Haleigh Cummings New Hope?: Divers Search Murky River For Missing Child
SATSUMA, Fla. (CBS/AP) Investigators searched a murky river Tuesday for 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings, who disappeared from her father's Satsuma, Fla., mobile home in February 2009.
PICTURES: Haleigh Cummings Missing
Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy wouldn't say why the St. Johns River was being searched. He said he met with the Cummings family Tuesday afternoon, but wouldn't release the details of the discussion.
"The conversations we had were between me and the family," said Hardy.
The search ended around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday but was to begin again early Wednesday morning, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission team member Ben Allen.
PICTURES: Haleigh Cummings Missing
He described the water as clouded with very little visibility for most of the day. Divers from at least four agencies or counties took part in the search, using floodlights to help see underwater.
Cummings' father's 17-year-old live-in girlfriend at the time, Misty Croslin, was babysitting Haleigh the night the child went missing. Croslin told investigators she woke up at 3 a.m. Feb. 10 to find the child gone and a back door propped open with a brick.
The sheriff's office questioned Croslin's story, saying investigators don't believe the girl was abducted by a stranger. Authorities said Croslin failed to provide a detailed account of the late evening and early morning hours and called the account of her evening activities "sketchy."
Croslin and Ronald Cummings remain in custody after they were arrested in January in a drug sting. Both have pleaded not guilty. The two married, but are now no longer together.
Investigators followed thousands of leads and searched the heavily wooded community on foot, and by air via plane and helicopter. They also contacted all the sexual predators living in the area to eliminate them as suspects and searched the nearby St. Johns River by boat.
The 5-year-old is blonde with curly hair. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 386-329-0808.