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Speaker 1: The case to find Elizabeth Thomas has gone cold, and

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Speaker 1: now law enforcement is hoping to widen the net to

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Speaker 1: bring Elizabeth. Howe, We really need the public to realize

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Speaker 1: that this young girl is in danger. This is crime

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Speaker 1: Stories with Nancy Grace. Elizabeth was last seen in Columbia.

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Speaker 1: Investigators say that she is with Tad Cummins. Tb I

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Speaker 1: says the Cummins was a teacher. She's fifteen, he's fifty.

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Speaker 1: He's now facing a charge in which the district attorney

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Speaker 1: has confirmed her to be the victim. Investigators are now

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Speaker 1: going on the theory that Cummins has taken Elizabeth, either

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Speaker 1: to an area outside the public or outside the Southeast.

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Speaker 1: They're missing, They could be anywhere. We want her home.

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Speaker 1: We want him in custody. If you see them, don't

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Speaker 1: approach them. Commons maybe arm. It has now been a

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Speaker 1: week and still no son of a schoolgirl from Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: She is gone. Her high school teacher, Tad Cummins, now

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Speaker 1: charged with kidnapping the little girl after another student reports

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Speaker 1: seeing him kissing the little girl in class. Everything has

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Speaker 1: gone sideways. The case is cold, and somewhere out there

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Speaker 1: is a fifty year old high school teacher with a

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Speaker 1: fifteen year old girl, a very vulnerable girl, and according

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Speaker 1: to police, this guy is armed with at least two guns.

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Speaker 1: He is currently charged with aggravated kidnapping as well as

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Speaker 1: sex contact with a minor. In the last hours, the

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Speaker 1: t b I gives a press or everyone, I Nancy Grace,

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Speaker 1: this is crime Stories. I want to thank you for

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Speaker 1: being with us. Listen to what police have just said.

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Speaker 1: One week ago today, Elizabeth Thomas vanished from Columbia, Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: Our efforts to locate her and the man believed to

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Speaker 1: have kidnapped her remain active and ongoing, but to this

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Speaker 1: point have produced no credible sightings or actionable information about

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Speaker 1: their whereabouts. The individuals could be anywhere, and the t

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Speaker 1: b I continues to urge national vigilance in the ongoing

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Speaker 1: effort to locate the missing girl and apprehend her alleged kidnapper. Thomas,

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Speaker 1: fifteen years old, disappeared on Monday, March thirteenth, and is

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Speaker 1: believed to have been kidnapped by fifty year old Tad Cummings,

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Speaker 1: a former teacher at her school in Murray County, Tennessee.

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Speaker 1: On Tuesday, the school district in Murray County terminated Cummins

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Speaker 1: in the wake of an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged

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Speaker 1: inappropriate contact he had with Thomas at the school earlier

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Speaker 1: this year. As of earlier this afternoon, the tb I

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Speaker 1: had received more than four hundred fifty leads. The lack

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Speaker 1: of confer sightings, however, continues to lead t b I

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Speaker 1: to believe Cummins could have Thomas hidden from view of

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Speaker 1: the general public or far away from Tennessee. Thomas is

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Speaker 1: again fifteen years old female with hazel eyes, standing five

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Speaker 1: foot tall and weighing one twenty pounds, last seen wearing

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Speaker 1: a flannel shirt and black leggings. Cummins is a white male,

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Speaker 1: six foot tall, weighing approximately two hundred pounds in his

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Speaker 1: brown hair and eyes. He is believed to be armed

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Speaker 1: with two handguns as you know, and believed to be

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Speaker 1: driving a silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee tag nine seven

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Speaker 1: six z p T. Warrants have been issued for Cummins,

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Speaker 1: charging him with sexual contact with a minor as well

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Speaker 1: as aggravated kidnapping. On Friday, as you know, the tb

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Speaker 1: I added Cummins to its top ten most wanted list

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Speaker 1: here in the state. Of Tennessee. There's currently a one

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Speaker 1: thousand dollar reward for information leading to his capture. As

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Speaker 1: you just here, police are convinced that Tad Cummings has

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Speaker 1: taken this little girl far away from Tennessee or is

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Speaker 1: hiding in a rural area. I have reason to believe

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Speaker 1: this guy is quote off the grid. We have information

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Speaker 1: that he took out a title loan on his silver

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Speaker 1: Nissan Rogue the week before he makes off with this

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Speaker 1: little girl. This was clearly planned, Alan, what do you think, Well,

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Speaker 1: it was planned on his part, but I doubt that

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Speaker 1: it was really planned on her part because we now

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Speaker 1: see this new photograph that they've just released of her

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Speaker 1: leaving her friend's house and she's hardly carrying anything. She

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Speaker 1: doesn't have a suitcase pack. Well, you know another thing

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Speaker 1: along those lines. He may have said, Hey, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to take you away from all this. I mean, what

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Speaker 1: hasn't been discussed a whole lot is the fact that

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Speaker 1: this little girl had no mother. The mother has been

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Speaker 1: out of her life for years. The mother had ten children,

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Speaker 1: five of them are miners. So this little girl as

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Speaker 1: a single dad, as a parent who's working, and she's

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Speaker 1: getting I don't know what kind of attention, if any,

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Speaker 1: at home. I don't know how you can get any

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Speaker 1: attention when you have five children with one parent who

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Speaker 1: has to work to support you. So she's in a

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Speaker 1: vulnerable position right now without a mother or a mother figure.

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Speaker 1: And then this teacher enters, Hey, let's talk about I mean,

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Speaker 1: for all I know, he took her and says, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna take you away from all this. And she probably

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Speaker 1: had no idea she wouldn't be able to communicate with

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Speaker 1: her grandparents, with her father. You know, I was looking

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Speaker 1: at her postings as well as his, Alan Duke, and

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Speaker 1: one of her last social media postings was every beauty

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Speaker 1: needs her beast to protect her from everyone but him.

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Speaker 1: That was what she posted just that morning that she disappeared.

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Speaker 1: He's got this girl totally brainwashed. Tell me about the

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Speaker 1: new pictures, Alan. The new picture shows her. She's wearing

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Speaker 1: this plaid shirt and just walking out. It appears that

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Speaker 1: it was from a security camera at maybe the home,

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Speaker 1: at the home where she had spent the night. Keep

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Speaker 1: in mind, it was not a school day because it

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Speaker 1: was a teacher work day, so she wasn't dressed as

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Speaker 1: if she were going to school. Okay, Alan, just so

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Speaker 1: you know, you need to tune into Disney because that's

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Speaker 1: how all the girls dressed now. I mean you need

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Speaker 1: to check out I don't know Wizards of Waverley plays

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Speaker 1: Living Maddie. I mean, just just go spend a couple

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Speaker 1: of hours there. I don't think I'll be doing that.

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Speaker 1: This is how girls dressed now to to go to school,

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Speaker 1: to go out. She's got on her black Converse tennis.

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Speaker 1: She's black leggings and a kind of a tannish brown

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Speaker 1: plaid shirt, and she's got her hair back. She's wearing

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Speaker 1: her glasses and you're right, Alan, deep she looks like

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Speaker 1: maybe she's carrying a backpack with her, a school backpack

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Speaker 1: or something. She doesn't have things like you would think

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Speaker 1: she was going on a trip. Josh Divine, the tb

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Speaker 1: I spokesman, told us more about what they're finding out

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Speaker 1: about the way that Tad Cummings was grooming her and

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Speaker 1: how he was possibly taking advantage of what he said

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Speaker 1: her home life, which quote may not be the best.

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Speaker 1: Let's listen. You know, part of our investigation right now

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Speaker 1: is trying to determine how we got to this point,

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Speaker 1: and we've previously disclosed that Cummins had a troubling pattern

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Speaker 1: of behavior, and increasingly everything that we're learning about him

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Speaker 1: does nothing to calm our fears and our concerns for her.

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Speaker 1: She is definitely a victim. She may not realize that

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Speaker 1: she's a victim, but she is certainly a victim. She

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Speaker 1: needs help, She needs our best efforts, and she needs

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Speaker 1: the attention of this country to be on the lookout

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Speaker 1: for her. Her home situation, as you've heard from other folks,

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Speaker 1: may not be the best, but her family loves her.

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Speaker 1: Her brothers and sisters love her, Her dad loves her,

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Speaker 1: her mom loves her. I'm sure her community loves her.

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Speaker 1: They want her home and we want her home as well. Alan.

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Speaker 1: Before we get back into that press conference by the

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Speaker 1: Tennessee Law Enforcement, I want to thank our sponsor today,

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Speaker 1: Crime Con. I am thrilled to be going to the

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Speaker 1: first ever crime Con. It's a national convention for crime sleuths.

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Speaker 1: You hate crime like me, Be there Friday June nine,

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Speaker 1: Incredible roster of speakers, experts, you name it. Everybody in

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Speaker 1: their cellmate will be there talking about crime. I want

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Speaker 1: to get into the mind of criminals in order to

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Speaker 1: find crime even better. And if you register with my

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Speaker 1: code Nancy, you save off whichever crime con package you

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Speaker 1: choose crime con dot com. Now let's get straight back

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Speaker 1: to the pressor with a Tennessee law enforcement Please let's go.

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Speaker 1: In the name of due diligence, the t B, I

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Speaker 1: would like to encourage property owners, especially in rural areas,

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Speaker 1: to search their grounds for these individuals, the vehicle, or

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Speaker 1: any sign of suspicious activity and report that to one

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Speaker 1: eight hundred t B I Find the t B. I

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Speaker 1: would also like to encourage campgrounds, parks, other isolated areas

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Speaker 1: to remain vigilant and be on the lookout for these individuals.

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Speaker 1: To that end, large parking lots parking garages as well

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Speaker 1: should also be searched for the vehicle described in the

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Speaker 1: Amber alert, and if you happen to find that vehicle,

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Speaker 1: do give us a call at one eight hundred t

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Speaker 1: B I Find the t B. I would also urge

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Speaker 1: the public to remain vigilant and report any information that

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Speaker 1: might prove beneficial in this ongoing search to one eight

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Speaker 1: hundred t B I Find and by all means, if

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Speaker 1: you find yourself driving down the road behind that vehicle,

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Speaker 1: that silver Nissan Rogue with Tennessee tag nine seven six

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Speaker 1: z PT. Pick up your phone and dial nine one

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Speaker 1: one immediately. Don't call one eight h t B I

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Speaker 1: find in those types of situations, time is of the essence,

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Speaker 1: and we need to get local law enforcement to your

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Speaker 1: location as soon as possible. Alan, what do you think

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Speaker 1: about the possibility that Tad Cummings is, as they say,

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Speaker 1: off the grid, either sleeping in the car or camping

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Speaker 1: out with this girl, this fifteen year old girl. What

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Speaker 1: are the police thinking about that they have not used

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Speaker 1: their debit or credit cards? In college, I took a

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Speaker 1: road trip once to Panama City and I didn't have

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Speaker 1: a credit card with me. I had to sleep on

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Speaker 1: the beach, literally slept in the sand. Where are they

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Speaker 1: going to sleep? If you're on the road and you

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Speaker 1: don't have a credit card, they have to use cash,

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Speaker 1: and that's unusual and that I think we'll call attention

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Speaker 1: to them. So the t B I believes that they

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Speaker 1: may be camping, and so they're putting out the word,

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Speaker 1: by the way, for all people in campgrounds anywhere in

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Speaker 1: the country to look out for these people. You know.

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Speaker 1: Another thing is the fact that I believe that they

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Speaker 1: have altered their appearance Allen, I really do, from cutting

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Speaker 1: their hair to dyeing their hair, to him possibly cutting

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Speaker 1: off his beard. Everyone. The second ambrellert for a Tennessee

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Speaker 1: girl who disappears with her teacher. This is a blonde student.

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Speaker 1: She's about twenty pounds, about five five. She appears to

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Speaker 1: be thin. We are just finding out that new video

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Speaker 1: has been released as well from a Walmart. What can

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Speaker 1: you tell me about the new video, which you can

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Speaker 1: find on crime online dot com. What do we know

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Speaker 1: about the Walmart video? This was taken several days before

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Speaker 1: they disappeared, before he fled with this child, and it

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Speaker 1: is him shopping at a Walmart. The reason that they've

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Speaker 1: released it now is because it is the most recent

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Speaker 1: video to show what he looks like, although they do

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Speaker 1: acknowledge that he may have changed his appearance. On those photos.

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Speaker 1: You see comings were in a green camouflage hat and

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Speaker 1: maybe a blue jacket and walking around the store. I

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Speaker 1: would be very curious to find out what he was

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Speaker 1: stalking up on because I really think that he planned

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Speaker 1: this far in advance. I don't know if she knew

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Speaker 1: about it. But I believe he knew about it. This

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Speaker 1: all started on January three, when a student goes into

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Speaker 1: a classroom to catch Cummings kissing the little girl and

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Speaker 1: goes and reports it. Then both Elizabeth Thomas, the little girl,

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Speaker 1: and Tad Cummings deny than anything happened, so the school

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Speaker 1: did nothing. He stayed in the classroom. She was supposed

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Speaker 1: to go to a different class but according to her

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Speaker 1: father's lawyer, the dad checked the cell phone. Oh he

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Speaker 1: wasn't told. Uh several days. But by before the father

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Speaker 1: was even told about the incident, and when he checked

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Speaker 1: her phone, Alan he found out the dirty old man

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Speaker 1: is still communicating with his daughter. It was only on

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Speaker 1: February the sixth when the father's lawyer wrote a scathing

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Speaker 1: letter to the school board saying, what's this that's going on?

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Speaker 1: What's this? We here? We've not been notified. It was

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Speaker 1: only then that they finally suspended Tad Cummings from teaching.

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Speaker 1: He was in the classroom until that day. Good gravy.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't get it, but that is water

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Speaker 1: under the bridge, that's over with. What I'm thinking about

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Speaker 1: now is where we can catch this, How we can

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Speaker 1: catch this guy, how can we bring Elizabeth home? Now?

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Speaker 1: What about his wife making a public plea, going, Tad,

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Speaker 1: this isn't you please bring Elizabeth home? I'm sure that

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Speaker 1: that was just like water off a duck's back, that

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Speaker 1: meant nothing. Well, she knew this child. In fact, according

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Speaker 1: to the personnel file and the other information that we've

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Speaker 1: obtained concerning this incident, this child was going to church

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Speaker 1: with Tad Cummins and his wife. They would pick her

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Speaker 1: up and take her to church. So Jill Cummins was

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Speaker 1: very aware of this child, but I would assume not

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Speaker 1: aware of the close relationship. You know, everyone the Tennessee

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Speaker 1: law enforcement has just had a major press or let's

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Speaker 1: listen for us. It's all about trying to manage the possibilities.

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Speaker 1: You know, you think about anything that could happen over

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Speaker 1: the course of a week. They could be anywhere, they

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Speaker 1: could have additional resources, they could be in a different vehicle.

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Speaker 1: You know, as as you go longer with these types

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Speaker 1: of things, the possibilities make these so much more complicated

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Speaker 1: and make it so much more difficult for our folks

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Speaker 1: to try to sort through and sift through. You know,

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Speaker 1: I have studied the law carefully in Tennessee, and when

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Speaker 1: there is an aggravated kidnapping charge, Allen, if you bring

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Speaker 1: the person back, if the person has returned safely, or

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Speaker 1: you give information to get the victim returned safely, that

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Speaker 1: is under the law mitigating evidence that reduces your sentence

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Speaker 1: to a great extent. And that is just what Tennessee

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Speaker 1: officials are urging. Listen to this powerful message law enforcement

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Speaker 1: sins to not only Tad Cummins, but Elizabeth Thomas. Our

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Speaker 1: message to Elizabeth is We're still coming for you. We're

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Speaker 1: going to do everything in our possibility, everything in our

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Speaker 1: capabilities to bring you home your family. Once you hear

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Speaker 1: your friends want you here. To Tad, we would say

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Speaker 1: the same thing his wife said on Friday. You have

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Speaker 1: an opportunity here to do the right thing. This is

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Speaker 1: not who you are. This is not who your church

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Speaker 1: knows you to be. This is not who your family

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Speaker 1: knows you to be. This is not who your grandkids

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Speaker 1: know you to be. Do the right thing, give her up,

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Speaker 1: turn yourself in, bring her home. Tad Cummins has now

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Speaker 1: been added to the t b i's Top ten most wanted.

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Speaker 1: This high school teacher accused of kidnapping his little girl's student,

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Speaker 1: Elizabeth Thomas. There is a reward for information leading to

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Speaker 1: his arrest. So far, the tb I investigation suggests that

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Speaker 1: this teacher may have been abusing his role as a

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Speaker 1: teacher to groom this vulnerable little girl with no mom

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Speaker 1: for a long time in his effort to lure and

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Speaker 1: sexually exploit her. That is what we know. Now. There's

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Speaker 1: a state wide in a nationwide amber alert by the

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Speaker 1: t b I. Now, as the TBI Josh Divine spokesperson says,

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Speaker 1: she may not have been realized that she's a victim,

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Speaker 1: but she is a victim, and he swears he is

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Speaker 1: not giving up on her. She needs help and she

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Speaker 1: needs us to help her. Alan what can we do?

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Speaker 1: No matter where you are in the country, you can

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Speaker 1: check around parking lots, any garages. If you own rural property,

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Speaker 1: is there anybody camping on your property that fit the

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Speaker 1: description of these two people, because they may be camping,

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Speaker 1: maybe hiding off the grid. As the law enforcement said,

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Speaker 1: they could be anywhere in the country right by now,

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Speaker 1: because it's been so many days that you could have traveled.

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Speaker 1: They could be in Washington State and thousands of miles away. Well,

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Speaker 1: I believe that they probably ditched the car. But if

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Speaker 1: they did the car, now what will they have? Guys?

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Speaker 1: Please go to crime online dot com. Look at the

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Speaker 1: new photos that have just been released. Look at the

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Speaker 1: surveillance video. This guy, according to police, is armed and dangerous.

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Speaker 1: He's got nothing to lose now, and I don't want

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Speaker 1: this to turn into some Romeo Juliette scenario where they

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Speaker 1: both end up dead. One more time, I want to

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Speaker 1: thank crime Con for sponsoring our podcast today to get

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Speaker 1: the word out about a little girl in danger. Elizabeth Thomas.

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Speaker 1: Crime Con is going down June nine Friday. Did you

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Speaker 1: eleven Sunday in Indianapolis? All of you amateur sleuths, crime busters,

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Speaker 1: even the pros, join us at crime Con. Alan and

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Speaker 1: I will be podcasting live from crime Con and I

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Speaker 1: would love to meet you. Along with major figure in

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Speaker 1: the crime fighting world. We'll have Cheryl McCullum from the

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Speaker 1: Cold Case Investigative Research Institute, a lot of your favorite

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Speaker 1: podcasters like Paine Lindsay from Up and Vanished. You know,

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Speaker 1: everybody is converging to join together and find out the

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Speaker 1: latest in crime fighting. Let's put our heads together so

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Speaker 1: we can't continue the good Fight Crime Con Indianapolis, June nine.

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Speaker 1: Be there, Nancy Grace signing off crime stories. Goodbye friend,