Tennessee AMBER ALERT: 15 Year Old Elizabeth Thomas Found Safe, Teacher Tad Cummins Arrested in Northern California

THE MANHUNT IS OVER FOR 50 YEAR OLD TAD CUMMINS …

The Tennessee Amber Alert is over as 15 year old Elizabeth Thomas has been found safe and police have arrested her teacher, 50 year old Tad Cummins in northern California. The search fro the two has gone on for a little over a month. Tad Cummins and 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas were reported missing on March 13, 2017 from Columbia, Tennessee. Tad Cummins faces federal charges for taking a minor across state lines

Acting on a tip received by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation late last night, authorities in Siskiyou County, California have rescued Elizabeth Thomas and arrested Tad Cummins, after locating the pair at a rural cabin in Cecilville early this morning.

Thomas, 15, was the subject of a Tennessee AMBER Alert issued on March 14th, after having been kidnapped a day earlier by Tad Cummins, a former teacher at her school in Maury County, Tennessee. On March 17th, the TBI added the 50-year-old to the state’s ‘Top 10 Most Wanted’ list.

This morning, authorities from Siskiyou County located the Nissan Rogue in which the pair were traveling and later located the pair. Cummins surrendered without incident. Thomas was subsequently recovered by law enforcement officers. At the time of this release, efforts to reunite her with her family remained ongoing.

Tad Cummins under arrest:

According to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, a Special Response Team (SRT) responded to the scene where the car was reported found and established a perimeter around the cabin believed to be occupied by Cummins and Thomas. A man who became friends with the two helped the SRT members at the scene. Deputies waited outside in the cold for hours for the two to exit the cabin.

“At one point, the suspect did come out, walked around the area, you could see that he was actively looking around the surroundings,” Lt. Behr Tharsing of the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said. “They came back out, and it looked like they were trying to figure out whether we were there or not.”

The Sheriff’s Office used snipers positioned nearby to protect the tactical team that was dispatched to make the arrest.

Two loaded handguns were recovered in the cabin along with other personal items belonging to both Cummins and Thomas.

The sheriff’s office said they were found near the Shasta Trinity National Forest. The distance from Maury County, Tennessee, to Siskiyou County, California, is nearly 2,450.9 miles – around a 36-hour drive.

“It’s interesting Mr. Cummins made a spontaneous statement at the time that we took him down, ‘I’m glad this over,” Sgt. Mike Gilley of the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said the cabin the two had been staying in was a one-room unit containing a foam mattress and a camp stove, with little cooking equipment.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said Thomas appeared to be in good health. She will undergo a forensic interview and as a crime victim, she will receive any care that she requires at this time.

Cummins was taken by the SRT members without incident. He was transported to the Siskiyou County Jail in Yreka and booked on a Maury County, Tenn., fugitive arrest warrant for aggravated kidnapping. Cummins was set to be arraigned on Friday, April 21, 2017, at 10 a.m.