What is Carlee Russell's boyfriend accused of? Thomas Simmons deletes IG post defending girlfriend amid press conference revelations

On July 13, 25-year-old Alabama woman Carlee Russell disappeared for two days, before returning home on foot. In the aftermath of the incident, police officials accused Russell of faking her disappearance. Yahoo reported that in the aftermath of the incident, the public began to speculate about the possible invovlement of Russell's boyfriend in the fake abduction scheme.

The 25-year-old's partner, Thomas Latrell Simmons, publicly denied the allegations against Russell that the scheme was fake. Simmons added that he was also not involved, and that he had been panicking throughout the course of the case.

Simmons posted online:

“I was straight tunnel vision, even when I would get on social media on my downtime & see some of the false allegations & assumptions about me having something to do with her abduction would have me discouraged at times, but I didn’t give up & kept my faith!”

During the course of the speculation about how genuine Russell's claims are, Simmons eventually deleted an online post defending her. He also cleared his social media of any trace of Russell. Authorities have not formally discussed the potential involvement of Simmons.

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Tracking Thomas Simmons' response to the kidnapping of Carlee Russell

In the initial days after Carlee Russell's return, Simmons defended her. The Daily Beast reported that Simmons posted online about how Russell supposedly had to struggle with her alleged kidnappers to escape.

Simmons posted:

“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."

Carlee Russell's mother, Talitha Russell, also denied that the 25-year-old had faked the claims about her supposed kidnapping. After Russell's return, she was taken to a local hospital for an assessment. The Hoover City Police Department said they wanted to give her time to recuperate before pursuing the investigation further.

Talitha Russell said:

“There were moments when she physically had to fight for her life, and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life. She's having to deal with the trauma with people making false allegations about her."

In the wake of Carlee Russell's recovery, Hoover City authorities released a public statement saying that Russell may have staged her own kidnapping. In the aftermath, many netizens began to suspect that Simmons was involved. However, he claimed that he had truly been in a panicked state after he heard of Russell's disappearance.

Simmons said:

"I have been going nonstop since I received the call that she was missing on Thursday night. I know she would’ve done the same for me, so I wasn’t going to give up until I saw her face again!"

However, the scrutiny around Russell grew. Authorities publicly revealed that she had made several suspicious google searches about kidnappings, indicating that she may have planned the scheme in advance.

The case currently remains under police investigation.