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Carlee Russell’s Ex Says They Had a “Little Argument” Before Kidnapping Hoax
“I was mad,” Thomar Latrell Simmons said on his podcast. “I was sad. I was in all types of emotions.”
The ex-boyfriend of the Alabama woman who faked her own kidnapping earlier this summer says the couple had a “little argument” before the incident, but adds he’s still flummoxed by her motives.
Thomar Latrell Simmons says questions surrounding Carlethia "Carlee" Russell's abduction hoax have tormented him in the weeks and months since Russell appeared to have vanished along an Alabama highway in July after she placed a bogus 911 call to report an endangered child.
RELATED: Carlee Russell Charged After Admitting Her Abduction Claim Was a Hoax
Simmons briefly addressed the bizarre ordeal, which garnered national media coverage this summer, on a new podcast he co-hosts. In the 24-minute recording released over the weekend, Simmons revealed the couple had a “little argument” shortly before she disappeared.
“I mean we had a little argument but it wasn’t nothing to kidnap yourself over,” Simmons said on the podcast 205 Boyz.
He didn’t disclose the nature of the couple’s dispute.
On July 13, at around 9:30 p.m., police were dispatched to Interstate 459 South after Russell placed a phone call claiming she’d seen a toddler walking along the highway. Upon arrival, neither Russell — nor the purported child — were found by authorities. Her wig and cell phone were found in a car nearby, according to authorities. At the time, Hoover police hadn’t received any other calls regarding the missing child.
Russell ultimately surfaced at her family’s home two days later. The Alabama woman claimed a white man with red hair had abducted her from the side of the interstate with the assistance of another unidentified woman. Russell’s captors, she said, took her to an undisclosed location where she was forced to strip and was later photographed. Authorities, however, were unable to corroborate details of her alleged account.
Before vanishing, Russell searched online for Amber Alerts, the kidnapping-oriented movie, Taken, as well as for bus tickets leaving on the day she was abducted, police later said.
“I do think it’s highly unusual... on the day someone gets kidnapped... that they’re searching the internet, Googling the movie Taken, about an abduction. I find that very strange," Hoover Police Chief Nicholas C. Derzis said at the time.
Russell was later charged with two misdemeanors, for false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident. If convicted on both charges, she faces up to two years in jail.
Prior to the abduction hoax coming to light, in the immediate aftermath of her safe return, Simmons defended Russell in a now-deleted Instagram post, stating Russell was “literally fighting for her life for 48 hours.”
“I was mad,” Simmons explained on his podcast about learning Russell had lied to him and the police. “I was sad. I was in all types of emotions.”
Simmons, who claims to have ended the relationship stemming from the fallout, says he’s still mystified as to why his former girlfriend went to the extremes of faking her own abduction.
“I’m confused, like, ‘What happened?’” Simmons said on the podcast. “‘What made you do this?’ I don’t understand.”
Russell previously apologized for her actions in a statement in which she publicly admitted to the kidnapping hoax, which was released through her lawyer.
“My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well, as to her friends and family,” Russell’s attorney, Emory Anthony, said in a statement that was read aloud by Derzis during a July press conference.
“We ask for your prayers for Carlee, as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward, understanding that she made a mistake in this matter. Carlee again asks for your forgiveness and prayers.”
Meanwhile, Simmons said he’s trying to move forward following his breakup with Russell, whom he says he hasn’t been in touch with.
“We haven’t had no contact with each other,” said Simmons.
