Carlee Russell is being honest with us.
The 26-year-old has acknowledged that her 49-hour abduction along an Alabama highway did not result from a kidnapping.
She originally disclosed to the Hoover Police Department that she had been abducted when they spoke to her after her return on July 15. However, Russell’s lawyer, Emory Anthony, gave Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis a statement on her behalf that explained her account, which he read at a press conference on July 24.
The attorney declared, “There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13, 2023. “My client failed to notice a child standing by the side of the road. When she was reported missing, my client remained in the Hoover region.
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Russell’s lawyer added that she didn’t receive “any help” at the time of the incident.
Anthony’s statement went on to say, “This was a solitary act done by herself. “When she went missing, my client was not in a hotel with anyone. The Hoover Police Department, other agencies, the community, the volunteers who helped find my client, and her friends and family, accept my client’s sincere apologies for her acts.
The lawyer ended by requesting prayers for Carlee as she dealt with her problems and made an effort to move on, acknowledging that she had erred in this case. Carlee begs your pardon and prayers once more.
The police chief stated that although a meeting with Russell and her family has yet to be scheduled after her initial statement to detectives, officials have one scheduled with her lawyer for July 25.
Authorities are investigating possible criminal charges in connection with this matter, he continued, adding they will make a public announcement “when and if they are filed.”
Russell vanished after dialing 911 to report seeing a youngster in a nappy by the side of the highway on July 13. She and the claimed youngster could not be found when police arrived at the location. After a protracted search, She finally arrived at her house two days later.
Hoover police already revealed what Russell told the investigators at a press conference.
The chief outlined the woman’s account to detectives, saying, “she told them that while driving down the interstate, she saw a baby walking down the side of the road and called 911.” She reported that a man emerged from the trees and murmured that he was checking on the infant as she stepped out of the car to check on the child.
She stated that the man grabbed her after she shouted, and the speaker continued. She claimed he forced her to cross a fence after that. She claimed that after being pushed into a car, she last remembered being in an 18-wheeler trailer.
She allegedly ran “through lots of woods until she came out near her residence,” according to police after Russell described how she allegedly escaped captivity.
Authorities discovered that she had Googled terms connected to abduction before going missing, but they could not confirm her account of events.
Carlee Russell is being honest with us.
According to police, she looked up “do you have to pay for an amber alert or search” and “how to take money from a register without being caught” during the two days before she vanished. She also looked up “Birmingham bus station,” “one way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville,” and the Liam Neeson movie Taken.
Derzis added that further searches were made on Carlee’s phone that “appear to shed some light on her mindset,” but “out of respect for her privacy, we will not be releasing the content of those searches at this time.”
Thomas Latrell Simmons, her boyfriend, recently intervened to ask that people “think about her mental health” and refrain from making remarks.
On July 22, he told The New York Post, “The only thing I can say is, I want everyone to stop bullying her.” “I am aware of what she seems to have done. Just put an end to cyberbullying.
She doesn’t deserve that, Simmons continued. She refuses. Nobody should experience cyberbullying.
SOURCE – (AP)
