FL-AMBER ALERT Haleigh Cummings 5 yrs. old - Putnam County #1

[sc2714]

I looked at that google map with the Street View. The trailers in that community are actually nice looking. Probably not what most of us think of when we think of trailers. I believe those kind of trailers are pretty spacious.

 

[MomofBoys]

What? She was "frantic" the child was missing and did not call 911?! For how long?

I cannot imagine what else I do besides panic, call 911 and start searching.

I'm trying hard to give her the benefit of the doubt.

I can see waking up in a daze, noticing one of my boys is gone, and having my initial reaction be of a panicky kind of bewilderment. Checking under furniture, in closets, running down the block... as much as I follow these cases closely, I'm not sure most of us are wired to jump to the worst possible conclusion, whether it be because of naivete or denial. The old cliche that you just can't imagine it'd happen to you.

Still, it's hard to reconcile a 45 minute gap. Do we know for sure it was 45 minutes, or are we just getting conflicting information?

The dogs on the dock is a very bad sign indeed, but how on earth could a five year old, afraid of the dark, walk out there and just blindly walk off a pier? She's five, not two, and it was cold. And if she was abducted by boat (always a possibility here in Florida) then it would make a random stranger abduction unlikely.

I can see the girlfriend hearing noises and chalking it up to daddy coming home. Maybe she thought, again in a stupor, that Haleigh got up to greet her father and the GF just rolled over and went back to sleep. But there are too many inconsistencies and the whole time thing is hedgy.

There are too many variables for a stranger abduction, I think. Too many points where it could have gone wrong. Disappearing right before dad gets home? Not one of the three-five people in the house alerting to a child being taken out of a bed in the same room? That child being dragged through rows of mobile homes and taken (very potentially) to the end of a dock where...what? A boat was waiting? She was randomly cast into the river?

It just seems like someone would have noticed something.

I pray for this little girl. My gut instinct tells me this has something to do with the biological mom or someone associated with her, but that's based on nothing but my initial reaction. Upon seeing the Amber Alert, it was immediate.

 

[Kimster]

Does anyone know how far this dock is from the home? I still have trouble thinking a 5 year old, alone at night would be able to travel to far without becoming so frightened that they would just not sit down and start crying. Especially if it is true that she is afraid of the dark. Daytime, yes I could very well see a little one just wondering about and be able to get a good distance from the home. At night?

I just Google-earthed the address and to me, it seems like quite a walk for a little girl in the middle of the night! Especially when her dad says she is afraid of the dark!

202 green lane, satsuma, florida

 

[shadow of my mind]

Those docks are not a huge distance away but I still think a little too far for a 5 year old to wonder to in the dark. I would think that even if she got out of bed and went outside on her own that at some point she would become scared and start to cry. No one heard this child in the middle of night? A dog barking as she passed by them? These homes are not anywhere near a city, no excess street noise. I would doubt any traffic to speak of to cover the sound of a little person crying.

 

[SuziQ]

I looked at that google map with the Street View. The trailers in that community are actually nice looking. Probably not what most of us think of when we think of trailers. I believe those kind of trailers are pretty spacious.

They do look like prefab homes. And it does look like a decent area.

 

[Kimster]

OMG 44 in a five square mile. How can that be? I'm speechless. My town has about 12, too many for my taste and it is aboat 3 square miles in size but that is a really high number.

According to the internet, we have ZERO sex offenders in my small town! Why the draw to Florida, for heaven's sake?

 

[SuziQ]

I just Google-earthed the address and to me, it seems like quite a walk for a little girl in the middle of the night! Especially when her dad says she is afraid of the dark!

202 green lane, satsuma, florida

Thanks for the addy! Below is a link to a map of the location. ITA, it would be too far and too dark for a five year old to wander off. Too many trees and stuff. It would be scary.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...7068&sspn=48.50801,79.101563&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=17

 

[SuziQ]

The community is a bit off and isolated from the town. Any SO's actually live in the park? If not, I wouldn't peg it as place they'd drive to and risk getting noticed. Too far for a perp to kidnap a child and walk back to a boat without being seen or heard.

 

[Hoosiermom]

I wonder if Nancy Grace will be able to pronounce her name correctly? (Haleigh, caylee) Not making light of Haleigh gone missing for sure!

 

[Whisperer]

She is a very tiny 5 and half yr old. She is the size of Caylee. Gosh she could be in so many places...dear God.

 

[Kimster]

<snipped>

CALLER: I just woke up and my back door was all open and I can't find my daughter.

DISPATCH: Can't find what?

CALLER: My daughter.

DISPATCH:Ok. When did you last see her?

CALLER: Um, we just like, you know, it was about 10 o'clock. She was sleeping (inaudible).

DISPATCH: Ok. How old is your daughter?

CALLER: She's 5.

Haleigh's father and grandmother are pleading for the safe return of their little girl. The 5-year-old girl is described as having blond hair and brown eyes, is 3 feet tall and weighs 39 pounds.

DISPATCH: OK. What was she last seen wearing, Ma'am?

CALLER: She was in her pajamas. We were sleeping.

DISPATCH: OK. Alright, you said your back door was wide open?

CALLER: Yes, with a brick. Like, there was a brick on the floor. Like, when I went to sleep the door was not like that.

DISPATCH: Was your back door locked do you know?

CALLER: Yes. The back door always stays locked.

FATHER: I just got home from work, my 5-year-old daughter is gone. I need someone to be here now. I'm telling you. If I find whoever has my daughter before you all do, I'm killing him. I don't care. I'll spend the rest of my life in prison.

DISPATCH: It's OK sir, we got them on the way. Can you give me a description of the pajamas she was wearing?

FATHER: I don't (expletive) know I was at work.


http://www.news4jax.com/news/18686639/detail.html

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

That 911 call is heartbreaking.

 

[shadow of my mind]

According to the internet, we have ZERO sex offenders in my small town! Why the draw to Florida, for heaven's sake?

I know for my town it's a lot has to do with the location. We are right on the border of another state but also right between two very very large cities that are within a couple of hours drive and we are basically small but once outside you are in the country. The area is not super expensive to live in so I guess that having an area that is more on the high end for rent would not be conducive to someone who is just getting out of jail and doesn't have much money.
Florida, I don't know why. The weather is nice all year. If you don't have a place to live you won't freeze to death outside in the winter like where I am. Don't know those are just the first things that came to mind.

 

[BOTLOF]

HALEIGH CUMMINGS
Date of Birth: August 17, 2003
Endangered Missing
HALEIGH CUMMINGS is a 5 year old white female with brown eyes and blonde hair. She weighs 39 lbs (18 kg) and is 3'0 (91 cm) in height.

She has been missing since Tue, February 10, 2009 (1 days) from SATSUMA, FL.
Please notify Putnam County Sheriff's Office (Florida) 1-386-329-0801 if you have any information concerning the case of HALEIGH CUMMINGS.
Further information: Haleigh was last seen on February 10, 2009. She may still be in the local area. Haleigh was last seen wearing a pink shirt and underwear. Her ears are pierced.

http://beonthelookoutfor.com/modules.php?name=missing&idd=303

 

[impatientredhead]

http://www.palatkadailynews.com/articles/2009/02/11/news/news01.txt

Haleigh wasn't in bed. The back door of a blue doublewide mobile home was open, and a blanket and sheets were scattered on the wooden ramp leading from the door.

Authorities said they were told Haleigh's father, Ronald, had just ended his shift at PDM Bridge in Palatka. His girlfriend, Misty Croslin, said she had been sleeping next to Haleigh, but when she awoke, the blonde-haired girl was gone.

"She was sleeping right next to me," Croslin told the Daily News while distributing flyers bearing Haleigh's photo. "I can't believe I didn't hear anything."

bolded by me, so a silent intruder who was not noted by the neighbors in a one way in and out neighborhood, came into the room where 17 year old stepmom and Haleigh were sleeping. This silent intruder not only kept Haleigh silent, didn't wake Misty when taking her, but he also managed to take the blanket and sheet with him, still not disturbing Misty, dropping them outside the door as he silently and invisibly dissappeared into the night? Either this kidnapper has the skills only seen in movies or Misty is the deepest sleeper ever noted.

MOO- but the door and the blanket/sheet thing is a staging attempt, and as in most cases the details just don't come together neatly.

And it has been making me batty that the neighbors were approached by the police to be asked if they saw anything. If your five year old was snatched out of her bed, wouldn't one of the two parents be out frantically searching and waking the neighbors to see if they saw anything? I can promise you my neighbors wouldn't need a knock on their door, they would have been outside aware of the EMERGENCY situation when the cops arrived.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Either he is a great actor or he is very sincere. (This is how I would expect a parent and grandparent to react.) One thing I find odd is not seeing his gf in the clip pleading for the return. This bothers me.

I don't understand about the brick which is mentioned in the 911 call. It sounds as if a brick was found inside the house by the door. Where did it come from? What was the purpose if there was no forced entry into the home? Even if there was forced entry, a brick makes no sense without a window being broken unless it was used to prop open the door for some reason.

Oh, I just read about the sheet and blanket. I thought the other child was in bed with them, too? I don't see any way possible one of them didn't wake up when someone rips a child out of the bed along with your sheet and blanket! So GF didn't notice the child, the sheet, the blanket, a brick, and the backdoor being open when she got up to go to the bathroom? Only upon her return did she notice? It isn't likely someone timed it just right to sneak in while she was in the bathroom. Why would they wait until someone was obviously awake to take her?

Yes, sounds like it was staged. Too many things are not making any sense.

The gf had from the time he went to work until he arrived home with no alibi that we know of yet. She was the last person to see Haleigh besides the little boy. They should have someone qualified interview him. Even at 2, 3, or 4 years old (seems the news cannot pin down his age), he could have information.

There is no way I can believe a 5 yo who is afraid of the dark would wander outside taking the sheet and blanket with her.

This case has some similarities of the Lunsford case, but we know she was alone in a room which enabled Couey to pull it off.

 

[Gypsy Road]

According to the internet, we have ZERO sex offenders in my small town! Why the draw to Florida, for heaven's sake?

I don't know, but I live in North Florida in Pcola and did a 5 mile radius search and there was over 40 last time I checked! And I live near downtown! When I saw it I told my husband I wanted to MOVE! Now I'm always watching my back - seriously, I am.

My hinky meter is up with this one for some reason. Can't put my finger on it. I hope to goodness this little girl is okay, but what in the world happened to her? I know tragically children get abducted from their beds every once in awhile, but with that many sex offenders living in the area - why didn't the girlfriend keep the freaking door locked!!! FGS! No matter where you live - YOU SHOULD ALWAYS KEEP YOUR DOORS LOCKED! I do hope and pray this child is found and that she's unharmed and safe.

 

[CharlestonGal]

I wonder if they've polygraphed the father and girlfriend?

 

[MeoW333]

Either he is a great actor or he is very sincere. (This is how I would expect a parent and grandparent to react.) One thing I find odd is not seeing his gf in the clip pleading for the return. This bothers me.

I don't understand about the brick which is mentioned in the 911 call. It sounds as if a brick was found inside the house by the door. Where did it come from? What was the purpose if there was no forced entry into the home? Even if there was forced entry, a brick makes no sense without a window being broken unless it was used to prop open the door for some reason.

Oh, I just read about the sheet and blanket. I thought the other child was in bed with them, too? I don't see any way possible one of them didn't wake up when someone rips a child out of the bed along with your sheet and blanket! So GF didn't notice the child, the sheet, the blanket, a brick, and the backdoor being open when she got up to go to the bathroom? Only upon her return did she notice? It isn't likely someone timed it just right to sneak in while she was in the bathroom. Why would they wait until someone was obviously awake to take her?

Yes, sounds like it was staged. Too many things are not making any sense.

The gf had from the time he went to work until he arrived home with no alibi that we know of yet. She was the last person to see Haleigh besides the little boy. They should have someone qualified interview him. Even at 4, he could have information.

There is no way I can believe a 5 yo who is afraid of the dark would wander outside taking the sheet and blanket with her.

This case has some similarities of the Lunsford case, but we know she was alone in a room which enabled Couey to pull it off.

Sounds like the brick was left there to keep the door propped open. I don't understand how the gf didn't hear anything from the bathroom. I'm sure it was real quiet there that time of night. Did they have carpets through out the trailer? The gf is 17 years old, maybe she was on drugs or had been drinking which would dull her senses. If someone was watching the trailer, then saw the bathroom light go on to know the gf was in there, then ran in and grabbed the girl? It doesn't make sense, it's awfully bold for a stranger to run in a house. The person wouldn't know if the owners had guns there or not.
How long was the gf in the bathroom? What was she doing in there? Why on earth didn't she hear anything?

 

[CharlestonGal]

Bio-mom has logged onto her MS today and changed the profile picture to Haleigh and changed her mood to "heartbroken." She doesn't say anything about Haleigh being missing or appealing to anyone to bring her back. Just changed the picture and the mood. Is it just me or am I the only person on earth who wouldn't be hanging out on MySpace when my child was missing? I've never understood that.