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.

Ah that's good. No we don't need to know what happened. Just that she is ok. It can be hard to integrate back into life after a disappearance.

Without invading the privacy of the woman I think it is actually important that the police at least confirm whether there was a toddler on the road and whether a crime was committed so that the public are aware and ti stop wild stories being spread as truth and unfounded fears

Yes I agree. People are scared thinking that kidnappers are using toddlers to lure women to pull over. If this isn’t what happened then it needs to be clarified. Otherwise people will be afraid to assist a child who is genuinely lost.

Increasingly sounds like there was no toddler and the poor woman had a mental health episode

She's been found "in a state of shock" and taken to hospital for evaluation.

https://nypost.com/2023/07/16/alabama-woman-carlethia-carlee-russell-who-vanished-after-stopping-to-help-child-on-highway-found/

I don't know what the truth of the story is- I wondered if she could've been having a mental health episode when I saw the story break on YouTube

But I wondered that because I couldn't fathom the idea that anyone could be sick enough to use a child as bait in a crime and to believe it i would have to believe that the child was in long term danger and being exploited by someone who could make a woman disappear simply because they wanted to for their own gratification- I didn't want to believe that depravity was possible. It obviously IS possible- and I didn't want to believe it... I'm just hoping in this instance what I wanted to believe happened Vs that

Fair enough. They could just confirm no toddler then

Yeah, I guess until all facts are known they can't tell the public one way or the other

If it was a new tactic then obviously they need people to be warned

If it wasn't they need to alert people so we don't turn away from children who need help and intervention from the public to protect them when they wander off

It terrifies me that actually it's possible for both the woman to come over mentally unstable (could've been drugged or traumatised) and the child to exist but nobody believe her. It's a really unnerving news story because it makes us question how depraved people could be- and we know that answer - it's possible.

On balance, when I'm not feeling incredibly fearful of what kinds of things people might do to others - I think it's more likely that I would help a child if I saw them than end up murdered or abducted by doing so and hope on that probability I would actually try to help a child Vs fear for my safety ahead of a helpless child

A simple statement saying that she is being cared for in hospital and the police believe there was no other people involved would do the job.
That would put a stop to all the ‘children being used as bait by human traffickers’ headlines…….

It would. But they would need to be aware that could lead to further speculation about Carlee. People speculating if she was missing, did she fake it, was it her mental health etc. unfortunately lots of people feel as it’s a public story they can keep speculating

I really feel for the family because whatever authorities say it could cause them and Carlee further issues.

Theres been loads of interest in similar cases (by similar I mean missing people who were thought to be kidnapped and were not. Not exact same circumstances) recently on SM. Rudy Farias, Sherri Papini etc

SM can be great for spreading awareness or missing people, but can also be really damaging. I just hope people don’t keep further speculating and leave Carlee and her family alone.

"I think it is actually important that the police at least confirm whether there was a toddler on the road and whether a crime was committed"

The problem is, things take time to investigate. The police did already say no toddler has been reported missing, because that's a fact that they know for certain.
They need to spend time searching the area before they can confirm as fact that no toddler is there.
They need to interview the woman to find out what happened to her, and if she's in a state of shock or otherwise unwell then they cannot rush it.
The availability of social media and 24-hour news coverage has led people to believe they are entitled to know as much as possible as soon as possible.
What the general public want to know and what the police are able to say doesn't always match up.
In actual fact, what the general public want to know is often plain old curiosity rather than need, because unless you live in the area you are in no danger or at risk of anything.

Thank God

The New York Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch and is a gossip mongering rag - no offense, @MissConductUS.

Every news item I read this morning (it’s 12:43pm PST) has said the fire department took her to the hospital for a check-up and she was back at home with her family.

After she and her family are settled, the police will interview her and there will be further updates.

It was not made clear how she found her way back to her family’s house.
In fact, little was made clear - so we need to wait for official police updates.

At least she is alive.

@caggie2 I think you need to read the police statement.

It sounds like either this is a mental health eposide or a scam of some sort.

Zero evidence of the toddler
Zero evidence of kidnappers

Whatever the reasons etc...Carlee was found safe,Thank the Lord..
Now we proceed with answers .

Her boyfriend does seem to indicate she was kidnapped.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cuw-fbZujPo/

From what I've read the police aren't asking for witnesses or information or giving any description of kidnappers assuming they know how to do their jobs that is telling

LOL would it have been worse if it was an ugly young woman?

Anyways that statement from the boyfriend has red flags all over it. I'm getting Sherri Papini vibes here.

If the police thought it was a kidnapping they would have been grilling her for hours from the moment she was found in order to find the culprits and stop them doing it again. Not letting her rest and delaying their first interview.

Also what kidnapper drops you back off at your mom's house?? It's not a prom date lol.

Total Chloe Ayling vibes about this one.

I was sceptical about Chloe Ayling but didn't that turn out to have actually happened?

Yes…if you class hiding out in Europe with your boyfriend’s mates and going shoe shopping in the same category as being held hostage by a kidnapper, lol

I see the police in this current case have just issued a statement. They are not looking for any kidnappers or any toddler.

That’s not what I see in their statement, where did you see that?

https://hooverpd.com/update-on-carlee-russell-case/

The bfs msg on social media was particularly strange in that he appeared to have no supporters liking the post or at least very few - you'd think he would be inundated by people commenting and liking and I only saw it when it was mentioned here so must've been up some time

Unless you can hide people in settings or something it just struck me as really weird

Unless it's a catfish account?