Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman who reported seeing a toddler alongside an interstate before she disappeared and returned home days later, admitted that she was never abducted during the 49 hours she was missing, Hoover, Alabama, police said Monday.
Russell was reported missing off a highway in a Birmingham suburb on the night of July 13 after calling 911 to report a toddler walking along the interstate, according to the Hoover Police Department. She returned home on foot on July 15.
In a press briefing on Monday, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said the department received a letter from Russell’s attorney saying she was never taken and that her report of a missing child on an interstate during a 911 call was false.
The letter said that no one assisted Russell in fabricating her story and that she apologizes to the community, searchers, police and her family for her mistake, Derzis said.
Derzis said that police are unaware of Russell’s motivation. He told reporters that the district attorney will decide whether Russell faces any criminal charges for the hoax.
“The sad thing is again there were so many people that were involved [and] took this thing very seriously. We wanted the focus to be bring her home. She got home. We’re very excited about that. It is what it is,” Derzis said. “The facts last Wednesday pretty much show that we knew it a hoax.”
Carlee RussellWatch Carlee Russell press conference’s replay as police give update on missing Alabama woman
MissingAmericans are fixating on Carlee Russell. What about other missing Black women?
The investigation will still continue as police have yet to determine where Russell was during those 49 hours, Derzis said.
“I am glad that we received this. It at least puts some of the social media ‘super-sleuths’ hopefully to rest for a little bit as far as the conjecture of what everyone thinks took place,” Derzis said.
At last week’s press briefing, Derzis played a recording of the 911 call during the conference that showed Russell reporting the sighting of the boy. However, Derzis said they did not receive reports of a missing child in that area and that Carlee’s 911 call remains the only timely report of a child on the interstate.
“I think it’s a little boy,” Russell told the 911 operator. “It’s a white t-shirt it doesn’t look like he has any pants on. It looks like a diaper.”
