A former Tennessee teacher, is accused of kidnapping a 15 year old, female student, after being investigated for kissing her in his classroom. The manhunt continues after they turned up missing on March 13th.

Tad Cummins, 50 year old father, husband, and grandfather, was hired in 2011 by Culleoka Unit School, a K-12 school. The health science teacher had freshman Elizabeth Thomas in a forensic class. On January 23 there were allegations that Cummins had kissed Beth Thomas, one of his students. A middle school student witnessed the incident and confronted Cummins with a friend. According to the school’s report he told the middle schoolers that he was a “close and best friend” for Beth. He later went on the justify it by revealing Elizabeth Thomas came from an abusive home. Unsatisfied, the students reported the incident and a school investigation was conducted.

During the investigation Cummins and Thomas denied sharing a kiss. They did however confess that they attended church together, and that Cummins was a support system for Thomas, calming her down when she was anxious or nervous. On January 27th, Elizabeth Thomas was removed from the classroom. Thomas was instructed to seek help, as well as putting supervision in Cummins classrooms.

Although Elizabeth Thomas was instructed to stay out of the classroom, she spent 33 minutes in his classroom and her cell phone history showed contact with Cummins. On February 6th, Cummins was suspended without pay, “pending the investigation”. He was later fired and charged with sexual contact with a minor.

Thing only got worse when Elizabeth Thomas told a sibling that if she was not back by dinner to call the police. A friend of Thomas’ then dropped her at restaurant, just before 8 a.m. on March 13. Just after 8am, surveillance cameras caught Cummins pumping gas nearby. By that afternoon, authorities believe they were 80 miles away in Decatur, Alabama.

Elizabeth Thomas was officially entered into the missing person’s database and an Amber Alert was put out for her.

Jill Cummins pleaded for her husband to come home saying, “this is not you” in a press conference on March 17th.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has recently determined that in the days leading up to the kidnapping Tad Cummins researched teen marriage and whether any car features can be tracked by police.

Tad Cummins is described at 6 feet tall, weighing about 200 pounds, possibly driving a 2015 silver Nissan Rogue with a Tennessee license plate number 976-ZPT.

Elizabeth Thomas is described as 5 foot 5 inches, weighing 120 pounds, last seen in leggings and a flannel shirt.

(See update on this story next week)