The boyfriend of an Alabama woman who disappeared after reporting to police she was stopping to help a toddler she saw alongside an interstate highway, says Carlee Russell was kidnapped and spent 48 hours “fighting for her life.”
Thomar Simmons posted on Instagram his thanks to everyone who helped “save my girlfriend’s life” during the two days she was missing.
“I have been going nonstop since I received the call that she was missing on Thursday night,” Simmons wrote. “I know she would’ve done the same for me, so I wasn’t going to give up until I saw her face again!”
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Russell called 911 at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday and said she saw a toddler on the side of Interstate 459 and was stopping to help, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Minutes later, she called a family member who reported hearing Russell ask, “Are you OK?” but no answer. Then Russell screamed, and when police arrived five minutes later, there was no sign of her or a toddler.
Investigators launched an extensive search, but Russell appeared at her parents’ front door late Saturday night. She was taken to a hospital and evaluated, then released to return home Sunday morning.
Police have said they spoke briefly with Russell Saturday night but have not had an in-depth interview, which will wait until she has recovered.
“We don’t have to move quickly,’’ Police Chief Nick Derzis said. “Our priority was to get her home and she’s home. We’ll investigate and do what we have to do.”
Simmons, however, asked in his Instagram post for everyone “to be respectful of Carlee’s situation.”
“She was literally fighting for her life for 48 hours, so until she’s physically & mentally stable again she is not able to give any updates or whereabouts on her kidnapper at this very moment,” he wrote.
Hoover Police Department told CrimeOnline they could not comment on Simmons’ post. In a statement released earlier on Sunday, the department said as it continues to investigate Russell’s disappearance, it would “release information that is determined to be factual and pertinent to the public.”
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[Featured image: Thomar Simmons and Carlee Russell/Instagram]
