What's Next In Tad Cummins, Elizabeth Thomas Case? July Trial, Plea Deal Deadline Set For Alleged Kidnapper

Tad Cummins, who has been accused of kidnapping his former student Elizabeth Thomas, has until July 21 to take a plea deal if he wants to avoid trial in the case, a federal judge in Nashville announced in her order Tuesday.

Cummins has been indicted on charges of transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of engaging in criminal sexual conduct and obstruction of justice and a trial date for July 25 has now been set. The former high school teacher was charged on April 20 after he was taken into custody after being on the run for more than a month. If convicted, Cummins could face life in prison.

Read: Is Tad Cummins Guilty? Former Teacher Enters Plea In Elizabeth Thomas Kidnapping Case

The 50-year-old allegedly kidnapped his 15-year-old student from Maury County, Tennessee in March. According to testimony and court documents, Cummins attempted to take Elizabeth to Mexico by way of kayak while using fake identities.

FBI agent Utley Noble testified that Cummins admitted he had sex with Elizabeth “most nights” while he was on the run and that their sexual relationship began the day they disappeared. His estranged wife, Jill Cummins, also confirmed that her husband told her he slept with the teenager.

“I said, ‘Well, did you sleep with her?’ and he said, ‘Yes I did,’ and I didn’t want any details,” she said in an interview with Inside Edition shortly after her husband was arrested in April.

Cummins was suspended from Culleoka Unit School in Maury County after some students informed the authorities they had seen Cummins kissing Elizabeth in the classroom, according to reports.

While Cummins' lawyer claimed that Elizabeth willingly went her teacher, the teenager's attorney said the idea she may have voluntarily left was “amazingly absurd,” James Whatley said.

“This is classic grooming and manipulation,” Whatley told People last month. “And I predict this case will be studied years in the future about how authority figures like Tad Cummins can mess up young children who believe their lies and are manipulated into doing things they would never do.”

Cummins' wife, who filed for divorce after her husband went missing and reports of him kidnapping Elizabeth surfaced, said in an interview that the teenager was exploited by her former teacher.

“He was getting really close to her,” Cummins’ wife said during her appearance on Inside Edition. “A father-daughter close, a friendship close, and I knew that. I discussed that with him. And explained to him, ‘She’s your student, you can’t be so close to her. Never did I think there was a romantic thing between the two of them. There were no signs of that.”

After being found in April, Elizabeth has been undergoing counseling at an undisclosed location. However, there have been tensions at her home as her father filed for divorce shortly after their daughter was located. The filings cited irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct. Proceedings were set to be held June 26.

Before Elizabeth went missing, her mother beat her, banged her head into a washing machine and threw her down the basement steps and locked her there, according to court documents.

Kimberly Thomas was previously indicted in Maury County Circuit Court in Tennessee and faces five counts of child abuse and neglect for malicious behavior toward her children. She was arrested last year but was released on a $3,000 bond.