“Only WFTV was there to capture who was believed to be Casey running into a building, covering her head with a blanket,” the Orlando ABC-affiliate exclaimed on Tuesday, posting raw aerial video of a woman believed to be Casey Anthony running from a single-engine passenger plane to a building at the Orlando Executive Airport.
WFTV’s Steve Barrett reported live at the airport this morning, saying that either Anthony “was really getting off that plane when we videotaped this yesterday or the plane’s now being used in an elaborate deception.”
After her release early Sunday morning, Anthony boarded a plane owned by her former attorney Todd Macaluso. Macaluso’s plane returned to the Orlando Executive Airport on Tuesday and video of a woman wearing similar clothes to what Anthony wore when she was released from jail was captured by WFTV’s news helicopter.
WFTV’s chopper was in the right place at the right time to score exclusive footage of the runway run at least in part because the helicopter is housed at the airport–a fact that Barrett made clear in his report this morning.
Anthony’s trial attorney Jose Baez has dismissed the footage as a hoax, texting WFTV reporter Kathi Belich on Tuesday, “That is not Casey. Macaluso is having fun with you and I had no knowledge of that.”
Even though Baez has dismissed the footage and Macaluso has refused to speak with the station, WFTV isn’t backing down.
Barrett cited the woman’s similar clothing and “gate” as evidence that it was in fact Anthony captured on video returning to Orlando.
“Baez claims that’s not her, that another attorney had perfect luck knowing just where [WFTV’s helicopter] would be and that our cameras would be trained on a decoy,” Barrett said this morning. “It seems more likely that Baez is not being truthful.”
Interestingly, “Good Morning America” dismissed the incident as a hoax this morning. After WFTV’s footage played, ABC’s Andrea Canning emphasized that it was an unconfirmed sighting and quoted Baez, who said, “That is not her.”