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By SUDHIN THANAWALA Related Press
Authorities in Alabama forged doubt Wednesday on the story of a girl who set off a frantic search when she disappeared for 2 days after calling 911 to report a toddler wandering on the freeway. Carlee Russell informed investigators she was kidnapped and compelled right into a automotive Thursday, however they’ve been unable to confirm her account, police mentioned.
The 25-year-old’s return dwelling Saturday prompted intense hypothesis about the place she had been and what had occurred to her.
Carlee Russell’s mom, Talitha Russell, informed NBC’s “At present” present on Tuesday that her daughter was kidnapped and fought for her life when she disappeared.
However Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis forged doubt on that account at a information convention, saying detectives have been nonetheless investigating her whereabouts, however had to this point been “unable to confirm most of Carlee’s preliminary assertion.”
She informed detectives she was taken by a person who got here out of the timber when she stopped to examine on the kid, put in a automotive and an 18-wheel truck, blindfolded and held at a house the place a girl fed her cheese crackers, Derzis mentioned. In some unspecified time in the future, Carlee Russell mentioned she was put in a automobile once more however managed to flee and run by the woods to her neighborhood.
Within the days earlier than her disappearance, she looked for data on her cellphone about Amber Alerts, a film a couple of girl’s abduction and a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham, Alabama, to Nashville, Tennessee, departing the day she disappeared. Her telephone additionally confirmed she traveled about 600 yards whereas telling a 911 operator she was following a 3- or 4-year-old youngster in a diaper on the facet of the freeway, Derzis mentioned. She has not talked to investigators a second time.
“I do assume it’s extremely uncommon the day that somebody will get kidnapped that seven or eight hours earlier than that they’re looking out the web, Googling the film ‘Taken’ about an abduction,” Derzis mentioned. “I discover that very, very unusual.”
Her household informed police she was traumatized and never prepared to speak once more, he mentioned.
“As you possibly can see, there are various questions left to be answered, however solely Carlee can present these solutions,” he mentioned, later including, “We wish to know the reality.”
Talitha Russell informed “At present” her daughter was not in a “good state” when she bought again and wanted medical care. She mentioned her daughter gave detectives an announcement so they might “proceed to pursue her abductor.”
“There have been moments when she bodily needed to struggle for her life, and there have been moments when she needed to mentally struggle for her life,” Talitha Russell mentioned.
Police mentioned Tuesday that detectives didn’t uncover any proof of a toddler strolling on the interstate. Surveillance video from the Russells’ neighborhood confirmed Carlee Russell strolling down the sidewalk alone earlier than arriving at her dwelling. She was acutely aware and speaking when first responders arrived, and later handled and launched from a hospital, police mentioned.
Police have mentioned Carlee Russell known as a 911 operator Thursday evening after which a relative and informed each of them she noticed a toddler in a diaper on the facet of Interstate 459 and was stopping to examine on him. Police performed the 911 name at Wednesday’s information convention.
When officers arrived on the location, they discovered her automotive, cellphone and wig however have been unable to seek out her or a baby within the space.
Talitha Russell informed al.com final week that her daughter was headed dwelling after leaving work and stopping to get meals. Carlee Russell was on the telephone together with her brother’s girlfriend after they misplaced contact.
“My son’s girlfriend heard her asking the kid, ‘Are you OK?’ She by no means heard the kid say something however then she heard our daughter scream,’’ Talitha Russell mentioned. “From there, all you hear on her telephone is background noise from the interstate.”
A single witness reported presumably seeing a grey automobile and a person standing exterior Carlee Russell’s automobile, police have mentioned.
Police mentioned Tuesday that she additionally stopped for snacks on the best way dwelling, however not one of the meals was present in her automotive or together with her cellphone and wig.
Hoover is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Birmingham.
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