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October 11, 2010 12:22 PM

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Haleigh Cummings Update: Misty Croslin Sentenced to 25 Years in Unrelated Drug Case

By: Carlin DeGuerin Miller
Topics: Daily Blotter

Haleigh Cummings (Family Photo)

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (CBS/AP) Haleigh Cummings has been missing for over a year and a half, and on Friday her ex-stepmother, who is believed to have been the last person to see Haleigh alive, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for unrelated drug charges.

PICTURES: Haleigh Cummings Missing

Croslin and Haleigh's father, Ronald Cummings, who divorced shortly after Haleigh disappeared, were arrested along with three others in January following an undercover operation. The others, plus Cummings, have each been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Croslin told police that she put Haleigh to bed, along with the girl's 4-year-old brother, at around 8 p.m. and that when she woke up at 3 a.m. Haleigh was gone and the back door of the north Florida house she shared with Cummings was propped open by a cement block. Cummings reported her missing when he returned from work.

Almost immediately investigators started to see holes in Croslin's story.

Croslin has changed her story a few times since, pointing fingers at "the other side of the family," referring to Cummings' family.

In April, Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy announced that they no longer considered Haleigh's case a missing person case and were treating it as a homicide. That announcement came as investigators were searching a section of St. John's river, about five miles from the Cummings house.

Although police have stopped short of naming Croslin a suspect, they did bring a handcuffed Croslin to a search site on the river at one point in the hopes that she would give them more information about what happened to Haleigh the night she disappeared.

Croslin pleaded no contest to the drug charges in August, and her attorney told reporters yet another version of events surrounding Haleigh's disappearance. In this version Croslin says she did see what happened to Haleigh the night she vanished from her home in Satsuma, Fla. According to her attorney, Misty heard Haleigh being attacked by her cousin, Joe Overstreet

No one has been arrested in connection with Haleigh's disappearance.

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE HALEIGH CUMMINGS INVESTIGATION

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Haleigh Cummings Missing

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by michelle10152008 July 14, 2011 4:46 PM EDT: This case is very sad, what I really cant get is how Misty Croslin gets 25 years on "drug charges" yeah right but in the exact same state Casey Anthony walks free of the murder of her child. Something smells bad. Someone should look into the states judicial system. I use the term judicial loosely, why not the state sure seems to.; Reply to this comment


by JMVHO November 2, 2010 8:01 PM EDT: I agree 25 years is ridiculous for this kind of offense, but that's the law in Florida. The scary part of all this is that Misty's sentence has little to do with a drug offense and much to do with Haleigh's disappearance! Rather than actually solve this crime, FDLE is content with putting Misty away for half her life on drug charges.

As for Cameron Douglas, if he only got 5 years in a Florida court we should scream very loudly about it. I think he was arrested in California or Nevada, though, so there is no way to compare his sentence to Misty's. Laws vary from state to state; I am not saying it's fair, but it is what it is.

I do not mind that Misty was sentenced according to Florida laws; what I do mind is that she was sentenced for Haleigh's disappearance without benefit of a trial and without FDLE and PCSO having done proper investigation.; Reply to this comment


by mareleigh October 25, 2010 11:51 AM EDT: Oddly enough, Misty might not have been the last one to see Haleigh.. I'm not convinced at this point that Haleigh was in that residence the entire day of Monday the 9th.. The only witness's that can put her there are Misty, Ronald, and GGSykes.. Now, we know that Misty hasn't been honest.. proven fact, so her story I would honest think should be thrown out the window.. Now, Ron through a plea agreement agreed to tell what he knows, that he has kept back!!! for over a year, information about Haleigh gone missing. So, How can he be believed? He hasn't been very honest for over a year.. And GGSykes didn't come up with her story until PCSO released a statement saying.."We have a witness that can prove, Misty was not at home that night".. Now in Lt. Greenwood's statement to the Press. He stated that the Grandmother who was at the house that night was Teresa Neves!!! Well, she has never been public about that..
So, If you can't believe anything that was said by the only witness's that put Haleigh in that house on Monday February 9th, 2009.. So, where is Haleigh? When did she disappear? Was the story of Haleigh in that house some form of Alibi for another activity they didn't want known? And another factor came up.. The immediate move of Hank and Lisa from their home, the day he was released from the hospital.. Somehow this tid bit got lost in the mix.. Why did they move out of their house in mid month? And oddly enough, the house is located within a half a block from the Last search area.. Shell Harbor..

And what was the comment Misty made in Court.. "If the FBI - which was really the FDLE hadn't come at her, she wouldn't be in trouble?" "I'm not a drug dealer she said!!; Reply to this comment


by okos12 October 18, 2010 4:18 PM EDT: The 30 year old son of Michael Douglas, Cameron got 5 years for trafficking crystal meth. He is in a minimum security jail, learning a skill, so when he gets out, he can get a decent job.
Misty was 17 years old, when she sold the drugs. If Cameron Douglas got 5 years as an adult and he sold for many months, then Misty should have been judged as a teenager, and got rehab, or a much lighter sentence. It makes me think, because the Douglas family is rich, they could pay high powered layers, to get a lenient sentence. Misty is from the trailer parks. Her parents failed her. She should have been a high school student. She had no business to be married, and being on her own. She screwed up. If anybody would of benefited from rehab, Misty really would have. It is evident that those who have money, also have power. But the law should treat all equal, and a miner should be treated as such. 25 years is a tragic sentence for this young girl. Is there no high power lawyer, who would say, justice has not been served!; Reply to this comment

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