Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Tad Cummins: Not kidnapping, just helping teen run away

Episode Date: April 25, 2017

Tad Cummins’ defense against charges he kidnapped 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas appears to be that he was only helping his student run away from home. The former teacher appeared in court Monday, asking a judge to send him home to Tennessee so he can fight the charges. Nancy Grace discusses the latest details of Cummins’ plan to disappear with the girl. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Elizabeth Thomas is being welcomed home to Columbia, Tennessee, with signs and banners. Her family says she is comfortable and resting, but has suffered severe emotional trauma. I'm just so overjoyed to have her home, that she's safe. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The 15-year-old and her former teacher were found more than 2,000 miles away in a remote cabin in Northern California with no electricity or running water. They said they were from Colorado, and he said he had a house fire.

He pulled me aside at one point and made a statement that he was glad that this was all over. His sister says he doesn't believe he kidnapped Elizabeth. I asked him why. Why would he do this? And the answer he gave me is that she wanted to run away and she wanted to leave. And he didn't want her to go alone, so he went with her so that he could know that she was safe. This is Alan Duke in the studio and Nancy Grace is on the road. You might have seen her on the Wendy Williams show today. She was talking about the Tad Cummins case. That's what we're talking about here. Also joined by Crime Online editor

Lee Egan. And just like Nancy, Tad Cummins will soon be on the road. A federal judge has ordered U.S. Marshals to take the former Tennessee teacher back to his home state forthwith. Cummins, arrested in Northern California last week, appeared for just six minutes in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, California Monday afternoon, where his lawyer told the judge that Cummins wanted to go back to Tennessee to face federal charges of taking an underage girl, his former student, 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas, across state lines for sex and on state charges of aggravated kidnapping. Cummins' court-appointed lawyer told the court that his client, quote, looks forward to returning to Tennessee to face these charges. Cummins is not likely to enjoy his trip home since it involves a long, slow ride and a

series of buses, And instead of having his 15-year-old former student next to him, he'll be chained to other prisoners and spending the nights in local jails until he reaches Nashville, 2,000 miles away. For some reason, I don't feel sorry for him. He's no better than any of them, except he might have had an education. He's no better than any of the people he's going to be on the bus with. Nancy, we saw the emergence of what may be Cummins' defense against the kidnapping charges today. His lawyer said in court the charges, quote, do not involve force or coercion, and that Elizabeth left Tennessee with him, quote, on her own free will. This is in line with what Cummins reportedly told his sister in a phone call from jail over the weekend.

The sister says her brother, Ted Cummins, told her he did it because the teen wanted to run away and he did not want her to go alone. In the last hours, Ted Cummins in a federal courtroom. Now, this is a stark departure from other claims. Alan Duke, he is telling his own family, who was speaking out very unwisely, I might add, claiming that it's really the girl's fault because she told him she wanted to run away. And I mean, what can a 50-year-old high school teacher do? When a teen girl says, I want to run away, you just have to elaborately plan a kidnap, take her about 3,000 miles away to a commune that's clothing optional, where they kick you out for being upstairs, having too much sex, and ignoring your chores. I mean, what else could he do, Alan Duke? To help her out, he was afraid she was going, she told him she was going to run away and he figured, well, if you're going to run away, I need to run away to help you and protect you. I don't think

that's going to stand up in court. Yeah, he says it was all her idea. And the sister states, I asked him, why would you do this? And the answer he gave me is she wanted to run away and she wanted to leave. Now, this is Daphne Quinn speaking on the record. He said he didn't want her to go alone, so he went with her so that he could know she was safe. Okay, as you all know by now, the two were found in a remote cabin near Cecilville, California on Thursday after a tipster saw them there and immediately called TBI 800 number. Now, the sister also says she spoke with her brother three times over the weekend and that he was repentant.

He's repenting. I think I've got Lee Egan with me right now, crack reporter at crimeonline.com. Lee, I've heard this charge given to juries a million times, and the charge is one may immediately regret the deed, but that does not negate the intent at the time of the incident. If he were all that sorry, he wouldn't have had her up there on that mattress that they found lying on the floor at the commune where they'd been having sex. If he was repentant, he would have called, told the father where she was and got her a one-way ticket back home. That's

what he would have done. The only thing he's repentant about, in my opinion, is that he got caught. If they didn't catch him, he would still be out there and still be with her and still be doing the same things he was. Thank you to our sponsor for our podcast today, Simply Safe. Go to simplysafe.com and find out about the home security system that is making home security available for everyone. At $14.99 a month. It works off of its own phone line. It is not dependent on your home landline or your cell line because we know that in too many cases those lines have been cut when home intruders or burglars enter your home. Not only that, at $14.99 a month, it's affordable. If you go to simplisafe.com slash Nancy Grace, you get another 10% off.

SimpliSafe, thank you for being our sponsor as we continue to shine a bright light on high school teacher Tad Cummins and the court proceedings that are happening today. Thank you, SimpliSafe. I'm proud to be your partner. In the last hour, Tad Cummins in a federal courtroom. Tad Cummins in court in the disappearance of his teen student Elizabeth Thomas. Now what he's wanted for in federal court is a charge that carries 10 years and that is bringing a child a minor across state lines for illegal sexual intercourse there are also state charges pending as well there is kidnapping it's an aggravated

kidnapping charge that carries 20 years and there is inappropriate sex contact with a minor. That charge was based on the kissing incident back in January, January 23. But I'm predicting by the time this is all over, the state, Alan Duke, will bring statutory rape charges. What do you think? I don't doubt at all that Brent Cooper, the district attorney in Columbia County, is going to make every charge he can possibly make against Tad Cummings. And of course, statutory rape would obviously be one of them. And they're going to

throw the book at Tad Cummings in not only Tennessee, in California, but also federally. Yeah, they've got to throw the book at him. There's really no other choice. He's been caught red-handed. Now, as I'm saying, he's in court today. The reason he has been in court today, as a matter of fact, in the last hours, is for what we call an arraignment. Under our Constitution, after you've been arrested for 72 hours, during those 72 hours, you must be allowed to appear before a judge or magistrate and be formally told why you are in jail.

Okay? You can't be held forever and not told why you're even arrested. Now, this is the federal charge. So, he's brought into court. He is told what the charge is. He has a chance to plead guilty or not guilty. If he chooses not to say anything, a chance to plead guilty or not guilty. If he chooses not to say anything, the court will always presume a not guilty. Now, the charge is formally

read verbatim, word for word, off the indictment or off the charges. If you don't have money, a lawyer will be appointed for you at the taxpayer's cost and you'll be read all of your rights at that time. Then, very simply, unless you want to go crazy and give a statement, you'll turn around and leave. But it's very significant because many times we learn a lot even by the defendant's demeanor and what they may say. Of course, their lawyers tell them don't say anything, but that doesn't always work. This is just the beginning of a long process because there's so many charges to come. Now,

here's the federal courthouse in Sacramento. This is following the release of new details in Cummins' federal arrest affidavit. This federal arrest affidavit just filed states that Tad Cummings would rent one bedroom hotel rooms while on the run with the student, with the girl. And before he left, had a prescription filled for erectile dysfunction. Alan, you're the only man on the show today. You want to tell me what that is? Cialis. So you can get and maintain an erection there. I said it for you.

I noticed you were stalling on that. So here's a guy who goes and kidnaps a teen girl, but thinks to get his Cialis filled before he leaves for erectile dysfunction. The affidavit also says that during these days, after she disappeared from Columbia, he brought several items at Walmart, including KY jelly, commonly used as a sex lubricant. You know, I'm surprised this girl's father just doesn't go berserk. I mean, really. What do you think, Lee?

I agree. He also bought chocolate and cheese for whatever reason. Yeah, if I was in the father's shoes, I would probably lose it. They also talk about the items they found in that one-bedroom cabin, the items that were recovered in the vehicle, all the evidence the FBI will receive and analyze. There's going to be a collaboration between Tennessee, California, and the feds. Now, we knew this a long time ago, Lee and Alan, when we spoke with the local district attorney, Brent Cooper, that he lied to his wife and said he had a job interview at the Williamson County Medical Center the day he disappeared.

That was fake. That wasn't true. When she, Jill Cummings, got home, there was a note from Cummings that said he was traveling to Virginia Beach or Washington, D.C. to clear his head and don't call police. Well, I can tell you this much. If I come home and my husband has left a note saying he's going to go clear his head, the first thing I'm going to do is call police, and then I'm going to clear out his closet space, okay? I'm going to leave it in a big pile in the front yard, all right? So I think that's an unspoken understanding between us, okay? Because we're in this thing together trying to raise these twins, and if one of us craps out,

the other one is totally allowed to throw all the belongings in the front yard okay there you go so that's what he told the wife i didn't know about the note did you alan no we didn't know about the note all brent cooper had told us was the the excuse about going for a job interview but that's a new detail that's not surprising because he was just trying to buy a little bit more time and And also breaking right now, we learned that the U.S. attorney is stating Tad Cummins actually intended to cross into Mexico from San Diego via a watercraft. The U.S. attorney's office has filed a request to detain Tad Cummins pending his trial since he cannot overcome the presumption he is a flight risk. Documents were filed with the Eastern District of California court saying due to his intention of taking Elizabeth Thomas to Mexico, he is a flight risk.

Now, how do they know that? They say he had a plot while on the run that Cummins started plotting his escape with Thomas the moment he was suspected of having an inappropriate relationship. He's accused of lying to school officials when asked about a 30-minute visit with her, lying to his wife and about a loan. He admitted to disabling the vehicle's GPS system, discarding all cellular phones, and monitoring news outlets while he's on the run. He also admits he sought passage to Mexico and even procured a little watercraft and conducted a test run with the intention to cross into Mexico through San Diego by water. The filing calls Ted Cummins' alleged crime heinous and described him as a person who abused a sacred position of public trust as a school teacher so that he could pursue an improper sex relationship

with a juvenile victim. So the plot thickens minute by minute. Now we've learned that he actually plotted a getaway by water. It gets more and more fantastical. And you know what? You couldn't make this up. You could not make this make this up in fact when we first told Alan deep what had just come out of the US Attorney's Office he couldn't believe it he thought it was fake news it's not I did not know anything about this note he lives his leaves his wife I mean his deception so when he gets to bear claw commune the lies just coming. They just roll off his tongue. Because according to them, he says that he and his young wife, Joanna, they had their home burned down, and they're down on their luck,

and they have nowhere to go. So the residents at the clothing optional Bear Claw Commune, which is out in the middle of nowhere. There's like a 20 mile, 15 to 20 mile rocky terrain road to get to it. It's still snowing on the, snow's on the ground. He had to resource this ahead of time. You don't just drive by and see a sign from the interstate. Okay. You have to know it's there. They let him come in and they get so sick of him and Elizabeth upstairs on some nasty mattress having sex all the time and not doing their chores. The people in this remote commune kick him out. They kick out Tad Cummings and that is how he ends up in that little cabin, Alan Duke.

Yeah, and it's a nasty little cabin, too tiny. I think the Unabomber's cabin was probably a nicer place. One of the things that I'm hearing back from the people at the commune, and maybe we can get one of them on the podcast soon, is they are disputing the description of their community as this wild, anything goes kind of place. It's not that. And that's why these people did not like Tad Cummins being there. They're very defensive about the way we're, or some people are describing their community. No, Alan, N-O. You can't go wah, wah.

You're not describing us correctly. But then not tell me what's wrong with what the reports are. What part has been reported that's not correct? What I heard was that, and what I've read, is that they were clothing optional. There's been so many differing reports that are clothing optional and that you have to take baths together, walk around naked together, and that TAD wasn't into that. And now the people are saying that's not what we're like at all. So the 2005 documentary, they were completely, I mean, they were completely, what the reports are saying about them back then is completely true. Because the whole documentary is filled with them walking around naked and, you chanting singing taking swimming together naked taking baths together naked the whole thing so maybe that's where people are you know pulling that information from and maybe they've changed

since then okay lee you're referring to the documentary about the bear claw commune in california correct yes yes okay maybe they maybe they changed in the last couple of years since that documentary was made about them. But, yeah, there's a reason Tad Cummins sought them out. The end of the saga of the kidnap of high school girl from Columbia, Tennessee, Elizabeth Thomas, isn't over. It's now entering a new chapter. If this goes to trial, which I predict that it will, there's really no way around Elizabeth

Thomas being forced to take the stand and testify for the state. Now, how will that be achieved? If she has been brainwashed to believe that she is in love with Tad Cummins, the only way to make that happen is to very delicately and very gently question her now as to what happened. And then if she refuses or cannot testify at time of trial for whatever reason, use her statements to lead her through a direct examination. That's all that can be done.

It's called a prior inconsistent statement. Right now, our prayer is still with Elizabeth Thomas and her family after all they've been through and Ted Cummings wife I mean Lee can you imagine coming home finding a note from your husband that said he had a job interview that morning saying I've gone to DC or Virginia Beach to clear my head don't call police and then you hear nothing can you even imagine that Can't imagine how she would just let it go and not do anything. You know, she didn't call anyone, not even as relatives from what I hear. So no, impossible to imagine. She probably didn't know what to think. And then all this news started about Elizabeth Thomas, but she did

ultimately tell police about the note and the fake job interview. Simply Safe, again, thank you for being our sponsor today, making our podcast possible. Lee Egan, Alan Duke, it's always so great to be with you. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.