Police Follow Up on New Leads in 5-Year-Old Haleigh Cummings Case

April 14, 2010 — -- A relative of missing 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings was interviewed by several Florida investigators late Tuesday night after a day of renewed searching for the missing girl, who was last seen more than a year ago.

Joseph Overstreet, 20, arrived at FBI headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., for questioning at about 11 p.m., his lawyer, Shawn Sirgo, said.

Overstreet is the cousin of Misty Croslin, Haleigh's former stepmother who was the last person to see her before she was reported missing. Officials Tuesday transferred Croslin from the jail where she was being held for unrelated drug charges to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office in Florida for questioning about the little girl.

Overstreet of Nashville was visiting Satsuma, Fla., when the girl went missing there but has denied any knowledge of her disappearance.

Sirgo declined to provide details of his client Overstreeet's nearly one-hour session with investigators, saying only that it was in connection to Haleigh's disappearance.

"But at the end of the conversation they went back to Florida and Joseph went home," Sirgo said. "I got no indication that they were moving forward in an aggressive manner."

No one has been named as a person of interest or a suspect in Haleigh's disappearance on Feb. 10, 2009, when she vanished from the home of her father, Ronald Cummings, in Satsuma. Satsuma is 60 miles south of Jacksonville.

"[Overstreet] denies any involvement," Sirgo said, adding that his client feels "targeted" by the questioning. "He's been consistent in that from the beginning of the investigation."

Meanwhile, investigators in Florida began day two of searching the murky St. John's River for Haleigh, a location they focused on when the girl was first reported missing.

Repeated messages left for Putnam County Sheriff's Office Lt. Johnny Greenwood were not immediately returned, but a statement on the department's Web site confirmed the search.

"A search is currently being conducted as the result of one of the many leads received thus far in this case," the statement read.

Greenwood told ABC News affiliate WTLV in Jacksonville Tuesday that officials were acting on a tip, but he declined to provide more details because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

"No, we haven't found Haleigh," Putnam County Sheriff Jeff Hardy told WTLV, but he said police would continue the search for "as long as it takes."

Hardy said he met with members of the young girl's family Tuesday.

"The conversations we had were between me and the family," Hardy said.

Haleigh Cummings: New Search for Missing Girl

Haleigh was first reported missing by her father, who made a chilling 911 call when he discovered her missing.

"I just got home from work and my 5-year-old daughter is gone," he told a dispatcher. "If I find whoever has my daughter before you all do, I'm killing them. I don't care if I spend the rest of my life in prison."

Cummings had left Haleigh and her 3-year-old brother in the care of Croslin, who was 17 at the time.

"She was sleeping right next to me," Croslin told the Palatka Daily News. "I can't believe I didn't hear anything."

Cummings told police that when he returned from work early that Tuesday morning, the back door was propped open and Haleigh was gone.

"Somebody came in my back door, broke into my home and stole my daughter," he said.

"I don't know why somebody would take her," Crystal Sheffield, the girl's mother, said at the time of her daughter's disappearance. "I'm scared for her. She is probably scared and cold and hungry."

Throughout the ordeal, Haleigh's family has shown similar dogged determination.

"If I lost hope, what does she have left then?" Ronald Cummings told ABC News' Orlando affiliate WFTV in February 2009. "Like I gave up on her? I'm not giving up on her. Never."

Florida police treated Haleigh's disappearance as an abduction, investigators said early on in the investigation, after concluding she did not simply wander off alone.

"All the world is a suspect," Det. John Merchant of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office told reporters at the time of her disappearance. "We are going to treat everybody, every family member, every associate, like a suspect until we eliminate them."

As police launched a massive search effort that included divers and K-9 units, Sheffield begged for her daughter's return.

"Whoever has her, I know you're watching," she told "Good Morning America" in February 2009. "She ain't done nothing wrong. Please bring her back."

In June 2009, vowing to leave no stone unturned, investigators dug up much of the 30-acre Glen St. Mary home of Haleigh's grandmother, Marie Griffis, but only recovered animal remains.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.