Photos from 'possible' Nebraska sighting aren't missing Tennessee teen, ex-teacher: TBI
Police in Nebraska said earlier they had a "possible" sighting of them.
— -- Tennessee authorities said this morning that photos released by Nebraska police are not of a missing Tennessee teenager and former teacher who allegedly kidnapped her.
Police in Kearney, Nebraska, said in a Facebook post late Sunday night that they had a "possible" sighting of 50-year-old Tad Cummins and 15-year-old Elizabeth Thomas at a McDonald's in Kearney on Sunday evening.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said today the photos were not of Cummins and Elizabeth.
The false sighting comes days after the TBI confirmed an earlier sighting of the two in Oklahoma City. Surveillance video from that sighting, released on Friday, was taken at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma City on March 15, two days after the teen was allegedly abducted.
The Wal-Mart sighting is the only confirmed sighting of the two since they disappeared on March 13.
Cummins, who was fired one day after the alleged kidnapping, is wanted on allegations of aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor. An Amber Alert has been issued for Elizabeth.
On Sunday night, more than 100 people gathered in the teen's hometown of Columbia, Tennessee, for a candlelight vigil.
The event's organizers said it wasn't about mourning but about praying and pleading for Elizabeth's safe return, according to ABC affiliate WKRN.
"We need you home because we love you and the house is empty and quiet without you. You were the one that made everybody happy and loved. You made the house really loved," Elizabeth's sister Ninita Thomas said at the vigil.
Elizabeth's father said at the event, "Without her, the house is just too quiet. Please understand that she is not better off out there. She is better off here."