Carlee Russell made.
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.Carlee Russell made.
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. Carlee Russell made.
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. Carlee Russell made.
“I do think it’s highly unusual the day that someone gets kidnapped that seven hours, eight hours before that, that they’re searching the internet, Googling the movie Taken about an abduction,” Derzis said. “I find that very strange. Carlee Russell made.
