Caylee Confirmed Cremated; Bounty Hunter Claims Casey`s Fingerprints Found on Caylee; Grandfather Speaks about Missing Haleigh
Aired February 12, 2009 - 19:00:00 ET
First, I am joined by Haleigh`s grandfather, Johnny Sheffield.
Thank you so much, sir, for being here. I know this has to be very, very, very difficult for you, and I really appreciate you taking the time. And hopefully, we can help.
Johnny, it`s been more than 60 hours since little Haleigh disappeared. Authorities now believe she did not wander off. They believe she was abducted. What are your possible theories about what happened to your precious granddaughter?
JOHNNY SHEFFIELD, GRANDFATHER OF HALEIGH CUMMINGS: I don`t know, really. I have to go by what the law enforcement`s told me. They said they`ve done searches. They haven`t found her. I know the father said there are signs of forced entry.
The sheriff told me that there was no signs of forced entry, and I heard the girlfriend`s 911 tape. She said there was no signs of forced entry. And I know the father locked the dead bolt, he said, personally. And I know in order to get through a dead bolt, you`ve got to break the door frame. You`re not just going to wedge it open and open the door.
But I`m not doubting the father didn`t lock the dead bolt. I`m just wondering how somebody got in through a dead bolt and took my granddaughter and just vanished when somebody`s supposed to be there watching her.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And with apparently no signs of forced entry. I think you make a very, very good point.
Now, I want to bring this into the equation. The story we`re hearing about Haleigh being abducted in the middle of the night without anybody hearing her or the predator has been slammed by some skeptics. Some are raising eyebrows at Misty, the girlfriend who was sleeping with the two children the time little Haleigh disappeared from her bed
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Your thoughts on all of that, sir?
SHEFFIELD: Well, I know my granddaughter. And I know that when she wakes up, she goes to screaming and crying. She`s going to her mama or her daddy, or she`s at our house, she`s coming to somebody`s door to let us know that she`s up. And if she happens to wake up in the morning, she goes to the couch and watches TV, if she -- if her father`s not up. But usually her father is up by the time the baby`s up.
I find it hard to believe that somebody could just go in there and grab Haleigh, because Haleigh was a solid little girl. She was a close -- she was hard for me to pick up. And for her to -- somebody to reach in the bed and take her out without waking that girl up, I don`t know how it could be done, because most kids, when you pick them up, they have a reaction to either jump, jerk, or say, "Where am I going," or something. But Haleigh, somebody got her out without her saying nothing?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now very quickly, only have a couple of seconds, was your daughter`s relationship with the father of Haleigh rocky, as some of have said?
SHEFFIELD: My daughter and him has been separated for several years, so -- I mean, of course, a couple years ago, it was like rocky when they was going through this custody battle. But here lately, as far as I know, everything was, you know, going smoothly.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. And it turned out that he got custody of the child, and it is a very, very tragic case.
Johnny Sheffield, I want to thank for joining me. I`d love to have you back. We hope that we get a happy ending here. We`re going to do everything we can in our power to find your little granddaughter.
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0902/12/ijvm.01.html