My feeling is LE would have done this at the very beginning of the search. I really think they brought the family in to let them know that based on recent tips, they believe Haleigh is dead and that they are working around the clock to find her. That's what LE is supposed to do in such a situation, otherwise you have family upset that they are not being told anything and must learn all from the news. To learn of the death of a child from the news would be horrible.
Maybe it's just me, but I do not think Ron is involved in Haleigh's disappearance or any after-the-fact cover up. I truly do not think so. Hopefully I won't have to eat my words. Here's why I don't think he is involved:
1. He was at work. I think by now LE could discern where he was. I don't think either he or Misty are good enough actors to cover up an earlier killing of a child by an hours later 911 call. (But we don't know when the crime took place so even if he was at work that doesn't mean he had no involvement. There's 24 hrs in a day, he didn't work all of them. And right after he was fired, laid off...whatever..the company installed a more hightech Time clock system. What's your take on that one?)
2. The 911 call. It seemed believable to me. Well, Ron did, Misty did not. I have known guys like Ron. His reactions seemed normal for a guy like him. His anger, calling Misty a bit#@, etc. I heard panic in his voice. (IMO, Ron's reactions were as fake as Misty's. Who has better people to talk to other than the police, when your child is missing? We didn't hear about Ron walking/running the block looking for his daughter. Ron didn't want to be on that 911 call no more than Misty did. Who's concerned about the call being "on recording" while trying to give vital details about your missing daughter? I call it BS.)
3. His anguish later on. Those were real wails and tears to me. I think he really loved his kid. (I don't doubt that he loved his kids, but those could've been guilt tears not love tears.lol)
4. LE has never given any indication that Ron is involved, a suspect or "holds the key" to what happened, unlike with Misty. (Ok if we go with that,...why did Ron need a criminal defense lawyer? Furthermore, for months Ron wouldn't even go talk to LE. But he wants his child back right? If I was LE I wouldn't want to give any indications to the person I thought was responsible either not if their building a case around him.)
5. His relationship with Misty. This seems confusing, but not totally to me. Ron is not the brightest tool in the shed. But he knows this: That he made a mistake in entrusting his precious kids to a member of a family from "Deliverance". He likely could not face that his decision could have cost his child her life. Plus, he was in love with Misty. How could he have been so wrong? Instead of facing the fact that he made such an error in judgment and then have to point the finger at himself rather than someone else, he tells himself there is no way Misty could have hurt Haleigh. He tries hard to convince himself of this, even marrying her to do so. But deep in his heart, I think he knows she did something, failed to protect Haleigh or knows exactly what happened. (His continued relationship/marriage with Misty was nothing more than him trying to convince himself that if he did she could not tell and/or testify against him. IMO, Love or not, Ron would've destroyed Misty if he thought she did something to his daughter. He was already knocking her around... .look at what happened to her when she told him she was pregnant with his child...he knocked her around. So if he knew, deep in his heart, that she did something to or with his daughter, Misty would've got a beat down for sure. But she didn't.)
Bottom line, IMO Ron is a low class kind if guy with zero education and limited intelligence. He is a criminal type, obviously. Probably violent at times as well. But these kind of people are capable of ferocious love for their children.(Absolutely. So what do you think Ron would've done to these punks if he even thought they were involved, including Misty? He did nothing to them, none of them, and one just lived around the corner from him at the time. All he did was put a dead rat in Tommys mailbox. If you know guys like Ron, then you and I both know what a "dead rat" means. Rat=snitch, A Dead Rat=Dead Snitch. Meaning if you talk you die, c'mon you know that. So what was there to tell?? IMO, we are seeing it in action right now, the result of Tommy talking and Ron is involved.) That's why baby killers and rapers have such a hard time in prison and can't go into the general pop: Guys like Ron will kill them if given the chance.
Is he a good guy? (Nope) Was he a good parent? (Nope) I wouldn't give him any awards, but there are millions across the U.S. just like him, trying to make their way through the world with the limited resources they have and most of the millions like him wouldn't dream of hurting their children.
I don't think Ron knows what happened with the exception that his negligence and lack of parenting skills led to the disappearance of his little girl. He will have to live with that forever and I think that's why he doesn't seem to care whether he rots in jail or not. He lost one of the two most precious things he had and ultimately, it is his actions that led to that loss. (Absolutely..may he seat there forever)
6. The meeting with LE and Ron's expression as he left that meeting. I don't think LE would have brought him there if they thought he was a potential suspect. They would have told him separately and used that opportunity to gauge his reactions and interrogate. I get the sense that LE feels sorry for him and although they know he's not a stellar person, they also feel for his loss. As far as his expression as he left the meeting, again, I have known guys like him and the expression makes sense to me. Ron has probably known for a long time that Haleigh is unlikely to be alive. His mind is now set to revenge. His words all along have shown that's where he is at. His expression told me that he was thinking: "I heard what I need to. I'm coming to get ya'. It won't be long." (We all have interpreted his expression in our own way. I too have been in a world similiar to Ron's and know guys just the same. His expression to me was more like "It's over." Not like "it's over, I'm gonna kill someone", IMO, it was more like "It's over. I know Misty and her family is talking and she's going to tell on me." That's how I saw it.) LE just came out today and said they have persons of interest now...sooo Monday when they brought the family in they hadn't made that determination as of yet, so Ron was still just a drug trafficking father of a missing girl...Let's see if Ron be at any more family meetings in the future concerning Haleigh. I don't think he will, maybe a solo meeting but not with his family. IMO, he is one of the persons of interest.)
We'll see what happens but my experience and instinct tell me Ron Cummings is not involved. If I'm wrong, the evil of what happened to Haleigh will seem all the more greater to me.
