Tad Cummins, Elizabeth Thomas Case To Feature On 20/20 Show, Will Focus On Alleged Kidnapper's Fate

The kidnapping of Tennessee teen Elizabeth Thomas allegedly by his ex-teacher Tad Cummins will be the point of discussion at Friday's 20/20 show. The show will focus on Cummins' months on the run and what will happen next to the 50-year-old, who was arrested mid-April.

The 15-year-old former student of Cummins went missing in March and was found in a remote part of northern California, more than a month after her disappearance. Elizabeth was reunited with her family, while Cummins was arrested. He has been charged with kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines with the intention to engage in sexual activity. On Thursday, reports said that Cummins was being transferred to Tennessee from California to face charges related to the alleged kidnapping case.

WKRN's News 2 spoke to local defense attorney Rob McGuire about the case against Cummins.

Read: Tad Cummins' Wife Admits Kidnapped Teen Elizabeth Thomas Was Exploited, Brainwashed By Her Husband

“We don’t know exactly what statements that he has made, we don’t know what statements the young lady has made to investigators. Those will both be very important. We know he has made statements to other people about things he has done he had been in communication with his estranged wife, all of those things will be major pieces of evidence against him,” McGuire said. “I think it’s going to be a very difficult case to defend. I think it’s going to be the kind of case where you are going to be looking to secure a plea agreement to give him some daylight at the end of the tunnel.”

Doubts over Cummins' involvement in Elizabeth's disappearance made the rounds soon after she went missing. Suspicions over and alleged relationship between Cummins and Elizabeth were raised after an unidentified student reported seeing the two kissing in his classroom.

Cummins' wife, Jill, who filed for divorce from her husband after he went missing, told in an interview with Inside Edition that the ex-teacher admitted to sleeping with his student.

"I said, 'Well, did you sleep with her?' And he said, 'Yes I did,'" Jill said, in the interview. "And I didn't want any details, but I knew the truth. I just wanted to hear it from him to me." Jill also said Cummins asked her for forgiveness and said he loved her.

"It was very hard to hear his voice after all this time not knowing if I was going to hear it again," she said. "But he told me he was sorry. He told me he loved me and to please forgive him.”

In another recent interview with Inside Edition, Jill admitted her husband exploited and brainwashed Elizabeth. Jill also said she felt betrayed by the teenager for getting romantically involved with her husband. Elizabeth visited the couple several times and they were helping the teen through some tough times and thought of her as another daughter, Jill said.

"He was getting really close to her," Jill said. "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.'"

But she added: "Never did I think there was a romantic thing between the two of them. There were no signs of that."

Meanwhile, Cummins' daughter Ashley, 26, expressed her support for her father but also added that she would stand by her mother too.

“He was the definition of what a good father should be and he still is,” Ashley told Inside Edition Thursday. “I believe that. He needs to at least know that everybody’s not against him.”

Ashley said she would visit her father while he remained in jail but her mother, Jill, has no plans to keep any relationship with him.

“I have to let them have a relationship with him,” Jill told Inside Edition. “I have to understand that. But they know he did wrong too and they’re standing by me 100 percent. They’re wonderful, wonderful girls and their daddy would be proud of them for them stepping up and being there when he wasn’t.”