Could Missing Florida Tot Caylee Be in Atlanta? (UPDATE 2)

 

 

The lawyer for Casey Anthony, mother of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, disclosed late Tuesday that the family had received a credible tip that a small child matching Caylee's description was seen boarding a flight to Atlanta at Orlando International Airport.

The tip was even more credible because the person reported that the little girl pronounced her last name the same way Caylee's grandparents say she does, attorney Jose Baez told FOX News.

The child's grandmother Cindy Anthony confirmed that the lead surfaced late Tuesday. She said the tip was from a woman who lives in Orlando and was left on her voicemail. Cindy Anthony said she called the woman back and they talked.

The caller claimed to have seen Caylee board the flight with an older woman. When she talked to the woman and child, the youngster apparently said her name was Caylee "Antony," pronouncing it without the "h" the way Cindy Anthony says her granddaughter does. When asked her age, the little girl said she was 3; Caylee is almost 3 years old.

Meanwhile, a judge set bond at half a million dollars for Casey Anthony Tuesday after detectives testified that she is a "person of interest" in the little girls disappearance.

Anthony, 22, has been jailed since last week and was hoping to win release at a bond hearing in Orange County, Fla. The whopping $500,000 she needs to post will make it difficult for Anthony to get her wish.

Prosecutors said the case is beginning to look like a homicide.

Anthony's attorney said there is circumstantial evidence of a possible killing, but not enough to give prosecutors the confidence to charge her with homicide, kidnapping or any similar offense.

Detectives revealed that Anthony had become more of a focus of their investigation into her daughter Caylee's disappearance after they found evidence of human decomposition in the trunk of a car she drove.

 

Detective Yuri Melich testified that strands of hair similar to those of Caylee Marie Anthony as well as dirt were found in the trunk of a car used by her mother.

The odor of "decomposition" was also detected in the vehicle, he told the judge presiding over Casey Anthony's bond hearing Tuesday afternoon.

"The smell I smelled was that of decomposition," Melich said.

When asked whether he considered the child's mother a suspect in her disappearance, Melich said he'd classify her as a "person of interest."

Melich also said a witness he interviewed remembered seeing bruises on Caylee's body and a mark under her eye without knowing that Melich had a photo showing similar marks on the toddler, who has been missing more than a month.