After a month long search, teenager Elizabeth Thomas has been located in northern california Safe And Sound. The teacher who she was, Tad Cummins, with has already been arrested. USA Today shared the details about what happened and how Elizabeth was located today.
What went down today with Elizabeth?
Tad Cummins had been arrested, and Elizabeth Thomas had been safely recovered from a commune in northern California. Cummins was a teacher in Tennessee, and for the last month, everyone has been looking for Elizabeth. TBI Director Mark Gwyn shared that they have been working hard on this case for the last month and had over 1,500 leads during that time.
They finally got the right one and were able to find her.
Cummins is now in custody in a California jail without bond, awaiting extradition to Tennessee to face charges of sexual contact with a minor and aggravated kidnapping. Back on March 13, Elizabeth was reported missing by her parents.
CNN shared that when Elizabeth was still missing that a student had revealed that they saw Elizabeth and Tad kissing before she disappeared. This was reported to the school the very next day. It actually took a week before her parents were notified, though. A friend dropped Elizabeth off at a restaurant in Columbia, and then Tad was seen on a surveillance camera at a nearby gas station. It was not long after this that she went missing and her parents reported the incident.
Just a few days before he went missing Cummins had taken out a loan for $4,500 so they had plenty of cash and he also allegedly had two handguns on him as well.
Elizabeth's father did contact the school and was told that they would make sure that his daughter didn't have further contact with Cummins, but that wasn't the case.
They still had a class together, and their phone records proved that they were still talking outside of school as well. The school did try to say that the allegations she was still in his class were not true and that they had removed her from that class.
Her parents did not hear from her at all after she disappeared. At this time, Elizabeth is not speaking out yet and sharing if she went with Cummins on her own free will or what exactly happened.
Luckily, she was found today and is safe and sound.
Are you surprised to hear that they found Elizabeth Thomas today in California? Did you feel like they would ever find her alive? Sound off in the comments section below on your thoughts.