Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Tad Cummins: Not kidnapping, just helping teen run away

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Tad Cummins: Not kidnapping, just helping teen run away · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:06
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Thomas is being welcome home to Columbia, Tennessee with
0:10
Speaker 1: signs and banners. Her family says she is comfortable and resting,
0:14
Speaker 1: but has suffered severe emotional trauma. I'm just so overjoyed
0:18
Speaker 1: to have her home, that she's safe. This is hard
0:22
Speaker 1: stories with Nancy Grace. The fifteen year old and her
0:24
Speaker 1: former teacher were found more than two thousand miles away
0:27
Speaker 1: in a remote cabinty in northern California, with no electricity
0:30
Speaker 1: or running water, and they said they're from Colorado, and
0:34
Speaker 1: then said he had a house fire. He pulled me
0:37
Speaker 1: aside at one point in man a statement that he
0:39
Speaker 1: was glad that this was all over. His sister says
0:42
Speaker 1: he doesn't believe he kidnapped Elizabeth. I asked him why
0:45
Speaker 1: why would he do this? And the answer he thanked
0:48
Speaker 1: me is that she wanted to run away, and she
0:51
Speaker 1: wanted to leave, and he didn't want her to go alone,
0:54
Speaker 1: so he went with her souther he could know that
0:55
Speaker 1: she was safe. This is Alan Duke in the studio
0:59
Speaker 1: and Nancy Grace is on the road. You might have
1:01
Speaker 1: seen her on the Wendy Williams Show today. She was
1:03
Speaker 1: talking about the Tad Cummins case. That's what we're talking
1:06
Speaker 1: about here, also joined by Crime Online editor Lee Egan,
1:10
Speaker 1: and just like Nancy, Tad Cummins will soon be on
1:13
Speaker 1: the road. A federal judge has ordered US marshals to
1:16
Speaker 1: take the former Tennessee teacher back to his home state.
1:19
Speaker 1: Fourth with Cummins arrested in northern California last week, appeared
1:24
Speaker 1: for just six minutes in US District Court in Sacramento, California,
1:27
Speaker 1: Monday afternoon, where his lawyer told the judge that Cummins
1:31
Speaker 1: wanted to go back to Tennessee to face federal charges
1:34
Speaker 1: of taking an underage girl, his former student, fifteen year
1:38
Speaker 1: old Elizabeth Thomas, across state lines for sex and on
1:41
Speaker 1: state charges of aggravated kidnapping. Cummins court appointed lawyer told
1:46
Speaker 1: the court that his client quote looks forward to returning
1:50
Speaker 1: to Tennessee to face these charges. Cummins is not likely
1:54
Speaker 1: to enjoy his trip home, since it involves a long,
1:57
Speaker 1: slow ride and a series of buses, and instead of
2:00
Speaker 1: having his fifteen year old former student next to him,
2:03
Speaker 1: he'll be chained to other prisoners and spending the nights
2:07
Speaker 1: in local jails until he reaches Nashville, two thousand miles away.
2:12
Speaker 1: For some reason, I don't feel sorry for him. He
2:14
Speaker 1: is he's no better than any of them, except he
2:17
Speaker 1: might have had an education. Uh, he's no better than
2:20
Speaker 1: any of the people. He's going to be on the
2:22
Speaker 1: bus with Nancy. We saw the emergence of what maybe
2:25
Speaker 1: cummins defense against the kidnapping charges. Today. His lawyer set
2:29
Speaker 1: in court the charges quote do not involve force or coercion,
2:35
Speaker 1: and that Elizabeth left Tennessee with them quote on her
2:38
Speaker 1: own free will. This is in line with what Cummins
2:41
Speaker 1: reportedly told his sister in a phone call from jail
2:44
Speaker 1: over the weekend. The sister says her brother, Tag Commins
2:48
Speaker 1: told her he did it because the teen wanted to
2:51
Speaker 1: run away and he did not want her to go alone.
2:56
Speaker 1: In the last hour, Tag comings in a federal courtroom. Now,
3:00
Speaker 1: this is a stark departure from other claims. Ellen, do
3:06
Speaker 1: you he is telling his own family he was speaking
3:10
Speaker 1: out very unwisely, I might add, claiming that it's really
3:14
Speaker 1: the girl's fault because she told him she wanted to
3:17
Speaker 1: run away. And I mean, what can a fifty year
3:19
Speaker 1: old high school teacher do when a teen girl says,
3:22
Speaker 1: I want to run ray. You just have to elaborately
3:25
Speaker 1: plan a kidnap. Take her about three thousand miles away
3:29
Speaker 1: to a commune that's clothing optional, where they kick you
3:33
Speaker 1: out from being upstairs having too much sex at ignoring
3:36
Speaker 1: your chores. I mean, what else could he do? Alan?
3:39
Speaker 1: Do you to help her out? He was afraid she
3:42
Speaker 1: was going to She told him she was gonna run away,
3:44
Speaker 1: and he figured, well, if you're gonna run away, I
3:46
Speaker 1: need to run away to help you and protect you.
3:49
Speaker 1: I don't think that's going to stand up in court. Yeah,
3:51
Speaker 1: he says it was all her idea, And the sister states,
3:54
Speaker 1: I asked him why would you do this? And the
3:57
Speaker 1: answer he gave me is she wanted to run away,
4:00
Speaker 1: and she wanted to leave. Now, this is Daphne Quinn
4:03
Speaker 1: speaking on the record. Uh. He said he didn't want
4:06
Speaker 1: her to go alone, so he went with her so
4:09
Speaker 1: that he could know she was safe. Okay, As you
4:13
Speaker 1: all know by now, the two were found in a
4:15
Speaker 1: remote cabin near Cecivil, California, on Thursday, after a tipster
4:19
Speaker 1: saw them there and immediately called tb I a hundred number. Now,
4:26
Speaker 1: the sister also says she spoke with her brother three
4:29
Speaker 1: times over the weekend and that he was repentant. He's repenting.
4:34
Speaker 1: I think I've got Lee Egan with me right now,
4:37
Speaker 1: Crack reporter at crime online dot com. Lee, I've heard
4:41
Speaker 1: this charge given to juries a million times, and the
4:45
Speaker 1: charge is one may immediately regret the deed, but that
4:50
Speaker 1: does not negate the intent at the time of the incident.
4:55
Speaker 1: If he were all that sorry, he wouldn't have had
4:57
Speaker 1: her up there on that mattress that they found lying
5:01
Speaker 1: on the floor the commune where they've been having sex.
5:05
Speaker 1: If he was repentant, he would have called, told the parents,
5:09
Speaker 1: the father where she was, and got her one way
5:12
Speaker 1: to get back home. That's what he would have done.
5:14
Speaker 1: The only thing he's repentant about, in my opinion, is
5:16
Speaker 1: that he got caught. If they didn't catch him, he
5:19
Speaker 1: would still be out there and still be with her,
5:22
Speaker 1: and still be doing the same things he was. Thank
5:24
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Speaker 1: Simply say thank you for being our sponsor. As we
6:10
Speaker 1: continue to shine a bright light on high school teacher
6:14
Speaker 1: Tad Cummins and the court proceedings that are happening today.
6:18
Speaker 1: Thank you, simply safe. I'm proud to be your partner.
6:22
Speaker 1: In the last hour, is Tad Cummins in a federal courtroom,
6:26
Speaker 1: Tag Hummons in court in the disappearance of his teen
6:31
Speaker 1: student Elizabeth Thomas. Now, what he's wanted for in federal
6:35
Speaker 1: court is a charge that carries ten years, and that
6:40
Speaker 1: is bringing a child a minor across state lines for
6:43
Speaker 1: your illegal sexual intercourse. There are also state charges pending
6:49
Speaker 1: as well. There is kidnapping. It's an aggravated kidnapping charge
6:55
Speaker 1: that carries twenty years. And there is an inappropriate sex
6:59
Speaker 1: contact with a minor. That charge was based on the
7:03
Speaker 1: kissing incident back in January January twenty three. But I'm
7:09
Speaker 1: predicting by the time this is all over the state,
7:13
Speaker 1: Alan Deeve will bring statutory rate charges. What do you think.
7:17
Speaker 1: I don't doubt at all that Brent Cooper, the district
7:20
Speaker 1: attorney in Columbia County, is going to make every charge
7:24
Speaker 1: he can possibly make against Tad Cummings, and of course
7:28
Speaker 1: statutory rape would obviously be one of them. And they're
7:32
Speaker 1: going to throw the book at Tad Cummins in not
7:34
Speaker 1: only Tennessee, in California, but also federally. Yeah, they've got
7:38
Speaker 1: to throw the book at him. There's really no other choice.
7:40
Speaker 1: He's been caught red handed now as I'm saying, he's
7:43
Speaker 1: in court today. The reason he has been in court today,
7:46
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, in the last hours, is
7:48
Speaker 1: for what we call an arrangement under our constitution. After
7:52
Speaker 1: you've been arrested for seventy two hours. During those those
7:56
Speaker 1: seventy two hours, you must be allowed to be appear
7:59
Speaker 1: of or a judge or magistrate and be formally told
8:04
Speaker 1: why you are in jail. Okay, you can't be held
8:08
Speaker 1: forever and not told why you're even arrested. Now, this
8:11
Speaker 1: is the federal charge. So he's brought into court, he
8:14
Speaker 1: is told what the charge is he has a chance
8:17
Speaker 1: to play guilty or not guilty. If he chooses not
8:20
Speaker 1: to say anything, the court will always presume a not guilty.
8:25
Speaker 1: Now the charge is formally read verbatim word for word,
8:30
Speaker 1: off the indictment or off the charges. If you don't
8:34
Speaker 1: have money, a lawyer will be appointed for you at
8:37
Speaker 1: the taxpayer's cost, and you'll be read all of your
8:40
Speaker 1: rights at that time. Then very simply, unless you want
8:44
Speaker 1: to go crazy and give a statement, you'll turn around
8:48
Speaker 1: and leave. But it's very significant because many times we
8:52
Speaker 1: learned a lot, even by the defensive demeanor and what
8:56
Speaker 1: they may say. Of course, their lawyers tell him, don't
8:58
Speaker 1: say anything, but that doesn't always work. This is just
9:02
Speaker 1: the beginning of a long process because there's so many
9:04
Speaker 1: charges to come. Now is the Federal courthouse in Sacramento.
9:09
Speaker 1: This is following the release of new details and Cummings
9:14
Speaker 1: federal arrest affidavit. This federal arrest affidavit just filed states
9:21
Speaker 1: that Tad Commons would rent one bedroom in the hotel
9:25
Speaker 1: rooms while on the run with the student with the girl,
9:28
Speaker 1: and before he left, had a prescription field for a
9:32
Speaker 1: rectile dysfunction. Alan, you're the only man on the show today.
9:36
Speaker 1: You want to tell me what that is? See Alice
9:39
Speaker 1: soon you can get and maintain an erection. There, I
9:42
Speaker 1: set it for you. I noticed you were in a
9:44
Speaker 1: stalling that. So here's a guy who goes and kidnaps
9:49
Speaker 1: a teen girl, but thanks to get us see Alice
9:52
Speaker 1: Field before he leaves for erectal dysfunction. The affidavit also
9:56
Speaker 1: says that during these days after she disappeared from Colombia,
10:01
Speaker 1: he brought several items at Walmart, including ky jelly, commonly
10:06
Speaker 1: used as a sex lubricant. You know, I'm surprised this
10:09
Speaker 1: girl's father just doesn't go berserk. I mean, really, what
10:14
Speaker 1: do you think? Like, I agree he bought also bought
10:16
Speaker 1: chocolate and cheese for whatever reason. Yeah, I if I
10:20
Speaker 1: was in the father's shoes, that will probably lose it.
10:22
Speaker 1: They also talked about the items they found in that
10:26
Speaker 1: one bedroom cabin, the items that were recovered in the vehicle,
10:30
Speaker 1: all the evidence the FBI will receive and analyze. It's
10:34
Speaker 1: going to be a collaboration between Tennessee, California and the FEDS. Now,
10:39
Speaker 1: we knew this a long time ago, Lee Um and Allan,
10:44
Speaker 1: when we spoke with the local District Attorney Brent Cooper
10:48
Speaker 1: that he lied to his wife and said he had
10:51
Speaker 1: a job interview at the Williamson County Medical Center the
10:54
Speaker 1: day he disappeared. That was fake, That wasn't true. When
10:58
Speaker 1: she Jill comings at home, there was a note from
11:01
Speaker 1: Commons that said he was traveling to Virginia Beach or Washington,
11:04
Speaker 1: d C. To clear his head and don't call police. Well,
11:10
Speaker 1: I can tell you this much. If I come home
11:12
Speaker 1: and my husband is lefting note saying he's gonna go
11:15
Speaker 1: clear his head, the first thing I'm gonna do is
11:17
Speaker 1: called police, and then I'm going to clear out his
11:21
Speaker 1: his closet space. Okay, I'm gonna leave it in a
11:24
Speaker 1: big pile in the front yard, all right. So I
11:28
Speaker 1: think that's it's an unspoken understanding between us, okay, because
11:32
Speaker 1: we're in this thing together trying to raise these twins,
11:35
Speaker 1: and if one of us craps out, the other one
11:38
Speaker 1: is totally allowed to throw all the belongings in the
11:40
Speaker 1: front yard. Okay, there you go. So that's what he
11:44
Speaker 1: told the wife. I didn't know about the note, did you, Alan, No,
11:48
Speaker 1: we didn't know about the note. All Brent Cooper had
11:50
Speaker 1: told us was the excuse about going for a job interview,
11:53
Speaker 1: but that's a new detail. That's not surprising because he
11:56
Speaker 1: was just trying to buy a little bit more time
11:58
Speaker 1: and also breaking right now, we learned that the U. S.
12:02
Speaker 1: Attorney is stating Tad Commins actually intended to cross into
12:07
Speaker 1: Mexico from San Diego via a watercraft. The U. S.
12:12
Speaker 1: Attorney's office has filed a request to detain Tad Commins
12:16
Speaker 1: pending his trial since he cannot overcome the presumption he
12:21
Speaker 1: is a flight risk. Documents were filed with the Eastern
12:24
Speaker 1: District of California Court saying due to his intention of
12:28
Speaker 1: taking Elizabeth Thomas to Mexico, he is a flight risk.
12:33
Speaker 1: Now how do they know that? They say he had
12:35
Speaker 1: a plot while on the run, that Comings started plotting
12:39
Speaker 1: his escape with Thomas the moment he was suspected of
12:44
Speaker 1: having an inappropriate relationship. He's accused of lying to school
12:48
Speaker 1: officials when asked about a thirty minute visit with her,
12:52
Speaker 1: lying to his wife, and about a loan. He admitted
12:56
Speaker 1: to disabling the vehicle's GPS system, discarding all cellular phones,
13:04
Speaker 1: and monitoring news outlets while he's on the run. He
13:08
Speaker 1: also admits he sought passage to Mexico and even procured
13:14
Speaker 1: a little watercraft and conducted a test run with the
13:19
Speaker 1: intention to cross into Mexico through San Diego by water.
13:26
Speaker 1: The filing calls Ted Hummans alleged crime heinous, and described
13:32
Speaker 1: him as a person who abused a sacred position of
13:35
Speaker 1: public trust as a school teacher, so could he could
13:38
Speaker 1: pursue an improper sex relationship with a juvenile victim. So
13:44
Speaker 1: the plot thickens minute by minute. Now we've learned that
13:48
Speaker 1: he actually plotted a getaway by water. It gets more
13:52
Speaker 1: and more fantastical. And you know what, you couldn't make
13:56
Speaker 1: this up. You could not make this up. In fact,
13:59
Speaker 1: when we first to Alan did what had just come
14:02
Speaker 1: out of the U. S. Attorney's office, he couldn't believe it.
14:04
Speaker 1: He thought it was fake news. It's not. I did
14:07
Speaker 1: not know anything about this. Note he lives, leaves his wife,
14:11
Speaker 1: I mean his deception. So when he gets to bear
14:15
Speaker 1: Claw Commune, the lies just keep coming. They just roll
14:19
Speaker 1: off his tongue because, according to them, he says that
14:23
Speaker 1: he and his young wife, Joanna, they had their home
14:28
Speaker 1: burned down and their down on their luck and they
14:30
Speaker 1: have nowhere to go. So the residents at the clothing
14:34
Speaker 1: optional bear Claw Commune, which is out in the middle
14:39
Speaker 1: of nowhere. There's like a twenty mile fifteen twenty mile
14:44
Speaker 1: rocky terrain road to get to it. It's still snowing
14:47
Speaker 1: on the snows on the ground. He had two resources
14:50
Speaker 1: ahead of time. You don't just drive by and see
14:52
Speaker 1: assigned from the interstate, Okay, you have to know it's there.
14:56
Speaker 1: They let him come in, and they get so sick
14:59
Speaker 1: of him and Elizabeth upstairs on some nasty mattress having
15:05
Speaker 1: sex all the time and not doing their chores. The
15:08
Speaker 1: people in this remote commune kick him out. They kick
15:16
Speaker 1: out Tad Cummings, and that is how he ends up
15:19
Speaker 1: in that little cabin Alan Jeet. Yeah, and it's a
15:23
Speaker 1: nasty little cabin, too tiny. I think the Uni bomber's
15:25
Speaker 1: cabin was probably a nicer place. One of the things
15:29
Speaker 1: that I'm hearing back from the people at the commune,
15:32
Speaker 1: and maybe we can get one of them on the
15:33
Speaker 1: podcast soon, is they are disputing the description of their
15:37
Speaker 1: community as this wild anything goes kind of place. It's
15:42
Speaker 1: not that, and that's why these people did not like
15:47
Speaker 1: Tad Cummins being they're they're very defensive about the way
15:51
Speaker 1: we're or some people are describing their community. No Alan
15:54
Speaker 1: and oh you can't go when when you're not describing
15:59
Speaker 1: us directly, But then not tell me what's wrong with
16:03
Speaker 1: what the reports are, what part has been reported that's
16:07
Speaker 1: not correct. What I heard was that, and what I've
16:10
Speaker 1: read is that they were, um, clothing optional. There's been
16:14
Speaker 1: so many different reports of clothing optional and that you
16:17
Speaker 1: have to take back together, walk around naked together, and
16:20
Speaker 1: that Tad wasn't into that um And now the people
16:24
Speaker 1: are saying that's not what we're like at all. So
16:26
Speaker 1: the two thousand and five documentary they were completely I
16:29
Speaker 1: mean they were completely What the reports are saying about
16:32
Speaker 1: them back then is completely true because that the whole
16:36
Speaker 1: documentary is filled with them walking around naked and you know, chanting, singing,
16:41
Speaker 1: taking swimming together, naked, taking back together, naked, the whole thing.
16:45
Speaker 1: So maybe that's where people are you know, pulling that
16:48
Speaker 1: information from. And maybe they've changed since then. Okay, you're
16:52
Speaker 1: referring to the documentary about the bear Claw Commune in California. Correct, Yes, Okay,
16:59
Speaker 1: maybe there maybe they've changed in the last two couple
17:03
Speaker 1: of years since that documentary was made about them. But yeah,
17:08
Speaker 1: there's a reason Tag come and sought them out. The
17:11
Speaker 1: end of the saga of the kidnap of high school
17:14
Speaker 1: girl from Columbia, Tennessee, Elizabeth Thomas isn't over. It's now
17:20
Speaker 1: entering a new chapter. If this goes to trial, which
17:23
Speaker 1: I predict that it will, there's really no way around
17:26
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Thomas being forced to take the stand and testify
17:29
Speaker 1: for the state. Now, how will that be achieved? She
17:32
Speaker 1: has been brainwashed to believe that she is in love
17:36
Speaker 1: with Tag Hummons. The only way to make that happen
17:39
Speaker 1: is to very delicately and very gently question her now
17:43
Speaker 1: as to what happened, and then if she refuses or
17:46
Speaker 1: cannot testify at time with trial for whatever reason, use
17:50
Speaker 1: her statements to lead her through a direct examination. That's
17:55
Speaker 1: all that can be done. It's called a prior inconsistent statement.
17:59
Speaker 1: Right now, Prayer still with Elizabeth Thomas and her family
18:03
Speaker 1: after all they've been through and Tag Cummin's wife, I mean, Lee,
18:07
Speaker 1: can you imagine coming home finding a note from your
18:11
Speaker 1: husband that said he had a job interview that morning,
18:13
Speaker 1: saying I've gone to d C A Virginia Beach to
18:15
Speaker 1: clear my head, don't call police, and then you hear nothing.
18:19
Speaker 1: Can you even imagine that? Can't imagine how she would
18:21
Speaker 1: just let it go and not do anything. You know,
18:24
Speaker 1: she didn't call anyone, not even as relatives from what
18:27
Speaker 1: I hear, so now impossible to imagine. She probably didn't
18:31
Speaker 1: know what to think, and then all this news started
18:33
Speaker 1: about Elizabeth Thomas, but she did ultimately tell police about
18:37
Speaker 1: the note and the fake job. Interview Simply Safe Again.
18:40
Speaker 1: Thank you for being our sponsor today, making our podcast possible,
18:44
Speaker 1: Lee Egan Alan Do is always so great to be
18:47
Speaker 1: with you. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off, goodbye friend