Earlier this week I floated a document around to some people I know, some for a variety of professional reasons would prefer that I not use their names. I will honor those requests. We held a conference call and this was the the end result. This likely is very, very close to what happened. If nothing else it is a thought provoking look at the case – simon.

The Bus Stop – There are two conflicting versions. While the question of who picked up Haleigh from the School bus is a very minor point, and likely has no bearing on what happened later that day, it is interesting to explore as it reveals a great deal about the nature of the people involved. Version one says that it was Misty driving a van that picked Haleigh up. The school bus driver and another parent have both said this. Version two says that Ronald picked her up. His story has her sitting on his lap and operating the turn signals on the drive home.

It was pointed out that the Ron version contains too much information. I have a theory about lies, they have to be detailed oriented and often elaborate in nature. Rons story fits that requirement. The interesting point though is that the PCSO seem to have bought into the Ron story.

“Ron could be fabricating this in order to persuade OR Ron could be giving extra details because he ALREADY thinks he is not being believed.”

The question in my mind is why on something as innocuous as who picked up Haleigh is there this discrepancy? No one has anything to gain from being anything but truthful about this meaningless aspect. I start to think, lie about small stuff, they are going to lie about bigger things.

Ronald and Misty are not seeing eye to eye. At first I assumed that the argument was over her three day sex and drugs binge. However it now seems that route is incorrect. Several people that have spoken to Ronald have said that he appeared to show no emotion whatsoever about the subject. This is a strange behaviour. This part of Florida is apparently quite racially divided. I find it odd that Ronald would have no problems with Misty having sex with White Boy Greg.

Back to the argument. Misty is claiming that she does not want to look after Haleigh and Jr. that evening because she has a babysitting job lined up. But did she? A far more plausible explanation is that she wanted to attend the ‘party’ that we have all heard so much about.

“I struggle with Misty having a babysitting job lined up. It doesn’t fit her lazy lifestyle.  It is far easier to get quick money for drugs by a sex act than babysitting for hours. Narcotic impact is 3-4 hours and a new dosage is needed….cranky, irritable…not a babysitting situation.  Did Ron really beg and even offer money to Teresa to babysit only to be refused?”

Tempers are still frayed when Ron leaves for work. Misty feed the kids, and is likely high on something. It is a cold evening, yet when Annette Sykes drops by the two children are eating their meal outside. Why?

“Why was Annette Sykes doing the laundry for the kids??  We know that she told us that the clothing was dirty….”

Rons job is in a remote part of the plant and as a crane operator really has no one looking over his shoulder. He is still concerned about the situation at the trailer and makes several calls (12 or more) to keep an eye on Misty’s whereabouts.

Misty does not like being on this short leash and turns off her phone.

It is the kids bed time and Misty gets Jr. settled for the night. He puts up no resistance and is asleep in no time flat.

Haleigh is a different case. Although Misty has only been playing the role of mom for a few months the little girl has attached herself to her. Haleigh has three days of ‘news’ and has no intentions of going to sleep. Misty decides that a chemical babysitter is needed and gives Haleigh something. It could have been an oxy, or something else. Everyone seems to be in broad agreement that this was not the first time that she had used this method of sleep induction.

I am going to go off on a tangent here. None of this is public record, and likely will never be made public. However one credible source is claiming to have knowledge of some documents from Child Protective Services (DCF) that reveal a rather ugly situation. The kids have been drug tested in the past. Also Ron was admonished for some kind of physical abuse of them.

“Ron did reveal on TV that he could spank her on the bottom “just like DCF said”.  This means he likely signed a Safety Plan agreeing NOT to hit in the face, arms, etc, under the threat of having them removed from him.

I feel for the caseworkers.  They had two parents and neither was clean and sober, and a kid would likely SCREAMED for dad.  She was attached, but it was a nervous and unhealthy attachement. “

There also appears to be a sexual angle, though not sex abuse in the normal sense. Rather, Haleigh was often in the same room as Ron and Misty while they were having sex. Apparently Haleigh exhibited some strange behavior at school, likely emulating what she had seen at home that got school officials very concerned. None of this can be confirmed, and to go forward with it would be journalistic suicide. But it does provide yet more background on the type of people involved.

Around 9pm – 10pm (timeline is sketchy) Misty starts to come down from her high and decided to get some sleep.

Ron meanwhile is beyond the state of being furious, he wants to know what is going on! He calls Tommy Croslin and tells him to go over to the trailer and find out what the story is. Tommy gets there and sees that the lights are off, he bangs on the door.

In my mind this is where the big lies start. Before we get into them though, lets do a little analysis without any data. Early on in the investigation PCSO told us that they had pulled phone records and cell tower pings for Misty and Ron on that night. I would also assume that the pulled the records for out going landline calls from PDL. So they must have known about the phone call. Yet, it was only months later that Tommy came up with story. What story did he tell them originally?

One ‘reporter’ is claiming the Tommy’s story is false, he created it merely to buy his freedom from a gun related charge. This makes little sense, as the same reporter is also claiming that it was Tommy that gave PCSO the lead as to where the body was dumped! I think I will stick to my original version of where the tip came from, and it was not Tommy.

Back to the plot. Tommy knocks on the door, wakes Misty up. Misty is not pleased to see him. Tommy tells her that Ron is pissed to the max. Misty says, we are all sleeping, if you don’t believe me take a look for yourself.

Tommy inadvertently wakes Jr. possibly Jr. heard the know on the door and was just drifting back to sleep, and that is where the ‘man in black’ reference comes from. A couple of sources are refuting the ‘man in black’, and claiming ‘woman in black’. There is a scenario for that, but I’ll play that later.

Tommy checks Haleigh, and the proverbial shit hits the fan’, she is dead.

Once again we need to analyze data we do not have. Did they call Ron? If Misty called him using her phone there would be a record of that call, it would also damage her alibi of being asleep. The PCSO are not dumb, they would have been onto that from the get go. So, most probably (if it happened) the call originated from Tommy.

Did Tommy tell him Haleigh was dead? Or was Tommy telling him everything was OK, or some other story?

I know that a couple of you really fancy Nay Nay Prevat as having some form of involvement. And there are good reasons. The car, the keys, and the blue antifreeze. While Nay Nay might not have been best friends with Misty, they had just shared a three day binge. Did Misty (using Tommy’s phone) call her? Was it Nay Nay that helped dispose of the body?

I for one think that Nay Nay likely knows more than she is saying, but I am not sure I buy into her as an accessory after the fact. The car, the keys, and the antifreeze are interesting and thought provoking, however that scenario would play out only if Tommy and Misty hid the body and it was moved at a later date.

There was no blood to find, and I doubt that a body that has been dead for an hour would leave any evidence that forensics could find.

In my mind the more likely scenario is that Tommy and Misty wrap Haleigh in a blanket, use the yellow rope and a couple of cinder block anchors. Tommy does the disposal using the van.

Ron’s shift ends. His actions are not rational if he is or is not involved. Either way, they not one iota of sense. He drives to a convenience store and purchases one beer, some cigarettes, and some nuts. If he was not involved, he would still be steaming at Misty for turning her phone off. He would have driven straight home to find out what was going on.

If he knew what was going on, he would have done the same thing! They needed a plan.

There is a third choice, maybe he stopped for a reason, there were security cameras, was he  building an alibi.

I try and put myself in his shoes, if I had knowledge that my daughter was dead, and we were going to have to call 911 to report her missing, it is going to be a very long night. I think I’d be tempted to buy more than one beer!

A question that I have never heard an answer to, but I am not sure I have ever asked it. What was Ron’s normal day? People tend to fall into daily patterns. I smoke, and most days I take a walk to my local gas station to buy cigarettes, if I turn up at 11am Chris the owner says hi Simon. If I arrive at 8am I get ‘wow you are early’, and at 2pm, I get ‘you are late’.

I have a pattern, did Ron? Was the stop at the gas station routine? Did he stop regularly to pick up a beer and smokes? Anyway its just some food for thought.

Ron gets home, and the action starts!

A 911 call is made. The call does not seem to stand up to scrutiny. It can be argued that these people are irrational at best, but, I see several issues. The biggest of which is who placed the call. Why did Misty call? Ronald has just got home and discovered that his daughter is missing, why does he get Misty to make the call? Ronald has been living on his cell phone all evening, yet is heard on the call to say ‘where is my god damn phone’.

Much has been said about this call.  I tried a completely unscientific test on my wife Jan. It was a blind taste test! She knew nothing about what I was up to. I gave her the scenario of, you wake up at 3am, you need to use the bathroom, you notice that the back door is wide open, and your young child is missing. What would you do? Her response was to call 911. What would you say to them I asked. “I need help now, Joey is missing”.

What we get instead is Misty explaining that she was asleep, the door was open, and finally the fact that a little girl is missing.

I have to make some assumptions, but they are reasonable ones. Ronald was present during the entire 911 call. If he arrived home in the middle of it why was he not screaming blue murder? He is remarkably controlled. Sure he makes the remark about ‘killing whoever did this’ and blusters a bit, but it all seems a little contrived. Why does he grumble “I have better people to talk to, where is my cell phone”? Considering the fact that he had used it many times that night. It would seem reasonable to assume that he knew exactly where it was.

If Misty was awake and cognizant of the fact that Haleigh was missing why didn’t she call 911? Why wait for Ronald to get home? If she was sleeping when Ronald got home why didn’t Ronald call 911? If by some amazing coincidence Ronald gets home at the same time that Misty wakes up why is the 911 call so controlled? I don’t hear anyone shouting to try and find her. “Haleigh, are you out there”.

Simon Barrett

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