Breaking news in the case of missing toddler Caylee Anthony…authorities have confirmed that the remains are hers:

“It is with regret that I’m here to inform you that the skeletal remains found December 11 are those of the missing toddler,” said Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the Orange County medical examiner.

The remains were confirmed to be Caylee’s through a DNA match, authorities said.

Garavaglia said the cause of death was homicide, but she could not determine how Caylee was killed.

Casey Anthony, 22, faces charges including first-degree murder in the June disappearance of her daughter.

Authorities said they called the jail where Anthony is being held to let her know about the discovery.

Caylee’s remains were found last week a half-mile from Casey Anthony’s parents’ home, in the area where a meter reader first directed police.

At the news conference, Garavaglia said that the remains were completely skeletonized and that no tissue was present. She said there was no trauma to the bones before Caylee’s death.

There is to be another news conference where the meter reader is expected to be identified:

At a separate news conference Friday, police are expected to identify the meter reader who, they said Thursday, called the department four months ago, directing them to the site of the remains three times.

At a Thursday news conference, Capt. Angelo Nieves, a Sheriff’s Department commander, said investigators were looking into whether the tips, called in August 11, 12 and 13, were properly followed up.

In one of those phone calls, the meter reader reported seeing a gray bag on the side of the road, Nieves said. On August 13, a deputy responded to the site and did a “cursory search” but found nothing, Nieves said.

Nieves said police were getting more information from the tipster and the deputy who responded to the tips. He said the department was investigating the “thoroughness” of the deputy’s response but would not identify the deputy.

The meter reader “is not a suspect,” Nieves said. “He is a credible witness.”

Nieves’ latest announcement is raising questions about whether police missed several chances to find Caylee’s remains.

The meter reader is not the only one, or the first, to have pointed police toward the site containing the remains.

KioMarie Cruz, Casey Anthony’s childhood friend, also told police to investigate the same wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School a month before the meter reader, according to CNN affiliate WFTV.

In an interview with detectives, according to WFTV, Cruz said that she and Anthony “pretty much used to hang out there most of our time,” would “snack on food for hours” and went there to “get away from our parents.”

The Sheriff’s Department followed up on that tip, but the wooded area was covered in floodwaters, preventing a search. Nieves said the water may have been present at the time of the meter reader’s tips as well.

Nieves also said Thursday that searchers combing the site after the skull’s discovery had found “significant skeletal remains” consistent with those of a small child on the outer perimeter of the search area.

The area will be enlarged, and processing and searching of the site will continue, probably into the weekend, he said.

Hopefully now this poor child can have a decent burial and justice can move forward to put away the only person suspected in her death; and no matter what we might think about George and Cindy, they have now definitely lost their granddaughter.  They have my prayers as they grieve.

Source: k