Carlee Russell’s ex recalls ‘little disagreement’ ahead of kidnapping hoax

The ex-boyfriend of Carlee Russell, an Alabama woman charged with faking her own abduction, said they got into a minor tiff before her disappearance.

Russell is facing two misdemeanors counts — false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident — in connection with the kidnapping hoax, which went on to nab headlines nationwide. On July 13, Russell, a 25-year-old nursing student, phoned 911, telling dispatchers she passed by a toddler on the side of I-459 South near mile marker 11, according to the Hoover Police Department.

When officers arrived on the scene, they saw no sign of the toddler or Russell, who remained missing for for 49 hours before reappearing at her parents’ home on July 15. Upon her return, Russell’s then-boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons, stood by her, though she later admitted to making up the toddler as well as her struggle with a kidnapper.

In a new interview on the 205 Boyz podcast, Simmons said he found out he’d been lied to only when his family sent him clips from a press conference held by the Hoover County Police Department. During the July 25 briefing, authorities read a statement from Russell’s attorney, Emory Anthony, in which she confessed to lying about everything.

“I was mad, I was sad. I was in all types of emotions …. That’s my girl so I stuck for it. But it wasn’t making sense,” Simmons said. “If you really wanted to tell me the truth, you could have told me. Before the police conference, you could have told me.”

He also recalled taking a trip to New York with Russell a few weeks before she staged her own disappearance.

“We were having fun, taking tours,” Simmons said. “We had a little argument but nothing to kidnap yourself over. I am confused, like, ‘What happened? What made you do that?’”

Simmons said he would not discuss the matter at all moving forward, and noted that he currently has no contact with Russell.