Inmate in jail with Anthony lost child to drowning

It is at the very least implied by this article that Casey picked-up the story of Caylee’s drowning by another prisoner in jail who claimed her son died of drowning in the family pool. In other words, that this is where the idea for the defense came from. Whether this is true or not is still unknown. TGO

Refer to story below. Source: Reuters

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – Prosecutors said on Tuesday that a woman housed in a jail cell next to Casey Anthony had a child who drowned in a pool, a story similar to that given by defense lawyers for the death of Caylee Anthony.

The new information came in a phone call from a citizen at the end of last week and is still being investigated, prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick said out of the presence of jurors hearing Casey’s first-degree murder trial in Florida.

The state sent investigators to speak with the woman, who according to a jail official was in the same dorm as Casey for five days in June 2009. The woman told them she did not talk to Casey, Burdick said.

Casey, 25, is accused of using duct tape to suffocate her 2-year-old daughter Caylee on June 16, 2008, then storing her body in the trunk of a car.

Caylee’s skeletal remains were found in woods near the Anthony family’s home in the Orlando area on December 11, 2008, following a nationwide search.

Defense attorneys maintain Caylee drowned in the family’s backyard pool, and her grandfather George Anthony found her but did not report the accident.

The 15-month-old son of Casey’s one-time jail neighbor drowned in his family’s pool in Orlando on Christmas Day 2007 and was found by his grandfather, a sheriff’s office incident report said.

No jail records, investigations or reports indicate any contact between Casey and the other inmate, jail spokesman Allen Moore said. But the dorm cells are not soundproof, and it is possible for conversations to be overhead, he said.

The highly publicized trial is now in its fifth week. Tuesday began with lawyers once again wrangling over allegations of violations in the sharing of evidence.

PROSECUTOR GRILLS DEFENSE EXPERTS

Richard Eikelenboom, an expert witness from the Netherlands, was told he could not testify about DNA in decomposition fluid from Casey’s car trunk until next week because a full report of his opinions was not submitted by the defense in time, despite continued warnings.

Eikelenboom did testify on Tuesday about creating DNA profiles from tiny amounts of skin cells.

Defense attorney Jose Baez asked him whether he would expect to find traces of DNA on duct tape if it were applied with force. The witness said he would expect to find traces under those circumstances.

Prosecutor Jeff Ashton then posed a situation where DNA might degrade.

“If duct tape is placed upon the face of a human being, who is then placed in a hot, swampy wet environment in Florida, in what is essentially a trash dump, and it sits for six months while every skin cell decomposes off the body, would you agree that the likelihood of finding DNA is extremely remote?” Ashton asked.

Eikelenboom replied: “The conditions you describe are very bad for DNA.”

A forensic botanist testifying for the defense said Caylee’s remains could have been in the place they were found for as short a period as two weeks, based on leaf litter present at the time.

A photo of the child’s skull as it was found in the woods showed leaf litter and dirt covering the eye sockets, leaving only the top of the skull visible.

But Jane Bock, an expert in the application of plant science to legal matters, said the depth of the litter on the skull was not particularly important, as the skull could have sunk down into the soft, damp debris.

Ashton said a hip bone had been found nearby under four inches of leaf litter.

“It could have been buried by a dog,” Bock said. When Ashton sniffed at that possibility, the witness said “that’s what dogs do.”

Marcus Wise, a research scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the day’s final defense witness, testified for several hours about testing samples of the carpet and air from Casey’s car and finding evidence of chloroform.

Arpad Vass, a colleague of Wise’s at the Oak Ridge lab, had on June 6 testified for the prosecution and indicated that the testing team was surprised by the amount of chloroform.

Wise said on Tuesday he could tell only that chloroform was present but could not tell how much of the chemical was there in the sample. But, he said, “chloroform does decrease over time, not increase.”

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Greg McCune)