Cars line Carlee Russell’s home on her birthday weekend as police continue to investigate her kidnapping claims
On Sunday, just a day after her 26th birthday, cars were seen lining up outside Carlee Russell’s Alabama home.
There was no official word on why all the cars were at the house of the woman who has become a central player in a missing person case that has captivated the nation.
A dozen cars lined the driveway and around the house, drawing the attention of Hoover, Alabama police, who drove past the house as people entered and exited.
Police said Russell has deferred additional requests to re-interview her about her alleged July 13 disappearance. Russell disappeared after calling 911 to report a toddler wandering along an Alabama highway.
That sparked a national hunt for her that ended 49 hours later when she returned to her family’s home.
authorities they say no evidence found to confirm the woman’s claims and are now investigating her story.
Cars piled up in the driveway of Russell’s Hoover, Alabama, home on Sunday over her birthday weekend
Friends and family gathered at Russell’s Alabama home on Sunday, just a day after her 26th birthday
Police in Hoover, Alabama are investigating claims that Russell was kidnapped on July 13 and have said they have found no evidence to support those claims
Russell claimed her left work around 8:20 p.m. on July 13 before stopping to pick up food for her and her mother.
She then traveled to Hoover and called 911 around 9:30 p.m. to report that the missing child was wandering on the side of the Alabama Interstate.
After calling 911, Russell reportedly called her sister-in-law to tell her she was going to check on the child. The family member lost contact with her at around 9:36 p.m., but the line remained open.
Responding officers found Russell’s abandoned car along with her cell phone, her purse, wig, and apple watch nearby, but no sign of her or a child.
Hoover police later said they had not received any other calls from a missing child.
A witness reported possibly seeing a gray vehicle and a man standing outside Carlee’s vehicle, but police said they have no additional information.
After showing up at her parents’ house two days later, Carlee told detectives she had been kidnapped by an orange-haired man who held her captive for two days.
She was then able to escape, Russell claims.
The nursing student is said to be cooperating with authorities now, but police said they have found no evidence of a toddler on the side of the road, nor of the abduction story she told them.
That has led some to accuse her of faking the entire ordeal.
Russell was reported missing on July 13, after she made a bizarre call to 911 claiming she had found a toddler on the side of a highway
People were seen entering and exiting the suburban property on Sunday. Russell returned home safely on July 15 claiming she had been kidnapped
Three Hoover Police Department cars also drove past the family’s suburban home as police continue to investigate Russell’s story
An unidentified man is pictured outside Carlee Russell’s Hoover home on Sunday
The nursing student told detectives she was kidnapped by an orange-haired man who held her captive for two days. Friends and family are seen outside her suburban home on Sunday
Authorities said on Sunday that the more than $63,000 raised during the two-day search for Russell will not be returned.
Crime Stoppers initially said the money would be returned to the donors when Russell showed up at her family home on July 15.
Now the organization is going back on this promise because the investigation is ‘still ongoing’.
Crime Stoppers announced on Sunday that they will not return the more than $63,000 raised during the two-day search for Russell
“This investigation is still ongoing and therefore there is no reason to refund contributions at this time,” the organization writes.
“In addition, the Hoover Police Department has not asked for any release or refund of donor contributions.”
The announcement served as an abrupt reversal of a statement from the agency’s executive director, Bob Copus, just hours earlier, saying an undetermined number of donations had already been reimbursed amid lingering doubts about the legitimacy of the case.
Other payments, he said, were refunded — if that’s what the individual donor requested.
As of Sunday, it was not clear how much of the money was actually returned.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Hoover Police Department for comment.
Russell disappeared off a highway, sparking a nationwide manhunt for her, which ended days later when she returned to her home alone.
Russell’s friend Thomar Lattrel Simmons – who initially asked for help on Facebook to find the missing woman – seems to have distanced himself from his lover.
Following a Hoover Police Department press conference on July 19 — two days after the Crimestoppers announcements — Thomar deleted all mentions of Carlee from his Instagram and Facebook accounts.
He has not only deleted his posts about her disappearance, but also deleted all photos of her and them together.
Simmons pleaded Saturday for people to “stop bullying” the nursing student.
“All I can say is I want everyone to stop bullying her. I know what it looks like what she did. Just stop bullying on social media,” friend Thomar Lattrel Simmons told the New York Post.
“Think about her mental health. She doesn’t deserve that. She doesn’t. No one deserves to be bullied,” he added.
As for the rest of her family — including a sister-in-law who claimed Russell called her while going after the unattended child — they seemed to swallow her story and repeat it on Monday’s TODAY show after Carlee reappeared at their home with a busted lip.
The 25-year-old was on the phone with her sister-in-law when she went to check on the child before the relative heard a scream and lost contact
On the program, her parents recalled finding Harris in “bad shape.”
“She was fighting for her life,” said her father Carlos, a VP of underwriting for BBVA bank, who also claimed she escaped her captors.
But police have revealed that Russell was researching the Liam Neeson movie “Taken” and whether she was too old for an Amber Alert, and was looking for a one-way bus ticket to Nashville.
On Sunday, the police investigation into the circumstances of Harris’s disappearance was still ongoing.
Filing a false police report in Alabama is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $6,000 fine.
Alabama attorney Eric Guster previously said he expects Carlee to be charged with filing a false police report, but says police are likely waiting to complete their investigation first.
“They can’t force her to make a statement or make a statement. What I think will happen is that Hoover will investigate this case further.
“I expect Carlee will be charged one day, at least for making a false statement. But they have to make sure they complete the full investigation,” he said.