![]() Investigators discovered email draft messages between Elizabeth and Cummins, which authorities said show a romantic relationship between them. "He searched what size mattress will fit in the back of a Nissan Rogue." ![]() "He was certainly putting a lot of planning into disappearing," Brent Cooper, the district attorney general for Giles, Lawrence, Maury and Wayne counties in Tennessee, told ABC News in an interview earlier this month. Three days before the alleged kidnapping, Cummins did an online search about his car "to determine if certain features could be tracked by law enforcement," according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A day after they disappeared, he was fired from his teaching job at Culleoka Unit School in Maury County, Tennessee, where Elizabeth had been a student in his forensics class.Ĭummins, a married father and grandfather, researched teen marriage online, specifically the age of consent, just eight days before he allegedly took Elizabeth. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department told ABC News that Cummins will be arraigned Friday.Įlizabeth has been missing since Cummins allegedly kidnapped her on March 13. He said that members of a special police unit were able to rescue Elizabeth after they "swooped in" the cabin with "force."Īccording to the TBI, Cummins remained in the custody of the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department without bond on Thursday while he awaits extradition to Tennessee. Whatley speculated that Cummins planned an escape to the Northwest, after a sighting of the pair at an Oklahoma City Wal-Mart along Interstate 44, which leads to California. Her family is "anxiously" waiting to speak with her for the first time since she went missing, Whatley said. ![]() A TBI aircraft is on its way to California and will take Elizabeth, who is currently in FBI custody in Redding, California, home to Tennessee, authorities said.Įlizabeth is expected to board a TBI private jet bound for Tennessee Friday morning, said the attorney representing the Thomas family, Jason Whatley. It could take several weeks for Cummins to be extradited to Tennessee, Smith said.Įfforts to reunite Elizabeth with her family are ongoing. The charges are pending review by Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.Ĭummins also faces charges in California's Siskiyou County for kidnapping and possession of stolen property, according to the sheriff's department. State Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee has also filed against Cummins a federal charge of transportation of a minor across state lines with intent of having criminal sexual intercourse, said U.S. Two loaded handguns were found in the cabin, according to the sheriff's department.Īccording to ABC affiliate KDRV, the man letting them stay there said he wasn't aware for the past 36 hours that the two were sought by authorities.Ĭummins, 50, is charged with aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor, according to Lawrence County Attorney General Brent Cooper. Deputies set up a perimeter around the cabin and elected to wait until the morning to arrest Cummins as he exited the residence, the sheriff's department said in a press release.Īs daylight broke, Cummins surrendered without incident, and Elizabeth was safely recovered by law enforcement officers, according to the TBI. Authorities from the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department found the pair at a cabin in a rural area in Cecilville early Thursday morning.
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