Yesterday afternoon, word leaked out of Orlando Florida that prosecutors in the Casey Anthony murder case have put the death penalty back on the table. It had previously been removed, but the state’s position now is that “sufficient aggravating circumstances now exist” for the death penalty. In a change of heart, lead prosecutor, Linda Drane Burdick, of the state attorney’s office, filed a letter of intent to seek the death penalty for Casey.

The death penalty’s return as a possible sentence for Casey’s murder of her toddler Caylee, means that her current lead counsel, Jose Baez, will not be able to try the case. Death penalty cases have strict trial experience requirements for defense attorneys that Baez does not meet.

Casey still has a high-powered defense team whose funding is still a mystery. They’ve filed a motion to subpoena cell phone records from George, Cindy and Lee Anthony, meter reader Roy Kronk, who found Caylee’s remains, all of Casey’s past lovers (a considerable number), and from her former friends. The return of the death penalty option increases the chances that Casey may plea down to recieve a life imprisonment sentence if she’s convicted.

Last night Nancy Grace reported that buried deep in the FBI files were paternity documents on Lee Anthony that proved that authorities must have wondered if he might have been Caylee Anthony’s father as well. After Lee’s creepy “C.M.A.” performance at Caylee’s memorial service, well, we were ALL wondering.

The paternity test was part of a search warrant issued against Lee Anthony and may have come after Casey Anthony had told the FBI that her brother had acted inappropriately toward her on several occasions. Casey Anthony told the FBI that the incidents had taken place over an extended period of time. The time-frame apparently concerned the FBI enough for them to conduct a paternity test on Lee.

The testimonies of Casey Anthony’s former fiance, Jesse Grund, and her then current boyfriend, Anthony Lazzaro that she had confided to them that her brother had made sexual advances toward her in the past.

The documents, which were released as part of the discovery documents, showed that Lee Anthony was not the biological father. The FBI paternity test had come back negative. Anthony has stated on more than one occasion that he did not know who the father of Caylee Anthony was.

The Casey Anthony soap opera deepened tonight, when it was revealed that Casey “confessed” in her diary that she killed Caylee as a “mercy killing” to keep Caylee away from her grandmother Cindy Anthony. This is one twisted-up family.

Evidence discovered in the woods where murdered toddler Caylee Anthony’s remains were found in December match identical items found in the house where she lived with her mother, Casey Anthony, and grandparents George and Cindy. Casey is locked up and charged with Caylee’s murder.

Hundreds of pages of documents released Wednesday by the State Attorney’s Office in Orlando show the same type of laundry bag, duct tape and plastic bag discovered at the crime scene were ALSO found in the house where Caylee lived.

In the newly released discovery there are photographs of the crime scene and more interviews, including an interview with Casey’s friend who says Casey had an emotional breakdown and “wanted to be committed”.

The evidence also contains Casey’s diary. She has some chilling entries, including one around June 24th, where she talks about trusting her judgment that she did the right thing, and that the ends justified the means. Coldhearted sociopathic bitch.

Click here to read the discovery documents and see the pics released today.

Photos from the site where remains found thought to be Caylee Anthony’s

Just breaking now, a bombshell twist in the case of missing tot Caylee Anthony. Captain Angelo Nieves of the Orange County Police department revealed that the utility worker who discovered remains in a bag a week ago, called in tips 3 TIMES in August. All of the tips were for the location where he eventually found the skeletal remains. Incredibly, Captain Nieves says that there is nothing suspicious about the worker, and that he is not a person of interest in this case.

Captain Nieves said that they have not even fingerprinted the worker. “He is not a suspect in this case,” Nieves said early Thursday evening. “He is a credible witness and we consider him so at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.” Last week, the story was, that the worker had gone into the wooded, vacant lot near the Anthony home to relieve himself. Today, the story is that he was “curious”. This case gets stranger and stranger. This man may have no culpability at all in this case, and no accusation of such has been made. But twice, when he called authorities, they responded and the “site was cleared”.

Was this bad work by whomever “cleared” the site? Did this man help Casey Anthony? Is this some other poor little girl’s remains? Was the worker just seeing if anyone had followed up on his tip when he found the remains? This is a densely vegetated site. Still, very, very unusual stuff going on. The defense may have a field day with this, especially since investigators have not allowed them to have any access to the site.

Authorities are expected to release the results of forensic tests on the remains at any time now. New photos of the crime scene are posted here at the Orange County Sheriff’s Website.

>> Update: Graphic Photos of Caylee Anthony Remains Shown at Casey Anthony Trial

Lots of drama today in the ongoing case of Casey Anthony, charged with murdering her 3 year old daughter Caylee. The media in Florida are continuously fighting to see WHO can get the most controversial story in the already controversial case, and the whacko Anthony family circus don’t usually disappoint. The Orlando Sentinel reports that WFTV-Channel 9′s Kathi Belich caused an Anthony family supporter to flee. WKMG-Channel 6 presented Cindy Anthony and attorney John Morgan disparaging each other.

The Anthony family has a new “spokesperson”, Michelle Bart, who has been representing the Kid Finders Network in the case of the missing girl. She was asked by the group to work on behalf of the Anthony family as well. Michelle is replacing Larry Garrison, who’s been accused Anthony family attorney Mark Nijame of hiding a $6,500 payment from NBC for providing photos of Caylee. Bart runs Helping Heroes Inc., a Vancouver, Wash.-based public-relations company that works with nonprofit organizations.

Some major drama occured when WFTV’s Kathi Belich confronted Dennis Milstead of Kid Finders Network, which the Anthony family has asked to help look for missing toddler Caylee. But Belich wanted to know about Milstead’s criminal past. When she started pressing, he turned wild-eyed, grabbed her microphone and pushed the WFTV camera. Belich noted that his group has never found any children. After Belich talked to Milstead, she reported that he packed up and left.

WFTV anchor Martie Salt recapped the sorry record of people involved in this case. “It seems everyone who gets their hands on this case ends up either fired or disgraced somehow,” she noted.

Salt’s list? Spokesman Larry Garrison, who was fired last week. Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, who has been asked to take a lie-detector test. Anthony publicist Todd Black the mystery man who mistakenly acknowledged that Caylee is dead. And Jose Baez, who has drawn sharp criticism for his work as Casey’s attorney.

On WFTV, high-profile lawyer John Morgan lambasted the Anthony team’s decision to counter-sue a Morgan client. Morgan is representing Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, who says her life was ruined after Casey Anthony wrongly named her as baby sitter to Caylee. WFTV’s Mary Nguyen reported that legal experts described the Anthony counter-suit as more like a motion to dismiss. “I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it in my 25 years of practice,” Morgan told WFTV.

There was more Morgan drama on WKMG. Grandmother Cindy Anthony described Morgan as “frivolous” and “he needs to get back to chasing the ambulances.” Morgan fired back about the Anthonys’ behavior: “I would be chasing after Caylee. I would be in the woods. I would be going door to door.” He added that Cindy Anthony enjoys the media attention, but he sympathizes with the family. “I just think they’re desperate, they’re sick about what happened, they have an idea of what the truth is,” Morgan said.

WKMG promised a look at a little-known player in the Casey Anthony suit at 11 ET tonight. WESH-Channel 2 reported that bounty hunter Leonard Padilla is seeking more funding for searches from a film production company. Padilla told WESH that his dive search in Blanchard Park was not publicity stunt and that he did not plant anything there. WKMG reported that Padilla is waiting to hear from the FBI about taking that lie-detector test. And you can be sure that Nancy Grace will cover it ALL tonight on her show. Meanwhile, Casey Anthony lounges in jail, ordering candy and lingerie, remorseless.

UPDATE: The findings are not human remains, according to authorities. However, there is definitely some dispute about what the bone-looking things are. The divers are still insisting that they looked like bones. However, some authorities even went as far as saying that this was a “Leonard Padilla stunt.” Breaking now is a report that authorities now want to polygraph Leonard Padilla who organized the search. Padilla has reportedly agreed to the polygraph. Nancy Grace is gonna tear somebody a new one tonight. Leonard felt this area was very important because of Casey’s story of nonexistant babysitter Zenaida Gonzales taking Caylee to Jay Blanchard park, where the river is.

Little Caylee Anthony’s remains may have been found. Fox News Orlando affiliate WOFL is just reporting that the professional dive team searching the Little Econ River around Blanchard Park say they have found a garbage bag that was tied down with two bricks, containing what appear to be small bone fragments. The remains were described as resembling “fingers and toes”. A second bag with stuffed animals and a shamrock in it was also found. Shamrocks are significant because they are Casey Anthony’s favorite symbol. The area has been roped off. Reporters are cautioning the public against jumping to conclusions, as this discovery has just been made, and authorities must examine the findings. These professional divers have volunteered their time to search the very dark, muddy, alligator-infested water in hopes of finding Caylee.

Todd Bosinski, the lead diver, who is leading what they are calling a recovery mission for Caylee Anthony’s remains, says they have found a bag that was tied down with two bricks. He says that in that bag they have found what appear to be bone fragments.

In an impromptu news conference, Bosinski said that there was a shamrock inside the bag where the bone fragments were in. He stated they also found a bag with little toys inside.

According to Leonard Padilla, the infamous bounty hunter, the FBI has arrived on the scene. Fox News has confirmed the FBI is there.

The divers were hired by Padilla, and have been combing the waters of the Little Econ River to find the remains of missing 3-year-old Caylee Anthony.

Padilla says the 30 to 40 divers were hired from Black Water Divers. Approximately five divers are in the water now, searching for any signs of the toddler. The dive team specializes in searching areas that are extremely dark, and they said they are going to search until they find Caylee.

Padilla says this is no longer a search, but a recovery mission. The Orange County Sheriffs and the FBI just arrived on the scene. No official confirmation of these findings has been issued. This story is breaking, and Snarkfood will bring updates as soon as they become available.

While Balfour, estranged husband of Jennifer’s sister Julia Hudson remains in police custody and has been deemed “a person of interest” in this case, he has not been formally charged with the murders. Also police apparently lack sufficient evidence linking Balfour to the gun that was found to charge him with any crime at this time. A .45 caliber handgun, believed to be the murder weapon, was recovered in an alley last week by police. Ballistic and forensic tests are reportedly still being run.

Julia Hudson, mother of slain 7 year-old Julian King, continues to log on to her Myspace and blog from time to time. Disturbingly, the picture above was posted this week, with the caption you see below it “Now that Jason is gone I’m the prettiest one”. Very bizarre.

There were quite a few more pictures posted, that were taken on the night before the funeral for her family. Click here to see more of these strange pictures Julia posted and captioned from her partying that night. It seems as though she has some sort of inferiority complex. Some of her previous and current statements on her Myspace imply that her brother and sister were somehow loved more than she was. It seems like Julia’s posting a cry for help as well as attention. Very sad and very strange. The Hudson murders may remain a mystery for longer than we initially thought.

William Balfour hopefully will be charged by Monday with the crime, but if the authorities don’t have enough evidence right now, he’ll be back on the streets. Snarkista hopes that the forensic testing currently being done will quickly lead to an arrest in this horrible tragedy.

UPDATE 11/07/08: Investigators Release Audio Interview Of George Anthony Testifying To Car Smell; Physically Ill- Listen Here It is highly unusual for audio discovery to be released to the general public in a murder case. Today, however, investigators released this shocking audio interview with George Anthony that is incredibly revealing.

Over 500 pages of shocking discovery documents in the Casey Anthony case, where Casey has been charged with the murder of her 3 year old daughter Caylee, were released by the Florida State Attorney’s office today. Among the stunning revelations are that when sheriff’s investigators questioned Casey’s father George nine days after Caylee was reported missing, George told them he had “bad vibes” the very first day he got his car back and smelled the smell in the trunk. The smell, he said as a former law enforcement officer, he knows and would never forget. George told investigators, “I don’t want to believe that I have, have raised someone and brought someone in this world that could do something to another person. I don’t want to believe that.” He also told them, “I, I, I believe that there’s someone dead back there and I hate to say the word human. Um, I hate to say that.”

Casey brags in the documents that authorities “won’t break her”, and that psychological tests given to her show that she is “mentally sound”. Brainiac! There goes any insanity defense! Mark Nejame, family spokesman, (who is currently getting torn a new one on Nancy Grace), allows that the Anthonys knew these docs would be coming out, and that this is the hell the family has been living. Now, he says, that the Anthonys are now joining with Texas Equusearch’s efforts to find Caylee’s remains.

The Attorney’s office released new interviews not previously seen by the public, including George and Cindy returning home to find their pool ladder leaning up against the pool. They had an argument about it, because they intentionally didn’t leave it that way because of Caylee. Also, Cindy Anthony met her husband George when he drove up the night Caylee was discovered missing, and said “We lost her”. “Who?” said George. “Caylee. We lost Caylee.”

George describes walking up to Casey’s car when it was in the impound lot and praying that he wouldn’t see find Caylee in the trunk of the car. He said when the trunk was opened, he saw a trash bag, and a basketball sized, not perfectly round stain.

Casey bragged to Department of Children’s Services workers who visited her to go over the allegations of maltreatment, inadequate supervision and threatened harm that were reported to DCF. Casey told them that she looked forward to telling her side of the story to someone other than her family and law enforcement. Cindy Anthony began talking then Casey stopped her, saying this was her chance to speak.

Casey went on to describe how she left her child with babysitter Zenaida Gonzales so she could work. She said despite what the sheriff’s office has reported, she is a seasonal worker at Universal Studios in the event department. When the investigator inquired about the babysitter, Casey Anthony said she couldn’t reveal more because of her criminal case.

She described how she met Caylee’s father in middle school and said his name was Eric. He and his family moved to Kentucky where he later died in a car crash. She refused to give his last name to protect his family’s privacy. Casey incredibly tells the DCF that she wants to have a new vocation: finding missing children. The DCF report says that the office feels that “Caylee is critically at risk.”

Casey’s father George told investigators that “Casey lives on the edge, lies, and then piles on more. She’s very good with the computer.” WTF TV in Florida is claiming that IF Caylee is dead, it was an accident, and probably an overdose by a sedative. Like chloroform?!

Read Excerpts From The Discovery Documents Here

Read Excerpts From the DCF Report Here

50 officers from the police academy did a systematic grid search, some at the Hudson house, some near where the SUV found. The pistol was found by one of 50 police academy recruits who were searching parts of the city for possible evidence in the case, Deputy Chief Nick Roti said.

The recruit spotted the weapon in the thick shrubbery of a vacant alley around the corner from where the SUV was found, Roti said. No word on the caliber. News video showed it was a gun, police are still just calling it a “weapon”. Reports indicate a bullet was still in the SUV when it was found, and shell casings were reportedly found in the house. Reports say the family members were killed by a .45 caliber weapon. Bullets may have been found still inside the victims, but authorities haven’t released that information yet.

Ballistics will have to be run to see if any bullets came from the gun that was found. “Striation marks” will be on the bullet which give the exact “fingerprint” of the gun. You put ammo into the gun, fire it, and compare the bullets from the crime to see if the “fingerprints” match.

Police say there is an emerging theory that the gunman may have had help in committing the murders. How did one person shoot Jennifer’s mom and brother, grab a child, and drive the two cars that were missing from the home? One vehicle, the teal sedan, was found with William Balfour. The SUV, as we know, was found early Monday morning on the same side of town where William was found.

Last night, William Balfour’s mother made some strong allegations against Julia and Jason Hudson. She said Jason dealt drugs from the house, and that Julia had planted drugs on him. In 2004, Greg King, little Julian’s dad, and Jason Hudson did get caught in a drug deal. Both men allegedly sold crack cocaine to a registered informant. Cops then raided the same home where Jason and his mother were murdered last week. According to records, Jason, Gregory and Julia were all arrested. Jason got off, Julia got off, Greg did time. Cops say Jason and Gregory were affiliated with the gang, Gangster Disciples That’s the same gang that William Balfour, the “person of interest” was in.

Balfour’s mother insists her son is innocent, that he loved Julia, Julian and the whole Hudson family. However, neighbors say the domestic problems between Juila and William were common. William violated his parole from his prison sentence twice, but wasn’t sent back to jail. William reportedly threatened to kill the family on numerous occasions. Julia did not believe he was serious. Was this an act of revenge? Was this a drug deal gone bad? There are still so many unanswered questions. Ballistic tests may shed a lot of light on this tragic case.

The AP reports that officials who reviewed the cocaine-possession case against William Balfour, determined “the evidence that was presented during that time wouldn’t have necessarily warranted a violation.” WTF?! Cocaine possession! We’re not talking about a first-time offender here! Yep, they let him just waltz out of it.

Balfour missed a meeting with his parole officer on the day that the murdered bodies of Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother were found. Balfour reportedly told the agent he was “baby-sitting on the West Side of Chicago.” The agent said he thought he heard a child in the background during the call. Balfour was taken into custody later Friday.

Balfour’s parole records indicate a parole supervisor declined to issue a warrant to revoke Balfour’s parole after Chicago police arrested him June 19 for possession of cocaine. “Per supervisor … no warrant. Agent to monitor offender, impose sanctions.” Great monitoring.

In Balfour’s case, a violation could have locked him up until May 2009. Even minus a day off for each day of good behavior, he still wouldn’t have been out before mid-December at the earliest.

The parole history report on Balfour also shows that a woman at Balfour’s home refused to open the door during an agent’s visit on Aug. 27. The woman told the agent during the 8:30 a.m. visit that Balfour was at work but Balfour’s boss told the agent he wasn’t due until noon. The report said: “Agent heard other people inside the host site and suspected maybe suspicious activities going on,” Agent will be following up for a possible warrant on parolee.” Guess what. No warrant for parole was issued.

So basically, the authorities had at least 2 CHANCES to put William Balfour back in prison, for good reasons. They failed to do so. If they HAD, 3 beloved people might be alive today. Balfour is the only person of interest in the slaying of Darnell Donerson, Jason Hudson, and Julian King…Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother, and 7 year old nephew. Nice work, guys.