008

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Orange County detectives were expected to meet with the State Attorney's office to discuss new evidence in the Caylee Anthony case. A source close to the investigation confirmed for Eyewitness News, that FBI test results show hair and a stain in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car belong to her daughter, 3-year-old Caylee Anthony. Eyewitness News was also told the evidence found proves that she is dead.

The State Attorney's Office also confirmed on Wednesday that Casey Anthony was invited to their office to shed light on the disappearance of Caylee. The State Attorney's Office is not revealing details about the offer of limited immunity. Eyewitness News has learned there is a time limit on that offer, however.

Eyewitness news spoke to a forensic expert to find out how investigators are able to use DNA to determine that a dead body was in Casey's trunk.

"Just putting the hair under the microscope one can tell the difference between a normal hair root and one that's been infected with bacteria after death." stated forensic expert Michael Baden.

Baden is a forensic pathologist who worked extensively on the OJ Simpson case. He also said the inside linings of the mouth and nose release fluid when they begin to decompose and that fluid can also be identified by DNA.

Casey Anthony's brother Lee said nothing when he left his parents home early Thursday morning. Attorney Jose Baez met with the family for several hours alone.

"Not going to talk about evidence," said Baez.

Casey's left her attorney's office wearing big white sunglasses without saying a word, and her attorney didn't want to talk either.

"Get off my property," he said.

Investigators from the sheriff's office and the FBI met with Casey Anthony on Wednesday afternoon at her attorney's office. Cindy Anthony was also there. Casey only met with investigators for about 10 minutes and said nothing when she departed. Cindy Anthony left later in the afternoon, followed by the investigators. An investigator went to the Anthony's home but only stayed for a few minutes.

The sheriff's office, though, is not commenting on this development and issued the following statement late Wednesday afternoon: "Preserving the integrity of the investigative details of a case of this magnitude is paramount to its successful conclusion. We are unable to comment any further on information that has recently surfaced regarding the Caylee Anthony investigation. Any future returns in regards to evidence or submissions pertaining to this case will remain privileged or exempt unless the release of such information will be beneficial to the investigation or if it becomes a matter of public record in a legal proceeding."

It was Caylee's grandmother Cindy who first expressed concern about the disgusting stench that came from the trunk of Casey's car. It came during a 911 call when she reported Caylee was missing.

"It smells like there was a dead body in the damn car," Cindy told the dispatcher.

Cindy Anthony went on to change her story and say rotting pizza was behind the smell.

http://www.wftv.com/news/17315205/detail.html

[Blonde]

Hair and DNA
Dr. Baden just explained the signifficant of hair and DNA.

1) On the ROOT of the hair it can be determined if that hair came from a deceased person as the root would be coming off from a decomposing body and would show a dark ring.

2) On the ROOT of the hair is the DNA of the father and the mother of a child. And therefore, the father or the mother can be determined through that DNA.

They can't determine paternity from a hair without something to compare to of course. In addition, you must have the root of the hair to get a complete DNA profile. Without that, all you can get is mitochondrial DNA.

The dark ring that appears on the hair of a cadaver apparently appears within a very few hours after death. Dr Baden explained that a few nights ago.

If mitochondrial testing was done, they would be the same. But if nuclear DNA testing was done, they would be able to uniquely identify it.

[Blonde]

NANCY GRACE

Hair Found in Car Trunk Reportedly Identified as Missing Toddler`s

Aired August 28, 2008 - 20:00:00 ET
<snip> the whole transcript is in Transcripts

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to start with Anjali Swienton, president and CEO of Scilawforensics, because we want to get into the forensics. Let`s start with this possibility that this hair sample that has, in a preliminary fashion, been identified as Caylee`s hair. There`s also the off chance it could be Casey`s hair, even though, according to WKMG, that hair also shows signs of decomposition. Huh?

ANJALI SWIENTON, SCILAWFORENSICS, LTD.: Well, Jane, I haven`t seen the actual report. I`ve just heard I think what everybody else has heard, that the results are back. And if -- depending on what type of DNA testing was done, it could be that the hair is either Caylee`s or Casey`s. If mitochondrial testing was done, they would be the same. But if nuclear DNA testing was done, they would be able to uniquely identify it.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/28/ng.01.html

[Blonde]

Here's a video of the Sheriff's Office Commander, they have other evidence they didn't release yet which corroberates that Caylee is dead;


http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7335713&version=1&locale=EN-US

[Blonde]

ON NG show the hair was discussed this evening on how it could be determined whether from a deceased person or not. They showed a strand of hair, and by the root, there was an area which was black. When it shows black like that, it means it came from a deceased person.

[Blonde]

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35, Orlando) – One of the lead investigators in case of missing toddler Caylee Anthony said Monday that they now have evidence that leads them to believe that the little girl is dead.

"We have scientific evidence back from the FBI lab,” Commander Matt Irwin with the Orange County Sheriffs Office said. “We have other evidence we have not yet released publicly, all of that evidence at this point in its totality leads us to believe Caylee is deceased."

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=7329551&version=14&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Orange County sheriff's investigators turned their attention Sunday to the possibility that missing 3-year-old Caylee Marie Anthony is dead, and joined with hundreds of volunteers to canvass wooded areas in southeast Orlando in search of the toddler.

"Since we've gotten things back from the FBI lab, we know that we're probably looking for a body," said Sgt. John Allen, the lead investigator in the case. "We're to the point in the investigation where we think it'd be good to go back and retrace some of our steps."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/crime/orl-casey-anthony-search-caylee-083108,0,3952974.story

"We clearly have evidence that indicates there was a dead body in the trunk of Casey's car and that that body was Caylee's," Sgt. John Allen told Eyewitness News.

http://www.wftv.com/news/17340180/detail.html

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Orange Sheriff’s Office said again Monday that “there is a strong probability” that Caylee Anthony is dead, noting that investigators have “additional evidence that has not been made public.”

http://www.wesh.com/news/17353349/detail.html

Investigators said the trunk also contained what they believe to be Caylee's hair and the hair showed signs of decomposition.

Detectives are still working to identify a stain in the trunk, Local 6 has learned.

Despite the new evidence, authorities said that they are not ready to charge Casey Anthony with homicide, Local 6 has learned.

"We don't have intentions of that at this point," Irwin said.

http://www.local6.com/news/17362634/detail.html

[Blonde]

Despite investigators saying they believe based on lab test results that it's likely Caylee is dead, they plan to keep searching.

Detectives said there are still lab tests pending and evidence they have not made public, which could help them determine if Caylee's body may have ended up in the trunk of her mother's car.

Until detectives can get probable cause to determine if the child died and her body ended up in the trunk, sources close to the investigation told WESH 2 there won't be homicide-related charges filed.

http://www.wesh.com/news/17366272/detail.html

[Blonde]

Padilla said that he believes something didn’t add up about the preliminary DNA test results that came back last week from the trunk of Anthony’s car. Officials found strands of hair that they ruled could have either been Casey’s or Caylee’s.

“The Feds released information that the hair was either the mother’s or the daughter’s; they didn’t distinguish,” Padilla said. “Why would they not know whether it was the daughter or the mother? They didn’t say it was Caylee’s.”

Padilla said that officials ruled it was Caylee’s hair just by a process of elimination because the hair had a death ring around it and they know Casey is alive. The fact that the DNA is identical has something to do with who the father is, Padilla said.

“Would the DNA from a child resulting from a union from Lee and Casey have basically the same characteristics? Making the preliminary DNA check not definitive as to who the hair samples are from,” he said.

If a hair strand from the trunk was examined for mitochondrial DNA, the mDNA revealed would be identical with the mother of the child. IOW, Casey's mDNA will match Caylee's mDNA. And for that matter, will also match with Cindy's mDNA.

[Blonde]

Postmortem microscopic changes observed at the human head hair proximal end
Abstract
Only two types of human hair roots (proximal ends) derived from decomposing scalps are reported in the literature. The most common representation of the putrid root includes a postmortem dark root band in published photomicrographs. In this study, 22 cases were reviewed in which there was reliable time of death documentation from medical investigator reports. A review of these cases finds that the most common putrid hair proximal end change does not contain the postmortem root band. Four primary types of hair proximal end postmortem change were identified. This study finds no correlation of time of death with scalp hair proximal end decomposition. In addition two examples are presented that suggest that hair roots do not decompose after fresh removal from the scalp and exposure to the outside elements.

Keywords:
forensic anthropology, forensic science, hair biology, hair decomposition, hair diseases, hair DNA, hair root morphology, postmortem root banding, putrid hair root, time of death

http://www.astm.org/JOURNALS/FORENSIC/PAGES/JFS4610015.htm

[Blonde]

Post-mortem banding occurs within 1 mm of the root. In fact, it's properly called "post-mortem root banding". This phenomenon will not occur if the hair has come away from the scalp of a decedent shortly after death.

Environmental conditions do affect the deterioration of hair, but post-mortem root banding is dependent on the hair being attached to the body for at least 8 hrs and is a result of the decomp process. If the hair falls from the scalp soon after death, there will be no root banding as I read the literature.

http://www.aafs.org/pdf/Seattleabstracts06.pdf


Hair in Toxicology By Desmond John Tobin, Royal Society of Chemistry (Great Britain)

http://books.google.com/books?id=KzZ5MEyWXzQC&pg=RA1-PA109&lpg=RA1-PA109&dq=post-mortem+banding+on+hair&source=web&ots=z8yrskbPBH&sig=Zvq7lM21psRCSEBh3BGXti13-8I&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result

[Blonde]

BODY FARM RESULTS IN: DECOMPOSING BODY IN TRUNK
Results Say Body Was Decomposing In Anthony's Trunk

http://www.wesh.com/news/17314603/detail.html

[Blonde]

Results Show Body Decomposition In Anthony's Trunk
Bounty Hunter Regrets Posting Bail

POSTED: 3:28 pm EDT August 27, 2008
UPDATED: 11:58 pm EDT August 27, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Much-anticipated results from the University of Tennessee Body Farm reveal that the smell in the trunk of Casey Anthony, mother of missing 3-year-old Caylee, is human decomposition, a law enforcement source said Wednesday.

Air sample tests taken from Anthony's trunk were sent on Aug. 10 by the Orange County Sheriff's Office to be analyzed at the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Facility, known as the "Body Farm."

According to two sources, including one with direct knowledge of the investigation, initial tests on that foul odor in Casey Anthony's car have come back positive for human decomposition. The finding is the first scientific 

signal that a dead body was in Casey Anthony's car.


The Body Farm is a place where human corpses are left to the elements, and every manner of decay is fully explored. More On Body Farm

The Sheriff's Office declined to comment. "As has been our policy throughout this investigation we will not discuss the investigative details pertaining to the Caylee Anthony case to include the results of any evidence submitted for laboratory analysis," Capt. Angelo Nieves said Tuesday afternoon.

Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, said he knew nothing about this new information.

"I have not been given any information about the University of Tennessee or the Body Farm or whatever they are calling themselves nowdays," Baez said. "I don't even know if they have any evidence."

Baez said sheriff's investigators who visited his office today said nothing about the Body Farm.

The missing toddler's grandmother, Cindy Anthony, originally told investigators that her daughter's car smelled like a dead body, but later the Anthonys argued that it was a combination of rotting pizza and cleaning fluid left in the hot car for 15 days that was responsible for the smell.

Casey Anthony was arrested in mid-July and was held on charges of child neglect until a Sacramento-based bounty hunter posted her $500,000 bond on Aug. 21.

A source in law enforcement close to the investigation also told WESH 2 that time is running out on a deal offered by the state to give Casey Anthony limited immunity for statements she makes, if it would help investigators find Caylee. The State Attorney's office confirms an offer was made on Wednesday afternoon. According to WESH 2's source, that deal was extended to next week.

Casey Anthony has been a focus in the investigation into her daughter's disappearance since her arrest. Investigators also searched the back yard of her parents' home.

George and Cindy Anthony have stood by their daughter from the beginning and have repeated the message that the priority should be finding Caylee, passing out fliers and wearing T-shirts featuring the missing toddler's face.

A prosecutor said that these odor results are admissible in court as forensic evidence, but he cautioned that they are nearly as strong as DNA evidence. DNA tests are not yet back on the hair and stain from Casey Anthony's car, although a source told WESH 2 News that the FBI has completed its review of the DNA evidence.

Meanwhile, a couple from Pt. Saint Lucie, searching what has come to be known as Casey Anthony's "hide out." Deep within the 430 pages of documents released this week, was testimony from a childhood friend, that she and Casey Anthony used to come to a special place in the woods near her home to spend time. These amateur detectives said they drove to the area to take a look.

"To find this little girl and if she's deceased she can be properly buried," Janette Holgerson said, adding that she personally did not have any hope that Caylee was still alive.

Casey Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, told WESH 2 that he will be making a statement from the Anthony family home later on Wednesday night.

http://www.wesh.com/news/17314603/detail.html

[Blonde]

New Twist In Casey Anthony Case
Thursday, September 4, 2008   

   Brother may be tied to case

by Rozzie Franco and Nada Taha, 540 WFLA/FNN

ORLANDO, FLA. --   The latest twist in the Casey Anthony case comes from the man who at one point gave her a “get out of jail free” card and may tie her brother, Lee Anthony, into the saga.


Bounty Hunter Leonard Padilla made national headlines when he bonded Anthony out of jail, but although he’s back in California, he’s not keeping himself too far away from the case of the missing 3-year-old toddler, Caylee Anthony.


Padilla said that he believes something didn’t add up about the preliminary DNA test results that came back last week from the trunk of Anthony’s car. Officials found strands of hair that they ruled could have either been Casey’s or Caylee’s.


“The Feds released information that the hair was either the mother’s or the daughter’s; they didn’t distinguish,” Padilla said. “Why would they not know whether it was the daughter or the mother? They didn’t say it was Caylee’s.”


Padilla said that officials ruled it was Caylee’s hair just by a process of elimination because the hair had a death ring around it and they know Casey is alive. The fact that the DNA is identical has something to do with who the father is, Padilla said.


“Would the DNA from a child resulting from a union from Lee and Casey have basically the same characteristics? Making the preliminary DNA check not definitive as to who the hair samples are from,” he said. 


Padilla’s statements come at a time when police have filed more charges against Casey Anthony, who has already been arrested twice. Officials charged Casey Wednesday with two counts of uttering a forged check, two counts of petty theft and two counts of fraudulent use of personal identification.

http://www.540wfla.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=227698&article=4189759

[Blonde]

OFFICIAL RELEASE - FORENSIC TESTING OF TRUNK

updated 1:37 p.m. EDT, Tue September 2, 2008
No immunity for Caylee's mom, prosecutor says

The sheriff's office in Orange County, Florida, now says that lab tests have confirmed that a decomposing body had been in the trunk of a car driven by Casey Anthony.

Investigators have called Casey Anthony, 22, a "person of interest" in Caylee's disappearance. She faces charges of child neglect, obstruction and making false statements in the case.

"[FBI] laboratory evidence, along with additional evidence that has not been made public, leads investigators to the belief there is a strong probability that Caylee is deceased," the Orange County Sheriff's Office said.

"If any evidence to the contrary is provided, it will be vigorously pursued," the statement added.

Forensics tests confirmed there had been a decomposing body in the car, the statement said. Detectives disclosed at a July hearing the trunk contained hair samples appearing to belong to Caylee, a strong odor and suspicious stain that glowed under black light.

http://edition1.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/02/caylee.missing.ap/index.htm

[Mary]

Well I just watched Dr. Phil. He says that Casey is disasociated from anything
to do with Caylee, he had some medical terms for it. Anyway mostly it was no help. Same old, same old. C & G lawyer was there. Padilla was the and the young fella that guarded KC-Lisa bloome. Basically nothing new.

[Blonde]

pink angel

These are just two examples of why people want to collect and preserve the DNA of their family members. But how does one go about collecting that DNA and how is it stored? An article of this scope cannot solve all your problems. You have to be the one to do research by reading books and articles on the subject, visiting web sites, sending e-mails and calling companies that are involved in this area. As with all areas of life, it is buyer beware. Who knows if some of these methods will keep the DNA available for analysis in 10 to 25 years or more? Some of the methods used for collection, while cheap, may prove to add costs on to any future testing because of the difficulty of extracting the DNA by the company. Such is the case with collecting lockets of your loved one's hair. However, if you have hair of an ancestor and nothing else, as is the case sometimes, it may be worth the extra money to have their DNA tested. More about that later.

Types of DNA:
For our purposes here, there are two types of DNA to be concerned with. The first is y-chromosome DNA (y-DNA) which is found in the nuclear DNA of the cells. Y-DNA testing follows the paternal line back in time. Males comparing like or same surnames generally send samples of cheek cells or blood to a testing lab and find out if they are related through a most recent common ancestor. The second DNA type is mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which is in the portion of the cell that does not contain nuclear DNA. MtDNA testing follows the maternal line back in time. However, you should also know that male and female offspring receive their mtDNA from their mother. That means that females as well as males can have their mtDNA tested in order to follow the ancestors of their mother, their mother's mother, and so on. As a result, a male can begin a mtDNA test project, and he will try to find other people who may match the mtDNA of his maternal line, hopefully ending up with a most recent common ancestor that matches another supposedly unrelated individual.

Collection Methods:
From a scientific viewpoint, the order of preference for testing DNA samples would be 1) blood, 2) buccal swab, 3) hair. I will talk a little about each type of sample in the following paragraphs. See also DNA Banking for Epidemiologic Studies

Blood:
While this is a preferred method, buccal swabs have come into their own subject to provisos set out below. Blood provides high quality and high quantity of DNA. The testing labs are able to run numerous tests for analysis on the same sample. It is a bit more invasive than the other sample types of cheek swabs and hair, requiring your blood to be drawn by a medical professional. This is the preferred method for DNA testing for medical conditions.

Buccal (cheek) swabs:
Buccal swabs are being used more and more in identification and relationship testing. They provide sufficient quantity and quality of DNA. Their collection is a less invasive procedure than blood. People can scrape the inside of their cheeks within the privacy of their own homes and ship the samples to the lab. A caveat is that the DNA generally must be isolated or fixed within 30 days for best results. Most if not all genealogical testing companies use this method.

Hair:
You can have hair analyzed for y-DNA and mitochondrial mtDNA. For mtDNA analysis, you can just use the hair itself. However, for y-DNA you must get the "root" or "bulb" of the hair. The root contains the nuclear DNA which includes y-DNA. You will also see discussions about the "shaft." The shaft is the hair without the root or bulb, and thus without the nuclear y-DNA. Trying to retrieve DNA from hair shafts is difficult and time consuming and could add costs to any tests. There is a lab that specializes in extracting DNA from odd sources such as licked postage stamps, envelopes, ancient artifacts, etc. If this lab finds DNA from hair, they could extract it and then forward it to another lab for Y-DNA testing. See Trace Genetics.

[Blonde]

I found these pictures on the web this is NOT Caseys car I am posting pictures to show what it looks like.

[Blonde]

[Blonde]

[Blonde]