From WFTV newsroom:

Maybe we can finally get some peace and Casey can get what’s coming to her. My heart hurts for the rest of the family.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Skeletal remains found in the woods are the Florida 3-year-old who has been missing since June, and her death is considered a homicide, a county medical examiner said Friday.

DNA tests confirm that the remains match Caylee Anthony’s genetic profile, said the medical examiner, Dr. Jan Garavaglia.

A utility worker stumbled upon the remains last week, less than a half-mile from where the girl lived. Garavaglia said some of the remains discovered were as small as pebbles, and authorities weren’t certain how the girl was killed.

Caylee’s mother, 22-year-old Casey Anthony, was indicted in October on first-degree murder and other charges, even though no body was found. She has insisted that she left the girl with a baby sitter in June, but she didn’t report her missing until July.

A search team said they did not check the wooded area sooner because it was submerged in water.

Casey Anthony’s attorney, Jose Baez, was with her at the Orange County Jail when she found out the news, said Todd Black, a spokesman for the attorney. She was notified a short time before the news conference about the positive identification. Black said he wouldn’t comment on her reaction.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The remains of a young child were located in east Orange County Thursday morning, less than a half-mile from Casey Anthony’s parents’ home, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

An Orange County water meter reader discovered a bag in the area of Chickasaw Trail and Suburban Drive (see map), around three-tenths of a mile from the Anthonys’ home (map from location to Anthonys’ home).

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Updated information from WFTV. Turns out Padilla may be a bit shady.

ORLANDO, Fla. – For a few hours Thursday afternoon, searchers thought they’d found bones that could have been part of the remains of Caylee Anthony. But detectives quickly determined the evidence found by bounty hunter Leonard Padilla’s dive team was nothing but sticks and mud.

The detectives also cast suspicion on the find by asking Padilla to take a lie detector test.

Early Thursday afternoon, the dive team confirmed to Eyewitness News it had located several children’s toys inside a plastic bag in the Little Econ River including a plastic shamrock toy. The divers also claimed to have found three or four bones.

But Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigators said, in fact, there were no bones and the bag had nothing to do with the Caylee Anthony case. Additionally, the shamrock toy turned out to be a Gumby toy.

“There is nothing … at the scene that is credible or of a significant find,” said Capt. Angelo Nieves of the Sheriff’s Office (watch full statement). “Nothing that was discovered has been retained by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.”

FBI agents and sheriff’s office detectives arrived on the scene Thursday afternoon and sifted through the remains (video).

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