Elizabeth Thomas' father: I think my daughter was brainwashed
The father of a Middle Tennessee teenager found in northern California this week with her former 50-year-old teacher after being missing for nearly six weeks says he thinks his daughter was brainwashed.
Anthony Thomas, the father of 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas who was at the center of a more than month-long nationwide Amber Alert, told ABC's Good Morning America on Friday that his daughter will need therapy and that her family plans to get her any help she needs.
"We're very happy that we're going to see her again," he told GMA.
Thomas added he hadn't had the opportunity to speak with his daughter yet but plans to talk with her sometime today.
Meanwhile, the California man who alerted law enforcement and led them to Elizabeth and Tad Cummins — the 50-year-old man accused of kidnapping her told Good Morning America that several clues made him suspicious about them.
"The girl really wasn't looking at me or anything and he was kind of dominating the conversation," Griffin Barry said on national television Friday morning.
Barry, 29, said he called 911 after he ran into the pair at a gas station in Cecilville and they told him they needed money for gas and food as well as a place to stay.
Elizabeth Thomas safe, Tad Cummins faces federal charge
Barry said Cummins told him they had lost everything in a fire in Colorado and needed a place to stay. Cummins told Barry, a caretaker on property that includes a gas station, that their names were John and Joanna.
Barry told ABC he put gas in their car, gave them cash and put them up in a cabin nearby.
In the interview with ABC, Barry said he didn't talk to the pair much but he noticed Cummins tried to "keep her away."
He also said Cummins did all the talking and said they had been at the Black Bear Ranch commune, but left because they didn’t like it.
"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. Then we called the police right after that," Barry told ABC.
How two Californians helped capture Tennessee's most wanted man
About 9:30 p.m Wednesday Barry called the owner of the cabin and told him he thought the pair were Cummins and Elizabeth.
At 11 p.m., he dialed 911
The next morning, at 9:30 a.m. the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office arrested Cummins at the cabin off Eddy Gulch Road and rescued Elizabeth, according to the sheriff's office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Read more:
► Tad Cummins arrested, Elizabeth Thomas found safe in northern California
► 5 things we know about Tad Cummins
► Timeline shows troubling events before Elizabeth Thomas' disappearance
► Tad Cummins threatened teen with 'repercussions' before kidnapping, court papers say
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