Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Clues teen didn’t want to go with teacher Tad Cummins?

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Clues teen didn’t want to go with teacher Tad Cummins? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Thomas was brand new to the Coloca School in
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Murray County. She started as a freshman this year, entering
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the public school system for the very first time. Confustigators
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: say that she is with Tad Commons to the autos,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: that Cummins was a teacher. A student reported seeing Cummins
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: kissing Elizabeth in his classroom in late January. Cummins told
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: two students he's a father figure to Elizabeth. He saw
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: her as a close and best friend. She's fifteen, he's fifteen.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Police arrested Elizabeth's mom,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Thomas, last year. They charged her with five counts
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of child abuse and neglect. If a person was looking
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: for a teenager that could be easily inflowing, I would
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: say she would be worn. That would definitely attract the consoles.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: There are constant changes and updates, twists and turns, and
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the ace of the missing a schoolgirl, Elizabeth Thomas, kidnapped
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: by her fifty year old health science teacher, Tad Cummins. Married.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Crime Stories. I'mancy Grace. I want to thank
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: you for being with us today. We are joined by
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: very special guest. The elected district attorney in Columbia, Tennessee
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: who was overseeing this investigation, Brent Cooper, is joining us
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: before we get started on the very latest, I want
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to thank our response or crime con. Prime Con is
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: going down in Indianapolis June nine through June eleven at
• 1:39
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  Speaker 1: amateurs are converging for the latest and crime fighting crime
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• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Can find out all about it at crime online dot
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: com and for another twenty in off plug in the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: code Nancy. In fact, I'm really registering to get my
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: twenty off. Joining us right now from Columbia, Tennessee is
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the elected district attorney who was in charge of all
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the prosecutions in that jurisdiction, Brent Cooper, Mr Cooper, thank
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: you for being with us. Jure, It's my pleasure. You
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: know you are in the eye of the storm right now. Uh.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: In the last hours, as a matter of fact, there
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: has been an alleged sighting of Elizabeth in Corpus Christi, Texas.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: What can you tell us about that? Oh? I know
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: at this point is that law enforcement responded to a
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: location where someone had reported a possible sighting of them
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: or the vehicle. By the time the officers arrived, the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: vehicle and and the people were gone, Oh great, we
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: just had an AMBER alert. You just got an amber alert.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Right now, we're having an amber that's the noise you
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: hear on my phone. So the ivan and Corpus Christie
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: hasn't been ruled out yet. The people left before it
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: could be investigated. What was the sign was that a
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: man and a girl or one of them? Were they
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: still in the silver Nathan? What I was told was
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: that they had seen possibly seen him, Uh, and the vehicle.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I don't think it was a signing of her. But
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: like I said, but by the time the officers arrived,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: the person in the vehicle we're gone. It's my understanding
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: now that the local law enforcement there's and they're in
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the process of collecting any any video evidence that may
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: have been obtained at the store or in any of
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: the locations around where they were seen. I believe it
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: was some type of gas station or convenience store. Uh
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: do you believe do you believe Mr Cooper that they
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: are still in his Nissan Road. Uh, I would be
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: shocked as they are too. I don't think, yeah, I
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: mean it would be Uh, that would be a pretty
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: amateur move if there's if there stool in it and
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: you know this, Uh, the fact that we've had no
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: credible sightings leads me to believe that the vehicle and
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: them or pretty much out of sight somewhere. And that's
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: what I think because he went through such meticulous planning.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: You know, he picked today when now that students were
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: not supposed to be in school that right that day? Right,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: wasn't it like a teacher development day or something? I
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: believe so I haven't hadn't heard that, but that could be.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: That could be accurate. And if that's true, that means
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: her parents, her father would not have really known that
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: she was gone till three o'clock in the afternoon when
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: she didn't get back. So he did all research, according
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: to sources, about could his Nissan be tracked, you know
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: like U tracking the car be ex serious. Yeah, it
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: was definitely planned out to where, um, they had a
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: several hour head start before before anyone realized they were
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: they were missing. Why did you say that? Because he
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: had he was supposed to be going to a job
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: interview that morning, and of course, uh she Uh she
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: had a friend drop her off around eight thirty am Monday. Uh.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: I think the last time his wife saw him was
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: before eight o'clock that morning, and uh, she believed he
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: would be going to a job interview that day, and uh,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: you know it wasn't until Uh, I don't think the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I don't think. Uh. Elizabeth's mother, our parents, our father,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, reported her missing until either late that night
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: or early the next morning. Uh. And then it wasn't
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: until eight o'clock or so the next day, so almost
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: twenty four hours after uh they met up before we
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: knew that Mr Cummins was also missing. What did he
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: do you believe he really had a job interview or
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: does he just tell his wife that? Oh no, he didn't.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: It was it was completely made up? Heyn. What do
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: you think about all this story? He reportedly told Elizabeth
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: about being a c I, a operative and a millionaire
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: and a black belt in karate for Pete's sake, Oh no,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and apparently he had Uh he tells all of his
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: students those those stories. And uh, uh is the impression
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I've gotten is that he's really created, uh, an alternate
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: persona for the students he has, and of this life
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: that he never led with the CIA and the FBI
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: and things like that, and and all that goes into, uh,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the the mental coercion who was using on her. You know,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: this is a a fifty year old authority figure in
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: this girl's life, a fifteen year old girl that's this
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: looks like she's had a pretty rough upbringing, and uh,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: and he's telling her all these wild tales about himself
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: and really building him so building himself up to be
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: something he's not. And we believe that all of that
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: went into the persuasion to convince her to to leave
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: with him. You know that really is even scarier now
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: that I'm hearing that, because this guy can flat out
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: and tell a lie, look you right in the face,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and stone cold lie to you. So that's going to
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: help him alluding police. You mentioned that Elizabeth had had
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: a very difficult upbringing. I've read about the alleged charges
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: against her mother and they sounded awful. And uh, those
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: charges are you know, my office is is prosecuting those
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: charges and and um, you know they're still pending at
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: this time. So I can't talk a lot about them,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: but you know the allegations are they sound terrible? The
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: allegations do, and and you know as well as I do,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: that before abuse has ever reported, it usually it's been
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: going on for for quite a while. According to statistics,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: every time an incident in child abuts reported, it has
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: happened statistically dozens and dozens of times before. So I
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: can't think that because there are no other claims against
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: her that we know of other than these, and they
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: haven't been proven yet. But according to the numbers, child
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: to be has happened in any time before it's reported.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: I mean children, is that correct? This lady like ten children. Yes,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: that's my understanding. Now at least one of them has grown,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: has left the home as an adult now and has
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: moved out. But but yeah, it's my understanding. There are
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: ten children. And so what do you really think, Brent?
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: Where do you think he's had it? At first, I
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: thought he might be headed towards the Panhandle, because if
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: you look at the social media, you see pictures that
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: look very much like it's a Gulf Shores type area.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: But now I'm thinking he's trying to put as much
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: distance between himself and Columbia as possible. That's what I
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: would believe that, Uh, you know, he's gotten as far
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: away as he can with her. And you know, the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: biggest concern and is the most concerning thing, is is
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: that apparently, uh Elizabeth told one of her siblings was
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: that day, either the day before or that morning, told
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: them if I'm not back by six o'clock tonight. We've
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: heard it. Either she either said call the police or
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: come looking for me. I read that the seventeen year
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: old sister Sarah. That now see makes me think that
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: she did not plan to be away. I mean, we're
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: any of her clothes missing from the home to so
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: she had packed a bag. Now, she did take clothes
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: with her, so that kind of contradicts that. But we
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: do believe she told her sister that, So she may
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: have she may have been on the fence about about
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: going with Mr Cummings and didn't she been a little
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: friend That could have explained why some of her clothes
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: were gone. Well that's true, but I think, uh, I
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: think she had more than one bag of clothes, if
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I if I remember correctly. So that's was saying because
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: in that picture and that surmillance picture of her, she
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: only has one armful of stuff. Yeah, uh, well, I
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: think for some reason, I believe they said she left
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: one bag at Showny's uh where she met him. So uh,
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  Speaker 1: it's really um, you know, my fear, my biggest fear,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: is that she had changed her mind about going with
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Mr Cummins and that she expressed that to him and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: he took her then forcefully. You know. Uh, we don't
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: know that, and we certainly hope it's not the case.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: But well, I mean, at this point, he's already done.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I always say, Mr Caper, when you don't know a horse,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: look at his track record. He's already acting irrationally. He's
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: already broken the law. So why would we have take
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: him to do anything different now than what he's already done.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: You know that bag you mentioned that Showny You mean
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: she had a bag there and she took it with
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: her or she left a bag there. Well, what I
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: understand was when she was dropped off, she had two bags,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: and when when the authorities went to Shawnees after she
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: was reported missing, I think Shawne's had recovered one bag
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: where they had found one bag on their property. Um
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: that she had left there for some reason. That's really interesting.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: If she had packed this bag to take with her,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: why is she leaving at show? Yeah? I know, and
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: I mean I don't know. I haven't inquired into what
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the contents of it are. For all I know, that
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: could be the dirty clothes she wore, uh the night
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: before at her friend's house. I don't know. But what
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: charges is he looking at right now? He's charged with
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: a misdemeanor, which is called sexual contact with a minor
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: by an authority figure. Uh, And that covers contact such
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: as kissing someone kissing a minor that's an authority figure,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: and you know the kisses obviously not just to peck
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: on the cheek. Uh. The other charges aggravated kidnapping and uh,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: that's for unlawfully removing her and having firearms in his
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: possession when that occurs. How do you know he's got
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: fire arms? I've read that he had to Uh, that's
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: his His wife initially reported that he took two handguns
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: with him that they were missing. M M. Do you
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: think that this has the potential of ending like in
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: a Romeo Juliet scenario where he's like, if I we
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: can't live together, we're both gonna die. I mean, now
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: that I know he's got the guns and he's making
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: up these crazy stories, do you think he could do
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: something like that rather than get caught. I mean, you've
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: got nothing to lose. Well, I mean, I wouldn't think so.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: And of course we we absolutely hope that's not the case.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: But uh, that's always a fear, uh in these certainly situations.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: But how could he be living this long? Four dollars well, uh,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: you know will go a lot further in some areas
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: that it will, say, for instance, in Los Angeles, but
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: you know, we definitely don't expect that money will last
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: very long. Um, you know, if they're having to obviously
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: having to uh pay for food and shelter some way, Um,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and uh they it will run out at some point,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah it will. And then what are they gonna do? Uh?
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: Do you think I FI whether could it be pained? Uh?
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: We've tried that. We uh you know, we we have
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: If either of their phones are turned on, we should
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: know about that immediately. U. But so I doubt their
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: phones are with them because we haven't had any activity
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: on either one of them, and uh, you know that's
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: that's been a complete debt end As far as tracking
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: their phone, is that how you got Alabama? There was
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: a ping Uh the very first day there was a
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: ping indicator. But um it could have been um where
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the tower was located, was close enough to the interstate,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: it could have been while they were driving through right,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: you know, or or if he's really if you're really clever,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: he could have thrown her phone on the on the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: back of a tractor trailer. You know. I hadn't thought
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: about that. Do you say close enough to any of
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: her siblings or friends that she's gonna want to contact them?
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I think so? And uh, you know, fifteen year old
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: girls typically, uh, when they're close to someone, they're gonna
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: want to talk to that person. And we believe that
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: she is close to her siblings. Uh, she wasn't really
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and she hadn't been in public school before this year,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: so she probably didn't have any close friendships in school.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: But we think she she is close to her siblings,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and we hope that she'll reach out to them. What
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: is your message, Tad coming? Just uh, you know, as
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I've said from the beginning, that the only way this
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: can get better, uh, and for him to reclaim any
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: of his life. As for him to to right now
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: pick up the phone and call someone, don't even you
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: don't even have to call law enforcement. Call your wife.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: You know, she's she's worried about you. Uh, and uh,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: let us know where you are, uh and are if
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: nothing else, if you're not going to greet anything else,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: don't hurt Elizabeth and let her go. Just let us
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: know where she is. You know, you brought up Jill
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Cummins and she I don't think had any idea any
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: of this is going on. No, she didn't. And and
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm like, you're you're a former prosecutor, right. Uh,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: you've talked to you've talked to family members who've lost
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: loved ones to violent crimes, and you know, unexpectedly. Uh
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: that's the that's the way she comes across to me.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: I feel so bad for that lady. Oh no, that's terrible.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I was looking at Elizabeth post on social media and
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: she changed her status to wife. That's scary. Yeah, it is.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: He's got this girl so brainwashed. Mm hmm. And we
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: know we know he had done research about the teen
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: marriage uh too, so yeah, they were Google searchers. He
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: had gonne you know, researching the age of consent in
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: different states. M m M, Well, I believe Georgia and
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Delaware you can't get married under the age of consent
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: without parental approval if you're pregnant. And I pray that's
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: not real. Yeah, well he've been filled. That's neat because
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: he's married. He can't get married anywhere to anybody pregnant
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: or not because he's already married. Oh, that's another crime
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: if he did that, right, if you think of another Yeah,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: do you think there were any warnings that he would
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: do something like that? No, you know, there wasn't any warnings,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: and that's why it was. It really just called everyone
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: so off guard. Um. I actually went to went to
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: high school with Mr Cummins. Well, he was, yeah, you know,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's just we grew up in the same
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: small town and U I know him. I know him,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: and I know his sister, and uh, you know, no,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: this this never, this is not something I would have
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: ever seen coming. And uh, in fact, the day we
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: realized they were both missing, I was I was a
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: little bit hesitant to to request an amber alert because
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I thought there was a possibility that we would issue
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: an amber alert. And you know, the the alarm would
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: sound and and his picture would be plastered everywhere, and
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: then we would find out that he was at the mall,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: uh you know, or that he was just somewhere, you know,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: doing something and harmless. And and here we had embarrassed
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: his family and him. But but of course now we
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: know that's not the case. And uh, in hindsight, I'm
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: glad we we asked for the amber alert where we did. Yeah,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: because from what everyone says, everyone he knew, Um, god,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: he needs a great guy would never have done that. Yeah,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: that really speaks a lot about your character. Tell you
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the truth that you really waited before you issued the
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: amber alert, but then in the end realized you had
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: to do it because you did not want to sully
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: his reputation if it were wrong. And I'm just thinking,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I said, this is not who you are. What what's
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: happening right? Right? So? Well, you are swamped, Brent and
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Mr Cooper. I can't thank you enough for speaking to us.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: It means a lot to me to hear it from you,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to hear your voice and know that you're on it
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and that you care about it, and it needs a
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: lot to you as well. Pray for the best. Yeah,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: thank you for that. And we appreciate this, the attention
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: you're paying this because we need we need as many
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: people to know about it as possible. Yes, sir, thank you, sir,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you again. I want to thank crime Con for
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: sponsoring our podcast today and helping us spread the word
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: about missing school girl Elizabeth Thomas. Nancy Grace Crime Stories
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: signing off, the search goes on. Goodbye friend.