FLORIDA
Mother of missing girl under investigation
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The mother of a missing 2-year-old is a person of interest in a case that is beginning to look like a homicide, prosecutors said Tuesday. Sheriff’s deputies said they still hope to find the girl alive.
Casey Anthony, 22, is charged only with child neglect and lying to investigators.
Circuit Court Judge Stan Strickland set her bond at $500,000 Tuesday, saying the law did not allow him to hold her without bail.
He set the unusually high amount after hearing about evidence of human decomposition allegedly found in Anthony’s yard and car. Her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, has been missing since mid-June.
“Not a bit of useful information has been provided by Ms. Anthony as to the whereabouts of her daughter,” Strickland said. “And I would add that the truth and Ms. Anthony are strangers.”
Anthony is charged with child neglect, making false official statements and obstructing a criminal investigation. Authorities say she did not report the girl missing until last week, and only then at her own mother’s insistence.
Sheriff’s deputies said Anthony’s car smelled of decomposition, and a cadaver-trained German shepherd noted a smell of human remains in the car and her yard.
