breaking news tonight. petaluma, florida. a little girl tucked into bed. five hours later, she's gone. vanished into thin air, the back door propped wide open. daddy comes home from the night shift to find not a trace of little haleigh. bo bombshell. little haleigh was not kidnapped by a stranger. repeat, it was not a stranger that snuck into the home that night and snatched the little girl. police say the last person to

see haleigh alive is the key to the case. cops closing in on the girlfriend/babysitter, claiming she refuses to give straight answers about the time little haleigh vanishes. unable to account for crucial hours surrounding the kidnap. in another stunning twist, physical evidence at the crime scene contradicts crossland's story. tonight, where is five-year-old haleigh? >> i came into the kitchen and the back door was wide open. >> the disappearance of six-year-old hey lee kcummings.

crossland is not giving the whole story. >> when i woke up, she was gone. >> a sketchy account by cro crossland of when haleigh went missi missing. >> all i want is my daughter. it doesn't matter. >> do you think she did anything? >> yo ai don't have any suspicif anybody. anybody could have done something. if i had answers, i would have my daughter. >> her story has changed several times. i just hope she did not have nothing to do with it. >> so here's the back door and here's the lock. it sticks. so here you go. now we open the back door and here's the back screen door, the one that was propped open with the cinder block, okay?

if you close it, it slamz, it makes a loud noise, but if you leave this door, it totally closes as well. >> i didn't do anything to that little girl. i loved her like she was my own, and i'd do anything to get her back. >> and tonight, a young mom just like millions of moms across america, goes out for an evening walk on a country roadway not far from her own home, talking away on her cell phone. the boyfriend on the other end hears screaming. please, don't take me! her voice has never been heard again. she has vanished without a trace! that cell phone later found discarded, thrown onto someone's lawn just two miles away. as we go to air tonight and start expanding across state borders, targeting hundreds of sex offenders across three states. tonight, where is christi co

cornwall? three states on alert in the hunt for a kidnap per and a missing mom. kristi cornwall swept up on a dirt road. police questioning several sex offenders in the area. >> it appears kristi's abductor was headed for north carolina or tennessee. police are also searching up there and checking sex offenders. >> usually when there is an abduction by a stranger, the victim has been sexually molested, assaulted and then killed. >> we talked to everybody in her inner circle, family, friends, people she worked with, and we have not come up with anybody in that regard, so it appears it was someone new to the area that did not know her. >> we're asking anyone who heard

anything or seen anything or even think they seen anything, now is the time to give us a call. >> good evening. i'm nancy grace. thank you for being with us. in the last hours, investigators announced little haleigh cummings was not kidnapped by a stranger. it was no stranger that snuck into the home that night and snatched the little girl. >> i just got home, my five-year-old daughter is gone. >> authorities investigating haleigh cummings' disappearance. they have determined haleigh was not abducted by a stranger, the police are focusing on crossland and her whereabouts that evening. >> i turned the kitchen light on, walked in the kitchen and the back door was wide open. >> on my left is the bed where missy crossland was sleeping,

and on the right we have the bed where little haleigh was sleeping. you can see they're all about 3.5 feet from each other, and this is right where missy said she got up and had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. where i'm facing right now, nancy, is a bathroom. it's the master bathroom. through the living room behind me is the other bathroom in the house. you have to remember, she said when she got up to go to the bathroom, she saw the kitchen light was on. the kitchen is over this way. so that means she would have had to have gotten up and gone out this door and then have noticed. >> law enforcement officials say evidence does not jibe with crossland's sketchy account. cops believe crossland, who is not a suspect, still have not provided them a detailed account of her actions that night. >> do you believe missy was indeed home and that she's been telling the truth? >> yeah, i believe she's telling the truth. >> hello. >> sir, let me talk to your wife.

can i talk to her? >> okay. >> straight out to t.j. hart and director sky, 97.3 fmtj, very stunning development. police found out hours ago it was no stranger that snuck into that home and took this little girl. everybody, we have been getting all of your e-mails, all of your phone calls, your letters about where is haleigh cummings? typical answer, we didn't know. nothing had developed in the case. the case had just degenerated into the mother and the father

all pointing the finger at each other and arguing about domestic squabbles. we were getting nowhere. but now this is a major development, t.j.! >> it certainly is. this certainly narrows down the field of suspects from everyone to someone, and as you remember, everyone was a suspect when this began all the way up until the last couple of hours, too. still, one thing you've got ron and crystal no longer suspects, but missy's story still inconsistent as it was from day one, and i can tell you that physical evidence that's not jibing with the story is the fact that on that back door there is no sign of forced entrance whatsoever. >> wait a minute, t.j., we knew that from the get-go, that there wasn't a sign of forced entry. nobody had taken a device and forced the lock open on that back door. we knew that from the beginning. >> the door was taken in for

further investigation, and it has gone through further forensics. yes, we knew that from the beginning, but definitively, no forced entry. that, of course, does lead officials to believe once again, right where they stated, this is not a stranger. >> straight now to a special guest joining us. we are taking your calls live to annette sigh ks. what does this mean to you, the announcement made by police that it was no stranger that took little haleigh? what does that mean to you? >> we never did think it was a stranger, really. we always thought it was someone that had either followed haleigh, if it were someone that had seen her and followed her home because of where they live. they had to have known where she lived in order to find her. >> our chief editorial producer

on the story. ellie, i'm not giving the scent that cops are saying someone was following her. to me, my interpretation is, that it's someone within the family or close friends surrounding the family. >> right, nancy. well, what i think is very significant about this announcement from the sheriff's office is that they're saying that misty crossland still holds answers in this case. they say she failed to provide a detailed account of what she was doing in those areas late that evening and early that morning. >> we're taking your calls to prosecutor, new york, defense attorney atlanta, defense attorney former fed with the fbi out of miami. it's months later, months has passed. wouldn't it be about time for her to cough up the details of

what happened that night if she had nothing to hide? >> law enforcement is sending as clear a message as possible, go get a lawyer. if you have nothing to hide, let that lawyer help her create the timeline and answer these questions. if that lawyer feels she's got criminal capability -- >> you just said, create a timeline. >> accurately, honestly. >> is that how you do it, you huddle with your defense, your defendant, and you create some evidence? >> yeah, we write it down on a piece of paper. we create it, and then we give it to the prosecutor or law enforce. because guess what? in six months, they can't get to the bottom of it. she needs a lawyer. >> rodriguez? >> i agree. obviously, she's focused, she has more information. she doesn't have to talk to them. if they want to talk to her, there's means of doing it, but she needs to lawyer up. >> the two defense attorneys are doing a dance around the pole

right now. let's get down to it. why hasn't she told police all the details they need about that night? >> the only reason she hasn't told them, nancy, either she's protecting herself or someone very close to her. go get a lawyer? no, if she's innocent, if she's holding back, she doesn't need a lawyer. she needs to open up and help the police go find haleigh. >> try to calm down a little bit, okay? the officer is going to come out there and do what they can. we can't have him screaming and yelling at the officers whenever they get there, okay?

. >> i'm trying to do everything to find her, you know. i'm answering any questions i have to because i know i didn't do anything to that little girl. i would never hurt her. they love me. i mean, they look at me like their mom, you know.

you ask little jeannie, they'll tell you. >> the front door was wide open, she was standing in it. i asked her what she was doing up. she said the back door was open and little haleigh was gone. i called 911. >> ms. crossland realized little hey lee was miss whg she got up to use the bathroom. there are two bathrooms, one in the master bedroom, and another one across the living room. from the back door area, you can see that you have to walk up a ramp in order to get into the house. now, what we do know is that haleigh was afraid of the dark, and on both sides of the house, there is densely wooded area. >> have you and your girlfriend both taken a polygraph, right? >> yes, i have. passed with flying colors. she has passed her. >> you volunteered to do that, and oyou've been cooperating wih

police, right? >> yeah, why not? i don't have anything to hide, i just want my daughter back. anything that's going to help them eliminate more people is the best thing. >> help me out, misty. why were there inconsistencies? why did you say one thing one time and something else the other? >> i don't know. >> but you know you did do that? >> yeah. >> and you're not sure why? >> yeah. >> that was crossland on the today show back in march, giving extremely ambiguous answers, answers that don't make any sense. i'm just going to put it to you right now. i've cross-examined more people than i can count, i've interviewed more witnesses in felony cases than i can even remember, and when you ask

somebody why they said something and they say, i don't know, you got a problem. we're taking your calls tonight in a major development in the eyes of the legal community. police reveal that it was no stranger that snuck into the home of this little girl, five- -- then five-year-old haleigh cummings and made off with her in the middle of the night. now, the father, ronald cummings, apparently has been cleared. he was working the night shift the evening the little girl went missing. you heard his voice on the 911 call we just played for you. we've been getting your calls, your e-mails, your letters. where is haleigh cummings, what happened to the story? what did happen to the story, mike klaas, president of klaas foundation? all the arguing and bickerring and name-calling between the bio mom and bio dad. >> that's absolutely correct.

it became a hatfield versus mccoy kind of situation, but i think what is central to this story is the same thing that's always been central, is the fact that haleigh is still missing, and i think that everybody -- nobody has ever really expected that ron did it or that crystal did it for a variety of reasons, but misty, who was the last person to see the little girl whose story continually shifts and who statistics point right to, has not been able to clear herself. i think that what she needs to do is to tell the truth, and the way to do that is not to bring a lawyer and put her between the truth and finding that little girl. >> you know what's interesting, dr. lillian glass, psychologist, body language expert, author of "i know what you're thinking," lillian, do you notice she repeatedly refers to "that little girl." >> exactly. >> i don't think in the nearly two years i've had the twins i've ever referred to them in that manner. i don't know what that means, i'm just a lawyer.

what does that mean? >> she's detaching. when you look at her body language, she says it all. she's crying these crocodile or alligator tears, you're seeing her with a very flat affect, you're seeing her shoulders shrugging, looking away. >> don't these people know about secondhand smoke? take a look at that picture. they're both puffing all over that toddler right beside them. that's a whole other line of questioning. dddddddddd

. what did misty tell you that night -- not later, but that night about where haleigh was sleeping? >> she told me that she was sleeping -- her and junior were sleeping in my queen-sized bed and that she was sleeping in the top bed beside her, three or four feet from her or whatever. >> ronald, how did it get so bass ackwards that people construed it as them sleeping

together in the same bed, mission misty, junior your son, and haleigh? how that was miscommunicated? >> nancy, i have no answer for you. i don't know how it was miscommunicated? >> is that what she told police, ronald? did she tell police at any time that she was in the bed with little haleigh? >> i wasn't there when she was questioned by police, ms. nancy. >> november 6 the school nurse says she fell down on the playground and had a scratch to the nose. six days later, the child is in the emergency room now with black eyes, a laceration to the nose and a scrape on the cheek. the medical reports we just obtained from the hospital also say that whoever took her to the hospital on the 12th, six days later from the small scratch on the nose incident, stated that the injury occurred while she was playing on the playground

three days ago. so there are inconsistent versions of the events. >> as you sit here, do you believe in your heart that they see you as a suspect? >> no,i don't. >> i don't, either. i talked to the detective. his name is john merchant. >> and he said? >> they don't think she is a suspect. >> that was misty crossland and ronald cummings on the today show. we're taking your calls live out to brenda in georgia. hello, brenda! >> caller: hi, nancy. >> what's your question? >> caller: i watch you every night, dear. >> thank you. >> caller: my question is what is ronald doing now to help find his daughter, and does he suspect one of his friends or her friends might have done this? >> good question, t.j. hart joining us in gainesville, florida. first of all, are ronald

cummings and misty crossland still together? i know they got married at some point. >> oh, yes. the search is going to start. they're going to participate in the search at the request of ronald's family. they're going to wait until some of the summer vegetation is down and out before they start trying to tackle that mess. one of the things that is going on right now is that the police are insulted misty was even home at the time of the abduction. in fact, in their press release, they mention that any citizen with any direct knowledge of misty's activities during that evening or into the early morning is encouraged to report that information to the putnam county sheriff's office. >> t.j., they might as well take out an ad on third avenue that says, misty crossland was not at home at the time of the kidnapping, because they, the police, are asking the public, hey, did any of you see the

stepmother the night she was missing, the night she says she's at home washing the blankets and putting them to bed at 8:00? >> that would explain making up some of these stories on the fly, allegedly, in the way of putting together a timeline. >> let's go back to the lawyers. new york, raymond in atlanta. raymond, this means, if we are interpreting what the police are saying correctly, this just puts it out there. here's a theory. and again, misty crossland is not a suspect. that if they are asking where is she that night, that suggests that everything she said was false. she was not at home, she did not put them to bed at 8:00, she did not put a blanket on them, she didn't wake up to go to the bathroom and notice the child was missing, and if you believe that somebody else took the child, you would have to believe in the window, the hours that

she's gone, somebody detected she was gone and you had to get into the back door and not make a mark on the door and take the child. now, how likely is it, raymond, that all those factors fit together? >> right. i really believe law enforcement is trying to smoke her out. there's been no action on this case in six months, and they're trying to get a reaction from her one way or another, either a defense statement, or does she go hire a counsel and clam up and they interpret that as an indication that as law enforcement would believe, she has something to hide? >> rodriguez? >> every cop that's ever got a problem, they come to me when they want a lawyer. she needs a lawyer. >> you said that last time! same as the first time. >> we don't give away the fifth amendment just because we're on television. >> are you wearing an ear piece, and when you scream, it hurts? look, i didn't ask you anything about the fifth amendment, but thank you, professor rodriguez.

let's try to get a straight answer out of nicolazi. what about it? do you believe, does it make sense in your practice of law, that all of these factors would fall together and the stars would align that she happens to be gone and during those hours that she's gone, this unknown phantom person was watching the home and sneaked in with no forcible entry and takes the child? >> nancy, your in kred lus way you just went through that is my answer. this would be a miraculous coincidence that doesn't make any sense, the same woman who is telling stories, who is evasive, who is not answering police questions about the timeline at the same time a stranger comes in and ab ducts not both children, but once without a trace, and a door we saw open but we know was shut. there are too many coincidences

that point to her lying, and now i think the police are trying a different tact to get answers from her. >> johns hopkins, can't get any better than that. dr. mccarey, she has turner syndrome, as i recall. that's the name of the syndrome. i know a little bit about it. she's been gone for a matter of months. would she have required some type of medication to survive? >> what we know about turner syndrome is they frequently get infections, like a cold or upper respiratory infection, so they may frequently need antibiotics. they also have a lot of special needs. we know that these people are generally short-statured, they have a webbed neck, high blood pressure and kidney problems, and they're already at risk from secondhand smoke in the home, so there are definitely special needs involved. >> melody in new york.

>> caller: let's take care of this and get that girl in question arrested. thank you. >> melody in ohio, how i have wished it was that easy. let me go back to detective lieutenant stephen rogers, n nutland, new jersey police officer. what can they do? >> you hit the nail on the head, it's not that easy. on your show in the past, from day one police had some indication, some belief that she had something to do with this. that's ground zero, it started there, it's going to end there. >> out to the lines. krasinda in georgia. hi, krasinda. >> hi. i just don't get the same feeling when i see her as i do looking at someone like casey anthony. there are definite

inconsistencies, maybe someone who engages in marijuana. i just think something more needs to be looked into as the possibility of a pedophile having something to do with this. >> krasinda, police have made a stunning announcement that it is not a stranger that took the child. it's someone that knows the child, it's someone in that circle. that's what that means. you start with the family, then you move out to the neighbors, then you move out to who do you go to church or synagogue with to the delivery boy, then you move out and out and out. they made a statement tonight loud and clear that no stranger snuck in and took little haleigh. no stranger. and repeat, misty crossland is not a suspect in this case. everyone, we're taking your calls live, but tonight the verdict is in.

tonight's winner of the show's number one fan contest is york, pennsylvania friend jerry zimmerman. jerry has run the youth program for inner city children for 19 years out of her own pocket. she nails the drug dealers and gangs. never misses a show. even watches at 3:00 a.m.? do you ever get to sleep, jerri? congratulations. you get the signed copy of the new thriller in bookstores, "the eleventh victim," and i personally want to thank you, friend.

nearly 1,000 people have looked in the area where the cell phone was found. >> i know they used k-9 units close to the cell phone location, so they're using k-9

units throughout the search. >> investigators are now turning to neighbors, looking for any information. >> whether you saw anything or not, if you're on the road in these two areas between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m., in the jones creek road area, or 9:00 to 12:00 a.m. in the nutlee dam area, we ask that you give us a call. >> police are stopping every car, asking if they saw anything tuesday night. as they wait for that one tip that turns into a viable lead. >> straight out to you, erica phillips with sbutv outside the command center in blairsville, georgia. why has this search expanded to three states? >> they've gotten involved because they believe whoever

abducted kristi cornwell possibly took her across state lines, maybe into this area, perhaps into north carolina. the road that's right behind me, if you continue on, it leads into tennessee. that's why the fbi has gotten involved, and what they've done is send a couple agents, probably three to five agents, down here to join the army of those who have been outlooking for kristi cornwell the last several days. in fact, tonight starting at 8:00 eastern, there are more roadblock situations forming across this area, crossing a three-mile radius, and what they're doing is stopping and asking people, have you seen anything? i know you probably heard about the situation. did you see anything on tuesday night between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m.? just to try to jog people's memories and try to get something they didn't have before. so far they really don't have a lot of leads, nancy. >> erica phillips, everybody,

especially you, ladies, how many millions of us across the country go for a run or a jog talking away on our cell phones. that's the last time her voice was heard, according to her boyfriend who was on the phone with her and suddenly hears screaming saying, don't take me, don't take me, and she is never heard from again. this young mom needs our help. the tip line, everyone. 895-7877. a lot of you are calling in about the boyfriend, the boyfriend who says he was on the phone with her at the time she goes missing. our producer is there at the command center also. haven't police confirmed that their two lines were in fact engaged at the time she goes missing? >> they have been able to confirm that, nancy, and they have been able to confirm the

boyfriend was in the atlanta area, which is about a two-hour drive. they have confirmed he was in that area. they have not been able to tell us who initiated that phone call. >> put letitia back on. isn't it true that earlier law enforcement made the statement that they knew who called who? then they went back and carefully retracted and said, no. we don't know. we can't confirm if boyfriend called her or she called boyfriend. isn't that true, natitia lance? >> yes, there was an interview earlier where law enforcement did say the boyfriend initiated that phone call, then i spoke to law enforcement directly and they said they don't know who initiated that phone call, but they initiated the phone call to kristi. joining us out of raleigh, north carolina. ben, as always, it's wonderful

to speak to you again. ben, if they can confirm who called who to the mother, from the boyfriend to the mother, why can't they tell us who called who in that crucial phone call when she goes missing? she's abducted right there on the cell phone! >> it's a very routine matter to tell you which way -- who called who. that's a no-brainer, and if anyone is ever in a situation like this, what you do is a three-party call and dial 911. that way you automatically get the victim's location. and that's exactly what he should have done. you would never hang up on a call like that. >> what's the problem? why can't cops identify whether boyfriend called her or she called boyfriend? why can't they tell us that? >> there is absolutely no technical reason for that. now, we don't -- you know, i wonder, was it him? was he there? he may have had an atlanta cell phone number, and he could have

been in the truck behind her. have they confirmed that? >> they are saying they can't confirm at the time of that phone call -- they can confirm at the time of that phone call he was in atd lalanta. wrgn news radio, repeat, the boyfriend is not a suspect. we are merely answering your e-mails and phone questions. eric, the boyfriend is in atlanta when that call takes place to her cell phone. number one, do we know that her cell phone was, in fact, in blairsville at the time of the phone call, and two, who saw her last? who can tell me they saw her go out for a walk? how do i know she wasn't dead already at the time that phone call was made to that cell phone? who can tell me where she was just before that phone call visually? >> well, the first part of the

question, first, we do know that from cell towers, i believe, is where we've been able to locate or this is what authorities have told us, that the boyfriend was in the atlanta area while she was in not my question. >> okay. >> my question is who saw her last? >> it probably would have been perhaps her mother. but she was staying with her mother at the time. we don't know that she was actually at home and saw her -- >> wait. put him back up. eric, you're telling me, we don't know who saw her last? we don't have a visual i.d. of her being on that rural route -- >> they didn't know she was going to be missing in the next few minutes. how many times have you perhaps been at home and said, hey, i'm going out for an exercise walk or run? there were people in the house. who actually was the last person to see her before she left? i don't know if that's been established. ddddddddd