Carlee Russell’s mom speaks up
Carlee Russell’s boyfriend has pleaded with the public to stop cyberbullying the Alabama nursing student amid mounting suspicion she faked her own abduction.
“I know what it seems like what she did. Just stop bullying on social media,” Thomar Latrell Simmons told the New York Post.
“Think about her mental health. She doesn’t deserve that. She doesn’t. Nobody deserves to be cyberbullied.”
Ms Russell, 25, told police she was kidnapped after stopping to help a toddler in diapers walking alone on Interstate 459 on the evening of 13 July.
Police arrived five minutes later to find her red Mercedes still running, and her cellphone, wallet and wig in the car.
She said a man with “orange hair” held her captive for two days before she was able to escape and return to her parent’s home in Hoover on foot.
However, Alabama police have expressed doubt over Ms Russell’s abduction claims and revealed she appeared to have made suspicious internet searches about kidnappings prior to the incident.
Hoover police chief Nick Derzis said during a press conference on Wednesday that investigators were “unable to verify” her statements and she has since refused a second interview.
