A 15-YEAR-OLD Tennessee girl has been rescued near a cabin in a remote part of northern California, more than a month after her 50-year-old teacher kidnapped her and set off a nationwide manhunt.

Health sciences teacher Tad Cummins surrendered to police without incident in Cecilville, Northern California, on Thursday, hours after they had set up surveillance on his vehicle in the area, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.

The girl was apparently healthy and unharmed, and authorities said their main concern was her emotional and mental state.

“We couldn’t be happier to tell you she will soon be on her way back home to Tennessee,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said.

The capture ends the more than month-long search for Mr Cummins and his teenage student, who vanished in the middle of an investigation into a complaint that he was allegedly spotted kissing her in a classroom.

Mr Cummins, who is a father and grandfather, faces state charges of aggravated kidnapping and sexual contact with a minor as well as a federal charge of taking a minor across state lines to have sex. If convicted of the federal charge, he faces at least 10 years in prison, acting US Lawyer Jack Smith said.

Mr Cummins and Ms Thomas were found in a remote cabin in northern California, where authorities were faced with the challenge of very “limited or no” mobile phone coverage.

Authorities declined to answer a question during a press conference on whether the girl went willingly, saying it didn’t matter.

Before disappearing together, both the teacher and student wrote constantly about love and soulmates on their respective Instagram pages.

“At the end of the day she’s 15 years old, she’s 15 years old, she’s a young girl that’s with a grown man that’s 50 years old. He needs to be held accountable for kidnapping this girl,” Gwyn said.

Ms Thomas was last seen on Monday, March 13 just before 8am local time when a friend dropped her off at a Shoney’s family-style restaurant carpark in Columbia, Tennessee, a city about 70km south of Nashville.

CCTV footage shows Mr Cummins filling up his silver Nissan Rogue at a nearby petrol station minutes later, investigators said.

Two days after the girl disappeared, surveillance images from a Walmart in Oklahoma City showed Mr Cummins and the girl purchasing food items in the store with cash. The images showed Mr Cummins had altered his hair to appear darker and the girl’s hair may have changed to red.

Mr Cummins was fired from his teaching job at Maurey County High School in Tennessee, US, last month amid accusations of an inappropriate relationship with Ms Thomas, police say.

In a statement, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said: “The 50-year-old may have been abusing his role as a teacher to groom this vulnerable young girl for some time in an effort to lure and potentially sexually exploit her.”

The teacher’s wife of 31 years has filed for divorce. Court records show that Jill Cummins sued her then-missing husband on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and inappropriate marital conduct. The wife, who works for the Maury County school system, said she had not seen her husband since March 13. The couple has two children together.