Haleigh Cummings Ground Search Halted

It’s been a week since 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings disappeared from her home.

The massive, 5-mile area ground search by hundreds of volunteers, including Tim Miller of Texas EqquSearch, has been suspended and the volunteers have pulled out.

"It's frustrating," Chief Deputy Rick Ryan of the Putnam County Sheriff's Department said. Police encouraged the family to remain hopeful little Haleigh will be found alive.

On Monday, the family pleaded for search teams to stay and continue to search for their missing daughter.

"I encourage anyone who wants to help me to look for my daughter to come back and help me look," said Cummings.

Authorities stress they haven’t given up searching for Haleigh. They have received more than 500 tips to follow-up on and that is why the command center has been moved from a trailer in Satsuma to the county offices in Palatka. The move gives investigators greater access to computers, phone lines, and resources.

Many of the leads have been have been investigated, but so far, authorities have come up empty handed.

Haleigh's mother, father, his girlfriend, and extended family members have been re-interviewed.

Authorities are now focusing on reviewing and confirming witness statements as well as establishing a timeline around Haleigh’s disappearance.

Sources

firstcoastnews.com

MSNBC

jacksonville.com

Haleigh Cummings – The Search Continues

It's been almost a week since Haleigh was reported missing. She was last seen in her father's Satsuma, Florida trailer about 10 p.m. Monday.

Ronald Cummings' girlfriend was the last person to see Haleigh alive. She told police she noticed the child was missing when she got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.

The initial reports indicated the girlfriend, 17-year-old Misty Croslin, had been sleeping next to the girl. Croslin now says that she had been sleeping beside Haleigh's younger brother. Croslin said Haleigh was in her own bed when she went to sleep. Croslin awoke hours later and found Haleigh was gone.

There was no sign of forced entry and the back door to Cummings mobile home held open by a brick.

Haleigh's father, his girlfriend, and the child's mother are all cooperating with the investigation. Investigators do not have any suspects but, they have not ruled anyone out.

Each person who is interviewed has the chance to take a lie detection test that includes dozens of sex offenders who live nearby. Both Cummings and Croslin passed the polygraphs.

Several objects deemed "items of interest" found by searchers on Friday are not related to Haleigh's disappearance according to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.

Officials have suspended the dive searches in the St. Johns River, but air and ground searches will continue.

Haleigh’s maternal grandmother, Marie Griffis, believes Haleigh is still alive and regrets criticizing Cummings and Croslin earlier during a TV interview.

"I'm too old to be criticizing the two, because they're still babies," she said, referring to 25-year-old Cummings and 17-year-old Croslin. "I feel maybe I've done some damage to Misty's heart, and I can't live with myself for doing that.

"The Lord knows that I want to apologize ... and I want to do it face to face," Griffis said.

Griffis' daughter, Crystal Sheffield, is Haleigh's biological mother.

Every interview with family members show how distraught they are - nothing like what we've seen with Casey Anthony.

Gainesville.com

Orlando Sentinel

Adji Desir and Haleigh Cummings – More Florida Children Go Missing

- Adji Desir has been missing from his Immokalee, Florida home since January 10, 2009. The young Haitian boy left his home to play with neighborhood kids and was last seen at 5:30pm.

Adji is 3 feet tall and weighs about 45 pounds, with short black hair and dark eyes. He is developmentally disabled and functions on the level of a 2-year-old. Adji knows and understands his name, but cannot speak it. Adji also understands Creole.

Collier County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, and hundreds of volunteers have been searching for the boy. The ground search was called off on January 18 after a 216-square-mile area was searched.

Over 250 tips have been received and while many are still being investigated, none have led to any solid evidence.

At this point, the task force doesn’t know if they are looking at abduction, or if Adji wandered off and just disappeared.

After all this time, I have to believe if Adji only wandered off, someone would have spotted the youngster by now.

- She has long blonde hair, twinkling eyes, and a smile so bright it hurts.

The 5-year-old kindergartener, Haleigh Cummings, disappeared early Tuesday morning from her home in Satsuma, Florida.

Haleigh was put to bed by her father, Ronald Cummings, 25, about 10 p.m. Monday before he left for work. His 17-year-old girlfriend, Misty Croslin, noticed Haleigh was missing about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Croslin told a 911 dispatcher, "I just woke up and my back door is open, and I can't find my daughter." She also told the dispatcher she had been sleeping and the door was not open when she went to sleep, but found it propped open with a brick. There did not appear to be a forced entry into the home.

44 sex offenders live in a 5-mile radius of Cummings'. All have been contacted by law enforcement since Haleigh disappeared.

Both Cummings and Croslin deny having any involvement in the disappearance and both have passed polygraphs.

A massive search by law enforcement officers, Texas EquuSearch, Kidfinders, Leonard Padilla’s team, and hundreds of volunteers resumes today.

George Anthony, Josh Duckett and Mark Lunsford are offering support to the family of the little missing girl.

Adji Sources

Sun Sentinel

Anderson Cooper 360

Haleigh Sources

WFTV

Myfoxorlando