Update on Search for Haleigh

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A blog writer at the Orlando Sentinel wrote the following on this blog:

“Sources close to the investigation tell me that they have a person in custody,” WOFL’s Kelly Joyce said from Putnam County. “That person told them that they could find Haleigh’s body at the bottom of the St. Johns River here today, and I’m told they found something, but the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office isn’t saying what they found.”

Of course, this is one person talking to another, so take it with a grain of salt, but I thought I’d share it.

Breaking News: Search for Haleigh Ongoing

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Investigators in the Haleigh Cummings case have received a tip from inside the jail, and are searching the area near where Ronald Cummings lived when Haleigh disappeared at this moment. They’ve also set up a mobile command center, so it looks like they got a big tip.

News4Jax.com is reporting the following (see their video here):

Channel 4’s Tarik Minor said the search of an area less than 5 miles south of where Haleigh disappeared in February 2008 was prompted by a “credible tip.”
…

Minor called the search effort “massive,” and included deputies from Putnam, Clay and Marion counties, as well as the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. He said cadaver dogs were also brought to the scene.

In the FirstCoastNews article, they write something I have never seen before: “After extensive interviews with many people involved in Haleigh’s life, detectives have said Croslin knows more than she’s saying, but is not a suspect. Has anyone seen that before? Is this a new change in status due to information?

I will post more information as it becomes available. If you have breaking news, please email me!

Thanks, Karon, for the breaking news tip!

Husband’s Plea: Actions Caught on Video

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Last week, I shared with you the video plea of Munawar Toha, pleading for his wife, who disappeared in March. When I posted this case, the police had already arrested Toha, but I thought you would find it interesting nonetheless.

I, like everyone else, only saw the video after the arrest, so I don’t have any good insight of how I would have felt prior to knowing. I don’t think I saw enough in this video for me to say anything conclusive.

I do believe that Toha shows genuine grief, but people who do crazy things, do often have genuine emotions and do so episodes of grief, pain, shame, etc. That would not be surprising nor does it give us any answers as it could support the truth or a lie. I do see a hint of disgust when he says, “I have no clue where she is at the moment.” The words “at the moment” are odd, but not significant on their own either. He does seem to be able to turn off his emotions quite well, but because he does show genuine emotions albeit in small bursts,it isn’t enough to say anything conclusively. For me to say anything about this case, I would have needed to see more.

Here is an update:

Coralrose Fullwood: The Truth is Never Easy

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This week, Patrick Murphy, who was charged with the murder of Coralrose Fullwood, plead guilty. News reports are saying he is admitting to killing Coralrose. So does this mean the case is closed?

Back in 2007, I watched several videos of Dale Fullwood (which are no longer online unfortunately) and I stated that I did not trust him. Dale Fullwood’s daughter, Coralrose, was murdered and her body was found within hours a few blocks away at a construction site by a dog walker. Dale has always told people that he came home from the bar he worked at, saw Coralrose sleeping and went to bed. By the time they awoke the next morning, she was missing. Dale told reporters that he believed she was abducted from his home as he and his family of six slept.

Read moreWhen Murphy was arrested in August 2008 due to DNA, people were convinced I had this case wrong, yet thankfully the police kept an open-mind. It turns out they had or got more information than we did at the time.

An informant in this case has told police that Coralrose’s rape and death was videotaped. See this article from the Herald-Tribune:

The night she was abducted and killed, 6-year-old Coralrose Fullwood was taken to a home along with other children to perform sex acts for a video, according to court records obtained by the Herald-Tribune.

Furthermore, they report:

According to the records released this week (June 2009), Coralrose was taken to the home of the man charged with murdering her, Patrick Dewayne Murphy, who lived two miles away from the Fullwood home.

Several adults were at the home, as well as Coralrose, three young girls and a boy, the records say, and one of the men offered the children $10 to have sex with each other while he filmed them.

And last:

He [Dale Fullwood] has told police he had no part in his daughter’s death, a crime that police say was not random.

Sadly, the truth is never easy, and that is why I am writing this post. It is not black and white. We want to believe that when we have a suspect, especially with DNA, that the case is cut and dry. It’s over. Person A is guilty and so then Person B must be honest.

Deception isn’t as simple as he did it or he didn’t. Deception can run deep and in many directions, and is often harder to solve than murder. It doesn’t leave behind DNA, but as we get closer to the truth, a picture begins to fuzz before us, and until that picture is clear, we must never give up in search of the truth.

We do not know how Coralrose was identified to be one of the children to participate in the child pornography “gathering” that night. Can we rule Dale out as having no knowledge considering all the facts in this case? To do so would mean you believe that Patrick Murphy abducted Coralrose between 2:00- 7:00 a.m. from a house full of six people without being discovered–for the purpose of bringing her to the pornography “gathering”. That seems remote to me. I don’t doubt at all that Murphy may be the one that ultimately killed Coralrose, but does that leave Dale free and clear, and most importantly honest?

Police have clearly identified that Patrick Murphy and Dale Fullwood had a connection. Witnesses reported seeing them look at pornography on Dale Fullwood’s computer where he worked. Dale Fullwood was also found to have child pornography on his computer which he was charged and sentenced to serve time.

The biggest problem one must live with when finding the truth is being willing to live in a state of ambiguity. Ambiguity make us uncomfortable. When people find things that make them uncomfortable, they want them to go away–they want easy answers. That’s not how we find the truth.

In cases with complexity, it may take years and even decades until the truth reveals itself. In some cases, we know the truth may never reveal itself. But through it all, if we want the truth, we must be willing to live with ambiguity and accept it, until the full picture of the truth reveals itself, otherwise we will just live with another deception.

Husband Pleas for Wife

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Here is the plea of a man whose wife went missing in late March. She was found this week when police pulled up her car from a lake. While the story is now solved, what do you see when you look at this man?

*Thanks to the two people who sent me this story.