Trial Coverage and Discussion Only - Day 11, June 6, 2011

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Bio-accumulation well known phenomena. It is my opinion the reason fluoride absent is young age.

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On the towels, Haskell had ID'd fly pupae casings....Baez stops him and withdraws question. #CaseyAnthony
1 minute ago

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Sidebar over. Judge says next witness is lengthy one, so they'll wait and start tomorrow with that witness.

Encore presentation of Dr. Vass' Testimony @ 7:00 PM ET:

www.caseyanthonymurdertrial.com

Day 11 witnesses

Dr. Arpad Vass

Vass, Monday's first witness, is a researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has pioneered a novel technique for detecting human decomposition from air samples, and used his tests to find signs of human decomposition in the trunk of Casey's Pontiac Sunfire.

The defense tried to discredit Vass by saying he stands to make a large amount of money if he can sell his technology: A handheld "sniffer machine" nicknamed "Labrador," designed to detect human decomposition by reading such air samples.

Vass said he had no financial interest in testifying in this trial. He said it was not his job to sell the machines, and the royalties he would receive were "miniscule."

Defense attorney Jose Baez also tried to point out an unsuccessful search for remains by Vass in California at a ranch used by Charles Manson. But the prosecution objected.

Baez also pointed out that Vass is not a member of the American Board of Anthropology, or any such professional organization. Vass said he is paid to "think outside the box," adding that he doesn't even know what "the box" is, but his own scientific curiosity outweighs financial benefit.

"I'm a very curious person," Vass said.

About Oak Ridge National Laboratory:
The lab is a federal government research center, and the same location where the atomic bomb was developed during World War II.

Vass and other scientists at Oak Ridge study various stages of human decomposition by examining human corposes donated to the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Research Center, also known as the "Body Farm."

Adam Longo: I visited the Body Farm when I worked in Knoxville in 2006. It's not a smell you forget.

Jurors did not seem phased by Vass' detailed explanation of how the human body decomposes. A few seemed very interested in his explanation, and many took notes and leaned toward Vass as he spoke.

According to Vass, the most important factor in the decomposition process is the air temperature. The hotter it is, the faster a body decomposes. That could be a key point, as prosecutors have been trying to prove that Caylee's body was placed in the trunk of Casey's car -- on a hot June day in Florida.

Vass also pointed out that a decomposing animal smells differently than a decomposing human body. He described the smell of a dead pig as a "sweeter scent."

On examining samples from Casey Anthony's car:
Vass said Detective Yuri Melich first contacted him to analyze the trunk of Casey's car. He sent the Orange County Sheriff's Office air pumps, or "traps," to collect air samples from the trunk, and later received a plastic bag with the samples in it.

He said he used a device called a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer to analyze the samples and detect human composition. He said they also looked into an older car taken from a junk yard for comparison as a "control" vehicle.

Vass said he and his team identified 51 chemical components from the carpet of the car trunk. Of those, 41 were consistent with human decomposition, including butyric acid, the first compound found in human decomposition, in the carpet.

He also said there was a "shockingly high" level of chloroform found in the air sample, saying he had never seen that in his 20 years of work. Prosecutors showed the jury a graph, asking Vass to point out a peak showing the level of chloroform found in the carpet sample.

Vass recalled jumping back after opening the can of air. He said he could not believe such a tiny can could contain such a strong odor. He went on to say the odor was consistent with what he knows to be the smell of human decomposition, and went as far as to say he could not think of anything other than a dead and decomposing body that would explain the results he got from the samples he analyzed.

During cross-examination, he did admit did not know the chemical breakdown of items in the trash found in Casey's car. But Vass said if you eliminate all the overlapping compounds from the trash and gasoline from George Anthony's gas cans, there were still 10 compounds consistent with decomposition.

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2011/june/257538/