« Willie Crain Still Trying | Main | Clothing description for missing child changed »
February 17, 2009
One week later: Where's Haleigh?
Topics: News
BY LARRY SULLIVAN
Published: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 1:08 AM EST
Palatka Daily News
SATSUMA - Haleigh Cummings vanished a week ago.
Authorities marked that depressing anniversary about 5 p.m. Monday by imposing roadblocks and going door-to-door in the 5-year-old's South Putnam County neighborhood.
The show of force was exactly one week after Haleigh was last seen in public by neighbors in Hermits Cove.
More than 100 local, state and federal officers combined for the sweep.
"We're checking people coming in and out of the area in hopes that they might have seen something," Rick Ryan, chief deputy of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, said as officers worked in the twilight nearby.
The sweep was designed to include any residents who may have been away from home when Haleigh disappeared, Ryan said.
"There's a possibility someone who might have seen something was on vacation," he said. "There is nothing that prompted this. We didn't get any tips or anything like that today."
The sweep is part of the state Child Abduction Response Team plan the sheriff's office implemented within hours of Haleigh's disappearance, Ryan said.
Questions asked of residents and motorists included names, vehicle descriptions, how often they travel the area and what and who did they see a week ago.
"If they didn't see any of that, we're asking them if there is anything else they want to tell us about the situation," Ryan said.
At the roadblock on Buffalo Bluff Road, deputy sheriff Nicole Quintieri asked motorist Reginald Robinson the list of questions.
"If you hear anything that would help us, please call us at the sheriff's office," she said.
Robinson said deputies were "doing the right thing."
"I have two daughters of my own and I live 10 miles down the road," he said. "This is real scary, especially when you have two daughters of your own."
Meanwhile, at a press conference Monday afternoon in Palatka, Sheriff Jeff Hardy urged residents to remain positive.
"Don't lose hope. In fact right now, hope is probably the best thing that we have," Hardy said. "We have hope that we're gong to find Haleigh and bring her home alive."
He said investigators were re-interviewing people they have already questioned including Haleigh's family members "and their associates."
The reason is simple, Hardy said.
"We don't have all of our questions answered and we don't have Haleigh," he said.
Hardy, however, declined to specify where leads have taken investigators.
"This search is not limited to Putnam County, I can tell you that," he said.
Haleigh was last seen Monday night asleep at home, Misty Croslin has told authorities. Croslin, 17, is the girlfriend of Haleigh's father, Ronald Cummings, and was babysitting Haleigh.
Haleigh was reported missing ay 3:27 a.m. Feb. 10.
As a full week has passed since with no sign of Haleigh, the response of authorities has gone from widespread to more focused, with officers engaging in what Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent Dominick Pape called "a tactical search" following leads.
For instance, about 60 lawmen checked an area south of Satsuma during the day Monday.
Pape described this as "the next mode" in the case.
"We don't stop searching," Pape said. "We will continue searching until she is found."
Gigantic sweeps of woods and swamp by volunteers on horses, four-wheelers and on foot have been scaled back or even stopped.
EquuSearch, the Texas-based organization of specially trained horse-borne searchers, packed up and left on Monday after several days in Putnam County
"With all the ground we covered, it's getting frustrating," Tim Miller, the group's founder, said Sunday.
Miller, who took Haleigh's father on horseback during Sunday's search, said the group had done its best.
"I guarantee you that everything is covered," Miller said. "We won't hear of a deer hunter next year finding her. We just haven't been lucky enough to find her."
Items found on the ground by searchers are being examined by crime lab specialists, but nothing related to Haleigh's disappearance has been recovered by volunteers, Hardy said.
Meanwhile, the criminal investigation launched shortly after Haleigh disappeared continued in earnest Monday.
Investigators questioned several people, including relatives of Haleigh, on Monday, Hardy said.
The investigation into Haleigh's disappearance, which Hardy has labeled an abduction, is a cooperative effort of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, FBI and FDLE.
More than 500 tips have been phoned in to the sheriff's office.
"We're continuing to receive numerous tips and we're continuing to diligently follow up on each and every one of them," Hardy said.
There have been a couple of false sightings reported to authorities, Hardy said.
"People are on edge and a bit nervous," he said.
Authorities are still asking for the public's help in finding Haleigh and identifying who took her. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 277-8477.
Staff writer Chris DeVitto contributed to this report.
lsullivan@palatkadailynews.com
Posted by admin at February 17, 2009 7:25 AM
