The former boyfriend of Carlee Russell, an Alabama woman charged with fabricating her own abduction, mentioned a minor disagreement that occurred before her disappearance.

Russell is currently facing two misdemeanor charges – false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident – related to the widely publicized kidnapping hoax. On July 13, Russell, a 25-year-old nursing student, called 911 and informed dispatchers that she had seen a toddler on the side of a highway, as reported by the Hoover Police Department.

Upon arriving at the scene, the officers found no trace of the toddler or Russell, who remained missing for 49 hours before reappearing at her parents’ residence on July 15. After her return, Russell’s then-boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons, supported her, although she later confessed to inventing the toddler’s story and her purported struggle with a kidnapper.

Simmons discovered the truth when his family shared clips from a press conference conducted by the Hoover County Police Department. During the July 25 briefing, authorities read a statement from Russell’s attorney, Emory Anthony, in which she admitted to fabricating the entire situation.

“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.”

Simmons also recalled 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.