By Art Harris, The Bald Truth, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved
The Bald Truth has learned exclusively that after a month behind bars in the St. John’s County Florida jail, 18 year old Misty Croslin has written a jailhouse letter detailing what she claims happened to the missing five year she reported missing on Feb. 9, 2009 while babysitting Haleigh Cummings at her then boyfriend’s trailer in Satsuma, Florida.
Sources close to the case tell me investigators with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department missing child task force obtained a copy of the letter from a Croslin relative Misty wrote last week and are comparing it to other stories she’s told before. “Part of it they believe, and part of it they don’t,” said a source who has read the letter, and says investigators are going through it with a fine tooth comb.
“The problem with Misty is that they need someone credible to corraborate anything she says because she’s told conflicting stories about that night,” says the source.
We discuss Misty’s letter on The Nancy Grace Show tonight (Friday, March 12, 2010) for the first time, 8 and 10 p.m. est. Read the rest of this entry »
By Art Harris, The Bald Truth, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved
To hear her family tell it, Misty Croslin woke up the night Haleigh Cummings vanished to see her Tennessee cousin standing in the doorway with the five year old.
Leonard Padilla dropped that mini-blockbuster on HLN’s Nancy Grace Show Wednesday night, saying he’d heard it from Misty Croslin’s sister in law in Massachussetts; I thought the former prosecutor would fall out of her chair, over what Padilla seemed to report as new, but she knew, was not…
Like the undefeated Fulton County prosecutor she was (130 convictions, no acquittals), Grace probed, then reminded Padilla this angle had been out there for some time, and that cousin Joe had never been arrested or charged with a crime. It was Croslin who was behind bars, charged with trafficking in painkillers and facing more than 100 years in prison… Read the rest of this entry »
Letter Misty Croslin lawyer sent Leonard Padilla Monday
By Art Harris, The Bald Truth, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved
The Bald Truth has obtained the above letter Misty Croslin’s lawyer tells me he sent Monday via certified mail to Leonard Padilla, emanding the flamboyant California bounty hunter stay away from his client.
“Your attempts to involve yourself in Misty Croslin’s legal defense are unwarranted,” writes Palatka, Florida lawyer Robert Fields, adding that Padilla’s gift of a Ford Taurus, cell phone time and other items to her parents are “unwanted third party contact intended to convince her parents to influence her to work with you.”
And, despite what we’ve heard Misty demanding on tape–that her mother call Padilla and make a deal to bail her out — THAT just ain’t gonna happen, Fields tells me in an exclusive phone call, explaining Misty’s rant to her mother, Lisa, took place before he’d met with her last week to explain the insanity of jumping into the arms of bounty hunters like Padilla. Read the rest of this entry »
Art Harris Reports on HLN’s Nancy Grace Show Mon., Feb. 22
By Art Harris, The Bald Truth (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved
After she begged for his help and the family of accused drug trafficker Misty Croslin accepted a $3,000 Ford Taurus as a gift from generous Bounty Hunter Leonard Padilla to drive back and forth to visit their daughter in the St. John’s County, Florida jail, the former stepmother of missing six year old Haleigh Cummings has ordered Padilla not to contact her again.
In an exclusive interview with The Bald Truth, Croslin attorney Robert Fields tells me the California bounty hunter may have missed his first letter, so he’s sending another one, certified, first thing Monday morning, warning Padilla to stop all contact with Croslin, the babysitter who reported Haleigh missing over a year ago, and who police believe knows more than she revealed.
“She understands it’s not a good idea to make a deal with any bounty hunter, and she doesn’t want to hear from him again,” Fields told me Saturday. “They’re just out for the publicity. Working with any of them is about as smart as driving your car into a lake.”
Fields tells me if Padilla or any other bounty hunter tries to contact his client, “we’ll get a cease and desist order to keep them way.” Read the rest of this entry »
