In what can only be described as a total blunder by law enforcement, the meter reader who found a bag containing a human child’s skull in an area near the Anthony home tried three times in August to report the suspicious bag:

An Orange County utilities worker tried three times in August to alert law enforcement of a strange gray bag on the side of Suburban Drive near the home of missing Caylee Marie Anthony, a sheriff’s official said Thursday.

Three times, deputy sheriffs checked the tips with no results. When curiosity led the same utility worker back to the same spot last week, he found the remains of a small child.

Now, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is trying to figure out what happened four months ago and how its deputies handled the calls. The tipster, who has not been publicly identified, is not considered a suspect and has been cooperating with deputies, officials said.

“We are attempting to be as thorough, as clear and as concise as possible with the information that we received. There was a window of opportunity, possibly …” Capt. Angelo Nieves said. “We had a deputy respond to this location.”

The meter reader “provided several phone calls to our Crimeline as well as our communications center,” the captain added during a late afternoon press conference. “We are currently following up on that sequence to determine the thoroughness of the response here to the scene.”

Over a three-day period in August, this meter reader attempted three different times to report what he felt was a suspicious-looking bag:

A sheriff’s official offered this outline of the three tips by the utility worker in August:

– On Aug. 11, the meter reader called the sheriff’s office communication center to report a bag on the “right side” of the road near the intersection of Suburban and Hopespring drives. The meter reader was not there when a deputy arrived. The officer cleared the scene.

– On Aug. 12, the worker called Crimeline, which collect tips on unsolved crimes. That information was documented and sent to a detective, who made a note that the area had been searched by a cadaver dog and the tip was closed out.

– On Aug. 13, after the worker called the communication center again, two deputies responded to the area — each arriving separately — and they met with the meter reader. At least one deputy checked the woods and cleared the scene for a second time.

“We will conduct an administrative follow-up to try to determine what occurred with the deputy when he responded out to the scene, why he handled himself how he did,” Nieves said.

I’d certainly hope so, although I have a feeling they will decide that the policeman did nothing wrong.  After all, a bag found in a wooded area in the relative vicinity of a missing child’s home couldn’t possibly warrant further investigation.  I mean, didn’t this deputy even poke the bag, or open it to look inside?  Even if it was just trash that someone had thrown out, at least it would have been a definitive conclusion.

The site was flooded in September when Texas EquuSearch was there, and when they came back in November the site had a fence around it.  A volunteer said that searchers had attempted to canvass the area, a secluded place where Casey and her friends used to party, but the terrain was steep and full of snakes.  The meter reader initially said that he found the bag when he went into the woods to relieve himself, but now it seems that he was possibly following up on what the police didn’t seem to be able to.  This time, instead of calling a tipline, he went straight to 911.

Another interesting thing about the site is that there appears to be what might be a hardcover book in the underbrush, and it is believed that it could be similar to one that we’ve seen Caylee reading while sitting at her kitchen table.  If you look at this photo gallery, you can see what they are talking about (I put an arrow in the photo above).  Caylee was last seen leaving her house with a backpack.  When my kids were little, they took their favorite toys with them in their little backpacks, and often took books in them to look at.

I don’t mean to come down too hard on the police, because this sounds like an isolated case of incompetence and not indicative of the department as a whole.  In their defense, they  have received many, many tips on where Caylee might be, from neighbors and psychics and people all over the country.  They may have thought this guy was just another crackpot.  But then again, if you’re faced with a bag in a wooded area in fairly close proximity to where a missing child was last seen, wouldn’t you at least open it to see what was inside?

We are a blog, not hard-hitting news. These are our opinions. GlossLip has continuing coverage of the disappearance of Caylee Anthony here.

Source: k