Deputies found 44-year-old Palm Coast resident Faith Cummings lying dead Thursday morning in a spare bedroom of her home at 6 Point Pleasant Drive. She was naked, bloodied and broken.
BUNNELL — Michael Cummings seemed incredulous Monday night when he emerged from an interrogation room at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office after detectives questioned him for hours.
He wore a look of disbelief on his face as deputies walked him in handcuffs to the patrol vehicle that would whisk him to jail for the second time in four days. His voice was shaky as he told a throng of reporters gathered outside that he loves his family.
“I didn’t kill her … I didn’t kill her,” he said when asked why he killed his ex-wife, Faith Cummings.
Deputies found the 44-year-old Palm Coast woman lying dead Thursday morning in a spare bedroom of her home at 6 Point Pleasant Drive. She was naked, bloodied and broken. Michael Cummings, 46, told detectives she fell in the bathtub.
But extensive bruising all over her face and body quickly aroused the suspicion of investigators. The Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy and ruled her death a homicide Monday, determining that Faith Cummings died of blunt force trauma to the head with asphyxiation.
Authorities charged Michael Cummings with second-degree murder, claiming he beat and kicked her to death during an argument over infidelity that spiraled out of control.
“This is a case where a former husband, who’s now living with his ex-wife, brutally beats and stomps his ex-wife to death in an angry rage,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly told reporters moments after Cummings was arrested. “He realizes what he has done and then tries to hide his crime.”
Staly said the couple were divorced in 2013 but rekindled their relationship and began living together shortly after Faith Cummings received a large insurance settlement. There had never been any official reports of abuse in the relationship, but investigators learned Michael Cummings had a history of unreported domestic violence against multiple ex-wives after interviewing witnesses.
According to reports, Michael Cummings called 9-1-1 just before 8 a.m. Thursday and told dispatchers that he’d been performing CPR on his ex-wife for hours. When deputies arrived, Cummings' pants were covered in blood and Faith was lying naked on a bed not breathing. She was bleeding from the bridge of her nose, blood was running down the side of her face and one of her eyes was swollen shut. There were also cuts on her face and neck and severe bruising all over her body. She also suffered several broken bones, including cracks or fractures to all of her ribs, Staly said.
“We think that this incident started as a domestic argument and just spiraled out of control in a rage,” he said.
Detectives believe the couple’s argument began in the garage of the home before Michael Cummings chased Faith into a bathroom, his brutal attack eventually spilling into a guest bedroom.
Upon seeing the injuries, medical examiner’s at the scene suspected that Faith Cummings had been the victim of a homicide. Authorities said autopsy results supported that suspicion.
Michael Cummings told deputies he found out Faith was cheating on him and confronted her after coming home from work, but said he fell asleep and heard a thump while she was in the shower. He said he found her lying in the bathtub unconscious so he placed her on the bathroom floor and began performing CPR. He said he then moved her to the bedroom and performed CPR for several hours before finally calling 9-1-1.
But Staly said Cummings' story did not match evidence that showed signs that someone had tried to clean the home before investigators arrived. A blood splatter expert who examined the scene Thursday determined multiple “cast-off stains” on the walls and ceiling of the guest bathroom indicated Faith Cummings had been struck with a weapon.
Officials said there are also signs that evidence may have been removed from the scene and detectives are investigating whether one of Michael Cummings’ friends might have tried to help him dispose of items.
“No one does CPR ‘for hours’ as he told us before calling for medical assistance,” Staly said. “It was obvious that the victim had been deceased for hours before we were called. There had been an obvious attempt to clean up the crime scene and reposition the body.”
Cummings refused to leave the home for several hours Thursday to allow detectives to conduct a forensic analysis of the scene without interference. Deputies eventually arrested him and charged him with obstruction of justice. He was released on $500 bail later that night.
Staly said investigators questioned Cummings twice and both times he tried to manipulate them to find out what they knew. Curious about the autopsy results, he agreed to come to the Sheriff’s Office again Monday to speak with investigators. Staly said he tried to pry information from detectives so he could fit his story around the evidence. Instead of convincing detectives of his innocence, he walked out of the Sheriff’s Office in handcuffs charged with homicide.
“I love my family; I always have protected my family,” he said as deputies patted him down.
Cummings was being held without bail Monday night.