The Alabama woman who went missing for two days last week searched online for information about Amber Alerts, local bus tickets, and the abduction-based action movie Taken before her disappearance, police say.
The insight was one of many details authorities shared during a Wednesday afternoon press conference where they provided the fullest account yet of what occurred in the puzzling incident that’s grabbed national attention.
Carlee Russell, a 25-year-old nursing student, disappeared on Thursday after calling 911 and her brother’s girlfriend to report seeing a toddler wandering along the side of the road.
Police say they still have no evidence of a missing toddler, nor any reports of such a sighting by other drivers along the busy stretch of road.
First responders who arrived at the scene minutes after the 911 call found Russell’s car as well as her personal belongings, including her wig, cellphone, and purse — but no Russell.
Then on Saturday, about 49 hours after her initial disappearance, Russell returned home
According to Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis, Russell told detectives after she reappeared that she had been kidnapped and held by two people until she was able to escape.
But Derzis shared other information that cast doubt on Russell’s account and said investigators haven’t yet been granted permission to interview her.
“There are many questions left to be answered, but only Carlee can provide those answers,” Derzis said. “What we can say is that we’ve been unable to verify most of Carlee’s initial statement made to investigators, and we have no reason to believe that there is a threat to the public safety related to this particular case.”
Russell made abduction-related internet searches before her disappearance
On July 11, two days before she went missing, Russell used her cell phone to search whether you have to pay for an Amber Alert.
The day she went missing, Russell searched for information about the bus station in Birmingham, which is about 10 miles from Hoover. She also searched for a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville.
She also searched for the movie Taken and how to take money from a register without being caught on the day she vanished, too.
According to Derzis, it is exceedingly unusual for someone to be exploring the internet or watching the movie Taken about an abduction seven to eight hours before they are taken. “I find that to be very strange.”
Derzis claimed that although investigators discovered other online searches that seemed to shed light on Russell’s mental state, authorities were keeping them confidential out of respect for her privacy. Two online searches about Amber Alerts were also made on a computer at her place of employment.
Investigators also discovered Russell traveled 600 yards along the roadway while speaking with the 911 operator thanks to cell phone records.
Since I’ve always been one of these men who never says never, she said it, and I’m not saying it can’t happen, Derzis added. “It’s just very hard for me to imagine that a toddler, who could be three or four years old, will walk barefoot six football fields without getting in the way or crying,” the speaker said.
Russell claimed to have been kidnapped and had her eyes covered
Derzis claims that after arriving home on Saturday night, Russell told police that she had been abducted by a man who had appeared from the nearby trees as she got out to check on the child.
She claimed that the man scooped her up; she described him as having orange hair and a bald area. She claimed that after screaming, he pushed her into a car and over a fence. She claimed that the next thing she recalled was being in an 18-wheeler trailer.
Russell reported hearing a baby sobbing and the voice of an adult female.
Her hands weren’t bound because her kidnappers didn’t want to leave marks on her wrists after they apprehended her after she managed to escape the 18-wheeler and fled on foot.
Russell claimed that she was taken to a residence and had to strip off; she believes that her kidnappers snapped pictures of her, though she has no recollection of any physical or sexual interaction.
Russell informed authorities that when she awoke the following morning, her female kidnapper had fed her cheese crackers and had also toyed with her hair.
She claimed she was put in a car once more but managed to escape, going through the woods till she came out close to her house.
She had a slight lip injury and a tear in her shirt, and detectives found $107 in cash in her right sock.
More information concerning what happened prior to Russell’s disappearance was disclosed by the police
Late Tuesday night, officials released a statement saying Russell bought snacks at Target shortly before going missing but that they weren’t found with her other belongings.
During the press conference, Derzis noted that, before her disappearance, Russell also left her workplace with a dark-colored bathrobe, a roll of toilet paper, and other items — none of which were found at the scene.
Authorities at the press conference also played Russell’s 911 call, in which she describes seeing a white male toddler in a diaper.
Police added that surveillance video from Russell’s neighborhood on Saturday shows her walking down the sidewalk alone before returning home.
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