Misty Croslin attorney: She told who took Haleigh Cummings

ST. AUGUSTINE - The night Haleigh Cummings disappeared, Misty Croslin cowered beneath a sheet with the girl's younger brother and heard screams as the kindergartner struggled against an abductor, Croslin's attorney said Tuesday.

Croslin has told investigators she was at the mobile home in Satsuma in Putnam County and heard the attack then a van door slide open and shut, Robert Fields said following a hearing on an illegal prescription drug charge Croslin faces in St. Johns County.

He said Croslin caught a glimpse of her cousin Joe Overstreet covering Haleigh with something or putting her in a black bag.

The five- to six-minute attack happened after Overstreet, who was visiting from Tennessee, came to the mobile home looking for a machine gun belonging to Haleigh's father, Ronald Cummings.

The gun wasn't there, Fields said.

"Haleigh was a substitute, apparently," he said.

Viewall images from the Cummings and Croslin cases

He said Croslin hid beneath the sheet holding 3-year-old Ronald Cummings Jr.

Fields said the 18-year-old, who is likely facing 25 years in prison on drug-trafficking charges unrelated to Haleigh's disappearance, has repeatedly told investigators the story.

"That's basically Misty's position," the frustrated lawyer, who doesn't believe the charges are unrelated to the Haleigh case, said in an impromptu interview with reporters as he was leaving the courthouse.

Croslin pleaded no contest in St. Johns County to a charge of trafficking in oxycodone in January at a truck stop off Interstate 95. Judge Wendy Berger set an Oct. 8 sentencing date. Monday, Croslin pleaded no contest to seven similar charges in Putnam County.

Investigators with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office would not comment on Fields' statements.

"There's just been inconsistencies throughout this entire investigation from the individuals involved," Chief Rick Ryan said Tuesday. 

Croslin family members have said Overstreet, who returned to Tennessee the day after Haleigh vanished, was at the mobile home the night she disappeared 18 months ago. Croslin's brother, Hank "Tommy" Croslin Jr., was also there at some point that night.

Fields said it is not clear if Croslin Jr. was at the mobile home when Haleigh was attacked.

Croslin Jr., 24, has said he was there earlier that night. He and his sister are telling investigators similar stories, Fields said, but said some inconsistencies have surfaced.

Croslin Jr. has said he delayed telling his part of the story because he feared for the welfare of his family. He relented after his family moved from Satsuma when he, too, was jailed in the same drug-trafficking operation as his sister, Cummings and two others.

Investigators questioned Overstreet, now 21, that February and again this year in Tennessee where he lives.

But he has never been charged or named a suspect.

Shawn Sirgo, his attorney in Tennessee, said Overstreet was nowhere near the mobile home and was with another relative when they learned Haleigh was gone.

"I don't know how many times Misty has changed, modified the story," he said. "I don't believe anything she said."

The sentiment was similar at a balloon release in Palatka Tuesday, where about 50 people gathered at the foot of Memorial Bridge to recognize Haleigh's seventh birthday.

See more photos of the balloon release

"She tells so many stories," said Teresa Neves, one of Haleigh's grandmothers. "You don't get to pick and choose what is true."

Before a prayer and the release of dozens of balloons shortly after 2 p.m., Neves tearfully said her family believes Haleigh is alive.

"Somebody has her and she will come home," she said. "We pray a lot. Every day we start with prayer."

Haleigh's disappearance was reported by Misty Croslin in a 911 call at 3:27 a.m. Feb. 10, 2009, as Cummings was arriving home from a night shift.

Neves, who is Cummings' mother, said there is still no evidence to show Haleigh is dead, as investigators have concluded. She has not been found.

"We are very frustrated," Neves said. "It has been a very long time."

Neves said she talked with Cummings, who is jailed in Putnam County and is expected to be sentenced to 15 years in prison on the drug charges. Neves said her son is heartbroken and saddened he could not be at the balloon release.

 "He just wants to be left alone and be with [thoughts of] Haleigh," she said.

After leaving Memorial Bridge, some of Cummings' family and others released other balloons near the jail.

Cummings, 26, will be in court in Putnam County Friday. His attorney said a deal has been reached to drop the two most serious trafficking charges and sentence Cummings on three others.

Attorney Terry Shoemaker said Cummings would testify if asked to in the sentencing hearings against Misty, who he divorced in October, and has talked with investigators about Haleigh's case.

The drug arrests came after a monthlong undercover investigation in December and January that involved eight deals recorded by a hidden surveillance camera inside an undercover car.

In addition to the Croslins and Cummings, two others arrested were Cummings' cousin Hope Sykes, 19, and Donna Brock, 44, a friend of Misty Croslin.

Sykes and Croslin Jr. have been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Brock pleaded guilty to one trafficking charge in St. Johns County and is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 1.

Fields has called the evidence in the drug cases a "landslide."

Fields was advising Croslin before she was arrested and said while the pressure was still high in the Haleigh investigation, he advised her to move. He said she refused and wanted to stay in Putnam County to be vindicated.

She wanted to say, "I told you so," he said.

dana.treen@jaksonville.com, (904) 359-4091