HOPE SYKES - 15 YEARS!

Wow that was just PAINFUL to listen to that. Did you hear the mother talking about "maybe she'll be in court tomorrow, but she has to move her STUFF!" Hope is waaaaaay to nice to her mother! And the photos of Hope in court, there's a close up of the mother (whose last name is BELCHER), looking at the mother's forearm, sure looks like junkie marks....

Poor kid. I do not believe Hope had anything to do with Haleigh's murder, and no one taught Hope how to stay on the straight and narrow.

None of this sentencing truly should surprise anyone. By the way they have the line up going far as the rest of the others sentencing, its painfully obvious its to get misty to talk. Next one up will be Ronald in May and Misty in June. Maybe if Misty see's "her man" get even more years then what Hope got, Misty will finally open her mouth as to what really went down the night Haleigh went missing.

As we know, the reason the drug bust even happened was to get some of the parties behind bars to "help" in the Haleigh investigation. All the work Law Enforcement has done thus far, IMO they are pretty pissed off to those who keep on lying!! so they thought up a plan and are sticking to that plan.

Notice how all parties in jail have what's called " public defenders". Notice how no real attorney jumped in to make a name for themselves? Huge reasons for that. For some that don't know, let me explain the difference. Public defenders are lawyers that work for the court. breaking that down " they work for the court". Usually a public defender gets a job at a court for a few reasons. 1) They can't get a job elsewhere 2) They can't join a firm 3) They can't be an independent lawyer. Although these public defenders are suppose to help their clients, these public defenders also work for the prosecutors in so far, the better deal is going to the prosecutor. One can't win when having a public defender which is what I believe all of the Croslin's and Cummings have. This is why you get what you pay for when you hire a real attorney that you pay dearly for.

Word will finally reach Misty to learn that Hope got 15 years. Misty knowing she has 8 counts in front of her is more then likely, having a cow. Will this finally make her tell the truth? lets hope so. It wouldn't surprise me any that if the day comes Haleigh is found ( dead or alive) and Hope is proven to have no involvement, I'm certain her charges will get reduced. We might not hear about it or maybe we will. The judge is setting an example to show this is no game when it comes to the Haleigh investigation. Don't think that the lawyers of the court, the prosecutors as well, hasn't filled the judge in with all that surrounds this case because I have no doubts they are all working together to find out what happened to Haleigh Cummings.

15 years with one charge of drug trafficking is certainly unheard of. I don't care what their laws are. The ONLY reason the Judge set that "time" amount is to send a strict message to the others. Like I said, its painfully obvious.

I have followed this case since day one. I have been on crime searchers online only to see that shut down. I had at one time thought I saw Haleigh back in June (massachusetts) to where all was reported. I still have hope Haleigh is out there. call me crazy, but I know what I saw and I certainly see the "game" they are playing to bring this case to a close. I have my own theory's to what I think what happened but naturally they are theory's and nothing more. What I do know for sure, is I will never mistaken what I witnessed back in June of 09. to this day I have never let go. Until remains of Haleigh are identified or proven to be her, I will hold on to what I saw way back when. Again, thanks for having me.

Welcome Butterfly64. I think you're right about the recent sentencing of Hope Sykes. It will be interesting how this turns out.

Welcome Butterfly64! Thanks for the explanation too...

Thank you eva and Julie!

Eva- not sure if it was needed but thought to throw that in there.

Julie- I would just love for this case to be solved once and for all like so many, especially their families. It amazes me how all these " kids " got into so much trouble and sadly a little girl, Haleigh Cummings was in the crossfire of it all. Truly no winners. So very sad indeed.

Hi butterfly64, welcome to RC.

One has to remember that this took place in "good ole boy" country...Those people do not look lightly on wrong doers no matter what their age...Wrong place, wrong time...no excuse...She should have known that Misty and Ron were up to criminal activity and should have run for the hills, not wanting any part of it...She already had one strike against her and that alone should have been a wake up call...

Welcome butterfly64. I think I remember reading your CSO post about seeing Haleigh awhile back. I hope it was Haleigh that you saw. I know the amount of time that has passed makes it seem likely that Haleigh is dead and I don't know what the Sheriff knows that he's not telling us, but nothing that I've heard on the news convinces me that Haleigh is dead. All the recent developments seem to be based on words from people who have been known to lie.

Tommy told his wife Lindsey in a jailhouse call awhile ago that Misty's lawyer wanted him to go along with some story that pins everything on cousin Joe. He told Lindsey that he didn't want Joe going to prison for a crime he didn't commit, but now all the sudden, Tommy's pointing the finger at cousin Joe. It sounds like he may have gotten desperate to get out of jail and decided to go along with the plan in hopes of getting a plea deal on the drug charges.

I don't have much sympathy for drug dealers, but I think 15 years was too harsh. Where is the justice if Hope Sykes spends 15 years in jail, but people like John Gardner and Phillip Garrido, who needed to be locked up for life, only served 11 years or less before getting out and going on to commit crimes that were even worse than their original crimes?

while i agree that 15 years for a first time offender is a bit overkill... afterall, it wasnt heroine they were peddling, it was prescription pain pills (not that it is okay, but seriously)

on the OTHER hand, if all our courts took stricter punishment standards, maybe there would be a little less of this and that occurring. The small penalty usually associated is not enough to outweigh the potential income from selling drugs.

i am sure that she will appeal the sentence, and it will likely be reduced, however, even if it werent, i think i would have to chalk it up to... you did the crime.

for the record, i think that this girl talked herself into 15 years with her big mouth and attitude problem. i think a BIG heaping dose of reality is something that she was in despirate need of, and she GOT IT!!!

i sure hope this cracks little misty... she OBVIOUSLY knows more than she has previously shared, and maybe this will get her talking.

awaiting justice- I do believe the reason Hopes "public defender" had her plead no contest is because he works for the courts who are trying to solve this case. That public defender knows exactly what he's doing. Do I think its right? Hell no!!

Also take notice of the age brackets to the players involved. We are talking about very young and totally nieve individuals. They have no clue what their doing on TOP of never learning "values" or probably ever getting repremanded for their lies even as small kids. Not saying it justifies their actions, just saying.

I do feel badly for Hope only because she is young and got herself in trouble with drugs. Yes, she has a mouth but under the circumstances she is no doubt scared and its coming out the way we heard on those tapes. Her life can be turned around but now that she knows as of todays date she has 15 years!!!! can't say I blame her for saying out of anger she's going to be worse when she gets out. I'd be scared out of my wits end if I was going where Hope is right now.

I'm sorry but I blame all of this on our system in so far, when a person lies when a crime is committed, there are no consequences for them. Thats why the drug bust had to be placed to get them all on criminal charges. Lies don't land you in jail, (and they should), its the real crimes they can work with.

Just want to add, that if Tommy passed his lie detector test I'm sure it would have been revealed which leads me to believe he failed it. Law enforcement however probably believed "parts" of Tommy that led them to the river to begin a search. Why do I picture Tommy hamming up that interview who poured on the tears?!

I think Awaiting Justice, the reason why they keep saying Misty holds the key to this case, is because she does. Doesn't mean Misty knows what happened to Haleigh but it shows Misty is holding something back. I will always believe Misty left that trailer which is why her stories are not matching. For misty to admit she left, puts Misty responsible for two kids on top of losing Ron for sure. Doesn't matter if Misty killed or hurt haleigh, what matters is she left so she will be blamed for that. When someone can't account for where they were at in alot of crimes committed, people say " I was asleep". Lets say after all this time misty finally comes clean and admits she was asleep at that time. That would be great if she could state that because if its true, law enforcement will be able to question where she was at , who she was with, and question the people she was with. It will lead them in another direction in finding Haleigh. However, it wouldn't be good for Misty all the way around. I think she knows that. problem is, she'd rather point the finger at someone else so her dear ole Ron will feel sorry for her she was threatened instead of learning she left his two babies alone. again, my theory but its what I felt right from the time she told her story.

Awaiting Justice- I remember you over at crime searchers online and I respected your opinions there as I do here. thanks for respecting mine. In reading all you had to say, let me try and explain why I think Misty was out the night Haleigh went missing.

I may be going back and fourth with this so I'll try to keep it in order? so much to say but here goes.

You make mention of Misty being able to hide the body or others being able to keep quiet for this long knowing there's a 35K reward floating around. I'm claiming Misty went out but I never said it was Misty to do anything to Haleigh. My thinking is someone talked Misty into leaving and she went for it figuring the kids were asleep and she won't be gone long. Who ever Misty was with, I believe are the ones responsible. Why would the people Misty would be out with Rat on themselves? Better Yet, why would Misty tell? Misty only knows she was out of that trailer but I don't think she knows the girls were out to get her.

Do you recall Misty saying in an interview that she didn't have any friends when being asked? and then Misty said she had two that she now knows are not her friends? back then, no one knew about her affair with white boy Greg. If Misty were to say who she was with, then Misty had to worry that would be revealed. Even though it was brought to the surface later down the road, too late, Misty already said she was asleep so why would Misty think to change her story?. I'm trying to think in the mind of a 17 year old girl given her background and education on top of using drugs.

Misty knew all too well Ron's temper as it was. Being that Misty claimed she was home and asleep, why would Misty think to come forward right now? If Haleigh is found dead, Misty will be charged with that because Misty was responsible for two kids that night. Misty isn't going to implicate herself in anyway what so ever. Misty right now is pointing the finger at cousin Joe and before I even heard Ronald's comments about it being Joe, I knew Ron would feel bad for Misty if in fact its the way it happened and low and behold, its how Ron is feeling about it all.

This is why Misty's cries long before now were " I don't know where Haleigh is at".. that's because the girl really does not know. The entire story of this being cousin Joe just doesn't add up at all and if Misty was really home, why does she keep failing miserably. For argument sake, if Misty really did go out that night, then it certainly would explain why she keeps failing. Misty is trying to fill in the gaps of the time frame she was gone which isn't working out at all. thus deception. If this really was a secret in it being cousin Joe.. that information would have come out long ago imo because your right about one thing, no croslin is going to save another.. so why now?

I'll answer that, its only because they are behind bars and are desperate very well knowing they better say something! anything to them at this point sounds good because law enforcement did not budge when Tommy and Misty said " I don't know where Haleigh is at". Its a cooked up story. I don't believe they wouldn't find hard enough evidence to make an arrest if they had "something". I don't believe Tommy's lawyer wouldn't disclose his last poly if they had something! I think there is so much more to it. Tommy went there that night, claimed Misty was not home. Right, she wasn't.

It was tommy who said he would make up a story if he had to. I believed that statement. some things said are believable and some things are not. Misty was set up is what I think. Obviously I could be wrong. But I do think the girl doesn't have friends and those friends she hung with had it in for her. Motive, there is much motive as to why.

wanted to add a little more now that i'm thinking about it all.

In all Honesty awaiting justice I have gone out of my f'n mind the moment I knew I saw Haleigh back in June. At that time, my thoughts were " If Haleigh has a double, this would be her" because at that time, it had yet to be reported that Haleigh was thought to be taken by someone haleigh Knew. So why would I think " this had to be Haleigh" considering she was from Florida and I witnessed this in Massachusetts. At that time however, I didn't just drop it, I did research and found no family in this area and yet I could NOT let go what I thought I had saw. UNTIL.. I found out that Timmy and Chelsea upped it to Massachusetts weeks later. That's when it brought my feelings of seeing Haleigh all back to the surface... and from there, SO MUCH more has happened, all has been reported. Which is why I have followed pretty much every step of this case. If I didn't feel I saw Haleigh, I would have tuned in, but not as much as I have been doing lately. Just note, when I say so much more has happened, you would be surprised yourself but nothing I can do at this point, I'm leaving it all to Law Enforcement. Until it is proven Haleigh's remains are found, I certainly can't let go of what I saw. Its hard knowing what I saw, I sometimes wished I didn't. ( don't mean that badly)

Far as Misty, her love for Ron sits in a very sick and twisted way. Misty cares what Ron thinks of her which is why she's protected herself from all of it where he is concerned. her tattoo speaks volumes that love I am talking about. Misty took over when she once baby sat for Amber and Ron because to Misty, she wanted stability. a trailer (home) to call her own. Something Misty has never had. To us, we know how trailers and trailer people are put down.. not a nice thing if you ask me, but it is out there. Ironically I once use to own a trailer like they lived in. a double wide is what that is I believe and I remember how it once made me feel. I looked at my trailer like the bomb at one time. I was only 26 too and being Misty is so much younger, I could only imagine how it made her feel. I am a proud home owner by the way but hell, trailers aren't so bad. Sadly, I can relate in a lot of ways to Misty to "some degree".. I remember back when I was 17. I have also been in abusive relationships too but now happily married for almost 15 years. I just feel I can see what Misty is doing and why she is doing it even though I totally do not agree. Prior to Misty even meeting Ron, it sounds like Misty's life was quite the mess which is why I feel Misty wanted what Amber had. A relationship, the family, the home, and maybe not so much the kids but she dealt with it best she could. I think Misty trusted the wrong people and feel I've been able to pick up on some things the girl says. Again, I certainly can be wrong with this entire theory... but one things for sure, I do not believe I am mistaken who I saw back in June 09. If I did in fact see Haleigh, she certainly didn't walk in all by herself.

"If Misty did leave, I suspect her lawyers wud have told her that she wud walk away lightly.. a minor who left where something happened to the child wud be far less penalizing than what she wud stand to lose by lying about it... Ron wud have prolly been in more hot water than she if this were the case"..

Very good point Awaiting Justice, however.. To Misty, she doesn't care what her lawyer thinks. Misty cares what RON thinks and if RON knew Misty left his two babies lone, are you kidding? Not only would Misty have to worry about losing Ron totally, she would have to worry about Ron blaming her entirely to where it might cost Misty her life where Ron is concerned. Do you not recall how he treated Misty during that 911 call?

Hope Sykes' Mother Dies

Sunday, April 10, 2011

She was only 44


This is terribly sad; especially considering the banter between mother and daughter caught on video. Her young death was, no doubt, hastened by her broken heart.
Drugs destroys lives and gives no benefit.

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