Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - EX-STEPMOM CHANGES STORY: 'I SAW WHAT HAPPENED' THE NIGHT HALEIGH, 5, DISAPPEARED

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

Ronald Cummings leaves his two children in the care of his live-in girlfriend while he works into the early morning hours.  Arriving home just after 3 AM, Misty Croslin tells him she awoke to use the restroom and can't find Haleigh, 5, anywhere in the house. Croslin points to a backdoor propped open with a brick and tells Ronald the back door was shut and locked when they went to bed.  Ronald Cummings tells Misty Croslin to call 911.  She tells 911 dispatch when she awoke around 3 am to go to the bathroom, she realizes Haleigh is gone and the back door of the trailer is open, and a brick is placed to keep the door propped open. Haleigh is described as a curly headed girl between 40 and 60 pounds wearing pajamas. The dispatcher instructs Misty Croslin and Ronald Cummings not to touch the back door anymore, as K9s are on the way to see if they can pick up Haleigh's scent.   Investigators begin interviewing Misty Croslin as a search team begins looking around the trailer and surrounding areas, including a nearby pond. Ronald Cummings is at work when Haleigh disappears, and he is quickly eliminated as a suspect, but his live-in girlfriend, 17-year-old Misty Croslin, claims she is sleeping in the same room with Haleigh and her little brother when the girl disappears.  Investigators believe Misty Croslin is not giving them the full story.  JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY: John Merchant - Forner Lead Detective in Haleigh Cummings Case    Ron Cummings - Father Terry Shoemaker - Lawyer for Ron Cummings  Robert Hardwick - St. Johns County Sheriff, Former Assistant Chief Investigator for State Attorney Office that investigated Haleigh Cummings case Dr. Shari Schwartz – Forensic Psychologist (Specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy); Author: “Criminal Behavior” and “Where Law and Psychology Intersect: Issues in Legal Psychology;” X: @TrialDoc”  Dave Mack - Reporter, Crime Online See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A five-year-old little girl seemingly vanishes into thin air from her own home. But tonight, the ex-stepmother changing her story, claiming, I saw what happened. The night Haley, just five, disappears? Well, that's news to a lot of people. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. I can't find her daughter. You can't find what? My daughter. Okay, what's your address? Green Lane. What's the numerical?

Numerical, what's that? The number? Green Lane? Yes. Okay, when did you last see her? We were just like, you know, it was about 10 o'clock. She was sleeping, like, screaming. Okay, how old is your daughter?

She's five. Okay, I don't remember hearing anything in the whole 911 call that states, I saw what happened. I saw what happened to five-year-old Haley Cummings. I didn't hear anything about it right there. In fact, I hear just the opposite. But you know what? Let's listen to a little more. Maybe the ex-stepmother, Misty, will explain herself. Listen. Okay, well, what's the last thing wearing?

Ma'am? We were sleeping. Okay. All right. You said your back door was wide open? Yeah, it was a brick. Like, it was a brick. I was, like, when I was asleep, it was not like that. Okay, the back door. Listen to me.

Your back door was wide open. What are you talking about a brick? Yes. What is the brick? What is the brick? The brick is where the back door was propped open. As I recall, it was more like a cement block. But again, we are listening to the ex-stepmom.

Get that straight in my head. The ex-stepmom of five-year-old little Haley. You're hearing Misty Crossland who makes a 911 call. And also, if I could hear that particular segment of the 911 call again, because I hear a male voice who I believe to be Ronald Cummings, Haley's bio dad, yelling, who grabs a little girl in the middle of the night he ain't buying it either i'm with you cummings okay let's hear that one more time and listen out for ronald cummings this is haley's father okay well we see what last name wearing ma'am

we were sleeping okay all right you said your back door was wide open okay the back door listen to me your back door was wide open what are you talking about a brick what what is the brick okay the 911 dispatch also has a problem with the ex-stepmother Misty Cross and story. Okay, I know people get really upset when they're on 911. They're trying to report something. Joining me in All-Star panel, but first I want to go to a special guest joining us, the lead detective in the Haley Cummings disappearance, John Merchant. And let me tell you something, he has put blood, sweat, and tears into trying to find five-year-old Haley Cummings. John,

thank you for being with us. Do you hear the seeming confusion in the ex-stepmom misty crossland's voice she's like uh what first she's explaining they were asleep then she jumps to the back door being propped open with a brick and the 9-1-1 dispatch going what what do you hear the 9-1-1 call Does that not cause you concern, John Merchant? Yeah, like I said, from the very beginning, from the inception of her 911 call, her inconsistencies remain. She told story after story after story. And you hear it from the 911 call on until later on in the case, until she comes up and she witnesses what happened to him. It's amazing to me. And John Marchant,

I hear everything going on in the background. I want to thank you for being with us while you're on duty. Guys, let's listen to more of the 911 call. What did we learn? I'm upstairs. Like, in the walkway? Uh-huh.

And there was a brick laying there? Yeah, it's still there. So, I'm going to call 911. We got them coming. Uh-huh. And there was a brick laying there? We got them coming. Tell them we got them coming. Okay. What's the color of your house, ma'am? It's blue. It's blue? Okay. Now joining me, in addition to John Merchant and an all-star panel, Rob Hardwick is with us. The St. John's County Sheriff, former Assistant Chief Investigator for the State's Attorney's Office. He, along with John Merchant, investigated this case. You know what? There's no way we can let go of this case because justice has not been obtained.

And I know, Rob, you and John Merchant feel the same. When I hear Misty Crosland and her story, her concocted story and the near hyperventilation in her voice. I'll tell you why she's worried. She's not worried about Haley. Oh, H-E-L-L-N-O. She's worried because Ronald Cummings just got home from the night shift. And he's like, what the F? Who comes in and steals a baby out of the house

in the middle of the night and you slept through it? And he's right. It's BS. I mean, you had to do a backflip when you heard this story for the first time, Hardwick. Sure, Nancy. And the time that she opened her mouth, of course, on February 10th at 3 a.m. in the morning time. And she has lied every single time that she's opened her mouth since then. And with that being said, we have dumped so many resources in this case since 2009 because of her inconsistencies, her lies, her cover-ups, when we could have maybe got Haley back in the early hours and recovered her if she would have been truthful. But she has led us down every single wrong path, lying, bringing us to sites

where bodies have been dumped, where we searched. Divers were in the water in these creeks at Shell Harbor Marina, found gators, alligators, teeth and fingernails and toenails in there looking for Haley. But again, since the time she opened her mouth, Nancy, she's been a repetitive and a compelling liar. And she does it to this day while she's serving a prison sentence. I have gone over that area, that very area with with a fine-tooth comb. I have looked through every location that has ever been mentioned, and you're right. Joining me also, in addition to Rob Hardwick, St. Johns County Sheriff, John Merchant, former lead detective in this case, is a very special guest as well. Terry Shoemaker. He is the lawyer for Ronald Cummings. That's Haley's bio dad.

That's out. And I verified this myself. Out working at night, trying to support his family, literally punching a clock. Have you ever had to do that? Because I had at Sears and Roebuck. You punch the clock to show exactly when you go in and when you leave. I hear Ronald in the background raising teetotal hell. How in the world could somebody come into the house and steal my daughter on your watch? And that's why Misty Carlson was so hyped up. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we all know that Ronald was at work that night. He was never a suspect because, you know, his whereabouts were always verified. He gets home and all of a sudden he finds out his daughter's

missing. And, you know, and Misty is starting with the lies right from the get go. So, of course, he was upset. Of course, he was very aggressive. And of course, he was very concerned. But, you know, Misty never once and all the times I met with her and all the times that I talked to her, she never once gave any indication of what had happened that night. The story's changing about what happened to five-year-old Haley Cummings. And I know that Ronald Cummings, the bio dad, has had a lot of ups and downs. But as I've told many a jury, what do you want on the witness stand? A nun?

A priest? A virgin? Because I don't have that. I don't have that to put on. But what I do have is a bio dad who comes home from work and I can verify he was at work and he can smell a crock full of BS a mile away. So what more do we learn from the 911 call? This is important because you are hearing the stepmom giving her first rendition of the facts.

Listen. Okay, was your back door locked, do you know? Yes, but I can't always pick it up. I need somebody to get here now. Okay, let me speak to him so he can hear. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just got home from work. My five-year-old daughter is gone.

I need somebody to be here now. Listen to me. Listen to me. We got two officers. If I find whoever has my daughter before y'all do, I'm killing them. I don't care. I was going to rest my life in prison. I'm telling you, you can put it on record and I don't care.

Okay, it's okay, sir. We got him on the way. I know Ronald Cummings. I have spoken to him in person. I have talked to him many, many times. And you hear him. I believe he's completely innocent in his daughter's disappearance. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Let me go to you, Rob Hardwick, St. John's County Sheriff, former investigator on this case, Rob Hardwick. But you learn who's telling the truth. Now, you can be tricked, that's for sure. But you kind of turn into a human lie detector. And I don't care what anybody says about Ronald Cummings. He was telling the truth about his daughter's disappearance. I believe him completely.

Do you hear his voice when he walks in on that crap show orchestrated by the stepmom, Misty Crosland? Sure. Nancy, that goes back to when he actually went to work, of course, on the 9th of February to PDM Bridge. It starts there. So that initial 911 call comes in again. Misty already has the plan in place. She already knows what's going on. And Ronald walks in to a mess, basically. His five-year-old daughter is missing. His three-year-old son is still there. And then you got Misty who, again, the time she picked up the phone at 3 a.m. or 3.17 in the morning time, she immediately starts lying. And he comes into that storm. You're absolutely right, Nancy. What about it, John Merchant? You investigated this case and it's still haunting you. Yeah. And all the conversations we have with Ronald,

I would describe Ronald as a non-perfect person. He lived a life that was probably something we wouldn't approve of, but he's absolutely innocent when it comes to what happened to his daughter. He was at work just like you described it. He was at work doing what was right, making a living for his family, and that's exactly where he was at at the time. He comes home to a girl who has began a fabrication of a long story. And that's what he walked into.

And you can hear the anger in his voice. And any conversation I ever had with Ronald, his anger never went away. Even when he married her, he still always had in the back of his head something's not right. And ultimately, he divorced her because of that. Yeah, I couldn't believe it when he actually married her, John. But I want to be clear about something that you just said. You said he has led a life that we wouldn't all approve of. I want to be clear. I am not the church lady. I don't care who sleeps with who, if you gamble, if you drink. I don't care. That's on you. What I do care about is anything that's got crime scene tape around it. Specifically, a missing child

who I believe is dead. I think she's dead. And I think she's been dead a long time. And let me go back to you. Everybody jump in. Again, we ain't having high tea at Windsor Castle. To Rob Hardwick, did you know she was lying at the time?

You know, we have to take the facts, of course, that we get at the time of the 911 call. And Nancy, as you know this very well in your entire team, you've got to take what's given to you in the very beginning. That's what we had to go by was, again, the time is ticking. We've got a five-year-old baby, basically, missing out of a trailer in Putnam County. And I think you all know this from the map there, too. You have Seven Sisters Islands, which connects to the St. John's River through Trout Creek, just a few, maybe even a hundred yards away. So time is ticking to find

this child. So you have to take what you initially have, triage that. Beggars can't be choosers. You know this very well, and you got to work with it. And then of course you have a dad in a panic mode coming home, knowing damn well that his daughter is gone from that house and not in that house. And the last one to see her in that home was Misty Crosland. There is no doubt in my mind that Misty Crosland, the ex-stepmother, was lying about the disappearance of five-year-old Haley. With me, an all-star panel, but now to investigative reporter with CrimeOnline.com, Dave Mack, joining us. Dave, I focused a lot so far on the 911 call, and I'm going to go back to the 911 call, because when a defendant, a suspect, or a person of interest is actually the one that calls 911, Dave, as you know from covering so many criminal cases, that may be the closest you ever get to a suspect's statement.

Because once they're ever arrested, they lawyer up. Or once they think they're going to get arrested, they lawyer up and they don't say anything. And that's perfectly okay. That's their right under the Constitution. But the closest we may ever get to what Misty Crossland was saying about what happened is this 911 call. I'm going to circle back to it, Dave Mack. But first, could you explain to people unfamiliar with Haley Cummings' disappearance, what happened that night in Satsuma? Haley, just like any other five-year-old, was put to bed around 8.15 that night by her babysitter slash girlfriend slash stepmom, Misty Crossland. At about three o'clock in the morning,

Misty Crossland says she got up to get a drink of water from the bathroom, and as she was coming back to bed, she saw Ronald Jr., but did not see Haley. Haley Cummings was not in the bed where she had been. Now, as she's doing that, Ronald Cummings comes home from work. I mean, he's walking in home from work at the moment Misty Crossland begins to say Haley's missing. So that's where the 911 call starts. And by the way, Ronald Cummings had to tell her, call 911. And it happened at 317 a.m. I know you're going to round up back to this, but you know what? You can hear Ronald Cummings like any other father in the

background on that 911 call. He's just letting it go. And you know what, Nancy? At one point, Ronald Cummings grabs the phone and says, y'all are taking too long and hangs up on 911. He was that frustrated and he didn't believe Misty. Who does this? Who takes a kid at three in the morning? Come on. And yet he had to roll with what her story is. Now you said she fixed her story right then. So any change she makes is a lie. Anything other than what she says on that 911 call is a lie. I mean, Terry Shoemaker, you tried a lot of cases. Guys, Terry is the lawyer representing the bio dad, Ronald Cummings. And not necessarily in this case, because he has spoken with me freely about that night. He's gone on air with me in the search for Haley. And he has not asserted any

Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in the search for his daughter. He's gone over and over the story with me. And Terry, I wanted to go to you on a point of law. Well, really a point of evidence. When a defendant or any witness makes a statement, great. Then later, if they add to the statement, they embellish the statement greater, because maybe they weren't asked the right questions the first time. And upon correct questioning or more in-depth questioning, they may reveal more of the facts and it may jog their memory about certain details they did not mention the first time. But when they begin

changing the story, there's a problem. What about it, Terry Shoemaker? Yeah, you know, they always say the truth is a straight line, you know, and it never changes. Once they give that first story or the first statement, if it's the truth, it's always going to stay the same. It's going to remain constant. As soon as they start changing what happened, where it happened, when it happened, how it happened, you can start asking questions as to did it really happen that way or are they trying to lie and cover stuff up? So absolutely, the truth never changes. What we understand from Missing Haley's ex-stepmother, the story is changing. I've tried to get her to speak to me. She hates my guts, and that's to put it mildly. And don't worry, Crosland, the feeling is mutual. But the closest

I'll ever get to hearing her statement is this. Listen. Hello. Okay, sir sir let me talk to your wife so let me get some information from her okay can i talk to her okay ma'am yeah okay listen to me i need you to answer some questions. Does the door look like it was pried open? Um, it looks like it. Does it look like you had someone try to enter into your house? Um, hold on. Okay, right there she's already caught in a lie, and we're still talking to 911. The 9-Hill-E goes missing.

First, she said there was a brick of sorts holding the door open. Now she's saying that it looked like somebody pried the door open. And I don't know if you can tell what Ronald Cummings is saying in the background. It's hard to understand him. But he says to Misty Cross on the stepmom, how the F did you let my daughter get stole? Yeah, that's real. Let's listen to that one more time. Hello?

Okay, sir, let me talk to your wife. Let me get some information from her. Okay. Can I talk to her? Okay. Ma'am? Yes. Okay, listen to me.

I need you to answer some questions. Does the door look like it was pried open? Does it look like you had someone try to enter into your house? Hold on. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Haley Cummings vanishes in the middle of the night, and her father, Ronald Cummings, tells live-in girlfriend Misty Crossland to call 911 right away. Crossland makes the call at 3.17 a.m. to report Haley missing. And while she's on the phone, Ronald Cummings gets agitated that it's taking police

too long to get to their house and hangs up the phone on 9-1-1. 9-1-1 calls back and the dispatcher tries to get Misty Crossland back on the phone to get more information. Cummings is heard on the recording saying he doesn't care if he goes to prison for the rest of his life. He will kill whoever has taken his daughter. And very wisely, those in charge of the investigation immediately call in the canines. Those guys are with me right now. But first, listen to Nicole Parton from Crime Online. Misty Crosland tells 911 Dispatch she is asleep with Haley and Ronald Jr. When she awoke around 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom,

she realizes Haley is gone and the back door of the trailer is open and a brick is placed to keep the door propped open. Haley is described as a curly-headed girl between 40 and 60 pounds wearing pajamas. The dispatcher instructs Misty Crosland and Ronald Cummings not to touch the back door anymore as canines are on the way to see if they can pick up Haley's scent. To Rob Hardwick, St. John's County Sheriff and the former Assistant Chief Investigator for the State Attorney's Office that investigated this case, at the time Haley first went missing, bringing in the dogs first thing was a great move very often we see a long delay before the canines are brought in what happened the night the canines were brought in on what if anything did they hit sure so nancy actually when the bloodhounds were actually brought in we actually asked for mutual aid out of tomoka correctional institution uh tomoka correctional institution

is a prison just to the south of where the actual disappearance occurred in the next county. Those were some of the best bloodhounds in the state, if not the United States. These bloodhounds came in. We actually had canines from surrounding agencies, to include the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, and again, when I say canines, mostly bloodhounds. When the dogs actually exited the trailer onto Green Lane, some went, of course, westbound per se, which is down to St. John's River or Trout Creek.

And some went eastbound and the trail actually ended near a row of mailboxes or a stack of mailboxes for the trailer park or that immediate area. So we had some positive alerts in different directions. Positive alerts in different directions. Positive alerts in different directions. John Merchant, a former lead detective in this case, I'm trying to figure out what that means. Where the dogs were hitting, could that have been where Haley had been playing in the neighborhood? Or do you believe it was her path that night, the night she disappeared? I personally, at this point, I believe this.

I believe what the dogs did is probably her last track. Everything indicates toward the water and that's what we have to go on. There was some other positive alerts on the front side of the mobile home toward the mailboxes. That could have been something that happened earlier in the day, earlier in the week. I can't really say for sure, but I know the more consistent track from the

canines, the different canines that were used all went toward the St. John's. And back to you, Rob Hardwick, joining us. What do you make of it? What does it mean? Was that where she was just before she was kidnapped or just before she was killed right there? Or was that where she had been playing in the neighborhood? Well, you know, you look at the map, of course, of Green Lane, and just like Merchant said, Green Lane actually dead ends into Trout Creek, of course, St. John's River on one end. And then the other end, actually, which is all dirt roads, ends on Buffalo Road, Buffalo Bluff Road.

So, again, those canines, which we rely on so heavily, these are canines that actually are bloodhounds that do this, where they track human scent. And we don't get this in a lot, Nancy, where we actually have fresh clothing, fresh scent. Well, of course, when Haley went missing from this trailer on Green Lane, we had dirty clothes. We had her scent, the immediate scent. But this is the problem though. And we talked about this earlier is let's back up to 815. Is Misty telling the truth that she put the baby to bed at 815, that she went to bed at 10 o'clock? And then the other question, too, Nancy, is we'll go back and given the track to the canines. She says this rear door is propped open near the laundry room, but she doesn't exit the rear door and look when the child is missing out the door.

So we give this information to our bloodhounds and we go in the best information. But these bloodhounds tracked in two different directions, which exactly like Mr. Merchant said, it could be earlier tracks where she had been playing or actually when she was still alive. Joining me is a renowned forensic psychologist who specializes in capital mitigation and victim advocacy. You can find her at Panther Mitigation dot com. Dr. Sherry Schwartz. Dr. Sherry, you have closely listened to the 911 calls where the ex-stepmother, Misty Crosland, is giving her version of what happened when Haley disappears on her watch, claims that Haley had been sleeping with her, and then she wakes up and boom, Haley's gone. First says that the door had been propped open with a brick and then says it looks like somebody pried it open. I mean, in the space

of three minutes, it's already contradicted herself. Yes, Nancy. And I actually remember this case when you covered it when it first happened. And I remember thinking to myself that it made no sense. A little five-year-old girl, you don't notice she's missing until you wake up to go to the bathroom. Well, who put the cinder block at the door? The little five-year-old girl?

Or was the door pried open? And you didn't hear that because my recollection is that the trailer wasn't very big. So if Haley wandered off by herself, there would have been noise, her trying to open the door, her trying to put a cinder block, which I don't even think would be physically possible, or somebody came in and took her. I don't know how many hundreds of statements, thousands of statements. Everybody on this panel has sifted through before. But to Terry Shoemaker, who is the lawyer for Ronald Cummings,

Haley Cummings' father, her biological father, who was, by all accounts, devoted to her. When you can't keep your story straight for three minutes, that's a problem. Yeah, I mean, if you can't tell one story after another story and sound like the same story, then obviously you're lying and nothing you say can be believed. So, you know, law enforcement did everything they could with Missy to try and get her to cooperate and get her to answer questions truthfully. But, you know, from the moment I met her to the moment she went away

to prison, I can't tell you how many different stories she told me about what took place that night. That must have twisted your client, Ronald Cummings, stomach. He must have just been sick when he hears all of her changing stories, Terry. Yeah, you know, and every time I talked to him, he was like, I can't understand why she won't just tell me the truth, you know, and somebody had asked earlier, maybe it was you about how you had married her, and I remember him telling me when I asked the same question, he's like, you keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and he was hoping that by marrying her, maybe she would one day open up and tell him what really happened, And when he realized that was never going to happen and she was just going to continue lying and continue leading him down a false path, that's when he got the divorce.

For 18 months, Misty Crosland says she awoke at 3 a.m. and Haley is gone and the back door is open. Now, she says her cousin, Joe Overstreet, comes to the trailer to get a machine gun owned by Haley's father, Ronald Cummings. When Overstreet doesn't find the gun, Crosland's attorney, Robert Fields, says Haley Cummings is taken as a substitute for the machine gun. What? A machine gun? What happened to waking up in the middle of the night just to go to the bathroom and realizing that Haley's gone? Where's this coming from? Listen. Misty Crossland tells 911 dispatchers and her boyfriend that she woke up at 3 a.m. to get a drink of water and finds Haley missing in the back door open. Now she says that isn't what happened. Misty Crossland's attorney

says the night Haley Cummings disappeared, Crossland and Haley's younger brother, Ronald Jr., cowered under a sheet, hearing screams from Haley as the five-year-old struggles against her abductor. Crossland claims she gets a glance of the abductor and knows who he is. Okay, so now machine guns and kidnappers. Next thing, she'll pull a Jodi Arias and tell us the kidnappers were wearing black ninja outfits with their faces covered. Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. You know what? If a little girl's life wasn't on the line, I would be tempted,

tempted, just barely tempted, Dave, to laugh. Really? Armed intruders with machine guns come in and steal Haley? And we're just hearing about this almost two years in? Okay, what's the new story? Tell me about the machine guns. She actually claims, again, remember she didn't know who did it. It was middle of the night, woke up, she was gone. Now she not only knows who took Haley, she saw it happen and cowered away. But even in her statement a year and a half after the fact, Nancy, she can't even lie in the right order because, you know, she acts like she's cowering under and gets a glance at the sus the person stealing haley she says that haley is either covered in a black blanket or put into a black bag and that this

person now she knows him well enough to know that oh he came here for a machine gun see all of this is not my fault it's ronald's fault ronald promised him a machine gun and when the guy gets here i'm assuming he looked all around this trailer and didn't find a machine gun. And when the guy gets here, I'm assuming he looked all around this trailer and didn't find the machine gun. And so he took Haley as a down payment or as a replacement or something. It makes absolutely positively no sense that she claims she got a glance of him because in that story, the Joe Overstreet, her cousin would have just come into the trailer, grabbed Haley and run, but he came in and looked for the machine gun and didn't find it in the story as well. So which one is it? Even in the lie, it boggles the mind. This woman hates anyone that gets close

to the truth. Listen, they're recording everything y'all do. I mean, how, how, how can we not see each other? We are not co-defendants. And I think Ms. Nancy Grace needs to keep her mouth shut until she knows the facts. What's she saying? All kind of crazy crap. All about you and Haley and it's bullshit. It is. Yeah, it's all BS. I guess you're a big BS-er too, Rob Hardwick. So what do you believe happened that night? Because I guarantee you, the ex-stepmother, Misty Crossland,

did not just wake up and go to the bathroom and peek over and go, Oh, my stars! Haley's gone! That didn't happen. And nobody broke in with machine guns and then took Haley. Okay, so what really happened? Where is Haley Cummings?

I got a bad feeling. I've got a bad feeling based on one thing. One thing. Somebody that can't lie. And that's a dog. Sure. Best witness I ever put on the stand was a dog. Held up pretty well on a cross exam, too. So what happened, Rob Hardwick? You know, Nancy, I hate to even give Misty any credit at all, but let's give this girl some credit. She's been a manipulative, compulsive liar since her first 911 call at 3 a.m. in the

morning. And we've had to deal with that for years, by the way. I mean, dragging us around to made up crime scenes, to interviewing people that had nothing to do with this case. She changes her entire story at 18 months later of what happened to Misty, where little Ronald was at. I mean, she starts throwing everybody under the bus. So, I believe too, Nancy, I'm going to go back on my belief in what our canines can do. Our blood, um, they're trained to do this. These are multiple dogs that hit on the same location. So I'm going to agree with you and tell you that I'm not going to, I mean, you've done this before you prosecuted cases and put people on the stand where it says the canine is actually what actually gives us the evidence in the case. And I believe we're in the

case. I'm going to believe I'm going to agree with Mr. Merchant. And I believe that body was down in the water that night. Again, that's a fast-moving river. In St. John's River, it flows into the Barge Canal to the south. So I believe she was in the water, my personal opinion. You know, I'm going to ask you. You know, people say there's no such thing as a stupid question. I'm going to ask you what I think is a stupid question.

You know why it's stupid? Because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. And it took me years, years as a prosecutor sitting in court, looking over child molesters, drug lords, murderers. And I think, why would you do this and leave such a wake of pain like a speedboat behind you? Why? And it took me about five years in, believe it or not, Rob Hardwick, before I realized why ask why, because why doesn't matter. I have one job and one job only, and that is to seek the truth, whether I like the truth or not. But I'm going to ask you, I'm going to go out on a limb. Why? Why? Because I believe that five-year-old

Haley Cummings was dead when she left that house. I don't think she walked down to the water and jumped in. I think she was killed and thrown in the water. But why? Why was this little girl killed, Rob? You know, Nancy, as we look back in this case and did so much work in this case, you look back, of course, of just the upbringing of Misty by herself and the evilness, of course, that she doesn't know any different, any better. And this is one of the things, Nancy, she she drove us to all these. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office that dragged her out of jail numerous times on these bogus lies. We went looking for Haley's body or went to these crime scene areas looking for Haley's body. She ran us amok the entire time. Reminds me so much John Merchant, lead detective in the Haley Cummings case at the time. John Merchant reminds me so much of top mom Casey Anthony, who led police all over from here to Timbuktu down a pig path. You know what a pig

path is? You can't catch a running pig. It's impossible. A pig path is like a crazy circuitous ziggy zaggy path. Okay, John Merchant, she has led, like a top mom, Casey Anthony, led investigators to this place, to that place, to this place, to that place. It was all a lie and held an incredible composure the whole time. And that is what Misty Crosland did. Yeah, I think a pickpocket would probably be an understatement when it comes to her. She has led us everywhere. She's led us from I have no clue till I witnessed it and here's where the body is. And like Sheriff Harbert said, we have been from crime scene to crime scene, escorting her to location to location, and

we still have nothing. We have nothing but Misty Crosland telling lie after lie. When they find out what happened to Haley, everything will be different. I know. I can't believe they will still believe, you know. I know. It's crazy. Ridiculous because they got my bond set so high just because of that. And that's not fair. This has nothing to do with it.

I know. That's exactly what it is. That's what they think I'm going to break. There's nothing to break me on. So they need to leave me alone. Okay, my head is actually hurting right over here to Dr. Sherry Schwartz. Boy, do I need a shrink? I may need a drink, but I definitely need a shrink since I'm a teetotaler. Can't have that drink. Dr. Sherry Schwartz, did you just hear her? Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me,

me, me, me, me, and me. What about the missing girl? She's mad because her bond is low enough for her to get out. She says, quote, they need to leave me alone. They think I'm going to break. I'm not going to break. Who is this woman? Well, the sad truth is, and I don't know Misty Crosland, but I'll say this in general, people that are high in psychopathy and narcissism have very low levels of anxiety.

And so this is why she will never break. She's not lying about that. They will never break her because she doesn't suffer the physiological and psychological consequences that the rest of us might suffer under similar high pressure circumstances. And she is only concerned for herself. That's evident in all of the recordings. And as I recall, there were many where she's only worried about Listie. She's not at all concerned about where Haley is, which to me is an indication that she

knows where Haley is and that she can't be found. And she's also not concerned about Ronald, this person that she's where Haley is and that she can't be found. And she's also not concerned about Ronald, this person that she's supposed to love, whose daughter got lost on her watch. Terry Shoemaker, speaking of Ronald Cummings, another thing is that she marries, and then he quickly divorces her, Ronald Cummings. But never once do we hear her talk about, oh, this is tearing Ronald up. He can't find his daughter. I'm sick about it. I want to help him.

I mean, when I see the few times I've ever seen my husband in any kind of distress, I think the only time I really have seen him where he would show his emotions is where when his mom and dad died really quickly, you know, one after the other. And I would do anything I could think of, you know, just to try to make him feel better. I failed, but I tried. I never hear her talking about finding Haley. What really happened to Haley? Again, like top mom. Whenever they'd ask her, well, what did happen to Haley?

She'd get mad at her parents. Here, you never hear her talk about what happened that night. Can we find Haley? Is Haley still alive? How can I help Ron? Nothing like that, Terry Shoemaker. Yeah, I mean, part of that is the only way she could help Ron is to implicate herself in the disappearance of Haley. So, obviously, she knows how to help him.

She knows she has the information to help him. But in order to do that, it's going to put herself in trouble. And she's never going to do that. And like Dr. Schwartz said, you know, very narcissistic. And she's never going to do them. Like Dr. Schwartz said, you know, a very narcissistic and she's never going to break. She's never going to give any information because she knows that if she does, obviously, that's the disappearance of a beautiful five-year-old little girl, Haley Cummings, please dial 386-329-0808. Repeat, 386-329-0808. There is still a reward for information in the disappearance of Haley Cummings.

Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.