Ronald Cummings Wiki – Ronald Cummings Biography
Ronald Cummings, the father of 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings of Putnam County, who disappeared in 2009, appeared in court Monday morning following his Christmas Day arrest. Cummings faces a list of charges including resisting an officer with violence, assault on an officer, firefighter and/or EMT, trafficking in at least seven grams or more of oxycodone, obstruction and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
According to Putnam County Judge Howard McGillian, Cummings attempted to steal a gun from an officer’s belt during his arrest. The arrest report also says that he told the officers, “Do you think I’m afraid of prison?” Cummings was in prison a few months ago. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2010 and served more than a decade behind bars. He was released from prison in mid-October.
Ronald Cummings Age
Ronald Cummings;s age is Unkown.
Incident Detail
Assistant State’s Attorney James Nealis said that because Cummings committed several felonies after being released just two months ago, he is a danger to the community. “In a world where law enforcement has a target on its back, a man who tries to deprive officers of their weapons is, by definition, a danger,” Nealis said.
Nealis recommended a $300,000 bond for the charges. Judge McGillian set a bond totaling $185,500. Cummings was never a suspect in his 5-year-old daughter’s disappearance because she was working that night. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office considers HaLeigh’s disappearance an unsolved homicide. Haleigh disappeared from her home in Satsuma on February 9, 2009.
The sheriff’s office said the last person to see her was her babysitter, Misty Croslin. While Ronald Cummings was working that night, others were at the house the night the 5-year-old girl disappeared: Hank Croslin, Misty Croslins’ cousin, Joe Overstreet, and perhaps two other people. From the beginning, investigators said they were not receiving consistent statements from Misty Croslin and others.
The St. Johns River was repeatedly searched because the next morning, the bloodhounds brought in went straight into the river. Nearby ponds were searched for, and one was even drained. The Sheriff’s Office brought Misty Croslin and the others in for questioning for months, but no trace of the boy was ever found. On April 15, 2010, Sheriff Jeff Hardy announced that HaLeigh Cummings was likely dead and the case was being handled as a homicide.
On the two-year anniversary of her disappearance, the Sheriff’s Office released a statement saying the ongoing investigation has “minimized the likelihood that HaLeigh’s disappearance was the work of a stranger,” and those who know what happened they won’t tell investigators yet. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI also worked on the case.
Misty Croslin, Ronald Cummings, Hank Croslin, and Brock were arrested in January 2010 for allegedly trafficking painkillers. It was a covert operation that had been going on for months. Joe Overstreet was questioned but never charged with anything.
HaLeigh Cummings’s grandmother, Teresa Neves, and her great-grandmother, Annette Sykes, continue to cling to the hope that the girl is alive somewhere, despite the statements from the Sheriff’s Office. HaLeigh Cummings’ mother, Crystal Sheffield, and her younger brother were last known to live in Baker County.
On the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of HaLeigh Cummings, Putnam County investigators acknowledged that they believed she died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and that her body was dumped in the river.
In 2019, 10 years after the disappearance of HaLeigh Cummings, News4JAX launched a podcast recounting the cold case. “Into Thin Air,” a true crime series hosted by I-TEAM reporter Jennifer Waugh, retraces the sequence of events from the night the boy disappeared and the seemingly endless search for answers that followed.
Putnam County resident Charlie Robinson told News4JAX that he has not forgotten what happened. “A friend of mine was a diver in the county and he was in the river looking for her body,” Robinson said. “Everyone would love to know what happened to him.” If you have any information about what happened to HaLeigh Cummings or her whereabouts, please call Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida at 1-888-277-8477.
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