OK here's what I think:
I will be the first to admit that I believed without a reasonable doubt that Ron had done something to Haleigh and then she magically "disappeared". IMO, you could not explain away Ron's actions and those of his family without suspecting that they knew all along what happened to Haleigh. No one really wants to think that a father could hurt his child let alone cover up what actually happened to her. I do not believe that Misty led Ron to believe whatever happened to Haleigh was his fault. IMO, the Cummings knew exactly what happened....the fact that I believe that Misty was their "fall girl", in the beginning, the Cummings tried to keep Misty happy by any means. They controlled everything Misty said. IMO, the Cummings job was to paint Misty as the perfect girlfriend in the public's eyes but IMO, they wanted her to also appear as a liar, so if and when she decided to tell the truth no one would believe her. It worked out rather well for them. IMO, the Cummings were thinking that, if they kept Misty happy and spoke highly of her, then Misty would continue to be on their side and go along with the script. Misty did just that although she didn't have all her details together. As long as they rallied around Misty, their secret was safe. LE said early on in this case that Misty was the "key" and said that Misty was not being truthful with them....That did not seem to bother the Cummings then, so why are they concerned now?
Since the drug bust, now we have Teresa and Annette changing faces and talking real bad about Misty. Like I said, I really didn't notice Teresa/Annette flip flop on Misty until after she got locked up. I asked myself "what changed"? IMHO, I think that the Cummings felt that their secret was not safe anymore. They could not control the situation with Misty behind bars, and I think that worried them. I will never forget Teresa-"you think she's gonna talk" statement. Never will. IMO, Teresa was very much worried about Misty talking. So, because they couldn't control Misty any longer, and their secret was not safe any longer, what do they do? They started to bad mouth her, treating her as their enemy. And with that being said, Misty still wanted GMF to call and tell them about the search of the St.JOhns River...where Teresa and Annette spent hours searching after that phone call. IMO, that was Misty's way of showing the Cummings "see I'm still on your side". I believe that was because bits and pieces of the truth were starting to come out.
It seemed pretty clear, to me at least, that Ron and Misty were targeted in that drug bust. And that fact, at one point, confirmed to me that Ron and Misty had something to do with what happened to Haleigh. It's hard to separate the two cases because in my mind, we would not have seen one (drug bust) if it wasn't for the other (Haleigh case). But when I heard that Ron would testisfy on behalf of the STATE if there ever is a trial concerning Haleigh, that made me think that Ron had crucial information for the STATE in regards to Haleigh. The SAO accepted the deal. I just don't know how that would be, if they thought he was directly involved in whatever happened to Haleigh.:waitasec: That's the part that gets me and now have me sitting on the fence as to whether Ron had a hand in what happened to his daughter. I will admit though that I do not know how those plea deals work.
So if LE is not considering Ron a suspect, then clearly they think that he knows something, because once again, the SA accepted the deal. IMO, LE knew from the get go that Ron had information, but he was not willing to give it up. When Ron stop cooperating with LE, IMO, it wasn't because Ron was being truthful with them. I think they were on to Ron early in this case and because of that, Ron got him a criminal defense lawyer and didn't want to speak with them anymore. So he didn't. For months...
So if LE thought Ron had crucial information early on and they considered Misty "the key", clearly they both were protecting someone, but who?
IMO, if they were not protecting Ron, they were protecting someone very close to him....like his mother, Teresa. Some don't think that Misty would cover for Teresa...but I think she would if Ron told her too.
JMO of course
coffee anyone?