Haleigh Cummings Update 1 May

No arrests have been made in the disappearance of Haleigh Cummings and none are anticipated, a Putnam County Sheriff's Office spokesman said Tuesday.

The 5-year-old, blond-haired kindergartner was reported missing from her Satsuma home Feb. 10, prompting a massive search of South Putnam and an intensive criminal investigation involving local, state and federal agencies.

No suspects in the girl's disappearance have been identified by detectives, said Johnny Green-wood, a sheriff's lieutenant who serves as a spokesman for the department.

Speculation that an arrest had been made swept the community Tuesday.

Telephone calls from Haleigh's relatives, curious residents and the news media flooded the sheriff's office Tuesday afternoon, Greenwood said.

The trigger appeared to be a report from an Ocala radio station that linked a drug suspect's return to jail to the Haleigh case.

"They are unrelated," Greenwood said. "It's not linked to the Haleigh Cummings case."

The subject of the radio station's report was 18-year-old Kristina Renee Prevatt, who was arrested on a cocaine charge April 20 and bonded out of jail about 10 hours later by William Staubs, a bounty hunter and private investigator who says he is working on the Haleigh case.


Staubs returned Prevatt to jail Tuesday afternoon and invited T. J. Hart, program director of WSKY in Ocala, to come along.

Hart did a live broadcast from outside the county jail in Palatka reporting "a person of interest" was being "brought in."

Interviewed by telephone later, Hart said Prevatt "has been cited as a person of interest to the case by some people" he said were "other investigators."

Hart said he was specific with his report.

"We never used the word arrest," he said.

The report sparked a flurry of activity at the sheriff's office, Greenwood said.

"We've had all kinds of people calling down here," Greenwood said. "As soon as they made that comment, it just got crazy."

Staubs also bonded out 20-year-old Amber Brooks, who was arrested the same day as Prevatt on similar charges.

Hart said Staubs' efforts were made to help solve Haleigh's disappearance.

"He thought if he showed some mind of compassion and kindness he could get some information out of them," Hart said.

Staubs, 51, who calls himself "Cobra," has been accused of illegally detaining a Putnam County man who was free on bail on a sex abuse charge.

Last month, deputies say Staubs apprehended and handcuffed William Snodgrass, 55, who in 2007 was charged with capital sexual battery of a 9-year-old girl. Snodgrass was held for an hour, deputies added.

The allegation is being reviewed by local prosecutors.

Snodgrass is free on bail and under electronic supervision until his trial this summer.

Nearly 4,000 leads have been forwarded to investigators since Haleigh vanished, authorities say.

Misty Cummings told authorities she last saw Haleigh about 10 p.m. on Feb. 9 and the child's bed was empty when she awoke the next day about 3 a.m. At the time, she was dating Haleigh's father, Ronald. They have since married.

Both Ronald and Misty Cummings have been questioned repeatedly by investigators.

Recently, a high-ranking sheriff's official said detectives were unsatisfied with answers provided by Misty and declined to rule her out as a suspect.

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