As the Casey Anthony trial rolls on in Florida, and the courtroom daily fills with the curious and media circus, the evidence is getting harder and harder for all to bare.
On Friday, a well known entomologist revealed that flies and fly larvae collected from the car of Casey Anthony were "coffin flies," insects that are attracted to decomposing flesh and are often found in various stages of a life cycle when a dead bodies is present. Trash and paper towels that were inside Anthony's white car were tested and found to indicate a human body had decomposed near the evidence collected.
The evidence collected was "absolutely consistent" with a body being left in the trunk, said
Neal Haskell, an expert in forensic entomology from St. Joseph's College in Indiana. He raised the interest of several spectators when he conjectured that the body probably had not been in the trunk for very long, based on his findings.
The defense for Anthony is, saying that 2-year-old Caylee was never in the trunk, but had drowned in the family's backyard pool accidentally with the knowledge of Anthony's father, George. The defense is also saying that a meter reader disposed of Caylee's body at the dense woods where she was found while Anthony was in jail.
What was more difficult to hear for many in the courtroom, including a distressed-looking Anthony, was the high level of insect activity at the wooded scene where Caylee's body was found six months after her mother reported last seeing her.
Defense attorney Jose Baez hasn't kept quiet while the courtroom squirms. He asked the soft-spoken Haskell how much he was paid to testify.
"Four hundred dollars an hour,"Haskell replied. In a moment of levity, the forensic entomologist reminded Baez he also owed him money for previous work. While the jurors laughed, the defense wasn't, with Anthony sitting hunched and stoic throughout the exchange.
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