Police: Caylee's Body Was in Mom's Trunk

Authorities no longer believe that Caylee Anthony is alive, investigator says.

ByABC News
September 1, 2008, 3:04 PM

Sept. 1, 2008— -- Caylee Anthony, a Florida toddler who has been missing since June, is likely dead, the Orange County, Fla., sheriff's department said.

FBI lab tests, "along with additional evidence that has not been made public, leads investigators to the belief there is a strong probability that Caylee [Anthony] is deceased," the department said in a statement.

Authorities have been seaching for Caylee since she was reported missing in July, nearly a month after her disappearance in June.

A law enforcement source confirmed to ABC News last week that air sample tests taken from the car trunk of her mother, Casey Anthony, allegedly revealed evidence of human decomposition. Casey has given the police changing and inaccurate information about the case, according to investigators.

Police last month said hairs the same length and color as Caylee's were found in the trunk of the car, and Casey Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, said in a 911 call that the car smelled like there had been a dead body in it.

Cindy Anthony has since retracted those comments, saying the smell could easily have been from garbage in the car.

Over the weekend, Casey Anthony was sent back to jail on new charges, including petty theft and use of a forged check. The $500,000 bail posted by a California bondsman that released Anthony from jail was also rescinded.

At a court hearing that reportedly lasted a little over a minute over the weekend, Judge Mike Miller set Anthony's bail at $3,000 for the new charges.

She is now being held on a total of six charges, including the original charges of child neglect and lying to investigators.

Last week, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, who helped Anthony secure her bond, also said that, in light of preliminary air sample tests that reportedly indicate a decomposing body was in Anthony's trunk, he now believes that Anthony accidentally killed her daughter.