Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Exclusive: Dad’s lawyer says perv teacher gave kidnap-girl back rubs at school

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Exclusive: Dad’s lawyer says perv teacher gave kidnap-girl back rubs at school · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:08
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Thomas was brand new to the Colloca School in
0:11
Speaker 1: Murray County. She started as a freshman this year, entering
0:15
Speaker 1: the public school system for the very first time. Confessor
0:18
Speaker 1: Getter say that she is with Tad Cummins t baas
0:21
Speaker 1: the Cummins was a teacher. A student reported seeing Cummins
0:24
Speaker 1: kissing Elizabeth in his classroom in late January. Cummins told
0:27
Speaker 1: two students he's a father figure to Elizabeth. He's told
0:30
Speaker 1: my daughter from me. She's fifteen, he's fifty. This is
0:36
Speaker 1: crime stories with Nancy Grace. Police arrested Elizabeth's mom, Kimberly Thomas,
0:42
Speaker 1: last year. They charged her with five counts of child
0:45
Speaker 1: abuse and neglect. If a person was looking for a
0:48
Speaker 1: teenager that could be easily influenced, I would say she
0:52
Speaker 1: would be warning that would go for a track the
0:55
Speaker 1: account coach. Days are asking and still no sign, no
1:03
Speaker 1: credible sign of a missing Tennessee school girl, Elizabeth Thomas.
1:08
Speaker 1: Has there been a siding in Corpus Christi, Texas. This
1:12
Speaker 1: case gets national attention when it is revealed her fifty
1:17
Speaker 1: year old Pervy Help Sciences high school teacher makes off
1:24
Speaker 1: with her after he lies to his wife that morning
1:27
Speaker 1: that he's going on a job interview, job, interview, my
1:31
Speaker 1: rear end. He took this little girl and has vanished
1:35
Speaker 1: in his silver Nissan Rogue. This is crime stories. I'm
1:39
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, and I want to bring Elizabeth home alive.
1:44
Speaker 1: If we can get her home alive, it will take
1:46
Speaker 1: her years of therapy to work through what has happened
1:50
Speaker 1: to her. As the story slowly comes out about who
1:55
Speaker 1: is Elizabeth and who is her family, We've learned a lot.
2:00
Speaker 1: This little girl, beautiful, blonde haired, hazel eyes, comes from
2:05
Speaker 1: a very disturbed background. Her mother the mother of ten Yes, Elizabeth,
2:12
Speaker 1: Elizabeth has nine siblings. Her mother has been charged with
2:17
Speaker 1: mistreating her children, beating Elizabeth, throwing her down basement stairs,
2:23
Speaker 1: locking her in the basement, making her take her clothes
2:26
Speaker 1: off in front of other people. Uh, that's just what
2:30
Speaker 1: I know. She's charged with. What may have happened behind
2:33
Speaker 1: closed doors, will never know, but I can tell you
2:37
Speaker 1: this right now. Elizabeth has been kidnapped by her school teacher,
2:42
Speaker 1: her married fifty year old teacher, Tad Cummins, and joining
2:46
Speaker 1: me right now as a very special guest. Elizabeth father,
2:51
Speaker 1: Anthony Thomas, Lawyer, very well respected lawyer in that Tennessee community.
2:58
Speaker 1: Jason Watley is with me now hoping to shed light
3:01
Speaker 1: on the case to bring Elizabeth home. Jason, thank you
3:05
Speaker 1: for being with us. Thank you, Nancy. Jason, you say
3:10
Speaker 1: that as a father yourself, if you had had any
3:14
Speaker 1: idea then what you're learning now there would be bloodshed.
3:19
Speaker 1: And I'm all board with that. What are you learning
3:22
Speaker 1: that I don't that, I don't know what you can
3:24
Speaker 1: tell us that is, Nancy, the grooming process that this uh,
3:30
Speaker 1: I think you described as a pervert and that's a
3:32
Speaker 1: good word, but the grooming process was actually said perv.
3:37
Speaker 1: There you go. That had been going on in Earnest
3:40
Speaker 1: for a long time. We're hearing stories about backrubs, shoulder rubs,
3:46
Speaker 1: holding hands, being alone in the room consistently with him
3:51
Speaker 1: back rub whoa BackRub? He's giving this little girl backrubs
3:57
Speaker 1: in the classroom. We're getting reports of those kinds of things,
4:02
Speaker 1: and actually that that particular allegation was in the cafeteria
4:05
Speaker 1: and more than once. That is that's making me even
4:09
Speaker 1: matter at the Morin County school System than I already was.
4:13
Speaker 1: It will be a cold day in h E double
4:15
Speaker 1: l that some male teacher gave my daughter a BackRub.
4:20
Speaker 1: He got a knuckle sandwich, no mayo, and a heartbeat
4:23
Speaker 1: from me. All right, backrubs in the cafeteria alone in
4:28
Speaker 1: the classroom. That's even caught in a in a picture.
4:31
Speaker 1: By the way, Now, what were you saying before I
4:34
Speaker 1: went off? Well, that the what we're learning. And I
4:38
Speaker 1: hope and pray that as we dig into this that
4:42
Speaker 1: this that some of this is not true. But this
4:44
Speaker 1: is what the consistent theme that we're hearing is that
4:47
Speaker 1: he was in the nature of a of a counselor
4:50
Speaker 1: to her. And this is a guy with an associates
4:52
Speaker 1: degree who's a respiratory therapist, who really he's not even
4:55
Speaker 1: a teacher. You called him a teacher in your opening.
4:58
Speaker 1: He's not a teacher. He was teaching, but he's not
5:00
Speaker 1: a teacher, at least not a teacher in the traditional sense.
5:03
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Wait a minute. I didn't think you
5:05
Speaker 1: could teach in the public I mean I talked while
5:08
Speaker 1: I was waiting a student, talk while I was waiting
5:10
Speaker 1: to get into law school English, and I didn't think
5:15
Speaker 1: you could actually teach in the public school system unless
5:17
Speaker 1: you had your four year degree. Am I wrong about
5:19
Speaker 1: that well as my understanding of what Tennessee law has done.
5:23
Speaker 1: They've allowed, they've they've they've softened the rules to allow
5:27
Speaker 1: for people that have legitimate skills to go in and teach.
5:30
Speaker 1: For example, a medical doctor could teach science, right you
5:35
Speaker 1: or I, as people with law degrees could teach, um,
5:38
Speaker 1: you know, a government class or something like that. Now,
5:41
Speaker 1: that's my understanding of what the law is designed to
5:43
Speaker 1: do in this case. Um, he was able to teach
5:46
Speaker 1: and and and while I don't know his his complete
5:50
Speaker 1: background yet, because I don't trust his resume and we're
5:52
Speaker 1: having to vet that did he put c I a
5:56
Speaker 1: operative on the resume? He did not. That was apparently
6:01
Speaker 1: he readily spoke to his students about those kinds of
6:03
Speaker 1: insane things. And he obviously had this young girl believing
6:08
Speaker 1: these things, believing that he was a millionaire, believing that
6:12
Speaker 1: that he was this special forces guy. It's just insane.
6:16
Speaker 1: But that shows you the level of control that he
6:18
Speaker 1: had of her. She had a special seat, allegedly, according
6:21
Speaker 1: to sources we have next to his desk. Now, this
6:24
Speaker 1: wasn't because you needed discipline, this was because she was
6:27
Speaker 1: a special student, which he described in the report from
6:30
Speaker 1: the school as his best friend. He also told other
6:33
Speaker 1: students that he was a father figure to her. He
6:35
Speaker 1: used this abusive home angle to further persuade her to
6:40
Speaker 1: rely on him as a therapist. She was allowed to
6:43
Speaker 1: leave class and go to him as what we understood that,
6:46
Speaker 1: we're trying to confirm that. But these are you know,
6:49
Speaker 1: that's the level. Think about this mother abused these children.
6:53
Speaker 1: She's out of the picture and has been out of
6:55
Speaker 1: the picture. He's still using that for his quote therapeutic
6:59
Speaker 1: reason to help this child, all the while he says,
7:03
Speaker 1: praying on her. It's a sick picture. Yeah, I'm just
7:07
Speaker 1: amazed that. And again, the fact that he kidnapped her
7:11
Speaker 1: is not the school system's fault. But all the warning
7:16
Speaker 1: signs were there, the kissing, the back massages, the special seat,
7:22
Speaker 1: the mentoring, all that, and I imagine that there's more.
7:26
Speaker 1: Those were red flags that they should have caught. Another
7:30
Speaker 1: issue is you said, and I'm coming back to this
7:33
Speaker 1: question because I got crazy for a minute when you
7:37
Speaker 1: were describing it, but you said there had been a
7:40
Speaker 1: long pattern of graeming her and you refer to back massages,
7:46
Speaker 1: and what else were you saying that you've learned about
7:50
Speaker 1: We've talked to students who said that that that they've
7:52
Speaker 1: been seen holding hands, that he would insist to sit
7:55
Speaker 1: beside her if it was in a group setting, that
7:58
Speaker 1: he that this was open and obvious. Of course, to
8:01
Speaker 1: the back or shoulder rubs were seen on more than
8:04
Speaker 1: one occasion she was in his classroom alone on a
8:08
Speaker 1: routine basis. We've even had one student tell us that
8:11
Speaker 1: there's a hospital bed there for demonstrative purposes where the
8:13
Speaker 1: child was found by that child asleep on that bed
8:17
Speaker 1: one morning, walked in, there's the child and him alone
8:21
Speaker 1: and she's asleep on that bed. I mean, that's the
8:23
Speaker 1: kind of stuff that we're hearing. Of course, the children
8:26
Speaker 1: are getting more and more afraid to speak. The teachers
8:30
Speaker 1: and are afraid and listen. I'm I'm a fan of
8:33
Speaker 1: our teachers. They they're they've got a very tough job
8:36
Speaker 1: and they're in a tough position. So I don't want
8:38
Speaker 1: to I don't want the impression that I'm throwing our
8:40
Speaker 1: teachers under the bus. What we're investigating here and extremely
8:44
Speaker 1: concerned about it is just an atmosphere that was created
8:47
Speaker 1: that allowed the grooming to take place. And how why
8:51
Speaker 1: he was ever in this place to begin with. Look,
8:53
Speaker 1: I have to check myself, Nancy, because you know I
8:56
Speaker 1: view this as a lawyer. You know, we're we're to
8:58
Speaker 1: be objective and trying to help our clients be as
9:01
Speaker 1: objective as possible. But then I find myself at times
9:06
Speaker 1: almost getting conflicted because as a father, I'm a father
9:10
Speaker 1: of five with three daughters, I put myself in the
9:12
Speaker 1: shoes of my client, and when I then review the facts,
9:16
Speaker 1: I've become outraged. And so you know, while I love
9:20
Speaker 1: our school system and I support our teachers. I have
9:23
Speaker 1: teachers in my family. They're wonderful people, and they're dedicated people.
9:26
Speaker 1: And nothing I'm saying is meant to besmirche their uh them.
9:29
Speaker 1: In fact, I went to that school, Nancy, that that's
9:31
Speaker 1: where I graduated. I love that Schoolkay. You know what,
9:34
Speaker 1: Jason Whiteley, this is not about them. This is about him,
9:39
Speaker 1: Tad Cummings. And you know, when you know somebody and
9:45
Speaker 1: you trust somebody and or grown up with somebody, or
9:49
Speaker 1: you won't go to the school, it's hard to believe.
9:53
Speaker 1: And even with them, they knew Tad Cummings, and I'm
9:57
Speaker 1: sure that they saw him through a filter or of
10:00
Speaker 1: he's a great guy, and they would never have believed
10:04
Speaker 1: he would do anything like this. And I've had that
10:07
Speaker 1: happened to me. Uh, you know when I would I
10:11
Speaker 1: will never forget. I got very close to three particular
10:15
Speaker 1: a p D Police officers because we worked a vice
10:18
Speaker 1: case together, a child prostitute ring I was trying to crack.
10:22
Speaker 1: We were together every day. With my job, I would
10:25
Speaker 1: be hardly ever in the office. I'd be on the
10:27
Speaker 1: street or in the courtroom all the time. We worked
10:30
Speaker 1: this case for three months, thick and thin, day after day,
10:35
Speaker 1: and uh, we got the conviction. We busted the child
10:38
Speaker 1: prostitution ring. While about six months later, I'm minded my
10:42
Speaker 1: own business, Jason and I look up on the screen
10:46
Speaker 1: and there is you know, in the federal court they
10:48
Speaker 1: don't allow pictures. There was a sketch of three guys.
10:52
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, that looks a lot like so and so. Well.
10:57
Speaker 1: It was these three vice cops had been raiding Doper's houses,
11:02
Speaker 1: arresting them and stealing all their money and jewelry. Okay,
11:06
Speaker 1: and they have been doing it for so long that
11:09
Speaker 1: the Feds that actually set up a sting and got
11:12
Speaker 1: them on video. For Pete's sake, I knew nothing. I
11:15
Speaker 1: trusted them completely. I had spent months with them, day in,
11:19
Speaker 1: day out, and that was the filter through which I
11:22
Speaker 1: saw them, and it was hard for me to believe
11:24
Speaker 1: they had done it. I had to see the video myself.
11:26
Speaker 1: I hear you. I went to pause briefly to you.
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12:49
Speaker 1: so we can shed light on the kidnapping of Elizabeth Thomas.
12:54
Speaker 1: Now where are they Jason? What what's happening within the family?
13:00
Speaker 1: How is the what happened with this? A mother, the
13:03
Speaker 1: one that is currently facing charges she mistreated abused Elizabeth.
13:08
Speaker 1: Why is she jumping up now a day late and
13:13
Speaker 1: a dollar short talking about Elizabeth come home? That would
13:16
Speaker 1: be a cold day, and you know where Elizabeth will
13:18
Speaker 1: come home for more abuse from the mom according to
13:21
Speaker 1: those charges. She has not been convicted yet. Well, she
13:24
Speaker 1: hadn't been convicted, but a court found by clear and
13:27
Speaker 1: convincing evidence of juvenile court that she did these things
13:29
Speaker 1: and that's why she's cut off. So let's be clear
13:32
Speaker 1: with that. I mean so, and that's a high standard,
13:34
Speaker 1: as you know, it's much higher than preponders of the evidence.
13:37
Speaker 1: So that was already found to be the case. And
13:40
Speaker 1: these children are terrified of her. Um she has wrecked
13:43
Speaker 1: their lives in many respects. And and my client, who's
13:46
Speaker 1: a guy that was I'm just gonna be transparent, gone
13:49
Speaker 1: a lot because he was the breadwinner. He worked in Nashville,
13:52
Speaker 1: he had to commute. He didn't going on. He's in
13:57
Speaker 1: the pest control business. It's with the blue collar, Nancy.
14:00
Speaker 1: That's all he is. He's a blue collar guy. Hey, hey, hey,
14:03
Speaker 1: don't we saying that's all he is. My father worked
14:06
Speaker 1: for the railroad for forty three years and put all
14:11
Speaker 1: of us through college and grad school along with my mother.
14:16
Speaker 1: And I mean, I kind of I don't want people
14:19
Speaker 1: saying just blue collar because I've never known a Fanner man. Now,
14:23
Speaker 1: you said he's a what what does he do? He said,
14:26
Speaker 1: he's in the pest control business. Man. That's a hard
14:29
Speaker 1: way to make a living. You're out on the street,
14:31
Speaker 1: you're traveling all day every day, going into people's houses.
14:35
Speaker 1: That's not easy. No, not at all. And he's struggling, Nancy.
14:40
Speaker 1: You know, even physically. I mean, his blood pressure has
14:43
Speaker 1: been been so high that his doctor has has told
14:46
Speaker 1: him to just be to rest and not do interviews.
14:49
Speaker 1: His heart rate has been up. I mean, it has
14:51
Speaker 1: been extremely difficult on him. He is he's a unique
14:54
Speaker 1: man because his exterior when you see him in some
14:57
Speaker 1: of these interviews, he seems to be sort of his is.
15:00
Speaker 1: His demeanor and effect seems to be consistent. He is
15:04
Speaker 1: very much struggling and physically emotionally of course, I mean,
15:08
Speaker 1: you really don't have in these situations a place to
15:11
Speaker 1: put all of the emotions that you have when your
15:14
Speaker 1: child is taken. I mean, because it's unprecedented, you know,
15:17
Speaker 1: in his life. Well, a lot of people don't believe that, Jason,
15:21
Speaker 1: but I know that. You know, I've been through it all.
15:25
Speaker 1: It had been a crime victim, prosecuting felonies for ten years,
15:29
Speaker 1: you name it. But when I lost my father last year,
15:35
Speaker 1: I've always had extremely low blood pressure and a heart
15:39
Speaker 1: rate of around sixty. My blood pressure shot up, like
15:43
Speaker 1: I had no idea what was happening, and all of
15:46
Speaker 1: a sudden, the blue started getting migraines, bad ones. And
15:52
Speaker 1: I never had those help issues ever until my dad
15:56
Speaker 1: passed away. So I know, I always thought things like
15:59
Speaker 1: that were psychic, a somatic. It's it's not what's happening
16:03
Speaker 1: around you can really affect your health, your body stress. Yeah,
16:10
Speaker 1: you're right. Let me ask you, what does how did
16:14
Speaker 1: the whole thing get? How did how did it come
16:17
Speaker 1: into do it? Now? That day that she was taken.
16:22
Speaker 1: I understand in retrospect the children were not going to school.
16:26
Speaker 1: It was a teacher development day or something, that's correct. Yeah, yeah,
16:31
Speaker 1: the school was out that day, and so she was
16:33
Speaker 1: going to spend a day with a friend and and
16:37
Speaker 1: so uh so and and father for his part, after
16:41
Speaker 1: the kissing intervent came to light, which by the way,
16:44
Speaker 1: he learned a week late. But but after after that
16:47
Speaker 1: came to light. Um, he was especially vigilant and betting
16:52
Speaker 1: where she would go, who she would be with, talking
16:55
Speaker 1: to the parents monitoring her phone. Um, you know, he
16:59
Speaker 1: was mean what a good parent would do. Um. And
17:02
Speaker 1: and of course, um, you know, the rest is history.
17:05
Speaker 1: I mean, he obviously didn't know that this was going
17:07
Speaker 1: to take place, and so we have lots of questions about, uh,
17:12
Speaker 1: about what was going on. And of course there's a
17:14
Speaker 1: young lady that we had no reasonably was in on this.
17:18
Speaker 1: She was just the young lady that dropped her off.
17:20
Speaker 1: And I've talked to her. Law enforcements talked to her,
17:23
Speaker 1: and clearly Elizabeth had a plan. We think that it
17:27
Speaker 1: was clear as she had a plan to meet him.
17:29
Speaker 1: What's unclear, frankly, is what her plan was that evening because,
17:35
Speaker 1: as you know, we've heard conflicting news about what she
17:40
Speaker 1: intended in terms of coming home that evening. She told
17:42
Speaker 1: her sister called the police if I'm not home, and
17:45
Speaker 1: she did that emphatically, and I don't have any doubt
17:48
Speaker 1: that she said those words. But obviously she was with
17:52
Speaker 1: Tad Cummins secretly. So the question is how what did
17:56
Speaker 1: she actually intend? Did she intend to leave and stay away,
18:00
Speaker 1: that she intended to come back? What she herself conflicted,
18:03
Speaker 1: didn't know what she wanted to do. Was it Tad
18:05
Speaker 1: that convinced her to do that? Was she sort of
18:08
Speaker 1: on the fence. We don't know the answers to those questions.
18:10
Speaker 1: We pray to God that we get her back so
18:12
Speaker 1: we can find the answers of answers to those questions. Well,
18:16
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about it a lot, and I learned
18:18
Speaker 1: yesterday that she left a packed bag of clothes and
18:23
Speaker 1: things at the Huey's restaurant in the morning. She then
18:27
Speaker 1: left with Tad Cummings. And you know what, I think,
18:30
Speaker 1: I really think that she didn't take the bag because
18:35
Speaker 1: she could say the Cummings, I don't have anything with me,
18:38
Speaker 1: I can't I can't go. I mean going away for
18:41
Speaker 1: a day for a lark, you know, sneaking out, going
18:46
Speaker 1: to movies, going for a hike, things like that, and
18:49
Speaker 1: then coming home. That's one thing. But leaving and never
18:53
Speaker 1: talking to your dad or your sisters and brothers again,
18:57
Speaker 1: that's a whole another can of worms. So I'm I
19:00
Speaker 1: think she left that bag at Showne's so she so
19:04
Speaker 1: he couldn't say, great, you've got your bag, you've got clothes,
19:07
Speaker 1: let's go. I think she didn't take it. I'm guessing
19:10
Speaker 1: that was the bag left over from the night before
19:12
Speaker 1: where she stayed at her friends. Well, now, hey, now,
19:15
Speaker 1: now let me let me be I'm looking at my
19:18
Speaker 1: just so you know what I'm doing. I'm looking at
19:19
Speaker 1: at my staff who's here. Just to clarify. I understanding
19:22
Speaker 1: at least, and you may have some information we don't.
19:25
Speaker 1: Is that she had two bags with her. She left
19:28
Speaker 1: the house with two bags, and she had those bags
19:30
Speaker 1: when she was dropped off. Okay, all right, that's news
19:35
Speaker 1: to me. Uh. Francy Abbott, who's my associate, is in here, Francy,
19:39
Speaker 1: your step up here to the phone here, Hi, Francy. Yeah,
19:43
Speaker 1: the d A told me that yesterday that the showys
19:46
Speaker 1: employees found a bag that she left behind, and I
19:51
Speaker 1: think she left it behind because she did not want
19:55
Speaker 1: to be gone for this long period of time. She
19:57
Speaker 1: didn't want to I mean, you don't take two you
20:00
Speaker 1: backs to the showings and you've got them in your
20:01
Speaker 1: booth where you're having your a hot fudge Sunday or
20:04
Speaker 1: your strawberry pie, and then you leave one and take
20:08
Speaker 1: the other one. I don't. I think she left it
20:10
Speaker 1: so she would not have her clothes. I agree with you, Nancy,
20:14
Speaker 1: if that's the case, that that adds a whole another
20:16
Speaker 1: level to this in terms of just trying to figure
20:18
Speaker 1: out what was happening. I will say that we have
20:21
Speaker 1: talked to persons who students, I'm just going to say it,
20:26
Speaker 1: that have confided in us that for the weeks leading
20:31
Speaker 1: up to the disappearance and even for a couple of
20:34
Speaker 1: months that certainly post of the kissing incident, revelation that
20:39
Speaker 1: she was wanting to get away because of the ridicule
20:44
Speaker 1: she was receiving, and that that's very disturbing to us
20:47
Speaker 1: that she was feeling that way and confided to friends
20:51
Speaker 1: about that. What kind of ridicule ridicule for what she's
20:55
Speaker 1: being ridiculed for being a ridicule for being a slut, whore,
20:58
Speaker 1: et cetera. But why would somebody say that about her
21:02
Speaker 1: because of Tad Cummins. This was after the fact. See,
21:05
Speaker 1: what you have to understand is that Tad Cummins was
21:07
Speaker 1: such a beloved quote unquote teacher that the students were
21:10
Speaker 1: allowed to call him by his first name, and he
21:12
Speaker 1: encouraged that apparently. And so what now The picture we're
21:16
Speaker 1: getting now, and I don't obviously I'm not immersed in
21:19
Speaker 1: the school, but the picture we're getting from these students
21:22
Speaker 1: is that there there began to be a lot of
21:25
Speaker 1: students who took the side of Tad Cummins in the
21:27
Speaker 1: alleged kissing incident, and that the cryptic, strange response was
21:34
Speaker 1: to ridicule her for being a slut and the whore
21:37
Speaker 1: and this and that, and that those are the kind
21:39
Speaker 1: of words. Those are the exact words that we were
21:41
Speaker 1: told that we're used, and unfortunately, uh, they're they're allegedly.
21:46
Speaker 1: This is all allegations that we haven't confirmed. But there
21:49
Speaker 1: were also similar statements, according to these sources overheard from
21:53
Speaker 1: some teachers talking about the incident, where words along those
21:57
Speaker 1: lines were used. I hope and prayed us that's already
22:00
Speaker 1: been reported that the teachers were speaking about the little
22:04
Speaker 1: girl in derogatory manners like tramp. Let's be clear, we
22:10
Speaker 1: don't know which teachers, and obviously we haven't confirmed and
22:14
Speaker 1: I know a lot of these teachers, and I prayed
22:16
Speaker 1: that's not true. That is the report that's coming out, um.
22:19
Speaker 1: And and the report is also that Elizabeth heard some
22:22
Speaker 1: of these comments. I will tell you that our firm
22:24
Speaker 1: knew the comments that were discussions at least being U
22:29
Speaker 1: that were happening about the kissing incident, that we're affecting
22:33
Speaker 1: the child. We actually contacted the school central It is
22:36
Speaker 1: JUSTI me so upset. Yeah, we we contacted the central
22:40
Speaker 1: office and said cut it out, you know, make sure
22:43
Speaker 1: that nobody talks about this because it's affecting the child.
22:46
Speaker 1: So we knew that was a problem way before she left.
22:50
Speaker 1: Now again we didn't we didn't know firsthand of the
22:53
Speaker 1: nature of what was being said. That's coming from students. Well,
22:59
Speaker 1: I guess they're all eating a dirt sandwich this morning, um,
23:03
Speaker 1: Because now it's clear who was the mastermind behind behind
23:07
Speaker 1: all of this. Everybody with me is a special guest.
23:11
Speaker 1: It's Jason Watley, who is representing Elizabeth Thomas Dad Anthony.
23:17
Speaker 1: Also with him is his law partner Corey. Corey represented
23:22
Speaker 1: Mr Thomas earlier when the mom's parental rights were under
23:27
Speaker 1: scrutiny after alleged mistreatment. Okay, so this is what I'm
23:32
Speaker 1: hearing that after Tad Commins is caught kissing the little
23:36
Speaker 1: girl in class, everybody, not everybody, but a lot of
23:40
Speaker 1: people blame a little girl and start calling her slut, tramp, whore.
23:46
Speaker 1: And she hears it, of course, and is destroyed by
23:52
Speaker 1: this and wants to get away. And all of this
23:55
Speaker 1: has been created by Tad Cummings, This this perfect storm
23:59
Speaker 1: for him, and he uses that to quote take her away,
24:03
Speaker 1: after he's the one that created the problem to start with. Yeah, yeah,
24:07
Speaker 1: I think about the irony here. He creates the situation
24:10
Speaker 1: and then he serves as the savior to take her away.
24:12
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it's mind boggling to think that
24:14
Speaker 1: it could work that way, but that's exactly what happened. Well,
24:17
Speaker 1: it makes me also think that she may have wanted
24:20
Speaker 1: to get away from the school situation, but I find
24:23
Speaker 1: it really hard to believe she wanted to cut off
24:25
Speaker 1: contact with all her brothers and sisters and her father,
24:29
Speaker 1: who she apparently loves very much, and he works like
24:33
Speaker 1: a dog to support the whole bunch. Yeah, I'll be
24:36
Speaker 1: very clear about that. We don't believe for a second
24:38
Speaker 1: that she intended to abandon her family the manner in
24:42
Speaker 1: which it has happened. We think that he has control
24:45
Speaker 1: over her um. Even if if we had a recording
24:49
Speaker 1: of the encounter at Showny's before they left, and it
24:53
Speaker 1: seemed as though she was willingly going, he has. He
24:57
Speaker 1: has overcome her ability to say no at this point.
25:00
Speaker 1: He is a master manipulator. There was a report yesterday
25:03
Speaker 1: by another person that's in the medical field that knew
25:06
Speaker 1: him and worked with him that he is a narcissist,
25:09
Speaker 1: that he would diagnose him as such. You know. So
25:13
Speaker 1: this is a man that's a dangerous man that knew
25:15
Speaker 1: exactly he was doing. He preyed on her from the
25:18
Speaker 1: very beginning. The reports we're having is that from the beginning,
25:22
Speaker 1: from literally going back to early in the fall semester,
25:25
Speaker 1: that he had targeted her and that he had become
25:27
Speaker 1: her savior of swords enough that he would declare that
25:30
Speaker 1: he was a father figure. I mean, if you think
25:31
Speaker 1: about that, Yeah, there are plenty of benign situations where
25:34
Speaker 1: a person could become a father figure as a teacher,
25:37
Speaker 1: and and that's that. That can be a really good
25:39
Speaker 1: thing in certain situations, but it's not when you're a
25:41
Speaker 1: sexual predator, you know. And so and that's what happened here.
25:45
Speaker 1: The father figure. What is the little girl that dropped
25:47
Speaker 1: her off? At? Should he say about which part? Nancy? Yeah,
25:51
Speaker 1: About what Elizabeth intended, I mean that she intended to
25:54
Speaker 1: go visit a friend for the day. Visit a friend
25:57
Speaker 1: for the day for the day. Did she just take
26:02
Speaker 1: her backpack or did she just have her clothes from
26:04
Speaker 1: the night before. What did she have with her? She
26:07
Speaker 1: had at least a bag, and now it's unclear to
26:09
Speaker 1: me whether there were two. The little girl that took
26:12
Speaker 1: her did not see anything out of the ordinary in
26:15
Speaker 1: terms of the bags. Wasn't this issue was carrying a
26:17
Speaker 1: giant Sampson Night's suitcase or something like that. So that's
26:20
Speaker 1: not what was going on. And so there was nothing
26:23
Speaker 1: that that struck her as alarming about about that, according
26:27
Speaker 1: to what she's saying. I found that a little cryptic, though,
26:30
Speaker 1: because if these two little girls are a good friends.
26:33
Speaker 1: If I if my friends said I'm going to go
26:35
Speaker 1: spend the day with a friend, I'd say who Just
26:38
Speaker 1: you know, just natural conversation. Yea. I tend to agree.
26:41
Speaker 1: I tend to agree. There's a I'm concerned, especially in
26:45
Speaker 1: a lot of the fact that there was knowledge that
26:48
Speaker 1: she wanted to get away, was wanting to leave the area.
26:51
Speaker 1: I had even discussed about leaving with Tad Cummins. But
26:55
Speaker 1: I mean, right, I mean, obviously, you know, these these
26:59
Speaker 1: children that are friends and in the middle of this, uh,
27:02
Speaker 1: you know, I think they're they're all sort of reeling,
27:06
Speaker 1: probably even scared about what to say and who to
27:08
Speaker 1: say it to. Where do you think they are, Jason,
27:12
Speaker 1: Where do you think they've gone? Mexico? You don't, Nancy. Uh.
27:18
Speaker 1: One of the reports we got is that Tad Cummins
27:21
Speaker 1: bragged in class to his students, this is how crazy
27:24
Speaker 1: he was that he had a place in Honduras that
27:27
Speaker 1: he would go to when things got bad in Columbia
27:30
Speaker 1: quote unquote, um. He was sort of a self proclaimed survivalist,
27:34
Speaker 1: even though I doubt very seriously he had any of
27:36
Speaker 1: those skills or the wherewithal to get to Honduras. I
27:40
Speaker 1: doubt he even has a passport. But that's what he
27:43
Speaker 1: portrayed himself as. What a place, a hideout in Honduras
27:48
Speaker 1: when things got too bad in Columbia. What. Yeah, he's
27:54
Speaker 1: he's an idiot. Uh. And he made those statements and
27:57
Speaker 1: and uh and but the child believed them. We have
28:00
Speaker 1: one rapport from one Chile that she had she had
28:03
Speaker 1: actually declared that she has a way to get out
28:05
Speaker 1: of the country. I mean, we we we don't. I
28:07
Speaker 1: don't believe that Tad does, however, or did, but I
28:12
Speaker 1: do believe that he told Elizabeth that because she believed
28:17
Speaker 1: what basically whatever he said, apparently, and he he convinced
28:20
Speaker 1: a lot of students of that. He apparently is a
28:22
Speaker 1: very masterful manipulator. When he's caught, I would encourage you
28:26
Speaker 1: to have him on your show and and find out
28:29
Speaker 1: how his uh Einstein like manipulating brain works. Uh, so
28:33
Speaker 1: you can figure out how he convinced all these impressionable
28:35
Speaker 1: youth that he was in the CIA and whatnot. I'm
28:38
Speaker 1: saying that tongue in cheek, of course, you know, I'm
28:40
Speaker 1: just wondering, do you what do you make of that?
28:43
Speaker 1: Corpus Christie alleged siding. If you know I've read about it,
28:47
Speaker 1: I just don't know. I mean, you know, right now
28:51
Speaker 1: I would tell you that, you know, obviously the family
28:53
Speaker 1: is not headed down to Corpus Christie right now. So
28:56
Speaker 1: I don't know what the veracity of that is. We
28:59
Speaker 1: hope and pray that it's legit, but we just don't know.
29:03
Speaker 1: And we we trust the tb I and the FBI
29:06
Speaker 1: law and local law enforcement. Marcus Albright his personal friend
29:10
Speaker 1: of mine, and he's the he's the lead detective locally.
29:13
Speaker 1: They're all great people, and we trust that they're following
29:16
Speaker 1: up all of these leads as they should be followed up. Obviously,
29:19
Speaker 1: I'm from Texas originally he's from Texas. No, I'm from
29:24
Speaker 1: I just said that as a plug to the state
29:26
Speaker 1: where I grew up. I was born and raised in Texas.
29:28
Speaker 1: And I'm confident that down there that if they think
29:31
Speaker 1: they've got a kidnapper, they're gonna hunt him down. Okay,
29:34
Speaker 1: let me ask you this. She has a cell phone.
29:37
Speaker 1: It was pained, we believe Indicator Alabama the day she
29:43
Speaker 1: gets missing, and nothing since. Do you think she's going
29:48
Speaker 1: to try and contact her family? Oh? Wow? Well, I
29:53
Speaker 1: mean yes, I mean my personal belief is that that
29:58
Speaker 1: there will come a point, if it had and come already,
30:00
Speaker 1: that Elizabeth realizes that this isn't any fun and it's
30:05
Speaker 1: not very glamorous, that he's not a millionaire, that he's
30:08
Speaker 1: not a former FBI agent or Special Forces or whatever,
30:14
Speaker 1: and that's going to come to light. Uh, and when
30:16
Speaker 1: they can't afford dinner, you know. Um, And as that happens,
30:21
Speaker 1: I think she's gonna want to go home, and she's
30:24
Speaker 1: gonna try harder and harder to contact home. That's what
30:28
Speaker 1: I think is going to happen. Now. Now what's scary
30:30
Speaker 1: for us is as that happens, Tad Cummins becomes more desperate.
30:35
Speaker 1: He's an armed man, he's obviously demented, and and so
30:40
Speaker 1: to think about having your daughter in the hands of
30:42
Speaker 1: a of a demented, armed man who's now becoming desperate
30:45
Speaker 1: because he's running out of money. I mean that that's
30:47
Speaker 1: the concern we have, or one of the concerns we have.
30:52
Speaker 1: You know, there are all sorts of articles written and
30:57
Speaker 1: analysis done on the Erkin dollar versus the Mexican dollar
31:02
Speaker 1: Mexican exchange. If he did make it to Mexico, They
31:08
Speaker 1: could live for a long time off nearly five grand. Well,
31:13
Speaker 1: of course five grand is just what he got. He
31:14
Speaker 1: got the car. We don't know what additional cash he
31:18
Speaker 1: might have had um and no one knew them, just
31:21
Speaker 1: to be clear as a wealthy family. But you know,
31:24
Speaker 1: he could have amassed easily a lot more cash than that.
31:27
Speaker 1: So so we don't know how much cash he had.
31:30
Speaker 1: Where does the wife, Jill come and spit into all this?
31:33
Speaker 1: I mean, is she being cooperative? Have they looked at
31:35
Speaker 1: his bank accounts to see by all accounts according to
31:39
Speaker 1: law enforcements, she's being fully cooperative and she's been very helpful.
31:43
Speaker 1: And that's I have no information to contradict that. That's
31:46
Speaker 1: what the tv I is saying. What does the dad think?
31:50
Speaker 1: What does Anthony Thomas think? Well about her involvement or
31:55
Speaker 1: what about where they are? I mean, to me her
31:58
Speaker 1: and her involvement, she's a child. Anything she did doesn't
32:01
Speaker 1: matter because she's not at the age of consent, and
32:04
Speaker 1: whatever she did do is because she was manipulated. But
32:07
Speaker 1: I mean, where where does he think they are? He
32:11
Speaker 1: has to fight off feelings of becoming despondent by dwelling
32:16
Speaker 1: on worst case scenario, and he has to hope for
32:19
Speaker 1: the best. And so what he what he hopes is
32:22
Speaker 1: that she's healthy, that this is sort of a fanciful thing,
32:27
Speaker 1: that she went off. Tad's going to come to his senses,
32:31
Speaker 1: put her on a bus and she's coming home, or
32:34
Speaker 1: you know, drop her off at a police station. And
32:37
Speaker 1: if he's listening to this, please do that, Tad. But
32:41
Speaker 1: you know, that's what he thinks or wants hopes. Obviously
32:46
Speaker 1: it's gonna gonna happen that as far as what he
32:48
Speaker 1: actually thinks is happening. Listen, the other day he was
32:51
Speaker 1: being interviewed by The Today Show and I was there
32:55
Speaker 1: when they got that. They found out that from the
32:59
Speaker 1: t B I that he had been googling teen marriage.
33:04
Speaker 1: They revealed that to him in a question and we
33:06
Speaker 1: didn't know that. Let me tell you, he had to
33:08
Speaker 1: come apart and as any father would. So if you're
33:12
Speaker 1: asking where he is and what his thoughts are, I
33:14
Speaker 1: think that was a great peeling back of just what's
33:18
Speaker 1: really going on inside of Anthony Thomas. Is when when
33:23
Speaker 1: they announced and of course we all sort of think
33:25
Speaker 1: these things, but in living color, they announced that he
33:28
Speaker 1: was googling teen marriage. You know, the gloves are off
33:31
Speaker 1: at that point. Everybody knows what's going on. And it
33:34
Speaker 1: really really just just to hit him to the core.
33:38
Speaker 1: And uh and they had to reshoot uh that that
33:41
Speaker 1: question because he just he got up. He just couldn't
33:44
Speaker 1: take it. And and uh uh you know that that's
33:46
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that a father when you hear that. Um,
33:50
Speaker 1: you know, I don't have to describe to you what
33:53
Speaker 1: what an average parents response would be to that kind
33:55
Speaker 1: of revelation. I mean, I think you already know. Listen,
33:59
Speaker 1: I'll kind so many stories Jason that sometimes during the
34:03
Speaker 1: day I have to go get in my car and
34:05
Speaker 1: drive by the children's school to make sure it's not
34:07
Speaker 1: in lockdown for some reason. I hear, I hear it,
34:10
Speaker 1: I hear what you're saying. I'm just I'm just sick
34:13
Speaker 1: about it. I'm thinking about his Niecean rogue. Do you
34:17
Speaker 1: know if he had serious x M in there? No,
34:22
Speaker 1: I don't know that at all. I know that's a
34:25
Speaker 1: crazy off the wall question, but you know, you know
34:29
Speaker 1: that can be car tapped if they have serious if
34:34
Speaker 1: he's got on star, if he's got anything like that.
34:37
Speaker 1: And I wonder if that's being done, Nancy. My personal
34:40
Speaker 1: belief is that Nissan Rogue's along gone. I mean, this
34:44
Speaker 1: guy was googling how how to get off the grid.
34:48
Speaker 1: He's a self proclaimed survivalist. He dumped that car somewhere
34:51
Speaker 1: because everybody's looking for a silver Nisan Rogue, and I
34:53
Speaker 1: know there's a lot of them, but there's not that
34:55
Speaker 1: many of them, And so I think he took that
34:58
Speaker 1: cars encumbered. He gets rid of that car. I think
35:00
Speaker 1: he pond. I think he sold the car. I think
35:02
Speaker 1: he sold it somewhere, took the plates off and sold
35:05
Speaker 1: it somewhere, and somewhere it's on some used car lot,
35:08
Speaker 1: or it's abandoned somewhere. Yeah, I mean he could or
35:11
Speaker 1: he could have taken a thousand dollars put it down
35:13
Speaker 1: on one of these buy here, pay here car lots,
35:15
Speaker 1: or or a Craigslist car. There could be any number
35:18
Speaker 1: of ways that he could have gotten a vehicle. And
35:20
Speaker 1: so I don't know that we have any idea what
35:22
Speaker 1: the vehicle that they're in right now. Yeah. The reason
35:25
Speaker 1: I'm asking is this, it would at least give me
35:26
Speaker 1: a direction. If I knew where the car was last,
35:30
Speaker 1: I would at least know where they're headed like you know,
35:32
Speaker 1: like the Decatur, Alabama was a little bit of a
35:35
Speaker 1: hint which way they were headed, but not much. But
35:37
Speaker 1: I gave gave us something, you know, and if I
35:40
Speaker 1: knew where he dumped the car, that would at least
35:42
Speaker 1: give me a direction. Well, you know, here's my thought.
35:45
Speaker 1: Those of us who live in southern Middleton. See when
35:48
Speaker 1: we think of the I six cord that goes through Decatur, uh,
35:52
Speaker 1: you generally think of one thing, and that's going to
35:54
Speaker 1: the ocean and going to forward you can handle. That's
35:56
Speaker 1: what we've been saying from the get go. It's about
35:58
Speaker 1: seven hours away. And that was my thinking. My dad
36:01
Speaker 1: grew up on the Panhana's been a lot of time
36:03
Speaker 1: down there, and if you keep going, you know, he
36:07
Speaker 1: could disappear. People disappear in Florida all the time. They
36:11
Speaker 1: go down there and they live transiently and they're really
36:15
Speaker 1: off the grid. You know, You've got the Everglades, you
36:18
Speaker 1: have just a lot of expanse of un developed land.
36:24
Speaker 1: He could easily be down there. But then there's Corpus
36:29
Speaker 1: Christie's side and kind of threw off my theory. Of course,
36:32
Speaker 1: you know, I wonder some of that information come out?
36:36
Speaker 1: Is it coming out on purpose? In other words? You know,
36:39
Speaker 1: I don't know. In other words, as the t b
36:41
Speaker 1: I or the FBI sort of fled out that, oh,
36:45
Speaker 1: here he is when maybe he's not there, you know,
36:47
Speaker 1: on purpose. Um. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but you know,
36:51
Speaker 1: in their strategy of trying to find this guy, they
36:54
Speaker 1: may very well be giving a few false leads. Well,
36:57
Speaker 1: you know he's watching you know, he's watching TV and
37:01
Speaker 1: listening to everything and reading the reports. Do you know
37:04
Speaker 1: if Elizabeth had an iPad with her an iPad? We
37:08
Speaker 1: do not know that, and if we yea, we don't
37:10
Speaker 1: know that. You know. The thing is, though, if she did,
37:13
Speaker 1: he's savvy enough to tell her if she turns it
37:15
Speaker 1: on or the cell phone on, they'll be nabbed. So
37:18
Speaker 1: he I'm sure he's already told her that. Okay, I'm
37:21
Speaker 1: sure that's what happened with the ping indicator, is that,
37:25
Speaker 1: uh you know, they figured out you better turn off
37:27
Speaker 1: the cell phone, don't do that whatever, and then they
37:30
Speaker 1: didn't make that mistaken. Okay, guys, Jason, I have taken
37:34
Speaker 1: so much of your time and I want to hear
37:36
Speaker 1: your final thoughts. If what you want the public to know,
37:40
Speaker 1: and what you want Tad Cummins to know, and as
37:45
Speaker 1: you are representing Elizabeth's dad, Anthony, what you want Elizabeth
37:51
Speaker 1: to know? Is there a message to her from her dad?
37:54
Speaker 1: The first i'd answer the first question are the last
37:57
Speaker 1: question first, which is her father, Anthony as well as
38:01
Speaker 1: her family loves her dearly and completely unconditionally um and
38:07
Speaker 1: wants her home. There's no judgment, there's nothing other than
38:13
Speaker 1: the love for their daughter and sister that they want
38:16
Speaker 1: her home and safe, and that is it. Number Two,
38:19
Speaker 1: to the public, we would say this, this is an abduction.
38:23
Speaker 1: This isn't some wilful There is no wilfulness here. This
38:26
Speaker 1: is a fifteen year old girl and a fifty year
38:29
Speaker 1: old predator. Um, that's what this is. And so we
38:32
Speaker 1: want the public to understand that. So this discussion that
38:34
Speaker 1: we see out there on all uh, you know, social
38:38
Speaker 1: media comments and whatnot, there's simply no wilfulness here and
38:41
Speaker 1: that that is in fact, this man brainwashed her. And
38:44
Speaker 1: to Tad Cummins, I would say this, Um, if you're listening,
38:48
Speaker 1: um uh, it's going to go a lot better for you.
38:51
Speaker 1: You would simply do the right thing and let her go. Safely,
38:55
Speaker 1: put her in a safe place, get her to the authorities.
38:58
Speaker 1: UM in terms of of going after him. Uh, my
39:02
Speaker 1: view is this, The family's view is this. We just
39:05
Speaker 1: want the child back. We don't really care what happens
39:07
Speaker 1: to Tag Commons at this point. We'll leave that to
39:09
Speaker 1: other people. Again. Thank you to our sponsor, crime Con
39:13
Speaker 1: for supporting our podcast today, making it possible and our
39:16
Speaker 1: efforts to bring Elizabeth Thomas home safely and bringing Tag
39:21
Speaker 1: Cummings to justice. Crime Con goes down June nine through
39:25
Speaker 1: June eleven. Go to crime con dot com. Use the
39:30
Speaker 1: code Nancy for another twenty percent of crime Con. Thank
39:35
Speaker 1: you for making today possible. Our prayers and thoughts go
39:38
Speaker 1: on for the safe return of Elizabeth Thomas. I want
39:43
Speaker 1: to thank Jason Watley and your partner, your law partner,
39:47
Speaker 1: and all of your staff that have gathered together to
39:50
Speaker 1: be with us today. We are praying every day. At night,
39:56
Speaker 1: I wake up and I think about Elizabeth. I wonder
39:59
Speaker 1: what's happening to right now. I worry about her. I
40:03
Speaker 1: worry about this thing going even more sideways, where he
40:07
Speaker 1: becomes even more irrational and they both end up dead somehow.
40:12
Speaker 1: I just I'm really praying for her safety and that
40:16
Speaker 1: she comes home, and for her father and her family.
40:20
Speaker 1: Jason Wantley Corey, thank you so much for being with us,
40:25
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace Crime Stories signing off goodbye friend,