ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- The bones of a small child found in a wooded area last week are those of missing Orlando toddler Caylee Anthony.
Dr. Jan Garavaglia, the Orange Counter medical examiner, said the remains match the DNA profile of the missing girl.
The remains were found in a wooded area less than a half-mile from the Anthony family home last week by a utility worker.
Casey Anthony, 22, faces charges including first-degree murder in the June disappearance of her daughter, who was 2 at the time. Remains described as being those of a small child were found last week a half-mile from Casey Anthony's parents' home, in the area where a meter reader first directed police.
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Authorities said before the conference, that if the remains prove to be Caylee's, a jail chaplain or psychologist would tell her mother before the results are given to reporters. The jail, however, would not disclose Friday whether such a visit had taken place.
At a Thursday news conference, Capt. Angelo Nieves, a Sheriff's Department commander, said investigators were looking into whether the tips, called in August 11, 12 and 13, were properly followed up.
In one of those phone calls, the meter reader reported seeing a gray bag on the side of the road, Nieves said. On August 13, a deputy responded to the site and did a "cursory search" but found nothing, Nieves said.
Nieves said police were getting more information from the tipster and the deputy who responded to the tips. He said the department was investigating the "thoroughness" of the deputy's response but would not identify the deputy.
The meter reader "is not a suspect," Nieves said. "He is a credible witness."
Nieves' latest announcement is raising questions about whether police missed several chances to find remains believed to be Caylee's.
The meter reader is not the only one, or the first, to have pointed police toward the site containing the remains.
KioMarie Cruz, Casey Anthony's childhood friend, also told police to investigate the same wooded area near Hidden Oaks Elementary School a month before the meter reader, according to CNN affiliate WFTV.
In an interview with detectives, according to WFTV, Cruz said that she and Anthony "pretty much used to hang out there most of our time," would "snack on food for hours" and went there to "get away from our parents."
The Sheriff's Department followed up on that tip, but the wooded area was covered in floodwaters, preventing a search. Nieves said the water may have been present at the time of the meter reader's tips as well.
Casey Anthony could face a sentence of life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors said this month that they would not seek the death penalty.