Lawyer: Abducted Tennessee girl's recovery 'just beginning'

COLUMBIA, Tenn. – A 15-year-old Tennessee student who was allegedly kidnapped by her teacher and taken to California is back home, a lawyer for the girl's family says.

The girl is being evaluated and treated by mental health experts specializing in trauma, lawyer Jason Whatley said in a statement Friday.

"There is no doubt that she has suffered severe emotional trauma and that her process of recovery is only just beginning," Whatley said.

He said the girl is in a safe location with friends and family and is now resting.

Authorities credit the caretaker of a remote northern California property for helping police find her and arrest her alleged abductor, fired teacher Tad Cummins. After Griffin Barry became suspicious of two people he initially thought were in distress, his tip led police to the teacher accused of kidnapping his student and taking her on a 2,500-mile cross-country journey.

Barry said the pair told him their names were John and Joanna and they needed money for food, gas and a place to stay, ABC News Good Morning America reported Friday (http://abcn.ws/2pKHq16). But Barry, 29, said he became suspicious when the older man tried to keep the teen away.

"The girl wasn't really looking at me or anything and he was always dominating the conversation. That kind of clues people in," Barry said.

After seeing a photo of Cummins in an Amber Alert, Barry said he made the connection and called authorities.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office sent a tactical unit to the cabin Thursday morning. Cummins was arrested after he came out the cabin with the girl walking behind him, the sheriff's office said.

Cummins was cooperative with law enforcement, Siskiyou Sheriff Jon E. Lopey told the Associated Press. He said the girl was at times "laughing, crying and acting stoic" after police found her at the remote cabin.

"These two had a relationship to the extent where she didn't exhibit any anger toward him. I didn't observe any emotional distress," he said. "She didn't act like a rescued person would act," showing no signs of elation, he said. She appeared fine physically, Lopey said, and there were no signs of trauma.

In the cabin, he said, was a single sleeping pad and clothing along with the two loaded guns — a 9mm and a .380 compact pistol.

Lopey said the two had previously been at a commune called Black Bear Ranch, but "didn't get along" with commune residents and ended up leaving. The sheriff said the two had stopped in Berkeley first and that's how they found out about the commune.

The AP is not naming the girl or her family members because she is an alleged victim of a sex crime.

Cummins faces federal and state charges.

Before leaving with the girl, Cummins had been suspended from teaching and police were zeroing in on him, questioning his relationship with the girl.

Cummins was fired about a month after being suspended — a day after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Amber Alert about the teen.

After taking out a loan for $4,500, the records say, the teacher took the money and two handguns and wrote a note to his wife saying he needed to go to Virginia Beach or the Washington, D.C., area to clear his head.

But instead of going to the beach, police say he picked up the student in Columbia, Tennessee, in his wife's car on the morning of March 13. The girl's disappearance triggered a six-week law enforcement manhunt.

"It is believed based on the investigation to date, as set forth herein, that Cummins, age 50, and victim, age 15, are involved in a sexual relationship and traveled in interstate commerce to continue their relationship and to engage in unlawful sexual activity," the criminal complaint against Cummins says.

Cummins, the federal complaint says, is charged with taking a minor across states lines to have sex.

The girl's father has told news media he believes his daughter was brainwashed.

Cummins also faces state charges of aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor. If convicted of the federal charge, he faces at least 10 years in prison, acting U.S. Attorney Jack Smith said.

Before disappearing, Cummins was investigated by the school system when another student reported seeing the then-married teacher kiss the girl at the Culleoka Unit School. Culleoka is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Nashville near the Alabama state line.

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Associated Press writer Kristin J. Bender in San Francisco contributed to this report.