Carlee Russell admitted she did not see a toddler wandering on the side of the highway and lied about being kidnapped in a hoax that set off a nationwide effort to find her, an attorney for the Alabama woman said Monday.
Hoover Police Chief Nicholas C. Derzis read the statement provided by Russell’s attorney during a news conference, in which the 25-year-old nursing student said she was not abducted as the nation was led to believe when she disappeared July 13. Russell said she had not left the Hoover area.
She returned home about 49 hours after a call to 911 reporting seeing the child on the interstate.
“My client apologizes for her actions to this community, to the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well,” the statement said.
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Russell was scheduled to be interviewed by police with her attorney Monday, but the department was provided with the statement instead, Derzis said. The department is hoping to reschedule the interview and speak to Russell for more information.
“We’re still trying to determine where those where she was those during those 49 hours but I am glad that we received this at least puts some of the social media super sleuths hopefully at rest for a little bit as far as … what everybody thinks took place,” Derzis said.
“We know that that by her own admission, it didn’t happen,” the chief added.
The police department is consulting with the district attorney’s office regarding potential criminal charges, according to Derzis.
Russell disappeared after she called 911 just after 9:30 p.m. to report having seen a toddler on Interstate 459 South, Hoover police said. She had also called a relative to report having seen the child and said she was going to help the child before the relative lost contact with her, police said.
Authorities had said they were unable to verify initial statements made by Russell after she returned home two days later.
Investigators, with assistance from Secret Service, analyzed Russell’s cellphone for the days leading up to her disappearance.
Officials did say that before she vanished, she made internet searches about paying for Amber Alerts, how to take money from a register without getting caught and the movie “Taken.”
Police also said Russell told them she was forced into an 18-wheeler truck and taken to a home where a man and a woman told her to get undressed and then took photos of her.
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