SATSUMA, Fla. — Investigators were back out in Satsuma, Fla. looking for clues in the Haleigh Cummings investigation Tuesday. She's the 5-year-old girl who disappeared from her bed in her father's mobile home 14 months ago.
Sources told WFTV a suspect is in custody, but wouldn't provide any additional details. WFTV spoke to Haleigh's grandmother, but she said she's not allowed to talk about the search.
Investigators would not give out the exact location of the search, to keep onlookers away. Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy said someone's tip about "physical evidence" led them there. He also said Misty Croslin-Cummings has been moved from the jail to be interviewed.
"A search is currently being conducted as the result of one of the many leads received thus far in this case. The area being searched is in the Satsuma area of Putnam County. The exact location is not being released at this time in an attempt to prevent unnecessary congestion from onlookers. Although various resources are being utilized to conduct this search, it is just one of many operations conducted during this investigation. Due to the sensitivity of this investigation, the name of the person providing the tip and the physical evidence alleged to be in this area, will not be released," investigators wrote in a release issued Tuesday.
Sheriff Hardy said he met with members of Haleigh Cummings' family Tuesday afternoon, but he would not say what he told them.
"The conversations we had were between me and the family," said Hardy, who also said Haleigh has not been found.
Teams planned to search through the night for the blonde, curly-haired girl. She disappeared from her father's doublewide mobile home in Satsuma, a rural community equidistant from Orlando to the south and Jacksonville to the north, in February 2009.
Her father's 17-year-old live-in girlfriend, Misty Croslin, was babysitting at the time. She told investigators she woke up at 3 a.m. Feb. 10 to find the girl gone and a back door propped open with a brick.
The sheriff's office has questioned Croslin's credibility, saying investigators don't believe Haleigh was abducted by a stranger. Authorities said Croslin failed to provide a detailed account of the late evening and early morning hours and called the account of her evening activities "sketchy."
During a quick news conference Tuesday, Hardy would not say whether he has switched from a missing persons case to a homicide investigation.
"That is a decision that will be made later," said Hardy, who also said Putnam investigators were questioning Croslin again Tuesday.
She and Ronald Cummings, Haleigh's father, remain in custody after they were arrested in January in a drug sting. Both have pleaded not guilty. Police said those charges are unrelated to the missing child.
Previous Stories: April 8, 2010: Jailed Misty Says She Complained To Governor April 2, 2010: Misty Talks About Haleigh In Jail Video
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