Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Elizabeth Thomas’ dad blames mom for teacher kidnaping

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Elizabeth Thomas’ dad blames mom for teacher kidnaping · 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. He said they're from Colorado and then
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: said he had a house fire. He pulled me aside
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: at one point and made a statement that he was
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: glad that this was all over. His sister says he
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: doesn't believe he kidnapped Elizabeth. I asked him why, why
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: would he do this? And the answer to dankening is
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: that she wanted to run away, and she wanted to leave,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and he didn't want her to go along, so he
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: went with her son, who did Now that she was safe,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: this is crime Stories. I'm Nancy Gray, thank you for
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: being with us. We have just obtained court documents in
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the divorce proceedings of kidnapped girl Elizabeth Thomas parents and boy,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: what a bombshell document. This is. Now we understand why
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Thomas mom has been out of the picture. She
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: was forced out. What we are learning and this divorce
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: complaint filed by her father is incredible. They divorced basically
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. That is the basis
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: of the divorce and that's pretty standard across the country.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: But now we realize what has happened in the background.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: We find out that the mom has been charged with
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: or accused of stalking the children. This is after she
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: has been accused of beating Elizabeth during the homeschooling for
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: owing her downa basement, hitting her in the head with
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a wash machine agitator, and forcing her to undress in
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  Speaker 1: front of friends. Those are the accusations that she denies,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: and these bombshe old court documents we find out even
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: more her father, Anthony, is claiming that because of the
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: way her mother treated her, it's set Elizabeth up, basically
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: grooming her to be assaulted, grooming her to be a victim.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: This is what we know. The oldest minor child, who
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: is Elizabeth, who was just turned fifteen, has been the
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: focus of a nationwide missing child hunt prior to her disappearance,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: her dad did not know all of the abuse was
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: going on in the home, and paragraphs seven of this
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  Speaker 1: he claims that Tad Cummings, the Purvy High School teacher,
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  Speaker 1: used his position of authority as a teacher at Elizabeth
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  Speaker 1: School to prey upon her groom her entice her to
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: run away with him. And this is because of the mother,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: because of her acts of abuse. Elizabeth was and is terrified,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: but didn't know what else to do because that was
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: her learned behavior. With me, of course, is the Duke
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Alan Duke. In paragraph nine Alan, it says the court
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: ordered the mother to have no contact whatsoever with the children.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: That order is in effect right now to this very minute. However,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: even after the court ordered that, the mom took many
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: many actions, as they say, to toe the line, put
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: her tone, put her toe on the line of the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: court's order. That she would drive to the children's home,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: to their schools, to their friends home, when the children
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: would be there, waiting until one of the children was outside,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: then stare at them angrily and drive off. They reported.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: The children reported that made them so scared, very fearful
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: of their own mother. The father is saying that now
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth is home, she's expected to undergo lengthy and intensive therapy.
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  Speaker 1: She just can't have any more incidents like this happened. Alan,
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  Speaker 1: Do you see paragraph nine of this document. I'm looking
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: right at it. This mother is a piece of work.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: If all of this is true. Not only is she
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: do in court May twelve for those really horrendous charges
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: made in the indictment in Columbia, but she's on notice
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to be in court May on this, including the restraining order.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: This is why they had to have the restraining order
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: along with the divorce violing. Besides the stalking, they had
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: information that Kimberly Thomas had recorded the video interview. The
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: mother had recorded an interview with a news network and
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: it was going to air over this past weekend April twenty,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: but they were able to get it canceled. What would
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: happen if the mom went on national television and talking
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: about Elizabeth and Elizabeth saw it. The damage that would
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: be done to that child piled onto what she's already been.
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  Speaker 1: You know what I want to tell you something, Alan.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: I know it's hard for people that have not been
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: a crime victim to get this, but when you have been.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: You have such You may be a brave person, but
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: you have such dread in seeing your attack or it's
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: a sickening feeling. And that's why a lot of people
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: block out the memory of the crime. And for the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: longest time, Alan, I didn't believe that. But I can
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: state with firsthand knowledge that the time just before and
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: for a couple of years after Keith's murder, people ask
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: me all the time, do you remember X? Do you
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: remember why? And I don't and I can't help it,
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  Speaker 1: And honestly, I haven't tried to remember. I don't want
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to remember it. And that's me as a grown woman.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Imagine a child having your mother make you undress in
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: front of other people, or throw you down the stairs,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: lock you in the basement, beat you with something. These
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: are allegations that she denies, but that sets the child up.
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  Speaker 1: And I've had so many statutory rape and child lest
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: station cases. And I remember one little I guess she
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: was about eight years old girl that her father had
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: been just full on raping her for years. I think
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: it's strong when she was about three and they would
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: come to court and she'd run up to him to to,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: you know, get love from him. It beats everything I
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: is a lay person can understand, but I've seen it
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  Speaker 1: over and over and over with children. They don't understand
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  Speaker 1: why this happened to them. As they grow older, they
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  Speaker 1: feel sick, helpless, and nobody was there to save them
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  Speaker 1: or help them. It's a feeling of powerlessness. It's a terrible,
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  Speaker 1: terrible feeling, and it's six with you the rest of
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: your life. And I know it took me a long time. Allen,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but I think now, if these claims are
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: true about her mother, that set her up to just
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: follow along with what Tad Commins told her to do.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: And that's what the dad's claiming in these documents. Alan,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the father is alleging that if Elizabeth sees her mother
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: in a television interview and they do say that, they
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: expect other national media to try to contact the mother.
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  Speaker 1: If they do that, she will quote most likely suffer
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: psychological harm to her already compromise mental state if she
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: sees the defendant her mom appear on television or on
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the internet and make any remarks about Elizabeth's recent traumatizing
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: circumstances or her family circumstances in general. And let me say,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: we have reached out to the public defender for Kimberly
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Thomas and have not had a response yet. It's a
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: mental thing that he's alleging. And he's right if these
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: allegations was against the mom are true, and she had
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: been beating and abusing and exploiting Elizabeth for any period
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: of time, Elizabeth was set up to go along with
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: an abuser. He claims that she beat the girl locked
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: from the basement before she was snatched by Tad Cummings
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: freaky purv that she was easy prey for Cummings. He
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: also says she abused some of their ten kids, not
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: just Elizabeth all right, that she hit, pushed down steps,
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  Speaker 1: locked in basement and it made Elizabeth to be vulnerable
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: to Cummins. That the girl would go to Cummons to
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: get help for panic attacks she was suffering because of
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  Speaker 1: her mother, and now that she's back, she's had still
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: having the panic attacks. The mother, her own mother, is
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: banned from seeing the children because of this ongoing abuse case.
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  Speaker 1: Experts and I can tell you this say kids are
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: that are have been to be used, see adults in
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: position of power and they seek them out. Now again,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the mom denies all of this. Now, tell me when
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: did you say this is going to court? The restraining
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: order and the divorce petition are scheduled for a docket
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: on the twenty second of May. But the indictment, the
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: criminal indictment, there is a twelfth hearing set for that.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Why would you lock your child in the basement? I mean,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: it was all I could do to make look. I
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: swat to Lucy on the rare end. Of course at
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: that point it was through a diaper, and so she
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: just basically ignore me. And then I thought, okay, that
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: didn't do anything. I'm going to next time give her
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  Speaker 1: time out. It was all I could do to keep
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  Speaker 1: it would be a matter of seconds, So okay, go
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: to stand in the bathroom. We're shutting the door because
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: you've been naughty, naughty, naughty. I could barely keep her
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  Speaker 1: in there. We had to count the second, so it
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: would be like twenty seconds and she would and she
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: would come out. Okay, I mean, but can you imagine
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  Speaker 1: throwing your child down the basement steps and locking her
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: down there. First of all, all all you gotta do now,
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: and I've got grandkids is take their iPads away from them.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: That's my new thing. I thought, I was so smart.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: So you do that too. Oh yeah, that's that's all
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: you gotta do. Take the iPads away. They can't watch
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  Speaker 1: the videos and they're done. Here's another thing. Another thing
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  Speaker 1: is threatened to type the iPad away. There's the threat.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: There's a threat. Okay, but you have to go through
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  Speaker 1: with it every once in a while, just to you know,
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  Speaker 1: show you it's a real threat. Now, hold on, catch
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: this if you keep reading this. Kimberly Thomas is at
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: this juncture. She's also accused of abuse on other children.
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  Speaker 1: That she hit them until they bled not one daughter
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  Speaker 1: unconscious with a wooden board, and threw a chair at
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  Speaker 1: another daughter brew seeing her leg smacked a child in
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the head for injecting herself with the brother's EpiPen. The
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: children wrote letters to de Facts Department Children's Services about
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the abuse before mom was arrested. Now that is according
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to one of the team's relatives. Okay, that's not in
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  Speaker 1: the document. Now. Anthony Thomas was living at home during
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: this time. They separated in November two thousand fifteen, and
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: he took soul custody and he's claiming disabuse as a
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: reason for the doors. Now, according to the Crimes against
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Children Research Center and a University New Hampshire. Abuse at
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: home makes children susceptible to manipulation by adults. They're vulnerable
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  Speaker 1: to grooming by predators that act like they care about
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  Speaker 1: the child. Daniel Thomas, who is Elizabeth's sister in law,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: claims Cummings knew the girl had been abused and took
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: advantage of that, and he probably did alan all those
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: long intimate talks they would have in the classroom. I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure she told him what was going on at home.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah. I'm looking at the list of the
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  Speaker 1: kids here. We're talking about the four that are under age.
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  Speaker 1: They range in age from six to fifteen, you know.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, Elizabeth Thomas, who also I found out today,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: likes to be called Mary Catherine. By the way, although
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: her name is Mary Catherine Elizabeth Thomas. She will be
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: sixteen on May seventeenth, so she's got the birthday coming up,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: still under age. Nanita was born in two thousand and three,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: so she's fourteen. Joshua he's twelve, and Rebecca is six.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the range of these children. And this abuse
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: allegedly happened three years ago, so they were even younger.
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  Speaker 1: Then another thing. According to this sister in law, who
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: we believe to be Danielle Thomas, she says Elizabeth has
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: been saying curled up in the middle of the floor, crying, shaking,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: having panic attacks since she came home, and that that
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  Speaker 1: just makes me so sad thinking of this child curled
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: up in a ball, crying and shaking after she got home.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: From what she's been through. I mean, this child has
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: been basically statutorily raped repeatedly, over and over and over.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I'm just sick about it. You know, school administrators told
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth she needed to go to a school counselor for
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: anxiety issues, and they ordered tech commons to stay away
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: from her. Well, obviously he disobeyed the order. We know
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: that he was brought into court in the last twenty
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: four hours wearing prison orange in cuffs. He was told
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: in court he would be returned to Tennessee to stand trial.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: He faces a minimum mandatory sentence of ten years on
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: the federal charges alone. You know, I just her life
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: is forever changed. And to thank your own mother is
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: responsible for some of this, I mean awful. The good
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: news is she is getting help now, she's home. After
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: that nightmare for five weeks, and according to this she
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: is getting intensive therapy with numerous mental health professionals. We
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: also know the FBI has some specialists who are talking
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: to her, but that is preparing for the criminal case
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: and the federal charges against Tag Cummins. You know, this
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: is amazing that Tag Cummins lawyers say she went willingly
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and was not forced, threatened, or coerced he was having
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: sex with her. She's fifteen. Just and you know another
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: thing that where where the school dropped the ball? Apparently
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the teacher wasn't fired until a month after suspension, a
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: day after he the girl's kidnapped. You have to wait
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: that long for Pete's sake, one kiss on the mouth,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: he should have been gone out of there right. Absolutely,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: got an ethical question to ask you. This isn't a
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: legal question, It's an ethical question. Hit me as a journalist.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: It is close to me. It in this request for
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: a restraining order, says it's highly likely many other news
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: networks will attempt to contact the defended the mom, or
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: that she will try to contact them for interviews. I'm
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: asking myself, now, you've been in this business all the time.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Get it out, Alan, please is it ethical to put
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: an interview from Kimberly Thomas on the air if you
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: know that it's going to harm this child. I do
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: not think it's ethical. But the legal issue is that
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: he can put she is a party to court proceedings
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: criminal and civil, criminal and civil, the abuse claims and
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the divorce claims and her parental rights which is civil,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: and the judge can put a gag order on her.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: And if she violence a gag order by giving interview
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: her framework kill land right in jail. Can't do that
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: to a journalist. I'm surprised that her criminal defense lawyer,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: who I've tried to reach and to get on this show,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: I'm surprised she would allow her to even record an
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: interview about that. That's kind of kind of dangerous. If
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: you've got a woman who's accused of abusing a child
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: or several children, why very serious charges, Why are you
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: gonna let them go on national television to talk about it?
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Corey Ritchie special guests joining us right now, who has
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: represented Anthony Thomas, Elizabeth Thomas's father during this ordeal. As
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: her father moves forward with a divorce against the mother,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: they claimed the mom has horribly abused these children more
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: than just Elizabeth, but specifically we're talking about Elizabeth today, Corey.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us, Corey. What took the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Dance so long to file for divorce for Pete's sake? Well,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Mr Thomas had made up his mind about filing the
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: divorce a long time ago. Frankly, it was not long
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: after her it became known what Ms Thomas was doing
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: to these children, and we of course had that litigation
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: concerning custody of these children in lately, and he was
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: prohibited from doing it, you know, financially and otherwise. It
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: just was a fight he was not able to sustain
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: at that point in time. And you know, then of
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: course all the dominoes fell with the Tad Cummins investigation,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: first as it began at the school, and then as
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: it of course progressed to Mr Cummins kidnapping Elizabeth and
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: and running off with her. Honestly, Mr Thomas was going
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: to file for divorce. It would have probably been this
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: week anyway, maybe even last week if we you know,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: could have arranged everything even if Elizabeth hadn't turned up.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: He was just ready to do it. Then. Of course,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: with everything that happened, and now all of a sudden,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: everything's moving very quickly. Elizabeth's back and she's getting therapy,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and she's you know, all the attention is to acted
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: at getting her to a better place. That one of
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: the biggest concerns he had when Elizabeth returned was that
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: the mother Ms. Thomas, would take to the media again
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: and start talking. And Elizabeth is terrified. All of the
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: children are terrified of this woman. And we do not
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: want there to be any problem whatsoever with Elizabeth recovering.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: And if she has any exposure to the media. You know,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: she was in a remote area where I think she
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: had no access to the media and the internet, and
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: now she's at the very epicenter of it, and she
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: is the focus of it. It's going to be probably
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: impossible to completely shield her from it. And so if
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: she has any exposure to her mother, it's going to
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: cause serious problems. And so of course made Mr Thomas,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: weare of his options in terms of, you know, the
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: relief he could seek either temporarily or permanently with filing
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: for divorce and protecting the children. It became all the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: more urgent to do it when Elizabeth returned. You know,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: I was shocked Corey that he says them on would
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: stalk the children and stare at them angrily and make
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: them feel terrible. What bothers me more is throwing allegedly
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: throwing the girl down the steps and locking in the basement,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: hitter or in the head. What were the circumstances surrounding
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: those events that are alleged, Well, I don't know each
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: one of the specifics. Ms Thomas has some very serious
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: problems and has had very serious problems for a long
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: time and has not been able to handle those problems,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: at least in productive ways. You know, I don't recall
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: exactly what the specifics were, but it reached, you know,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the point with these children that they were absolutely horrified.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: And in fact, as I recall, it was the children
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: themselves who had reached out to professionals and social workers
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: wrote to them and said, get us out of here.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: We are terrified, and and that's that's That's the most
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: that I know about it. It was a it was
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: a history of abuse that progressive. It got worse with
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: the children and it went on unchecked. It was in
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the home, and the girls were very scared to even
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: come forward with the information to their father for fear
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: of what their mother might do to them, and then
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: enough was enough at one point, And and that's really
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: what what taught us where we are. How long had
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the mom homes schooled them? I'm not exactly sure it
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: was a substantial period of time. I know that not
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: all of the children there are ten now, six of
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: whom are adults. The next oldest to Elizabeth just turned
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: eighteen about a month ago, and some of them had
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: been homeschooled for longer than others. I don't recall the
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: specifics there, honestly, and that I do recall that it
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: was relatively new endeavor getting Elizabeth and maybe some of
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: the other children into the school where they went where
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: where they still go now, But I don't know the
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: exact time period. And tell me the train of thought,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the thinking behind the assertation that the mother's edged abused
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: on Elizabeth made her right for Tad Cummins to snatch her.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: What's that thinking? Mr Cummins, I'm know was aware of
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: the problems that Elizabeth had at home with her mother,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: and you know that. Of course, I'm no psychologist. I've
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: dealt with many psychologists in my practice, and many other
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: men on health professionals. And I don't even think, frankly
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: takes a psychologist to tell you that if you have
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: a child who's being severely mistreated and it is being abused,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: especially a young lady, I think that's going to cause
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: a lot of problems mentally. That's going to perhaps make
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a a child a lot more vulnerable than they would be.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: And that's that's, you know, number one. And the number
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: two is if you have someone like Mr Cummins who
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: understands that and attempts to exploit it and take advantage
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: of it for his own personal gain. You know, he
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: he understood that and he used it his advantage, I
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: think to the extent that he could to get her
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: to to believe what he wanted her to believe and
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: to do what he wanted her to do. And I
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: think that played a very big role in in this
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: case and in the circumstances under which Elizabeth was ultimately
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: taken by Mr Cummins out West. When does the mom's
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: criminal case go forward? There is a criminal case, right this,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: if it's true, is child abuse? Yes, there is a
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: criminal case. Ms Thomas was initially set for trial earlier
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: this year, but I understand that it got postponed because
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: there were some discovery issues between her attorney and the prosecutor.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: I do not know where that stands. I do know
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: that May twelve, I believe, is the that that day
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: it's set for a just what we call a review
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: or maybe a settlement date, where the goal there is
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: to if there's not going to be any agreement worked
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: out to settle her case, and I don't think there is.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: I think that that would have already happened before reset
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: for trial the last time, and if there is no agreement,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: then her case gets reset for trial. She'll be tried
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: on the five counts that I believe are against her,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: child abuse four of them, or misdemeanors one of them
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: as a felony. But we should know more about that
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: on May the twelve. How can you stop her, short
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: of a gag order, from going on TV and blabbing, well,
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: that's just it. I don't know that. I don't know
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: that we can. I know that there are First Amendment implications,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: as in any situation where someone's asking for a gag order,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: But the compelling interest here is that any exposure that
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: this lady has to the media is going to most
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: assuredly have a profound impact on Elizabeth, who was already
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: in a very vulnerable mental state. And now she's back
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: and there's lots of attention on her and her recovery.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: She's all the more sensitive to those types of things.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: And so a gag order as it's informally called, or
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Thomas believed, was appropriate to keep a MS. Thomas from
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: having any interference whatsoever with a very uh sensitive and
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: very delicate mental health recovery process. Not to mention Ms Thomas.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: As you mentioned earlier, Nancy had towed the line, as
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I said in my pleadings, that she had towed the
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: line with this no contact order that was already in place,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: not supposed to go around the children, not supposed to
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: talk to them, and here she is driving by and
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: giving them menacing stairs and it and it scared them,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: you know. They they saw her, and not just one
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: of the children, but multiple children saw it on different occasions,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: and they said, we're scared, Dad, you know, we were scared.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: We wanted there to be no more question anymore, that
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: she's not allowed to do that, that she's not allowed
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: to go by any place where the children might happen
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: to be now. The order that's in place at this moment,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: it's a temporary order. It's designed to expire by its
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: terms or to be reviewed, I should say, on the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: hearing date, which I believe is made the twenty two,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: And on that day we're going to ask the court
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: to enter the order on a more permanent basis. And
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: then that order, of course includes the gag order as well. Corey.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. Thank you, Nancy. Glad
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: to do it. Guys. This is what we know right
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: now from these divorced documents that we've gotten our mits on.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: This is all unfolding in a court of law, and
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: we're on the case. And and are these documents being
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: posted on crime online dot com? Yes, thank you for
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: reminding me there on crime online dot com. I want
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: to read them for yourself. Nancy Grace Crime Stories along
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: with Alan Duke signing off, goodbye friend.