The Alabama nursing student who claimed she was kidnapped while trying to help a toddler on a highway has been fired from her job at a spa. Carlee Russell, 25, who worked at the Woodhouse in Birmingham was fired after she was caught on surveillance camera July 13 stealing a dark bathrobe and toilet paper before leaving work for the day.
She then called 911 to report a child alone on the highway and then vanished for 49 hours. Later, she claimed that she had been abducted by a man and a woman and held captive in an 18-wheeler truck, from which she managed to escape.
Fired from Her Job
However, authorities from Hoover, Alabama, have stated that they are unable to find any evidence to support her version of events. And now Carlee has been fired from her job as well.
The owner of the Woodhouse spa in Birmingham, Stuart Rome, told the New York Post that Carlee who claimed to have been kidnapped has been fired from her job.
He also mentioned that her co-workers at the spa were deeply upset and frustrated by her purported kidnapping account. When they initially heard of her supposed disappearance, the spa's employees were shocked and did everything possible to help authorities in finding her and bringing her back home safely.
"It was really devastating for them thinking a co-worker was abducted," he said.
"The following day, Saturday, it was the busiest day of the week, and they had to plug along and work and in the off times pass out flyers and other things."
But police in Hoover, Alabama, have said that they are unable to corroborate Carlee's story. Instead, it was revealed that she conducted online searches for the Liam Neeson movie "Taken," looked up one-way bus tickets to Nashville, and researched whether an Amber Alert would be issued for someone her age.
Her boyfriend Thomar Simmons was initially excited after she returned and helped lead the search efforts. However, after being informed by the police about their inability to corroborate her claims, he removed all traces of her presence from his social media accounts.
Nothing Going Right
Rome, the spa's owner, said that Carlee's colleagues at the spa felt deceived and betrayed by her actions. The spa's business has also been negatively impacted as a result of the situation surrounding her false kidnapping account.
"As the information came out that there were some questionable things, we've been a little pissed off, mainly because so many people took so much time out to search," Rome said.
Moreover, the Woodhouse spa has been inundated with derogatory messages on social media and detrimental one-star reviews due to its association with Russell and her false kidnapping account,
"Basically, we've spent the last day battling to get things deleted," he said.
"Comments. I've had to shut down my comment section on Instagram and Facebook page which hurts us because we do a lot of marketing there. We're just trying to keep the doors open."
Rome claimed that it would be extremely devastating if her story turned out to be a fabrication since no one would believe the next victim of kidnapping.
"I think it erodes faith for the next time, it erodes faith when people see somebody who's been abducted and they've been put through this," he said.
"They're just not going to respond like they did, which is the worst part."
Initially, Russell claimed that she was taken by a white man with "orange hair" who emerged from the trees on the side of I-459, shortly after she spotted a "baby boy in a diaper" walking along the road on Thursday around 9:30 pm.
However, she has now stopped cooperating with the police. Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis stated that they have been unable to verify the accuracy of Russell's account.
"We pretty much know exactly what took place from the time she left work until she got on the 911 call," said Derzis.
"We can see getting out of the car on the interstate from that footage. After that, I think she only knows. We don't."
"We've asked to interview Carlee a second time but have not been granted that request.
"As you can see there are many questions left to be answered but only Carlee can provide those answers.
"What we can say is we have been unable to verify most of Carlee's initial statement made to investigators and we have no reason to believe there is a threat to public safety related to this particular case."
According to Dervis, Russell claimed that while she was held captive, one of her female captors provided her with cheese crackers. She told detectives that she later escaped and ran through the woods to return to her neighborhood.
Before her disappearance, Russell searched for information about Amber Alerts, the movie "Taken" starring Liam Neeson, and bus tickets to Nashville, all scheduled for the day she vanished, as confirmed by authorities.
In addition to these activities, Russell posted a series of unusual tweets before making the 911 call to report the child alone on the freeway, adding to the mystery surrounding her disappearance.
"Yeah I want a family now," she posted about 15 minutes before contacting police.
A few minutes earlier, she wrote: "Today was a GREAT day God be looking out I'm telling you!!" and "someone to tell you 'I love you' and don't got a reason."
