The parents of a five-year-old girl snatched from her bed have made an emotional appeal for her return.

Haleigh Cummings was abducted from her bedroom in the early hours of Tuesday morning as she slept next to her two-year-old brother  - in a crime eerily similar to the disappearance of  Madeline McCann.

Police in Florida have launched a massive hunt for the girl and have begun tracking down 44 sex offenders who live near her home in rural Satsuma.

But fears are growing for Haleigh's safety as it has been over 48 hours since she went missing.

Her father Ronald Cummings, 27, made the discovery when he returned home in the early hours of the morning from work and found the door to his trailer home propped open.

Crystal Sheffield, Haleigh's mother, begged for her daughter's return. She is separated from Haleigh's father.

'Whoever has her, I know you're watching,' Ms Sheffield told U.S. television show Good Morning America. 

'She hasn't done nothing wrong. Please bring her back.'   

Earlier the girl's father said: 'I'd like to say if anybody's watching and they've seen the picture of my daughter and they've seen her anywhere, please get in contact with local law enforcement officer or Crimestoppers.'

Haleigh's disappearance is also very similar to that of another Florida girl, 10-year-old Jessica Lunsford in 2005.

She was snatched by convicted paedophile John Coeuy from her trailer home in  Inverness, Florida.

Jessica was buried alive after being abused and her death led to the creation of  'Jessica's Law' which gave U.S. courts greater sentencing power for child killers and molesters.

Couey, 47, was sentenced to death for the grisly killing.

Haleigh was last seen by her father's 17-year-old girlfriend Misty Croslin who was looking after her.

She told police Haleigh was sleeping next to her.

Miss Croslin said she last saw the youngster at 10pm after putting her to bed.

The teenager told police she discovered Haleigh missing at 3am when she went to use the bathroom.

Miss Croslin was initially a suspect but ruled out after passing a lie detector test. Mr Cummings also passed a lie detector test.

He had reported her missing in a desperate emergency call in which he told the  operator: 'If I find whoever has my daughter before you all do, I'm killing them. I don't care if I spend the rest of my life in prison.'

Mr Cummings told police that when he returned from work early Tuesday morning, the back door was propped open and Haleigh was gone. 

'Somebody came in my back door, broke into my home and stole my daughter,' he  said.  

Detective John Merchant of the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said no stone would be left unturned.

'All the world is a suspect,' he said.

'We are going to treat everybody, every family member every associate, like a suspect until we eliminate them.'