Haleigh's family prays for Somer's family

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Haleigh's family prays for Somer's family

Reported by: Ilyssa Trussel
Last Update: 10/22 6:44 pm

PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. - As tears rolled down her face Thursady, Haleigh's great-grandmother, Annette Sykes, said she knows the pain Somer's family is feeling.

"I know the emptiness and the fear, the terror that goes through your mind. It's just unbelievable."

Annette and the rest of Haleigh's family watched this week as investigators found Somer's body in a Georgia landfill.

"My heart goes out to them," said Sykes. "I feel really bad that they found her the way they did. We hoped and prayed, our family, that they would find her okay."

Even though finding Somer's body was the last thing anyone hoped for, Haleigh's family says at least Somer's family has answers.

"You hate that they found her dead but then again at least they found her and we're still looking for haleigh."

Looking and praying while letting another family know faith will get them through this.

"Our prayers are with them, god give them strength and comfort and he will give them peace, he will get them through it," she said.

Thursday afternoon Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy spoke about Somer's family and offered his condolences.

He said, like Clay County detectives, his investigators searched hard for Haleigh.

"We have searched thousands of acres of land, by air, by horseback, by foot, atv's, boats, waterways, we've used sonar and all kinds of equipment," said Hardy.

He says right after Haleigh disappeared his detectives searched every county dumpster and the county landfill.

"We tarped it, we covered it and we protected it and we had approximately 48 volunteers from emergency management, volunteer firemen and deputy sheriff's that went out there."

Despite making those efforts, Hardy admits some areas were never searched.

"We have 807 square miles of land and we have not searched every inch of soil," he said.

He says he is continuing to search for Haleigh and doesn't think it is too late to find her.

"There are missing children they are finding after 17 and 18 years that are still alive and that's where we remain hopeful," he said.

More than 5-thousand tips have come in and the sheriff's office is still hoping for the one that leads to Haleigh's whereabouts.

If you know any information about Haleigh, you can e-mail the Putnam County detectives division at haleigh@putnamsheriff.org

Haleigh, Somer's cases are different

Putnam officials say their landfill search turned up no sign of Haleigh.

By Lise Fisher & Karen Voyles
Staff writers


Published: Friday, October 23, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 11:12 p.m.

The discovery of a little girl's body in a Georgia landfill, which investigators have identified as that of missing Clay County second-grader Somer Thompson, comes as the search for another missing girl, Putnam County first-grader Haleigh Cummings, enters its ninth month.

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Somer's body was discovered Wednesday in a landfill at the Chesser Island Landfill in Folkston, Ga., after investigators followed garbage trucks leaving the neighborhood where Somer was last seen on Monday. And while Putnam County officials say they also pored through garbage and visited the area's landfill, their efforts turned up no sign of Haleigh.

The cases involve young girls disappearing in adjacent counties, but Putnam authorities say it's unlikely Somer's kidnapping and murder are connected to Haleigh's disappearance.

"The only similarity was that these were two missing girls," Putnam County Sheriff's Lt. Johnny Greenwood said. "There's really no comparison between these cases - the scenarios are totally different. One girl (Haleigh) was at home in her bed before she disappeared, and one (Somer) was walking home from school."

Haleigh was 5 years old when she was last seen at her father's rented mobile home in Satsuma. Initial reports said the girl was at the home with her younger brother and her father's girlfriend, Misty Croslin, whom he later married before recently divorcing.

While the search for Somer has ended, the search for Haleigh remains a daily assignment for a Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent assigned full time to the case and the six-member major crimes unit of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.

"We still hope we can bring her home safe, but right now we just want to bring her home," Greenwood said.

Croslin told officers Haleigh went to bed at about 8 p.m. and that when Croslin woke up at about 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom, she noticed Haleigh was missing. The back screen door had been propped open with a cinder block, Croslin said. There were no signs of forced entry.

Early in the case, officers interviewed sex offenders living in the area to eliminate any as possible suspects. They have since searched repeatedly for Haleigh in the woods and water, including the St. Johns River and a pond off State Road 19.

Greenwood said that like Clay County investigators, officers in Putnam County organized a search of garbage picked up from the area where Haleigh was last seen and a landfill near the Clay County line used for household garbage.

The garbage, collected from south Putnam County, where the child's Satsuma home was located, was gathered as normal two days after the girl disappeared. But it then was brought to a specific area where volunteers from emergency and fire services sifted through it. The searches are considered part of the standard protocol in hunting for a missing child such as Haleigh, Greenwood said.

Statistics compiled by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children provide both hopeful and discouraging data relative to Haleigh's case.

For example, the center has determined that more children now are being returned safely to their homes than at any other time in U.S. history, with the recovery rate rising from 62 percent in 1990 to 96 percent in 2008.

However, the center's staff also points to a study that showed while murders of abducted children are rare, about 100 incidents happen in the U.S. annually, and 76.2 percent of the abducted children who are killed are dead within three hours of being taken.

A recent study often referred to by the center also shows that children are 3.5 times more likely to be abducted by a family member than by a non-family member.

In recent months, the focus of the investigation into Haleigh's disappearance has shifted from a possible stranger abduction to questioning people related to or acquainted with Haleigh. Investigators have said the girl's biological parents are not suspects.

Investigators have begun taking a second look at everything in the case - double-checking to make certain nothing has been overlooked.

"We are still getting a few tips, but not many," Greenwood said. "The main thing we are getting as far as tips now are people's opinions, and there is not really much you can do with someone's opinions."

Greenwood said he also is getting what investigators refer to as psychic tips, tips that may begin with the phrase "I had a dream that Haleigh is ..." and then give a location.

Greenwood said investigators still believe what they believed the day Haleigh was reported missing. "There are people out there - at least one person out there - who knows what has happened to her," Greenwood said. "Now it's a matter of someone slipping up - or wanting to say what happened - that will help solve this case."

The Sheriff's Office has a new e-mail address for people to forward tips to at haleigh@putnamsheriff.org, Greenwood said. Callers still can phone 1-888-277-8477.

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