“We don’t have any idea where Carlee Russell was for 49 hours,” Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis told reporters in a press conference on July 28, 2023. (Mugshot of Russell and screenshot of Derzis: Hoover Police Department)
Authorities have charged an Alabama woman with fabricating her own kidnapping, thereby wasting the time and resources of law enforcement and other people who searched for her.
The July 13 disappearance of Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell, 25, captured national attention because of strange, now suspicious, details, and though cops now say they have evidence against her, they are missing some key details. Where was she during the two days in which she was missing? And was she with anyone else?
“We don’t have any idea where Carlee Russell was for 49 hours,” Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said in a press conference on Friday.
The “Disappearance”
As previously reported, cops said Russell called 911 the night of July 13, telling authorities she spotted a child walking alongside I-459 South.
Immediately after notifying authorities about the discovery, Russell phoned a family member and relayed the same details, telling them she had stopped her car to check on the child.
Then something apparently happened.
“The family member lost contact with her, but the line remained open,” the Hoover Police Department wrote in a press release.
Cops said they arrived to find Russell’s vehicle, but no sign of her or a child.
This sparked a frantic search to find the missing woman. That ended the night of July 15. Officers said she showed up to her parents’ home.
“The story opened wounds for families whose loved ones really were victims of kidnappings, some of which even helped organize searches in hopes they can find Carlee alive so her family would not experience the pain and suffering that they felt when their loved ones never returned home,” Derzis said Friday.
“We don’t see this as a victimless crime,” Alabama Attorney General Steven Marshall said.
Things Allegedly Didn’t Add Up
Chief Derzis has said in another press conference that officers discovered evidence that Russell might not have been abducted.
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For example, on July 11, Derzis said she searched, “Do you have to pay for an Amber Alert or search.” On the day of her disappearance, she allegedly searched the terms, “how to take money from a register without being caught” and “Birmingham bus station.” She also searched for a one-way ticket from Birmingham to Nashville, Tennessee, with a departure date of July 13, police said.
At about noon on the day of her disappearance, Russell searched for the movie, “Taken,” which is about a young woman being abducted, he said.
At her place of work, Russell also performed searches about Amber Alerts, including the “maximum age” of an Amber Alert, Derzis said.
The chief also claimed that surveillance video from Russell’s place of work showed her at approximately 8:20 p.m. on July 13 concealing a dark robe, a roll of toilet paper, and other items belonging to the business prior to her departure. She then picked up food from a restaurant and snacks from Target before getting on the highway and heading back in the direction of her home at around 9:20 p.m.
When officers arrived at her vehicle, they found her personal belongings and the restaurant food, but her Target snacks and the items she took from work were not found, he said.
As for the 911 call, the data from Russell’s phone showed that she traveled about 600 yards while on the phone with the dispatcher and supposedly following the toddler, Derzis said, emphasizing that such a distance is equal to six football fields lined up consecutively.
Her Story
After returning home, Russell allegedly told investigators that a man with orange hair and a big bald spot abducted her.
“She claimed he then forced her into a car, and the next thing she remembers is being in the trailer of an 18-wheeler,” Derzis said.
Russell allegedly said she could hear him conversing with a female while a baby could be heard crying. She claimed she escaped the 18-wheeler but was caught, blindfolded, and put into a car. She claimed she was not tied up and heard the captors say it was because they didn’t want to leave impressions on her wrist.
She claimed she was brought to a house and forced to strip naked. She believed her alleged captors took photographs of her but said she was not sexually assaulted. The following morning she was fed and the woman “played with her hair” before she was put back in a vehicle that she was able to escape. She then ran through the woods and claimed she came out near her home.
The Charges
Russell turned herself into authorities on Friday afternoon. She faces one count each of false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident. These are misdemeanors. Derzis noted these are the only applicable charges. In light of that, he wants legislators to add an enhancement to current laws regarding the false reporting of kidnappings and other violent crimes.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
More Law&Crime coverage: Judge bucks prosecutors’ recommendation for more lenient sentence in case of California woman who faked her own kidnapping, torture
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