Carlee Russell’s boyfriend calls for people to ‘stop bullying’ of woman at center of Alabama missing person case
Carlee Russell’s friend has made a public plea for people to “stop bullying” the nursing student after Alabama police questioned her kidnapping story.
“All I can say is I want everyone to stop bullying her. I know what it looks like what she did. Just stop bullying on social media,” friend Thomar Lattrel Simmons told the New York Post.
“Think about her mental health. She doesn’t deserve that. She doesn’t. No one deserves to be bullied,” he added.
Russell, 25, claims she was abducted by the side of the road on July 13 after stopping to help a toddler and was held captive for two days before escaping, but local police have said she cannot substantiate any of her claims.
Some have expressed concern at her claims, while lawyers have said she could face charges if she makes false accusations.
Carlee Russell with her boyfriend Thomar Simmons before she disappeared. Simmons has now said, “I want everyone to stop bullying her. I know how it seems what she did’
Simmons and Russell recently visited New York together on July 4. He has since removed her from his photos from the trip
When Russell went missing, her friend Simmons frantically appealed for information on social media
After Russell first disappeared, Simmons made frantic calls for information on social media and then made a supportive post when Russell returned home.
Not only did he delete his posts about her disappearance, but he also deleted all the photos of her and them together that were there before.
He also unfollowed her on social media.
Carlee’s Twitter account also suggests that all was not well in the relationship in the weeks leading up to the ordeal.
She complained about men “throwing everything away” for “a h** or stripper.”
“I always say one thing I WON’T do is stay with someone who cheated on me,” read another of her tweets.
In that case, she appeared to be referring to another Twitter user and not Simmons.
But it was clear she was thinking about romance.
“Everyone wants to feel wanted,” she tweeted at 3:08 a.m. on July 8, five days before she disappeared.
Last month, she hinted that she had been betrayed.
“You think you bond with someone until they show you you never have,” she tweeted.
Russell’s tweets in the days and weeks leading up to her disappearance paint a picture of a melancholic young woman tired of her job and unlucky in love.
Russell is now no longer cooperating with officers, but initially told authorities she was taken by a white man with “orange hair” who emerged from the trees on the side of I-459 after seeing a “baby boy in a diaper” around 9:30 p.
m. on July 13.
It is also believed that her parents are shielding themselves from further questioning.
Russell went missing after she reported calling 911 to say she saw a toddler walking barefoot on the highway in Hoover, Alabama.
That led to a massive 49-hour manhunt for Russell. Family members begged for her safe return as sleuths across the country tried to locate her.
Russell was found days later walking alone to the home she shared with her parents. She initially gave the police a statement that she had been kidnapped – and family kept repeating those statements.
But police have said they have found little evidence to support her version. They said there were no other calls about the wandering child.
On July 13, she was caught by a surveillance camera stealing a dark bathrobe and toilet paper before leaving work. She was later fired from that job at The Woodhouse Day Spa in Birmingham, Alabama.
It was also revealed that she searched the Liam Neeson kidnapping film ‘Taken’ online and researched whether an Amber Alert would be issued for someone her age.
Simmons has now deleted Carlee from his Instagram page and has called on the public to respect his girlfriend’s mental health
An Alabama attorney has said he can’t believe Carlee Russell hasn’t been arrested for filing a false police report.
Filing a false police report in Alabama is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $6,000 fine.
Veteran attorney Eric Guster has said police are using whatever means they can to prevent her from saying she lied, but he believes it is clear that Russell wasted police time and money.
“She says she was kidnapped and no kidnapping happened. [They say] our citizens are safe. There’s no kidnapper there. So they use every other synonym for lie except say she lied,” he told WVTM.
Guster says Police Chief Nick Derzis outlined three crimes they believe Carlee committed: robbery, lying to authorities and filing a false police report.
He says that in light of that, he’s shocked that she hasn’t been arrested yet.
Guster also told the outlet that he fears this case could affect future missing persons cases, particularly for African-American women.
“It’s going to be much harder for African-American women to be believed, and it could even reduce the number of actual reports of things because people are already afraid they won’t be believed,” he said.
Guster said he expects Carlee to be charged with filing a false police report, but says police are likely waiting to complete their investigation first.