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.

This reminds me of the empty baby car seat positioned in a lay-by to lure people out of their cars thinking a baby might have been abandoned.

I'm another one who thinks this won't be as it's being reported. Having read some reports and watched some of that video, I wonder if she has perhaps had some sort of a mental episode

Well yes, but the empty car seat thing is just an urban legend, it's never happened. Just a clickbait scare story that goes around Facebook.

Hence why some people have a sceptical initial reaction to this headline.

I don't know what happened, but I'm thinking, when you're driving on a dark motorway at speed at night, it's not really easy to see anything at all on the road side. The lights illuminate the road, the surroundings are dark and you're focusing on the lanes and traffic ahead of you. Would a toddler really be visible? Especially if not wearing reflective clothing. Pedestrians are hard enough to see at lower speeds when it's dark, unless the pedestrian path is well lit. And if somebody had "released them as bait" then where is that person? Surely an adult (and vehicle) is much more visible than a small child.

If they have traffic cameras covering other stretches of the road then they would be able to see if any car had entered that stretch, stayed there for an oddly long time and then left. And presumably nobody else has reported seeing a stopped vehicle there.

The police have removed some footage from the cams....hope that means they have seen something credible to investigate

I thought this might be the case. Like the young woman who went missing in that hotel in the US who was acting bizarrely on CCTV and was found in the water tank (I think?)

Elisa Lam?

Yeah, thanks - I couldn't remember her name.

The time of the phone call to a family member will show the exact time to check on the video.

What it is, is a beautiful young woman stopped to help a child and has disappeared. All known facts point to abduction, including the items that were left in her car.

An article I read linked this case to another in the US - Aniah or something , that had some similarities. I'll see if I can find it, think it was shared on twitter.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.al.com/news/2023/07/aniah-blanchards-mother-aids-in-carlee-russell-search-knows-the-pain-theyre-going-through.html%3foutputType=amp

No similar features as per the abduction, I got that wrong! More about being the mother of a missing daughter and wanting to support.

The video of the traffic footage looks like a torch or something approaches her car, and then speeds away as though someone was running? Really horrible.

I can't see anything on the footage but it's really hard to believe she was abducted or that there was a child in that busy traffic.

There's another version available (saw it on Twitter) that has been brightened. It's difficult to make out anything other than a person (her?) standing beside the vehicle for a while.

When I originally heard about this, I pictured a relatively empty road during daylight hours. Seeing what how it actually looked, I do wonder how easily she could have seen a toddler by the road in that darkness. Such a strange story. I wish it would have a positive outcome for her, but it's hard to feel optimistic.

Also, it seems less likely that someone with nefarious motives would set a trap to lure a woman off the road and out of her car under these circumstances. Why choose a high-traffic location and time of day, increasing the chances that someone might see what you're doing and stop to help? The whole situation is bizarre!

That road is nothing like I imagined when I read the report earlier. I envisaged a quite country road with almost no traffic

I find it hard to believe noone else saw the child. I'd have expected the police to get loads of calls & other cars to have stopped

Something definitely not adding up

The reports are thankfully she’s been found.

That’s great news. I am glad she is safe and hope she is well.

very strange case though.

I hope they find her

She's gone home. Looks like a mental health episode, hope she's ok.

@noglow she’s been found. I wonder if it will be reported what had happened / where’s she been for that time. It says she’s arrived home as if she just walked in?

There's been an update she's been found.

What a relief.

Good to see shes safely home, I wonder if we'll find out what really happened

Great news that she has been found.
The fact that on such a busy road no one else saw this child says to me that there was no child, real or fake. Also, is she was abducted someone surely would have seen her being grabbed.
As said above, if you were wanting to do this to abduct someone why pick such a busy road.

I don’t know what did happen but I wonder if it was some kind of mental health crisis.