How the Potential Caylee Remains Could Yield a 'Treasure Trove' of Clues

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," December 11, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: A little skull, a plastic bag and other remains found by a Florida utility worker. Could today's surprise discovery finally solve the mystery of little Caylee Anthony? Little Caylee Anthony has not been seen since June. Now, her mother, Casey, did not report her missing. It was her grandmother, Cindy, who did, and that was much later and that happened on July 15. Casey's story -- she says she dropped her daughter off with a nanny and never saw Caylee again. Now, how will investigators positively identify the body of the -- the remains that they did find and maybe even the killer? What item will hold the most clues?

Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden joins us. Good evening, Dr. Baden.

DR. MICHAEL BADEN, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Good evening, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Dr. Baden, do they know whether or not this is Caylee now?

BADEN: Yes, I think for all intents and purposes, they're treating this as if it were Caylee. I think that -- remember, before DNA, we used to identify bodies before DNA, but now that we have DNA, once -- to make it absolutely certain, we have to wait until probably the end of next week, until the DNA is finished, or so. But for all intents and purposes, there's enough information that this is Caylee.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Now, I don't want to get too graphic, but I mean, it has been six months. I suppose clothes would be one good way, but I don't know if there were clothes even with this child or with the remains of the child.

BADEN: We don't know what was in the bag, but as you indicated earlier, this -- the bag is a treasure trove of forensic evidence, and not only the plastic bag itself, because it has edges on it that can determine whether it matches up to other plastic bags that were removed from the house -- remember, in June, there was a procession of paper bags that were removed from the -- Casey's home, and they'll try to see if that bag matches any of those bags. The -- the -- full of demonstrative evidence.

The duct tape, I think, is the criminalist's best friend because when duct tape is used, it takes -- it's necessary to put the finger on the sticky side, and gloves don't work with sticky duct tape, so the fingerprints, hairs, fibers -- we've even had a case, Greta, where a year later, we found a bite mark and DNA on the sticky part of the duct tape because remember, the duct tape is then put against a surface, like the -- like the plastic bag...

VAN SUSTEREN: And preserved.

BADEN: ... And it's preserved, even snow and water -- so that's going to be some important evidence.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Now, one of the things -- when we were at the house, the grandmother thought it was peculiar that the ladder to the pool was put up against the pool, and cause of death will be an issue. Just -- since we only have 30 seconds left, is it possible if that child had been drowned, could you tell that now?

BADEN: Probably not. That'd be an issue. But the issue would be why would one hide a drowning? One calls 911 in a drowning. The other thing they found in the back of the car was the chloroform. So chloroform becomes an issue, and chloroform can be found in the hair, and there should be hair in that plastic bag, to see whether it was -- the baby had been given chloroform in the past. And that could be a cause of death, and that would be something that the parent would want to hide because you're not supposed to give your child chloroform.

VAN SUSTEREN: Dr. Baden, thank you, sir.

BADEN: Thank you.

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