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Search Expands For Missing Girl; New Location Leads Checked

POSTED: Friday, July 18, 2008
UPDATED: 1:23 pm EDT July 18, 2008

Investigators have expanded their search for a missing 2-year-old girl to new locations as crews continued digging alongside cadaver dogs in the back yard of the child's grandparents' house.


IMAGES: New Missing Girl Images

The home of Cindy and George Anthony, located on Hopespring Drive in Orlando, remained the main focus for searchers Friday as they checked for clues into the disappearance of Caylee Marie Anthony, 2.

The girl's mother, Casey Anthony, 22, was taken into custody Wednesday after it was determined that Caylee had been missing for five weeks and was never reported lost.

Searching intensified around some of the child's toys in the back yard Friday while detectives checked leads in different locations.

"Just because we are here with cadaver dogs, we are not giving up that Caylee is not alive," Orange County Sgt. John Allen said during a Friday news conference. "We are running this investigation in several different directions. Even though you are here and we are here, we actually have detectives in other places following up on other leads."

Allen said officers received a tip from a neighbor about Casey Anthony borrowing a shovel from them at about the same time the child went missing. The neighbor said Anthony borrowed the shovel for about an hour and then gave it back, Local 6 reported.

"We did have someone call and tells us that a shovel was borrowed on a day in close proximity to the child being missing," Allen said. "So, we thought this would be a good place to look."

A search continued for Caylee's father, but detectives said they believed that he may be deceased.

Allen also said they are searching for a baby sitter Anthony said she left her child with in early June.

"At this point, it is just difficult, tedious work," Allen said. "As information comes in, we assign a detective to follow up on it and we follow up on that information. We will search places as information comes in. We have a lot of people working on this."

Allen said the search at the Anthony home could wrap up Friday afternoon.

Mother Remains Quiet

Meanwhile, the girl's mother remained jailed after refusing to tell investigators and a judge where her daughter was located.

Thursday, Orange County Judge John Jordan asked Anthony about her daughter.

"Mrs. Anthony, the court would say to you, 'Where is Caylee Anthony?' Jordan asked. "But I can't force you to answer that question but that is the question I leave with you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Anthony said.

Anthony did not say anything else.

"You left your 2-year-old child with a person who does not exist, with a person who does not exist in an apartment you can't identify and you lied to your parents and friends concerning your daughter's whereabouts," Jordan said during Anthony's appearance.

Anthony did not respond.

On Wednesday, Anthony told detectives that she was doing her own investigation into her daughter's disappearance, Local 6 reported.

The woman also said she saw movies and reports that if people in similar situations went to the police, they had gotten hurt.

During questioning, detectives said Anthony did not show any emotion over the loss of her child. She did not cry or give any indication she was legitimately worried.

"It appears to the court that you care so little for your child that you did not even report her missing until five weeks later," Jordan said Thursday.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this developing story.

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