Something’s very wrong in the case of HaLeigh Cummings

by Timothy Charles Holmseth

…graphic photographs of HaLeigh Cummings’ vagina exist that were taken to exhibit evidence of child sexual abuse…

…Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy secretly telephoned Ronald Cummings shortly before Cummings and Misty Croslin were arrested…

June 12, 2010

In the case of a missing child, it is not normal for law enforcement to not have custody of photos that may reveal descriptive evidence of sexual abuse of the missing child. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, graphic photographs of HaLeigh Cummings’ vagina exist that were taken to exhibit evidence of child sexual abuse.

In the case of a missing child it is not normal for a man to interrupt a report to law enforcement regarding the possible sexual abuse of the child. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, John Regan temporarily persuaded an advocate, Wayanne Kruger from entering a law enforcement office to report a sexual abuse claim made to her by the child’s grandmother, Marie Griffis.

In the case of a missing child, it is not normal for the child’s father to not search for his missing five year-old daughter. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Ronald Cummings only searched for his daughter a few times in front of TV cameras and spectators, later claiming he was told to stop searching by law enforcement.

It is not normal for law enforcement to tell the father of a missing child to stop searching for his daughter. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Ronald Cummings was told to stop searching (according to Cummings and his mother, Teresa Neves.)

It is not normal for law enforcement to tell a search firm to stop searching for a missing child and go home when massive amounts of land area have not been searched. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the search firm Texas Equusearch was asked to pack up and head out after only a few short days. They were not even close to being done.

In the case of a missing child it is not normal for a father who is 26 years-old, having just returned home and found his daughter missing, to then instruct the teenage babysitter to get on the phone and call 911. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Ronald Cummings stood around in the background shouting threats and name-calling his babysitter/girlfriend whom he had instructed to make a 911 call. Cummings’ actions were not going to help him find his daughter.

It is not normal for a missing child’s father to become immediately obsessed with revenge after learning his child has mysteriously vanished. Revenge is for the satisfaction of the avenger – it does not expedite the return of the child or alleviate any pain the child is experiencing. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Ronald Cummings would not stop talking street-punk bravado about shooting people, going to prison, and taking out the trash.

In the case of a missing child it is not normal for a sheriff’s office to allow the public to falsely believe that the 911 call they are hearing on TV is the first and only call made regarding the child when there actually a call that came in to law enforcement much earlier. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office was actually contacted at 2:13 a.m. but has allowed the mainstream media to play a 3:27 a.m. audio tape of a 911 call by Misty Croslin ad nauseum for over a year – deceiving the public so badly it is obscene.  

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the child’s school attendance records to appear tamped with, actually showing the child to be present in school weeks after she was reported missing. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the school records appear to have been manipulated. The attendance sheet actually shows HaLeigh Cummings as being present in school weeks after she was reported missing. The attendance record also appears to be whited-out on the day she was allegedly last seen, creating the false appearance she had been in school shortly before she vanished.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for a sheriff’s office to try to hide the fact that they had officers on the scene well before the 911 call that reported the child missing. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the PCSO already had a deputy at the home of Tommy Croslin before the 911 call was made. The PCSO will not tell the public why that deputy was there and even went so far as to try to lie about it.

It is not normal for a sheriff’s office to be entirely aware of a staged crime scene and fake search conducted by one side of a missing child’s family and not question one single person about the event. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the PCSO and FDLE were completely aware that HaLeigh’s maternal family planted evidence at a site - ranking officer, Major Gary Bowling, said it was no big deal. The planted evidence led directly to Misty Croslin.

It is not normal for a sheriff’s office to allow a family member of a missing child to call the lead investigator on the telephone and threaten to come down to the sheriff’s office and start shooting people. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the child’s maternal grandfather, Johnny Sheffield, telephoned the lead investigator and threatened to come down to the sheriff’s office and start shooting if they messed with his private investigator anymore.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for a grandmother to repeatedly tell the television media that she knows the missing child is ok but that nobody is going to see the child for a while. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Marie Griffis, HaLeigh’s grandma, repeatedly told reporters that HaLeigh was ok and had been transported to another state – likely Georgia or Alabama.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for law enforcement to leak information to sleazy tabloid media writers, while telling the mainstream media that they are not releasing any details about their investigation. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, a tabloid media writer, Art Harris, who worked for the attorney and private investigator of the child’s maternal family claimed he was receiving investigatory information from the task force.

It is not normal in the case of an alleged abduction for law enforcement to not take the door of the home into evidence. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, law enforcement did not take the door the alleged intruder passed through until weeks had passed – rendering it useless as evidence in a court of law. 

It is not normal in a missing child case for law enforcement to wait weeks before taking K-9 units to a dumpster located right near the child’s home. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, law enforcement had cadaver dogs sniff a dumpster weeks later – all the dogs then ‘hit’ on the dumpster but no body was found. 

It is not normal in the case of a missing child, for the sheriff of the county from which the child was abducted, to make a couple of media appearances and then disappear for good. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Sheriff Jeff Hardy simply disappeared from the entire scene and was not seen again for some eight months. He did not attend vigils or speak to the media on anniversary dates. He did nothing on the child’s birthday.

It is not normal in the case of missing child for the sheriff’s office to verbally berate and threaten the child’s grandmother. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the sheriff’s office repeatedly told Teresa Neves to shut her mouth. They even threatened to put her in jail.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child, that, after the grandmother reports to law enforcement that items that belong to the missing child have been stolen from her home, to have no legal investigation take place. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Teresa Neves reported to FDLE Special Agent Jason Jolicuer that someone had illegally entered her home and stolen some of HaLeigh’s clothes. Neves say Jolicuer conducted no investigation whatsoever.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the grandmother to report to law enforcement that photographs of the missing child were stolen off her computer, while other photographs were placed on her computer, and have no investigatory action taken. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Teresa Neves said she reported to FDLE Special Agent Jason Jolicuer that someone had illegally entered her home and stolen photos; leaving behind others that were not hers. She says Agent Jolicuer did nothing. 

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for a grandmother of the child to be brow-beaten into secrecy by the investigators. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Teresa Neves was told to shut up, be quiet and quit talking to people about anything.

It is not normal in a missing child case for law enforcement to lie to the mainstream media about following up on leads and sightings. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office told the media they followed up on sighting information and surveillance videos when they had not – they then said the video showed nothing important (when they had never even requested it.)  In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Timothy Charles Holmseth telephoned various businesses the PCSO claimed to have contacted. Holmseth spoke with management of businesses who said they had never been contacted about HaLeigh Cummings and never had their surveillance videos requested or reviewed. These locations were reported to the PCSO, Crimestoppers, and several other law enforcement agencies and are indisputably documented.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the lead investigator to share sensitive investigatory forensic information with a civil divorce attorney who works pro-bono for the child’s maternal family. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, PCSO Investigator Peggy Cone was working in tandem with Crystal Sheffield’s attorney, Kim Picazio. Picazio possessed license or ability to investigate anything and later fired by her pro-bono client.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the lead investigator to work in tandem with the missing child’s mother’s attorney in effort to get people falsely arrested and incarcerated. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Kim Picazio’s private investigator and team members confirm that Picazio had a plan to frame the child’s babysitter and a black man for the alleged abduction. E-mail evidence authored by Picazio supports the claim.

It is not normal for a civil divorce attorney to go into drug dwellings and crack houses to solicit testimony from dealers that could implicate someone in the disappearance of a missing child. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Kim Picazio went into a crack house in Palatka, Florida and sat on the bed with a drug dealer named Jerome Williams; seeking information. When Williams didn’t produce he was arrested by law enforcement. Picazio was acting under the implied authority of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.

It is not normal for a family court attorney to forgo all other law clients from her practice and rent a house in another county, all so she can investigate a missing child case. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Kim Picazio rented a house in San Mateo, Florida, where she was going to live while she conducted her investigation into the disappearance of HaLeigh Cummings. Picazio never filed a single motion in court regarding the child or anything else. She had no reason to be there but decided she needed to rent a house and exchange notes with PCSO Detective Peggy Come.

It is not normal for the father of a missing child to marry the child’s babysitter a month after the child was reported missing by that same girl. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Ronald Cummings, 26, married Misty Crolsin, 17, a month after the child was reported missing.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the child’s grandmother to express she is afraid she is going to be arrested. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Teresa Neves expressed she was afraid the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office was going to arrest her, after they arrested several others in her family on drug charges.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for a grandmother, who is supposedly sleeping at the time the 911 call is made, to get out of bed, grab a portrait photo of the missing child, travel 12 miles, and arrive in time to follow a responding deputy into the driveway of the home. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Teresa Neves says she followed the first deputy into the drive. Such a feat would have required a person to sleep in their clothes and highway speeds exceeding 100 mph. 

It is not normal for the mother of a five year-old girl to go back to sleep after learning her child has disappeared. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Crystal Sheffield went straight back to sleep after receiving a call that her child was missing.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for law enforcement to declare a child dead without any evidence that suggests that is true. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the PCSO told the media they are not looking for a living child anymore. However, all along they had lied to the media about following up on sightings and surveillance videos – always only pretending.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the attorney of the child’s mother to be reaching out to people in other states and asking them to make false complaints to the Department of Children and Families about the missing child. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Kim Picazio contacted a woman from Illinois named Karen Simmer and asked her to file child abuse complaints against Ronald Cummings and Misty Croslin and claim she knew them.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the attorney of the child’s mother to tell someone the missing child is very likely “healthy, well fed, and growing.” In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Kim Picazio told Karen Simmer to stop worrying about making flyers and posters because HaLeigh was not in Satsuma and was likely in very good health.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the attorney of the missing child’s mother to create a plan to frame people in the child’s disappearance. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Kim Picazio’s private investigator, William Staubs, publicly stated that Picazio asked him to help her and the cops frame Gregory Lewis Page and Misty Jeanette Croslin. Timothy Charles Holmseth reported the crime to the Attorney General of the State of Florida and Staubs said he would undergo a polygraph test or sodium pentothal to prove he was telling the truth.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the investigating law enforcement agency to ignore repeated reports about an attorney who is engaging illegal acts. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, reports about Kim Picazio were made to law enforcement by Karen Simmer and William Staubs – none were followed up on in any way.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the attorney of the missing child’s mother to state to the media that she is playing an active role in the investigation. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Kim Picazio told the media she was part of the HaLeigh Task Force – assisting the lead detective, Peggy Cone.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for a man, and his father, to appear out of nowhere and began a money-making endeavor in the missing child’s name. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Jeremiah Regan and John Regan appeared out of nowhere, asking if they could be involved.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the mother of the missing child to be secretly involved with a man she claims she never knew, as that man develops a foundation in effort to get rich from the child’s disappearance. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Crystal Sheffield was involved with Jeremiah Regan, while pretending to the public that she was engaged to be married to a man named Chad Griffis.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the mother of the missing child to feign grief and plant bogus stories in the media about how she cancelled her wedding because she was distraught over her missing daughter, when the fact is she was engaging in relations with another who was not her finance’. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Crystal Sheffield had a tabloid writer put out a story that she was so distraught she could not get married until her daughter returned. The truth was she was taking drugs, partying, and engaging in relations with the man developing a money-making foundation.  

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the child’s maternal family to use computer software to create a photograph that looks as if the mother had held the child lovingly. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, a fake photograph of Crystal Sheffield with the HaLeigh and Ronald Cummings Jr. was created and placed on a website where cash donations were being solicited.

It is not normal in the case of a missing child for the attorney of the missing child’s mother to be in communication with the state’s attorney’s office regarding the possible arrest of a private investigator who has likely learned what happened to the child. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Kim Picazio was in direct communication with State’s Attorney Joseph Boatwright, discussing how they could arrest William Staubs after Staubs told the media that “nobody has clean hands” in the case of the missing child.

In the case of a missing child, it is not normal for the sheriff to secretly telephone the child’s father shortly before he and others are arrested on un-related charges. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy secretly telephoned Ronald Cummings shortly before Cummings and Misty Croslin were arrested.

In the case of a missing child it is not normal for the chief of the homicide department to privately advise the child’s father to marry the teenager who made the 911 call reporting the child missing. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, Chief of Homicide John Merchant advised Ronald Cummings to marry Misty Croslin.

In the case of a missing child it is not normal for a man to advise an advocate and published author that all the ranking members of a sheriff’s office are involved with child prostitution. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, John Regan told Wayanne Kruger (who was once featured on the news magazine 20/20) as he was attempting to stop her from reporting the sexual abuse of HaLeigh Cummings to police, that the police themselves were involved in child sexual abuse.

In the case of a missing child it is not normal for the investigating law enforcement agency to not investigate the possibility that the 911 call was coerced. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, the 911 call made by Misty Croslin is the slender thread that holds a myriad of assumptions together. If the 911 call by Misty Croslin was forced, coerced, or in any other way false, a Pandora’s Box of investigatory possibilities is opened.

In the case of a missing child it is not normal for the investigators to be involved in concealing the truth from the American public. In the case of HaLeigh Cummings, ranking members of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, including Sheriff Jeff Hardy, Major Gary Bowling, Captain Dominic Piscitello, Detective Peggy Cone, Detective John Merchant, and Chief of Staff Rick Ryan are involved in an on-going attempt to conceal from the American public, the true facts and circumstances of what they know really happened the night HaLeigh Cummings was reported missing.

TCH/WIA

tholmseth@wiktel.com