ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Investigators won't confirm reports that they found traces of chloroform in the truck of Casey Anthony's car. A criminal expert told Eyewitness News that he believes the child's mother may have used chloroform to knock her child out.

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For starters, he thinks that because it could explain a cause of death.

Eyewitness News reported about the forensic evidence suggesting Caylee Anthony's decomposing body was at one time in the trunk of the car. Now preliminary tests show chloroform was in that trunk, too.

"Chloroform would have to be investigated, because that's a potential cause of death," Dr. Michael Baden told Eyewitness News.

Baden is a forensic pathologist known for his expertise in the O.J. Simpson case. He says chloroform, a chemical once used as an anesthetic, could be used to put people to sleep. Investigation sources told Eyewitness News someone at the Anthony home looked up chloroform on the Web around the time of Caylee's disappearance.

"A parent, usually a mom, will put a kid to sleep by putting over a nose or mouth and cause it to lose consciousness," Baden said.

Baden said the practice is more common among young moms who don't want to be bothered by a crying baby. It is well-documented Casey Anthony liked to party and in discovery documents one of her friends even says at parties "the kid slept through anything."

"If the baby is sleeping at times convenient for the mom, one has to seriously consider something's being done to put the baby to sleep," Baden said.

Baden said it's a dangerous practice, because you don't know how much a child is inhaling. It can shut down the respiratory system, the brain and then the heart. Baden said he has seen no proof, but theorizes that it's possible Casey used chloroform intentionally but her child's death was an accident.

"It may work ten times, but the 11th time too much is given and the baby dies," Baden said.

Eyewitness News offered the Anthony family a chance to respond, but their spokesman called the theory outlandish and said it really isn't even worth commenting on.