A 26-year-old nursing student in Alabama who claimed she was abducted after seeing a toddler along the highway admitted on Monday that she made up the whole story.
Carlee Russell claimed she was abducted on July 13 after stopping to check on a toddler at 9:30 p.m. She showed up at her parents’ house 49 hours later and told police she had been kidnapped, telling an elaborate story about fighting for freedom.
Still, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis read a statement Monday from Russell’s attorney in which she admitted she fabricated the story.
“There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13,” he said.
“Carlee again asks for your forgiveness and prayers.”
Derzis said police are continuing to work on the case and prosecutors are still deciding whether to pursue criminal charges.
There was no indication of any motive for her disappearance, or any information as to where she was for 49 hours. She said in the statement that she was alone.
Carlee Russell, the Alabama nursing student who claimed she was abducted after seeing a toddler along the highway, admitted she made up the whole story
Nick Dervis, the Hoover Police Chief, is pictured Monday revealing that Russell confessed to fabricating her kidnapping story
Russell stopped cooperating with police after returning home, but initially told police she was taken by a white man with “orange hair” who appeared from the trees on the side of I-459 after seeing a “baby boy in a diaper” walking down the road around 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
On Wednesday, Derzis said they could not confirm Russell’s story and wanted to speak to her to clarify details.
She refused to sit down for a second interview.
It also turned out that Russell was researching the Liam Neeson movie “Taken” and whether she was too old for an Amber Alert, and looking for a one-way bus ticket to Nashville.
Her boyfriend, Thomar Simmons, was initially among those frantically looking for her and expressed relief when she showed up – but after Wednesday’s press conference, he erased all traces of her on social media.
Russell’s family would not have been aware of her plan.
On July 17, the day after she returned to her parents’ house, they recalled finding Russell in a “bad shape.”
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
Russell disappeared off a highway sparking a nationwide manhunt that ended 49 hours later when she returned to her parents’ home alone
Police in Hoover, Alabama, said on July 19 that they had found no evidence to support those claims
“She fought for her life,” said her father Carlos, a VP of underwriting for BBVA bank.
Russell left work at Woodhouse Spa in Birmingham, Alabama, around 8:20 p.m. Thursday after stealing a bathrobe and toilet paper.
She then stopped to pick up food for her and her mother.
Russell traveled to Hoover and called 911 around 9:30 p.m. to report the missing child wandering along Interstate 459.
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 said they have never received any other calls from anyone missing a small child.
Two days later, Russell returned to her family’s home alone.
Derzis said it appeared there was a significant amount of planning involved.
“This was an elaborate deal, when you talk about calling 911 and saying there was a kid on the highway,” he said Monday.
Derzis could not say how much the 49-hour search had cost, or if she would have to pay back the money.
For several days, large numbers of volunteers, uniformed officers, and K-9 teams with helicopter support searched for Russell.