Tad Cummins-Elizabeth Thomas Update 2017: Search Continues for Missing Student; People Advised Not to Approach Pair
The multi-state AMBER Alert for missing 15-year-old freshman Elizabeth Thomas is still ongoing. The teen and her alleged abductor, 50-year-old teacher Tad Cummins, have been missing without a trace for more than a month now.
Jill Cummins, wife to Tad, who filed a divorce from her husband in late March, recently appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" to talk about the incident. And while she claimed that she still loves her husband, she also confessed that she could no longer trust him now.
She called her husband selfish for absconding with his student, Elizabeth, and added that she found out Tad was leaving when she discovered his note at home.
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"It's kind of like a death because the Tad I knew is gone," Jill said.
The pair was last seen on March 15 on a surveillance video taken from a Walmart in Oklahoma City but was no longer seen or heard from afterward. A student at the Culleoka Unit School, where Tad formerly worked as a health sciences teacher, claimed to have seen him kissing Elizabeth prior to their initial disappearance on March 13.
A warrant has already been issued for Tad's arrest on charges of aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said that Tad has also been added to the state's Most Wanted list.
Elizabeth's father, Anthony Thomas, has also filed a court petition to allow his lawyer to take depositions of people who knew about her daughter's relationship with her teacher but have been hesitant to cooperate in the ongoing investigation.
Mr. Thomas believes that Tad "groomed" her daughter prior to abducting her. As claimed by the petition, "Cummins preyed upon the child for months on end, nudging and molding her until her will to resist was conflicted and ultimately broken."
TBI advises anyone who spots either Tad or Elizabeth or both to not approach them, and instead to keep an eye on them while calling 911 or 1-800-TBI-FIND. People have also been advised to be on the lookout for Tad in pharmacies since he will need to refill his blood pressure prescription soon. There is also a possibility that the pair may have already fled to Mexico.
Tad was last spotted driving a silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee license plate number 976-ZPT, although it is not clear whether he's still driving this vehicle up to this point.
