Who is telling the truth ?

Casey Anthony: Robin Lunceford sent letters to Central Florida News 13

Caylee and Casey Anthony, Central Florida News 13, Jose Baez — posted by halboedeker on July, 19 2010 3:55 PM

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Central Florida News 13 interviewed prison inmate Robin Lunceford last week before her name emerged in the Casey Anthony saga.

“She had sent letters to me. That’s how her name came to my attention,” reporter/anchor Adam Longo said.

Longo estimated that two weeks elapsed between the time he heard from Lunceford and their interview Wednesday at the Lowell Correctional Institute in Ocala. Anthony attorney Jose Baez filed a motion Thursday to seal a call he received from Lunceford.

“I knew she had reached out to him,” Longo said. “I didn’t know about the recorded phone call and Baez wanting to suppress the recorded call. The story focuses on her claims. Can she be believed? You decide.”

Longo’s interview with Lunceford airs at 6 tonight on Central Florida News 13, and the chat will be repeated through the night.

Lunceford alleges Maya Derkovic, her former cellmate at Lowell, and Robyn Adams conspired to make up stories about Anthony. Derkovic, Adams and Anthony had been pen pals at the Orange County Jail. Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.


Lunceford’s credibility is a big part of his story, Longo said, and he talked to prison officials about her. “It’s my understanding that she’s the focus of an internal investigation that has nothing to do with Casey Anthony,” Longo said.

Lunceford, 47, is serving a life sentence for bank robbery with a deadly weapon, and she has been a frequent focus of disciplinary reports.

Lunceford and Derkovic were in the same prison for a year, and they were cellmates for several months, Longo said.

“She has lied so much since I’ve bet her,” Lunceford told Longo.

Lunceford has never met Adams or Anthony.

Longo talked to Lunceford for an hour; his report will be close to three minutes. Extended clips will be posted on the Central Florida News 13 website.

“My job is never to offer up opinions,” Longo said. “I’m just putting the facts out there and letting the viewers decide. Normally, you don’t respond to an inmate’s claims.”

But Anthony’s defense team wants to talk to Lunceford, and that makes her pertinent, Longo said.

For the report, Longo also interview prison officials and drew on Lunceford’s record and an investigative report about Derkovic.

Prison officials told Longo that Lunceford had a lengthy disciplinary history, that she is manipulative and has limited credibility. Derkovic did not reply to Central Florida News 13’s requests for comment, Longo said in the report.

“She [Derkovic] was transferred in May to Broward Correctional Institute in Fort Lauderdale,” Longo said. “It’s another part of the story. Why was she transferred? Baez believes it’s for one issue. Prison officials say it’s another.”

Prison officials told Longo that Derkovic was transferred after she had a falling-out with Lunceford and the two women threatened each other. “That is supposedly why Derkovic was transferred,” Longo said. “Prison officials say the transfer had nothing to do with the case against Casey.”