True Crime with Kendall Rae - Stolen From Her Bed? Where Is Haleigh Cummings?

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

Haleigh Cummings was last seen at her trailer home in Satsuma, FL, south of Jacksonville, on February 9, 2009. Anyone with information about Haleigh's disappearance should call Crime Stoppers at (888) 277-TIPS Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: Disappeared: The Bradley Sisters Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hey guys, welcome back to my channel and welcome to another Where is Video. So today we are going to be talking about a missing child out of Florida. And this happened back in 2009. It doesn't really get much media attention now because it's been so long and there's still so many questions. So I thought it would be great to bring this back into the light for a bit and see what you guys think of it. Today we are talking about Haley and Marie Cummings. So Haley was a little Leo born on August 17th, 2003,

and she was five years old and a kindergartner at the time of her disappearance. And Haley and her family lived in a small town called Suma outside of Jacksonville, Florida. It was a very small population, less than 6,000 people, and the area consisted of a lot of marsh and wetlands. Haley lived with her father, Ronald Cummings, who was 25 years old at the time, and his girlfriend, Misty Croslin, who was 17 years old at the time. Haley also had a brother named Ronald Jr. that lived with them

as well, and all four of them lived in a mobile home together that was right next to a marsh area in the St. John's River. So Haley is described as a really cute and loving little girl. Her favorite thing to do was play pretend like most little girls. She liked playing dress-up, liked playing with barbies, liked playing with makeup, and she also loved playing games on the computer and was just starting to get into that around this age. But Hiley was born with a health condition and it's called Turner Syndrome. Turner Syndrome is where a female is missing an X chromosome either partly or completely. This can often result in a short webbed neck, low set ears, or low hairline at the back of the neck. It can also make someone have kind of a short stature or sometimes even swollen hands and feet.

And this disorder can be quite a challenge. This can cause a lot of different health issues for people and it kind of varies in severity. So even though Haley was five years old at the time, she only weighed 40 pounds. Because of this, Haley did go to the doctor quite often to get hormone treatments which would help her grow. In 2005, Ronald actually got full custody of these kids because their mother, who was named Crystal, was having a major issue with drugs and simply could not take care of them. But despite Crystal not being able to take care of her kids, she did come

and see them every other weekend. So let's go to right before Haley goes missing. Like I said, Haley was living with her brother, Ronald, her father, and his girlfriend named Misty, who was only 17 at the time. A lot of the time for his job, Ronald had to work overnight, so Misty would watch the kids. And February 9th, 2009 was one of those nights. Misty was watching the kids, Ronald is at work. And Misty said it was a normal day that Hailey got off the bus like she always does and came home, and then Misty made her and her brother some dinner. She says they spend some time on the couch watching a movie and after this she takes both kids to the bathroom, gives

them a bath and puts them to bed. So Misty and Ronald had a mattress on the floor as their bed and they also had another small mattress in the room as well that was four kids to sleep in. It was just like a small mattress next to theirs. And this is a little bit confusing because at first, Misty says that Hailey went to bed with her and her brother in the large bed. She said that they went to bed around 8 p.m.

and she stayed up and did some laundry and then she went to bed around 10. But later she did change her story and said that Hailey was sleeping in the little bed next to the big bed. So like I mentioned, Misty claims that she went to bed around 10 p.m. and it was her in the big bed with Ronald Jr. and Haley is on the floor. Around 3 a.m., she wakes up because she has to use the bathroom. So she walks out of her room and this has been kind of confusing. They did have a bathroom in their master bedroom

But for whatever reason misty goes out of the bedroom into the main area And this is when she noticed that there was a light on in the kitchen So she walks over to the kitchen to see why there's a light on and that's when she sees the door Just open and being held open with a cinder block Missy says she then ran back to the room to check on the kids and realized that Haley was gone. So according to her, she frantically calls Ronald and tells him what's going on.

So Ronald left work immediately came rushing home and then they went ahead and called the police at 3.30 AM. I wanna like to sleep, she was there. And then I woke up, she was gone. Now I want to play the 911 call for you guys because it's really interesting. However, the full version is six minutes. So I'm going to edit down the most interesting parts,

but I will warn you it's a little hard to hear what they're saying. Why did you soak up her back door? I opened her my seatbelt. Can't find what? I don't. Okay, what's your address? On green lane.

Okay, when did you last see her? I was just breaking all the doors of all the car. I thought, you were just keeping it clean. Okay, how old is your daughter? She's fine. Okay, well, what's she went last seeing wearing? She's fine, she's fine, she's fine. She's fine.

She wasn't in her like mama. Okay, alright. You said your back door was wide open? Yeah, it was a brick. I think your back door was wide open We got him coming Okay, what the color of your house man Blue okay, okay, what what does she look like how tall is she give me some description number like long hair curly like full of curl what color

okay what do you think about it around here wait tell your husband we got him coming okay huh how much does she weigh oh my 40 50 pounds 60? 40, 60 pounds, 60 pounds. 40 to 60 pounds? Yeah. And I need somebody to get you some help.

Okay, let me speak, so he says, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just found one for my five-year-old daughter, he's gone. Okay. He's somebody to be here now. Listen to me, listen to me, we've got two off. If I find whoever has my daughter before y'all do, I'm killing them. here now. Listen to me. Listen to me. We've got two officers. If I find whoever has my daughter before y'all do, I'm killing them. I don't care.

I'm going to let my wife and prison tell me you can put it on record. And I don't care. OK, it's OK, sir. We've got them on the way. OK, can you be any... What kind of description of a hijab? A hijab? I don't care.

I don't care. OK, sir. We've got them coming, OK? Hello? OK, sir. Let me talk to you why so let me get some information from him Yeah, okay listen to any Questions the door look like it was cried open? Um, do you look like it? Does it look like it?

Does it look like you had some sort of someone try to enter into your house? Hold on. And another thing, make sure you and your husband don't touch the door anymore. Don't mess with the door or anything. No, it doesn't look like it is. No. Okay, now listen, tell your husband you the door or anything. No, it doesn't look like it is. No.

Okay, now listen, tell your husband, you don't have to touch anything. Make sure it's right away. We're gonna try to get a cane on out there. Okay. You should just don't let them think of the ground. Okay, not yet. It's her date of birth.

Okay. I'm gonna show you what's in there. Okay, we'll tell him we understand. We need to get her date of birth. What's her date of birth? What's her date of birth? We need to find her. Okay, listen'll tell him we understand when he to get her data birth. What's her data birth? What's her data birth? Where are you? Where are you?

Okay, listen to me. I'm getting this information. I'm not the officer driving out there, okay? Is there coming out there to handle that situation? I need to gather all of information from you over the phone. There's nothing to do with me driving out there. The officer takes care of that, okay? They're coming out there, okay?

Okay. Okay. Okay. I want to sound this one of that, okay? They're coming out there, okay? Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm gonna stand up on one for you, okay? Okay. Until they get there, alright. Hang on. Until we got them coming,

he needs to try to calm down a little bit, okay? The office is gonna come out there and do what they can. We can't have him screaming in the office whenever they get there, okay? Oh, no. I've got better people to talk to you than if someone's wasn't in any trouble. So obviously in this call, you. Got better people to talk to. I'm gonna talk more about coming. So obviously in this call, you hear Ronald

absolutely freaking out. And then towards the end of the call, I'm not sure if you could hear it, but Ronald says, where's my fucking phone? We've got better people to talk to than some motherfuckers who aren't coming. Now it's really weird to me about this case and sticks out so much is Ronald's mother

ended up coming to the scene during that 911 call she arrived on the scene and Ronald had apparently called her like a couple minutes before that. But the thing is she lived 10 to 15 miles away. Some people think she was living even further like an hour at the time. So there's a lot of speculation about what did she know, when did she know what she already told Haley was missing or something, and her behavior during this whole thing

is just weird. We'll get into her later. [♪ Music playing in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, in background, background, in background, in background, It's a case that's still unsolved and absolutely needs more awareness. In 2001, Tracy Bradley comes home from her morning shift and discovers her two daughters are nowhere to be found. And at the time, the girls were just 10 and 3 years old. Disappeared, the Bradley sisters is a podcast from ID that covers the case that sparked the largest missing person's investigation in Chicago's history. Host Pam Childs was a detective in Chicago at the time of the girl's disappearance,

and on Disappeared, Childs is joining up with other retired detectives and investigators to revisit the case, and they try to get answers to the question that's been bothering everyone for 22 years. Who had the most to gain by these girls disappearing? If you want a more in-depth look at the case, definitely check out disappeared.

You can listen to disappeared the Bradley Sisters wherever you get your podcasts. So the police come and when they get their Ronald is still really upset, they interview him and he said that there's just no way that she could have gotten out because when he left for work, their door was locked with a deadbolt that there's just no way that she could have gotten out because when he left for work their door was locked with a deadbolt and there's no way that Haley could have you know

undone it and left herself in any way. He instantly said there's just no way that Haley would leave on her own that she was terrified of the dark and strangers like any little girl and just wouldn't leave her house in the middle of the night. So then they are interviewing her brother, Ronald Jr. who if if you remember, is only three years old at this time. And he says that he saw Haley get taken by a man in black in the middle of the night. Now obviously you can't take a kid's word 100% and he could have been confused or dreaming or imagining something or just making something up. But we have talked about kids that testify before and it's really interesting. A lot of times kids are really truthful and it's just weird that he said something like that.

So just a few hours later around 9.30 a.m. and Amber alert was issued for Haley. After doing their initial investigation, officers decided that there was no way she just wandered off on her own. So by 4 p.m., the Putnam County Sheriff's Department declared this an abduction. First thing that police did was look into 44 different sex offenders in the area

and cleared every single one of them. Tons of homes in that area were canvased, even abandoned homes. They went and checked out. Every 12th there was still no sign of Haley. So Ronald went on TV and pleaded for her safe return. I would love for whatever sorry piece of trash took my child to hand her over to someone who will handle two proper authorities and she can get back to me because this is my heart. In his statement he said that he had no involvement in his daughter's disappearance and that Misty didn't either. I love that little girl that he was my own.

But of course Misty is the last person to see Hailey. And what was so weird is Ronald's mom who had only known Misty at this time for about two months or so. Started saying that Misty had nothing to do with it and just defending Misty at all costs. She always stood by her, which has come across really weird

because this is Ronald's mom. Like, she has no connection to this woman. If your son had moved in with someone for two months and then on their watch, your grandchild goes missing. Wouldn't you have a little more suspicion towards them? But the first person to really start questioning Misty in the family was Crystal's mother. Now, if you remember, Crystal is Ronald's ex-wife. So she is Haley's biological mother. I don't know what could have happened to her.

No idea. I know it was she someone coming and took her. How do you know that? I got a call at 3.49 in the morning saying that Haley was missing. I realize she's missing, but I know the back door was open and I wonder how you know somebody took her. How do we know she didn't just walk out on her own? Because I know my daughter, she would not just walk out of the house like that. Marie Griffiths, you're the grandmother here. Any idea what might have happened here?

I don't know what happened. I don't know how anyone gained access into the house. But if the door was not broken into, as our sheriff has said, the door appeared not to have any damages done to it. Like it would have been pride open or anything. And Ronald stated last night that he secured the door before he went to work and that the deadbolt was up high enough where Hayley couldn't get it. and Ronald stated last night that he secured the door before he went to work and that the dead boat was up high enough where Hayley couldn't get it.

How did somebody get in that back door and it was wide open? They either had to have a key or somebody had to open it from the inside. Who? Who done it? I have to be somebody that, you know, somebody close. Sounds to me, well, there was only one person home. Sounds to me like your point at the 17 year old girl friend, is that right? Her or any family member that might have had a key. But right away, Ronald defended Misty

and just said that there's no way she could have anything to do with Haley's disappearance. Ronald, I can't imagine what you and your family are going through it. It is absolutely horrific. Can you tell us a little bit about your daughter, your five-year-old daughter? Playful, sweet, well-mannered.

Ronald Wood was the last time that you saw her. I want to say thanks to all the people that are out here and helping me try to find my daughter and also, like, this state to my daughter, that I love her, if she was watching. And if the person or the person that took her to the watchin', I'd like to state to my daughter that I love her, she was watching and the person or person that took her to the watching, I like the state please, please bring her home to us please. Ronald, is there any update in the last 24 hours in the

search for your daughter? 20 at six, most of them are bogus, the law enforcement agencies are doing everything they can, I think they've got approximately 50 horses coming in. They're going to start doing ground search with horses, horses, helicopters. They're doing everything they can. Is she the type that would walk off with a stranger? No. Ronald, is she the type that would just wander off of the stranger at all? Or is she a shy child? I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby.

I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby.

I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby.

I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. I don't know if it was a baby. and to live in a notice the kitchen night was on and seen the back door open and when I seen the back door open I had ran back into the bedroom and that's when I noticed she was gone. So the investigation continued and the next day police went to mobile home and got several items of interest out of it but of course wouldn't tell the public what they were. Investigators also announced that they would be carrying out some more interviews with family and friends in the next coming weeks. They would also be doing some polygraph tests

but will not be discussing any of the details and information from those. And law enforcement got 250 volunteers to come out and help look for Haley in the field. Now, of course, this is marsh area and wetlands. Plenty of places that a body could be hidden, oftentimes people will hide bodies in Florida. So they went out looking for any leads,

any type of information, any evidence that could help find Haley, and of course nothing was found. Not only that, but the police also announced that the items of interest that they had taken from the mobile home actually ended up having no significance. So then on February 18th, a tip came in that said that Misty was actually not at home at the time that Haley supposedly went missing. And at this point, the public and the media have already

started to push the idea that it was Misty. But of course, her and Ronald said that they had both been polygraphed by the police and that their results came back fine and they did nothing wrong. But then on February 19th, police actually ended up arresting a sexual predator that lived near Haley's home. And apparently this guy had violated his curfew several times around the time that Haley went missing. Luckily he did have a GPS tracker on him and they were able to pull that up and see that he was just not anywhere near their house at the time

that this happened. So they did rule him out and let him go. On February 26th and 27th, they brought in cadaver dogs to help look for Haley. And of course, dogs have an incredible sense of smell. They can smell things that humans would never even remotely pick up. The smallest trace of a scent,

a dog can smell it from pretty far away. And they're normally pretty accurate, but there's always room for failure, of course. But what was interesting is one dog did alert to a dumpster near their house. They checked this out though, searched the whole dumpster, and no DNA was found. And they also took DNA samples from Ronald, Misty, and Crystal. So about a month after Haley goes missing, on March 12th, Ronald and Misty end up getting married. It was the first happy day and more than a month for this family.

Friends we can gather today to witness the marriage of Ronald and Misty. Ronald Cummings married his 17 year old girlfriend Misty. We take you on this. We take you home to be my wife. We want to go to the house. We want to go to the house. Do you take your mom? Yes, I do. To be my wife when we were a cousin. To be my wife when we were a cousin. Seems like a strange thing to do, right? To have a wedding, to get married when you have a child that's missing and you're in the middle of a huge police investigation.

It just seems very odd. It was an impromptu wedding. It was seen very rushed. And Misty was 17 at the time. He was 25, so she actually had to get permission from her parents and they did a little backyard wedding because their church actually came out and said, we do not approve of this marriage.

At this point, the two of them had only known each other for six months. So Misty started referring to herself as Haley's stepmom after this. And in fact, I'm not sure how many of you noticed this, but she also called her her daughter on the phone with 911. It's kind of weird,

but at the same time, she could have just been wanting to, you know, keep it quick. In an emergency situation, sometimes you'll like skip non-important details just to get to the most important information. So it could have been a case of that. And when Misty and Ronald were asked

why they got married, they said that it's what Haley would have wanted. Now this marriage did not last long guys. They got divorced six months later. Ronald and the divorce, I mean sadness about it. Why, get your part into this up another time. Thank you. You're headed to New York today? Um, no actually not. No, it's New York. We don't really know exactly why they got divorced. People think that Ronald might have some suspicion of misty, maybe he found out some things.

But some people think it was always their plan to get divorced, and that the reason they even got married in the first place was to protect themselves in court. People pointed out that there's this law that spouses cannot testify against each other in court. However, this wouldn't have even applied to them. In Florida, this law does not apply to situations where a crime was committed against a spouse's child. So there would have been no point for this marriage anyway, but a lot of people think that they thought it was a thing. So that's why they got married, but who knows. Either way, the it was a little bit too stressful to him and too much pressure on him.

And that's why they got divorced. So going back a little bit before they got divorced, they got married March 12th. March 17th, Crystal, who's Haley's mother and family and friends, announced the opening of their Haleybug headquarters, which is where they were going to run their search for her. Well, we're here at the Haley Bug headquarters. How have the tips been coming along? They look pretty good. We've had a couple tips that lead up enough, but better than nothing. It looked like you're keeping your hopes up. Absolutely. You're right, you absolutely have to.

It was a lot better because Crystal kind of lived far away from the area, so this gave her kind of a post near where she actually went missing to be. They took indonations for the case, gave any tips that came into police, made calls, and just worked every day towards finding her. Now a little while after this, when this case started getting a lot of attention, the Anthony family, Kaylee Anthony's parents actually offered to help Hayley's family in their search for Hayley. The community needs to come together to help this family to bring this beautiful little girl home.

I understand it. Some of you might not, but I understand it. Now, it's really weird is their family actually rejected the help on May 19th. They said that the family had their own agenda and that the facts of this case are no way similar to the Anthony case, so they didn't think they could help them in any way. So as police are continuing to investigate the case and it's been a couple months now. They start to really poke holes in Misty's story. And not only that, Misty had lied to the public saying that she had passed polygraph tests. When it turns out she actually failed four polygraph tests. When asked why she failed them, she said that maybe she felt guilty, like everyone thought she did it,

so she just felt the guilt and that's why her answers were coming out weird. She also failed a voice stress test. Do you know anything about her going missing? Nothing at all. Whenever I heard her, I knew her wherever to tell. stress test. Misty also claimed that she was supposed to do some type of hypnosis regression session to figure out who truly took Haley but police never let her do that but that's never been confirmed because she's just said that in interviews we don't know if it's true that they were ever planning to do that. So police damley started putting heat on Misty and she did not like it at all. This is when she started to publicly say that the police were treating her very unfairly, that she felt like they

felt that she didn't, that she had to request a new officer at one time because they scared her. She said they were very rude to her and so at one point she decided to completely stop talking during one of the interrogations. So obviously police are starting to look at her as a key suspect and at this point they'd also pretty much ruled out Ronald and found that he really was at work that night, you know, he is cleared. And at this point, another important detail comes out that Misty just somehow forgot to tell police and that's that two people were also at the house that night. Seems like something you just would not forget

to tell the police, but anyway, she said that her brother and her cousin came over that night. Her cousin was a man named Joe Overstreet. Apparently he was from Tennessee, but was visiting Florida at the time. And after looking into Joe a little bit more, they found that he had a tendency to be violent, and they're also rumors that he had a history of pedophilia. Apparently, and this is

unconfirmed, he was accused of assaulting Misty when she was younger. Misty claims that they just showed up to the house in the middle of the night because they were looking for Ronald's gun. And then, according to Misty, they decide that since they can't find his gun, they're just going to take Haley instead. Why wouldn't you tell police this right rottled's gun and then according to Misty they decide that since they can't find his gun they're just going to take Haley instead. Why wouldn't you tell police this right away? Misty literally claimed that they stuck her into a black bag and left the house with her. After this she says they took her body in the black bag down to the river. They kind of had like a dock thing near their house and she said that they just tossed her in.

She said that they had a concrete block, a rope, and a bat, and none of those things were ever found. So that's time when Onhaley's biological mom Crystal actually came forward and said that Ron had a history of being violent. She claims that he was physically violent towards her and to the kids multiple times in the past. Why did you choose to live two hours away from your daughter? Because when I left Ronald, I got as far away from him as I can. Ms. Bacazio, thank you for being with us. What exactly are the nature of the charges your client is leveling against the child's father?

The physical abuse of both children, as well as an unfit home, we have also gone to DCF and explained all the facts that we've gotten from the community members who have come to us. We have checked and double checked these facts. We felt that it has risen to the level where we needed to go to the Department of Children and Families

because we felt that the welfare of the child junior who remains in the coming household is in danger. We have again gone to DCF and given the specific incidents of abuse, it would be hitting, hitting in the face until bloodied, hitting with sticks, hitting with belts. I could go on and on throwing downstairs. And of course this can't be confirmed, but with the way he was acting on the 911 call, it seems like he would be that type.

She also told police that Ronald had told her and her current husband that he was 75% sure he knew where Hailey was. Of course, this is just hearsay. We don't know for sure that he said this. Why would she bring this forward to the police unless she felt it was important? Misty also came forward and said that Ronald could be abusive

and that he also was always on some type of pill. So moving forward a couple more months in time to August 6th. Ronald gets arrested for burglary with assault. He was accused of hitting his brother-in-law, who is Misty's brother, and his name is Hank or Tommy Croslin. Ronald Cumming spent the night here at the Putnam

County Jail. He bonded out about an hour ago, waiting for him, his grandmother, and his wife Misty. Ronald what happened man? Ronald Cummings is walking out of the Putnam County jail after posting bond. He doesn't have much to say. Cummings is accused of beating up his wife's father and brother. The Croslin say Misty called them in the middle of the night asking them to pick her up

because she didn't want to live with Cummings anymore. So they went there to get their daughter. Argument ensued between the C crosslands and Ronald Cummings, which ultimately resulted in a physical confrontation. The crosslands reported that Ronald Cummings assaulted them. The family was finally able to drive away and dial 911 for help. Deputies eventually spoke with Cummings. Cummings exercised his right not to talk to the officers

and based on their investigation and what the witnesses stated, Cummings. Cummings exercised his right not to talk to the officers and based on their investigation and what the witnesses stated Cummings was subsequently arrested. He was charged with burglary and simple battery throughout all this drama. The question still remains, where is Haley Cummings? She is Ron's daughter and hasn't been seen since February. August 17th rolls around which is Haley's sixth birthday, and she's still nowhere to be found. On that same day, officers announced that they officially think Misty is key in the disappearance. They also said that they had physical evidence that contradict her sketchy statements about the night that Haley went missing. Also, in this press conference, they said that they officially do not think that she was abducted in any way and they also have ruled out Ronald and Crystal. So then

two days later on August 19th a company called Equisturch confirmed that Misty took a polygraph test again in Orlando and she failed it terribly. Their actual wording was that it showed huge deceptions. So then in September the police got a tip that Misty wasn't actually home that night. So we already talked about how months before this they got an anonymous tip that Misty was not at the trailer that night. But then in September they got another anonymous tip that said that Misty was specifically at this one house party that night. Apparently this was a party in Paltka, which is a town north of Set Summa,

and not only that, the tip also said that Haley came with Misty to the party. After interviewing some people, multiple people confirmed that they saw Misty at the party that night and that Haley was there. Some even said that Haley overdosed on some drugs that she happened to get into while she was there. And according to them, people at the party panicked and they somehow got rid of her body. Somebody specifically claimed that she was put into the trunk of a car or truck and driven to a nearby pond and dumped in there. So on September 19th and 20th, they ended up draining this entire pond. Well, that they have a drain pretty much the majority of that pond.

They've not finished with the draining, but we're seeing our first pictures of that pond that we've been talking about so much. And it's in an area where we've been told is a big hangout for youngsters in this area in Palatka and the Sat Suma area. And we're told that that pond is rather large. And we're seeing video right now of searches as they're searching through told that that pond is rather large and we're seeing video right now of

searchers as they're searching through some of that pond that's already been drained the searching with rakes and whatnot by hand trying to find any clues and clues whatsoever and this is based on tips that they received as many as 4,000 tips that Putnam County Sherestivities received. That's what brought them out here. That's what let them out here to this search. We're being told that the draining of the pond is not done, that there's still, they continue to drain deeper parts of that pond.

And found absolutely nothing. But that does not prove that these statements are not true. Maybe it shows us that Paley was put in that pond and was removed from the pond somehow, or maybe she never actually was put in that pond and was removed from the pond somehow or maybe she never actually was put into the pond and that part of the witness statements is false. But maybe she really did go to this party and maybe she really did overdose. A lot of people, including myself, think that that is what happened to Kaylee Anthony. I think that Casey tried to drug her with something to make

her sleep or whatever and she accidentally overdosed so she got rid of her body and tried to drug her with something to make her sleep or whatever and she accidentally overdosed so she got rid of her body and tried to claim she went missing. So maybe this is a similar situation. So around this time after all this comes out, shit starts really hitting the fan for Misty. People are really starting to look at her, the media has definitely focused on her, now the police are focused on her, family and friends are starting to turn on her. Specifically on September 22nd, Toys came forward and told the public that Ronald and

several other family members could not get a hold of Misty the night that Haley went missing. Ronald specifically called her 20 times that night and she didn't answer. In addition to this, Misty's brother actually went over there to check on her and when he went there, the lights were turned off and no one was answering the door. So the whole idea that she went to this party is really starting to look like a possibility here and everyone started turning on her. And quickly her marriage to Ronald goes bad. And like I mentioned earlier, they got divorced after six months in October of that year. On October 15th, the divorce between

Ronald and Misty was finalized. And the media buzz around this case continued for a little bit. In the following year on January 20th, 2010, Misty, Ronald, and Misty's brother Tommy were all arrested in a giant undercover drug bust. They were all under the impression that it was a big drug deal, and Misty was the one leading it. Have you want to you want to hop in? Maybe. Yeah. Oh yeah? I'm just doing it down. I'm not doing it. I know that much.

I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much.

I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know that much. I know 100 just because I said to you. I think I'm at my best. 10 to me. Two weeks, whatever.

Okay. I'll get a thing. What are you up for? Two weeks, I can make the money to pay for him. And eat him up with him. Right? I'll get this. Hey, give me a favor.

Get the fuck out of my arm! Get him out of my arm! And surprise, it was a sting. They're all arrested. Well, I'm looking at her right now, out to you, Art Harris. She looks down out of her gourd. Does she always look like that? And because of

this, Misty faced six counts of trafficking prescription medications and the law came down really hard on Misty for these drug charges. She actually got 25 years in prison. This is a 25 years department correction.

Misty Cummings was in tears as she heard she'll spend the next 25 years in jail. And her mother and grandmother also upset. In court Judge Wendy Berger said that this wasn't about Haley Cummings. It was about Misty Cummings as the drug dealer. During the sentencing, Misty's lawyer was trying to point out that Misty was set up. He said that all they wanted to do was get her behind bars to get information on Haley. Outside of court, misty's mother didn't have much to say.

What do you want to let people know? God would take your mother's daughter. Do you think and that's what I'm saying? 25 years for that. Do you think that was just too much? Yes. And Ronald was sentenced to 15 years. Cummings his ex-wife, Missy Croslin, and Croslin's brother Tommy were all

arrested in an undercover drug bus by both the St. John's and Putnam County authorities a few months ago. Now last month, Cummings pled guilty to trafficking. All of this comes while the investigation into the disappearance of five year old Haley Cummings

continues. Missy was very unhappy. She felt it was very unfair. And so she appealed these charges several times. She stated that her lawyer promised her that she would be sentenced under the Youthful Offenders Act, which would reduce her sentence to six years instead of 25. But despite this, Misty was tried as an adult and was given 25 years. And to this day, Misty is in jail and claims that she had nothing to do with Haley's disappearance. And she claims that she is mad at the police because she thinks they've done a terrible job looking for Haley. She believes Haley's still out there and that if they didn't waste so much

time focusing on her and actually focus on Haley, that maybe they would find her. In fact, Misty did an interview in jail about all of this. I need to, you know, speak my mind. It's nothing new. I just want to get my side out there because everybody's against me. It seems like, and I'm not. That's not what it should be like. Person over some stuff that I shouldn't even be here for. Which seems like people are forgetting about our,

obviously the police aren't doing anything. So I just feel like they're not doing anything. I don't know who it took her. I don't understand why they would have took her. It just doesn't make sense to me. Missy claimed that one day, her and Ronald were at a bar and someone walked up to them and told them to go get in the back of their truck.

One day, we were at this bar. He was his family on bar and I was in a truck. We got out of the truck and we started to walk up to Ronald, and this black man was talking to him. And I was like, I need you to go to the back of the truck. I said, why, why can't I hear? And black man said that he knows where Hayley is, the Mexican's half-hurt, and Ronald pays us much money back, then he could get her on Friday.

That was a long time ago. This is probably completely made up But I thought it was worth mentioning sadly on April 15th 2010 the sheriff's department already said that Haley was most likely dead She's not been pronounced legally dead. Of course, there's a chance that she's still out there I have a horrible feeling that she's not with us anymore. I think most people feel that way But it's interesting to note that Ronald's whole family still believes that Haley's out there,

including his mom, the one I mentioned earlier, and they think she was taken and that one day she will return. And the case was kind of left there. I mean, Misty's in jail. There's not enough evidence to prove that she did anything. There's not any physical evidence in fact. It is so hard to go after someone for killing another person when there is no body and no proof that they're even dead. It is such a challenge with the way the legal system

is set up. I feel like this is just such an injustice and I just really hope that someday someone comes forward, you know. If that party really happened, there's got to be like a picture from it that night or just Something that someone can bring forward or just explained some little detail to the police that would help Unlock this mystery nothing happened for years in the case until March 2017 when someone came forward with a tip this tip said that they knew where Haley's body was and it got a little bit of media Buzz but quickly was shut down because police determined that it was not a real tip. In 2019, HLN put out a documentary about Haley and they brought up something completely new. They found out

that Misty had said that Haley was wearing a pink shirt the night that she went missing. But there's actually footage from inside the house. And this is a few days after Hailey went missing and it shows Misty finding that pink shirt that she said Hailey was wearing. So that's another inconsistency. But that's really the latest, I guess you could say, development in the case. It's been relatively cold since then. People have several theories about what could have happened to Hailey. Like we talked about earlier, a lot of people think that Haley overdosed on something, even in the house. Maybe there wasn't a party that night. Maybe she just overdosed on something in the house.

And maybe Misty had hired her cousin and brother to come over and deal with her body. That's a possibility. Or there's a theory that Misty wasn't home that night, and Haley was alone, and that's how she ended up getting abducted. Although I will say police have pretty much said they've ruled out the abduction theory, like it's really not possible. There's no signs of force entry at all. So it's really down to finding enough evidence that Misty actually did something or if they went to that party that night. Haley would be 16 years old this year turning 17 in August.

It's just terribly sad that there's still no answers about what happened to her. If you have information that could help find Haley or help give place answers in this case, please contact Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 888-277 tips. Colors can remain anonymous and are eligible for that $15,000 reward for information that is called into the tip line and leads to an arrest in the case. That is going to be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out.

If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.