Elizabeth Thomas-Tad Cummins Update: Everything We Know About Tennessee Student And Teacher Disappearance

Tad Cummins and Elizabeth Thomas have been missing for more than a month while police sifted through thousands of leads in the case. The former teacher and his student disappeared March 13 in Tennessee on the heels of an investigation into a possible inappropriate relationship between the two.

“She is 15, a child. He is 50, a grown man. She’s a high school freshman. He’s a former teacher. This is, and was, not a romance,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation director Mark Gwynn told reporters shortly after the two went missing. “This was manipulation solely to benefit Tad Cummins. This is not a fairy tale. This is a case of kidnapping.”

New details continued to emerge in the disappearance more than a month after it made headlines.

Read: Elizabeth Thomas Knew Something Bad Would Happen

Cummins was previously Thomas’ teacher. The 50-year-old was a health science teacher at Culleoka Unit School in Maury County, Tennessee, where 15-year-old Thomas was a student. An unidentified student saw the two kiss inside his classroom in January and went to administrators with the information. Cummins reportedly told the student that he was a “father figure and best friend” to Thomas.

Cummins was under criminal investigation before the disappearance. Police told the school district that Cummins was under investigation for his inappropriate relationship with Thomas. The district sent all of the paperwork involving the pair to law enforcement and told Cummins not to allow Thomas inside his classroom.

The two have been missing for more than a month. Thomas was officially listed as missing at 1 p.m. local time March 13. She left her family home and was dropped off by a friend at a restaurant in Columbia.

Cummins was spotted on surveillance video before the disappearance. The former teacher was seen in surveillance footage getting gas in the same area as the restaurant Thomas went to at around the same time. Police said they believed Cummins picked her up from the restaurant after.

Thomas had an inkling something bad would happen. Thomas reportedly told one of her siblings that she was leaving the house March 13, but that if she wasn’t home by 6 p.m., someone should call the police.

Cummins did an internet search for “teen marriage.” The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the former teacher searched for the term in the days before the two went missing. He also attempted to discern how police might be able to track his car.

Cummins was fired from his job after the disappearance. The day after Thomas and Cummins went missing, Cummins was fired from his job as a teacher and charged with sexual contact with a minor.

The pair was only spotted once in over a month. In the only confirmed sighting of the two since they disappeared, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said they were spotted on surveillance video March 15 at a Walmart in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, only two days after an amber alert was issued for Thomas. Both appeared to have different hair colors than they did days earlier.

Read: First Confirmed Sighting Of Elizabeth Thomas And Tad Cummins

Thousands of tips have been called in about the pair. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had received more than 1,400 tips in the case. About 1,100 had been dismissed, while the remainder were being investigated, TBI said Friday.

Cummins wife filed for divorce. Jill Cummins cited “irreconcilable differences” after the disappearance and said that her husband was “guilty of inappropriate marital conduct.”

Thomas’ father filed a petition in court requesting the deposition of witnesses. Her father said in the petition filed last week he believed at least two witnesses likely had information that would help him find his daughter.

Cummins was believed to be armed and driving a Silver Nissan Rogue. Police said the public should be on alert for a car with the Tennessee license plate 976-ZPT.