The Tennessee teenager who went on the run with her married teacher for more than a month last year sparking a nationwide manhunt is now seeking to set the record straight about what had happened.
'[People] think they know what happened,' Elizabeth Thomas told ABC's '20/20' in an exclusive interview that will air Friday night. 'They think that I'm a whore. They think that I like old men and that's not the case.'
Thomas was just 15 when she and Tad Cummins, her 51-year-old married health teacher, vanished from Columbia, Tennessee.
They had embarked on a romantic relationship that was initiated by Cummins and they spent 40 days hiding from police until eventually being tracked down in a cabin in California.
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Elizabeth Thomas is shown left this week speaking for the first time since she was taken by her married teacher Tad Cumins, right, from Tennessee. They were missing for 40 days before police found them in a cabin in California
Cummins is in custody awaiting sentencing. He pleaded guilty to traveling across state lines to have sex with a minor and obstruction of justice and now faces 30 years behind bars.
Thomas says that Cummins and his wife of 30 years, Jill, took her under their wing after her mother, Kimberly, was charged with child abuse and neglect involving the teen and her sister, Sarah.
Jill Cummins has previously said she came to think of Elizabeth as her third daughter, and she believed her relationship with her husband was akin to that of a parent and child.
But things took a strange turn one day in the school cafeteria when Elizabeth says Cummins, who was a teacher at her high school, made an unsettling comment to her.
“I was standing there with a few friends…and then they said, "Are you hungry?" And I went, "I don't have a soul or if I did, I'd be hungry," or something like that,' Thomas said. 'And then he came to me and he pointed at me and said, "My soul sees your soul."'
But Thomas says Cummins made her feel like no one else cared for her the way he did. He also prevented her from seeking mental health assistance.
'I was feeling real low, and I was wanting to get on anti-depressants and try to go to a therapist. And he told me no and not to do it ‘cause it’d change who I was,' she recalled.
Thomas reveals that she and her married mentor began exchanging sexually explicit messages on Instagram, and then one day in class he told her, 'you'd look pretty nice naked,' according to Thomas.
There were no other students present at the time.
She also describes the first time Cummins kissed her which, she said, was when she 'realized it was getting too far.'
'He grabbed my face. I was right next to the double doors I had. I was 15. Being home schooled I haven't really had a boyfriend.
'When that happened, it was kind of like, "wow,"' she said.
Thomas and Cummins are shown above in a Walmart days after they vanished. He bought hair dye, cheese cubes, personal lubricant, women's razors and chocolate
The pair were found hiding out in this remote cabin in California last year. The person who called police about them is also interviewed in the show on Friday
Despite knowing their relationship was taboo, the teenager said she never told anyone because she doesn't like attention.
'I was scared, I don't want to tell my parent that a grown man kissed me and I don't want to tell friends that a grown man kissed me.
'I don't like the spotlight being on me,' she said.
Thomas also said she was afraid to make Cummins angry.
'He doesn’t take "no" well,' said Thomas.
Eventually, another student caught the pair kissing in class and reported it to school officials.
Cummins denied any wrongdoing, but was suspended from teaching.
Thomas says when other teachers and students found out about it, she became the target of name-calling and bullying.
During his suspension, Cummins would force the teen to call and text him at regular intervals.
'And any time that I wouldn't post for a few hours, he would go crazy and say that I was cheating on him and saying if he found out that I was with another boy, he'd kill them,' Thomas said.
Elizabeth was 15 when they fled. She said she never told family members or adults about their relationship because she did not like the 'spotlight'
Eventually, Thomas says Cummins told her she had to run away with him, or else he would kill himself or someone else, including her family.
The girl says the teacher had two guns and he would threaten her with them.
Feeling trapped, Thomas reluctantly agreed to go with Cummins on the run for fear that he would do something drastic.
‘As soon as we went to go leave, he set a gun in the middle console, and I knew that I wasn’t getting out of the car,’ Thomas says. ‘He made me throw my phone off a bridge and his phone as well, that way the police couldn’t track us.’
Thomas likened the ordeal to a kidnapping and described in detail Cummins’ controlling behavior, which included keeping her by his side at all times, even when she went to use the bathroom or shower, and telling her what to eat.
‘He told me he likes skinny girls,’ she said.
In the days after he fled with the teenager, they were seen on surveillance cameras going into a Walmart where they bought hair dye to change Elizabeth's appearance.
They also bought cheese cubes, K-Y jelly, women's razors and chocolate.
He later bought a two-seater kayak and an iPad to try to monitor the media coverage of their case, prosecutors said.
When they would stay in motels, Thomas says Cummins made her sleep naked next to him and would keep her clothes separately so she could not leave.
‘He was really mean and said hurtful things a lot of the time,’ she said of Cummins. ‘He called me his wife sometimes and said that we were going to get married and I was going to live with him until I died.’
Cummins’ initial plan was to drive to the southern border and then make their way to Panama in the kayak, but having failed that, they ended up in a remote part of northern California.
After a brief stay at a commune, which ended with the teacher and the teen being thrown up for not following the rules, their journey led them to Griffin Barry’s cabin, where the two were finally discovered by police acting on a tip.
Describing the moment she emerged from the house and saw the police, Thomas said: 'this was the best day of my life.'
Before he was taken away in handcuffs, Thomas say Cummins whispered to her instructing her to tell the authorities that she had gone on the run willingly and that he was protecting her.
‘I know he’s a bad man, and I’ve blamed myself a lot. But now I know that he’s at fault,’ Thomas said.
The teen is currently living with her older brother in her hometown in Tennessee. She works at a coffee shop, has a boyfriend and is planning to get her GED and eventually go to college.
Her dream is to become a medical examiner and one day have a family of her own.
‘I am a stronger person than I was and I’m not afraid,’ she concluded.
Initially, Cummins pleaded not guilty but he changed his plea in May.
In a tearful court appearance then, he said: 'I cannot be the man I need to be and not tell the truth.'
The full interview will air on ABC's 20/20 on Friday night at 10pm EST.
Cummins' wife Jill is also interviewed as part of the show. She has filed for divorce
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/20/tennessee-teen-who-ran-off-with-teacher-shares-details-of-ordeal/
Main photo article The Tennessee teenager who went on the run with her married teacher for more than a month last year sparking a nationwide manhunt is now seeking to set the record straight about what had happened.
‘[People] think they know what happened,’ Elizabeth Thomas told ABC’s ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/19/16/5067F4E800000578-6185465-image-m-49_1537371601695.jpg
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