As it turns out, Carlee Russell made up the whole kidnapping story after all.
On Monday, Russell confessed to fabricating the story of her reported abduction earlier this month via a statement by her attorney.
“There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13. My client did not see a baby on the side on the road,” according to a statement provided by attorney Emory Anthony. Hoover Police Chief Nicholas Derzis read the statement at a Monday news conference.
“My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person. My client did not have any help in this incident, but this was a single act done by herself,” Anthony wrote.
No charges have been filed against Russell as of yet.
Derzis did say that the police are in discussions with the local District Attorney’s office about possible criminal charges, according to AL.com
“We will announce those charges when, and if, they are filed,” Derzis said.
The Carlee Russell Case Draws National Attention
Earlier this month, the 25-year-old Russell seemingly vanished after talking to a family member and dialing 911 to report a toddler wandering down a busy Alabama Interstate.
That unnamed family member reported hearing a scream and interstate noise via a cell phone line.
Russell’s disappearance drew national attention. Even notable celebrities called on authorities to investigate her disappearance.
Very briefly, she became the poster child for the tens of thousands of Black girls and women who go missing every year whose cases get ignored or underreported.
Her parents even appeared on the Today Show, stating they believed their daughter had fought for her life during that ordeal.
“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,” said her mother Talitha Russell. “She made it back.”
Two days later, Russell showed up at her parents’ house and was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
Eventually, she told detectives she was abducted by a man who came out of the trees when she stopped to check on the child. She also said the man put her in a car and an 18-wheel truck, blindfolded her and held her at a home where a woman fed her cheese crackers.
Russell said she was put in a vehicle again but escaped and ran through the woods back to her neighborhood.
However, in the days before her disappearance, Russell conducted Google searches on her cell phone for Amber Alerts, the movie “Taken,” about a woman who gets abducted, and a one-way ticket to Nashville from Birmingham.
All of which made investigators cast doubt on her story.
Moreover, Russell’s phone revealed that she traveled about 600 yards as she told the 911 operator that she was following a 3- or 4-year-old child in a diaper by the side of the highway.
Through her attorney’s statement, Russell issued an apology.
“My client apologizes for her actions to the community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies, as well as to her friends and family,’’ Anthony wrote.
“We ask for your prayers for Carlee as she addresses her issues and intends to move understanding that she made a mistake,’’ her attorney wrote. “Carlee again asks for your forgiveness and prayers.”
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