Toddler used as bait in possible abduction of woman

[caggie2]

(US based) On Thursday a woman, Carlee Russell, saw a toddler walking on the interstate outside Alabama, she called 911 to report it before stopping to help. Her car was found with the engine still running with her phone in and her smart watch. No missing toddler has been reported in the area.

Absolutely terrifying. It sounds to me most likely to be human trafficking? Poor, poor woman. Stopping to help a child in danger it makes you think doesn't it, I don't think I'd want to stop and help if I ever came across that situation now.

Horrifying. The child has obviously been used as bait to get her to stop on the side of the motorway. Then she’s been abducted. The family member she was speaking to on the phone heard a scream and they found her car still running and her phone on the ground.

I’m guessing if anyone other than a lone woman stopped they would rush over and say “oh he ran away, thanks for grabbing him”. Unfortunately the person who stopped was their ideal victim.

I keep thinking of all the horror stories of people who were abducted and imprisoned for years. It doesn’t look good. Her poor mother.

Yes I wear wigs as do many other black women. Do you wear wigs? Let me guess. No

Then you would be incorrect in your guess.

I can't understand why you think it's strange that she took it off before driving.

My friend has viewed the foot as he as well and is convinced she can see another person and a vehicle a little way back!!! I can't see that myself.

There was a lot of traffic....she isn't alone on that road. Hopefully those vehicles are reviewing dash cams

*footage

Maybe don't read it then?

I've heard of this before. People using empty car seats to give the impression a baby has been left at the side of the road so people stop to help and then end up getting robbed or worse.

It's a horrible world we live in sometimes.

But nobody else saw it or stopped?

I’m guessing if anyone other than a lone woman stopped they would rush over and say “oh he ran away, thanks for grabbing him”. Unfortunately the person who stopped was their ideal victim.

That is certainly feasible. I wonder if the abductor also banked on a woman being the type of person most likely to pull over to help a lone child. Not necessarily saying men are less likely to notice a lone child/be concerned enough to help (though this may be true), but men who do want to help might avoid doing so for fear of being seeing as suspicious in approaching a small child on their own.

While I am not suggesting that news stories are used to ‘gawp’ over or to dwell on macabre or unsettling details, surely the point of this section is to discuss items in the news?

I saw the traffic video. What strikes me is that no other driver saw a toddler walking and was stopping.

Could it be that she had some sort of hallucinations/mental breakdown?

But if it was then that doesn't explain why she's disappeared

DH said this. He would have called the police but not stopped for fear of being accused of abducting the child or interfering with it in some way. I on the other hand would have stopped.

An abductor with THAT amount of traffic? With a camera?

Except it’s real and being widely reported in the news.

If she had hallucinations and saw scary things that aren't really there, it would explain her running off into the woods.

Sorry but I've heard of and seen all kinds of dangerous situations where I've learned to call 911 and pray about it and I understand if someone did that to me. It's all kinds of new and old scams . I that young lady did the right thing by describing where she was..marker numbers on the highway. I would've never got out my car. The human trafficking thing has been going on and more sophisticated but think people just forget about these things and the real world and now this young lady is gone. Just horrible simply heartbreaking.

I suspect this is going to turn out to be nothing like what it initially appears. If you watch the video the car drives for quite some way with the hazards on before stopping

There is no way she saw a toddler in the dark and then drove all that way at a very slow speed

It's uncommon to see a toddler on the side of an interstate as they are generally designed to prevent people wandering onto them. When it has happened, it's generally been because of parental neglect (that a parent wouldn't miss their toddler for such a long time that they could get to an interstate). There are usually fences, tree buffers, and/or some physical distance from any homes or stores. Toddlers who have managed the feat of wandering onto interstates have been killed by walking into traffic, and several neglected toddlers who wandered onto interstates were also rescued by passing samaritans, so it would not be crazy for an individual driver to call 911 and stop to wait with the toddler to ensure they don't wander into the path of vehicles.

I would be surprised if other drivers didn't see the woman there or see what happened but it's likely this part of the interstate is quiet at this time of night.

Suggestion is she saw the kid, came off at next exit and drove back round. Hazards on slowed down to try to locate exact spot

@aloris the road was very very busy! Not quiet at all

So so awful!!

Yeah, wow, road very busy, many cars moved over when she stopped. The police showed up only a few minutes later so it's very difficult to see how she disappeared in that short period and no one can find her.

This is a video of the road and it shows her car stopping.

The road was very busy

It's hard for me to believe that if there was a toddler walking alongside the road, nobody else would see it.

That doesn't really sound likely either, how far apart are the exits? Even if doing a loop all the way round only took 5 minutes no one else saw the child in that time but it was still there

The road was really quite busy

It was likely not a child.

Maybe she saw 'something' ...headlights caught a deer or some other animal and her brain computed to 'kid'