The state released 40 pages of documents related to the Casey/Caylee Anthony case today, adding to the more than 12,000 pages that have already been made public. Nothing of magnanimous proportion came out of the documents, although a series of black and white photocopies of pictures show Casey and Caylee, including the picture of her wearing a shirt with the phrase Big Trouble Comes In Small Packages. Fragments of a small t-shirt with the same letters were found in the woods where her remains were discovered last year. When and where the images originated was not explained.

Also released was an OCSO forensics report from October. It focused on the search for fingerprints on items found in the garbage bag law enforcement seized from the trunk of Casey’s white Pontiac. The report stated that investigators had zero results from the contents of the bag of trash, ranging from air freshener sheets to empty soda cans.

Included in the documents was a letter to the State Attorney’s Office that details information about water depths in the woods where Caylee was found, plus an employee wage sheet from Event Imaging Solutions for Casey from 2004 to 2006. During the year and a half period, she earned a little over $20,000.

Some personal observations…

When I shot a video in August of this year at the site where Caylee’s remains were found, I noticed that parts of the woods were cleared out and I made a note of it. I had no idea why until today’s documents were released and one was a report from James W. Jawitz, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Programs at the Environmental Hydrology Laboratory¹ located on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Of particular interest to me was something he included in his report:

This analysis indicates that for most of the entire period from 16 June 2008 to 11 December 2008, Area A was not inundated. The water level at the site was high enough to submerge Area A between 18 August 2008 and 28 August 2008. On 18 August, the average river stage was 6.94 ft, but between 18 August and 23 August, 8.17 in of rain fell in the area (measured at MCO). By 22 August, the river stage had risen to 10,99 ft (daily average), and decreased thereafter, returning to less than 9 ft (8.84 ft) on 28 August.

What this tells me is that the wooded area where Caylee was found was not inundated with water. That means it wasn’t as flooded as we may have suspected when Roy Kronk was there in mid-August, but it doesn’t mean there was no water on the ground. I saw it this year. What it also tells me is that nothing floated away as many in the public have claimed. I know from viewing the area with my own eyes that the water in those woods was stagnant.

Interestingly, Orlando Police were summoned to the area south of the woods on 10/09/2008 by two different residents on Florence Harbor Drive. Florence Harbor Drive is the development behind the Anthony’s back yard, the neighborhood I drove through and took pictures of to prove Casey did not drag Caylee out a back gate, because a gate never existed. People based their assumption on an outdated Google aerial map that showed the area was cleared, but the development was there long before Caylee disappeared.

It turns out it was an autistic child by the name of Hermes (NOI) from Hidden Oaks Elementary School yelling, but the OPD officers made an important notation at the time:

Tracy [a faculty member] provided a sworn written statement describing Hermes’ actions. The wooded area was not entered by any ground units due to its thick vegetation, and the fact that the ground is very wet and covered in deep water in some areas.

A K-9 unit was brought in at the time, but no one, including the dogs, were taken into the woods. From examining the OPD report, I have concluded that no action was taken close to where the body was found. See below.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/acrobat/2009-12/50978831.pdf

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/acrobat/2009-12/50978836.pdf

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/acrobat/2009-12/50978837.pdf

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/acrobat/2009-12/50978847.pdf