Found Alive AL - Carlethia “Carlee” Russell, 25, 911 call reported toddler walking on side of interstate, car found, she & toddler gone, Birmingham, 13 Jul ‘23 #2

[Snail-Overlord]

IMO I find it odd that Carlee would have been caught stealing from her job and not been fired over it. I’m sort of skeptical of that bit and it’s not really clear what the source is other than a SM post. Every job I’ve ever had would immediately fire someone if they were caught stealing, unless what they were caught stealing was of little importance. (e.g. I got chewed out for trying to “steal” something out of the dumpster when I worked at petsmart lol, but I didn’t get written up or fired because it obviously wasn’t a big deal)

JMO. I’m curious to know if this bit is true and what the alleged theft supposedly was

 

[Ladyotm]

Reading this quote, I want to post a news story from Georgia, in the Atlanta area. Maybe something similar happened as far as the call from Red Roof Inn?

'My heart is beating' | Metro Atlanta mother panicked after scammers used AI to impersonate her daughter's voice

Earlier this month, Cobb County Police said scammers are starting to use AI technology to make similar calls.

www.11alive.com

This is exactly what I was thinking when it was 1st reported as a call. A youtuber's mom received a call from her "daughter" begging for help. They had "cloned" her voice. Her mom didn't fall for it. Now I'm thinking we all need to have a family code word in emergencies.

 

[eloquence]

If this went down like Carlee said it went down, why are they investigating what led up to her disappearance?

If you are abducted it's overwhelmingly most likely by someone you know - so they will work hard to verify your circle's stories and see if anyone had motive on that end. For example, if she had just had some massive fight with her BF / decided to leave him and then disappeared or been found dead, that would be pretty relevant.

Human traffickers are not just snatching up upper middle class girls out of their Mercedes on the side of the highway. In any disappearance they will be investigating your family, your boyfriend, your close friends... as just by sheer precedence it's someone already in the victim's circle. Random kidnappings of adults are exceedingly rare (and hence why those one in a million abduction by a stranger cases get an extreme amount of attention).

Think this is all kind of irrelevant at this point in the investigation given the PD seems to be indication CR went somewhere on her own - but this is exactly what you'd want the PD to be doing if you disappeared.

 

[MistyWaters]

Really late to the "party" and am following the thread, so I won't see if there's already a reply to this... but I'd wager they're probably trying to see if she had any kind of disagreement with anyone that would make her want to disappear for a few days or, in the case she was indeed abducted, if they can identify if she had prior interactions with the person who abducted her or even if they can identify the moment she became a target. This could help them identify the possible abductor and prolly give a hand in understanding why they did what they did.

I can‘t imagine any rational person would create an abduction scenario, then leave it on the shoulders of police to figure out if they were really abducted and if so, who abducted them - all without offering a complete statement to LE to help further the investigation. If a crime is committed against someone IMO the onus is on them to cooperate with LE so the perpetrator can be taken off the street and not go on to harm other people. To not assist is pure selfishness IMO.

 

[KMouse]

I just want to throw this out there. In my opinion, someone using something as bait on the side of the freeway is possible however I don’t think it is very probable. If it was stranger danger why would they wait for who knows how long for someone to stop when they could abduct someone from somewhere else faster? If it was someone who knew her, again why wait and hope she stops when they could just follow her and somehow try to get her to stop or abduct her while she was already parked and out of her car at one of the shopping centers? Unless the “abductor” likes theatrics I don’t see this scenario happening but instead something faster/“easier”.

True. Plus the kidnappers with the child lure cannot control who is going to stop to help on the side of a busy road. If it was a 70 y/o man would he have been abducted? It's so far fetched.

 

[cvaldez1975]

MOO it played on the recent social media posts about scary traffickers using children to try to lure unsuspecting young females off to where they can be abducted and subjected to the horrors of forced prostitution.

Stories about "scary men following my teen in a Target and then driving past real slow as they left in a scary white panel van" and "some strange man in the parking lot at Walmart put white powder or something sticky on my door handle, and I knew better than to touch it because police told me this is what those traffickers do now to knock you out and kidnap you" etc abound on social media.

Most are not true (MOO) but only serve to gain much needed attention for the poster and play into our deep seeded fears that bad men want to hurt us.

All JMO MOO and IMO

ya i always pshaw those. i will reply "why dont you turn around and yell "WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME" if this is true.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

IMO I find it odd that Carlee would have been caught stealing from her job and not been fired over it. I’m sort of skeptical of that bit and it’s not really clear what the source is other than a SM post. Every job I’ve ever had would immediately fire someone if they were caught stealing, unless what they were caught stealing was of little importance. (e.g. I got chewed out for trying to “steal” something out of the dumpster when I worked at petsmart lol, but I didn’t get written up or fired because it obviously wasn’t a big deal)

JMO. I’m curious to know if this bit is true and what the alleged theft supposedly was

That's exactly the source, random SM screencaps.

 

[ifimmurderedjoedidit]

This is exactly what I was thinking when it was 1st reported as a call. A youtuber's mom received a call from her "daughter" begging for help. They had "cloned" her voice. Her mom didn't fall for it. Now I'm thinking we all need to have a family code word in emergencies.

Our family has a code word for when we're out in public and need everyone's attention immediately. We use it in casual conversation, like, if we're shoe shopping and see something odd, "Hey, by the way, remind me to buy bananas on the way home!" Bananas would be our code word (it's not) and our kids know that means stay near us and listen. We've had to use it a couple of times, and I am convinced it saved my daughter from harm.

 

[Cindizzi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1681687611167981568

 

[Quill]

Yeah. And I’m not saying trafficking isn’t widespread. It just isn’t as the Facebook mommies claim it is. Stranger abduction into trafficking is exceedingly rare. It’s typically either months of grooming or sex workers who voluntarily enter the trade and are then trafficked.

Just to add to this that sometimes the months of grooming is going on unbeknownst to the family or whoever is responsible. We had a rash of young teens and pre-teens (ages approx. 12-15) last summer in my area (spanning several rural counties) going missing. We are talking about rural areas nowhere near an urban area and bored kids who are taking risks talking to strangers online. Usually these have been found to be in contact with their groomer/abductor on sm before they went missing either through investigation. Occasionally these kids are traced an brought home but for obvious reasons (recovery) you do not hear of it again once they have been found. There are a percentage of these cases that are perpetrated by individuals who end up facing prosecution but in these cases it is hard to know how connected or not these people are to any kind of organized effort.

 

[MistyWaters]

This is exactly what I was thinking when it was 1st reported as a call. A youtuber's mom received a call from her "daughter" begging for help. They had "cloned" her voice. Her mom didn't fall for it. Now I'm thinking we all need to have a family code word in emergencies.

These types of scams have become quite prevalent, usually the begging for help involves a fabricated arrest of the youth and bail is required to be paid to bail them out of jail, payment required via prepaid debit cards or bitcoin.

 

[SMK777]

Not if you were scared and speechless. Have you been a victim of a crime? Abducted? threatened with a weapon?
Not to be rude but I was so frightened to talk afterward, I was speechless. I was threatened with a weapon I was convinced he'd return to kill my entire family.
Victims of abductions, robberies, and rape sometimes NEVER talk. Trauma.

When I was a teenager I did experience an abduction situation by an older guy known to family, and was taken out of state. In my own case, there was considerable trauma and I definitely wanted to speak with police about it.

 

[Ontario Mom]

This is exactly what I was thinking when it was 1st reported as a call. A youtuber's mom received a call from her "daughter" begging for help. They had "cloned" her voice. Her mom didn't fall for it. Now I'm thinking we all need to have a family code word in emergencies.

It was originally reported as a call, then later the mother said it was a text.
A voice call could be easily ruled out as a hoax if the caller sounded nothing like Carlee but a text?
I'm not sure how you can claim with certainty that a text from someone saying it's Carlee, isn't actually from her.
I suspect there might be a nugget of truth in the story about the RRI and the text, I'm just not sure what the truth is.

jmo

 

[CamilleBSP]

Smh. I don't know if any cases where the victim of an actual abduction would not fully cooperate with police.

As mentioned previously, the case of Abby Hernandez is one example of an actual victim of abduction refusing to relay info to the police as she was afraid the man would do what he promissed and come back to hurt her (even more).
IMO, it's possible that Carlee isn't cooperating here because of the rumors Court TV mentioned that she had stolen from her workplace. Maybe that explains her interaction with police officers earlier in the day and is what her workplace said they "uncovered" and relayed to the police.

 

[cvaldez1975]

ya i always pshaw those. i will reply "why dont you turn around and yell "WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME" if this is true.

to clarify, i did feel that feeling once but it was at a truck stop where ppl be in and out and your kid can poof. but it was no one following me it was just a bad feeling i get from time to time.

 

[Teche]

IMO I find it odd that Carlee would have been caught stealing from her job and not been fired over it. I’m sort of skeptical of that bit and it’s not really clear what the source is other than a SM post. Every job I’ve ever had would immediately fire someone if they were caught stealing, unless what they were caught stealing was of little importance. (e.g. I got chewed out for trying to “steal” something out of the dumpster when I worked at petsmart lol, but I didn’t get written up or fired because it obviously wasn’t a big deal)

JMO. I’m curious to know if this bit is true and what the alleged theft supposedly was

If it's true that there was a theft, maybe she was fired. I don't believe a business would disclose it over social media or to the media.

 

[Teche]

When I was a teenager I did experience an abduction situation by an older guy known to family, and was taken out of state. In my own case, there was considerable trauma and I definitely wanted to speak with police about it.

I'm sorry you experienced this horror. Thank you for sharing.

 

[CamilleBSP]

There’s a question to me. I can’t see anything clearly. It’s very unclear.

I'm also wondering where people are seeing this aparently way clearer footage... I saw nothing and continue to see nothing.

 

[Ontario Mom]

I'm also wondering where people are seeing this aparently way clearer footage... I saw nothing and continue to see nothing.

All I could see on the traffic cam video was her getting out, walking to the back of the car and around to the passenger side. I have a 27" screen and that's all I was able to clearly make out.

 

[txsleuth70]

In my opinion, if a parent were worried about their adult child's state of mind, they may go along with that child's story for now just to placate until she is able to get the help that she needs.

However, if the story develops into a further far-fetched story such as a cheese itz wielding Oompa Loompa theoretically I think they would have to draw the line.