HOOVER, ALABAMA: Hoover Police have shared more information on the abduction claim of Carlee Russell, who went missing for 49 hours and returned home with a bizarre story of being kidnapped by a man with orange hair and a bald spot. Chief Nick Derzis shared some of the evidence gathered by investigators, which suggests that Carlee may have planned her own disappearance.
Derzis, who addressed the media on Wednesday, as per TMZ said Carlee was seen on surveillance video leaving her work, on July 13, the day of her disappearance, taking a robe and toilet paper with her. She then ordered food and stopped at a Target to buy granola bars and Cheez-Its.
Is Carlee Russell’s abduction a hoax?
From there, Derzis said Carlee drove away, making a 911 call on her way to report she saw a child on the side of the freeway. He played the 911 call in full, where you hear Carlee say it appears the child was three or four years old and walking in a diaper. However, Derzis said his officers arrived within five minutes of Carlee’s call – and she was nowhere to be seen – she was also the only person to report the child on the side of the road … despite it being an area with lots of traffic. "The Hoover Police Department has not located any evidence of a toddler walking down the interstate," the police department also shared in a previously shared press release.
Officers found Carlee’s phone, wig, and the food she ordered in her car but said the Target items, robe, and toilet paper she’d taken from her work were missing. Derzis said detectives were able to briefly talk to Carlee who claimed when she got out of the car to help the young child and a man with orange hair and a bald spot came out of the woods, grabbed her, and led her over a fence and into an 18-wheeler trailer. Carlee as per the report told cops at one point she managed to escape the trailer, and she was put in a car, blindfolded, and taken to a house where she said she was forced to undress and the man and a female accomplice – who Carlee said she never saw – took photos.
Is Carlee Russell’s abduction a hoax?
Derzis as per the publication said Carlee told them she was finally able to escape when she was loaded into another car – running through the woods until eventually reaching her family home. But, what makes Carlee’s story even more doubtful is that Derzis also revealed some searches Carlee did on her phone in the days and even hours before her disappearance. These included, “Do you have to pay for an Amber Alert?” “How to take money from a register without getting caught?” “Birmingham bus station?” 'One-way bus ticket Birmingham to Nashville' and also the movie 'Taken' about being abducted.
Derzis as per TMZ said there were also searches Carlee did on her phone that showed her state of mind before the disappearance – but he wasn’t going to share those out of respect for her family. In the end, Derzis said they still need to do some work to find out exactly where Carlee went during the 49 hours she was gone … but claimed there’s no risk to public safety … aka she was never abducted.
