Forgive me if I’m still wondering if Elizabeth Thomas was complicit in some way. When I saw the picture of her and Cummins on the run at the Wal Mart she was looking up at him with affection and not fear.
With the possibility of Stockholm Syndrome at play we may never know if it was abduction or seduction. Either way he was in the wrong and should be punished.
Affection? Looked more like a zombie to me.
Of course Elizabeth was complicit. She was obviously in love with her teacher. But she was also 15. He didn’t kidnap her, she went willingly. But that doesn’t excuse his act. Cummins is not only legally guilty he is morally guilty, he’s a slimeball.
Your position in its entirety asserts that children are mentally ready and legally responsible for making life's important choices themselves in spite of their parents and guardians.
There is not one part of your post that doesn't emphatically promote that idea.
If that is not who you are and what you believe you might want to ask the moderators to delete it. Or you can double down and defend it.
You’re wondering if she was complicit? I’ve been wondering if she is the mastermind of the so called abduction.
There are a number of signs indicating that she is not-truthful and very manipulative.
I believe 100% that she had joined him willingly. I never got the impression, despite what was said, that she was kidnapped. She is a 15 year old girl, possibly not very bright, likely not a strong relationship with her father, and I suspect she was quite attached to this guy.
OTOH, she IS only 15 and he is guilty of abusing her....at the very least, statutory rape (depending on what the age limit is).
Agree, she looked like she felt affection for him. Who knows why...perhaps she seduced him and he couldn’t resist. I knew a man who taught at some community college in San Francisco who said his female students would come to his office and offer sex in return for grades, even pulling up their shirts to advertise.....very tricky situation, because he would be at fault no matter what. .
Not saying this is what happened here, and certainly if it did, Cummins HAD TO act like a responsible adult and say no.
She was complicit, but not legally. Legally she has no standing to make that decision for herself, and so the teacher is going to jail for a long time, as he should.
But I do get your meaning. He didn’t duct tape her into the trunk of his car, she went willingly, it’s just that we don’t allow this in our society, and he obviously knows that given how hard he tried to hide.
Funny.
I looked at the same picture and saw fear.
BS. - I am in the TN county where Cummins will be tried; and
am about due to come up for another round of jury duty
about the time he will stand for trial.
In the eyes of the law; a person is INNOCENT unless and
until PROVEN guilty in a court of law.
(You do not know “fear” or “affection” or any other emotion
by looking at a photo of a momentary expression on a
person’s face.)
Cummins is; however, in deep doo-doo.
“Forgive me if I’m still wondering if Elizabeth Thomas was complicit in some way.”
Ha. Could be as simple as a bored teenage girl knowing that her dorky midlife crisis teacher is fantasizing about her and leveraging that into a huge adventure. And in her besotted teacher she found the perfect foil.
My neighbor was saying that years ago his then teenage daughter warned him to never give her friends a ride home without her being in the car. She told him that they were liable to claim that he had propositioned them because having an adult male hit on them enhances their social standing in high school. Maybe Elizabeth Thomas was doing something similar on a much bigger scale. Or not. Can’t say I’ve paid this story all that much attention.
Looks fisshy to me too. Her home life wasn’t so great.