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Tennessee Amber Alert update: Teacher & 10th grader could be ‘far away’ · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:08
Speaker 1: The case to find Elizabeth Thomas has gone cold, and
0:12
Speaker 1: now law enforcement is hoping to widen the net to
0:15
Speaker 1: bring Elizabeth. Howe, We really need the public to realize
0:18
Speaker 1: that this young girl is in danger. This is crime
0:22
Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace. Elizabeth was last seen in Columbia.
0:26
Speaker 1: Investigators say that she is with Tad Cummins. Tb I
0:29
Speaker 1: says the Cummins was a teacher. She's fifteen, he's fifty.
0:33
Speaker 1: He's now facing a charge in which the district attorney
0:37
Speaker 1: has confirmed her to be the victim. Investigators are now
0:41
Speaker 1: going on the theory that Cummins has taken Elizabeth, either
0:45
Speaker 1: to an area outside the public or outside the Southeast.
0:49
Speaker 1: They're missing, They could be anywhere. We want her home.
0:52
Speaker 1: We want him in custody. If you see them, don't
0:54
Speaker 1: approach them. Commons maybe arm. It has now been a
1:00
Speaker 1: week and still no son of a schoolgirl from Tennessee.
1:05
Speaker 1: She is gone. Her high school teacher, Tad Cummins, now
1:10
Speaker 1: charged with kidnapping the little girl after another student reports
1:14
Speaker 1: seeing him kissing the little girl in class. Everything has
1:21
Speaker 1: gone sideways. The case is cold, and somewhere out there
1:25
Speaker 1: is a fifty year old high school teacher with a
1:29
Speaker 1: fifteen year old girl, a very vulnerable girl, and according
1:33
Speaker 1: to police, this guy is armed with at least two guns.
1:39
Speaker 1: He is currently charged with aggravated kidnapping as well as
1:43
Speaker 1: sex contact with a minor. In the last hours, the
1:48
Speaker 1: t b I gives a press or everyone, I Nancy Grace,
1:53
Speaker 1: this is crime Stories. I want to thank you for
1:55
Speaker 1: being with us. Listen to what police have just said.
1:59
Speaker 1: One week ago today, Elizabeth Thomas vanished from Columbia, Tennessee.
2:04
Speaker 1: Our efforts to locate her and the man believed to
2:07
Speaker 1: have kidnapped her remain active and ongoing, but to this
2:11
Speaker 1: point have produced no credible sightings or actionable information about
2:15
Speaker 1: their whereabouts. The individuals could be anywhere, and the t
2:19
Speaker 1: b I continues to urge national vigilance in the ongoing
2:23
Speaker 1: effort to locate the missing girl and apprehend her alleged kidnapper. Thomas,
2:29
Speaker 1: fifteen years old, disappeared on Monday, March thirteenth, and is
2:32
Speaker 1: believed to have been kidnapped by fifty year old Tad Cummings,
2:36
Speaker 1: a former teacher at her school in Murray County, Tennessee.
2:39
Speaker 1: On Tuesday, the school district in Murray County terminated Cummins
2:43
Speaker 1: in the wake of an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged
2:46
Speaker 1: inappropriate contact he had with Thomas at the school earlier
2:50
Speaker 1: this year. As of earlier this afternoon, the tb I
2:54
Speaker 1: had received more than four hundred fifty leads. The lack
2:59
Speaker 1: of confer sightings, however, continues to lead t b I
3:02
Speaker 1: to believe Cummins could have Thomas hidden from view of
3:06
Speaker 1: the general public or far away from Tennessee. Thomas is
3:11
Speaker 1: again fifteen years old female with hazel eyes, standing five
3:15
Speaker 1: foot tall and weighing one twenty pounds, last seen wearing
3:19
Speaker 1: a flannel shirt and black leggings. Cummins is a white male,
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Speaker 1: six foot tall, weighing approximately two hundred pounds in his
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Speaker 1: brown hair and eyes. He is believed to be armed
3:28
Speaker 1: with two handguns as you know, and believed to be
3:31
Speaker 1: driving a silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee tag nine seven
3:35
Speaker 1: six z p T. Warrants have been issued for Cummins,
3:40
Speaker 1: charging him with sexual contact with a minor as well
3:42
Speaker 1: as aggravated kidnapping. On Friday, as you know, the tb
3:45
Speaker 1: I added Cummins to its top ten most wanted list
3:48
Speaker 1: here in the state. Of Tennessee. There's currently a one
3:50
Speaker 1: thousand dollar reward for information leading to his capture. As
3:53
Speaker 1: you just here, police are convinced that Tad Cummings has
3:57
Speaker 1: taken this little girl far away from Tennessee or is
4:01
Speaker 1: hiding in a rural area. I have reason to believe
4:04
Speaker 1: this guy is quote off the grid. We have information
4:09
Speaker 1: that he took out a title loan on his silver
4:12
Speaker 1: Nissan Rogue the week before he makes off with this
4:17
Speaker 1: little girl. This was clearly planned, Alan, what do you think, Well,
4:21
Speaker 1: it was planned on his part, but I doubt that
4:24
Speaker 1: it was really planned on her part because we now
4:27
Speaker 1: see this new photograph that they've just released of her
4:30
Speaker 1: leaving her friend's house and she's hardly carrying anything. She
4:34
Speaker 1: doesn't have a suitcase pack. Well, you know another thing
4:37
Speaker 1: along those lines. He may have said, Hey, I'm going
4:39
Speaker 1: to take you away from all this. I mean, what
4:41
Speaker 1: hasn't been discussed a whole lot is the fact that
4:44
Speaker 1: this little girl had no mother. The mother has been
4:47
Speaker 1: out of her life for years. The mother had ten children,
4:51
Speaker 1: five of them are miners. So this little girl as
4:55
Speaker 1: a single dad, as a parent who's working, and she's
4:59
Speaker 1: getting I don't know what kind of attention, if any,
5:02
Speaker 1: at home. I don't know how you can get any
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Speaker 1: attention when you have five children with one parent who
5:06
Speaker 1: has to work to support you. So she's in a
5:10
Speaker 1: vulnerable position right now without a mother or a mother figure.
5:14
Speaker 1: And then this teacher enters, Hey, let's talk about I mean,
5:18
Speaker 1: for all I know, he took her and says, I'm
5:19
Speaker 1: gonna take you away from all this. And she probably
5:23
Speaker 1: had no idea she wouldn't be able to communicate with
5:26
Speaker 1: her grandparents, with her father. You know, I was looking
5:29
Speaker 1: at her postings as well as his, Alan Duke, and
5:33
Speaker 1: one of her last social media postings was every beauty
5:37
Speaker 1: needs her beast to protect her from everyone but him.
5:43
Speaker 1: That was what she posted just that morning that she disappeared.
5:46
Speaker 1: He's got this girl totally brainwashed. Tell me about the
5:50
Speaker 1: new pictures, Alan. The new picture shows her. She's wearing
5:53
Speaker 1: this plaid shirt and just walking out. It appears that
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Speaker 1: it was from a security camera at maybe the home,
6:00
Speaker 1: at the home where she had spent the night. Keep
6:03
Speaker 1: in mind, it was not a school day because it
6:05
Speaker 1: was a teacher work day, so she wasn't dressed as
6:08
Speaker 1: if she were going to school. Okay, Alan, just so
6:11
Speaker 1: you know, you need to tune into Disney because that's
6:15
Speaker 1: how all the girls dressed now. I mean you need
6:18
Speaker 1: to check out I don't know Wizards of Waverley plays
6:21
Speaker 1: Living Maddie. I mean, just just go spend a couple
6:24
Speaker 1: of hours there. I don't think I'll be doing that.
6:25
Speaker 1: This is how girls dressed now to to go to school,
6:29
Speaker 1: to go out. She's got on her black Converse tennis.
6:32
Speaker 1: She's black leggings and a kind of a tannish brown
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Speaker 1: plaid shirt, and she's got her hair back. She's wearing
6:38
Speaker 1: her glasses and you're right, Alan, deep she looks like
6:41
Speaker 1: maybe she's carrying a backpack with her, a school backpack
6:44
Speaker 1: or something. She doesn't have things like you would think
6:47
Speaker 1: she was going on a trip. Josh Divine, the tb
6:51
Speaker 1: I spokesman, told us more about what they're finding out
6:55
Speaker 1: about the way that Tad Cummings was grooming her and
6:59
Speaker 1: how he was possibly taking advantage of what he said
7:03
Speaker 1: her home life, which quote may not be the best.
7:06
Speaker 1: Let's listen. You know, part of our investigation right now
7:09
Speaker 1: is trying to determine how we got to this point,
7:11
Speaker 1: and we've previously disclosed that Cummins had a troubling pattern
7:15
Speaker 1: of behavior, and increasingly everything that we're learning about him
7:20
Speaker 1: does nothing to calm our fears and our concerns for her.
7:25
Speaker 1: She is definitely a victim. She may not realize that
7:29
Speaker 1: she's a victim, but she is certainly a victim. She
7:33
Speaker 1: needs help, She needs our best efforts, and she needs
7:36
Speaker 1: the attention of this country to be on the lookout
7:39
Speaker 1: for her. Her home situation, as you've heard from other folks,
7:43
Speaker 1: may not be the best, but her family loves her.
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Speaker 1: Her brothers and sisters love her, Her dad loves her,
7:49
Speaker 1: her mom loves her. I'm sure her community loves her.
7:52
Speaker 1: They want her home and we want her home as well. Alan.
7:55
Speaker 1: Before we get back into that press conference by the
7:58
Speaker 1: Tennessee Law Enforcement, I want to thank our sponsor today,
8:01
Speaker 1: Crime Con. I am thrilled to be going to the
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Speaker 1: choose crime con dot com. Now let's get straight back
8:51
Speaker 1: to the pressor with a Tennessee law enforcement Please let's go.
8:55
Speaker 1: In the name of due diligence, the t B, I
8:58
Speaker 1: would like to encourage property owners, especially in rural areas,
9:02
Speaker 1: to search their grounds for these individuals, the vehicle, or
9:06
Speaker 1: any sign of suspicious activity and report that to one
9:09
Speaker 1: eight hundred t B I Find the t B. I
9:12
Speaker 1: would also like to encourage campgrounds, parks, other isolated areas
9:17
Speaker 1: to remain vigilant and be on the lookout for these individuals.
9:21
Speaker 1: To that end, large parking lots parking garages as well
9:26
Speaker 1: should also be searched for the vehicle described in the
9:29
Speaker 1: Amber alert, and if you happen to find that vehicle,
9:32
Speaker 1: do give us a call at one eight hundred t
9:34
Speaker 1: B I Find the t B. I would also urge
9:37
Speaker 1: the public to remain vigilant and report any information that
9:41
Speaker 1: might prove beneficial in this ongoing search to one eight
9:44
Speaker 1: hundred t B I Find and by all means, if
9:47
Speaker 1: you find yourself driving down the road behind that vehicle,
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Speaker 1: that silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee tag nine seven six
9:54
Speaker 1: z PT. Pick up your phone and dial nine one
9:58
Speaker 1: one immediately. Don't call one eight h t B I
10:01
Speaker 1: find in those types of situations, time is of the essence,
10:04
Speaker 1: and we need to get local law enforcement to your
10:06
Speaker 1: location as soon as possible. Alan, what do you think
10:10
Speaker 1: about the possibility that Tad Cummings is, as they say,
10:13
Speaker 1: off the grid, either sleeping in the car or camping
10:17
Speaker 1: out with this girl, this fifteen year old girl. What
10:20
Speaker 1: are the police thinking about that they have not used
10:24
Speaker 1: their debit or credit cards? In college, I took a
10:26
Speaker 1: road trip once to Panama City and I didn't have
10:29
Speaker 1: a credit card with me. I had to sleep on
10:31
Speaker 1: the beach, literally slept in the sand. Where are they
10:34
Speaker 1: going to sleep? If you're on the road and you
10:37
Speaker 1: don't have a credit card, they have to use cash,
10:40
Speaker 1: and that's unusual and that I think we'll call attention
10:43
Speaker 1: to them. So the t B I believes that they
10:46
Speaker 1: may be camping, and so they're putting out the word,
10:48
Speaker 1: by the way, for all people in campgrounds anywhere in
10:50
Speaker 1: the country to look out for these people. You know.
10:53
Speaker 1: Another thing is the fact that I believe that they
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Speaker 1: have altered their appearance Allen, I really do, from cutting
11:00
Speaker 1: their hair to dyeing their hair, to him possibly cutting
11:03
Speaker 1: off his beard. Everyone. The second ambrellert for a Tennessee
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Speaker 1: girl who disappears with her teacher. This is a blonde student.
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Speaker 1: She's about twenty pounds, about five five. She appears to
11:17
Speaker 1: be thin. We are just finding out that new video
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Speaker 1: has been released as well from a Walmart. What can
11:25
Speaker 1: you tell me about the new video, which you can
11:27
Speaker 1: find on crime online dot com. What do we know
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Speaker 1: about the Walmart video? This was taken several days before
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Speaker 1: they disappeared, before he fled with this child, and it
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Speaker 1: is him shopping at a Walmart. The reason that they've
11:40
Speaker 1: released it now is because it is the most recent
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Speaker 1: video to show what he looks like, although they do
11:46
Speaker 1: acknowledge that he may have changed his appearance. On those photos.
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Speaker 1: You see comings were in a green camouflage hat and
11:52
Speaker 1: maybe a blue jacket and walking around the store. I
11:55
Speaker 1: would be very curious to find out what he was
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Speaker 1: stalking up on because I really think that he planned
12:02
Speaker 1: this far in advance. I don't know if she knew
12:04
Speaker 1: about it. But I believe he knew about it. This
12:07
Speaker 1: all started on January three, when a student goes into
12:11
Speaker 1: a classroom to catch Cummings kissing the little girl and
12:16
Speaker 1: goes and reports it. Then both Elizabeth Thomas, the little girl,
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Speaker 1: and Tad Cummings deny than anything happened, so the school
12:27
Speaker 1: did nothing. He stayed in the classroom. She was supposed
12:31
Speaker 1: to go to a different class but according to her
12:34
Speaker 1: father's lawyer, the dad checked the cell phone. Oh he
12:37
Speaker 1: wasn't told. Uh several days. But by before the father
12:41
Speaker 1: was even told about the incident, and when he checked
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Speaker 1: her phone, Alan he found out the dirty old man
12:48
Speaker 1: is still communicating with his daughter. It was only on
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Speaker 1: February the sixth when the father's lawyer wrote a scathing
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Speaker 1: letter to the school board saying, what's this that's going on?
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Speaker 1: What's this? We here? We've not been notified. It was
13:02
Speaker 1: only then that they finally suspended Tad Cummings from teaching.
13:06
Speaker 1: He was in the classroom until that day. Good gravy.
13:10
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't get it, but that is water
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Speaker 1: under the bridge, that's over with. What I'm thinking about
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Speaker 1: now is where we can catch this, How we can
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Speaker 1: catch this guy, how can we bring Elizabeth home? Now?
13:21
Speaker 1: What about his wife making a public plea, going, Tad,
13:25
Speaker 1: this isn't you please bring Elizabeth home? I'm sure that
13:29
Speaker 1: that was just like water off a duck's back, that
13:32
Speaker 1: meant nothing. Well, she knew this child. In fact, according
13:35
Speaker 1: to the personnel file and the other information that we've
13:39
Speaker 1: obtained concerning this incident, this child was going to church
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Speaker 1: with Tad Cummins and his wife. They would pick her
13:45
Speaker 1: up and take her to church. So Jill Cummins was
13:48
Speaker 1: very aware of this child, but I would assume not
13:50
Speaker 1: aware of the close relationship. You know, everyone the Tennessee
13:55
Speaker 1: law enforcement has just had a major press or let's
13:59
Speaker 1: listen for us. It's all about trying to manage the possibilities.
14:03
Speaker 1: You know, you think about anything that could happen over
14:05
Speaker 1: the course of a week. They could be anywhere, they
14:07
Speaker 1: could have additional resources, they could be in a different vehicle.
14:11
Speaker 1: You know, as as you go longer with these types
14:13
Speaker 1: of things, the possibilities make these so much more complicated
14:17
Speaker 1: and make it so much more difficult for our folks
14:19
Speaker 1: to try to sort through and sift through. You know,
14:22
Speaker 1: I have studied the law carefully in Tennessee, and when
14:26
Speaker 1: there is an aggravated kidnapping charge, Allen, if you bring
14:30
Speaker 1: the person back, if the person has returned safely, or
14:34
Speaker 1: you give information to get the victim returned safely, that
14:40
Speaker 1: is under the law mitigating evidence that reduces your sentence
14:45
Speaker 1: to a great extent. And that is just what Tennessee
14:49
Speaker 1: officials are urging. Listen to this powerful message law enforcement
14:55
Speaker 1: sins to not only Tad Cummins, but Elizabeth Thomas. Our
15:00
Speaker 1: message to Elizabeth is We're still coming for you. We're
15:04
Speaker 1: going to do everything in our possibility, everything in our
15:07
Speaker 1: capabilities to bring you home your family. Once you hear
15:12
Speaker 1: your friends want you here. To Tad, we would say
15:14
Speaker 1: the same thing his wife said on Friday. You have
15:17
Speaker 1: an opportunity here to do the right thing. This is
15:19
Speaker 1: not who you are. This is not who your church
15:22
Speaker 1: knows you to be. This is not who your family
15:24
Speaker 1: knows you to be. This is not who your grandkids
15:27
Speaker 1: know you to be. Do the right thing, give her up,
15:32
Speaker 1: turn yourself in, bring her home. Tad Cummins has now
15:35
Speaker 1: been added to the t b i's Top ten most wanted.
15:38
Speaker 1: This high school teacher accused of kidnapping his little girl's student,
15:42
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Thomas. There is a reward for information leading to
15:45
Speaker 1: his arrest. So far, the tb I investigation suggests that
15:50
Speaker 1: this teacher may have been abusing his role as a
15:54
Speaker 1: teacher to groom this vulnerable little girl with no mom
16:00
Speaker 1: for a long time in his effort to lure and
16:04
Speaker 1: sexually exploit her. That is what we know. Now. There's
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Speaker 1: a state wide in a nationwide amber alert by the
16:12
Speaker 1: t b I. Now, as the TBI Josh Divine spokesperson says,
16:17
Speaker 1: she may not have been realized that she's a victim,
16:19
Speaker 1: but she is a victim, and he swears he is
16:24
Speaker 1: not giving up on her. She needs help and she
16:27
Speaker 1: needs us to help her. Alan what can we do?
16:32
Speaker 1: No matter where you are in the country, you can
16:34
Speaker 1: check around parking lots, any garages. If you own rural property,
16:39
Speaker 1: is there anybody camping on your property that fit the
16:42
Speaker 1: description of these two people, because they may be camping,
16:46
Speaker 1: maybe hiding off the grid. As the law enforcement said,
16:49
Speaker 1: they could be anywhere in the country right by now,
16:51
Speaker 1: because it's been so many days that you could have traveled.
16:54
Speaker 1: They could be in Washington State and thousands of miles away. Well,
16:57
Speaker 1: I believe that they probably ditched the car. But if
16:59
Speaker 1: they did the car, now what will they have? Guys?
17:03
Speaker 1: Please go to crime online dot com. Look at the
17:06
Speaker 1: new photos that have just been released. Look at the
17:08
Speaker 1: surveillance video. This guy, according to police, is armed and dangerous.
17:15
Speaker 1: He's got nothing to lose now, and I don't want
17:18
Speaker 1: this to turn into some Romeo Juliette scenario where they
17:23
Speaker 1: both end up dead. One more time, I want to
17:27
Speaker 1: thank crime Con for sponsoring our podcast today to get
17:31
Speaker 1: the word out about a little girl in danger. Elizabeth Thomas.
17:35
Speaker 1: Crime Con is going down June nine Friday. Did you
17:39
Speaker 1: eleven Sunday in Indianapolis? All of you amateur sleuths, crime busters,
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Speaker 1: even the pros, join us at crime Con. Alan and
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Speaker 1: I will be podcasting live from crime Con and I
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Speaker 1: would love to meet you. Along with major figure in
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Speaker 1: the crime fighting world. We'll have Cheryl McCullum from the
18:03
Speaker 1: Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a lot of your favorite
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Speaker 1: podcasters like Paine Lindsay from Up and Vanished. You know,
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Speaker 1: everybody is converging to join together and find out the
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Speaker 1: latest in crime fighting. Let's put our heads together so
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Speaker 1: we can't continue the good Fight Crime Con Indianapolis, June nine.
18:25
Speaker 1: Be there, Nancy Grace signing off crime stories. Goodbye friend,