‘She was literally fighting for her life,’ missing woman’s boyfriend says after her safe return

Published 8:58 am Monday, July 17, 2023

The boyfriend of an Alabama woman who vanished then showed up 48 hours after she reportedly stopped to help a child wandering along an interstate said the woman was “fighting for her life” while she was missing and also referenced a kidnapper.

Carlethia “Carlee” Russell went missing Thursday night after she called 911 after she reported seeing a young child walking alone on Interstate 459 in Hoover, Alabama.

Police were there within minutes, but could not find Russell or the child. She mysteriously reappeared Saturday night, knocking on her parents’ door alone.

Her boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons, said the family was focused on her safety and that more details would be released soon.

“She was literally fighting for her life for 48 hours, so until she’s physically & mentally stable again she is not able to give any updates or whereabouts on her kidnapper at this very moment,” Thomar Latrell Simmons wrote on social media Sunday.

Please have not mentioned a kidnapper or provided many details into where they believe Russell was during the 48-hour search for her.

Instead investigators have said they will get to the bottom of it, but the investigation will take time.