Child’s remains found in Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. – A team of medical examiners and detectives was hustling to identify the skeletal remains of a child found in a wooded lot in central Florida Thursday, hoping to solve the six-month-old mystery of a missing toddler.

Caylee Anthony, 3, has been missing since June. On Thursday, less than a half-mile from where the girl lived, a utility worker stumbled upon remains of a small child.

There was nothing that immediately indicated the remains were Caylee’s. But Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said his investigators and the FBI would work around the clock and through the weekend to identify the child. Authorities searched the home where Caylee and her mother lived again on Thursday night, looking for more clues.

“Now the investigation continues,” Beary said. “There is a lot of lab work to do. There is a lot of DNA work to do. There is a lot of crime scene work to do.”

Caylee’s mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, was indicted in October on first-degree murder and other charges, even without a body. She has insisted that she left the girl with a baby sitter in June, but she didn’t report her missing until July.

For the past several months, Anthony’s family, police and volunteers from around the country have searched for the little girl.

Lisa Hoffman, a member of the search group EquuSearch, said its volunteers were unable to completely scour the area where the remains were found because part of it was submerged in water during trips in September and November.