Admitted liar! Carlee Russell’s attorney says client made up entire story
By: Alexandria Green-Jones and Stacy M. Brown / NNPA
The attorney for Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman who dominated national headlines after going missing earlier this month, said she has admitted that she was not kidnapped and did not see a baby on the side of the road.
Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis read a statement from attorney Emory Anthony during a news conference Monday afternoon.
Anthony said the 25-year-old never left the Hoover area and acted alone. She has apologized for her actions.
THE DISAPPEARANCE
On July 13, Carlee called a 911 operator at around 9:24 p.m. saying that she saw a toddler in a diaper along the side of Interstate 459 South near Birmingham, Alabama.
After the 911 call, she called a relative telling them the same thing, then abruptly stopped talking, but the line “remained open.” That relative reported hearing a scream.
And just like that – she was gone – leaving her distraught mother and father pleading for answers on national television interviews and almost everyone around the country praying for her safe return.
Then…two days later, Carlee returned home at around 10:45 p.m. Surveillance video shows her walking down the street in her neighborhood before she banged on her front door.
WHERE WAS SHE?
Investigators said she told them when she got out of her vehicle to check on the child, a man came out of the trees, picked her up, made her go over a fence and forced her into a car. Carlee told detectives that her alleged abductor had orange hair with a bald spot.
She said the next thing she remembered was being in the trailer of an 18-wheeler with a woman and a baby.
She said, when she woke up the next day, the woman fed her cheese crackers and played with her hair.
Carlee said she was eventually able to escape and ran through the woods before coming out near her home.
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THINGS DIDN’T ADD UP
Investigators tracked her movements leading up to her disappearance, and they suggested that some things weren’t quite adding up, laying out a timeline of bizarre occurrences.
The Hoover police captain said that Carlee took a “dark-colored bathrobe, a roll of toilet paper” and other items that belonged to her employer, the Woodhouse Spa Birmingham, at around 8:20 p.m.
Afterward, she ordered food from a Mediterranean Café and picked it up before going to Target, where she bought some granola bars and Cheez-Its….remember those cheese crackers she said her captors fed her?
She remained in the Target parking lot until 9:21 p.m.
Then after the mysterious 911 call happened at 9:24 p.m., police arrived to the scene within five minutes but there was no sign of Carlee or the alleged child.
Carlee’s personal items, including her purse, an Apple Watch and the takeout order were found inside the car.
Her cell phone was located near the car, but the snacks she bought from Target were nowhere to be found.
BIZARRE INTERNET SEARCHES
Investigators also discovered a slew of bizarre searches Carlee made before she vanished.
The police chief said that Carlee searched “do you have to pay for an Amber Alert and the maximum age for an Amber Alert” days before her disappearance, and on the day of the disappearance, she searched “how to take money from a register without being caught.”
She also searched for the movie “Taken,” which is a movie about a retired CIA agent (Liam Neeson) who travels around Europe to save his daughter who was kidnapped while on a trip to Paris.
The police chief did not call Carlee a flat-out liar at the time, but he did say it was “highly unusual” for someone to have searched for the movie “Taken” just hours before she was allegedly kidnapped.
In addition to all of that, early that morning, she searched for a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville with the departure date being July 13.
FALLOUT
CrimeStoppers has reversed its decision to return over $63,000 in donations intended to help find Carlee after her kidnapping story came under scrutiny.
Initially, the organization that offers anonymous tips about criminal activity pledged to return the funds raised during the two-day search for her. CrimeStoppers has now said they’ve decided against it because of the suspicions surrounding her story.
Carlee’s boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons, has pleaded with the public to stop cyberbullying Carlee. He emphasized the importance of considering her mental health and urged people to avoid targeting her online.
Carlee’s her mother, Talitha Robinson-Russell, remained firm in her belief that Carlee was abducted and subsequently returned.
HOW WILL THIS AFFECT OTHER MISSING BLACK WOMEN?
The case has brought attention to the struggles faced by Black families when dealing with missing person cases.
African Americans often encounter delays in police investigations and are sometimes labeled “runaways” immediately.
In contrast, cases involving missing white women and children are urgently treated and receive national attention.
According to 2021 FBI data, Black people account for 31% of missing person reports despite making up only 14% of the US population.
White people represent 54% of such reports and 76% of the population.
Derrica Wilson, co-founder of the Black & Missing Foundation, underscored the significance of not losing sight of the broader picture.
Wilson told CNN that she currently has nearly 6,000 cases of missing Black people in her database, many of which remain unsolved.
She asserted that Carlee’s case is an anomaly and that the focus should remain on helping the countless missing individuals of color who need assistance.
Wilson highlighted that disappearances in the Black community often stem from issues such as human trafficking, domestic violence, and mental health incidents.
Wilson stated that amplifying the cases of missing Black people remains an uphill battle, urging the public to continue raising awareness.
“For our community, we can’t lose sight of the bigger picture,” Wilson said. “We are disappointed that there are inconsistencies with her (Carlee) story, especially when there are a staggering number of people of color who are still missing, and they need our help.”
