People forget that Misty is still a kid, really, and one whose emotional and psychological d
development has been delayed by drug abuse. It is entirely possible that like many teenagers, she would rather lie and cover up than face the consequences of her actions. Contrast her language
and behavior after the drug arrest--whining and carrying on about her unhappiness in jail (duh) and her fantasies about bail, and Ron's matter-of-fact statement that he is going to prison.
And if she was afraid of consequences, she had reason to be afraid of Ron and what he would say or do..Whether Misty was directly responsible for Haleigh's death or just responsible for letting the killer(s) into the house or just the person who failed to supervise her, she would have been very afraid of his reaction when he learned his daughter was missing. This is a man with a temper and guns. They had already been fighting over her partying. On the other hand, they may have
already been neck deep in dealing prescription drugs. So Misty was looking at losing her "boyfriend," her home, her part of the drug business, and the freedom of playing house with Ron.
In spite of her resentment of babysitting, she didn't have to worry about having a home--and one where she was the woman of the house--about food or utilities or rent. She didn't need to get a job or pay taxes. She may have felt what she thought was "love" for Ron and might have had "happily ever after visions." All of that would go down the drain if Ron found out she killed Haleigh or her family members did.
So in that sense, maybe Ron did "control" Misty, in that she was willing to lie and stonewall to protect what she had. But there is nothing about how any of these people behave that suggests they are capable of plotting a complex crime or carrying out a complex conspiracy. I think Tommy
and Misty could keep their secrets because they are siblings and would protect each other when they could. They always knew that they could accuse cousin JO (who conveniently lit out for Tennesee the day after Haleigh disappeared) and it would be their word against his. So until the drug sting put all of them in jail, they had to live with the pressure but they could lie and deny and get by.
I really think this case is relatively simple. Either something happened to Haleigh in that mobile home and Misty (or her relatives) had to get rid of her body, or one of Misty's relatives removed her from the mobile home for his own purposes. Two or three people know what happened and because they are blood relatives
and they were able to get rid of the body they've been able to avoid being arrested, charged and convicted for Haleigh's murder.
Ron of course was fed the intruder story, which may have been more palatable because Junior said a man took his sister. We can see that Misty's story is only minimally believable, but in the first days and weeks of a child's disappearance, it might have been easier for everyone to believe Misty. Because Ron is such an immature horse's patootie, because he comes across as a




, people assume that he's the one pulling he strings. But I can't see any way that Misty could successfully convince him that Haleigh's death was his fault--because even if she got into some drugs, RC could have claimed that they were Misty's, or even Tommy's, if he was in the house--or that Misty should have supervised the kids. We already know that Tommy was using that night. If Ron was at work, the people in "control" here have been the hapless but loyal Croslin siblings. We only have to look at the LE effort to crack The alibis of two people in the Kyron Horman case to see what would have happened if RC had lied about his whereabouts.