Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [85]
Despite the lack of clear connection to the Anthony home, this concept of the heart sticker resonated, both in the media and with investigators. It was a disturbing image, and combined with Fontaine’s heart-shaped residue findings, it suggested a surprising possibility: someone, presumably Caylee’s killer, had placed the heart sticker on the duct tape over her mouth.
INVESTIGATORS CONTINUED TO SEARCH FOR a way to connect the Anthony home to the crime scene, and so the next step was to compare the tape at the crime scene to the tape from the gas can. The chemical comparison of the tapes from the scene and the gas can revealed that they were identical in composition and were manufactured the same way.
After those analyses were completed, it was determined that DNA testing should be attempted no matter how improbable, but in the end it only further muddied the waters. A foreign DNA profile was found on the sticky side of the tape that did not match any of the known samples submitted in the case. In addition, the opposite side of the tape had an indication of a very minuscule amount of DNA that was different both from that on the sticky side and from all known samples in the case. After testing the DNA of all those who had examined the tape, it was determined that the DNA matched examiner Lori Gotesman, the documents examiner, and the other trace was accounted for by a second examiner from the Chemistry Unit. The ability of DNA testing to detect extremely small amounts of DNA is both a blessing and a curse. Contamination, as hard as one might try to prevent it, is a fact of life. Forensically insignificant, but embarrassing to the FBI.
The last examination of the tape was done by Karen Lowe, the hair and fiber analyst who had originally examined the hairs from Casey’s car. Lowe’s report threw us for a bit of a loop. She compared the fibers in the tape found on the remains to the fibers in the tape from the gas can. Shockingly, even though the logos matched precisely, the fibers themselves did not match. The report said that the fabric portion of the tape from the scene was composed of only polyester fibers, while the tape from the gas can was cotton and polyester. After reading those words, I was quickly on the phone with Karen. I knew that the cotton in Caylee’s shirt had completely decomposed, leaving only the lettering and the elastic collar. If that cotton had decomposed, wouldn’t the same have happened to the cotton in the tape?
From the product information we’d received from the tape’s distributor, it appeared that the tape was made only with both polyester and cotton. It did not appear that they manufactured tape using just polyester, but we didn’t know for sure. I questioned Karen on the phone about the possibility of decomposition affecting the comparison, and she seemed unimpressed with the idea, but when I suggested that she call the manufacturer to determine whether the tape had ever been made with only polyester, she did not seem willing to investigate the matter more fully. It took me six months, a dozen calls, and actually sending a sample of the tape to the manufacturer to establish what I’d been suspecting since I first read Lowe’s report: the tape from the crime scene had originally been manufactured as a cotton/poly blend, and the cotton had merely decomposed. As such, it was a match to the tape from the gas can.
The duct tape was the smoking gun, or as close to it as we were going to get. It was the primary piece of evidence that led me to the firm conviction that Casey had committed premeditated murder. In my opinion, its position over the nose and mouth was no coincidence; it was murder. The jawbone being in the position it was,