Carlee Russell fired from spa job, as spa owner Stuart Rome describes worker frustration, negative customer reviews and how his business has come to suffer as a disillusioned public recoil from what increasingly appears to be a bogus kidnapping story.
A study of a slow motion car wreck… Carlee Russell the 25 year old Alabama woman who has sidelined media with her incredible alleged story of coming to the rescue of a wandering toddler by the side of a freeway only to then shockingly be abducted and then ‘fight for her life’ to escape and return home 48 hours later – has been fired from her spa job amid claims that co-workers have become increasingly dubious about the worker’s alleged kidnapping story.
Spa owner Stuart Rome said his staffers were stunned after hearing of Russell’s purported disappearance and did everything in their power to help bring her home.
‘It was really devastating for them thinking a co-worker was abducted,’ the frustrated boss told the nypost.
Charges? Carlee Russell confesses to giant hoax
Carlee’s co-workers’ concern soon started to turn to anger
‘The following day, Saturday, it was the busiest day of the week, and they had to plug along and work and in the off times pass out flyers and other things.’
But since Russell abruptly resurfaced some 48 hours later, police have revealed in the immediate hours prior to her alleged abduction, Carlee had searched for bus ticket prices and movies, Amber Alerts, how not to get caught taking money from the cash till among other dubious internet searches, drawing mounting skepticism over her account.
Police also told of not locating any wandering toddler or reports of a missing child in the immediate vicinity along with finding any proof validating Carlee’s claims she’d been ‘kidnapped by a white man with orange hair.’
Amid new revelations, Carlee’s co-workers’ concern soon started to turn to anger.
‘As the information came out that there were some questionable things, we’ve been a little pissed off, mainly because so many people took so much time out to search,’ Rome said.
In addition, the spa has been getting slammed with nasty social media messages and damaging one-star reviews because of its affiliation with Russell.
‘Basically, we’ve spent the last day battling to get things deleted,’
‘Basically, we’ve spent the last day battling to get things deleted,’ the spa owner said.
Adding, ‘Comments. I’ve had to shut down my comment section on Instagram and Facebook page which hurts us because we do a lot of marketing there. We’re just trying to keep the doors open.’
Russell, 25, called 911 at 9:34 p.m. July 13 and told a dispatcher that she had spotted a child wearing a T-shirt and diaper walking barefoot along busy a Hoover, Alabama highway.
Russell pledged to stay at the scene until police arrived but then vanished for two days before returning home and claiming that she had been kidnapped and held captive.
Police found her red Mercedes-Benz, cellphone, and wig at the scene of her supposed disappearance but found no traces of Russell or a missing toddler.
Her mother, Talitha Russell, told NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday that her brave daughter had ‘fought for her life’ to escape her captivity – but Police Chief Nick Derzis during a much anticipated Thursday press conference said his investigators have been ‘unable to verify most of Carlee’s initial statement.’
How Carlee reinvented herself as a 24/7 tabloid fixture
Carlee claimed she was abducted by a man who forced her into a car and then an 18-wheeler truck while she was blindfolded.
Russell said she then held at a home where a female captor gave her cheese crackers, according to Dervis.
Russell told detectives she eventually managed to escape and run through woods back to her neighborhood. This despite any evidence to validate the nursing student’s claims.
Yes kids, you can all see it on your Netflix movie screens now, ‘How Carlee re-invented herself and defied gravity to become a 24-7 tabloid fixture!’
Before seemingly vanishing (cops have yet to establish where Russell spend the 48 hours since coming across the toddler and returning to her parents home by foot) the 25 year old was discovered to have searched for information about Amber Alerts, the Liam Neeson movie “Taken” along with one way bus tickets to Nashville leaving the day she disappeared, officials said.
Carlee also posted a series of unusual tweets before dialing 911.
I just decided to stop complaining about people treating me weird and just stop messing with them all in one. Life already ain’t easy itself, I don’t need no extra weight on me. I’m cool on it.🎯
— Imani🖤 (@prettygirll4L) July 7, 2023
Wanton malice or mental capitulation?
‘Yeah I want a family now,’ she posted about 15 minutes before contacting police.
A few minutes earlier, she wrote: ‘Today was a GREAT day God be looking out I’m telling you!!‘ and ‘someone to tell you ‘I love you’ and don’t got a reason.’
Her former employer stated that if her story is confirmed as a hoax, locals won’t be as quick to unite the next time a similar scenario emerges.
‘I think it erodes faith for the next time, it erodes faith when people see somebody who’s been abducted and they’ve been put through this,’ the spa owner said.
‘They’re just not going to respond like they did, which is the worst part.’
Hoover Police are now probing whether to charge Carlee if it is determined that she had lied about her alleged abduction, despite some wondering the evolving situation was a result of a mental breakdown and that the woman may now be referred to mental counseling.
Isn’t it time you also re-invented yourself as a 24/7 tabloid fixture too…?
