How Did the Side Door Get Opened?/Door Locks/Use of Cinder Block**REVISITED**

[Skully]

Busy, IIRC, there was an interview on NG early on wherein RC and TN talked about the lock.

I remember him talking about that too, but I can't remember where now. I do remember the walk though of the house with TN and the reporter. She the reporter, demonstrates how the back inside door was hard to open and close. I think she had to sort of lift on the door knob to get the door to open, because the floor was a bit uneven. That would account for the door scrapping too. MH's tend to shift as they are on blocks and the blocks sit on sand. Sand is soft and bad rains and such make the MH uneven sometimes. My point was, it would have been hard for Haleigh to open the door, locked or unlocked in my opinion.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Busy, IIRC, there was an interview on NG early on wherein RC and TN talked about the lock.

I saw it, too. RC was very adament that Haleigh could not have turned the lock

 

[Busylady]

Right I have seen that one and it has been linked many times, but RC never states he put the locks up high so Haleigh could not reach.

Busy, IIRC, there was an interview on NG early on wherein RC and TN talked about the lock.

 

[RJA00]

:waitasec:RC said he locked the deadbolt before he left for work because it was very hard to do, it took strength to pull the door shut enough to get it to catch.
Ron states over and over he worked an 8 hr shift, has anyone gotten a time-line yet as to what time he left the house?

I recall around 4:30pm, but not sure. And have many questions as to who all was there at home when Ron left? That 8 hrs is very questionable and I feel has been over looked somewhat. OK, back on topic.


RC also stated the lock was installed by him and that he put it up high enough so that Haleigh could not reach it.

I also wonder if RC did this because Haleigh had a habit of unlocking doors and going out by herself from what I have also heard in other interviews.





I would like to know who all had a key to the MH?

Who would of opened it if Ron locked it and Misty claims it was closed she was doing laundry and it was closed?

Also, did anyone ever find out if the A/C man was gone before Ron went to work?

Or was the A/C there when Misty's brother came over?

Or, does anyone know if the A/C man is related to either side of the family?

I know it's been stated over and over that the only person cleared is the A/C guy, but I still wonder what his relationship was with Misty and or Ron.

I Have watched this case from the beginning and i have never heard ron say he only worked 8hr shift
do you have a link for that ?

 

[CrankyPants]

This is what CRYSTAL said to Nancy Grace. Perhaps Ron didn't say it after all:

"GRACE: I want to go back to the mother of little Haleigh and the maternal grandmother. Crystal Sheffield, Marie Griffis is joining us tonight.

Crystal, you have a problem with the door as well. What are your thoughts?

SHEFFIELD: Yes. I just -- it`s just -- if the door was locked like they said it was.

GRIFFIS: By Ronald.

SHEFFIELD: Ronald said he locked that door when he left for work and it`s supposedly high up enough to where Haleigh could not reach it, I just don`t understand how somebody just got in there and nothing was broke on the door.

GRACE: Was it a padlock or a.

SHEFFIELD: Someone had to have a key.

GRACE: A dead bolt or a padlock?

SHEFFIELD: A dead bolt. A dead bolt. "

(transcript is here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0902/12/ng.01.html)


I'm going to keep looking to see if Ron ever said it was too high. I thought that he did, too.

 

[CrankyPants]

And this is what Ron said on NG in response to a caller's question about the lock:


"GRACE: OK. Lili, you might need a second job as a private I.

To Ronald Cummings. Ronald, isn`t the previous owner the reverend?

CUMMINGS: As I believe it is the reverend`s mother and father. And I think they deceased here in the home. I`m not sure. You would have to ask them. But I do know that I personally went to Wal-Mart and bought the deadbolts and the locks that were on there so nobody else had a key to this house.

GRACE: OK, because I believe that he told me, the former owner, the reverend, that he had placed a lock on that back door but you also placed locks as well, correct? Got it.

CUMMINGS: Yes, ma`am, they were there. I took them off and put my own on.

GRACE: To Barbara.

CUMMINGS: I don`t want nobody to have keys in my house because I didn`t want this to happen."

transcript here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0903/16/ng.01.html


- - - - - - - - - - -

On Issues with JVM, Marie Griffis re-stated the idea that the lock was too high:

"MARIA GRIFFIS, HALEIGH`S GRANDMOTHER: Just the fact that there`s so many conflicting stories about where the children were sleeping at that night. Once they`re all three in the bed together. Then once Junior is in a bedroom by himself and Haleigh is in her room. And now both of them was in their bedroom and she was in her room. And it just makes me more suspicious.

And the back door, how did the back door -- it`s secured by the father. On an interview, he said he secured that door, and the deadbolt was up high enough, Haleigh could not reach it and open the door. So it leads me to believe somebody had access with a key from the outside or either someone was in the house or either Misty unlocked the door for someone.

It -- it just makes the stuff come tighter together on the girlfriend, to me."


Interestingly, within the same interview, Marie talks about Crystal having been inside the mh from where Haleigh was taken:

"GRIFFIS: I don`t know anything about the TV. My daughter, Crystal, has been in that house, and she said Haleigh and Junior have beds set up in one room and then there`s a big bed in the room that, I guess, Ronald and Misty would sleep in, and that`s the one that we understand that they were all three in."

transcript here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0902/13/ijvm.01.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here are more mentions of the lock and Crystal saying she has NOT been inside the mh:

"GRACE: Back to Crystal and Marie. Crystal, have you been in the home since you`ve been there on Monday?

SHEFFIELD: Yes, I have not. No, I have not.

GRACE: You have not? Marie, have you?

SHEFFIELD: No.

GRACE: Do you have any.

GRIFFIS: No, I haven`t been...

GRACE: Do you have any idea what kind of lock was on the backdoor?

GRIFFIS: No, we don`t. All we know is Ronald said there was a dead bolt on the backdoor on the inside that was up high enough that Haleigh couldn`t.

GRACE: OK.

GRIFFIS: . get to it and that he locked and secured that door before he went to work.

GRACE: Dead bolt. All right, back to the lawyers, Eleanor Dixon, Peter Odom, Gwen Lindsay-Jackson."

transcript here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0902/12/ng.01.html

 

[Busylady]

Thank you Crankypants I didnt quote your post due to space. I have yet to see anything where RC states the locks being up high.

 

[CrankyPants]

You're quite welcome. Just goes to show you that our own recollections are sometimes faulty....I would have sworn I heard Ron say it on that very interview!

 

[TxLady2]

I am going to assume that Ronald told Crystal that the lock was high up. Otherwise, why would she and Marie both say he said that?
Considering that Haleigh was just over 3 feet tall, and the deadbolt is above the regular doorknob, I think it might be difficult for a child that small to reach it, and push the door in hard enough to turn the knob. Ron did say, I think, that it was really hard to open and close, you had to push on it.
I'm just thinking out loud here.

 

[CrankyPants]

I am going to assume that Ronald told Crystal that the lock was high up. Otherwise, why would she and Marie both say he said that?
Considering that Haleigh was just over 3 feet tall, and the deadbolt is above the regular doorknob, I think it might be difficult for a child that small to reach it, and push the door in hard enough to turn the knob. Ron did say, I think, that it was really hard to open and close, you had to push on it.
I'm just thinking out loud here.

I don't know whether or not they thought the lock was high up because Ron told them; Marie also said that Crystal had been in the home.

As for small children and locks up high? I have personal experience with that. We lived in a mobile home with a lock on the knob, a deadbolt directly above the knob, and another lock 2 inches down from the top of the door (so, probably around 6 feet high). We awoke one morning to find our door standing wide open and our 2 year old was not in his bed. Panic, obviously, took over as we lived on a very busy and dangerous 2-lane rural highway. Fortunately, our son had just decided to visit our Aunt and Uncle next door. He managed to climb on something (no evidence of what he used and he wouldn't tell us!) to get the lock undone, unlocked the other two locks, and took a walk next door on an early February morning dressed only in a diaper. It can happen.

 

[Busylady]

I don't think there was any way Haleigh could of opened the door. However, I do not believe RC ever stated the lock was put up high so that she could not. He has stated he made the lock hard to open.

I am going to assume that Ronald told Crystal that the lock was high up. Otherwise, why would she and Marie both say he said that?
Considering that Haleigh was just over 3 feet tall, and the deadbolt is above the regular doorknob, I think it might be difficult for a child that small to reach it, and push the door in hard enough to turn the knob. Ron did say, I think, that it was really hard to open and close, you had to push on it.
I'm just thinking out loud here.

 

[Malesherbes]

Is it rumored haleigh got outside and unlocked doors, I thought I read that...

If so, what if that happened and she wandered to the water and fell in and was never found-
That would be something.

 

[texasmommy39]

I don't know whether or not they thought the lock was high up because Ron told them; Marie also said that Crystal had been in the home.
As for small children and locks up high? I have personal experience with that. We lived in a mobile home with a lock on the knob, a deadbolt directly above the knob, and another lock 2 inches down from the top of the door (so, probably around 6 feet high). We awoke one morning to find our door standing wide open and our 2 year old was not in his bed. Panic, obviously, took over as we lived on a very busy and dangerous 2-lane rural highway. Fortunately, our son had just decided to visit our Aunt and Uncle next door. He managed to climb on something (no evidence of what he used and he wouldn't tell us!) to get the lock undone, unlocked the other two locks, and took a walk next door on an early February morning dressed only in a diaper. It can happen.

BBM Please do you have a link I need to see that.

 

[Busylady]

GRIFFIS: I don`t know anything about the TV. My daughter, Crystal, has been in that house, and she said Haleigh and Junior have beds set up in one room and then there`s a big bed in the room that, I guess, Ronald and Misty would sleep in, and that`s the one that we understand that they were all three in.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0902/13/ijvm.01.html

BBM Please do you have a link I need to see that.

 

[MADJGNLAW]

I Have watched this case from the beginning and i have never heard ron say he only worked 8hr shift
do you have a link for that ?

I am not sure where I read that he worked an 8 hr shift or if he just mentioned it in one of his interviews where he said he was just making an honest living. I have looked for the video and can not find it anywhere. So, we can just say he was at work since I don't have a link for it. I to was asking, I should of put that in my post. Sorry...

 

[MADJGNLAW]

February 13, 2009 Ron explains how he put the lock on the door and Haleigh could not unlock the door.
"snip" YouTube - Greta 2/11/09 Part 2

Ron also claims he has taken care of Haleigh by himself since she was two years old. He also claims that Misty was outside when he arrived from work and that is when he found out that Haleigh was missing. All in the same video.


In this one Greata ask, how do you think that door got open?
Time A/C guy and Older brother came over with nephews per Misty Interview with greta.
"snip" YouTube - Haleigh Cummings' father, Ronald Cummings' Interview by Greta Van Susteren
VAN SUSTEREN: Misty, did anyone come over to the house that evening while Ronald was at work? Any friends come over?
CROSLIN: No. My older brother had come over with my nephews, and the AC guy.
VAN SUSTEREN: What time did they leave?
CROSLIN: They got there about 5:00. And they stayed for about 30 minutes until about 5:30, 5:45.

VAN SUSTEREN: Misty, let me ask you this same question. Misty, how do you think that door got open?
CROSLIN: Someone had either picked the lock, they would have had to pick the lock. That is the only way that anybody could have gotten in our back door is if they picked the lock.



Ron claims that he was pulling in the drive way at the same time that Misty called him to tell him Haleigh was missing. YouTube - Today 3/13/09 Ron & Misty Cummings


In this interview TN states that Ron works nights and she also states the back door wasn't used... [snip no media error]

I know there are several more that discuss the door, still looking...

 

[elle1919]

GRIFFIS: I don`t know anything about the TV. My daughter, Crystal, has been in that house, and she said Haleigh and Junior have beds set up in one room and then there`s a big bed in the room that, I guess, Ronald and Misty would sleep in, and that`s the one that we understand that they were all three in.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0902/13/ijvm.01.html

Okay.....that is the first conflicting statement I have seen from Crystal's mom. Personally. There may be others but that is the first one i have seen. Because i know Crystal herself stated she has never been in the trailer. Am I confused? I am going to check.BRB

 

[elle1919]

I have been searching for the Nancy Grace transcript where I first heard Crystal say she has never been inside that trailer. But now my eyes are bugging out. Can someone tell me if they too heard it when Crystal said she never went into the trailer? TIA

 

[CrankyPants]

Elle, I found it!!

"GRACE: Crystal, do you know if any other items of clothing of Haleigh`s are missing?

SHEFFIELD: I wouldn`t -- I`ve never been in that house. I wouldn`t know."

transcript: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0902/19/ng.01.html

 

[CrankyPants]

bumping for Elle