Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teacher Tad Cummins’ other teen target & DA looks to Mexico

Episode Date: March 30, 2017

A former student of Tad Cummins shares a song the Tennessee teacher once serenaded her with. Dastiny Parrish tells Nancy Grace how Cummins courted her several years before he allegedly kidnapped 15-year-old student Elizabeth Thomas. The prosecutor in the kidnap case also speculates the teacher has taken the student to Mexico, where he may be posing as a church missionary. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. The teacher who vanished into thin air with his 15-year-old student composed a creepy love song and sang it. I could swim for a thousand miles In the oceans inside your eyes And never reach the sky This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. But Tad Cummins wasn't crooning to missing ninth grader Beth Thomas. Get this, he's actually singing to another student he

was close to. Destiny Parrish, now 19, says Cummins became her confidant when she was about the same age as Beth. We used to be really really close. I could talk to him just about anything. Can you imagine? You put your child on the school bus or drop them off at school in the morning. 3 p.m. They're gone. And that's just half the story. The rest of the story is that their school teacher took them.

And you don't hear another word. Your little girl gone, missing, with a 50-year-old school teacher, and apparently their so-called flirtation has been going on right under the noses of all the teachers and faculty and administrators at the school? As the days pass by, outrage turns to desperation for the family of Elizabeth Thomas. She has been kidnapped by her teacher, Tad Cummins, and joining us today, a young lady, Destiny Parrish,

but by the grace of God, went she. This is the young lady that this same perv teacher sang love songs to. Oh, dear Lord in heaven. Before I go to Destiny, I want to thank our sponsor today. It is CrimeCon. Crime busters, crime sleuths, professional and amateur from all over the country converging in Indianapolis June 9 through June 11. We're going to find out the latest in crime fighting techniques

and hear from experts like Cheryl McCollum in the Cold Case Institute all the way to F. Lee Bailey, who some credit the O.J. Simpson acquittal to. Whether you like that or not, he's going to be with us live. I'm going to be there along with Alan and we'll be podcasting live. If you go to CrimeCon.com, use code Nancy to get 20% off. I hope I see you there. I'm really looking forward to it. CrimeCon, thank you for sponsoring our podcast today. This is Crime Stories. I'm Nancy Grace, and with no further delay, I want to go straight out to our special guest, Destiny, who was once a student at the same high school where Elizabeth Thomas was.

A student who was exposed to now kidnapper Tad Cummins. Destiny, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. Destiny, I've got so many questions, but I'm going to try to take it from A to Z, take it from the beginning. I'm dying to ask you about that ridiculous, or as my children say,

redonkulous song he sung you when you're like, you know, what, 14, 15 years old but i'm going to start at the beginning when did you first meet the high school teacher tad cummins um we met um at high school obviously um it was probably my sophomore or junior year of high school um how and how old were you ended up uh about 14 or 15. And was it at the same high school? What high school is it? Cullioca. So you met him 14 or 15.

Was he your direct teacher, or were you in his homeroom, or what? No, he was my direct teacher. I had him for health sciences class. What is health sciences? Could somebody tell me that? He just kind of taught us CPR, like the basics of, you know, taking temperatures and all that kind of basic stuff. Okay. So he's your teacher.

You're 14 or 15 years old. How did you develop a special friendship with him? It really started out, you know, just I would stay after class, something like that. You know, I'd talk to him during lunch, before school, after school, that kind of thing. About what, Destiny? What did a 50-year-old man have to say to a 14-year-old girl? Well, back in the day, back when I was, you know, quite a bit younger, I had been going through a lot of different stuff as well and had actually become really close with Tad, talking to him about some of the stuff,

just a safe person to talk to that I didn't really have to worry about because I didn't see him as anything other than a teacher and a friend. That's interesting that you say that, Destiny. Everyone with me is Destiny, who was once Tad Cummins' student there at Caleoca High School. That's really interesting, Destiny, because that's the same way Elizabeth was. You know, she doesn't have a mother.

The mother is charged with abusing, mistreating all her children, including Elizabeth. She had been homeschooled her whole life. She just enters a school, a public school, and was going through all sorts of stuff with nine siblings. She's one out of ten, a father that travels all the time. I'm sure she had a lot going on, a lot of, you know, upheaval in her life. So she starts talking to Tad Cummins. How does he reel you in?

I mean, did he tell you the whole thing about being a CIA operative that he told Elizabeth? What stories did he tell? Um, right at first, you know, he, he really didn't have too much odd stuff to say. Um, he had said something about being a doctor and obviously now I know the respiratory therapist. Um, but I, he didn't really go too much in depth whenever we first discussed his, you discussed his other occupations and stuff like that. I just thought he was a doctor, which was weird because, like everybody else has said, why would a doctor work at a high school? You could be making a lot more money being a doctor of sorts than you usually will on a teacher's salary for sure.

That's interesting. So before he was a CIA operative, to hear him tell it, he had a career as a medical doctor. Okay. Yeah. And I mean, a lot of children would think, wow, that's really nice of him to teach at a high school in his spare time. Yeah.

Okay. The thing about that was that he liked it. He got out of the job that he had because he could, because he wanted to be a teacher. Okay. You know, I can just see that rolling right off his tongue. Okay, so he told you he was the medical doctor, and he gave up all the money and the prestige

because he liked teaching at the high school. Okay. Yeah. What other tall tales did he spin? Can you think of any? Other than, you know, that kind of thing, no, not really. He didn't talk too much himself. It was always, you know, kind of a me talking or him asking about me, how I've been,

how things have been, that kind of thing. Did he ever mention his wife? He mentioned her, you know, here and there, mostly, you know, in classes or whatever, but he didn't talk too much about her with me. I don't hardly know anything about her, and I've, I went to church with her as well, and I, you know, would have lunch and stuff with him, but I really don't know Jill. So when you guys were having all these heart-to-heart conversations, his relationship with his wife was not part of that? No. I mean, like I said, you know, if I, he invited me to church with him, and, you know, obviously she was there, but she didn't, she didn't ever really talk.

She, you know, was kind of a third wheel or a background character. I never heard too much out of her ever when she was around. So let me understand this. It would be you and Tad and her, and it was as if she was the fifth wheel, not you? The wife was the outsider? Yeah, it was weird. Like I said, you think she'd try and talk to me too or something,

but it was just kind of a mutual silence. I don't know. It was weird like I said you know you think she'd try and talk to me too or you know something but it was just kind of a mutual silence I don't know it was weird what would she say I mean say say for instance you guys would go to church together where would you sit in the car where would she sit what would he would he talk to her or address her at all he would um a lot of times at church um the first time I went you know know, I went just with him. And then, you know, my family and stuff started going as well. And I'd sit with Ben. I, you know, talked to Tad before or after church or whatever, but I did sit with my family at church. But the only reason I ever went was because Tad had invited me. What did you notice about their relationship?

I didn't notice too much. Like I said, you know, I mean, they seem happy, like Facebook and all that, but I just never, you don't hear much about her. I never heard much about, you know, his kids even really. I didn't hear too much about any of like his life. You know, like I said, all him trying to figure out how I was and all that kind of stuff. Did he ever visit your home or where you worked? He did not. That definitely was not an issue at the time. How did it come about that he sang a love song to you? I was a piano player back in the day.

I don't play too much anymore. And I learned a new song and I was going to show it to him because, you know, like I said, he was a good friend and I was really impressed with myself for learning it. So I took him, we went to the music room, which is, you know, right next to his class. And it was after school. And he had sat down first and he, you know, started playing and, you know, I just kind of listened obviously I didn't follow after he did you know we were kind of done after that but he started singing that and like I said about halfway through the show I started recording because I thought he was doing good

I didn't notice the lyrics at first but I really you know I can't sing and play the piano you know I thought it was a pretty cool thing to be able to do because I was definitely, you know, quite a bit behind in skill set back then. I could swim for a thousand miles In the oceans inside your eyes And never reach the sky Did he say he made up the song? He wrote the song? He didn't. He never said anything about it. But I tried looking up lyrics and could never find the same song online anywhere or any similar lyrics or anything like that.

So I assumed that he did. I could swim for a thousand miles in the oceans inside your eyes and never reach the side? Yeah. You're the kind of woman I want to make love for the rest of his life. Okay. You're the kind of woman a man can love for the rest of his life, and I don't know why I feel it's your eyes. Oh, your eyes. Is that ringing a bell destiny yeah yeah for sure

so you're in the music room and where are you sitting and where is he sitting uh he sat on the bench you know on in front of the piano and I just stood behind him I didn't you know sit next to him because like I said we were close but we had never like no physical contact really so I wasn't super comfortable and I was really shy. After he sings the song with those lyrics what did he say? Um not too much about halfway through um some of the drama kids from the drama club at school were right across the hall, and they had heard the piano and, you know, somebody singing, so they came in to check it out. And that was the end of the audio clip was people coming in and, you know,

saying how surprised they were, how good he was, all that stuff. So we weren't alone at that point. Yeah, there's nothing like ruining a romantic moment with a underage minor than a bunch of students coming into the class to just burst that bubble. When you were listening to him sing, do you recall what you were thinking or feeling? Like I said, I didn't think anything of it. I didn't really notice the lyrics too much. I was just kind of there observing it all. And it was after I, you know, got home and listened to it again and played it for, you know, a friend of mine that I realized what was actually being said. And even then, like I said, it didn't hit me because he wasn't ever inappropriate.

He was always, I mean, yeah, there were some things that sent up red flags now, but I didn't ever think that any of this would ever happen for sure. When you say things send up red flags now, but I didn't ever think that any of this would ever happen for sure. When you say things send up red flags now, like what? Well, the song for sure. The day that we were, all the students were in his classroom during lunch and he told them that, you know, the office told him the students couldn't be in there anymore. So he sent them all back to the cafeteria and let me stay and told, you and told me that the office hadn't said anything to him. He just didn't want all the students in his class. That's definitely kind of a red flag, kind of weird that he sent every other student away, like 10 or 15 other kids and not me.

Explain to me how that went down. I don't know about that. What happened? Well, I was, like I said, really shy back in high school. Didn't really have too many people I talked to. So during lunch, I would just go into Tad's room and sit in there because I didn't eat anyways. That way I didn't have to sit alone at lunch or sit there and, you know, feel really awkward or anything. So I would sit in his class, and a couple other students would. They'd go in there, play on their phones, because he didn't care, even though we had cell phone rules at school.

You know, so they could sit in there on their phones or on the computers, stuff like that, and that's what some of the kids were doing. But then Tad, you know, made a class announcement. He was like, hey, guys, you know, the office called. You know, you guys have to go back to lunch. You know, you're not allowed to be in here here you're supposed to be at lunch during this time um so he everybody else left and i grabbed my bag and went to leave and he he told me you know that the office hadn't said anything um that he just didn't want you know all the kids in his room and that i could stay so he cleared the the room, kept you in there, and then what, if anything,

did he say? Nothing really. I don't remember too much else, just us kind of sitting and chit-chatting like we always did, just another day. And none of the other students noticed? No, I guess not. I mean, you know, from what I remember, everybody did quit even after that day going into his room for the most part you know I still did but when you say in retrospect looking back there were red flags what else do you recall um those are the two definitely the main things um because you know like I said a lot of the other stuff, it didn't really seem as if anything was wrong. I didn't, you know, notice too much other than maybe the day that I moved away from the school. What happened? I was a junior in high school.

I was about, it was late December, right before Christmas break, sorry. I was moving to Wichita, over to Kansas. So I had, you know, gotten unenrolled from school and transfers and all that in order. And it was my last day. So I went in and saw him, told him, you know, that he already knew I was leaving. But told him, you know, was going in telling goodbye and everything, you know. I'd already done it with my other friends and stuff, and it was the end of the day. And I went in, and we had talked for a minute, and he gave me a hug,

and he told me, you know, don't ever let anybody tell you you're not beautiful. And then he told me, you know, because I'm not a student anymore of his, that I could add him on Facebook. And, you know, we kept in touch through that, through his cell phone. And, you know, after I moved, like I said, I'd come back, have, you know, lunch or whatever with his wife or go to the school and see him. And when you would go back, what was his demeanor? It was always the same. He really always seemed excited to see me. I called the school once, and they, you know, transferred me to his room,

and as soon as he picked up the phone, you know, he, you could hear it, you know, Destiny Parish, and he was just really surprised and excited and, you know, let me know when I could come to school that it wouldn't be during one of his classes. So, you know, we could actually have time to talk, which is probably, you know, a little weird too. But at the same time, you know, I don't want to go during his class. So let me ask you this. You know that it's just the grace of God that you're not in Elizabeth Thomas's shoes right now is the way I see it. When you first learned that she had been taken by Tad Cummins, what did you think? Well, I got the call from my mom at first and she let me know and I was in total denial. I thought,

maybe she was messing with me or something, which, you know, why would she? And I get that now, but I saw Tad is, you know, a really, really great guy. I never saw that he would do anything like this. So I did not believe it. And then I had seen the, you know, the reports on Facebook and I had two or three other people call me. A friend that I haven't talked to in three years called me and was like, oh my gosh, it could have been you. Everybody knew he and I were really close. So it was definitely a shock, and I definitely did not want to believe it at first, but it's rough. When you heard that he had told people he's a CIA operative and a black belt and so many other tall tales. What did you think? To be honest, I didn't really think too much about it because, and not anything towards Elizabeth,

obviously. She got told what she got told, but there are, it is a very small school and there are a lot of rumors and suspicions and jokes that get made we made jokes about one of our other teachers being in cia i mean it was that's how i took it i thought maybe somebody made it up as a joke you know like i said i didn't believe that he was who he is so i didn't believe that he would make up all this crazy stuff about himself. But, you know, obviously he has lied about a lot of things. So what else do you think he's lied about? I mean, the entire person that he is, you know, he's not, he's not Tad Cummins. He's not, you know, this guy that was my best friend in high school. He lied about all of it. He lied about who he was for who knows how long. Like you don't just wake up one day and decide you want to be with a 15 year old,

especially after looking back at all the stuff that happened with me years before. When you say best friends, did your parents ever think it was odd your best friend was a grown man teaching at high school we didn't at the time my mom didn't live here she lived you know a couple states away and my parents were getting divorced and my mom was just happy because i was going through a really rough time with all of it but i had somebody to talk to um because she had heard from me what tad was like and obviously i didn't have all that great of an intel on who he is. So she thought, you know, pretty good of him as well.

There were a few, you know, of my friends or, you know, other family members or people I know that thought it was weird, and I just didn't listen to them. You know, I didn't ever think anything of it. What did they say well they one of the one of them didn't like the fact that we you know everybody calls him by his first name um she was a school teacher as well for an elementary school around the area i don't know which one and she you know she doesn't even do that with her elementary school kids let them call her by her first name so she thought that was really weird i'm just thinking through what you're saying and it strikes me that your mom

your mom wasn't around she was living in a different state and elizabeth's mom was gone as well it's interesting how he preys on young girls that are going through an emotional time and neither one with a mother. Do you think that there are other girls like yourself and like Elizabeth that he basically groomed to be his quote best friend? I think there definitely could have been. I know that you know nobody I personally know was as close to Tad as I was. I had friends that still talked to him, that still, you know, thought as much as I did of him. But nobody, you know, talked to him as much. Nobody had gone to church and all that stuff.

But that's not to say that he wasn't talking to somebody else, you know, during the days that I weren't there or the days that, you know, stuff like that. There's no saying he didn't have another, you know, teacher's pet or favorite. And none of the other teachers thought it was weird? No, it was a really small school and everybody was already really tight-knit and close anyway. So, you know, we got a new teacher and he was the same. We didn't think too much of it. Knowing him as well as you do

where do you think he is what do you think his plan is uh i definitely really don't know i really don't think he is still in the u.s um you know they think maybe he's hiding out in some you know forest or somewhere but i really think that he thought all this through to the point that he did. And he has done some not good things, obviously. But he is taking precautions to protect himself. I think that they're probably gone. I'm not saying that in a bad way, you know. I'm really wanting her to come home.

That's all I want out of any of this is for her to be home with her family but I know that he has done a whole lot to cover his tracks and to keep them both safe like the draft emails and stuff like that he knew what he was doing wow with me is Destiny Parrish

who endured a friendship of sorts with Tad Cummins. Tad Cummins now wanted in the kidnap of his student, Elizabeth Thomas. Destiny, you're a very lucky young lady, and I want to thank you for being with us. Absolutely. Thank you so much again for having me. And thank you also to CrimeCon, who's making our podcast possible today. Go to CrimeCon.com to find out about this convergence of crime busters and crime sleuths

going down in June, June 9. And remember to use the code Nancy for 20% off when you plan your trip. I hope I see you there. Destiny there destiny again i can't thank you enough for talking to us and it gives me a real insight and how into how elizabeth got sucked into the tad cummins lies and all the other teachers just apparently uh didn't notice hi everybody nancy grace here with crime stories and with special guest, the elected district attorney joining us from Tennessee, Brent Cooper. Brent was just telling us about how at the beginning when they first issued the Amber Alert, he was thinking, hey, you know, I'm not sure about this. For all I know, they're just off fishing.

Boy, did you do the right thing in issuing that Amber Alert, even though you knew Cummins and thought, man, he couldn't possibly have done this. You did your duty and you issued that alert having no idea that we would be this far into it and no sign of the kidnapped girl, Elizabeth Thomas. Brent, what's your theory on where they've gone? It's obvious now that this was very this was uh very well thought out very well planned um and and i think as as every day goes by the chances that they're actually in the in the states are are lower i just think that by now they would have had to have uh come out for uh some supplies food something and somebody would have seen them. So at this point, you know, I guess the theory that I'm leaning on is that

because he planned this in such a way that he had at least a 24-hour head start, I believe, you know, he could have gone, they made it straight to the Mexican border and went into Mexico, which I believe you can do without a passport and really without any intervention by Mexican authorities. And I think they made their way into Mexico and probably found a rural, isolated location there. And another reason I think that is because, you know, his finances were limited. He had $4,500 that we know of, and that would certainly go a lot further in Mexico than it would in the States.

So, you know, that's one distinct possibility at this point. But, you know, I would have said from the beginning that two, three days tops, they will be found. With me, the elected district attorney, Brent Cooper. You know, I'm just wondering how they could have slipped across the border with nobody noticing. And you believe he could be posing as a missionary in Mexico. Why does that come to mind? Well, actually, from talking with his family members, I knew he and his wife went to church, but apparently he's been a very devout Christian, and he's studied the Bible extensively, and he may have even had some personal experience before going

on mission trips with his church. So I believe that he was aware of that culture, so to speak, and I believe he could easily, very easily blend in as an American missionary there to help the poor people of Mexico. And that's certainly a role he could fit into. And in the small rural communities in Mexico and Central America, they don't have media coverage like we do here. They don't have televisions in every room,

and they don't have the Internet in a lot of cases. And it would be a lot more easy for them to to remain unnoticed there than than here wow now you believe he's gone on mission trips to mexico before what region i don't know any specific region but uh i was after the meetings we had, I was of the belief that he had gone on at least one trip before. And it's common in this area for churches to send church members to places like that on mission trips. Oh, yes, very common.

In my Methodist church back home in Macon. We send out missionaries all the time. I mean, I've been on mission trips myself, particularly after Katrina. I went for a long time to help rebuild following Katrina, and that was through my Methodist church up in New York. So it's very common for, you know, churches here to send out missionaries and the church foots the bill and sends you and tries to help people. In fact, another church I attend just sent out a whole fleet of people to Uganda to work. And, you know, it's, but I could see what you're saying, that he uses that knowledge from a previous church mission trip, knows his way around. That's where he will go naturally, wouldn't you think?

Definitely, that's a possibility. And that's why, you know, I've asked for, you know, churches in the area, especially his church. When you go on those mission trips, when you come back, you've made contacts there. I would encourage them to reach out to their contacts in that part of the world where they've gone on missions before and spread the word.

Email them the Amber Alert flyer. Well, what role would the FBI play in that, Brent? Wouldn't the FBI be working on the Mexico issue? As of now, they have passed the Amber Alert. It has been spread to the authorities in Mexico, but how much publicity it's gotten, if any, down there, I don't know. And whether or not it's been as widely talked about there as it has been here, I doubt it, but any way we can think of to get the word out down there, we certainly want to. Well, I'm just wondering if, I mean, for instance, do you know if the FBI was doing license grab, tag grabs along the interstates to see if their tags showed up? Oh, yeah, we were doing that starting day one. We sent out, of course, the tag information,

and I know that all the highway patrols that had those tag readers had them programmed in so that if they got a hit on that number, it would alert them as to what's going on. Wow. So your best bet is that Tad Cummins is posing as a missionary in Mexico. I'm really surprised Elizabeth has not tried to reach any of her siblings or her dad. Right. And that's probably the most surprising part is that, you know, a 15-year-old girl hasn't reached out to, you know, a sister or a brother to our knowledge. And just to let them know if nothing else, just to let them know she's okay. And that's, you know, somewhat concerning also that that hasn't happened. Allen, do you want to jump in?

Do you think, sir, that they are, that you are closing in on him? Are you any closer than you were a couple of weeks ago? Or does this look like it's going into the long haul? I think there's certainly kind of a peak period that we've probably already passed where this case has been talked about and the information is being shared. But I think every day that more people find out about them and see their picture and see that tag number, I think that's one way that things are closing in. The more people that

know about them, the lesser the possibility is that they're going to go unnoticed. I do think with every day that goes by, that interest starts to drop a little bit. Especially with

no new news to revitalize the story, I mean, I'm surprised that it's still getting the attention it is. And I'm really glad and grateful that it is so that we can keep people talking about it and we can keep it on people's minds so they'll continue to look for them. Well, one of the remarkable things about this story,

and Nancy and I have covered so many of these, is how much we're finding out about how crazy this guy was and what he was telling his students a few minutes ago. One of his former students told us that he told students in class that he was a medical doctor who simply retired from his medical profession because he wanted to teach high school. Have you heard that? I hadn't heard that particular story, but I've heard numerous other ones where he's

certainly building this fantasy. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. What other stories? What other stories has he told? Well, that he was former FBI and former CIA and that he had millions of dollars stashed away. And I think he even told some kids that he had properties in different countries and and mansions and things like that it's just i mean the story just grows constantly apparently or did while he was while he was teaching did you hear that song that he sang to a 14 year old student a few years ago did you hear that i did hear part of that were you impressed with his musical ability or is what did you think of that sir that's not what impressed me alan that's not

what impressed me about that hey i gotta ask you something brent uh question guys for those of you joining us now on our podcast here at crime stories with me is the elected da out of tennessee on the elizabeth thomas case you know he he just jarred my memory on one of his other tall tales. He told that he had like a safe house. Right. And I believe he said Costa Rica. I think Honduras is what I heard. When things got too hot.

Oh, Honduras, yes. When things got too hot in the U.S., you know, I know that's a big fat lie. I know that. Right. But it does give you a window into his thinking i should have thought of that before if he's talking about leaving the country for a venue like honduras when things got too quote hot in the u.s that's exactly what he's trying to do that's his fantasy and that's what he's living out. It may very well be.

That would certainly complicate matters if that's what he's managed to do. Yeah, I don't think he'd easily make it into Mexico. I got a bad feeling, Brent. I'm just afraid that if he's cornered and he has nothing left to lose, his wife, his family, his job. I know he's got two guns, and it just keeps running through my head. If it's not handled just the right way, this could turn into a murder-suicide in a heartbeat. And that's what I don't want for this little girl. I feel like she just never had a chance with that mother and everything in her life.

And now this, for Pete's sake. And you know what was interesting Brent the other little girl the Destiny Parish girl that he was singing that love song to you know her mother was out of the picture too her mother was living in another state during a divorce and she was motherless I mean he really focuses it in on children that are the most vulnerable they really don't have anybody helping them and I just hate it. Hate it. Okay, Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off again. Thank you CrimeCon for sponsoring us today. Go to CrimeCon.com to get your 20% off code word Nancy to register for this big convergence

of crime busters and crime sleuths in June. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.