District courts prosecuted the mother of a former missing teen this week, charging her with Child Abuse dating all the way back to January of last year. Next month, federal investigators expect Kimberly Thomas, 48, to appear in court so the state of Tennessee can review her pending trial. Local law officials indicted Thomas on five counts of child abuse. Four of them are child neglect misdemeanors, and one is a felony charge of child abuse on a minor under 8-years-old. Not only is she accused of harming Elizabeth Thomas, but the charges also surround her abuse towards her other children as well.
Multiple instances of abuse
Court reports reveal that the child abuse originally started back in November 2014 and escalated for approximately one year. Her husband, Anthony Thomas filed for separation by the end of 2015. The family courts granted him sole guardianship of all their children. They also filed a restraining order against her that same year, and it still prohibits her from having contact with any of her kids to this day.
According to Tennessee court reports, Thomas bashed Elizabeth’s head up against a clothes washer, tossed her down the steps, and locked her in their basement. Her sister, Kat Bozeman, told PEOPLE that their mother’s abuse played a very significant role in Elizabeth allowing Ted Cummins to abduct her.
The reports assert that Thomas would hit her children until they started bleeding. In one instance, she even hit one of them with a chair. One of them fell unconscious after she apparently beat another one with a wooden board. The documents further state that Thomas took it upon herself to slap one of the kids in the face after the child used one of her siblings' EpiPen.
Kendall Stivers, Maury County’s Public Defender, is the attorney representing Thomas during her court trial. The media has yet to reach him for a comment on the matter, as his client pled not guilty to each of the charges currently pending against her.
Divorce filed
Anthony Thomas, 49, is Elizabeth’s biological father. Earlier this week, PEOPLE affirmed that he officially petitioned to divorce Kimberly Thomas.
Public records filed in Maury County’s Chancery Court state that their separation resulted from both engaging in inappropriate marital conduct and that they couldn’t reconcile their differences.
Cory Ricci, Anthony’s attorney, has yet to comment on his client’s divorce. There is currently no information on whether or not Kimberly retained counsel for her husband’s court filing.
