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Lawyer: Misty Knows Who Took Haleigh
Defense Attorney Says Cousin Took Haleigh In Black Bag
Published On: Oct 13 2011 03:26:23 PM EDT Updated On: Aug 17 2010 06:57:12 AM EDTAs Misty Cummings pleaded no contest to another drug trafficking charge, the attorney for the 18-year-old says she has told investigators that her cousin put Haleigh Cummings in a black bag and took her away.
Misty's attorney, Robert Fields, said she has told investigators what happened in that Putnam County mobile home the February 2009 night that the 5-year-old disappeared.
Video:Timeline:
Fields said Misty told detectives the day after she was arrested on the drug charges in January that her cousin, Joe Overstreet, and her brother, Hank Croslin Jr., came looking for a semi-automatic machine gun. Since the gun wasn't there, Overstreet took Haleigh as a substitute for the gun, the attorney said.
"According to Misty, Joe took Haleigh while Misty was laying in bed and covered herself up with a blanket," Fields told Channel 4 Tuesday morning outside the courtroom. "They were there for like seven minutes, appeared to be on drugs and Misty says she saw Joe put Haleigh in a black bag and she heard Haleigh scream."
Putnam County investigators have interviewed Overstreet in Tennessee, where he currently lives.
Overstreet was arrested last week on theft and drug charges, but he has never been called a suspect or a person of interest in the Haleigh Cummings case.
"Investigators are still working this case diligently, and we believe we will find out what happened to Haleigh, but it's going to take time," Lt. Johnny Greenwood, of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, said Tuesday. "We don't know if the break in Haleigh's disappearance will come from behind bars or from the public."
"Everyone is considered a person of interest in Haleigh's disappearance except Crystal Sheffield and Ronald Cummings, Haleigh's parents," he added.
Tuesday marks the day Haleigh would have turned 7 years old. Her family planned a balloon release for Tuesday afternoon. Haleigh was 5 when she vanished from her home in Satsuma. Misty, who was Ronald's girlfriend when Haleigh disappeared, married and divorced him within eight months.
Authorities have maintained that the drug charges have no connection to the ongoing investigation of Haleigh's disappearance, which they now consider a homicide case.
Misty faced drug trafficking charges in two counties after an undercover St. Johns County deputy said she sold him 155 oxycodone pills on Jan. 8 at a gas station off of State Road 206.
She faces up to 25 years in prison on that charge, in addition to up to 200 years on the seven counts of drug trafficking she is facing in Putnam County.
Misty, Hank Croslin Jr., Ronald Cummings, Haleigh's father, and two others were arrested after the undercover sting and charged with selling prescription drugs.
Prosecutors have released surveillance videos they said shows undercover drug deals involving Misty and Ronald Cummings.
Court officials said that because this is her first arrest and because she is a youthful offender, Misty will likely be sentenced to 25 years or less. Sentencing on the St. Johns County case was set for Oct. 8 and Oct. 19 on the Putnam County charges.
Ronald Cummings is nearing a plea agreement, and Hank Croslin has already pleaded no contest to similar charges and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
When entering the plea Tuesday morning, she asked the judge to call her by her maiden name, Misty Croslin.
Crystal Sheffield, Haleigh's mother, was in court Tuesday for Misty's drug plea.
"I think they're doing the best they can," Sheffield said of investigators. "Do I believe my daughter's dead? No. And until they show me something, I won't. Deep in my heart I know she's out there. And nobody knows the pain that I go through -- nobody. And they never will. I don't care who they are."
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