How Authorities Found Fugitive Teacher, Missing Student

Caller told cops about vehicle at remote cabin
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 21, 2017 5:15 AM CDT
Updated Apr 21, 2017 6:25 AM CDT
Fugitive Teacher Was Hiding Out in Remote Cabin
Tad Cummins' booking photo.   (Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office)

The manhunt for fugitive Tennessee teacher Tad Cummins is over thanks to somebody who spotted his vehicle in a remote area on the other side of the country, authorities say. The 50-year-old was captured and 15-year-old student Elizabeth Thomas was taken into custody unharmed after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the sheriff's office in Northern California's Siskiyou County received a tip late Wednesday that a vehicle with no license plate that matched the description of Cummins' 2015 Nissan Rogue was at a cabin in a rural area of Cecilville, near the Oregon border, ABC News reports. The caller said an adult male and a young female had been staying in the cabin for about a week.

Police set up a perimeter around the cabin after the call and arrested Cummins after he emerged around 9:30am Thursday, the Tennessean reports. Siskiyou Sheriff Jon Lopey says two loaded handguns were found inside. Cummins is being held without bond on a federal charge of knowingly transporting a minor with the intent to engage in sexual activity and will be arraigned on Friday. Police say Thomas, who came out of the cabin as Cummins was being arrested, has been transferred to FBI custody and is being treated as a crime victim, the Siskiyou Daily News reports. TBI chief Mark Gwyn says Cummins was caught because they "mobilized a nation" to be on the lookout, and "you can't hide from millions of people." (More Tad Cummins stories.)

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