Mother’s car bore traces of a body

Lab tests confirmed that a decomposing body had been in the trunk of a car driven by a missing girl’s mother, and investigators believe the 3-year-old is dead, the Sheriff’s Office in Orlando said.

Investigators have called Casey Anthony, 22, a “person of interest” in Caylee Anthony’s disappearance. She faces charges of child neglect, obstruction and making false statements in the case.

Caylee was reported missing in mid-July, about a month after she was last seen. Casey Anthony told investigators she had dropped the girl off with a baby-sitter and gone to work. Sheriff’s detectives have said that story, and just about everything else Anthony had told them, was a lie.

Anthony is in custody on unrelated charges.