Carlee Russell – latest: 25-year-old claims kidnappers took photos of her naked, police say

Alabama police say much of Russell’s account could not be corroborated, and that she googled ‘Taken’ and Amber Alerts before alleged kidnap

Carlee Russell’s mom speaks up

Alabama police say alleged kidnap victim Carlee Russell told them her abductors forced her to get undressed and then took photos of her.

Officials have poured cold water on the 25-year-old’s claim to have been kidnapped from the side of a road last week, saying she appears to have made internet searches relating to abductions prior to the incident.

Hoover police chief Nick Derzis said in a press conference that investigators were “unable to verify” most of Ms Russell’s statements, in which she described her whereabouts for the 49 hours she was missing.

Ms Russell has refused to be interviewed, said Mr Derzis. Police said she told them in her initial report that she was forced into an 18-wheeler truck and taken to a home where a man and woman forced her to strip and took photos of her.

Police told media about Ms Russell’s peculiar search history on Wednesday afternoon, saying she had searched for the movie Taken and Amber Alerts, raising the possibility she may have feigned her abduction.

She had claimed being kidnapped from the side of Interstate 459 on 13 July after she pulled off to the side of the road because a toddler was walking barefoot and alone.

Key Points

• Carlee Russell searched for Amber Alerts and movie 'Taken' before disappearing
• What really happened to Carlee Russell?
• Alabama police find ‘no evidence’ Carlee Russell was trying to help toddler on highway when she disappeared
• Carlee Russell’s parents insist she was kidnapped
• Carlee Russell’s internet searches suggest she staged her own kidnapping, Alabama police say

[20 July 2023 07:54 · Anuj Pant]

Carlee Russell claims kidnappers forced her to strip and took photos, police says

The Alabama police has said that the 25-year-old nursing student told them her kidnappers had abducted her on an 18-wheeler truck and took her to a home where they forced her to strip and then took her photos. She said the kidnappers were a man and a woman, police said. The claim comes as Hoover police chief Nick Derzis said officials were “unable to verify” most of her statements about her alleged kidnapping. Police also told media about Ms Russell’s search history days before her kidnapping. Ms Russell had returned home alone and barefoot days later.

[20 July 2023 08:30 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

Carlee Russell drove for 600 yards along an interstate while telling 911 she was following toddler, police say

Carlee Russell drove 600 yards (548m) along an Alabama interstate while on the phone to a 911 operator claiming that she was following a lost toddler, authorities have revealed.

The 25-year-old told detectives she was abducted by a man with “orange hair” who appeared from the side of Interstate 459 after stopping to help a “baby boy in a diaper” just after 9.30pm on 13 July.

She turned up on foot at her parent’s home in Hoover two days later with $107 tucked in her right sock, and claimed she had barely survived after being forced to strip naked before escaping from her kidnappers.

Data from Ms Russell’s cellphone showed she had driven the length of six football fields while talking to police dispatch, an incredulous Hoover Police Department chief Nicholas Derzis said during a press conference on Wednesday.

“To think that a toddler, barefoot, that could be three or four years old is going to travel six football fields without getting on the roadway, without crying... it’s very hard for me to understand,” Mr Derzis said.

Read the full story here:

[20 July 2023 08:00 · Ariana Baio]

Carlee Russell was supposedly helping a toddler, police say differently

Nursing student Carlee Russell, 25, vanished without a trace from the side of Interstate 459 in Hoover on the night of 13 July – just moments after she called 911 saying she had spotted a toddler alone on the road.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found Ms Russell’s car still running and her cell phone and wig close by, but no sign of the 25-year-old.

A huge search operation was launched to try to track down the missing woman, with her family begging the public to come forward with any information.

Investigators in Alabama have found “no evidence” that Ms Russell was trying to help a toddler walking along a highway at the time of her mysterious disappearance.

On the night she disappeared, Hoover police said that the 25-year-old left her workplace and ordered food from nearby restaurant The Colonnade.

After stopping by The Colonnade, she went to the Target on Highway 280 and bought some snacks, police said.

These items were not found inside her abandoned vehicle along the highway nor were they found with her cellphone and wig at the scene of her disappearance.

Police said that the investigation had uncovered no evidence of a toddler walking down the interstate and had not received any additional calls about a wandering child – despite surveillance footage capturing numerous other vehicles passing through the area around that time.

[20 July 2023 07:30 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

Carlee Russell’s employer breaks silence on ‘sensitive’ investigation into her bizarre disappearance

A beauty spa where nursing student Carlee Russell was working on the night she vanished from the side of an Alabama interstate says it is cooperating with a “sensitive” police investigation into her disappearance.

Ms Russell, 25, left the Woodhouse Spa in the Summit luxury shopping mall in Birmingham at about 8.20pm on 13 July, according to authorities.

She called 911 at 9.34pm that night to report seeing a toddler wandering on the side of Interstate 459, and when police arrived five minutes Ms Russell had vanished while the engine of her car was still running.

Ms Russell turned up on foot at just over two days later at her parents’ home in Hoover, and her family has since said she was kidnapped and barely survived.

In a statement to WVTM, Woodhouse Spa owner Stuart Rome said he had turned over “everything we uncovered” to the Hoover Police Department.

Read the full story by Bevan Hurley here:

[20 July 2023 07:00 · Ariana Baio]

A woman who went missing after telling her family she spotted a child walking alone on a stretch of Alabama highway earlier this week has returned home.

Carlethia Nichole “Carlee” Russell returned to her parents’ home at 10.45pm on Saturday 15 July, two days after she appeared to vanish after calling 911 to report a toddler who appeared to be stranded no the side of a stretch of interstate.

It was not immediately clear what happened within those two days or how she arrived home. She was taken to hospital for evaluation; Hoover Police Department officials said that “additional information will be provided when it becomes available”.

Alex Woodward reports:

[20 July 2023 06:30 · Ariana Baio]

Police: ‘No reason to believe there is a threat to public’

Hoover police chief told reporters on Wednesday that from an investigation into Carlee Russell’s disappearance and alleged kidnapping, they have no reason to believe there is a danger to the public’s safety.

“What we can say is that we’ve been unable to verify most of Carlee’s initial statement made to investigators,” chief Nick Derzis said.

“We’ve asked to interview Carlee a second time, but we have not been granted that request. As you can see there are many questions left to be answered, but only Carlee can provide those answers.”

[20 July 2023 06:00 · Ariana Baio]

What police found when they located Carlee Russell’s car

Authorities in Alabama were dispatched to the location of 25-year-old Carlee Russell’s vehicle which was pulled off on the side of an interstate after Ms Russell called 911 claiming a toddler was walking along the road.

Police officers arrived on the scene five minutes after Ms Russell called to find her wig, cellphone and purse along the road. Inside her bag was an Apple Watch.

Before she went missing, authorities determined Ms Russell stopped by a store to buy snacks but noticeably missing from her vehicle were said snacks.

“These items were not located in the vehicle or with her cellphone and wig at the scene of her disappearance,” the police statement read.

The Hoover Police Department is expected to give an update to the case in a press conference at 3.30pm ET on Wednesday

[20 July 2023 05:30 · Ariana Baio]

Carlee Russell’s search history may point to answers

In the days and hours leading up to Carlee Russell’s disappearance, the 25-year-old made a series of interesting internet searches that could provide some answers.

According to Hoover police chief Nick Derzis, Ms Russell searched for things like, “Do you have to pay for an Amber Alert” two days before her disappearance.

In the hours leading up to her alleged abduction on 13 July, Ms Russell searched, “How to take money from a register without being caught” and “One-way bus tickets from Birmingham to Nashville.”

She also looked up the movie Taken which is about the abduction of a young woman.

Ms Russell also searched for more information about Amber Alerts while she was at her workplace – which was the last location she was seen before she went missing for 49 hours.

[20 July 2023 05:00 · Ariana Baio]

A similar questionable case out of Texas

Rudy Farias’ mother announced he was found alive eight years after he was reported missing as a teen. This news came as a surprise to neighbours and police, who are sure he wasn’t missing at all.

Andrea Blanco reports:

[20 July 2023 04:30 · Maroosha Muzaffar]

Carlee Russell’s internet searches suggest she staged her own kidnapping, Alabama police say

Carlee Russell made a series of suspicious internet searches in the days before she claimed to have been abducted, Alabama authorities revealed at a press conference on Wednesday.

A forensic analysis of Ms Russell’s cell phone, work and home computers found she looked up information about the movie Taken, Amber Alerts, booking a bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville and “how to take money from a register without being caught”, Hoover Police Department Nicholas Derzis told reporters.

The searches shed light on the 25-year-old’s mindset leading up to when she claimed to have been kidnapped after seeing a toddler walking along the side of Interstate 459 on 13 July, Mr Derzis said.

Read the full story by Bevan Hurley here: