1:22pm UK, Saturday December 13, 2008

Authorities in Florida think they have found the remains of missing toddler Caylee Anthony, whose mother has been charged with her murder.

Casey Anthony has been accused of murdering her daughter

Caylee, who would have turned three in August, was last seen in June but was not reported missing for more than a month.

Her mother, Casey, is being held in prison accused of killing her and the case has gripped America with recordings telephone calls aired and the tot’s grandmother speaking out.

Now, the skeletal remains of a small child have been found near the Anthony family’s home.

Linda Kenney Baden, a member of 22-year-old Casey Anthony’s defence team, said the Orange County Sheriff’s Office called them to say they believed them to be Caylee’s because of the colour of the hair and the appearance of the skull.

However, police said they did not yet have sufficient information to positively identify the body.

“The remains are consistent with those of a two-to-three-year-old child,” Orange County captain Angelo Nieves told FoxNews.com.

“We have not provided any confirmation that it is the Caylee child.

“We’re not going to go and jump the gun, if you will, rush in order to make an identification without the medical examiner’s office.”

He told Fox the forensic test results would not be ready for up to a fortnight.

Caylee’s grandmother first called authorities in July to say she had not seen the child for a month and her daughter’s car smelled like death.

Caylee Anthony

Police interviewed Casey Anthony and said everything she told them about her daughter’s whereabouts was false.

Detectives said she had made up an account of leaving the girl with a baby-sitter and added that the flat where she said she had last seen Caylee had been empty for months.

For the past several months, Anthony’s family, police and volunteers from around the country have searched for the little girl.

They had overlooked the wooded area where the skull was found first because it was flooded after heavy rains and later because it was fenced off.

Last week, prosecutors announced they would not pursue the death penalty for Anthony.