Contact Me

Gary Bowling

Director of Law Enforcement

Putnam County Sheriff’s Office

February 23, 2013

Gary,

In addition to the answers I provided to the questions you asked me yesterday, I am going to provide you a copy of a news story I analytically processed.

The information I was given about the murder, included an explanation of HaLeigh’s footprint, which detectives reportedly found. I address that and a few other items that may not have been in the summary I sent you yesterday.

As you can see, it would be helpful if the Sheriff’s Office would note that the homicide investigation, which is referenced in press releases about HaLeigh, is in regards to a murdered adult. That might stop the public’s confusion each time your Office must search a wooded area, etc.

Be well.

Respectfully,

Timothy Charles Holmseth

Investigative Author

* * * * *

Detectives: Missing Florida Girl Was Kidnapped, Family Members and 'All the World' Are Suspects

Published February 12, 2009

FoxNews.com

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491008,00.html#ixzz2LjTMAF41

Florida detectives say they believe a 5-year-old girl who vanished from her bed Tuesday morning was abducted — and they aren't overlooking anyone, including family members, as suspects.

HaLeigh disappeared before the night in question. Her disappearance was a pre-planned event commonly called an Illegal Change of Custody. The family was assisted by a Bounty Hunter and Child’s Advocate.

Haleigh Ann-Marie Cummings reportedly vanished from her bed before dawn Tuesday.

This was accurately reported, because the writer said “reportedly”. HaLeigh was not kidnapped from her bed but that is what Misty Croslin told the police.

The child's father, Ronald Cummings, said in an interview with FOX News' Greta Van Susteren that his girlfriend Misty Croslin, 17, was watching his daughter while he was at work as a crane operator.

There is no evidence to support this. The Sheriff’s Office received their first call about HaLeigh at 2:13 a.m. and dispatched a deputy that went to the home at 202 Green Lane. That deputy learned nobody was home. The 2:13 a.m. call to police was suspicious and appears to be a deliberate effort to lead police to the empty trailer so they can find it empty; thus, implicating Misty Croslin.

Haleigh had gotten up to use the bathroom, according to Cummings. When she didn't return, Croslin went to look for her and noticed the back door was open.

This is hearsay and bologna being presented by Ronald Cummings who was not even home.

"I locked doors before I left for work. My child cannot unlock the deadbolt, you have to force the door shut all the way ... and she doesn’t open the door to strangers," Cummings said.

Croslin and Cummings called 911 after discovering the girl was missing, according to the police report. The tapes were released Wednesday.

Putnam County Sheriff's spokesman Gary Bowling said Croslin, Cummings and the child's mother, Crystal Sheffield, as well as several others have been questioned in the case. Police have given them all the chance to take lie detector tests.

"It is never safe to say that a family member is not a suspect," Bowling said during a press conference. "However, all the world is a suspect right now."

Investigators conducted a second day of ground and air searches Wednesday for Haleigh.

"This child didn't voluntarily walk out of her home. If she did, someone took her," Bowling said earlier.

Cummings, who has custody of Haleigh and her brother Junior, said his daughter was scared of the dark and would not wander off.

"Somebody stole my child," he said. "Trust me when I tell you that I know my child."

Ronald Cummings is correct. He knows who took HaLeigh but can’t tell.

Sheffield's mother, Marie, told Van Susteren that the children seemed to be doing well living with their father.

"Haleigh told us they’ve been hit, and stuff like that, but to this point, everything was fine," Marie Sheffield said.

Police had never been called to the home in the past — but there have been prior problems with Cummings, Croslin and the children, Putnam County Capt. Steve Rose said.

"There have been some investigations done through the department of children and family," Rose told FOX News on Wednesday. He didn't elaborate.

This is correct. FDCF had investigated abuse claims but never concluded abuse was occurring. This will later become a strong point of contention. Crystal Sheffield officially requested the assistance of a children’s sex abuse advocate named Wayanne Kruger.  Kruger traveled to Florida from Arizona and stayed with Crystal Sheffield and Marie Griffis. Kruger is an author and openly talks about the time she assisted the mother of a missing to child abduct her daughter and hide her. During interviews with me, Kruger placed herself in Florida on the day HaLeigh disappeared. She also told me she spoke with Marie Griffis the night HaLeigh disappeared.

There were still no firm leads in the case, despite police interviews with Cummings, Croslin and sex offenders in the area.

Investigators say Croslin is now with her family, but they're not calling her a suspect nor are they revealing whether the child's father is a focus of the investigation.

"I don't know that for sure," Putnam County Sheriff's Sgt. Jason Nettles told FOXNews.com on Tuesday.

Major Gary Bowling’s statement was the most accurate because he said everyone was a suspect. This was a case where many people knew the child was taken in a quasi Rescue Mission – Illegal Change of Custody – Media Attention Grab by charlatans. It’s difficult to name a suspect in a case where the child is being passed around.

Haleigh's grandfather, Johnny Sheffield, said he was distraught about the girl's disappearance and characterized Croslin as suspicious, though he admitted he didn't know much about her, according to MyFOXOrlando.com.

Johnny Sheffield loves his grand daughter, but he is not telling the truth about being distraught. During interviews I conducted with Johnny Sheffield, and his private investigator William Staubs, the two men were laughing and having a great time. While the two were discussing Ronald Cummings, Sheffield assured Staubs, “He won’t say anything”. On another occasion Staubs said HaLeigh was taken by family and being passed around.

Cummings said his girlfriend was awake and frantic after she found Haleigh was gone.

This is technically true. It appears Misty Croslin somehow learned the police were looking for her. She was probably notified after the 2:13 a.m. call to police was made, because the officer went to her brother’s house after finding the trailer empty. It appears Misty hurried to the trailer, and then claimed she had been home all night.

But in the police report, obtained by FOX News, Cummings reportedly told officers that his "dumb bitch girlfriend" told him Haleigh was gone when he got home from work.

This further demonstrates Misty Croslin had just arrived at the trailer. She was up and running around when Ronald Cummings pulled up in his vehicle.

"Ronald said that he did not know what Haleigh was wearing, and that all he knew was that the back door was standing open. Ronald repeatedly said that someone had taken his child and also said 'When I find him I'll kill him,'" police wrote in the report.

Ronald Cummings knew somebody took HaLeigh because he knew exactly who did it.

He referred to a 9mm Beretta handgun he owns and said if authorities found his daughter's kidnapper, "he would shoot them through the back window of the patrol car," the police report said.

Detectives wrote that they followed a path that led behind the home and found what appeared to be a child's footprint in the dirt, though Cummings said his daughter's shoes were in the house.

I (Timothy Charles Holmseth) was told during an interview that a murder took place at 202 Green Lane in the immediate time window shortly preceding HaLeigh disappearance. The murder involved a “heated argument” and a “gun”. The footprint belonging to HaLeigh, which detectives reportedly found, was explained to me in considerable detail. HaLeigh witnessed the terrible violent event. I was told the body was dragged into a wooded area and eventually disposed of. Interesting; considering three cadaver dogs hit on a dumpster many days later.

Note: On February 23, 2013, Major Gary Bowling asked me questions about this alleged murder and I responded with detailed answers.

Nettles told FOXNews.com that the hunt for Haleigh got under way Wednesday morning, with more helicopter searches as well as more on the ground using K-9 units.

Deputies say they have questioned 44 registered sex offenders who live within five miles of Haleigh's home, according to MyFOXOrlando.com.

Nettles said he couldn't confirm whether authorities were worried a sex offender might have abducted Haleigh.

"I don't think they've ruled anything out," he told FOXNews.com on Tuesday.

An air conditioner repair man who was at the home on Monday was questioned after police found out about his house call but cleared him of any wrongdoing.

When the murder was described to me, the victim was referred to as the “air conditioner guy”. This may have simply been code used by those involved to refer to the victim.

Local and state authorities and the FBI searched for Haleigh in neighbors' homes and vehicles leaving her neighborhood on the St. Johns River, as well as in the nearby river and woods for signs of the girl. The effort lasted through the night Tuesday.

Investigators are asking for the public's help. Leads have been minimal, according to authorities.

Crystal Sheffield made a tearful plea about her little girl on TV news Tuesday night.

"I just want to say, 'Bring her back home. Please,'" Sheffield said.

Sheffield told Van Susteren the children "loved Croslin," who she says Cummings was dating for four to six months.

"I’ve talked to her, she seemed like a really nice person, but I never sat down and had a conversation with her," Sheffield said.

During an interview with Crystal Sheffield’s victim’s advocate Wayanne Kruger, she (Kruger) told me she once suspected Crystal Sheffield and Misty Croslin may have been in on “something together” because of suspicious eye-contact she noticed between the two; when the three of them were together praying.

Rose said Sheffield doesn't live in the area but traveled to Putnam County after she learned of her daughter's disappearance and has been interviewed.

"She is cooperating," Rose told FOX News.

The family held a candlelight vigil Tuesday night and said they plan to continue with the vigils until the child comes home.

Haleigh is 3 feet tall with blond hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink shirt and underwear.

Anyone with information about the girl is urged to contact the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at (386) 329-0800 or 911.

Click here for more on this story from MyFOXOrlando.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491008,00.html#ixzz2LjTZNbQA