The devastating true story of 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas

Inside the chilling real-life story of Ted Cummins, the married teacher who ABDUCTED 15-year-old student Elizabeth Thomas after preying on her innocence… as his sordid crimes are exposed in shocking new doc

• Lifestyle’s Abducted By My Teacher will unravel the harrowing details of the case
• Tad Cummins, from Tennessee, took Elizabeth Thomas on the run for 38 days
• To mark the film’s release, FEMAIL takes a look at the disturbing true story 

A new crime-drama is set to unravel the disturbing true story of a 15-year-old girl who spent more than a month on the run with her mentor-turned-abuser.

Abducted By My Teacher, which is set to air on Lifestyle today, will follow the harrowing details of the case which sparked a nationwide manhunt in 2017.

Tad Cummins (Michael Fishman) groomed student Elizabeth Thomas (Summer Howell) before coercing her to go on the run for 38 days and making her endure daily sexual abuse. 

Here, FEMAIL has laid bare the disturbing realities which saw the perpetrator sentenced to 20 years behind bars after pleading ‘guilty to obstructing justice and taking a minor across state lines for sex.’

Abducted By My Teacher (pictured), which is set to air on Lifestyle this weekend, will follow the harrowing details of the case which sparked a nationwide manhunt in 2017

Tad Cummins (left) groomed student Elizabeth Thomas (right) before coercing her to go on the run for 38 days and making her endure daily sexual abuse

The chilling tale began after Cummins met the teen when she was a student at Culleoka Unit School in Maury County, Tennessee.

Elizabeth, who had previously been homeschooled, previously told ABC that Cummins and his wife of 30 years took her under their wing after her own mother was charged with child abuse and neglect involving the teen and sister Sarah.

Jill Cummins has previously said she came to think of Elizabeth as her third daughter and she believed her relationship with her husband was akin to that of a parent and child.

But Elizabeth soon started to notice that the relationship between her and her married mentor was developing.

She revealed that Cummins would make various suggestive remarks and the pair eventually began exchanging sexually explicit messages on Instagram.

The teen also previously described the first time Cummins kissed her which, she said, was when she ‘realized it was getting too far.’

‘He grabbed my face. I was right next to the double doors I had. I was 15. Being home schooled I haven’t really had a boyfriend,’ she said. ‘When that happened, it was kind of like, “wow.”‘

Despite knowing their relationship was taboo, the teenager said she never told anyone because she did not want the attention and was also scared to make Cummins angry.

Elizabeth previously told ABC that Cummins and his wife of 30 years (pictured together) took her under their wing

In the days after he fled with the teenager, the duo were seen on surveillance cameras going into a Walmart where they bought hair dye to change Elizabeth’s appearance

But the teacher was eventually suspended from the school on February 6, 2017, after a fellow student reported seeing him kiss Elizabeth.

During his suspension, the teacher would force the teen to call and text him at regular intervals, she said. 

Eventually, the student claimed that Cummins told her she had to run away with him.

Elizabeth previously revealed in an interview with ABC’s 20/20 that she felt like she had to go with him or he would do something drastic, and that he kept a gun in the car’s console during their cross-country drive and she knew she couldn’t escape. 

Cummins is said to have also destroyed both of their phones so their whereabouts could not be traced as they made their way to a remote cabin near Cecilville, California.

Elizabeth told authorities she and Cummins had sex ‘every day as they traveled from state to state,’ over 38 days between March 13 and April 20 of 2017, the Tennessean reported.

In the days after he fled with the teenager, the duo were seen on surveillance cameras going into a Walmart where they bought hair dye to change Elizabeth’s appearance.

They also bought cheese cubes, K-Y jelly, women’s razors and chocolate.

He later bought a two-seater kayak, allegedly for a failed plan to escape to Panama, and an iPad to try to monitor the media coverage of their case, prosecutors said at the time.

But authorities were soon alerted to the pair’s presence at the cabin by a neighbor who became suspicious when she saw the car being driven by Cummins without a license plate and noticed the very young-looking Elizabeth inside the vehicle, the Tennessean said.

As a result, Cummins was caught and arrested on April 20, 2017. 

Elizabeth told authorities she and Cummins had sex ‘every day as they traveled from state to state,’ over 38 days between March 13 and April 20 of 2017, the Tennessean reported

Cummins is said to have also destroyed both of their phones so their whereabouts could not be traced as they made their way to a remote cabin (pictured) near Cecilville, California

Authorities were soon alerted to the pair’s presence at the cabin by a neighbor who became suspicious when she saw the car being driven by Cummins without a license plate

In a letter to wife Jill, written from behind bars on July 31, 2017, Cummins wrote: ‘I am the one to blame for everything,’ while adding that ‘the devil was deeply involved.’ 

The then 52-year-old eventually pleaded guilty in April of 2018 to obstructing justice and taking a minor across state lines for sex. 

Cummins was sentenced to 20 years behind bars by a federal judge and the former teacher will also have to register as a sex offender after he is released.

Confronting him in court, Elizabeth said during her victim impact statement, according to Radar Online: ‘When I started school, you picked me out of the crowd. I was just a kid who wanted to make friends, but you were someone who had a plan.

‘You saw a broken girl who was lonely, scared, and traumatized. You made her feel safe and loved because you saw what she needed and made her believe you would be her “protector.”‘

‘You act like you care now and that you’re full of all this regret, but where was any of that before?’ Thomas asked in court, according to the statement obtained through Burton Staggs of the Tennessee River Valley News.

‘Where was any of that when you first had me alone in your classroom closet and violated me over and over again for months? Where was any of that when you spent untold amounts of time and effort into manipulating, pressuring and deceiving me into thinking that you were the only person that cared about me?’

Elizabeth went on: ‘All you were was a man who wanted sex, and you manipulated me and used me just for that.

‘But the truth is, no matter how much time you have to serve, you will never be able to undo what you did to me. I will have to live with the scars you left on me forever.’

In the years since, Elizabeth has married Skylar Dirla after the pair fell in love while working together at a seafood restaurant in their hometown of Columbia, Tennessee. 

Abducted by My Teacher: The Elizabeth Thomas Story will premiere on August 12.

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