exciting news at hln. you get the first chance to see the "joy behar show." she follows nancy grace tonight. her guest, bette midler. she premiers at 9:00, 8:00 eastern. meantime, big news concerning casey anthony. in new evidence, in the trunk of casey anthony's car is the outline of a little child, what they believe to be a silhouette of a little child. heart breaking. the prosecution is going to run with that and go with that image. on the flip side wharks's good news for the defense, we are finding out the fbi destroyed key evidence. let's go to mike brooks on this one. mike, i'll set the table with what we have. the way it lays out, caylee's

remains were found with duct tape over the mouth and residue from a heart shaped sticker over the duct tape. now, we're finding out it's washed away. let me explain how the evidence control thing gets to quan coe. it's gathered the same, logged in. we have 150 page that is was released. then it goes, when it get there, it goes to ecu. they farm it out, it can go to tray 7, a number of different plaits. some of the chemical they used to bring up the prints on the sticky and nonsticky side washed away some of the adhesive of the heart on the duct tape. is it a big deal? i don't think so. anita will tell you, you know defense attorneys, it's reasonable doubt.

i don't think so. they were trying to bring up prints and might not have known the particular chemical would wash away the adhesive. >> anita, that's your cue. >> he's right. it's what you have to do as a defense attorney. that's part of your job to make sure it was all directed right. you are defending your client. you need to make sure it was done properly. wait a second, you can't compare it to the stickers that were taken from the home and compare the adhesive. we don't have this sticker taken from the duct tape. if they make a mistake here, where else did they make a mistake. add them together and argue that's the reasonable doubt. >> what they are going to do, bring the people who collected it, the chain, bring them in to

testify it was there, bring a technician in and say it was there before we used whatever the check cal was to bring the prints up. jim in idaho, go ahead. >> caller: my theory was she probably duct taped the kids mouth, the kid had the audacity to vomit when she woke up, when she opens it drunk, i can't have this, the kid stays there until she removed the remains. >> thanks for the call. let's go to pam about this. when we talbout the topic of the heart shaped sticker, i want to read something. it's from a childhood friend. we talk about putting pieces together. here is what she says. this is kind of the way they buried their pets. we put the hamster in a plastic, zip lock bag. we drew five or six hearts,

signs of love. it's too much coincidence. the hearts, the bag, it adds up. it's disturbing to talk about. she was bagged twice. double bagged. it's hard when you see the picture. can you still use this as prosecution despite the fact this evidence has been tampered. >> absolutely, you can use it. i don't think anyone is going to be able to dispute the fact, based on the witnesses and reports, there was residue of a heart shaped sticker on her mouth on the duct tape. it was destroy ed by the prints. human errors are going to happen. you are going to have good defense attorneys to attack the evidence. that's coming in. take that with the childhood friend saying that's where they buried pets. then the other high school friend saying that's the exact area where they used to hang out in high school. every single thing in this case points to casey anthony. >> okay.

>> the evidence they gathered from their home, the heart shaped stickers in the house. >> let's be clear for the viewers. despite the botching of the evidence, this topic is still on the table? >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> anita, you think you can fight it? >> i can fight it, of course. it's my job, i can fight it. can i fight it where it's beyond a reasonable doubt, that's the difference. >> there's always one in the jury. i hate to say it and agree with anita, but there's always one. >> you don't want to open any doors. great conversation. appreciate it. coming up, a story of child abuse. cops say he was locked in a bedroom closet for four and a half years, beatden, tortured, scarred. his body was set on fire. now, behind bars, his own mom. call in, 877-tell-hln.

welcome back. this is so sad. police say a boy was held prisoner in his own home by his own mom. locked in a closet, four and a half years. he showed up friday wearing only a pair of oversized shorts held up by a belt. he was malnourished. scarred from head to toe. the scars on his stomach and torso were from where alcohol was poured on him. he was set on fire. other scars were from being tied up, stabbed, hit with an extension cord. his mom and her friend were arrested on 20 counts of child abuse and ne glechblgt it's unthinkable here. we'll take your calls. joining me to talk about it, dr. clay watkin and michael.

michael, how was this young guy saved. who came to his rescue to get him out of the hell he was living. >> he was able to squeeze out of a bedroom closet sometime friday afternoon. a passer by saw him and dropped him off at the national guard armory. he recognized it as a safe place. he asked the security guard to call police and it started from there. >> any help from the siblings? >> we don't know much about the siblings. there are seven others. one is an 18-year-old, the others minors. they are in state custody. a reporter went up to the door and the 18-year-old was home and politely declined to talk, but, not really sure why no one said anything. neighbors said they saw all the other children, but nobody ever

saw the 14-year-old before. >> let's go to clay watson. it's unthinkable. how does a 14-year-old who has gone through this, begin to piece a life back together? >> this is extremely difficult. the reason for that is that abuse itself, is psychological damaging. this sort of abuse is extreme because of the nature of what he went through and how long he went through it. this child is going to be facing years and years of emotional problems. severe emotional problems related to depression, anxiety, eating disorders, personality disorders, drug and alcohol abuse. not to mention the risk of him also becoming an abuser later on in life, carrying on the vicious cycle that sometimes passes from generation to generation. >> the second question, how could a mom do this to one of her own children?

she has other kids. she targeted this 14-year-old specifically. >> it's funny, and not funny. it's not unusual for there to be one child picked out, a scapegoat of the family. everything that goes wrong, a parent who can go about the ultimate betrayal of harming their own child, there's no profile. but, one would certainly look at a couple things is the poor impulse control. difficulty with managing stress, anger management problems, maybe a history of being abused herself as a child or witnessing abuse when she was younger. >> let's take a break. more from clay and the experts as we try to figure this out. ee