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Casey Anthony Trial: Bug Expert Testifies that Body Was in Car

Saturday June 11, 2011 12:50 PM EDT

Casey Anthony Trial: Bug Expert Testifies that Body Was in Car

Casey Anthony

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/MCT/Getty

There was more grisly evidence presented at the Casey Anthony murder trial on Saturday.

An entomologist testified that evidence of flies and fly larvae, so-called "coffin flies," found on trash and paper towels that had been inside the trunk of Anthony's car are indicative of decomposition of a human body.

Neal Haskell, an expert in forensic entomology from St. Joseph's College in Indiana, said the finding is "absolutely consistent" with a body being left in the trunk, although he conceded that the body had not likely been in the trunk for long.

Anthony's defense team claims that Caylee's body was never in the trunk, and that the odor coming from the car was from rotting garbage.

Haskell also testified that insect activity at the scene where Caylee's body was found showed that the body "had been out there for many, many months."

It was another blow to the defense team, which claims that the body was planted by a meter reader while Anthony was in jail.

"You're a paid witness," defense attorney Jose Baez said in an apparent attempt to undermine Haskell's testimony. "How much are you paid to testify?"

"Four hundred dollars an hour," replied Haskell, who dryly noted that attorney Baez owed him money. The jurors laughed.

Throughout the testimony, Casey Anthony sat silently, with no reaction.

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