Found Safe Lacey Overby, 37, Kidnapped, DeSoto, Tx 1 Feb 2024

Genuinely concerned, how they rescued her, but they did not arrest the kidnapper who was holding her against her will? The articles state at the border, she advised border officers she was being held against her will, but the suspect was not arrested and is still at large
 
@Makeupdontbreakup it hasn't even been verified that he was with her when she was stopped at the border. Very strange
Completely agree. Very strange. At what point did he leave the vehicle? Why did she continue to the border if she was, at this point, alone in the vehicle
@Makeupdontbreakup it hasn't even been verified that he was with her when she was stopped at the border. Very strange
Completely agree. Very strange. At what point did he leave the vehicle? Why did she continue to the border if she was, at this point, alone in the vehicle
 
Then what would be the point of kidnapping her, and making her drive to the border, if the kidnapper got out of the car, and let her go on by herself?

Maybe he wanted to try to sneak across but knew he would be found in the car? Maybe he thought it was a good plan until he could see border guards? Maybe his plan wasn't well thought out? Moo.
 
Then what would be the point of kidnapping her, and making her drive to the border, if the kidnapper got out of the car, and let her go on by herself?
What's the normal border-crossing protocol? Is it sometimes a 'wave-through' situation outbound versus individual cars being checked?

The man who grabbed her could have jumped out shortly before the checkpoint, (hopefully something that'd be caught on someone's dashcam), and he could have gone across some way that avoided the checkpoints.

It could have also been a situation where he had planned to just go through in the car, but then saw the news articles that she'd already been reported missing, (so would have been stopped), so changed his plans.

I sincerely hope that some highway cam between Desoto and Laredo caught the car, (and the number of occupants) - It should be relatively easy to find with the bumper sticker and panel damage mentioned. The TxDot site is showing all of those cameras unavailable right now, so I'm not sure if they have archival footage.
Edit: I'm not seeing ANY cameras active in that area - I wonder if it's related to this case.

The thumbnails from the inactive ones give a sense of whether you'd be able to, (or not be able to), see how many people are in a car:

I wonder if she had one of those insurance gizmos in the car, and if it recorded the weight of the passenger seat and/or if the seatbelt was used? I tried searching if the type of car that she had has a black box, (since those would also record seat belt usage), but apparently how and when it's captured is variable: Beware the black box

If no one comes forward with any footage, this woman's going to be living with the specter of Carlee Russell for the rest of her life.
 
Last edited:
My understanding is that although carrying valid travel documents is legally required when crossing into Mexico by land, in practice, enforcement is very lax on the Mexican side, and the US does not have formal, systematic exit controls, so it is very normal for people to make the crossing (again, over land, not e.g. by air) without presenting their passport or other documents at any point, skipping the office on the Mexican side where they are required to obtain an FMM. It is somewhat common for US citizens to reside illegally in Mexico using this trick.

The reverse does not hold true, of course; systematic entry controls on the US side do exist when crossing from Mexico. However, this is not usually an issue for US citizens, as they cannot be legally be denied entry; lacking documents simply means a more lengthy process to cross due to the need to verify their citizenship.

My whole point in saying this is that it is perfectly plausible that she was crossing without carrying her passport, and would be "picked up" upon entry into Mexico, before ever having a chance to go out of her way to report to the Mexican immigration office nearby.
 

Staff online

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
161
Guests online
528
Total visitors
689

Forum statistics

Threads
625,584
Messages
18,506,593
Members
240,818
Latest member
wilson.emily3646
Back
Top