Haleigh Cummings Body Not Found

Haleigh Cummings Body Not Found; Lake Drained, to Be Searched This Weekend
September 19, 2009 by Carol Bengle Gilbert

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2190839/haleigh_cummings_body_not_found_lake.html?singlepage=true&cat=8

The latest news reports out of Palatka, Florida indicate that the body of Haleigh Cummings who disappeared Feb. 10 from her father's Satsuma home in the predawn hours was not found in a lake dredged Friday evening. Major Gary Bowling of the

Haleigh Cummings Body Not Found; Lake Drained, to Be Searched This Weekend
Putnam County Sheriff's Office told WAWS that a search would be conducted in the area of the drained lake during the weekend.

Bowling also stated that the discovery of a suspicious item during the uprooting of marijuana plants in a field Friday did not relate to the Haleigh Cummings investigation.

Earlier reports by First Coast News Friday repeated the claims of several viewers that Haleigh Cummings' body had been recovered. Haleigh's father Ronald Cummings denied any knowledge of his daughter's body being found when questioned by a First Coast News reporter. Cummings said he had spoken with Haleigh's mother Crystal Sheffieldconcerning the reports.

PCSO investigators interviewed Misty Croslin Cummings' brother Hank (Tommy) Croslin, Jr. (who was recently jailed on grand theft charges involving the theft of a gun from a neighbor) and 3 other inmates of the Putnam County Jail last night concerning Haleigh Cummings' disappearance. Misty Croslin Cummings, then Ronald Cummings' girlfriend and now his wife, was the last person to see Haleigh before her disappearance.

Investigators denied learning anything about Haleigh's disappearance from Hank Croslin, Jr. when questioned by Channel 4's Jim Piggott Thursday night. Hank's wife Lindsy was questioned by police Friday morning. The sheriff's office described the interviews of Hank and Lindsy Croslin as "nothing out of the ordinary."

The identity of the other inmates questioned and any possible relationship between those interviews and today's draining of a Palatka lake has not been made public.

The search for Haleigh Cummings while unsuccessful in finding the little girl has uncovered baskets upon baskets of Cummings and Croslin family dirty laundry both literally and figuratively, with Hank Croslin, Jr. the latest to be plucked from the pile for public airing.

Misty Croslin Cummings flunked 2 polygraph exams and a voice stress test and was declared an uncooperative subject during hypnosis. In the voice stress test, Cummings spoke extensively about the necessity of washing Haleigh's blanket the night she disappeared. Cummings said the blanket "smelt like pee." Questions about when and why the Cummings family washing machine was running, how Misty washed laundry when there was no detergent in the household at the time, and why the dryer was filled with dirty clothes hover around the periphery of Misty Croslin Cummings' claims about washing Haleigh's blanket.

On the figurative dirty laundry front meanwhile, the aftermath of Haleigh Cummings' disappearance has led to Haleigh's mother's family alleging that Haleigh's father abused Haleigh and her younger brother, drug and sex allegations against Misty Croslin Cummings including a weekend of sex with a man other than Ronald Cummings just prior to Haleigh's disappearance, the disclosure that Misty's cousin is a sex offender, revelations of Ronald Cummings' apparent penchant for underage girls, the sudden and in some people's opinions suspicious marriage of 24 year old Ronald to 17 year old Misty, and the arrest of both Ronald Cummings and Hank Croslin, Jr. in separate incidents.

Sources: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/mostpopular/news-article.aspx?storyid=145240&provider=top; http://www.wftv.com/news/20998031/detail.html; http://www.news4jax.com/news/20976154/detail.html; http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/cummings_case/091809_two_questioned_haleigh; http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-caylee-anthony-body-dna-121908,0,1859200.story; http://www.bloggernews.net/120650; http://www.wftv.com/news/18757844/detail.html.