Misty Croslin, the 17 year old babysitter who reported five year old Haleigh Cummings missing almost a year ago, knows more than she’s revealed so far about what happened to his daughter, says Ronald Cummings, 26, jailed in Flager County, Florida on drug trafficking charges that he expects will bring a long prison term if he’s convicted.
He married Croslin a month after his daughter vanished last Feb. 10 while working a steel mill midnight shift, and has publically defended her until now. Even after they divorced following a short tumultuous marriage, Cummings held his tongue in public, but privately told me and others he had serious doubts. He said he was supporting Misty so she’d stick around, and perhaps reveal any secrets she may know about Haleigh’s whereabouts.
“You keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” he told me last March over fried Grouper and sweet tea at a local cafe in Satsuma, Florida, all the while fuming suspicion she’d been sleeping with other men.
Croslin claims she was sleeping in the trailer she shared with Haleigh and her little brother, JR, woke up to use the bathroom, and discovered Haleigh gone. She later flunked a private polygraph, but maintains her innocence, even as she sits behind bars in nearby St. John’s County, also charged with felony drug trafficking on a $950,000 bond.
Cummings’ remarks came in an emotional jailhouse visit Wednesday with his mother. “He feels like … if Misty knows something, and she is going to say something while she’s in there,” Teresa Neves told Orlando’s Fox TV affiliate outside the 132 bed facility ringed with high fences topped with concertina wire.
Cummings lives in a single cell with bunk, toilet and sink, no newspaper, no TV, and is allowed two hours of visitation every Wednesday. Between tears about missing his children, Neves said Ronald is certain his ex wife knows more about Haleigh’s disappearance than she’s been telling investigators, and predicts jail–or prison–will break her down enough to extract the truth.
“He feels if there is anything that she does know, she’s going to tell it,” Neves told the Orlando FOX TV affiliate.
Misty Croslin maintains she was sleeping when Haleigh vanished and knows nothing.
During their visit, Neves said her son chatted about shaving, showering, and jail food. When she mentioned his children, she says he lost it, and began to cry. He also said he feels certain Misty knows more about Haleigh’s disappearance than she’s told police.
“He feels like they’re so certain Misty knows something, and she is going to say something while she’s in there, said Neves. “He feels if there is anything that she does know, she’s going to tell it,”
In a dramatic drug bust that gives investigator leverage to ask questions about Haleigh Cummings, Misty was also arrested for selling powerful pain pills and sits in the St. Johns County Detention Center along with her brother, Tommy Croslin, and confidante Donna Brock, 44, a former Texas Equusearch volunteer who kept up her relationship with Haleigh’s ex stepmom even after the outfit cut her loose last October after she played undercover mama to try to glean information.
Misty’s bond is set at $950,000; Ronald Cummings at a half million dollars, Brocks’ at $250,000 and Tommy Croslin’s at $100,000. A total of five people face drug trafficking charges in relation to this same investigation also includes Ronald Cummings cousin, Hope Sykes.
The Putnam County Sheriffs Office says all five were busted in a one month sting involving an undercover Sheriffs Officer, and the sale or possession of more than $3,900 worth of pain pills.
“It’s a slam dunk case,” one source familiar with the evidence tells The Bald Truth. Not only are there hours of damaging audio and videotape with the so called “Satsuma Five,” but a total of 303 pills in evidence undercover officers say they bought from Misty and her pals–that police hope to use to leverage information about the missing child case.
Website: http:../../..www…artharris…com/..2010/..01/..28/..ronald-..cummings-..misty-..knows-..what-happened/
