Evidence: Pen Pal Reveals Details In Casey Case

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The state released more evidence in the case against Casey Anthony Friday. Prosecutors released an interview that Casey Anthony's jailhouse pen pal, Robyn Adams, had with detectives on February 12, 2010.

COP WITH PEN PAL: Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4| Pt. 5 DOCUMENT: On EquuSearch Volunteer EVIDENCE PHOTOS: Released From Sheriff's Office INTERNAL INVESTIGATION: Listen | Read VIDEO REPORT: More Evidence Released DETECTIVE INTERVIEWS CINDY 2/8: Part 1 | Part 2

Adams and Casey exchanged letters while she was in the Orange County jail before she was convicted on drug charges and sent to federal prison. Adams told detectives in the interview that Casey told her she was abused.

Adams told investigators that Casey claimed to have been abused when she was younger, at the hands of her brother and father.

Adams saved her letters and shipped them to a friend on the outside. Adams, a convicted drug dealer, and currently in state prison, told investigators about how she built up a friendship with Casey. They traded letters by stuffing them in books inside the jail.

Adams painted the picture of Casey as someone upset with her family.

"I think I was just the one that was there. She didn't have anybody else. She felt like even her family turned on her," Adams told detectives.

Adams told investigators Casey felt betrayed by her mother, Cindy Anthony, who was doing talk shows, instead of going to her court hearings. She said Casey opened up about her childhood, sometimes in conversation, but mostly in letters.

When asked about sexual abuse, Adams told investigators Casey claimed she suffered the abuse at the hands of family members when she was young.

"She was younger, as if she went through a lot with her brother, a lot with her dad," Adams said.

As for the mystery baby sitter Zenaida Gonzales, who Casey claimed took her daughter Caylee, Adams said: "There was no Zenaida."

The investigator then asked, "Ok, did she tell you that?"

"Zenaida was a childhood friend," Adams replied.

Adams said she believes Casey killed Caylee because she broke down crying when remains were found near her home, remains that turned out to be Caylee's. Adams claimed Casey giggled when it was initially believed bones were found at Blanchard Park.

"Not in, like, an evil way. She just kind of like, 'That's not my kid, that's not my daughter,'" Adams said.

Also released was an audio recording of an internal investigation into corrections officer Silvia Hernandez. Hernandez helped Casey communicate with Robyn Adams.

Hernandez is the one who admitted she allowed Casey and Robyn to exchange letters and develop a close relationship.

"She was telling me they were passing notes through books," said Hernandez to investigators.

Hernandez said she allowed it to continue, along with face-to-face contact because she also became friends with Adams.

Adams was always crying and Hernandez said she felt sorry for her because they are both mothers. She even wrote letters to Adams when she was sent to state prison.

But Hernandez had a different take on Casey. She described Casey as cold and said Casey dropped hints that she knew what happened to Caylee before her remains were found.

"She was like, 'They're not looking in the right place. It's right in their face, but they're not looking in the right place,'" Hernandez described.

Much of the evidence focuses on Texas EquuSearch volunteer Laura Buchanan. She's accused of falsifying search documents in order to help Casey.

Buchanan claimed four months before Caylee's body was found off of Suburban Drive, that she searched that exact area, but found nothing.

Investigators talked to several of her friends, and even recorded phone calls between them to find out if that was true. In one call, Buchanan changes her story.

"How did you know to search over there, where the body was found?" asked detective Kasper Jordan.

"I don't, I don't think... I don't think the body was found there was it? It was found over beside some tree I guess was, was in 30 or 40 feet away from where I was," she said.

The defense planned to use Buchanan to argue that someone else put Caylee's body in those woods after October 14, once Casey was locked up in the Orange County jail.

The case against Casey will be back in court next week. A hearing is scheduled for February 4 at 1:30pm.

A two-day hearing has been set for March 2 and 3. That's when the judge will consider a defense motion to suppress statements made by Casey's parents and brother, her father's self-proclaimed mistress, her jail pen pal, and her statements to law enforcement.

MOTION GRANTED FOR MORE MONEY TO CASEY'S DEFENSE

Chief Judge Belvin Perry granted a motion from Casey Anthony's defense team, asking for more taxpayer money, at a hearing Friday.

Casey's legal team asked for more funding so private investigators can keep working on the murder case and death penalty defense.

It is the third time the defense has filed a similar request. So far, only portions of the other two have been approved.

Friday's hearing was held over the phone.

JUDGE IN CASEY CASE ISSUES RULINGS, SETS HEARING

The judge issued new rulings in the case against Casey Anthony Friday.

VIDEO REPORT: Judge Issues Rulings

Casey's jailhouse pen-pal will testify against her. The judge gave prosecutors permission to bring convicted drug dealer Robyn Adams to Orlando for Casey's trial.

Adams and Casey exchanged letters before Adams was transferred to federal prison from the Orange County jail. Casey allegedly told Adams that she gave Caylee chloroform and that she didn't want to be a mom.

The judge also ruled on a motion involving former meter reader and witness Roy Kronk, who found Caylee's remains near the Anthony's home in 2008. The judge said he can't be asked about his past, only about his 911 call and about any contact he had with Casey.

The judge also said Texas EquuSeach leader Tim Miller can't be asked about the statement he made claiming Casey came close to marking Caylee's location on a map.

JUDGE REFUSES TO RECONSIDER SANCTIONS

Chief Judge Belvin Perry on Thursday refused to reconsider the sanctions filed against Casey Anthony's lead attorney, Jose Baez. Baez paid a $583 fine for failing to give prosecutors information on defense experts.

VIDEO REPORT: Judge Shoots Down Motion

The judge said Baez "willfully" violated the court order to do so.

There were also new motions, new depositions, and new hearing dates announced Thursday.

For the third time, Casey's defense team filed motions requesting thousands more dollars from taxpayers so private investigators can continue work on the murder case and death penalty defense. Only portions of two previous similar requests have been approved so far.

Meanwhile, Casey's lawyers were questioning 12 Texas EquuSearch volunteers Thursday, who the defense believes may have searched the same area where Caylee's remains were located but didn't find anything. Prosecutors believe the exact site was under water and unsearchable.

And finally, a two-day hearing has been scheduled the first week of March. That's when the judge will consider a defense motion to suppress statements made by Casey's parents, brother, her father's self-proclaimed mistress, her jail pen pal, and her statements to law enforcement. Her lawyers also want to suppress jail video of Casey's reaction when she learned Caylee had been found and descriptions of that video.

STATE WANTS TO USE CASEY'S TATTOO, LIFESTYLE TO BUILD CASE

Tattoos and ex-boyfriends could build the state's case against Casey Anthony. Documents released Tuesday reveal why prosecutors want to use information about Casey Anthony's tattoo and her partying lifestyle.

READ: State Docs On Case Against Casey VIDEO REPORTS: Tats, Ex-Boyfriends | Borrowed Shovel SEE CASEY'S TAT: Investigator Photos Of Tattoo SEE SHOVEL: Controversial Shovel In Casey Case

The defense wants several things thrown out before Casey's murder trial, and they all deal with a time period that is key in the prosecution's case against her.

The 30 days before Caylee Anthony was reported missing took center stage in the documents filed by the State Attorney's Office.

Casey's defense doesn't want her past sexual relationships with ex-lovers, including Tony Lazarro, to be brought up in court. But prosecutors say it's significant, because Casey and Tony engaged in an intimate relationship, yet she told him nothing of her daughter's disappearance.

caseytat100909-10 See Infamous Tattoo Documents state the fact Casey Anthony was playing "house" with Tony after her daughter was missing does tend to disprove that she was conducting her own investigation.

"It tends to prove Casey, since didn't tell Lazarro that her daughter was kidnapped, that in fact her daughter wasn't kidnapped," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.

The state says Casey's state of mind is relevant during the time of her so-called search for Caylee and the investigation into her disappearance.

As for the defense motion to keep out her history of lying and stealing, prosecutors say Casey wanted to avoid answering any questions about Caylee so "Miss Anthony was doing everything in her power to flee from her family, to include lying to them as to her whereabouts and stealing from her friend to avoid having to rely on her family for financial support."

Investigators also interviewed the artist who gave her the Bella Vida ("Beautiful Life") tattoo (see tat) more than a week before Caylee was finally reported missing. He says Casey "seemed fine and was just normal."

Sheaffer says it's not about the tattoo; it's about how Casey's actions during that 30-day period were not consistent with a mother who was looking for her missing child.

caseyshovel100909-05 Shovel Casey Borrowed WFTV also learned why a shovel (see it) is so important to their case against Casey Anthony. The state says it's obvious Casey used a neighbor's shovel during her crime.

Prosecutors are also using that neighbor to show how Casey went to her parent's home three times while they were not there, backed her car into the garage and didn't stick around for long.

The newly filed court documents say Casey's neighbor, Brian Burner, saw her three different times the week of June 16, which is the last time anyone saw her daughter Caylee alive.

The second time Burner saw Casey, she borrowed his shovel because, she claimed, she was doing some yard work. But when she came back an hour later, he says "she was calm, just normal, normal Casey. No sweat. She wasn't, didn't appear to be muddy or the shovel wasn't even muddy."

Prosecutors say it appears the shovel hadn't been used much and Casey didn't look like she spent an hour out in the June heat digging up bamboo roots in her parent's backyard.

Documents say "the more reasonable explanation is that the defendant borrowed the shovel with the intent to bury her daughter."

"His testimony regarding the shovel and Casey's actions in borrowing the shovel and returning the shovel, it's more consistent with the state's theory than the defense theory," Sheaffer said.

The prosecution is also fighting to let jurors hear about a message that Cindy Anthony posted on MySpace. The state says the message, titled "My Caylee Is Missing," is relevant because it shows the issues she was having with Casey at the time of Caylee's disappearance.

Previous Stories: January 24, 2011: Motion Granted For More Money To Casey's Defense January 21, 2011: Judge In Casey Case Issues Rulings, Sets Hearing January 20, 2011: Judge Rejects Motion For Casey's Attorney On Sanctions January 20, 2011: State Wants To Use Casey's Tattoo, Lifestyle To Build Case January 18, 2011: Casey's Attorney Takes On Windermere Sex Case January 18, 2011: Cheney Mason Includes Letter With Check For Fine January 14, 2011: Judge Lays Out Plans For Casey Case Jury January 13, 2011: One Of Casey's Attorneys Takes On Another High-Profile Case January 13, 2011: Casey's Attorney Pays Fine, Explains Himself

WFTV