Carlee Russell, 25, has admitted to lying about being abducted last week in an incident that stunned the state of Alabama. On Monday, her attorney Emery Anthony issued a statement to the Hoover Police Department saying that the strange tale she told about seeing a toddler on the side of a freeway and being abducted was made up.
“My client did not have any help in this incident. This was a single act done by herself,” the statement said.
Chief Nicholas Derzis of the Hoover Police Department said that they were talking with local prosecutors about the possible filing of criminal charges against Russell. He also said that investigators were meeting with Anthony on Tuesday to discuss what happened to his client during the 49 hours she was missing.
“We still don’t know what happened in those 49 hours, where she was. Did she have any help? We have no idea,” Derzis said.
Russell went missing after placing a 911 call on July 13th at 9:34 p.m. telling the operator that she had seen a 3- to 4-year-old toddler walking along the southbound side of Interstate 459 near Birmingham, according to authorities. Police said that Russell had taken a bathrobe and toilet paper from her employer – the Woodhouse Spa Birmingham – before visiting a Target store. She then remained in the Target parking lot until driving off to Interstate 495 and placed a call to 911.
She then returned home on July 15 and during a police interview, she said that a man with orange hair had come out of the woods and he had made her go over a nearby fence before forcing her into a car. She added that recalled being inside an 18-wheel trailer. According to her, she was able to escape and was captured again before being placed in a car. She said that they had not had any sexual contact with her. Surveillance video footage showed Russell walking along the sidewalk before she went back home on the 15th.
Data from Russell’s Life 360 application showed that she had traveled 600 yards during the 911 call. Last week, Derzis said Russell made various online searches, including “do you have to pay for an Amber Alert” on July 11th at 7:30 a.m. On July 13th at 1:03a.m., she had also searched for “how to take money from a register without being caught” as well as searched for the movie “Taken” at 12:10 p.m.
Despite the shocking story she had told, authorities were just glad she was safe. “We wanted the focus to be, bring her home. She got home. We’re very excited about that,” Derzis said, “The facts that I spoke about last Wednesday pretty much showed that we knew it was a hoax.”
