Haleigh search heats up, recovered items brought anthropologist to river
"Snip" By Larry Sullivan
http://www.palatkadailynews.com/articles/2010/04/14/news/news01.txt
Published: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Divers searching for Haleigh Cummings on Tuesday apparently recovered items that brought a University of Florida anthropologist to the St. Johns River south of Satsuma.
Tuesday morning saw a dramatic increase in activity, with dozens of officers from several law enforcement agencies converging on the Shell Harbour boat ramp in South Putnam.
It was clear that investigators expected to find something on Tuesday.
The Shell Harbour camp
area was not searched when Haleigh vanished 14 months ago, Greenwood said.
Authorities also refused to say what divers found and, whether Haleigh's case has shifted to a homicide investigation.
"That is a decision that will be made later, said" Sheriff Hardy.
Hardy also met privately with Haleigh's family members, including her father, Ronald Cummings, for "some private conversations."
Officials refused to confirm or deny that possible human remains were recovered Tuesday but did say the search was scheduled to resume today.
About 5 p.m., a truck from the university drove through the checkpoint. The vehicle was from the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory, which the school says provides "forensic anthropology services for medical examiners and coroners."
The lab has been involved in several high-profile cases.
The truck left about 7:30 p.m. and officials did not say whether human bones had been found.
It was mid-morning when local, state and federal officers swarmed over the Shell Harbour neighborhood, which lies between the river and County Road 309. As boats and divers entered the river, detectives interviewed residents and other deputies sealed off the neighborhood. Only law enforcement and people who lived in the neighborhood were allowed in.
Carl Brown, who lives in the neighborhood, said a deputy yelled at him to leave when he walked toward where the search was launched.
"We're taxpayers and we live in the community and we have a right to know what's going on," Brown said. "He screamed at me just like I was a dog."
Authorities also kept boaters from passing through that section of the river, an action that prevented four boats of vacationers from reaching Stegbones Fish Camp after a morning of fishing.
"They were coming back to clean their fish and eat and they can't come back," camp manager Stan Plaisted said.
Bands of rain showers rolled through the area Tuesday, dousing searchers, reporters and the stranded boaters.
As divers worked, other searchers covered the shore with dogs specially trained to find dead bodies and police boats equipped with sonar followed search patterns across the river.
Several containers of items recovered by divers were loaded onto boats and taken to shore.
Visibility was poor in the water, Lt. Ben Allen of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Tuesday night.
On Tuesday Misty Croslin was brought to the Putnam for questioning, then returned to the jail in St. Augustine. She did not meet with Haleigh's relatives.
Brown said, Misty Croslin, "used to live two blocks from here" with her parents.
Brown said another resident told him he saw Croslin carrying a trash bag nearby in the days after Haleigh was reported missing.
