In late January, a student at a Tennessee high school reported to school officials that he or she had seen a teacher kissing a student. By February 8, the teacher, Tad Cummins, 50, was suspended while authorities investigated the report. Neither the teacher nor the student, Elizabeth Thomas, 15, admitted to any inappropriate contact.
However, by March 13, both the teacher and the girl were missing, prompting an Amber Alert that has since spanned three weeks. Cummins was fired the day after the two disappeared, and Cummins's wife has since filed for divorce.
Now investigators say the pair has at least passed through Oklahoma City as they fled Tennessee.
Investigators with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) say they have positively identified Cummins and Thomas on surveillance video from an Oklahoma City Walmart located at 100 E I-240 Service Road. The pair was spotted on March 15, two days after they went missing from Columbia, Tennessee, about 60 miles south of Nashville.
Each of the two had altered his or her appearance, with Cummins darkening his hair and Thomas dying hers red.
Oklahoma City police say that the TBI has not requested local assistance in investigating the abduction, and it is not known whether the two were believed to be staying in the area or just passing through.
Meanwhile, police in Kearney, Nebraska, about a 7 hour drive from Oklahoma City, reported that Cummins and Thomas were spotted at a McDonald's there at about 6:10 p.m. Sunday evening. They reported that the pair were driving a black pickup truck, although they noted that the two could still be in the silver Nissan Rogue indicated in the Amber Alert. This morning, the TBI confirmed that the man and teen girl seen in the McDonald's surveillance video were not, in fact, the Tad Cummins and Elizabeth Thomas.
Amber Alerts are still active for Thomas in Tennessee and Alabama. AL.com reports that TBI agents have received some 1,300 tips, and that 300 of those leads are still being investigated today.
Whether or not the 15-year-old left willingly with her teacher, it is against the law for anyone to transport a child across state lines or take a child from his or her parents or guardian without permission. Tad Cummins is charged with aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor.
Cummins is believed to be armed and driving a silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee license plate 976-ZPT. View the details of the Tennessee Amber Alert here.
