Girl Missing From Her Bed In Florida Home

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Haleigh went missing from her Florida home in the middle of the night.

Cops in Satsuma, Fla. are searching for a 5-year-old girl who disappeared from her home in the middle of the night.

Misty Croslin, 17, discovered that Haleigh Ann-Marie Cummings was not in her bed around 3 a.m. on Feb. 10, 2009, Capt. Steve Rose of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said.

Cops say Haleigh's father, Ronald Cummings, 25, works for a bridge company, usually 4 p.m. to 3 a.m., and came home sometime after 3 a.m.

His girlfriend, Misty, told him that she had just woken up to find the back door open and Haleigh missing from her bed.

At 3:27 a.m., Misty called police.

In the 9-1-1 call both Misty and Ronald sound frantic and have trouble answering the operator's questions.

Ronald repeatedly demands that police come and find Haleigh and tells the dispatcher he will kill whoever took his daughter before angrily hanging up on the operator.

He later made a public plea for Haleigh's return and promised not to seek revenge, if whoever stole her would just bring her home safely.

Since the report, police have continuously searched by ground, water and air in the area surrounding the family's home on Green Lane in the Hermit's Cove area of Putnam County, Fla., where they had lived for four months.

Cops say the home has no signs of forced entry, but a rear door may have been left unlocked.

The door was standing open several inches and the screen door was propped open with a cinder block, but police say they're not sure what that means.

The block, along with other undisclosed evidence, was taken from the home to a crime lab in Jacksonville, Fla. Investigators have put a rush on DNA testing of the block and other items.

Ronald said that he has only used the door twice since they moved in four months ago and that the door is always locked.

Cops say Misty put Haleigh to bed with her 3-year-old brother, Junior, around 8 p.m.

Misty last saw the girl when she went to bed in the same room at about 10 p.m.

Haleigh was orginally reported to be wearing a pink shirt and underwear, but police say they have recovered that t-shirt and are now unsure what the child might be wearing.

She is about 3' tall with blond hair and brown eyes. She has pierced ears.

Haleigh's maternal grandmother, Marie Griffis, told AMW that Haleigh's favorite food is macaroni and cheese. Her favorite things to play with are a purse full of make-up and her laptop computer.

Marie said Haleigh spent every other weekend with her mother, Crystal Sheffield.

Crystal lives in Glen St. Mary in Baker County, Fla, but she, Marie and other family members are all staying in the area where Haleigh disappeared and cooperating with police.

If you have seen Haleigh or have information about her whereabouts, call our hotline at 1-800-CRIME-TV.

Search For Haleigh Gets National Attention

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Haleigh's family has shared photos with the media, pleading for the girl's safe return.

Cops say they are looking at all avenues right now and will leave no stone unturned in the search for Haleigh.

Aerial searches for Haleigh continued for several days, in addition to ongoing ground searches, which involved 104 people on Day 1 and 70 on Day 2.

Divers are searched sections of the St. Johns River, located only 400 yards from the front door of Haleigh's home. Capt. Rose said the focus on the river is due to it's close proximity.

Putnam County Sheriff's Office Lead Investigator Jon Merchant said cadaver dogs, bloodhounds, article search dogs, dive teams and marine units were involved.

Sixteen FBI agents flew in to work on timelines on Feb. 11, 2009 and other agencies assisting that day included: St. Johns County, Flagler County, Volusia County, Marion County, the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, the State Attorney, 7^th Circuit and various Fla. volunteer emergency service groups, Inv. Merchant said.

Team Adam was on the scene for Day 2 of the search and Texas Equusearch arrived on Day 3 and began their search the next day.

Investigators said the mounted team would be able to cover areas that are hard to reach on foot.

Inv. Merchant said there are conflicting witness statements over whether or not the back door was locked. In the 9-1-1 call, Misty tells the operator that the door is always locked.

Misty, Ronald and other family members, including grandparents on both sides, have been questioned by police and additional interviews are planned.

Investigators say their main focus is just to find the little girl whose disappearance is now being investigated as an abduction.

"You wonder how a child can be taken out of a bedroom, but it happens," Inv. Merchant said.

Capt. Rose said they have identified and located 44 sex offenders within a 5 mile radius of the home and most or all of them have been contacted by police.

Merchant confirmed that and air conditioning repairman did visit the home at 5 p.m. on Feb. 9, 2009, the day before Haleigh's disappearance, but police are confident he was not involved.

Inv. Merchant said he was questioned within an hour of the disappearance and provided a solid alibi.

Police have not focused the investigation on any individual at this point.

"All the world is a suspect right now," Major Gary Bowling of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said.

On Feb. 13, 2009 Police continue to search by land, water and air.

Fifteen cadaver dogs from Georgia were brought in to assist with the ground search in addition to other search dogs that were already on the scene.

Police confirmed that both Ronald and Misty have taken polygraph tests and they are "satisfied" with the results.

Ronald told AMW on the evening of Feb. 12, 2009 that there were two beds in the room where Misty and the children were sleeping.

Ronald said Misty and Junior were in one bed and Haleigh was sleeping in another, a few feet away.

Misty originally told police that all three of them were sleeping in the same bed, according to Inv. Merchant.

Though the family is staying in the area, the house is roped off and the family has not been allowed back inside.

On Feb. 15, 2009, police announced that they were investigating the possibility that missing sex offender Chad Eugene Reynolds from Ochlawha, Fla. could be involved, but so far no link has been established.

Cops said a canvass of the neighborhood Monday, Feb 16, 2009 brought in several new leads, but have not said what those leads are.

The search scaled back Monday, but Putnam Sheriffs continue to investigate Haleigh's mysterious disappearance.

Cops announced that the pink shirt Haleigh was said to be wearing had been recovered on Feb. 18, 2009. They have no said where the shirt was found, but asked that the public focus on her face and not her clothing when looking for the girl.

On Feb. 19, 2009, police conducted block searches in the area surrounding Haleigh's home. Equusearch continues to assist and authorities are using dogs.

Investigators are in the process of re-interviewing family and friends. They plan to take the timeline back to a month before her disappearance and talk with anyone who may have had contact with the girl during that time.

Police announced that a sexual predator who lives about a mile from Haleigh's home is in custody on a probation violation, but cops do not think he had anything to do with it.

His movement is tracked 24 hours a day by an electronic monitoring device.

Police continue to question family members, who they say have been 100% cooperative with the investigation.

Ronald, Misty and crystal's fiance are among those re-questioned.

On Feb. 26, 2009 investigators launched a K-9 search, using cadaver dogs to cover the area within a 1/4 mile radius of the home, according to Capt. Rick Schauland of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.

Police expect a dozen K-9 teams, made up of a dog and a handler, to be in the area by Feb. 27.

Schauland said Misty was re-questioned on Feb. 25 and a child protection team interviewed Haleigh's brother, Ronald Jr.

Cops have not said what the interviews revealed and have not addressed the possibility that a man dressed in black took Haleigh.

But they have said they are looking into the information they obtained.

As of Feb. 26, investigators had received more than 2,000 tips and say about 100 tips per day are coming in.

AMBER Alert: Florida

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Haleigh attends Kindergarten at Browning Pearce Elementary School in San Mateo, Fla.

Incident Information
    Missing Person Circumstance Text : Update: Added child's photo The 5 year-old child was last seen in the area of Hermit's Cove in Satsuma, FL. She was last seen wearing a pink shirt and underwear.
    Missing Person Last Seen Date : 2009-02-10
    Missing Person Last Seen Time : 00:00:00

Last Seen Address
    Address : Area of Hermit's Cove
    Address State Name : FL
    Address City Name : Satsuma

Point Of Contact
    Contact Organization Name : Putnam County Sheriff's Office
    Number : 386-329-0808, 911

Missing Child
    Person Given Name : Haleigh 
    Person Sur Name : Cummings 
    Gender : Female
    Age : 5

Physical Description
    Person Eye Color Code : Brn
    Person Hair Color Code : Blnd
    Person Skin Tone Code : Whi
    Height : 3'
    Weight : 39lbs
    Description : Pink shirt and underwear