money Ronald Cummings, father of missing Haleigh Cummings, released from prison for drug trafficking
It has been 13 years since a call came to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office about the disappearance of 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings. Her case has never been solved.
Several people, including her father Ronald Cummings and his then-girlfriend Misty Croslin who was watching her that night, were charged during the lengthy search and investigation. But none of the arrests was directly related to her disappearance.
Wednesday, the 38-year-old Cummings was released from his 15-year mandatory minimum drug-trafficking sentence in 2010, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. The department said he qualified for incentive gain time after serving 85% of his prison sentence under state law.
"The Florida Department of Corrections ensures inmates serve their court-ordered sentence in accordance with Florida law," press secretary Paul Walker said. "Ronald Cummings was released at the expiration of his sentence on October 19, 2022, in compliance with the laws governing gain time and release dates at the time his crime was committed."
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Meanwhile Croslin, 30, is serving her 25-year drug sentence and with a scheduled release date of June 17, 2031, according to the Department of Corrections.
The others arrested with them in the drug-trafficking investigation were Croslin's brother Hank "Tommy" Croslin Jr., Donna Brock and Hope Sykes. Croslin Jr., 36, is scheduled to be released March 12, while Brock, 56, was released Monday and Sykes, 31, is to be released Nov. 12, according to the state.
Haleigh, widely presumed dead, would be 19 today. Theories and speculation about what actually happened have never been proven amid the lies, leads and frequent developments in the case. Following is a rundown of key events.
Timeline: The disappearance of Haleigh Cummings
2009
Feb. 10: Misty Croslin calls 911 to report 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings missing at 3:17 a.m. about the same time her father and Croslin’s boyfriend, Ronald Cummings, was coming home from work. Croslin, who watching Haleigh and her 3-year-old brother, says she woke to find her gone from Cummings’ Green Lane home in Satsuma.
Feb. 15: Investigators with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office field about 500 leads in less than a week. A woods search is halted and a temporary command post is pulled out.
Feb. 21: Investigators say a cousin of Croslin’s who was visiting from Tennessee the night of the disappearance is not a suspect.
Fox News reporter Geraldo Rivera gets into a confrontation with Cummings and was run off the property.
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March 9: Cummings, 25, and Croslin, 17, are issued a marriage license at the Putnam County courthouse. They marry March 12.
A reward for information leading to Haleigh’s whereabouts reaches $26,500.
Aug. 7: Cummings is arrested after fighting with his wife’s brother, Hank “Tommy” Croslin Jr.
Sept. 19: A pond south of Palatka is drained as part of the search for Haleigh but nothing is found.
Jailhouse interview: Haleigh Cummings' father talks about his arrest
Sept. 25: A letter written by Kristina “Naynay” Prevatt from jail says she was partying with Misty Croslin and that Haleigh took an Oxycontin pill. Detectives reject the theory.
Oct. 7: Ronald and Misty say they are getting divorced. Ronald Cummings blames the stress of Haleigh’s disappearance and contradictions his wife gave in her account of what happened the night of the disappearance.
Nov. 24: Hank Croslin Sr., Misty’s father, is arrested on prescription fraud following the arrest earlier in the month of Tommy Croslin on possession of drugs and in September with grand theft of a handgun. Lisa Croslin, the mother of Misty and Tommy, is arrested in September on forgery and petty theft charges. The arrests are not connected to Haleigh’s case, but investigators use them to ask questions about her disappearance.
2010
Jan. 20: Misty Croslin, Ronald Cummings, Tommy Croslin, Donna Brock and Hope Sykes are charged with drug trafficking after a monthlong undercover investigation involving the sale of 330 pills of oxycodone and hydrocodone.
April 13: A section of the St. Johns River in Satsuma is worked by divers for clues in the case. Nothing is found. In August the attorney for Tommy Croslin says his client said he saw Joseph Overstreet, the Tennessee cousin, take Haleigh to the river in a bag, an accusation relatives said were made in April.
Misty Croslin attorney: She told who took Haleigh Cummings
At the end of the river search, Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy says he does not believe Haleigh is alive.
June 21: The Sheriff’s Office says a bone examined by forensic experts after it was found in the April river search is not Haleigh’s.
Aug. 16: Misty Croslin pleads guilty to seven prescription drug-trafficking charges.
Aug. 20: Cummings pleads guilty to three charges of trafficking in hydrocodone, two are dropped.
Still missing: DCF finds no abuse in Haleigh Cummings case
Sept. 24: Cummings is sentenced to 15 years.
Oct. 8: Misty Croslin is sentenced in St. Augustine to 25 years in prison for trafficking in prescription drugs in a St. Johns County case.
2011
Jan. 10: Misty Croslin is sentenced in Putnam County to 25 years in prison on drug-trafficking charges. Tommy Croslin, Brock and Sykes have already been sentenced to 15 years apiece.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Father of missing Haleigh Cummings is released from prison
