Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell seemed to vanish on 13 July after calling 911 to report she had seen a toddler walking on the side of Interstate 459 in Alabama.
The 25-year-old told dispatch she stopped her car to check on the child, and called a family member before losing contact, according to the Hoover Police Department.
By the time officers arrived five minutes later, Ms Russell had seemingly disappeared, with her car engine still running, and the toddler was nowhere to be found.
Law enforcement and family members mounted a desperate search for the missing woman and pleaded with the public for help.
Then just over 48 hours later, police were notified that Ms Russell had returned home on foot.
She told detectives that she had been kidnapped by a white man with “orange hair”, and held captive in a semi-truck trailer and house before escaping.
However, less than two weeks after making headlines for a harrowing tale of disappearance, child neglect, and kidnapping, the Alabama woman admitted on 24 July it was all a lie.
Here’s what we know about her disappearance so far – and the questions that remain unanswered:
What happened?
Ms Russell left work at The Woodhouse Spa in the Summit, a luxury shopping mall in Birmingham, at about 8.20pm on 13 July, according to the Hoover Police Department.
She stopped for food at Taziki’s in the nearby Colonnade mall to pick up food for herself and her mother, and then drove south onto Interstate 459, according to AL.com.
At 9.34pm, she called 911 to report coming across a young boy aged three or four in diapers walking along the side of the highway near mile marker 11. She then phoned her brother’s girlfriend to say she was stopping to check on the child. Ms Russell lost contact with the relative, although the line remained open.
Carlee Russell vanished after she falsely reported seeing a toddler walking on the side of an Alabama highway— (Hoover Police Department)
The girlfriend then heard what they thought was someone scream, followed by traffic noise from the interstate, according to AL.com.
According to police, traffic cameras caught Ms Russell stopping at the side of the road.
The child was not sighted on the footage, and authorities haven’t received any other reports of a missing child, Hoover Police Department said in statement last week.
When police officers arrived, they found her red Mercedes still running and belongings including a wig, phone, Apple Watch and purse, but no sign of her or the toddler, her mother Talitha Russell said.
Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies joined family and friends in the frantic search.
It would soon be revealed they were searching for a woman who wasn’t really missing, but not before the Alabama woman shared a harrowing story with police.
Carlee Russell returns home
Early on Saturday evening (15 July), police were dispatched to the Red Roof Inn in Vestavia Hills after receiving reports of a sighting, AL.com reported.
There was no sign of Ms Russell by the time they arrived.
Then at 10.44pm, police received a 911 call to say Ms Russell had showed up at her home on foot.
She was reportedly in a state of shock.
A 911 call sai Carlee Russell was ‘unresponsive but breathing’ when she returned to her home in Hoover, Alabama— (Hoover Police Department)
Police and fire responded, and Ms Russell was taken to UAB Hospital where she was treated for unspecified injuries before being discharged.
While she was in hospital, detectives from Hoover Police Department took an initial statement from her.
Kidnapping claims are made
At a press conference on Wednesday 19 July, Hoover police chief Nicholas Derzis said detectives conducted a brief interview with Ms Russell in hospital, where she claimed to have been abducted by a man with orange hair and a bald spot “who came out of the trees”.
She claimed the man picked her up and forced her into a car, and the next thing she remembered she was in the trailer of an 18-wheeler semi, Mr Derzis said.
Ms Russell told police that she heard a woman and a baby in the semi, but didn’t see them.
She claimed to have escaped from the trailer, before being recaptured and taken to a house, where her alleged captors forced her to undress and pose for photographs.
She told detectives she was placed in a car, and was able to escape and flee into woods and came out near her home.
Detectives noted she had a minor injury in her lip, and a torn shirt. They also found $107 in cash tucked in her right sock.
“Out of respect for Carlee and her family, detectives did not press for additional information in this interview, and made plans to speak with her in detail after giving her time to rest,” Mr Derzis said following her return.
The Secret Service analysed her phone and computers, and found internet searches that are “very relevant to this case,” Mr Derzis said.
On July 11, Ms Russell searched: “Do you have to pay for amber alert or search.”
On the day of her alleged abduction, she searched “how to take money from a register without being caught”. She also searched for a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville departing that day, Mr Derzis said.
She searched for Taken, a 2008 thriller about an abduction starring Liam Neeson.
“There were other searches on Carlee’s phone that appear to shed some light on her mindset, but out of respect to her privacy we will not be releasing the content of those searches at this time,” the police chief said.
On Sunday, Ms Russell’s boyfriend Thomar Latrell Simmons claimed that she had barely survived her ordeal after being kidnapped.
“She was literally fighting for her life for 48 hours, so until she’s physically & mentally stable again she is not able to give any updates or whereabouts on her kidnapper at this very moment,” Mr Simmons wrote.
Carlee Russell’s family had backed her claim she was abducted after stopping to help a toddler – which later turned out to be untrue— (Hoover Police Department)
Mr Simmons added that he had been searching for Ms Russell “nonstop” since he was notified of her disappearance.
He said there had been “false allegations & assumptions” that he had something to do with her abduction, adding he hadn’t let the rumours distract him.
Mr Simmons thanked the family, friends and fellow churchgoers for their help.
“All I (ask) from everyone right now is to be respectful of Carlee’s situation.”
The truth emerges: Carlee Russell was making false claims
As the search for Ms Russell continued, police began airing their doubts about the Alabama woman’s story.
At a press conference last week, Hoover police revealed Ms Russell drove 600 yards (548m) along an Alabama interstate while on the phone to a 911 operator claiming that she was following a lost toddler.
Data from Ms Russell’s cellphone showed she had driven the length of six football fields while talking to police dispatch, Hoover Police Department chief Derzis said during the press conference.
“To think that a toddler, barefoot, that could be three or four years old is going to travel six football fields without getting on the roadway, without crying ... it’s very hard for me to understand,” Mr Derzis said.
“Carlee’s 911 call remains the only report of a child on the interstate, despite numerous vehicles passing through the area at that time,” he said.
“We don’t see anyone on the interstate other than her car, and then someone getting out of her driver’s side.”
These doubts were confirmed on 24 July, when Alabama police said Ms Russell had admitted in a statement from her lawyer to lying about the whole affair.
Thomar Latrell Simmons claimed his girlfriend Carlee Russell had been kidnapped and barely survived— (Facebook / Thomar Latrell Simmons)
“There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13. My client did not see a baby on the side of the road,” according to a statement from Ms Russell’s lawyer. “My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well, as to her friends and family.”
“My client did not see a baby on the side of the road,” the statement continued. “My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person. My client did not have any help in this incident, but this was a single act done by herself.”
The Alabama woman asked the public for forgiveness and prayers as she continues to “address her issues.”
Will Carlee Russell face charges?
Section 13A-10-9 of the Alabama criminal code states that making a false report to law enforcement, knowingly, is a Class A misdemeanour.
“This was an elaborate deal. When you talk about calling 911,” Chief Derzis said at a press conference on 24 July. “The sad thing is there were so many people involved and took this thing very, very seriously and, again, we wanted the focus to be to bring her home and she got home ... It is what it is. We know that it was a hoax.”
The Alabama official added that Ms Russell could face charges.
On 25 July, Ms Russell’s attorney Emery Anthony met with detectives to discuss her case.
Following the roughly 20-minute meeting, he said that he is expecting charges to be filed against her.
“It was a great meeting; It was a short meeting,” he told local news station WDHN.
“We tried to identify some things about where we go from here. There’s responsibilities that we need to take care of.”
He said that the goal of the probe is three-fold: to make sure their client is taken care of and “dealing with her issues,” to make sure that the City of Hoover feels “comfortable and safe,” and to get to the “end game,” the station reported.
He said that she could be charged as soon as 26 July though it is not clear what those charges may be.
Who is Carlee Russell?
Ms Russell lives with her parents in Hoover, a fast-growing suburb on the southern outskirts of Birmingham.
She worked part time at The Woodhouse Spa and was also a student at Jefferson State Community College, where she was studying to be a nurse, according to AL.com.
On the day she went “missing,” Ms Russell had spent time with officers from Harpersville Police Department, according to a Facebook post on Friday asking for help finding her.
“We were honored to spend time with this smart, courteous and honoring young woman yesterday,” the department said on social media.
“She was handling some business in the Town of Harpersville yesterday and we were so impressed by her respect, poise, good attitude and her drive to become a nursing student and help others.”
The police department later issued an update after its initial post led to the spread of unfounded rumours.
“For clarification, Ms Russell was not at the Harpersville Police Department,” they later added. “Contrary to the stigma, we consistently encounter citizens while engaging the community and those occasions are primarily positive.”
