Source: Casey Anthony's car destroyed in Florida junkyard

By the CNN Wire Staff

Photos of Casey Anthony's white Pontiac Sunfire were entered into evidence during her trial.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire has been crushed, an assistant in an attorney's office says
The car, and an odor coming from its trunk, had been key to the case in Anthony's trial
A defense attorney criticized "the state's fantasy of forensics" in closing arguments
Anthony was acquitted July 5 of murder and convicted on four lesser charges

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Casey Anthony

(CNN) -- Casey Anthony's white Pontiac Sunfire is a crushed slab in a Florida junkyard nearly seven weeks after she was acquitted of murder in her 2-year-old daughter's death, according a person in a law office close to the case.

An assistant in the office of Mark Lippman -- who represents George and Cindy Anthony, who owned the car before giving it to their daughter, Casey -- said Friday that the car was destroyed a day earlier. The assistant declined to be named. That the vehicle had been crushed was first reported and documented by Florida TV station WOFL.

The car, and the odor emanating from its trunk, had been central to the prosecution's case in Anthony's murder trial.

On June 27, 2008, she abandoned the Pontiac at an Orlando business, saying it had run out of gas, according to testimony. It later was towed to a wrecker yard, where it remained until July 15 of that year, when George and Cindy Anthony got a letter from the yard and went to pick up the car.

Several witnesses, including a tow yard employee and George Anthony, said there was a vile smell coming from car's trunk. The prosecution alleged -- and expert witnesses testified -- that the odor was that of human decomposition. They claimed Casey Anthony duct-taped her daughter's mouth and nose to suffocate her, and then put the body in the Pontiac's trunk before disposing of it.

But the defense rebutted these claims, with attorney Jose Baez blasting what he called "the state's fantasy of forensics" in his closing argument. Defense attorneys maintained the child, Caylee, drowned in the Anthony's above-ground pool on June 16, and that Casey Anthony and her father, George Anthony, panicked upon finding her there and covered up the death. George Anthony denied that in his testimony.

Baez claimed a "phantom stain" in the trunk should have included more in the way of DNA evidence. He said the state used "junk science" relating to the odor and stain in the Pontiac's trunk to reach its conclusions.

After Anthony was cleared on the murder charge -- and convicted on four lesser counts of misleading law enforcement -- alternate juror Russell Huekler told HLN that he had a difficult time accepting that Caylee's body had been in the car trunk.

In Session's Nancy Leung contributed to this report.