George Anthony, Other Familiar Faces Involved in Haleigh Cummings Case

Feb. 13, 2009 — -- George Anthony, grandfather of the late Caylee Anthony, joined the family of missing 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings Thursday to support them, Anthony's attorney, Brad Conway, told ABC News.

"He wanted to go and comfort the family," Conway said. "He saw Haleigh's father on TV. Anyone could see the anguish on his face. George particularly related to that. He felt like he had to go."

In a case that garnered national attention, George Anthony's granddaughter, Caylee, disappeared in June of last year. After six months of desperate searching, Caylee's body was discovered less than a mile from the Anthony home in Orlando.

Along with George Anthony, the search for Cummings, which began after the girl disappeared from her father's Satsuma, Fla., home Tuesday, has attracted several familiar faces from the Anthony case. Police are treating the investigation as an abduction.

Leonard Padilla, the California bounty hunter who bailed Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, out of jail during the Caylee case, arrived in Satsuma Tuesday and has offered a $25,000 reward if the child is returned by midnight Saturday.

"I'm doing it because I think the child's alive," Padilla told ABC News.

The reward comes with no questions asked. "Money for the child. Alive," he said.

Texas EquuSearch, headed by founder and director Tim Miller, is organizing a civilian search effort, much like the one that drew thousands of searchers for Caylee, according to a report by the Orlando Sentinel.

According to Conway, George Anthony is attempting to use his notoriety to bring attention to Haleigh's case, but realizes such a strategy could be a double-edged sword.

"[The Anthonys] have been working behind the scenes for the last few days," Conway said. "They have been contacting people in the media to publicize it. But nobody wants to detract from the search effort. They don't want this to turn into a George and Cindy story with that girl still missing up there."