Scientist: Body in Casey Anthony's trunk 'only plausible explanation' - CNN

Scientist: Body in Casey Anthony's trunk 'only plausible explanation'
By Ashley Hayes, CNN
June 6, 2011 5:18 p.m. EDT

Excerpt:

Watch "Nancy Grace" live from Orlando at the Casey Anthony trial tonight on HLN, 8pm ET.

(CNN) -- The presence of a decomposing human body is the only plausible explanation for the odor in Casey Anthony's trunk and the results found in forensic testing, a scientist testified Monday in her capital murder trial.

Testing was conducted on carpet samples from the trunk of the Pontiac Sunfire, along with a spare tire cover, scrapings from the wheel well, air samples and paper towels found in a trash bag that had been in the trunk, Arpad Vass, a senior research scientist at Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, testified in the Orlando, Florida, courtroom.

Vass, who spent all day Monday on the stand, said he and his partners have, as part of their general research, identified some 30 compounds as significant in the human decomposition process. Seven of those were confirmed in Anthony's trunk, he said.

Of those, Vass testified under cross-examination by defense attorney Jose Baez, only five were considered because the other two were at trace levels. "We were very, very conservative," Vass said.

Prosecutor Jeff Ashton asked Vass if, given the test results and his own observations regarding the odor, he believed a dead body had been in the trunk.

"I can find no other plausible explanation, other than that, to explain all the results we found," Vass said.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/06/06/florida.casey.anthony.trial/index.html?hpt=ju_c1