Newspaper writers are (or were) trained to avoid making declarations in fact with potentially disputable evidence, even something obvious and especially when sensitive information is involved (arrests, child abuse, missing people, etc.). So the use of words such as "appears" and "possibly" is simply the journalist's way of presenting information that was probably made available by someone else, usually the police or other folks in official or semi-official status. It looks stupid to the average reader but it's just proper caution.

Hence the use of words like "alleged" when dealing with arrests, e.g. "Mr. Jones allegedly stole the car." Or "police claim that Mr Jones..." You get the drift.

We weren't there when the stuff was found and I'd wager that neither were the journalists. (Eyewitness reporting is a bit different - you can describe what you saw but even then there may be caveats.)

Extravoice, if newscasters were paid by their use of language they'd be among the poorest people on Earth.