If I was in her shoes and valued not being locked up, I’d try to head for a border as soon as we departed (and before word spread).
Mexico, which would not extradite him if Alabama was seeking the death penalty, is a 24 hour drive from them. Because local investigators didn’t start piecing things together until 5:30 pm (and it probably took a couple more hours for the full pic to develop), a blue alert didn’t even go out until that evening. So it’s possible if they drove nearly straight through, they could’ve got across the border before this story gained much steam in the morning. (My friends and I did a 40 hour straight road trip with no overnight stops in college and I wouldn’t do it again unless my life was on the line - but they had the motivation).
Cuba - it’s a 13 hour road trip down to Miami, but there are a lot of regulations around travel to Cuba with legit charter companies requiring passengers to meet both US and Cuban regulations to go there it seems. Now I know there are illegitimate efforts that would be willing to boat people over to Havana (it’s only 250 nautical miles from the Florida mainland or like 90 from Key West, right?). But that doesn’t seem like the safest or surest route since those waters are patrolled and boats leaving US waters or entering Cuba’s without the appropriate permit are seized and the penalty is up to 10 years in prison. Cuba has allowed many US fugitives to stay there without extraditing them (although they technically made an extradition treaty with us in like 1904 or 1905).
Canada - Windsor is only 10 hours drive from Alabama. So they could’ve been crossing there by nightfall, potentially before this hit everyone’s radar. Canada also has discretion not to extradite someone unless the death penalty is taken off the table. There would likely be video footage at the checkpoint provided US officials could narrow down what sort of vehicle to look for. I guess they could’ve gotten across on a bus as well if they used fake identities, but someone would probably remember them if so.
Appalachians - they could make Weogufka and the lower end of the mountains in 3 hours. Butler, TN is 5 and a half hours drive. It’s 3.5 hours to Springer Mountain, Georgia.
If they were willing to chance an airport, they could go literally anywhere of course. But if they used their real IDs, the flight path would be found. And if they used alternative IDs, there’s still probably be camera footage out there to find — providing they weren’t masterfully disguised and didn’t raise any fellow passengers’ suspicion who saw the news the next day.
So even though I myself might shoot for Mexico — and then try to head elsewhere from there perhaps — I am betting they are in the mountains lying low for now.
Where do you think they are?