The boyfriend of the Alabama woman who went missing 10 days ago has called on the public to “stop bullying” her as suspicions grow over her version of the events.
“The only thing I can say is, I want everyone to stop bullying her. I know what it seems like what she did. Just stop bullying on social media,” boyfriend Thomar Lattrel Simmons told the New York Post.
“Think about her mental health. She doesn’t deserve that. She doesn’t. Nobody deserves to be cyberbullied”, he added.
Mr Lattrel’s comments come a day after it was revealed Ms Russell was recently fired from her spa job after co-workers grew weary of her claims.
Ms Russell alleged she was kidnapped while helping a rogue toddler on the I-459 in Hoover, about eight miles south of Birmingham, Alabama.
She told police she was hauled into an 18-wheel truck, blindfolded and held at a home where a woman fed her cheese crackers.
At some point, she said she was put in a vehicle again but managed to escape and run through the woods to her neighbourhood.
However, a series of revelations surrounding Ms Russell’s disappearance have since cast doubt over her claims.
Police have so far found no evidence to support the 25-year-old’s claim that a toddler was wandering alone on the highway.
Furthermore, on the day of her disappearance, Ms Russell searched for information on her cellphone about Amber Alerts, a movie about a woman’s abduction and a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham, Alabama, to Nashville, Tennessee.
Her phone also showed she travelled about 600 yards while telling a 911 operator she was following a three or four-year-old child in a diaper on the side of the highway, police said. She has not talked to investigators a second time.
“I do think it’s highly unusual the day that someone gets kidnapped that seven or eight hours before that they’re searching the internet, Googling the movie ‘Taken’ about an abduction,” police chief Nick Derzis said. “I find that very, very strange.”
Her family told police she was traumatized and not ready to talk again, he said.
“As you can see, there are many questions left to be answered, but only Carlee can provide those answers,” the police chief said, later adding, “We want to know the truth”.
The fallout has even cost the Alabama woman her job at a local spa.
Spa owner Stuart Rome saying her co-workers were extremely worried about her during the 49 hours she was unaccounted for.
Mr Rome said: “It was really devastating for them thinking a co-worker was abducted.
“The following day, Saturday, it was the busiest day of the week, and they had to plug along and work and in the off times pass out flyers and other things.”
But, “as the information came out that there were some questionable things, we’ve been a little pissed off, mainly because so many people took so much time out to search”, the spa owner explained.
He said the business’s social media pages had been inundated with unpleasant messages and one-star reviews because Ms Russell worked there.
He continued: “Basically, we’ve spent the last day battling to get things deleted.
“Comments. I’ve had to shut down my comment section on Instagram and Facebook page which hurts us because we do a lot of marketing there. We’re just trying to keep the doors open.”
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