Update: Missing Tennessee Teen Found

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Following the disappearance of 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas, who had allegedly been abducted by Tad Cummins, her 50-year-old former teacher – the entire internet was panicked.

Last Friday, Thomas’ family was blessed with the good news that she had been found. However, now the fascination with her state of mind is what’s puzzling everyone.

Police had received a tip about the girls location – that she had been far away from her Tennessee home and had been living with Cummins in a remote part of Northern California.

CNN reported that they were staying in a one-room cabin, which is still in the process of being built – with no electricity, furniture or running water.

They had been staying there since the week before, said Griffin Barry, who said he helped police capture Cummins. He had come across the pair when they stopped at a nearby gas station.

Barry says the former teacher allegedly claimed to be 44 and said that Thomas was his 22-year-old wife.

Barry in fact helped set them up in the cabin after Cummins allegedly said they had lost everything in a house fire. But over time he grew suspicious. He told Good Morning America: “The girl wasn’t really looking at me or anything and he was always dominating the conversation. That kind of clues people in.”

He added: “I had a photo of him that was the Amber Alert and I was like, that’s definitely the guy, and then we saw the car as well and it matched up.”

Cummins was then arrested and on Friday, S. Jason Whatley, who’s a lawyer for the Thomas family, gave a statement on her wellbeing.

He said: “She is being evaluated and treated by mental health experts specializing in trauma. There is no doubt she has suffered severe emotional trauma and that her process of recovery is only just beginning.”

He added: “The family is extremely grateful for the thoughts and prayers of the nation and asks sincerely for those continued prayers as Elizabeth becomes able to process the last 39 days. The family asks for privacy as this journey begins.”

Whatley also said that one of the photos that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shared of Thomas while she was away made her look a lot older than her 15 years.

He said: “Elizabeth is a little child. She could easily pass for 12. The primary photo used and reprinted so many times by law enforcement, the media, and even our office, is inaccurate. She is a little girl in every sense of the word. This was the abduction of an impressionable little child.”

Cummins now faces multiple charges including a federal count of transportation of a minor across state lines for the purpose of sexual intercourse.