As the father of a 5-year-old Putnam County girl who disappeared in 2009 walked out of prison Wednesday, his daughter’s unsolved case, which has remained a raw wound in the community for more than a decade, has been thrust back into the spotlight.
The Florida Department of Corrections confirmed to News4JAX that Ronald Cummings was released Wednesday. Ronald Cummings’ mother told News4JAX that he will be staying in a hotel for a few weeks. She also said he’s “always thinking about HaLeigh.”
Ronald Cummings was never a suspect in the disappearance of his daughter, HaLeigh. He was working on Feb 9, 2009, the night she vanished from their Satsuma home. The next year, he pleaded guilty to an unrelated drug trafficking charge and has been in prison ever since.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office considers HaLeigh’s disappearance an unsolved homicide.
Advocates hope Ronald Cummings’ release from prison will draw attention to the case.
“He’s (Ronald Cummings) always said he’s wanted to resume the search for his daughter and any attention to the case is helpful,” said Jay Howell, founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The Sheriff’s Office still gets regular tips about HaLeigh, but no one at the agency who worked the case in 2009 is still there. They’ve moved on or retired, and there’s still no movement in finding out what happened.
Two of the most recent tips came from across the country. First, a person with possible information was interviewed in Tennessee, but that went nowhere.
Then, there was an interesting lead in Oregon: a transient who claimed to be HaLeigh and was about her age. Detectives traveled to Oregon and took DNA, but it was not her.
If you have any information about what happened to HaLeigh Cummings or about her whereabouts, call Northeast Florida Crime Stoppers at 1-888-277-8477. There’s still a $15,000 reward available for information that helps find HaLeigh.
HaLeigh vanishes
The Sheriff’s Office said the last person to see HaLeigh was her babysitter, Misty Croslin, Ronald Cummings’ girlfriend.
While Ronald Cummings was working, others were at the house the night the 5-year-old girl disappeared — Misty, her brother, Hank Croslin, her cousin, Joe Overstreet, and maybe two other people. From the start, investigators said they were not getting consistent statements from Misty Croslin and others.
The St. Johns River was searched, repeatedly, because the next morning, bloodhounds brought in went right to the river. Nearby ponds were searched, and one was even drained.
Putnam County resident Charlie Robinson told News4JAX that he hasn’t forgotten what happened.
“A friend of mine was a diver with the county, and he was out in the river searching for her body,” Robinson said. “Everybody would love to know what happened to her.”
Ronald Cummings was the face of the search for his daughter in 2009 as fingers were pointed at several adults, including Misty Croslin.
The Sheriff’s Office brought her and the others in for questioning for months, but no trace of the child was ever found.
On April 15, 2010, then-Sheriff Jeff Hardy announced HaLeigh Cummings was most likely dead, and the case was being worked as a homicide.
HaLeigh Cummings’ grandmother, Teresa Neves, and her great-grandmother, Annette Sykes, continue to cling to hope the girl is alive somewhere, despite the statements from the Sheriff’s Office.
On the day marking two years since her disappearance, the Sheriff’s Office released a statement saying the ongoing investigation has “minimized the likelihood that HaLeigh’s disappearance is the work of a stranger,” and those who know what happened still won’t tell investigators. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI also worked on the case.
On the day marking 10 years since HaLeigh Cummings’ disappearance, Putnam County investigators acknowledged that they believed she died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and that her body was placed in the river.
In 2019, 10 years after the disappearance of HaLeigh Cummings, News4JAX launched a podcast that chronicles the cold case. “Into Thin Air,” a true-crime series hosted by I-TEAM reporter Jennifer Waugh, retraces the sequence of events from the night the child vanished and the seemingly endless search for answers that followed.
LISTEN: “Into Thin Air” Episode 1: HaLeigh is gone | Episode 2: Where is HaLeigh? | Episode 3: What happened to HaLeigh? | Episode 4: The trail runs cold
HaLeigh Cummings’ mother, Crystal Sheffield, and her younger brother were last known to be living in Baker County.
Drug charges
Ronald Cummings’ mother told News4JAX on Tuesday that she will be picking her son up from prison on Wednesday. It’s unclear where he’ll reside after that. The Department of Corrections website shows Fruitland Park, which is between Ocala and Orlando.
He, Misty Croslin, Hank Croslin and Donna Brock were all charged with drug trafficking in 2010 as the result of an investigation that began before HaLeigh’s disappearance. It was a months-long undercover operation regarding pain pills. Overstreet was questioned but never charged in the investigation.
They all pleaded guilty or no contest and got sentences ranging from 15 to 25 years. Brock was released from prison on Monday. Hank Croslin is set to be released in March. Misty Croslin isn’t set for release until 2031.
Sentencing documents show at the time of conviction Ronald Cummings also had to pay around a quarter million dollars in fines.