The fact that Russini couldn't provide any communications with her friends planning this trip, couldn't provide pictures or receipts confirming she was with anybody but Vrabel, and couldn't get a single one of these alleged friends to speak up and corroborate her story says pretty much all you need to know.
The media that broke the story was going to kill it if she could corroborate her lie. Her employer was going to keep her if she could corroborate her lie.
She had way too much to lose to not do everything possible to show that her story of being there with friends was true. Which means it wasn't.
So the next logical question is.... if it's innocent, why would you tell an elaborate lie you can't back up? Once you make up a story to cover something up, you effectively lost the benefit of the doubt.