HALEIGH CUMMINGS - 5 yo - Satsuma FL - The Beginning

EXCLUSIVE: Misty Croslin Balked at Babysitting Haleigh!

By Art Harris, The Bald Truth, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved
The Bald Truth has learned exclusive new details about Misty Croslin’s behaviour the night she reported her boyfriend’s five year old daughter missing from their trailer in Satsuma, Florida almost a year ago—that she had balked at babysitting Haleigh Cummings, and her little brother, JR, complaining she was just too exhausted after a three day binge of drugs and sex with party pals.
“She told me, ‘I didn’t want to even watch the kids that night because I was too tired from partying that weekend,’” her sister in law, Lindsay, told me in an exclusive interview Tuesday night that I broke on CNN HLN’s Nancy Grace Show.

http://www.artharris.com/2010/02/03/exclusive-misty-croslin-balked-at-babysitting-haleigh/#more-3842

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. -- A well-known bounty hunter said he wants
to find Haleigh Cummings by getting Misty Croslin out of jail.
Leonard Padilla said he'll pay Croslin's bail to get her out.
"Given the situation, she might be forthcoming with information that
maybe she hasn't disclosed," said Padilla in a telephone interview.
He was referencing information about Haleigh Cummings, a little girl missing for a year now.
Haleigh disappeared from her father's Satsuma home in February 2009.
Misty Croslin was babysitting her and was the last one to see the
child.
Padilla said if he were to get Croslin out of the St. Johns County
jail and he started working with her attorney, she would tell Padilla
what she knows.
"I'm assuming that she wants to divulge further information that she
probably hasn't -- as of right now -- in order to locate the child,"
Padilla explained. "I think she has some stuff that either she has
given to law enforcement and they haven't given it up or she
has information that would lead to the child's return."
Padilla said he had the same motive with the Caylee Anthony case
in Orlando. He wanted to find the missing toddler.
The California-based bounty hunter paid to get Casey Anthony out of jail.
However, once she was out, she didn't talk to him.
Padilla said he believes the Haleigh Cummings case could be different.
"You know, I keep thinking as a result of whatever is going on in
Satsuma, that maybe the child is being held and somebody knows where
the child is. Obviously the person that would be able to start the ball
rolling is Misty," Padilla said.
However, due to new drug charges announced Wednesday,
Misty Croslin's bond was raised from $950,000 to $1,350,000.
Padilla said that would not be a problem. "It could still be worked out."
Padilla said he will get involved if Croslin's attorney asks him to do so.
Ultimately, Padilla said the goal is to find Haleigh, even if it
means paying a lot of money to get the last person to see her out of jail.

Poster's Note: Almost an entire hour of Misty's Jailhouse conversations is available through this link

Are you ready for another episode of the Leonard Padilla show?

posted by halboedeker on February, 4 2010 3:11 PM

It seemed like old times as Los Angeles bounty hunter Leonard Padilla popped up on TV screens early Thursday.

Padilla became familiar to Central Florida during the Casey Anthony case, when he helped bond her out of jail nearly two years ago.

Padilla has turned his attention to the case of missing [b]Haleigh Cummings.[/b] By phone at 6:30 a.m. today, Padilla talked to WOFL-Channel 35 about Misty Croslin, the last person to see the missing child.

“Possibly a deal can be worked to where we’re willing to put down a million, 350 in bail [for Croslin] in exchange for information that she has not so far given up” about the missing girl, Padilla told WOFL.

The next step is for Croslin’s attorney to contact him, Padilla said. “We can’t do anything that would violate his attorney-client privilege or destroy his relationship with Misty,” Padilla said.

WESH-Channel 2’s Jeff Lennox reminded viewers of Padilla’s hat and toothpick.

And what of the Cummings case?

“Padilla tells WESH 2 his conditions will be similar to the Casey Anthony bond, and either he or his people will get full access to Misty Croslin,” Lennox said.

WFTV-Channel 9 noted that more charges were being filed against Croslin and her ex-husband, Ronald Cummings, the father of Haleigh. They were arrested on prescription-drug-trafficking charges last month, and the new charges are related to undercover drug buys, anchor Vanessa Echols said.

Echols described Padilla as someone “you may remember from the Caylee Anthony case.”

For sure.

Padilla also talked to NBC’s “Today.”

“He believes if he gets her [Croslin] out, she will give him information about how to find Haleigh,” NBC’s Natalie Morales said.

Padilla said, “I think she’s got some stuff, either she’s given it to law enforcement and they haven’t given it up, or she has information that would lead to the child’s return.”

Padilla told Morales that he wants to work as an investigator for Croslin’s lawyers.

Are you ready to watch Leonard Padilla back in action?


http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2010/02/casey-anthony-are-you-ready-for-another-episode-of-the-leonard-padilla-show.html

Former Casey Anthony bounty hunter offers to post Misty Croslin's bond

New charges related to sale of prescription narcotics were filed Wednesday against Ronald Cummings and Misty Croslin.

By Bianca Prieto, Orlando Sentinel 2:27 p.m. EST, February 4, 2010

Excerpt:

A tearful Misty Croslin recently told her father she wants out of jail.

Now a figure from Casey Anthony's past has stepped from that high-profile case into this one with a get-out-jail card for Croslin —the last person to see missing Satsuma girl Haleigh Cummings.

But Leonard Padilla's offer comes with a catch: Croslin has to give the California bounty hunter information about Haleigh's whereabouts before he puts up the $135,000 to get her out of the St. Johns County Jail.

"I want her to talk first and then we'll go from there," Padilla said Thursday from California.

. . . . .

New drug-related charges were filed Wednesday against Croslin and Cummings, adding an additional $400,000 bond to each. Cummings is being held in the Putnam County Jail on $900,000 bond.

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-haleigh-cummins-misty-croslin-bond-20100204,0,541272.story

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/simon-barrett

Case Update Date / Time: 2/5/2010 1:00 PM

There has been so much activity in the Haleigh Cummings case that TJ Hart and I have decided to do a special update.

Call-in Number: (646) 378-1120

Ok, so I just got off the phone with LP and he says....

He's not
bailing Misty until she talks, that Misty talking is one of the
conditions of him posting bail, and Casey was a different story and a
different sociopath. He also says that Satsuma is a different world,
everyone is on welfare and working the system, and you have to know how
to work that type. Nobody trusts anybody. He also said he doesn't think
Misty had anything to do with Haleigh's disappearance (what?) he said
Misty may have been gone, or screwing someone while Haleigh was taken.

He
was a little pissed that people only listened to the first line of the
story, and not the rest. He insisted he was not bailing Misty out until
she talked. That's all I know, folks.

Admin wrote:Ok, so I just got off the phone with LP and he says....

He's not
bailing Misty until she talks, that Misty talking is one of the
conditions of him posting bail, and Casey was a different story and a
different sociopath. He also says that Satsuma is a different world,
everyone is on welfare and working the system, and you have to know how
to work that type. Nobody trusts anybody. He also said he doesn't think
Misty had anything to do with Haleigh's disappearance (what?) he said
Misty may have been gone, or screwing someone while Haleigh was taken.

He
was a little pissed that people only listened to the first line of the
story, and not the rest. He insisted he was not bailing Misty out until
she talked. That's all I know, folks.

Thanks Admin. I don't think she'll talk . . . . and I do think she had something to do with Haleigh's disappearance!

Ronald Cummings and Misty Croslin, two key players in the
disappearance almost a year ago of then-5-year-old Haleigh Cummings,
believe they are going to prison on drug charges, according to recently
released audio recordings made of the pair in jail.Ronald
Cummings, 26, is the father of Haleigh, who vanished on Feb. 10, 2009,
from her home in Satsuma in southeastern Putnam County while in the
care of Croslin, now 18. Croslin was Ronald Cummings' girlfriend at the
time. They later married and have since divorced.Croslin and
Ronald Cummings, along with three others, were arrested on Jan. 20 on
charges of trafficking prescription drugs including oxycodone and
hydrocodone.Additional trafficking charges were filed on
Wednesday against both in connection with the ongoing investigation,
bringing the total charges to eight against Croslin and five against
Ronald Cummings.Bond has been set at $1.35 million for Croslin,
who is being held in the St. Johns County jail, and $900,000 for Ronald
Cummings, who was moved on Jan. 29 to the Putnam County jail after
first being detained in the Flagler County jail.On Thursday, St.
Johns County released almost an hour's worth of redacted audio recorded
from Croslin's phone conversations with family.In one segment,
recorded at an unspecified date, Croslin can be heard telling a man she
addresses as her brother that she thinks she will be going to prison."You
know I'm going to be taking a ride, Timmy; I'm going to be going to
prison," Croslin says. "... Bub, I'm going to prison, I'm telling you.
... Eight trafficking charges.""How long you think you're going to do?" her brother asks."Probably
about 21 years. ... Tommy's going to prison, too," she says, possibly
referring to her other brother, Hank "Tommy" Croslin Jr., 23, who was
charged with one count of trafficking in prescription medications in
connection with the January drug sting. Hank Croslin Jr. is being held
in the St. Johns County jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. "We're all going to prison," Misty Croslin says later in the phone call.In
a recording released earlier by the Flagler County jail, Ronald
Cummings could be heard reaching the same conclusion while talking with
a newspaper reporter."Oh, no, I'm going to DOC. I'm going to
prison. No if, ands or buts," he says in the recording made on Jan. 24.
"... I said, there's no if, ands or buts, I'm going to prison. ... Did
I put myself in a bad spot? Of course I did."If convicted on all
charges, Misty Croslin faces more than 74 years in prison and Ronald
Cummings more than 43 years, law enforcement sources have said.Palatka
attorney Robert Fields, who represents Misty Croslin, told The Sun on
Thursday that "the new developments are unfortunate. My goal is to do
what I can for Misty.""As her lawyer, it's not how I wanted to start my day," Fields added in regard to the release of the audio recordings.The
St. Johns County Sheriff's Office first released video recordings on
Wednesday that showed Misty Croslin talking with her parents, Hank
Croslin Sr. and Lisa Croslin, during recent jailhouse visits."Misty,
don't be lying about nothing because all it's going to do is bury you
deeper," Hank Croslin Sr. could be seen telling his daughter. "The
Haleigh stuff has got to come to an end. It has to, Misty."Authorities and family members have said they hope the arrests lead to a break in the Haleigh case.Misty
Croslin told authorities she was home with Haleigh and toddler Ronald
Cummings Jr. the night of Feb. 10 when she woke up about 3 a.m. to find
Haleigh missing. A
massive search by law enforcement and volunteers on land and in the
nearby St. Johns River ensued, but the case remains unsolved.Meanwhile,
a California bounty hunter who was involved in another high-profile
child case - the slaying of Caylee Anthony in Orlando - has offered to
bond Croslin out of jail if she gives him information about Haleigh's
whereabouts.Leonard Padilla also wants anything Croslin would tell him to be covered by the attorney-client privilege.Fields said Thursday he would advise Misty Croslin to reject the offer."I'm going to advise her against it because I think it would really hurt her," Fields said.Caylee
Anthony's mother, Casey Anthony, has been charged with murder in
connection with her death. Padilla helped bond her out of jail, saying
he believed she would tell him where to find Caylee, which she did not
do.The child's remains later were found by a utility worker near
the neighborhood of Casey Anthony's parents. Casey Anthony's bond has
been revoked, and she is now jailed awaiting trial.Putnam County
Sheriff's Lt. Johnny Greenwood said investigators are reviewing the
recently released recordings to glean any information that could lead
to a break in the Haleigh case.Greenwood added that authorities did not ask Misty Croslin's parents to press her to cooperate with investigators."If
there is information in those conversations that can lead us in the
direction of Haleigh, we are interested," Greenwood said. "We have
spoken with everyone involved, but no, we did not ask anyone to speak
to her for us. We always hope she will decide to tell us what happened."

Haleigh Cummings' family will hold a vigil this weekend as a milestone approaches — the

one-year anniversary of the Putnam County girl's disappearance, a Web site is reporting.

The Hope For Haleigh Prayer Vigil will be at 5:30 p.m. at Celebration Park.

The girl vanished from her father's trailer in the rural community of
Satsuma, about 80 miles north of Orlando, while her father's
girlfriend, Misty Croslin, was baby sitting.

Her father, Ronald Cummings, was working.

Haleigh, then 5, was last seen by Croslin at about 10 p.m. Feb. 9,
2009. Croslin, now 18, told investigators that she woke up about 3:30
a.m. Feb. 10, 2009 and found that the girl was missing from the bed
where she had been sleeping with her younger brother and Croslin.

Authorities think Croslin has not told everything she knows about what
happened that night. But no one has been charged in the girl's
disappearance.

Both Croslin and Cummings are in different jails on drug-trafficking charges.

On the wall above a desk, a framed photograph features a young girl smiling as she looks at the camera.
It's a constant reminder for the people who work in the office.

This is where investigators, one from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office and
another from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, work full-time
reviewing clues into the disappearance of Haleigh Cummings, the
blonde-haired kindergartener from Satsuma who vanished one year ago.

"It's like our child," Capt. Dominic Piscitello, head of the Major Crimes
Unit, said. "We feel the emotional ties to this case as well as the
investigative ties."

Informally, the workspace is known as the Haleigh Room.
The small rectangular office in the sheriff's detective division complex reflects the task at hand.

A shelf holds 18 large notebooks with CDs, photos and narratives. These
catalog the 5,700 leads the investigation has examined - tips,
sightings and even psychic.

Inside one book, a photo shows a man and woman with a young girl.
"Somebody thought that was Haleigh," Piscitello said.
An investigator tracked down the people in the photo and confirmed it was not the missing child from Putnam County.


On the opposite wall is an intricate timeline depicting actions and
relationships of those at the center of the probe. In between are
computers, files and transcripts.

Haleigh was repofted missing early the morning of Feb. 10, 2009, triggering a massive search and a
nationwide criminal investigation. However, no trace of the youngster
has been found and the case has turned into a soap-opera like saga with
a wedding, a divorce, fights and drug arrests.

Through all the distractions, sheriff's office investigators have continued to locate
and pull together more pieces of the puzzle.

Piscitello estimates more than 10,000 man hours have gone into the effort.

Pressure from the case has taken a toll on those working the case, including
orders from doctors to rest. But that has not lessened their commitment
to seeing it through.

"It will break," he said with conviction. We'll solve it eventually."

Donna Brock: Friend of Misty Croslin, previously with Texas-based
EquuSearch, 44. Recently arrested on charges of trafficking in
prescription medications and housed at the St. Johns County jail. The
Orlando resident had worked with the mounted search-and-recovery team
in the search for Haleigh. But she was one of five people, along with
Ronald Cummings and Misty Croslin, arrested last month in what officers
describe as an effort to deal with a growing prescription drug problem
in Putnam County. Officers and a friend of Misty Croslin said Brock
befriended the young woman after Haleigh vanished.
Hank “Tommy” Croslin Jr.: One of Misty Croslin's brothers, 23. His name began to surface
regarding the case because of statements by his sister that he was
acting strangely at about the time Haleigh disappeared, a fight with
his then-brother-in-law Ronald Cummings, an arrest on a grand theft
charge and reports from the Sheriff's Office that, on the night Haleigh
vanished, he went to the home where his sister was taking care of the
girl and her brother and no one answered the door. He now is being held
at the St. Johns County jail in the same drug trafficking case as his
sister.
Hank Croslin Sr.: Misty Croslin's father, 41. He was
arrested in November and accused of doctor shopping. A relative said
this was a misunderstanding in which he was referred from one doctor to
another to treat physical problems involving high blood pressure and
other problems. He became one of a series of people connected to
Haleigh who were arrested on charges unrelated to the girl's
disappearance. Like others, however, he was questioned about his
granddaughter. Hank Croslin Sr. also was involved in an August incident
in which Ronald Cummings was arrested after a fight with his
brother-in-law.
Lisa Croslin: Misty Croslin's mother, 40. She was
one of a series of people linked to the missing child who were arrested
last year. Officers said the arrests were unrelated to Haleigh's
disappearance but that they would take the opportunity to question
those arrested, several of whom were members of Misty Croslin's family
or acquaintances of the young woman. Lisa Croslin was arrested in
October 2009 after she was accused of forging a neighbor's check.
Misty Croslin: Haleigh Cummings' baby sitter the night she vanished, 18.
Officers have described Croslin as the “key” to Haleigh's
disappearance. She was caring for Haleigh and Haleigh's brother the
night the girl was last seen. Opinions about Croslin have varied
throughout the months since Haleigh vanished, with officers saying
there are inconsistencies in her stories and even those who had
supported her now saying that, if she has information, she needs to
come forward. Croslin now sits at the St. Johns County jail on multiple
drug charges related to the alleged trafficking of prescription drugs.
Haleigh Cummings: Missing Putnam County girl, 6. The kindergartner was 5 when
she was last seen at the home she shared with her father, his
then-girlfriend Misty Croslin and her younger brother. Croslin has said
she, Haleigh and the boy were home alone when Haleigh supposedly
vanished from the residence while everyone was asleep. Almost a year
later, after thousands of tips and ongoing efforts to find her,
Haleigh's whereabouts remain a mystery. Relatives continue to hold out
hope the girl will be found alive.Ronald Cummings Jr.: Haleigh's
younger brother, 4. The boy was 3 when his sister disappeared from
their Satsuma home. Now he is living with his mother, Crystal
Sheffield, in Baker County after she was granted temporary custody when
the boy's father, Ronald Cummings, was arrested last month on drug
charges. The child supposedly has said that “a big man dressed in
black” came into the home and took Haleigh. Both children reportedly
were asleep in the residence along with Misty Croslin who was
baby-sitting them. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office has reported that
investigators were following up on any information the boy could
provide.
Ronald Cummings: Haleigh Cummings' father, 26. Cummings
and Crystal Sheffield have two children together, Haleigh and Ronald
Cummings Jr. He had primary custody of the two when Haleigh disappeared
while his then-girlfriend was baby-sitting the two children. He was not
home at the time but working a night shift at PDM Bridge in Palatka.
Like Haleigh's mother, officers have publicly said he is not a suspect
in his child's disappearance. But Cummings has had run-ins with the law
since Haleigh was last seen. He now is being held at the Putnam County
jail in the same drug trafficking case as his ex-wife, Misty Croslin.
Lt. Johnny Greenwood:
Spokesman for the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, 39. Greenwood has
handled the lion's share of the media's questions on the Haleigh
Cummings case since the girl disappeared and reporters camped daily
outside a law enforcement command post set up in a neighborhood next
door to the area where the child was last seen. With the Sheriff's
Office for 15 years, he also is the supervisor of the agency's Office
of Professional Standards, which includes internal affairs, training,
accreditation and human resources.
Marie Griffis: Mother of Crystal Sheffield, 44. Griffis,
Haleigh's maternal grandmother, along
with her daughter kept vigil for the missing girl for weeks near the
site where she was last seen. Early in the case she had been critical
of Ronald Cummings and Misty Croslin but now says she feels sorry for
Croslin, although she still hopes the young woman will reveal
information leading to Haleigh. She has been working with Cummings'
mother to set up prayer vigils for Haleigh as the one-year anniversary
of the girl's disappearance approaches.
Sheriff Jeff Hardy:
Putnam County sheriff, 44. Hardy had just been elected in 2008 when
Haleigh Cummings was reported missing in February 2009. The case, Hardy
has said, put plans he had at the time for the agency on hold while
Sheriff's Office employees focused efforts and resources on finding the
missing girl. Before becoming the office's sheriff, he had worked with
the agency for more than 14 years. He also previously served as a
deputy with the Broward County Sheriff's Office for four years and
later became the sworn police administrator for the Putnam County
School District Police Department.
Teresa Neves: Mother of Ronald Cummings, 50.
Neves often has served as the spokeswoman for her family,
speaking out as the search for her missing granddaughter continues.
Neves has said she continues to talk to reporters in the hopes of
keeping Haleigh's case in the public eye. And she has been involved in
organizing prayer vigils and other events that include both sides of
Haleigh's family, her father's and her mother's relatives, a
relationship that has been strained as the search continues and custody
disputes are raised over the girl and her younger brother.
Kristina “Nay Nay” Prevatt: Acquaintance of Misty Croslin, 19. In October, she
was an inmate at the Putnam County jail on charges including drug and
narcotic equipment possession. She supposedly wrote a letter talking
about an allegation that Haleigh had been taken to a party where she
died of a drug overdose. Then the child supposedly was taken to a pond.
Prevatt claimed she was questioned about this and denied that she was
at the party. At the time the letter became public, a high-ranking
Putnam County Sheriff's Office official called it a “farce” and said
that it was “ludicrous” the media was reacting to it.
Crystal Sheffield: Haleigh Cummings' mother, 24. Sheffield and Ronald Cummings
have two children together, Haleigh and Ronald Cummings Jr. In February
2009, Cummings had primary custody of the children, and Sheffield would
visit them every other weekend. Sheffield spent weeks traveling to
Putnam County from her Baker County home after Haleigh vanished.
Sheffield now lives near her mother and has temporary custody of her
young son following Cummings' arrest on drug charges. Investigators
last year said both Cummings and Sheffield were not considered suspects
in their daughter's disappearance.
Hope A. Sykes: Cousin of Ronald Cummings, 18. Sykes was arrested in January along with Cummings,
Misty Croslin and two others on allegations regarding trafficking of
prescription medications. She currently remains in custody at the
Putnam County jail. Officers allege Sykes, along with Croslin and
Cummings, were involved in the sale of hydrocodone pills in mid-January
in Welaka and San Mateo, according to arrest reports.

Teresa Neves is certain of one thing. Before the disappearance of
her granddaughter, Haleigh Cummings, the woman who cared for the little
girl and her younger brother, Junior, was caring and responsible."She loved them," Neves, 50, said of Misty Croslin. "There was no doubt in my mind about that."Today,
Haleigh's paternal grandmother says she doesn't know who Croslin has
turned out to be. "I feel that somewhere in those two or three days
before Haleigh went missing, she took a wrong turn in life, and that
brought her to where she is today," Neves said of the young woman her
son dated, married and has since divorced. "I do not feel she is the
same person she was when I first met her. It's like night and day."As
for her son, Ronald Cummings, 26, Neves wouldn't talk about the current
criminal charges against him, but acknowledged he has made mistakes in
the past.Despite his early missteps, however, her son had moved forward and worked to care for his children, she said."He
was a very, very intelligent person. He has a very high IQ," Neves said
of her son. "He has made some mistakes. You know what they say, they
that can cast the first stone. I say that everybody makes mistakes in
life. Ronald straightened out his life. His main focus has mainly been
his children."By all accounts, the lives of both Croslin and
Cummings showed signs of trouble even before Haleigh's disappearance
brought on the scrutiny of law enforcement and the media.Before
her recent arrest on drug charges, Croslin spoke about a Tennessee
relative she claimed had "messed" with her when she was younger. In an
interview last year, she said she wasn't going to school, and though
she had signed up for GED classes, she never attended.Before his
daughter disappeared, Cummings had been arrested on minor drug charges
in Putnam County and had cases filed on other allegations involving
traffic violations, wildlife violations and trespassing.Officers
later announced he was not a suspect in Haleigh's disappearance, and a
Department of Children and Families investigation cleared him of any
abuse involving his children. In
a jailhouse interview last month, Cummings told a newspaper reporter
that people have developed their own, inaccurate impressions of him."I get tired of being judged by people who just look at me," Cummings said. "I'm glad I'm not such a judgmental person."While
officers have said they do not consider Cummings and Haleigh's mother,
Crystal Sheffield, suspects in the girl's disappearance, officials have
said Misty Croslin's words don't match physical evidence or other
accounts from the night Haleigh vanished. And her comments to the media
early in the case, when she described what she remembered of the hours
before the girl disappeared, have varied.Croslin's sister-in-law, Lindsy Croslin, described the young woman as "a good girl" and "fun-loving.""She just got caught up in this," Lindsy Croslin said."Misty has never been a leader. She puts her foot in her mouth sometimes," Lindsy Croslin said.Haleigh's
maternal grandmother, Marie Griffis, 44, sees something different. If
Griffis were alone with Croslin, she said she might try to shake the
truth out of her. In the end, though, she said her heart goes out to
the 18-year-old."Her life spiraled. The mother in me sees the little girl whose life was shattered even more," Griffis said.Misty Croslin has said she grew up in Michigan and that she lived in different parts of Florida for about seven years.Lindsy
Croslin says she first met Misty and her brother, Hank "Tommy" Croslin
Jr., in Flagler Beach while they were in school. Hank and Lindsy
Croslin have been together about eight years now. "People
would just go to the beach and hang out," Lindsy Croslin said. "I met
him up there. Me and Misty became friends before me and Tommy even
started dating, and so she was like the sister I didn't have as an only
child."Eventually, after she married Tommy Croslin in 2007, they
all ended up in Putnam County. Lindsy Croslin's grandparents had a
house in Satsuma, and she thought it would be nice to move somewhere
else for a change of scenery, she said. Her husband's parents also
ended up in Putnam County and had their own place.At one point
before Haleigh's disappearance, Misty Croslin and her parents, Hank
Croslin Sr. and Lisa Croslin, moved in with Misty's brother and his
wife after Hank Croslin Sr. was involved in a car accident and the
family "lost everything," Lindsy Croslin said. Hank Croslin Sr. was hit
by a drunken driver, she said.As she had since high school,
Misty Croslin watched her sister-in-law's children. Meanwhile, Misty
Croslin's two brothers and father worked together at an electric
company.After the vehicle accident, Lindsy Croslin said Hank Croslin Sr. wasn't rehired at the job because he couldn't work.He
has several medical problems, one of the reasons he has been seeing
different doctors and not because he was intentionally "doctor
shopping" as was alleged by officers when he was arrested in November,
she said.Those who know her say family has always been at the center of Misty Croslin's world.That
sense of togetherness is part of what Lindsy Croslin, whose family
previously had included just her and her father, said she fell in love
with when she met Misty and Tommy."I thought it was so neat that
(Tommy's) parents had been married since 16 and were still together. I
thought it was neat that they had a mom and dad," Lindsy Croslin said.
"That's how their upbringing is, very close - they all stick together.
They all watch out for each other."From jail in an interview
recorded with a reporter, Ronald Cummings described his ex-wife as a
friend and said little else about her. He said the only two women he
has tattoos for are his daughter and mother. He also confirmed he has a
new girlfriend. He
credited his late maternal grandfather, Myles Kirby Sykes, who had
retired from the Florida Department of Agriculture, with teaching him
"the basics," such as being good to women and children."He
always took care of me. He was just a good all-around guy," Cummings
said. "I'm sure that he wouldn't be happy that I'm in here."While
his grandfather died in 2002, Cummings has remained close with his
grandmother, Annette Sykes, 65, who along with her husband helped care
for Cummings when he was younger. Cummings said his father was not
around much when he was growing up.Cummings was born in Palatka
and later lived in Central Florida, his mother said. He played baseball
and football when he was younger.Cummings said he later graduated from school in the Wildwood area.When
Cummings was with Crystal Sheffield, 24, his now ex-girlfriend, she
became pregnant with Haleigh. To support the baby, Cummings said he
left ITT Tech, where he had been studying for months and was pursuing a
computer technology degree.His career since, he said, has been
in construction. Work became harder to get once Haleigh disappeared and
the economy worsened, he said.Cummings said having steady work
and being a good provider later helped him win custody of his children
when he and Sheffield vied for Haleigh and Ronald Jr.Today, with his father in jail, toddler Ronald Jr. is living with Sheffield.The
night Haleigh vanished, Cummings was working a late shift at PDM Bridge
in Palatka. Video camera footage from PDM Bridge confirms he was at
work that night. Cummings is no longer employed there. Cummings
met Misty Croslin through her baby-sitting, both he and his mother have
said. Living in Satsuma then, she had been taking care of her nieces
and nephews, who didn't live far from where Cummings and his children
were staying.Cummings and Croslin ended up marrying on March 12,
2009, about a month after Haleigh's disappearance. Seven months later,
they were divorced in mid-October.In jail, Cummings was asked by
a reporter why he put himself in a bad spot with the new drug charges.
"I don't know man. I don't even know," he said.To pass the time,
Cummings said he has been reading the Bible in jail. "I've been going
to church since I was knee-high to a grasshopper," he said, citing
Bible verses that he said give him "a little hope."Neves said her son shares her focus."If they get something out of Misty and this is what it cost him, this is all we care about ... Haleigh coming home," she said.But
Neves also worries about what will happen if Misty Croslin has been
telling the truth or can't remember any more information about the
night her granddaughter vanished."Law enforcement has spent a
year waiting to be able to question her to be able to find out what she
knows. If they're wrong, we've wasted a year," Neves said.

Ronald Cummings was already a volatile man with a drug-related past
when he met Misty Croslin, a defiant, barely educated teenager who
moved in nearby. Before they came to define the troubling story
of Cummings' 5-year-old daughter, the pair now jailed on trafficking
charges lived in a world surrounded by drugs and marked by mistrust,
family and others recalled in interviews. Haleigh disappeared from
southern Putnam County a year ago Wednesday. In
the years leading up to that night, Cummings, now 26, had fathered
three children and been arrested on drug charges but escaped
prosecution. Croslin was a Michigan transplant who quit going to school
in the sixth grade and ran off to New Jersey at 15. Now Cummings
and Croslin are awaiting arraignment on the drug charges after
undercover investigators orchestrated a series of narcotics buys in
December and January that also netted a friend of Croslin's, one of her
brothers and a cousin of Cummings. The arrests end nearly a year that
was both sad because of Haleigh and tawdry in the lives it exposed to a national audience.
Ronald Cummings and his 17-year-old girlfriend had been together for a short time when
Haleigh disappeared. They'd met months earlier in their Satsuma
neighborhood and seen each other at the school bus stop at the end of
Tyler Street where Haleigh was dropped off with Croslin's nephew. They
had also talked when Croslin baby-sat Cummings' youngest son, who lived
with a former girlfriend. Croslin warned Cummings he needed to gain
custody of the baby because she said the child's mother was a drug
abuser who would sometimes disappear and abandon the boy with whoever
had him. Soon Croslin was baby-sitting for Haleigh and Cummings' 3-year-old son, Ronald Jr. The
two became a couple but the relationship was rocky on the Monday night
that Haleigh went missing. Croslin spent the weekend partying, although
she was home by the time Cummings went to work Monday evening. But
Cummings was angry and repeatedly called her brother that night,
demanding to know where she was when he couldn't get her on the phone. Anger
and a sense of remoteness had marked Cummings for years, said his
grandmother Annette Sykes, who reared him and his sister until Sykes'
husband became debilitated by Alzheimer's. Annette and Kirby Sykes had
guardianship of the two children beginning when Ronald was 3. He moved
out as his grandfather became increasingly ill and was back with his
mother, Teresa Neves, in Sumter County by the time he was a young
teenager. After Cummings graduated from high school in Leesburg,
he and his girlfriend moved back to Putnam County. They went to his
grandparents in Welaka, where his girlfriend became pregnant, but
Cummings had changed, his grandmother said. "He just had a dirty mouth," she said. "He was very disrespectful." She
attributed his ill manners to a bad crowd but found that as her husband
- the man Cummings called "Daddy" - worsened and died, her grandson
changed, too. "He doesn't really want anybody to be close to him, I don't think," she said. Cummings never saw much of his birth father, who lives in Putnam County, she said. "Everything Kirby did at home, Ronald was right with him," Sykes said. "Every step Kirby took." Cummings was never the same after his death in January 2002, she said. From jail, Cummings said his grandfather had been a guiding force in his life. "He taught me the basics, you know, be good to your women and your children," he said. "Work." He said he learned right from wrong from his grandfather, and the importance of respect. "I'm sure he wouldn't be happy I'm in here, that's for sure," he said. His most serious arrests started after high school. In October 2001 he was arrested after a Crescent City man said he was threatened at a stoplight and told he would be killed. He was charged with drug possession in 2002 and 2004, both times after drugs were found with him in cars. Charges were never prosecuted, according to court records. Crystal In
Leesburg, Cummings had lived with his mother and Crystal Sheffield, a
14-year-old who came from Putnam County where she met the year-older
Cummings. Sheffield, who would be the mother of Haleigh and
Ronald Jr., left school in the ninth grade to be home-schooled but
never went any further. Her mother, Marie Griffis, said her
daughter was supposed to visit Cummings in Leesburg for a weekend but
never came home. Mother and daughter were not often in touch for the
next two years, and Griffis said she sometimes did not know where
Sheffield was. "When Crystal was with him, she didn't have much
contact with me," Griffis said. "She never called me. When I called
her, she didn't return my calls." Sheffield, who now lives in
Baker County on property beside her mother and stepfather, said drugs
including pot and cocaine were part of the lifestyle she and Cummings
shared while they were together. She said Cummings only worked
some and the two lived with his mother until they moved in with Sykes
in Putnam before Haleigh was born. "He just didn't like my family," Sheffield said. "He just kind of kept me away." Sheffield
became pregnant with Haleigh at 17. She and Cummings never married but
lived with Sykes until their son was born 18 months after Haleigh. Life with Cummings was difficult, Sheffield said. He was controlling and could be erratic, sometimes with guns. "I've watched him put a gun in his mouth in front of me and Haleigh," she said. After separating in 2005, Cummings was given custody of Haleigh and Ronald Jr. because he had a job with health insurance. Misty Cummings and the two children were living together when he met Croslin in 2008. Sykes' first impression of the petite teen came from the children. "The kids adored her and she seemed to adore them back," Sykes said. "I mean they'd cry to go back to her." Sykes
said she saw another side of her grandson's girlfriend in the months
after Haleigh vanished, when Cummings, Croslin and Ronald Jr. moved in
with her. "You can't threaten her or do anything to her
emotionally or mentally that will affect her," Sykes said. "She doesn't
have the ability." Sykes said even repeated interrogations by investigators had little impact. "When the sheriff's department was threatening her and doing all their doings and stuff, it didn't faze her," she said. Sykes said Croslin's childhood may have dulled her emotionally. "She
basically was here, there and yonder," Sykes said. "I don't reckon she
knew from one day to the next where she was going to be." Croslin
was born in Michigan, but the family of five moved to where her father,
Hank Croslin Sr., could find drywall work, her parents said. They spent
time in Tennessee, her mother's home state, and Colorado before moving
to Florida. When their daughter was in the sixth grade, they were living in Flagler County. "I'd
send her to the bus stop," her mother, Lisa Croslin, said. "She'd never
get on the bus. If it was a day she wanted to go, she'd go. If it was a
day she didn't want to go, she would hide." "She can't read," her father said. "She was behind in class just like all of us." Reading disabilities run in the family, he said. "I can't read at all," he said. At
about 15, Misty bought a bus ticket under a false name and moved to New
Jersey with a boyfriend. After several months and with the help of a
social worker, she was found and brought home. About that time, the Croslins moved to Putnam. Her
father said she began hanging out with Kristina "Nay Nay" Prevatt and
Amber Brooks, who is the mother of Cummings' other son. Both Prevatt and Brooks have drug arrest histories. The weekend before Haleigh disappeared, Misty was with Prevatt. "That's where all the trouble started, hanging around Nay Nay and Amber," her father said. He
said he couldn't convince her to distance herself from the new crowd.
Misty was more trouble than the Croslins' two sons, he said. "She was the wildest one," he said. "She was." On
Feb. 9, the night after Croslin returned to Cummings' mobile home from
the weekend of partying, Sykes dropped by. She said she was upset that
Croslin had gone off and left her grandson without anyone to watch over
the two kids. "I was mad because Ronald let her come back," she
said. "But it's his house. There wasn't nothing I could do about it
other than be mad." By the next morning, Haleigh was gone.