Any time he threatened himself, he'd threaten my family.” “He said if he couldn't have me, he'd kill himself. “So he started calling my phone … sometimes he’d be threatening to kill himself or ending someone else’s life if I didn’t go,” Thomas said. Thomas said the bullying at school became intolerable, and Cummins threatened her, saying she had to go on the run with him or else. 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. “I had to keep in communication with him while he was suspended. Thomas said Cummins forced her to send him secret messages through social media, even after he was suspended. “A lot of them were made aware, and they also did a lot of the teasing and a lot of the name calling,” Thomas said. “They felt like I ruined his life,” she added.Įven teachers, Thomas said, participated in the teasing. When students found what was happening, “there were a lot of names and teasing that came around and a lot of bullying outside and inside of school,” Thomas said. A few days later, Cummins was suspended from the Culleoka Unit School after he was reprimanded for once again allowing Thomas to be in his classroom. When Cummins was interviewed by detectives, he described the relationship as “that of a father figure at school” and denied “ever kissing” Thomas. Thomas said Cummins took the opportunity to proposition her for sex, but she refused.ĭays after the field trip, the school directed both Cummins and Thomas not to have contact with each other. Over the course of a week, the school - and eventually, local police - investigated, but Thomas denied everything.īut even while the investigation was continuing, Thomas says that the school allowed her to go on a class field trip, where she says Cummins was the chaperone. He doesn’t take ‘no’ well,” said Thomas.Ī student reported seeing Thomas kissing Cummins inside of his classroom to school officials. Thomas called Cummins a “head pusher,” explaining that Cummins would sometimes physically push her head and that she was afraid of him most of the time. I didn’t want to make him mad or make him want to come after me or anything like that.” I was scared of what would happen if anyone did know. Ultimately, Elizabeth bravely stood up in court and helped send the teacher she once trusted to prison.“Whenever he first kissed me, that was whenever I realized, ‘This is getting too far,’” she recalled. "After enduring sexual abuse at the hands of Cummins, Elizabeth was left to face those in her home town who thought that she was responsible for her own kidnapping. Elizabeth’s abduction set off a nationwide manhunt and her over month-long ordeal came to an end when the pair was discovered in northern California and Cummins was arrested. "Making her feel safe and loved, he groomed Elizabeth for months, and ultimately coerced her to go on the run with him after another student reported seeing him kiss Elizabeth. "Elizabeth Thomas (Summer Howell) was just a 15-year-old high schooler who wanted to make friends when she caught the eye of Tad Cummins (Michael Fishman), a trusted, beloved and married high school teacher," the film's description reads. Thomas' story made headlines for years, and now, it's being retold in a new Lifetime film, My Teacher: The Elizabeth Thomas Story. 2 Elizabeth Thomas was kidnapped by Tad Cummins at the age of 15 Credit: TBI How can I watch Abducted by My Teacher: The Elizabeth Thomas Story?
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