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This is Jessica Knoll, host of the new series Back in Crime. If you're a follower of true crime, you're probably familiar with some of the most shocking stories from our history. Horrific tragedies like the Columbine Massacre. He turned the gun straight at us and shot. Oh my God, the window went out. And the kid standing there with me, I think he got hit. Okay. Oh God. And notorious criminals like cult leader Charles Manson.
In a scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird religious rite, five persons, including actress Sharon Tate, were found dead at the home of Miss Tate and her husband, screen director Roman Poliansky. But what if we were to turn back the hands of time and relive these events as they unfolded? Follow along each week as we take a fresh look at crimes from the past. Back in Crime is available now.
Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney, and this is Voices for Justice.
Today I'm discussing the disappearance of five-year-old Haley Cummings. Before she went missing, Haley lived with her father Ronald, his girlfriend Misty, and her four-year-old brother in the small town of Satsuma, Florida. She was her dad's pride and joy, and many people say Misty took to her like a surrogate mother. Haley's biological mother lived a couple hours away, and the kids went to visit her every other weekend. But
But even though it appears that Haley's caregivers were loving, they weren't exactly your picture-perfect white picket fence family. Ronald had occasional brushes with the law, and 17-year-old Misty, who usually watched the kids at night, struggled with substance use disorder. Their parenting skills and relationship were put under a microscope in February 2009, when Haley disappeared from their home in the middle of the night. This is the case of Haley Cummings.
Haley Cummings was born on August 17th, 2003 into a difficult home life. Her mom, Crystal Sheffield, is only 17 at the time, and her dad, Ronald Cummings, is 20.
Crystal had to grow up fast. When she was just 14, she dropped out of high school and moved in with Ronald and his grandparents. When Haley was still an infant, Ronald is arrested a few times, mostly for drug offenses. He and Crystal both use cocaine, and Crystal claims that Ronald deals drugs as well.
Though they love their kids, life at home is unstable and tense. In addition to Haley, they also have a baby boy. Crystal says that Ronald can be violent and controlling. He's physically abusive towards her, though for the record, she says she never sees him hurt either of the kids. Crystal stays at home with the kids during the day, and Ronald works at a nearby steel factory.
Haley's diagnosis adds additional stress. She has Turner syndrome, a genetic disorder that can cause a bunch of different complications. She needs monthly doctor visits and hormone treatments to stay healthy, but she frequently misses those appointments.
When Haley is two, Crystal and Ron separate, and the custody battle is contentious. I'm going to talk a little about their court battle, not to encourage you all to pass some kind of judgment on them, but because their relationship and home life plays a role in how Haley's disappearance is covered later on. In court, Ronald claims that Crystal's drug use makes her too irresponsible to care for a child.
especially one with special medical needs. It seems like Ronald blames Crystal for the Miss Doctor's appointments because she's the one doing most of the child care. She's a stay-at-home mom while Ronald works. On Crystal's side of the argument, she and several of her family members testify that Ronald is abusive. But the court ultimately sides with Ronald. It appears largely because he has an income to support the kids and Crystal doesn't.
In the end, it's decided that Haley and her brother will live with Ronald full-time, and Crystal gets visitation rights every other weekend.
After the verdict, Crystal moves to a new town about two hours away. She later says she moved because she wanted to get as far away from Ronald as possible. Meanwhile, Ronald and the kids live in a rented mobile home in Satsuma, a small town in Putnam County. Actually, to be accurate, it's an unincorporated community with a population of around 6,000.
and the family lives on the very outskirts of town near the St. John's River, so the whole area is pretty swampy and really off the beaten path. There are a few other trailers and mobile homes on the block, but the family is otherwise surrounded by a dense forest.
Ronald works the night shift, so he hires 16-year-old Misty Crossland to come watch the kids while he's gone. From what I could tell, Misty's upbringing was also kind of rough. Her father struggled with substance use disorder. She was sexually abused. She has a learning disability that makes reading difficult. So, after years of falling behind, she dropped out of school in 6th grade. After that, she got into drugs, and then eventually she found Ronald and this job.
And even though there's an eight-year age gap between them and Misty is a minor, Ronald pursues her.
Within a few months, Misty moves into the family home. By this point, Haley is a spunky, outgoing kindergartner with curly blonde hair and an adorable smile. Her favorite food is mac and cheese, and she loves to play with makeup. She and Misty are really close. They even buy matching clothes, because Haley wants everything Misty has.
Still, being the main caregiver for two young kids is a lot of responsibility to put on a teenager's shoulders. And everything Crystal said about Ronald being controlling, well, it seems that that was an issue in his relationship with Misty too. The first weekend of February 2009, Misty leaves the house and spends the weekend partying without giving Ronald a heads up. And he is furious. He calls his grandmother, Annette Sykes, to watch the kids.
Then he takes all of Misty's clothes out of the house, tracks her down at a friend's house, and throws the clothes in the friend's yard. Misty comes back the following Monday, February 9th. Ronald has to go to work that night, but he's wary of leaving Misty alone with the kids after she just bolted a couple days ago. While he's at work that night, he calls her 20 times. He even calls Misty's brother Tommy and asks him to go over to the house and check that Misty is still there.
Tommy stops by sometime that evening. It's not clear when he arrives or how long he stays. He gave a few different conflicting reports to the authorities, which I'll talk about later. Hailey's great-grandma Annette also stops by in the early evening to drop off the clothes the kids left at her place over the weekend. She finds Misty and the kids eating hamburger helper on the porch. So basically a normal Monday night. After dinner, Hailey and her brother watch Madagascar and Air Bud.
Haley has school in the morning, so Misty says she tucks her into bed at 8.15pm. Misty does some laundry, and then goes to bed in the same room as Haley a couple hours later. But a little before 3am, Misty gets up to use the bathroom, and notices that the kitchen light is on. She goes to check it out, and sees that the back door is propped open with a cinder block. When she goes back to the bedroom, she realizes that Haley is gone.
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At around 3.30am, only about half an hour after Misty discovers that Haley is missing, Ronald gets home from work. Ronald had clearly been nervous to leave Haley and his son with Misty that night. Then when he arrives home, a parent's absolute worst nightmare is unfolding before him. At 3.37, they call 911. Now, you might wonder why Misty didn't do that sooner, and I think it's a valid question.
The mobile home is pretty small, so it's not like she needed a full half hour to check all the rooms and make sure Haley wasn't there. But it could have taken a while for the reality to set in, or maybe Misty was wrong about what time she actually woke up. We just don't know. What's clear is that on that 911 call recording, it appears that Misty and Ronald are both extremely distraught. You can hear them both crying, and Ronald threatening to kill whoever took his daughter.
The first sheriff's deputies make it to the scene just a few minutes after that call comes in. Later, reinforcements arrive from the Child Abduction Response Team and the FBI. The next morning at 9.30am, a nationwide Amber Alert goes out. It's the same morning as the memorial service for Kaylee Anthony, whose body was found a couple months earlier in Orlando, and of course, whose case captured national attention.
Immediately, the media jumps on the story of another missing Florida girl. By afternoon, there are about 200 law enforcement officers in the town, along with a swarm of reporters. Since the house is a crime scene, Ronald and Misty aren't allowed back in, so they set up a campsite in a front yard down the street.
Haley's mother Crystal arrives with some of her family members and they camp out on the other end of the road. As you might expect from a small town, the whole community turns out to support them. Neighbors are showing up with food, air mattresses, and blankets, along with their own theories on what happened to Haley. By the second day, the police have gathered more than 500 tips and they say they investigate all of them.
Now, I feel like I really can't overstate how much went into this search effort. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation. They bring out helicopters and canine units, and divers to search the St. Johns River, which is a quarter mile away from Haley's home. They canvass every house in the area, and interview all 44 sex offenders who live in a five-mile radius. None of them are flagged as suspects.
Of course, the investigators also look into the family. Ronald's alibi checks out because he was at work all night. Crystal lives two hours away, and there's nothing to suggest that she took Haley. She's just as frantic and heartbroken as Ronald is, so they're both dismissed as suspects in the case. They talk to Misty's brother, as well as her cousin Joe Overstreet, who happened to be in town that night. Again, neither of them are considered suspects.
The only person who raises any suspicion at this point is Misty.
As the investigation goes on, her statements keep changing in small but significant ways. For example, at first she says she got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. But many say that when you look at the layout of the house, if she really was on her way to the bathroom, it's unlikely she would have been able to see the light on in the kitchen. Later, Misty changes her story and says she actually got up to get a drink of water.
She also initially says that Haley was sleeping with her in the big bed in the primary bedroom, but later she says Haley was sleeping on a toddler mattress on the floor of the primary bedroom. The discrepancy here is important. It's pretty hard to believe that someone could come in and take Haley out of Misty's bed without waking her up, but if Haley is sleeping across the room, that makes more sense, at least to me.
Another problem is, there's no sign of forced entry into the house, even though Misty insists that the door was locked. It's also hard to make sense of why an intruder would leave the door propped open with a cinder block after breaking in. The story just doesn't add up.
On top of all the inconsistencies, investigators say Misty failed four polygraphs and a voice stress test. Now, we know polygraphs aren't really reliable, which is why they aren't even allowed to be used as evidence in court. But I think it's worth noting that the three main questions she failed were 1. Are you hiding information about Haley's disappearance? 2. Do you know what happened to Haley Cummings?
And three, do you know where Haley Cummings is now? Put it all together and investigators have a feeling that Misty knows something more than she's letting on. But the question no one can answer is, what is she hiding?
Early on, they look into the possibility that Misty wasn't even at home when Haley went missing. Misty's brother Tommy apparently told investigators that he stopped by the house at 10 p.m., and no one answered the door. All the lights were off as if no one was home.
But there's two things to keep in mind here. This is around the time Misty said she went to bed, so they could have already been asleep with all the lights off. And also, remember that there are other reports saying that Tommy came by the house earlier and did see Misty. So I don't really know what to believe.
Regardless, a tip eventually comes in that Misty brought the kids to a house party that night. Supposedly, Haley got into some drugs, overdosed, and died. Her body was then dumped into a pond nearby. This tip is all based on hearsay, but the authorities look into it anyway. They even drain the pond where Haley's body was supposedly hidden, but there's no trace of her.
Sheriff's deputies eventually tell the local news that the tip is ludicrous and not worth a comment. But even though there's no evidence that Haley's disappearance had anything to do with drugs, investigators can't totally disprove it either. So the story persists, and the media just won't let go of the idea that whatever happened to Haley, Misty had something to do with it.
Misty is absolutely savaged by the press. She's called irresponsible, untrustworthy, and basically made out to be a lying, drugged-out murderer. The rest of the family doesn't fare much better. Ronald is blamed for trusting a teenage drug user with his children. Crystal even accuses Ron of child abuse and neglect.
But a state investigation finds no evidence of abuse, and Crystal is treated like a hypocrite for criticizing Ronald's parenting, as if she should have done more to protect her kids, even though the court took away her custody. Listen to this clip from Crystal's interview on Nancy Grace. Why did you choose to live two hours away from your daughter? Because when I left Ronald, I got as far away from him as I can.
Now, I know that you said you were unemployed at the time, so you didn't move away for a job. Did you not feel it incumbent or necessary to stay close to your children if you thought your children were in danger? At the time, I didn't know they was in danger. The scrutiny on the family only grows when Misty and Ronald get married in March, just a month after Haley goes missing.
Ronald proposes while they're having dinner at Chili's on Sunday, they get the marriage license at the courthouse on Monday, and they tie the knot in a friend's backyard on Thursday. The very next day after the wedding, Ronald and Misty fly to New York to appear on the Today Show. In their segment, reporter Michelle Kaczynski brings up something the investigators are apparently concerned about.
spousal immunity. Basically, the suspicion is they got married so they won't have to testify against each other. But according to Misty, Ronald, and both their families, the wedding isn't really as sudden as it seems. They'd been talking about getting married for months. And as Ronald's lawyer points out, under Florida law, spousal privilege does not prevent a couple from testifying against each other if the victim is one of their children. So this line of argument just doesn't work.
Even if it was true, it doesn't matter much because six months after they marry, the couple files for divorce. Ronald blames it on the stress of the investigation and the constant media coverage. He tells Nancy Grace, quote, we can't go anywhere without being questioned or people staring at us, end quote.
Not only does this media circus hurt the family, it also does nothing to help the investigation. The national news is more focused on Misty and Ronald's marriage and divorce and family drama than actually finding Haley. And despite all the public pressure that's laser-focused on Misty, she doesn't reveal any new information.
Of course, on the one hand, it's great that Haley's name is still in the headlines. But in the end, all the squabbling and finger-pointing makes people care less about the case and more about the family circus. I mentioned earlier that Haley disappeared in the middle of the Kaylee Anthony case. That story captivated the country for years, partly because the Anthonys were a quote-unquote normal middle-class family.
They were characters the TV viewing public could relate to, or at least understand. But Haley's family wasn't so relatable. In his book, "The Murder Business," former detective Mark Furman wrote, quote,
The more America heard about Haley's family, the less we wanted to know. It had turned into too much of a white trash nightmare, too much of a freak show. Viewers can take the bizarre, frightening underbelly of white America only in small doses in a careful context, as guests in Jerry Springer or Maury Povich's Circus Act
gazing directly into Misty Crossland Cummings' disturbingly vacant eyes and being stared down by the tight-jawed and petulant Ronald Cummings was too much raw, unpleasant truth for the average viewer to stomach. And
Now, that is a harsh assessment, but it shows what the public is thinking. They don't see Haley's family as victims. Instead, this idea that if they had only been better parents, then none of this would have happened permeates public commentary on the case. The lead investigator even tells local news station Action News Jax, quote,
Haley was merely a mechanism of her family, and she is potentially gone because of what her family was or wasn't. They didn't keep her safe, end quote.
And sure, there are things that Haley's parents could have done a lot better, but we know they weren't directly responsible for whatever happened to Haley. They both have rock-solid alibis and were never considered suspects. And I can't know for sure whether Misty was involved or not. But despite all the inconsistencies in her story, investigators haven't found anything to contradict her claim that she was in bed asleep when Haley disappeared.
Blaming the family only takes the focus away from finding Haley. But that's another reason the case falls out of the national headlines. After months of searching and hundreds of tips, the investigation never turns up any trace of Haley or any solid suspects. Since there's no sign of a break-in and the Cummings house is pretty isolated, investigators come to believe that the culprit is probably someone who knows the family. But who?
The lane the investigators returned to is Misty's cousin, Joe Overstreet, who was visiting town the night Haley disappeared and who drove all the way back to Nashville the very next day. For context, that's about a 10-hour drive.
During the investigation, Misty says that Joe had sexually abused her when she was a child, which also raises suspicion. And yet they interview Joe multiple times and they eventually rule him out as a suspect. And that's where the investigation goes cold for almost a whole year.
Then, in January 2010, Ronald, Misty, and Misty's brother Tommy are all arrested in a drug bust. The charges are totally unrelated to Haley's disappearance, but the investigators are hopeful that this will put enough pressure on Misty to finally crack. And believe it or not, it works. Shortly after her arrest, Misty changes her story.
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In January 2010, Misty tells investigators that on the night Haley disappeared, Joe Overstreet came to the house looking for a machine gun that belonged to Ronald. The story doesn't make a ton of sense to me, but apparently Joe and Ronald had been in a dispute about this gun, and when Joe couldn't find it, he decided to take Haley instead.
Misty says she saw Joe cover Haley with something or put her into a bag. Misty ran into the bedroom and hid under the covers with Haley's younger brother. For five or six minutes, she heard screaming while Haley struggled. Then she heard a van door slide open and shut. And when she came out, Joe and Haley were gone. A few months later, Misty's brother Tommy tells a similar story. He says that he and Joe drove together to the Cummings family home that night.
Now, as far as I can tell, Tommy doesn't actually say anything about seeing Joe attack Haley. He doesn't even clarify where he was when that allegedly happened. Maybe he stayed outside or in the car, it's really anybody's guess. But he does say that afterwards, he saw Joe put Haley in a bag, and they drove down to the dock on the St. Johns River. Tommy says Haley was possibly already dead at this point.
When they got to the river, Tommy stayed behind while Joe carried Haley down to the dock. He came back empty-handed. Following these tips, investigators send divers to search the St. Johns River one more time. But after three days, the second search of the river turns up nothing.
As a final Hail Mary, they take Misty out of prison and bring her down to the river to help with the search. Detective John Merchant said, quote, The hope was to get her to say something, to reach into that soft spot in someone's heart, but we didn't get it. She said nothing, end quote.
The sad truth is, that could be because she doesn't actually know anything. Misty later recants her entire statement about seeing Joe attack Haley. It appears that she was led to believe that if she gave up some kind of information about Haley, she'd get a lighter sentence for her drug charges. In a recording of a conversation she had with her brother while in jail, she said, "...we're all going to prison unless I can come out and tell them something."
So basically, it seems like she just told the cops what they wanted to hear. Tommy also later admits he made the whole story up in an attempt to bargain a reduced sentence. Meanwhile, Joe Overstreet maintains his innocence and says he's never been charged in connection with Haley's disappearance.
Honestly, I don't know what to make of all this. Without any actual evidence linking Joe to the disappearance, it's impossible to know if there's any truth to this story, or if it really was all just made up. And that leaves us back at square one, with no suspects and no promising leads. Just a huge shadow looming over Misty.
During that second search of the river in April 2010, the Putnam County Sheriff announced that Haley was most likely dead, and the case was being considered a homicide. It's possible that conclusion was made considering their evidence, but there's another factor they have to consider.
Haley's medical issues. From what I could find, Turner syndrome isn't necessarily life-threatening, but it hugely increases your risk for all kinds of health issues, like liver dysfunction, diabetes, and heart problems. I don't know the exact details of Haley's medical history, but there are reports saying that she had to see a cardiologist every month, so
so it's possible she has a heart condition. Even if she was well when she was taken, if she isn't getting the proper care, her condition could have worsened, possibly to a fatal degree. And if she is still alive, she could be in serious need of medical attention.
Over the years, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has released age progression photos showing what Haley would have looked like at ages 8 and 12. Today, she would be 19 years old. And even after all this time, her family hasn't given up on finding answers. In 2021, Haley's great-grandma Annette Sykes told Action News Jax that she still believes Haley is alive.
And there are too many children in the past year since she's been gone that have been found, and they've been gone longer than she has. But there they were. They were alive. Why can't I keep believing that she's alive? Those children were. And they came back to their families. We just have to wait for our turn, for her to come back to us, for somebody to have the guts or the heart, whatever it takes, to tell us where she is.
or how to find her. Investigators still believe the answer lies with Misty. After all, she was the last person to see Haley, and her constantly changing story raises some questions. Some detectives on the case still think the best theory is that Haley died after accidentally ingesting drugs, either at a party or at home. But without any evidence or confessions, all they have is speculation. And that brings me right to our call to action.
Someone has to know what happened to Haley. Maybe it's Misty or someone who knows the family. Maybe it's a complete stranger. But kindergartners don't just disappear into thin air in the middle of the night. With the complete lack of physical evidence, the only way Haley's family will get the answers they're so desperately seeking is if that person finally comes forward with the truth. So let's keep up the pressure. Please don't let Haley's story fade out.
The day this episode airs marks 14 years that Haley has been missing. It's been a long time. But cases are solved every day, and there's still hope for Haley.
As a reminder, Haley Cummings was last seen on February 9th, 2009 at her home in Satsuma, Florida. She would now be 19 years old. She has blonde hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information is urged to call the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 329-0801 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.
But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.
Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. This episode contains writing and research by Kate Gallagher. It was edited by Amber Von Chasson. Audio editing by Alex Button. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show on your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice. You can also support what we do here on Patreon at
at patreon.com slash voices for justice. And for even more content, check out my other podcast, Disappearances, only on Spotify.