Missing Alabama woman

[SHP]

44 minutes ago, lauraw4321 said:

No, what’s unbelievable is no one else saw the toddler.

We must live in different dimensions. It was dark and distracted drivers are closer to the norm than not. See my post about commuting via bicycle/slower forms of transportation. Drivers are oblivious. It is terrifying. 

[Katy]

Her boyfriend posted on Instagram that she'd been kidnapped & fighting for her life for 48 hours. Until the police say otherwise I think it's safe to believe her.

[AnotherNewName]

4 minutes ago, SHP said:

We must live in different dimensions. It was dark and distracted drivers are closer to the norm than not. See my post about commuting via bicycle/slower forms of transportation. Drivers are oblivious. It is terrifying. 

Except when children are found alongside the road it usually occurs in a residential neighborhood.  I haven't been on I459 for a few years but a child wandering along that highway would seem very unlikely from what I remember.  

The story sounded odd from the start, and as it turns out it likely was a hoax/mental break down.  The police did the right thing by aggressively investigating but it is reasonable now to consider what did/didn't make sense at the time.

[SHP]

27 minutes ago, AnotherNewName said:

Except when children are found alongside the road it usually occurs in a residential neighborhood.  I haven't been on I459 for a few years but a child wandering along that highway would seem very unlikely from what I remember.  

The story sounded odd from the start, and as it turns out it likely was a hoax/mental break down.  The police did the right thing by aggressively investigating but it is reasonable now to consider what did/didn't make sense at the time.

You did see that there is a subdivision not far from the highway, right? 

[SHP]

Did no one else have a toddler who eloped? They are fast. One time I decided I needed to pee. I know, I know, never pee if you have a toddler, they will use the time to install a new world order. But anyway, I heard the door open and knew mine was gone. They were a block away by the time I reached them. Had I not heard the door? I don't want to think about it.

[Heartstrings]

43 minutes ago, AnotherNewName said:

ept when children are found alongside the road it usually occurs in a residential neighborhood.  I haven't been on I459 for a few years but a child wandering along that highway would seem very unlikely from what I remember.  

There was a whole neighborhood right through the patch of trees thst lonesbthe highway.  It seems very possible that a toddler could have escaped for a few minutes.  The fact that it disappeared after Carlee’s call, isn’t visible on the video and no children were reported missing in the area is suspicious though.  That’s why “mental breakdown” is my preferred theory at the moment.  

 

I’m not sure what to think of the boyfriends statement though. 

[fraidycat]

30 minutes ago, SHP said:

Did no one else have a toddler who eloped? They are fast. One time I decided I needed to pee. I know, I know, never pee if you have a toddler, they will use the time to install a new world order. But anyway, I heard the door open and knew mine was gone. They were a block away by the time I reached them. Had I not heard the door? I don't want to think about it.

I was an eloper. In a very large city, we had just arrived to visit relatives at their house, my mom walked into the house to pee and left me in the driveway with Dad, my brother, and the relatives. Everyone was talking and distracted by unloading luggage out of the trunk. I was 16ish months old. Mom came out of bathroom and asked where I was. They fanned out searching for me and my older cousin found me 4 blocks away, about to venture out onto the highway with 8 lanes of traffic. I think I gave my parents a little bit of PTSD with that experience. My mom still sounds a little scared when she tells the story to this day and I'm 47 years old.

[Melissa in Australia]

2 hours ago, AnotherNewName said:

Except when children are found alongside the road it usually occurs in a residential neighborhood.  I haven't been on I459 for a few years but a child wandering along that highway would seem very unlikely from what I remember.  .

My brother once found a toddler on the side of the highway practically in the middle of nowhere. He picked him up and drove him into the town police station. While he was still explaining to the police the frantic  father of the toddler came in to report his son missing. Aparently the father had his son for a custody visit and had stopped on the side of the highway to take a leak. Then hopped in his car and drove off without his son. 

[busymama7]

1 minute ago, Melissa in Australia said:

My brother once found a toddler on the side of the highway practically in the middle of nowhere. He picked him up and drove him into the town police station. While he was still explaining to the police the frantic  father of the toddler came in to report his son missing. Aparently the father had his son for a custody visit and had stopped on the side of the highway to take a leak. Then hopped in his car and drove off without his son. 

Like the boy got out while the dad was peeing and the dad didn't notice?

[Melissa in Australia]

9 minutes ago, busymama7 said:

Like the boy got out while the dad was peeing and the dad didn't notice?

The dad forgot to put the child back into the car.  He had the child for a custody visit and wasn't  in the habit of thinking of  the child. 

 

 

[HomeAgain]

7 hours ago, SHP said:

Did no one else have a toddler who eloped? They are fast. One time I decided I needed to pee. I know, I know, never pee if you have a toddler, they will use the time to install a new world order. But anyway, I heard the door open and knew mine was gone. They were a block away by the time I reached them. Had I not heard the door? I don't want to think about it.

And they are unpredictable.

My sister was sent home at 3yo from the house across the street.  My dad walked her outside the door, saw her cross, and went back inside to visit with the neighbors.  A half hour later my mom walked over with the baby asking why sis was never sent home.  Cue instant panic.

Turns out, she wanted to go to the park.  This kid walked her happy self down to the freeway and was deciding how to get to Balboa on her own. A friend saw her and picked her up, so all turned out well, but....  My sister is the reason why soooooo many rules were implemented in our house. 😄

[kirstenhill]

I do think there's a high likelihood that the story with the toddler will turn out to be something other than any actual kid on the side of the road (delusion, hoax, her being coerced into saying something, etc)...But I also totally agree that just because no child was reported missing to the police, does not mean there was not a child on the side of the road for a few minutes.

When one of my DS's was about three, we had a phase where he would run off.  Several times in a row all he did was run around the block to a neighbor friend's front porch, so we didn't panic too much - we just went and retrieved him.  Then one time he slipped out the door when we were at a neighbor's party.  We were all getting our shoes on to leave, and he slipped his little sandals on first and just run out the door before we even realized what happened.  We caught a couple glimpses of him running in and out of yards down the block, so honestly we grabbed a couple other neighbors and just fanned out to try and catch him.  No one thought to call the police because we were pretty confident he was very close by, and we tracked him down ten minutes later or so playing in a backyard well down the block. But in retrospect, we were only a couple blocks from a fairly busy road and he could have easily been a little kid standing on the edge or wandering out into traffic.   So I could imagine a little kid wandering out, and then maybe wandering back toward their house and not being seen very much in the dark, and maybe parents searching by their house for a kid that ran out of the house had been not ready to involve the police yet.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

Having been involved in some 911 situations involving kids alone on the side of a road, every single time there has been multiple 911 calls, even after dusk or on a busy highway. Granted, my sample size is about 10, but even in some of the emergency responder groups I’m in with 911 dispatchers from all over the country that are talking about this case, everyone is remarking that in similar cases there have been multiple 911 calls, unless it was a poorly traveled road.

I think having only one 911 call with a highway that heavily traveled is suspect that there wasn’t actually a child there. However—i have definately thought I’ve seen something in the dark from a moving vehicle that wasn’t actually there or was a toy or an animal or something else.

[MercyA]

8 hours ago, fraidycat said:

My mom still sounds a little scared when she tells the story to this day and I'm 47 years old.

Yep. I'm 49 and my mom is still traumatized by the time I got lost at the beach as a young toddler. My dad had me in the water, and then pointed me toward my mom on the sand. He thought I was going towards her, but I changed direction and headed down the beach (way, way down the beach). She was sure I drowned. They found me happily trotting along the sand, all by myself. 

I'm sure Carlee's mother is beyond ecstatic to have her back. 

[MercyA]

9 hours ago, Heartstrings said:

I’m not sure what to think of the boyfriends statement though. 

I've seen at least one source note that he may have made the statement before actually talking to her. 

 

[Katy]

A woman called 911, screamed, and then disappeared in three minutes. There was massive national & social media coverage because of the extraordinary circumstances. Circumstances most women would stop for. I don’t understand why people aren’t giving her the benefit of the doubt and assuming she was kidnapped and released because of the coverage, or assumed she managed to escape. 
 

ETA: also if the cameras can’t see what happened to her, how on earth could they have seen the toddler? Cameras are not that good in the dark, especially with bright lights from cars around. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Katy

[Katy]

I hate the culture we have of blaming the victims. I can’t even say it’s racism because there are still people blaming the family of Jon Benet Ramsey despite foreign DNA on her underwear. And people blamed Elizabeth Smart’s family until she was found. It seems like people are assuming the worst because every woman I know would stop and get out of their car for any child on the interstate. And it might happen to us. So better blame her instead of admitting that it could happen to any of us.

[Heartstrings]

1 minute ago, Katy said:

And it might happen to us. So better blame her instead of admitting that it could happen to any of us.

The same thing happens every year with kids left in hot cars.  A whole lot of  "I would never" and not nearly enough "There, but for the grace of God, go I".  

[Katy]

Just now, Heartstrings said:

The same thing happens every year with kids left in hot cars.  A whole lot of  "I would never" and not nearly enough "There, but for the grace of God, go I".  

Yes. Luckily, psychopaths are rare and most people want to do the right thing, at least when it’s easy. Or this would be far more common than it is. 

[Pawz4me]

I watched the DOT videos that were posted earlier in this thread. I couldn't see any detail at all, mostly just a lot of traffic and brake lights and blinkers.        

This morning on one of our local news stations I saw a clip of LEOs apparently searching the area during the day. After the shoulder of the road there was a strip of grass that wasn't all that wide. Hard to judge from video, but I'd say 30-40 feet at the most. The grass was knee high or higher to the LEOs. And then after the grassy strip what looked like some very dense trees, what I'm assuming is a typical southern type habitat where this time of the year it's extremely thick and dense with undergrowth. It seems to me that anyone could have been hiding in the grass, that she could have seen some type of movement that at a quick glance in the dark seemed like a toddler. It wouldn't have taken a few seconds for someone to grab her and get into those thick woods.*

So I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt for now.

*ETA: I'm not implying this was a set up attempt to nab somebody, because really . . what an inefficient (for lack of a better word) method it would have been to go about that. But I can't rule out the possibility someone strung out on drugs or booze or something was flailing around in the grass, she saw movement and by the time she stopped the person was alert and with it enough that he decided he'd just grab her.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Pawz4me

[MercyA]

2 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

The same thing happens every year with kids left in hot cars.  A whole lot of  "I would never" and not nearly enough "There, but for the grace of God, go I".  

Yes. One of my friends did this. His beloved child died because he and his wife both thought the other had brought him in from the van and put him in his crib. They and their other children have to live with that every day for the rest of their lives. I think of them every time I see a case like this in the news. They were GOOD, GOOD parents. Loving and gentle and kind. Human beings make mistakes. Most of them don't cost as much as they cost my friend.

[Heartstrings]

6 minutes ago, MercyA said:

Yes. One of my friends did this. His beloved child died because he and his wife both thought the other had brought him in from the van and put him in his crib. They and their other children have to live with that every day for the rest of their lives. I think of them every time I see a case like this in the news. They were GOOD, GOOD parents. Loving and gentle and kind. Human beings make mistakes. Most of them don't cost as much as they cost my friend.

I’ve never come close to it, but I’ve made enough mistakes while exhausted that I know I can’t say it’s just because I’m such a good parent.  It’s grace or luck or something.  

[Grace Hopper]

1 hour ago, Katy said:

I hate the culture we have of blaming the victims. I can’t even say it’s racism because there are still people blaming the family of Jon Benet Ramsey despite foreign DNA on her underwear. And people blamed Elizabeth Smart’s family until she was found. It seems like people are assuming the worst because every woman I know would stop and get out of their car for any child on the interstate. And it might happen to us. So better blame her instead of admitting that it could happen to any of us.

While reading your post, an oft heard radio message came to mind… The following is a test of the emergency broadcast system. In the event of a true emergency…

WHATEVER happened to Carlee, this test of getting the word out was, imo, successful. Her name and face and story were all over my personal social media and local news tv and radio channels. So, I am glad the coverage was there and wish her healing from whatever occurred. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Grace Hopper

[KSera]

1 hour ago, Katy said:

It seems like people are assuming the worst because every woman I know would stop and get out of their car for any child on the interstate. And it might happen to us. So better blame her instead of admitting that it could happen to any of us.

I keep reading this kind of phrasing—where people hope it’s true that she was kidnapped and any alternative possibilities are “assuming the worst.” I don’t get that perspective at all, because if this were my kid, absolutely I’d rather find out there was some other explanation besides that they’d suffered horrific fear and goodness knows what else at the hands of a kidnapper for 48 hours. How terribly traumatic. I do hope for her sake that it’s something else that happened, but at this point it still seems anything is possible. 
 

eta: I know you yourself didn’t say yourself that you “hope” it’s true that she was kidnapped, Katy, but I’ve read lots of other people who were praying for her while she was gone saying that. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by KSera

[Idalou]

16 hours ago, lauraw4321 said:

No. But the police would focus on finding out more about her - her relationships, problems, habits, whether she's ever 'disappeared' before, where she might go if she wants to hide, what resources she might have available - rather than searching for a toddler that no one else saw. 

Her story was not believable. It doesn't mean that the police should work any less hard to find her. But if it was any kind of hoax, there should be negative consequences.

Ok, I get that. I'm pretty sure that's standard procedure questions that police ask family and friends during an investigation. We also don't know how hard they looked for a toddler, beside the database search for missing ones in the area and a visual search. But also, who wants to be the one that says nah, don't look too hard, the kid doesn't exist? They HAVE to search, there really is no alternative, but I have faith they know what their limit is, it's not like police have never experienced this before.

As to a hoax, yes, there should be consequences.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Idalou

[Idalou]

9 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

The dad forgot to put the child back into the car.  He had the child for a custody visit and wasn't  in the habit of thinking of  the child. 

 

 

Yes, this is how so many heat related deaths of kids left in cars happen here. A parent has the child in the backseat, but there's something different about that day's rhythm, such as  different time of day to leave for work, or the other parent usually is the one to drop the child off at daycare, etc. 

[Idalou]

37 minutes ago, KSera said:

I keep reading this kind of phrasing—where people hope it’s true that she was kidnapped and any alternative possibilities are “assuming the worst.” I don’t get that perspective at all, because if this were my kid, absolutely I’d rather find out there was some other explanation besides that they’d suffered horrific fear and goodness knows what else at the hands of a kidnapper for 48 hours. How terribly traumatic. I do hope for her sake that it’s something else that happened, but at this point it still seems anything is possible. 
 

eta: I know you yourself didn’t say yourself that you “hope” it’s true that she was kidnapped, Katy, but I’ve read lots of other people who were praying for her while she was gone saying that. 

 I read awful comments. Maybe those who hoped it was a kidnapping rather than hoax also saw those hateful ones. They mean well, but it came across all wrong. There was an actor 2 or 3 years ago who faked an attack. He's black, and people still refer to him when stuff like this happens. If Carlee's turns out to be a hoax, then black women will suffer those same insults the next time we see a similar case on the news. We all know the type of nasty people who'll do this, and we know they have an influential voice overall. I don't know what will make people care more.

[Ann.without.an.e]

I haven’t read all the replies and have no idea if this is legit or not but have y’all ever considered that a toddler might not have been reported missing because some sick person used their own child or a family member’s/friend’s child as bait??? ETA: If we stacked up the percentage of people who are truly victims vs liars/hoaxes, the victims would far far outweigh the hoaxes yet we still question victims like they’re all liars.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[catz]

As someone who has driven around in the north woods in the dark a bit, it doesn't seem surprising to me it could have been a deer, a dog, a coyote, etc partially caught in a headlight for a flash and that no one else caught it.   Could have been a small person or older child too.  Or could have been trick of the eye.  That video is extremely dark IMO.  Drivers are oblivious on the regular and head lights are made to light the road directly in front of you.  Brights wouldn't have been on in this level of traffic.  The headlights on my vehicle are kind of trash without lights but ok for busier roads.

I am disappointed so many people are just ready to dog pile on someone in a situation like this.  Emotionally healthy people don't create large scale hoaxes and disappear maliciously.  We may never know the whole story which we don't need to.  I assume authorities will follow up as necessary.  I wish this young woman and her family nothing but the best.  

[Heartstrings]

46 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

I haven’t read all the replies and have no idea if this is legit or not but have y’all ever considered that a toddler might not have been reported missing because some sick person used their own child or a family member’s/friend’s child as bait??? E

I’ve considered that, along with the idea of it being a malnourished older child who appeared to be a toddler, or an adult little person acting as bait, because using an actual toddler is just such a bad idea from the perspective of committing a crime.  Toddlers aren’t easily controlled, they are hard to keep up with, not good crime partners.  
 

Using any kind of child lure on a busy highway is such a bad idea though, as a bad guy.   You have no idea who you’re going to pull.  Maybe it’s an elderly woman with no value to a trafficker, or a police officer or a Marine who can kill you with his bare hands.  Not a great strategy. 

 

[Katy]

2 hours ago, KSera said:

I keep reading this kind of phrasing—where people hope it’s true that she was kidnapped and any alternative possibilities are “assuming the worst.” I don’t get that perspective at all, because if this were my kid, absolutely I’d rather find out there was some other explanation besides that they’d suffered horrific fear and goodness knows what else at the hands of a kidnapper for 48 hours. How terribly traumatic. I do hope for her sake that it’s something else that happened, but at this point it still seems anything is possible. 
 

eta: I know you yourself didn’t say yourself that you “hope” it’s true that she was kidnapped, Katy, but I’ve read lots of other people who were praying for her while she was gone saying that. 

I don’t understand hoping it was an elaborate hoax instead of believing the victim until proven otherwise. Kidnapping by strangers is rare, but it happens. Sexual assault is very common. I don’t understand hoping it’s fraud or a psychotic break instead of the truth. I definitely don’t understand hoping a nation would assume the worst of the victim instead of believe her. 

[KSera]

13 minutes ago, Katy said:

Kidnapping by strangers is rare, but it happens. Sexual assault is very common. I don’t understand hoping it’s fraud or a psychotic break instead of the truth.

I don't understand hoping it was kidnapping or sexual assault rather than something less traumatic. I hope it's not a psychotic break either. Hoping it's kidnapping or sexual assault seems awful to me.

15 minutes ago, Katy said:

I definitely don’t understand hoping a nation would assume the worst of the victim instead of believe her.

I absolutely don't want anyone to assume the worst of the victim at all. I want her to be safe and happy and healthy and get whatever help she needs based on whatever it was happened, which definitely may have been kidnappying and assault. Not wanting her to have been kidnapped or sexually assaulted in no way assumes anything bad about her. If it were my own kid, I would definitely hope neither of those terrible things had happened to them--wouldn't you if it was yours?

[Katy]

8 minutes ago, KSera said:

I don't understand hoping it was kidnapping or sexual assault rather than something less traumatic. I hope it's not a psychotic break either. Hoping it's kidnapping or sexual assault seems awful to me.

I absolutely don't want anyone to assume the worst of the victim at all. I want her to be safe and happy and healthy and get whatever help she needs based on whatever it was happened, which definitely may have been kidnappying and assault. Not wanting her to have been kidnapped or sexually assaulted in no way assumes anything bad about her. If it were my own kid, I would definitely hope neither of those terrible things had happened to them--wouldn't you if it was yours?

I don’t understand your logic. She’s either telling the truth, it was an elaborate scam and fraud, or she had a psychotic break. It sounds like you’re hoping none of the above happened, but that’s not possible. Something did happen. I would believe my kid until proven otherwise. 

[KSera]

24 minutes ago, Katy said:

I don’t understand your logic. She’s either telling the truth, it was an elaborate scam and fraud, or she had a psychotic break. It sounds like you’re hoping none of the above happened, but that’s not possible. Something did happen. I would believe my kid until proven otherwise. 

Believing my kid is separate from what I would hope was the explanation. I would believe whatever my kid said happened until I had reason not to, but that an entirely different thing from saying I hope nothing terrible happened. I most definitely would rather my kid have gotten overwhelmed or something and decided to disappear voluntarily than that they were kidnapped and assaulted. I would believe them if they said the latter was what happened. But as an outsider who doesn't even know what this particular victim is saying at this point, I still hope for her sake that nothing that horrible happened.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

I kind of thing it was unlikely to be a kidnapping(unless she alone was clearly targeted). If there was evidence that she was kidnapped and released or escaped,  even if she wasn’t able to give details yet due to trauma, I would have expected the police to release something to warn the community of danger.  If the police think that someone used some kind of decoy to kidnap her, I’d think the police would have released something by now to warn others.

[whitestavern]

Those of you who are saying it’s possible that it was an animal - the relative she was on the phone with heard her speak to someone, asking if they were okay. So if she’s telling the truth, it had to have been a human. 

[KSera]

29 minutes ago, whitestavern said:

the relative she was on the phone with heard her speak to someone, asking if they were okay. So if she’s telling the truth, it had to have been a human. 

Well, for what it's worth, if I encountered a cat or dog or other (non scary) animal in the grass next to the freeway, I totally would likely say, "Are you okay?" to the animal in a similar voice that I might use with a small child. Might not make sense, but we tend to talk to our animals like people around here.

[WildflowerMom]

Hoover PD says Carlee told the 911 operator and the other person she spoke to that she saw a toddler-aged boy in a diaper.  No animal.   

[KSera]

17 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

Hoover PD says Carlee told the 911 operator and the other person she spoke to that she saw a toddler-aged boy in a diaper.  No animal.   

Oh good point. I had only seen that today and forgot.

[WildflowerMom]

Just now, KSera said:

Oh good point. I had only seen that today and forgot.

I thought I’d read it and had to go back and refresh my mind.  I’ve read so many rumors on this, it’s hard to keep the facts straight. 

[AnotherNewName]

7 hours ago, Katy said:

I hate the culture we have of blaming the victims. 

It is not blaming the victim if there is no actual victim.

 

[pinball]

5 hours ago, Heartstrings said:

I’ve considered that, along with the idea of it being a malnourished older child who appeared to be a toddler, or an adult little person acting as bait, because using an actual toddler is just such a bad idea from the perspective of committing a crime.  Toddlers aren’t easily controlled, they are hard to keep up with, not good crime partners.  
 

Using any kind of child lure on a busy highway is such a bad idea though, as a bad guy.   You have no idea who you’re going to pull.  Maybe it’s an elderly woman with no value to a trafficker, or a police officer or a Marine who can kill you with his bare hands.  Not a great strategy. 

 

So you actually think it’s more likely that someone is using “an adult little person acting as bait” to kidnap some random person than this woman is having some kind of emotional/psychological problem or breakdown?

I find that bizarre.

[KidsHappen]

4 hours ago, WildflowerMom said:

Hoover PD says Carlee told the 911 operator and the other person she spoke to that she saw a toddler-aged boy in a diaper.  No animal.   

How did she know it was a boy?

[Ann.without.an.e]

“The ONLY reason people started saying it was a hoax is because she is alive and I really need folks to sit with that.”

-random person I can’t remember on twitter 

[WildflowerMom]

12 minutes ago, KidsHappen said:

How did she know it was a boy?

I have no idea.   That's just what the Hoover Police have released.    

[lauraw4321]

9 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

“The ONLY reason people started saying it was a hoax is because she is alive and I really need folks to sit with that.”

-random person I can’t remember on twitter 

No, I thought it was a hoax before she was found. The fact that she was found made it more likely to be a hoax. It could still be something else, but I think odds are in favor of a hoax at this point. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

10 minutes ago, lauraw4321 said:

No, I thought it was a hoax before she was found. The fact that she was found made it more likely to be a hoax. It could still be something else, but I think odds are in favor of a hoax at this point. 

I don’t think a hoax is out of the question by any means. We know so little info that it is unkind to judge something from such a distance. But that’s how I approach most things in life. I don’t assume the worst of others unless there’s a known history.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[popmom]

1 hour ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

“The ONLY reason people started saying it was a hoax is because she is alive and I really need folks to sit with that.”

-random person I can’t remember on twitter 

I disagree with this. It’s just as much pot stirring as the people saying it’s a hoax. 
 

I think that the whole situation was so bizarre and unbelievable from the start—it’s not automatically victim blaming. It’s not “just because she’s alive.”
 

Also, I’m firmly NOT in the hoax camp fwiw. I admit that I’ve been on the road most of the day, but dd checked the local news while I drove and didn’t see that any new details had come out. We aren’t going to TikTok or twitter for the latest discussion. That’s not happening. 
 

I shouldn’t even be on this thread anymore. These are my neighbors. No—not “right next door” neighbors but a few miles away. All I want for this family rn… If I had the opportunity to speak to them…

I hope that I would be able to say, “How can we best support you during this time? How can our community support you during this time? 
 

I’m going to let Hoover PD do their job and I’m going to pray God would give the rest of my community the grace to love our neighbors. 
 

eta: I just checked Nextdoor. Did a search to see what discussion might be happening. I generally expect the worst on Nextdoor, but I was relieved to see that the few pot stirrers are being hushed for the time being. The overall mood on ND (Hoover) is best described as “there but for the grace of God go I.”

”give the family some space.”

Or as someone else wisely posted on ND, “People need to worry about their own porches before they go sweeping someone else’s!”. 
 

That’s the overall sentiment in my neck of woods. Letting LE finish their work. They’ve handled this very professionally as evidenced by the dispatch audio.

Edited July 18, 2023 by popmom

[SHP]

31 minutes ago, KidsHappen said:

How did she know it was a boy?

Based on having toddlers with short always being referred to as boys and hair-long as girls, no matter what they are wearing I am going with the child had short hair.

 

This is based on basically nothing 

 

[popmom]

Here is some audio of 911 dispatch and Hoover PD if anyone is interested. I have no idea who this YouTuber is. I’m sharing because it’s the only audio I’ve found of the 911 call and dispatch. It was shared on my Nextdoor.

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by popmom
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