Putnam Sheriff's Office say no evidence found in pond searched in Haleigh case

Putnam Sheriff's Office say no evidence found in pond searched in Haleigh case
Water was drained from the 5-acre pond south of Palatka
* By Dana Treen
* Story updated at 9:40 AM on Monday, Sep. 21, 2009

PALATKA — Searchers came up empty and finished searching a Putnam County pond south of Palatka for evidence in the case of missing Haleigh Cummings.

"There is nothing in there," Maj. Gary Bowling of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said this morning.

Bowling said water was being allowed to seep back into the 5-acre pond and that no evidence in the case was discovered. The L-shaped pond is just south of Palatka off Florida 19 and was the focus of a search that began late last week.

The extent of the search that included bringing in pumps, widening of a woods road and assistance from two surrounding counties led residents to speculate on what could be happening in the seven-month old case.

When Melissa Goudy learned the caravan of law enforcement vehicles that swept past Messer’s Westside Bait and Tackle were conducting a search in the case, it hurt already bruised emotions, she said.

“My heart is in my feet and has been for months,” the 33-year-old clerk said.

Bowling said much of the intense interest was driven by publicity the activity generated.

"We did a search last weekend and the weekend before," related to the case, he said. "We do searches all the time."

Bowling said a decision was made to drain the pond rather than just put divers in the water. He said the search had been planned.

"We realized it would be quicker to pump," he said.

He would not say what evidence investigators hoped to find. He said he expects the department to conduct another search next weekend.

Haleigh was reported missing early Feb. 10 from her home in Satsuma. Her father's girlfriend, Misty Croslin, called 911 to say she had woken to find the 5-year-old kindergartner gone. Croslin has since married Haleigh's father, Ronald Cummings.

Goudy lives near the pond that was one of the larger of many in the low, wooded area on the south side of Florida 19 just south of Palatka.

“Just like all the others that live out there, I want to know what happened,” Goudy said. “There’s a lot of people in this town that want to put closure to it.”

On Sunday she feared what might be found.

“It’s not going to be good when they find her,” she said. “They know what happened to her but they’re not saying anything because they don’t have the evidence.”

The pond search began about the time investigators interviewed Hank "Tommy" Croslin Jr., who is in jail on and unrelated charge and whose sister is now married to Cummings.

At the same time Hank Croslin was interviewed, detectives also interviewed Kristina "Nay Nay" Prevatt, an acquaintance of Cummings' new wife.

Authorities said the interviews were not related to the search.

At the U.S. Veterans Post 104 on Florida 19 on Sunday, post commander Jerry Schallenberg said the post was willing to provide food for the crews but that authorities wanted to be careful not to draw attention to the search at first.

Sheriff's offices in Clay and St. Johns joined in the search that pumped the water into the swamps surrounding the pond that is a popular, though secluded, fishing spot.

The national spotlight the case has drawn has also shined on the rural county.

Schallenberg’s wife, Terry, said that light has not always been favorable but she believes Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy has done as well as could be expected with a small department.

“Putnam County is not a bunch of yahoos,” she said.

Updates

On Saturday, authorities with the Putnam Sheriff's Office said the search is the result of one of more than 4,000 tips received.

On Friday, they said the search was merely a training or marijuana eradication exercise.

and accessible on a pair of narrow dirt roads. It is known locally as the L-Shaped Pond.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-09-21/story/putnam_sheriffs_office_say_no_evidence_found_in_pond_searched_in_haleigh