PUTNAM COUNTY, FL -- After six days of searching for 5-year-old Haleigh Cummings, authorities say they are winding down their ground operations (special report).
On Sunday, deputies moved the mobile command center from the neighborhood where Haleigh disappeared back to the county's emergency operations center.
Haleigh vanished from her Satsuma home early Tuesday morning. Her father's girlfriend said she awoke and discovered the girl was missing. Authorities are treating her disappeance as an abduction.
"We're still treating it as an abduction because, as we said early on, that brings out the highest level of response," Putnam County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Rick Ryan told WJXT on Sunday.
Investigators say as many as 300 law eneforcement officers and volunteers combed extensive stretches of wooded areas and the nearby St. Johns River for signs of the missing girl. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office says it has received some 500 leads.
“They are continuing to follow up those leads,” Ryan told Jacksonville.com. “We had some interviews today and we will have some interviews tomorrow.”
Detectives will continue to work through a 30-day timeline in an effort to find out who Haleigh may have come into contact with.
Haleigh's home, a double-wide trailer, will remain sealed off in case clues or evidence is discovered that leads back to the residence.
Ryan said the value of the ground operation has waned. He said search teams will be on standby if needed again.
“At some point we knew we were going to have to scale back if we didn’t find anything,” Ryan said.
Sources: WJXT, Jacksonville.com
