http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content/topstories/story/Exclusive-Misty-Croslin-Cummings-polygraph-tapes/j7-bWzHuekSLPlWFcKCkhA.cspxExclusive: Misty Croslin-Cummings’ polygraph tapes released 
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Misty Croslin-Cummings
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ORLANDO, Fla. -- What started as the opportunity to clear her name may have backfired for the stepmother of missing six-year-old Haleigh Cummings. Action News is the first local station to get exclusive access to polygraph tests she took in mid-August.
The Texas based search and recovery group Equusearch was contacted by Misty’s family. The group says Misty contacted them so they could conduct polygraph tests which would clear her of any wrongdoing in the disappearance of Haleigh. Equusearch assigned three different independent investigators to perform three different tests: a polygraph test, voice analysis, and hypnosis. After the tests were completed, Equusearch says Misty “miserably failed” the polygraph.
Misty’s lawyer advised she not take the polygraph tests because the group Equusearch was not affiliated with any law enforcement agency, and she had already submitted to several polygraphs under the supervision of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. In a handwritten note dated August 19, Misty explains why she decided to take the test:
“I Misty Cummings have an attorney named Robert Fields. He told me not to take this polygraph. I am taking it anyway. I am taking it because I want to clear my name.”
The following are excerpts from the voice analysis portion of the tests Misty submitted herself to. They were taken in a small room while Misty sat at a table, and the investigator sat behind a computer. In the beginning, Misty looks composed and even smiles and laughs at times. But as the questions get more in depth, Misty can be seen breaking down and crying. The following are verbatim statements made by the investigator and Misty taken at various times during the 20 minute interview:
Investigator: How do you know Haleigh?
Misty: I know her because she’s my husband’s daughter.
Investigator: How long have you known Haleigh?
Misty: A year.
Investigator: I want to back up to February 9th, before you went to sleep, you were at the trailer?
Misty: Yes sir.
Investigator: And Haleigh was at the trailer and you went to bed?
Misty: Yes sir.
Investigator: Okay, tell me about that evening.
Misty: Umm…Well, Ronald woke up, we got her <Haleigh> ready for school…she didn’t have the clothes she wanted to wear so we had to come all the way to Welaka to get the outfit she wanted to wear. We took her to school, I walked her into the school, took her to her classroom…we come home, we leave the school, we come home, we probably go back to sleep till probably 11 or 12, I don’t know what time it was. Um, then Ronald gets up and gets ready for work. He picks Haleigh up from the bus stop I stay at home with Junior because he was sleeping…then Ronald goes off to work and um, the AC guy comes over. He comes over and my brother comes over to the house. And the kids played in the front yard. Haleigh was riding her bike doing wheelies in the front yard.
Investigator: You said your brother came over, which brother?
Misty: Hank Croslin Junior. Then they went inside, they watched movies, and they played…I cooked dinner and I washed the blankets, my blanket and Haleigh’s blanket…Haleigh’s blanket smells like pee…
Misty: I laid her down at 8 o’clock…it’s her bed time…8 o’clock…
Investigator: What room in the house was she in?
Misty: My bedroom…the master bedroom…
Investigator: Where were you sleeping?
Misty: Master bedroom.
Investigator: So you were in the room with her?
Misty: Yes.
Investigator: When you went to bed she was in there?
Misty: Yes sir…
Investigator: Okay…and what happened after that?
Misty: I went to sleep.
Misty: All I remember seeing on the clock is 3…I didn’t look at the clock like, it’s on the table next to the bed, and just glanced over and seen 3…Ronald got home…he was home at 3:24 I do believe…that’s what time he arrived at the house…3:24…the cops were called at 3:27…so I don’t know exactly the time it was 3 something I woke up at..
Investigator: Did you hear somebody in the house?
Misty: I don’t know why I woke up, I just woke up out of a deep sleep…just woke up.
Investigator: And what happened when you woke up, what did you notice?
Misty: The kitchen light was on…from where my bedroom is, the kitchen, all the lights were shut off when I went to bed…that kitchen light I knew was off when I went to sleep, so the kitchen light was just glaring into my bedroom. So I got up and went to the kitchen, that’s when I noticed the back door was open...the screen door is held open by a big concrete block…I started freaking out then. I didn’t know Haleigh was gone yet. So I run back into my bedroom and grab my phone to call Ronald to ask him like hey, did you come home and leave the back door open? Because I was freaking out the back door’s open with kids, freaking out already, then I run back and tried to call him, and that’s when she was gone….then I just start freaking out…looking under closets, beds, everywhere screaming her name…couldn’t find her.
Investigator: When did you start getting excited?
Misty: What do you mean?
Investigator: At what point did you start freaking out?
Misty: Right after I noticed she was gone. Freaking out.
Investigator: Do you know anything at all about Haleigh going missing?
Misty: Nothing at all about Haleigh going missing.
Investigator: Do you know of any person that would bother Haleigh?
Misty: I really didn’t know a lot of people---I have suspicions yea…
Investigator: What do you think happened?
Misty: I don’t know what happened, I think maybe, if they come in, her mother’s side of the family they come and got her because they didn’t want to pay child support…or if it was someone else like I keep hearing a lot of stuff about my brother.
Investigator: You have knowledge to the person who’s taken Haleigh. You need to think and tell me the truth---because I can see changes okay---
Misty: Yea! I’m trying to think, I’ve been thinking for six months…I don’t know…I don’t know if I’ve seen something in my sleep.
Investigator: There are things you’re not telling me…I can see it…there’s things going on with you about Haleigh that you’re not telling…
Misty: There’s nothing I’m not telling nobody…I’ve told everybody everything that I know…I don’t know what you’re trying to get out of me. I’m 17-years-old…I mean come on…how much can a 17-year-old take? I didn’t have nothing to do with her…I love that little girl more than anything…I’d never hurt her…If I knew who hurt her I’d tell…we’re not talking about a grownup we’re talking about a child.
Investigator: Tell me about how your home life was when you were growing up?
Misty: It was terrible…I have been in and out of houses, lived in cars, had drug addicts as parents…my life has been bad my whole life…and it’s just not going to get better it looks like.
Misty goes on to talk about abuse she endured as a child at the hands of a family member. She also pointed fingers at several other people she thinks may have been responsible for Haleigh’s disappearance.
After viewing the tapes, Action News spoke with Major Gary Bowling of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. He says his office has viewed the tapes and the results of the polygraph tests and says they all solidify what his agency has been saying from the beginning. He says Misty’s story has been inconsistent from the beginning. He also says the results of these polygraphs do not advance or back this case up. He says it merely brings light to the fact that Misty may know more about Haleigh’s disappearance than she’s letting on.
According to the documents released from the polygraph tests, the conclusion the investigator came up with is that there was “deception indicated.” The examiner said in the documents that there was, “significant and consistent physiological reactions to each of the relevant questions.”
Neither Misty nor Ronald Cummings would comment on the results of the polygraphs. When Action News called their home, someone there said under the advice of their lawyer, neither would be speaking with the media about the results.
