Carlethia “Carlee” Russell, a 25-year-old woman who said she was abducted after stopping to help a baby stranded on the side of a highway, has admitted through a lawyer that she made up the entire story.
The disappearance of the Alabama woman garnered international attention and set off a massive search led by Hoover police. She returned home on foot 49 hours after she called 911 to report a lost child on Interstate 459.
“My client has given me permission to make the following statement on her behalf: there was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13, 2023. My client did not see a baby on the side of the road. My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person,” reads a statement provided by Russell’s lawyer.
The statement, which was read aloud by Hoover Police Chief Nicholas C. Derzis during a Monday news conference, goes on to explain that Russell acted alone in the hoax and that she understands “she made a mistake.”
“My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well as to her friends and family,” the statement adds.
Despite the admission, Chief Derzis said Hoover police will continue its investigation into Russell’s whereabouts the night she claimed to be abducted.
“We’re still trying to determine where she was during those 49 hours, but I am glad that we received this … at least puts some of the social media super sleuths hopefully at rest for a little bit,” Derzis told reporters Monday.
“We still don’t know where she was. Only Carlee knows, and maybe now her attorney,” Derzis added.
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Hoover police are consulting with the district attorney’s office to potentially press charges for the bogus kidnapping claim.
Suspicions about Russell began to arise when police said they were “unable to verify most of Carlee’s initial statement made to investigators.”
She claimed she was abducted by two people after stopping to assist a child who was alone on the side of the interstate. She said she was forced into an 18-wheeler truck and taken to a home where a man and woman forced her to strip naked while they took photos of her.
Russell spoke to police after returning home, where investigators noted a tear in her shirt and a “small injury to her lip,” but the 25-year-old declined follow-up interviews “because of the trauma of the incident.”
Police later learned that Russell had conducted suspicious online searches shortly before going missing. She looked up the abduction-themed movie Taken, “how to pay for an Amber Alert” and “how to take money from a register without being caught.”
Russell was scheduled for a police interview Monday with her lawyer, but instead, she provided the statement admitting the abduction was made up. Derzis said the department is hoping to reschedule the interview with Russell to learn more about the incident.
An ex-boyfriend of Russell’s, who previously defended her story publicly, wrote on Instagram Monday that he was “blindsided” by her admission.
“Carlee’s actions created hurt, confusion and dishonesty. I was made aware of the false narrative after coming to the defense of my ex Carlee Russell. Myself and my family’s nature was to react in love and genuine concern. We are disgusted from the outcome of this entire situation,” wrote Thomar Latrell Simmons.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CvGpCjCOv_O/
Though Russell’s kidnapping was made up, advocates say her case shouldn’t derail efforts to raise awareness for missing Black women and girls.
According to the Black and Missing Foundation, Black people in America made up 39 per cent of people reported missing in 2022, despite making up only 12 per cent of the population. More than 30,000 Black people were still missing in the U.S. by the end of 2022, according to the National Crime Information Center. Half of those cases are missing Black women and girls.
— With files from Global News’ Michelle Butterfield
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