‘The similarities are quite uncanny’: Cases of two missing 5-year-old girls connected by mystery

The disappearance of Taylor Williams (right) has opened old wounds of another missing child case. Haleigh Cummings (left) was also 5 years old when she disappeared 10 years ago and was never found.

Credit: Action News Jax/Jacksonville Sheriff

Credit: Action News Jax/Jacksonville Sheriff

The disappearance of Taylor Williams (right) has opened old wounds of another missing child case. Haleigh Cummings (left) was also 5 years old when she disappeared 10 years ago and was never found.

Taylor Williams’ disappearance has striking similarities to one of the biggest mysteries our area has ever seen, the Haleigh Cummings case.

More than 10 years ago, Haleigh -- also 5 years old -- disappeared from her Satsuma home.

She has still never been found, and no one has been charged in the case, but her loved ones said they’ll never give up hope.

“We love her so very much, and we miss her,” said Haleigh’s great-grandmother, Annette Sykes.

Sykes said the Williams case is reopening an old wound.

“It’s like an instant replay of when Haleigh went missing,” Sykes said. “It makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.”

Two girls, both 5 years old, were both said to have disappeared from their beds.

“The pajamas that (Taylor) had on were the same color as the shirt that Haleigh had on when she went missing,” Sykes said. “That’s kind of eerie.”

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said Taylor Williams’ mother is no longer cooperating.

Steve Rose, Putnam County mayor and an investigator on Haleigh's case dealt with that in his investigation with the last person to see her alive, Misty Croslin, the girlfriend of Haleigh's father.

“The similarities are quite uncanny,” Rose said.

“What would you tell the investigators on this case now in Jacksonville?” Action News Jax reporter Russell Colburn asked him.

“Don’t give up, don’t give up until there’s a resolution,” Rose said.

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