. he told you, you had to go? >> he said, if he couldn't have me, he would kill himself. >> were you afraid he would kill you? >> yes. >> you knew then -- >> i wasn't getting out of this. >> there are new clues tonight. >> he was a teacher at the school. >> a 15-year-old girl. tonight, on "20/20," the nationwide manhunt and girlhunt, that transfixed the country. that 15-year-old student on the run with her 50-year-old tea teacher, a married father with children. did you know that everyone, all of america, was looking for you? >> she's like, if i'm not back by 6:00 p.m., call the cops. >> but tonight, what you've never heard before, her story. >> he can say all along, the

devil made him do it, but he himself made him do it. >> the interview her school may not want you to hear. >> they knew, and they didn't stop it. >> you don't have to be rocket scientist to go, there's trouble brewing in tad cummings' classroom. >> now, she's revealing all-new details from the 38 days on the road. >> he told me i was going to live with him until i died. >> creating new identities, live, hiding in a commune. >> it was a unanimous decision, we didn't want him here. >> and then the end of the road, in a deserted cabin. >> i thought that this was going to be the end. >> now, she's still fighting the town that doubts her. >> some people questioned whether or not you went willingly. >> good evening, and thanks for joining us. i'm david muir. >> and i'm amy robach. this is "20/20."

it was one of the biggest stories of the year. the girl who went from classroom to captive. >> and we haven't heard from the young woman who went missing. but that all changes here tonight. here's eva pilgrim, on the story from the start. >> reporter: tonight, we are heading to rural culleoka, tennessee, where this strange and heart-wrenching story begins. >> most people know everyone else who lives there. if there are six degrees of separation in the world, there's only about one degree of separation here. >> reporter: in this farming community of about 5,000, you'll find a post office, gas station, and not much else. >> it's very small. very small there. nothing around in. >> reporter: until, of course, it does. >> at the center of on nationwide amber alert. >> reporter: it's been a year and half now since 50-year-old high schoolteacher tad

cummins ran off with his 15-year-old student. today, some squarely blame him. >> should be drug out in the streets and beat. >> reporter: others aren't so sure. >> i think they took advantage of each other in a way, a weird way. >> reporter: we've heard a lot of people say, "well, she went willingly." >> she probably did. >> reporter: many have made up their minds, both in this small town and across the country. and it's to them that elizabeth thomas, now 17, wants to speak to directly tonight. why talk now about what happened? >> because i think it's time to. it's a year later. >> reporter: people saw the story play out. >> they think they know what happened. and they think that i'm a whore. they think that i like old men, and that's not the case. >> reporter: before fate brought elizabeth into tad cummins' class, she had been homeschooled her whole life. >> she was somewhat of a tomboy. played really rough. she could switch to being really nice and sweet. >> reporter: paige griffith told us at the time of elizabeth's disappearance that she had been a kind of a surrogate mom.

and her daughter erin was elizabeth's close friend. >> she'd come over to my house and we would talk and watch tv and eat junk food, and we just hung out together. >> reporter: that's elizabeth on the left, play fighting with erin in the back of a car. >> no, i wasn't! >> yeah, you were. >> reporter: her sister sarah gave me a tour of elizabeth's bedroom during the days she went missing. it told its own story of an adolescent caught between two ages. that's her xbox? on the one hand, the teen who bought herself an xbox with money from her afterschool job. >> she just stayed up playing games. >> reporter: on the other, a child. >> she made this. >> reporter: still enchanted by princesses and ponies. yet, the home movie smiles mask what elizabeth says is a dark reality. >> we had a lot of stuff going behind closed doors that shouldn't have. >> reporter: abusive? >> very. >> reporter: violent? >> very. >> reporter: physically violent?

and no escape, because you were homeschooled. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: the abuse so severe, she says, the kids finally report their own mother to child protective services. kimberly thomas is removed from the home and is facing multiple counts of child abuse and neglect. she denies the charges, telling a local tv station -- >> i'm not guilty of this. >> reporter: how did you find out what was going on at home? >> there's two sheriff's deputies in my yard. >> reporter: their father anthony thomas, often working around the clock as an exterminator to support his five children, insisting when we spoke to him in 2017 that he didn't know how bad things had gotten at home. it's hard for you to talk about, isn't it? >> yeah. >> you don't like to think about what was happening. >> i got to take a break.

>> reporter: their mother's removal is a welcome relief. but soon, elizabeth is pushed into the teenage shark tank known as high school. >> first thing they did was call me ugly once i came to school and, i mean, it's just boys being stupid, but i just stayed to myself. >> was it easy making friends? >> i mean, they all had their little cliques. you can't really disrupt that. >> reporter: elizabeth eventually finds one person she thinks she can trust. a popular and friendly health teacher, tad cummins. >> and that, ladies and gentlemen, is how hot dogs are made. >> she was in his class, health. and he began to help her make this transition from homeschool to public school. >> reporter: 50-year-old tad cummins is quite the charmer. maury county district attorney brent cooper went to high school with him. >> kind of funny, kind of a cutup, pretty outgoing guy. >> reporter: so you knew him. you saw him around.

>> he and jill, his wife, they were high school sweethearts and married the year they graduated high school. >> reporter: and they've been together the 31 years since. his wife jill spoke to us when this first happened. >> god is the center of our marriage and our life, and our faith is the most important thing to us, and i think it was to him, too, and it still is. >> reporter: cummins had even done mission work in the rainforests of panama. he teaches sunday school and sings in the church choir. what was it like growing up with him? >> he was your all-american dad. no matter what we were going through, he was the one you could call and he would fix it. >> reporter: tad cummins flourishes in the classroom. watch this youtube video of him teaching how to perform cpr. >> see the difference, i'm actually making my weight off of it. >> he was the cool teacher. like, everybody loved him. he was everyone's friend, everyone's mentor, helped so

many people through so many things. >> reporter: and for elizabeth, he's an encouraging adult role model, showering her with attention, even gifts. >> he gave me a bible, and it was just something from him. >> reporter: that kindness even extending outside the classroom. taking elizabeth to church on sundays with his wife. why did he decide to take her to church? >> our preacher's wife was going to be talking about abuse and how to get past it, get over it. and we decided to invite beth. we were helping her, i thought. >> reporter: did you ever think anything of their interactions together? >> it was like a father/daughter relationship. it's the way i saw it, too. it's the way he would explain it. in fact, i called her our third daughter sometimes. >> reporter: it all seems benign, until that one day in the school cafeteria. >> i was standing there with a few friends, and then they said, "are you hungry?" and i went, "i don't have a soul, or if i did, like, i'd be

hungry," or something like that. and then he came to me and he pointed at me and said, "my soul sees your soul." >> reporter: was he trying to scare her, or seduce her? coming up, a health teacher grooming a young student. what would be his next move? did you tell somebody? >> no. >> why? >> i don't want to tell my parent that a grown man kissed me and i don't want to tell friends that a grown man kissed me. >> stay with us. (meg vo) i can see if my endometriosis pain gets better... or i can... (sherry vo) i can just suck it up... or i can... (diane vo) i can tell myself tomorrow will be different... or i can talk to my gynecologist today! (avo) you didn't choose to have endometriosis... but you can choose to ask if orilissa is right for you. orilissa is specifically developed for women with moderate to severe endometriosis pain. in clinical trials, orilissa was proven to reduce 3 common types of endometriosis pain, painful periods, pelvic pain in between periods,

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>> reporter: churchgoing family man tad cummins seemed like a model citizen. but look closer and you'll find some cracks in that wholesome and happy facade. >> tad was kind of a bully about things. >> reporter: chandler anderson worked with cummins back when cummins worked as a respiratory therapist at a local hospital. >> he would say things like, "you're stupid. you shouldn't be in the e.r." >> reporter: in front of other

people? >> oh, yeah, in front of other people. i have seen tad be told "no" previously. i've seen the rage and anger he gets. >> reporter: anderson says cummins had a problem with authority. he didn't have enough of it. he says that's why cummins switched careers and took a big pay cut. >> if money's not the central issue and feeding your ego is, that's what he chose. that's why he became a teacher. who tells a teacher "no"? certainly not students. >> reporter: and certainly not a student like elizabeth thomas, still reeling from the abuse she says she suffered at home. and who believes she's finally found an adult she can trust. >> he made me feel like i didn't have anyone else and no one really cared about me like he did. >> reporter: jason whatley, the thomas family attorney, spoke to us after elizabeth went missing. >> he was specifically grooming this child for a very specific purpose, and that was a relationship. he chose a girl that was clearly

having issues, because she went to him for, quote/unquote, counseling. she was the perfect victim. >> i was feeling real low and i was wanting to get on anti-depressants and try to go to a therapist. and he told me no and not do it because it'd change who i was. >> so he convinced you not to get help? >> yes. >> what did he suggest you do instead? >> come to him. >> i think it's another example of showing, sort of, to the community, to his wife to everyone else. "i'm trying to help this child. she comes to me at school. i counsel her, i'm going to make her a better person." we know that's all phony. >> reporter: as part of the seduction cummins portrayed himself as an international man of mystery. >> apparently he told a lot of tales about his fictional background. he's a cia operative. he's an fbi agent. he's a millionaire. >> he would describe it as he went in and he killed people and

he saved people and he killed bin laden and -- >> he was telling you he did all of these crazy things? >> yes, and i knew that it wasn't real. >> how did you view him at that point? >> kind of like a guardian or a mentor. >> reporter: but tad cummins seems bent on bulldozing the boundaries of appropriate behavior. how were you guys communicating? >> we did via instagram. >> reporter: cummins posts, "you're all my heart ever talks about. it was love at first sight, at last sight." then, there's elizabeth's response, "i look forward to going to school just to see you. i love you." >> most of them from him would be sexual text. >> he would sexually text you? >> yes, like sexting. >> reporter: but their verbal communication is just as cringe-worthy. especially when they're alone in his classroom, which is becoming an alarmingly regular occurrence. >> i can't remember the conversation.

and then, next thing i know, he said, "you'd look pretty nice naked." >> when did he take it from saying things like that to you to something more? >> whenever he first kissed me. that was whenever i realized, this is getting too far. >> in his classroom? >> yes. >> did you tell somebody? >> no. like, i didn't want anyone to really know. i was scared of what would happen if anyone did know. >> reporter: from there, she says, it would escalate to unspeakable things that would take place in his classroom closet. >> he'd open up the closet door and he'd look at me a certain way and i knew if i didn't go that he'd be upset. and i was afraid to see him angry and i've seen him angry since then. but he doesn't take no well. >> reporter: at least one other student is afraid, too. >> a student reported seeing elizabeth thomas kissing tad cummins inside of his classroom. this student was very disturbed by what she saw. and she immediately went to report it to school officials. >> reporter: the school investigates, but elizabeth

denies everything. >> the reason that children that are being abused by teachers will not admit that something happened is fear. because he's now guilt tripping her, your reputation will be ruined. i'll be fired. >> reporter: curiously, the school takes an entire week to alert police. and during that investigation, for some reason, elizabeth says the school allowed her to go on a class field trip unprotected. >> he was the only chaperone there. >> he was the only chaperone? >> the only chaperone. >> there were no other adults there? >> no other adult other than the bus driver. but he was on the bus at all times. >> reporter: elizabeth says he took the opportunity to proposition her for sex, but she refused. the school finally tells cummins and elizabeth not to contact each other. cummins then tells detectives their relationship is "that of a father figure at school" and

denies "ever kissing" her. five days later, after the school reprimands him for allowing elizabeth to come back to his classroom, cummins is suspended. how did he explain it to you? >> that he was, it was either a -- someone telling a lie, or thought they saw something that they didn't, and that it absolutely did not happen. i had no reason not to believe him. 31 years of marriage, you know, with no problems, why would you not believe him? >> reporter: and when all the students found out this was happening -- >> there was a lot of names and teasing that came around and a lot of bullying outside and inside of school. >> how did they feel towards tad as all this was happening? >> they felt like i ruined his life. >> did the teachers know about what was going on? >> a lot of them were made aware and they also did a lot of the teasing and a lot of the name-calling. >> the teachers were doing the teasing? >> yes, a lot of them were. >> reporter: meanwhile, cummins, now in exile from the school, begins acting strangely at home.

>> he always made the coffee the night before we would go to bed. he started telling me how to make the coffee. i was thinking, "why are you telling me this?" i was in tears, because i thought that he was afraid he was going to go to jail. >> reporter: he was planning to go somewhere. apparently, the teacher had convinced himself, and his favorite student, that there was only one way out. with each other. on the open road. he told you, you had to go? >> he said if he couldn't have me, he'd kill himself. anytime he threatened himself, he'd threaten my family. >> reporter: when "20/20" continues. so how are you enjoying your it's just lovely.ament? i'm here to let all these folks know how easy it is to save money on their car insurance with geico- oi oi oi set the pick! kick it outside!! shoot the three! shoot the three!! yessssssss!!!!!!

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>> reporter: it is a quiet monday morning near columbia, tennessee. and jill cummins says she and her husband tad spent an otherwise uneventful weekend. out to eat, a trip to the movies, church on sunday. >> we were together all the

time. we spent lots of together. everything was normal with us. >> reporter: but of course, everything is not normal. cummins has been suspended from the culleoka unit school for inappropriate conduct with 15-year-old elizabeth thomas. you could cut the tension in their home with a tennessee steak knife. >> we were both so stressed during those five weeks. we'd cry about it. pray about it. >> reporter: but as hard as he prays, cummins still can't shake the obsession with his young student, even forcing her to send him secret messages through social media. >> anytime that i wouldn't post for a few hours, he would go crazy and say that i was cheating on him. and saying, if he found out that i was with another boy, he'd kill them. >> and so he cobbles together this plan to run off. >> reporter: he borrows jill's car, a silver nissan rogue, saying he needs it to attend an out-of-town job interview. he took your car? >> he did. because he was going out of

town, not far, but far enough that he didn't want to drive the jeep, and he took the rogue. >> reporter: back at the culleoka unit school, elizabeth says she is under siege. her fellow students are blaming her for cummins' suspension. turns out, cummins is blaming her, too. no longer mr. nice guy, the teacher issues a deadly ultimatum. go on the run with me, or else. >> so he started calling my phone. sometimes he'd be threatening to kill himself or ending someone else's life if i didn't go. >> did you feel trapped? >> i did. he threatened to shoot himself, or use the guns. >> reporter: elizabeth says she reluctantly agrees to leave with cummins on a ride to nowhere. in this surveillance video obtained by "20/20", elizabeth can be seen leaving her home. you meet him at the shoney's? >> yes. i felt really bad about leaving and i didn't want to leave. but i knew if i didn't, something would happen. so i went to shoney's at 8:00.

he was supposed to be there and he was late. i left a bag on the ground. >> reporter: the student is smarter than the teacher thinks she is, because in the bag is a small clue. elizabeth says cummins tells her to write a note. a note she writes in a way she hopes will tip off authorities. >> he told me to write that i was going to new york. that way it'd seem like the police would go up there. he thought they were dumb, but they weren't. >> and that was his plan? >> that was his plan. but i wrote that i was going to new york city and i made it sound unbelievable. so they knew i was going the opposite way. >> reporter: and she's got another shrewd move up her sleeve, sign-posting her precarious predicament for her sister sarah. >> i just told sarah that, call the police if i'm not home by 6:00 p.m. >> that was another clue. >> i just wanted the police to be called because i knew once i got in that car, i wasn't getting out. >> reporter: at 8:32 a.m., cummins stops at a local gas station and fills up his tank,

and he then picks elizabeth up at shoney's restaurant. >> but as soon as we went to go leave, he set a gun in the middle console. and i knew that i wasn't getting out of the car. >> he immediately pulled the gun out? >> the gun sat in the middle console. >> and you knew then. >> i wasn't getting out of this. >> reporter: it's around 10:00 p.m. that night. elizabeth's frantic father has spent hours searching for his missing daughter. and he calls the local sheriff as thoughts of the kissing incident raced through his head. >> i said, "you guys need to hunt down tad cummins and see if he's in town. see where he is." >> reporter: cummins' wife jill has also called the sheriff. an arrest warrant is issued. and cummins officially becomes a wanted man. >> the tbi issued an amber alert for mary elizabeth thomas. >> reporter: their disappearance and ensuing cross-country trek would flummox authorities for well over a month. the details and the direction their journey took being told by elizabeth for the first time

here tonight. so there's nashville. >> i think we took 65 down. >> okay. >> columbia's right here, i think. he made me throw my phone off a bridge and his phone as well. that way the police couldn't track us. and then he disconnected the gps by a screwdriver in the glove compartment and he broke off the front. and then he unhooked the radio. it was like a kidnapping. i had to stay in the car with him at all times. in decatur, i'm pretty sure is where we stopped by this big hotel and there was an abandoned van and he took their license plate. and then we began driving to mississippi. >> did you stay in mississippi? >> yes. one night. >> one night. just a hotel? two beds? one bed? >> one bed. >> and did you have to sleep next to him? >> yes. at the hotels, i would shower every morning because i felt dirty and disgusting every

morning, and he didn't help that at all. >> when you say, "he didn't help that," what do you mean? >> the things he would make you do and it wouldn't help the way that i was feeling. and i'd just try to shower to get away from him, but sometimes he wouldn't let me shower alone, 'cause i had to be in the same space with him at the exact same time. >> was there any moment that you thought, "maybe i can run out of this room while he's sleeping"? >> he made me sleep naked and my clothes would be put somewhere else. and he was a light sleeper. so if i moved, he'd be awake and i couldn't even use the bathroom at night without him having to stand right there. >> and this whole time as this is all happening, how is he treating you? >> he was really mean and said hurtful things a lot of the time. he called me his wife sometimes and he said that we were gonna get married and i was gonna live with him until i died. >> reporter: day after day, night after helpless night, elizabeth says cummins is in complete control. the threat of his firearms ever-present. he's even controlling what elizabeth can eat. >> i wasn't allowed to eat

hamburger buns or things that had high calories or something that was too much. i mostly was allowed to eat salads. >> so why was he making you eat this way? >> so i'd stay small. he told me that he likes skinny girls. and i ate what he told me to 'cause if i didn't, i wouldn't get it at all. >> did you ever stay more than one night anywhere? >> so i'm just gonna dot each place that we stayed the night. i think we stayed three nights in colorado. so i'm gonna say right here. right here. i know we went to aspen. and then utah. that's where he started buying alcohol. >> he started buying alcohol? >> yeah, 'cause i was having problems and he was done dealing with them. like, i don't wanna do stuff with him anymore. i just didn't -- i was just done and he didn't want that. >> reporter: their journey takes them across nine states, all the way to california. >> from each state that i took,

i had rocks and i'd write what county or wherever we were and then what state. that way if i got rescued he could be charged for each one that he was in. >> reporter: when we come back, authorities are closing in. and cummins hatches yet another insane plan. a plan to paddle south of the border. >> the waves were getting really bad, the boat would nearly go under. >> were you scared on the water? >> i was terrified. the boat kept going down. >> reporter: stay with us.

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he gave me a calendar and i used it to mark down where we are and where we were at and i used it every day. and then i just stopped marking, because i didn't think we were ever gonna leave. >> reporter: no longer counting the days until she is found, elizabeth thomas is losing hope of ever seeing her family again.

did you know this whole time all this is going on, that everyone -- i mean, like, all of america was looking for you? >> i saw it on fox news one time in the hotel. >> a manhunt is under way. >> and i remember it was a girl announcing it, a nationwide amber alert and i knew it was for me. >> reporter: meanwhile, back in tennessee, tad's abandoned wife, jill, is quickly coming undone. >> please do the right thing and turn yourself in to the police and bring beth home. >> reporter: with the entire country on high alert, tad cummins, now perhaps the most wanted man in america, panics and decides to go to a place many a fugitive have gone before -- mexico. >> so he wanted to go to mexico 'cause apparently that's free land, and he wanted to go to try to go to panama, because that's where he was before on mission trips. >> as you can see we're coming out here, these are good waves. this is easy a 4-to-8-foot swell, real close together.

>> reporter: bryan zulka is the owner and captain of el gato sportsfishing. a charter boat company located about 20 miles from the mexican border. is it easy to take a boat from here into mexico? >> no, it's not. you have to have the right boat, you have to have the right weather, you have to have the right skills and navigation, otherwise you're not going to make it. >> reporter: turns out, tad cummins would have none of those things. >> so he got a kayak and he wanted to kayak all the way to panama. >> reporter: yep, you heard correctly. he takes a humble man-powered kayak. clearly not a geography teacher. elizabeth says cummins devises a plot to paddle some 3,000 nautical miles to panama. you were in the kayak with him? >> yes, the waves were getting really bad to where, like, once they'd hit the bottom of the boat, the boat would nearly go under. whichever way you tried to go, it'd pull you the other direction. >> were you scared? >> i was terrified.

>> reporter: when did he decide it was time to turn around? >> whenever one wave nearly killed us, like, took us over. once we got out of it, i was so happy. >> what did he do then? >> he decided we were gonna go to a commune. >> which commune did you go to then? >> black bear, because nobody would recognize us, and it was the last, like, free place on earth that where people come to be free or something like that. >> how did he know about that? >> he looked it up. and it said black bear ranch was the closest one in california. >> reporter: black bear ranch. a remote commune deep in the woods of northern california, is >> we're an off-the-grid id, it homesteading community. we don't have any television, radio, cell phone, internet. there's no newspaper delivery or other contact with the outside world besides what comes in and

out of the driveway. >> reporter: the reclusive residents are reluctant to let us use our cameras, only allowing us to shoot this video on their older model iphone. so those are chickens up there? >> yeah, chickens and ducks. >> reporter: our guide, who goes by the name april showers, gives us a tour and talks all about the peculiar couple who introduced themselves as john and joana. they tell everyone they are 44 and 24 years old. >> several weeks ago, this couple arrived and they failed to identify their true selves and identities. >> i knew that once i was at black bear ranch, i couldn't go anywhere. there was literally nobody out there. >> reporter: they take the pair in, giving them a bed here in the main house and sharing their food. >> they liked me a lot. a lot of them did. it was, kind of, 'cause i didn't argue. i'd clean up after myself. i didn't make too much noise. i was quiet. >> reporter: and while tad

cummins has left so much behind him, one thing he hasn't shed is his hot temper. >> he brought that into our sacred space. this terrible behavior and acting on wrong impulse and a perverted instinct, i would say. >> so they didn't fit in here very well? >> no, they didn't fit in here very well. >> reporter: very quickly, things go south at black bear. elizabeth and cummins are kicked out. turns out, cummins didn't have a communal spirit. >> he got very angry and almost blew a gasket. >> that's pretty scary. >> yeah, he blew a fuse right there, and he got mad and took out his knife and then dropped it on the ground and started screaming at april. i thought this was gonna be the end. he's gonna shoot somebody. >> reporter: it's a risky proposition. alienating the peaceful residents of this commune with so little to their name, and so much at stake. do you have food? >> eggs and two oranges, actually.

>> you had eggs and two oranges? >> yeah. >>and $10. >> yeah, nothing in sight. >> reporter: out of hope and full of desperation. >> who's gonna find me? >> reporter: elizabeth heads back down that hellish hill. never in a million years expecting to meet her unlikely hero. >> i saw a photo of the guy and i was like, "that's definitely him." >> reporter: when "20/20" continues. [ "werk it" by mama haze ] ♪ werk it now ♪ woo, werk it now, woo, werk it now ♪

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he told me to stay in the car and put sunglasses on and keep my head down. >> reporter: it's now 36 days since tad cummins and elizabeth thomas disappeared from tennessee. >> he didn't want people to be able to recognize me. and he would wear sunglasses, try to do the same. >> reporter: cast out of paradise, aka the black bear commune in northern california, running out of options. a desperate cummins sets off for the nearby village of cecilville. >> they said they were from colorado. >> reporter: cummins sees a familiar face, griffin barry.

it turns out griffin had given cummins gas and directions to the black bear commune a week earlier. did you remember them? >> no, i couldn't remember his name. i was like, "what's your name again?" you know what i'm saying? he was, like, "yeah, we had a house fire." and he said he lost his job. they were just trying to start a new life. i was like, "i'll help you out." i put him in the cabin. > reporter: griffin, ironically a native of nashville, tennessee, is the caretaker of this forested california property. and gives the couple he thinks is just down on their luck a place to stay. can you show us the cabin that you put him in? >> yeah, for sure. it's at the end. >> so this is where they stayed. >> yeah. >> and those bottles? >> those they had, they were straw bottles. >> so that's what they were using to have clean water. >> we had a little foam kind of mattress thing that he laid on. and then we had this thing we grabbed from black bear ranch,

which was kind of like a seat padding that i laid on. and he pushed them together and we had a little comforter. >> reporter: the wood cabin is unfinished and has no heat or insulation. it does little to keep out the cold. >> it was really cold in california. it got real cold at night especially. >> reporter: to make some extra money, griffin barry put them to work collecting river rocks for a masonry project. >> when i was trying to strike up a conversation, i picked them up in the morning. i was like, "what's your name?" and she was like "joana," it was almost with, like, an accent. >> reporter: the quiet girl and weird accent seem odd. so strange that griffin tells a neighbor nearby, something seems off. >> i was like, "that girl won't talk, you know, to me really or anything." >> reporter: that night, the same neighbor makes a startling discovery, finding this amber alert.

>> i saw a photo of the guy and i was like, "that's definitely him." >> then what did you guys decide to do? >> we went and called the police. >> reporter: finally, police have the tip they've been hoping for. authorities race to that small town in northern california. and a s.w.a.t. team surrounds the cabin. >> i came out of the cabin and it was early morning. i think he went to go wash out our dishes from the night before. but then i saw someone up on the hill. >> reporter: as the sun is rising, elizabeth spots a camouflage hat. >> i knew it was the police. and as soon as he walked around the bush, all you hear is, "hands up. it's over." >> that's what they said to you? >> they said, "put your hands up. get on the ground." >> reporter: 38 days after elizabeth left her home in tennessee, she is finally rescued.

the day that the police show up -- >> that was the best day of my life. >> reporter: the police pounce on cummins, but before he's led away, he whispers to elizabeth, still trying to exert control over his would-be teenage bride. >> he said not to tell them that we have done anything, that he forced me to go. say that i went willingly. say that he was trying to protect me. >> that was his story. he was trying to protect you. >> he was, and he told me to go along with it. >> i could tell you that her mood kind of was escalated. it was a very traumatic experience for her. it was kind of a roller coaster of emotions for her. i really don't know. >> reporter: elizabeth says it's important for her to now reveal what she endured, no longer afraid of what her teacher can do to her.

>> i know he's a bad man. and i've blamed myself a lot. but now i know that he's at fault. he himself made him do it. other people don't choose your actions, you do. >> reporter: less than 24 hours after being found, the already well-traveled elizabeth is on a plane for the very first time, heading home to tennessee. what was that like? >> overwhelming. a lot to take in. and so many people bombarding you with so many questions. >> they have perceptions of what they think you're like and what you've done. >> yeah. >> reporter: elizabeth enters inpatient counseling, and for her family, relief is replaced with anger at the adults who they say let her down. still to come, the tables have turned. silenced no more, elizabeth

takes aim at her school. >> why didn't they notice? they knew. and they know that they knew. >> reporter: can you just tell us why you didn't call authorities right away? when you found out about the tad cummins' incident. do you have any comment? what that school is telling "20/20" tonight. webut some of us turn outhose dreams...... into action... the bookers. the doers. the 'hit that confirmation button and let's go!'- ers! because bookers know that the perfect place to stay...

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the fbi and the tbi were there and they were trying to joke around with me and making things a lot easier for the transition home. >> reporter: april 21st, 2017. after 38 days on the run,

elizabeth thomas, safely back in tennessee. her family begins to demand answers. how could this have happened at their daughter's own school? >> did the school drop the ball? that's an understatement, in my opinion. >> reporter: and they're now suing the school board for failing to protect her from tad cummins. >> to this day, the school board nor the school has not even apologized for not letting me know. >> reporter: in 2007, we tried to get some answers of our own from school principal penny love. here she is on her twitter page, that big smile front and center. but we find someone not so willing to smile for the camera. or even get out of her car. can you just tell us why you didn't call authorities right away when you found out about the tad cummins incident? do you have any comment? and even though her school took a full week to call police after tad cummings was seen kissing his 15-year-old student in his classroom, principal love spared no time calling the cops on us.

>> off the property. >> reporter: all right, we're going. as for that lawsuit, the school board referred us to the response it filed in court that it "denies it failed any of its obligations," or "permitted conditions to empower a predator," and blamed what happened to elizabeth solely on tad cummins. >> why didn't they notice? >> reporter: elizabeth insists adults around her could have saved her from those 38 days of horror. >> they knew, and they know that they knew. and i really hope they feel guilty about it. and i pray that one day they might say something and speak up that they knew. and if they don't, that's great shame on them. >> reporter: as for cummins wife, jill, some question whether she could have done more. they see that you know her, that you interacted with them, and they say, how did she not know something was up? >> no one knew. >> so you never suspected anything?

>> no. >> not once? >> no. >> reporter: tad cummins pleaded guilty for transporting a minor across state lines for sex and faces at least ten years in prison. he and his wife are divorced. >> he can say all day long that the devil made him do it, but he is the devil. >> reporter: you had to see him in court. >> i did, and i made that choice. and i wanted him to know that i'm stronger than what he thinks i am, that i'm not his puppet anymore. >> reporter: today, elizabeth is 17, back in her hometown in tennessee, and still living under that small town microscope. do you feel like people judge you? >> they do. a lot of them do.nd tsometimes . when something as horrible as this happens, the person that it happens to is not the shameful one. >> reporter: elizabeth is focusing on what she can. moving on.

which, for her, means being like any other teenager. she works at a coffee shop, has a boyfriend and a new puppy, and spends her free time at the local sonic, and is working towards her g.e.d. what are your dreams for your life? >> to have a family and protect them. and make them have a better life. i am a stronger person than i was and i'm not afraid. >> strong, and not afraid. that's 20 there shall 20 for tonight. i'm david muir. >> and i'm amy robach. for all of us here at "20/20" and abc, have a good night.

life and legacy. a young man left behind after shot and killed by b.a.r.t. police ten years