Padilla offers reward for abducted girl

Leonard Padilla, the bounty hunter who for several months in 2008 had been engaged in the search for Orlando toddler Caylee Marie Anthony, is now offering a $25,000 reward for the safe return of another missing girl.

PHOTO GALLERY: Search for missing north Florida

A Florida Amber Alert has been issued for five year old Haleigh Cummings, of Satsuma, believed to have been abducted in the early morning hours of Tuesday.

On Wednesday, agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Putnam County Sheriff's Office resumed their search for the missing girl in an area about 70 miles north of Orlando. Investigators searched house-to-house and dive teams probed the St. Johns River.

According to investigators, Haleigh was last seen on Monday night around 10 p.m. in her mobile home on Green Lane. Haleigh, her younger brother and her father's 17-year-old girlfriend, Mistie Croslin, went to bed in the same room. Deputies say Croslin told them that the little girl got up to go to the bathroom around 3:30 a.m., about the same time Haleigh's father, Ronald, got home from work. When they went back into the bedroom they discovered Haleigh was gone.

Last night Haleigh's mother, Crystal Sheffield, cried in front of the news cameras. "I just want to say, bring her back home. Please!" Haleigh's father says his daughter was afraid of the dark and wouldn't wander off by herself. "Somebody stole my child, trust me when I tell you that I know my child," he said.

Family members spent the night at a candlelight vigil. They say they will continue the vigil until Haleigh returns home.

Initially, investigators with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said it was not clear if Haleigh was abducted or wandered out into the rural neighborhood that borders the St. Johns River. They said the mobile home where she lives had no signs of forced entry, but a back door was open.

"We go door to door. We meet with the homeowners and ask if they mind if we go look around," said Lt. Johnny Greenwood, a spokesman for the sheriff's office. "You ask if you can look in the back of the house, at the sheds and anything that's around there."

Investigators say Croslin is now with her family. They are not calling her a suspect at this time.

Haleigh's grandfather, Johnny Sheffield, told FOX 35 on Wednesday that he was distraught over the disappearance of his granddaughter. He questioned Croslin's involvement in his granddaughter's disappearance.

Haleigh's grandmother, Marie Griffis, was also pleading to the public for help. Griffis told FOX 35 that the father of Trenton Ducket, the missing Lake County toddler who disappeared in 2006, was also assisting in the search. Indeed, Josh Ducket arrived on Wednesday to volunteer in the search efforts. Also present was Leonard Padilla. Padilla said the $25,000 reward would be honored if the girl is recoverd safely within 72 hours of her disappearance. Though both Ducket and Padilla have offered their assistance, Gary Bowling, a spokesperson for the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, said officials are not actively seeking help from volunteers at present time.

Twenty five law enforcement agencies have assisted so far, including crews from Marion, Flagler and Volusia counties. Deputies say they have questioned 44 sex offenders who live within five miles of Haleigh's home. "This child didn't voluntarily walk out of her home. If she did someone took her," Bowling said.

Several hundred homes were expected to be surveyed on Wednedsay. Check points were set up at the entrance to the neighborhood to search departing vehicles and two dive teams explored the St. Johns River. Neighbors and family members also were being interviewed by detectives.

"We're currently working both angles _ did she wander off, we're working it that way with the searches," Greenwood said. "And investigators are doing interviews in case it is an abduction."

Haleigh Ann-Marie Cummings is 5-years-old. She is 3 feet tall, weighs 39 lbs, has blonde hair and brown eyes. She was last seen on Green Lane in the Hermit's Cove area of Satsuma. She was wearing a pink shirt and underwear. Anyone with information should call the Putnam County Sheriffs Office at 386-329-0808.