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Alabama police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of a woman who vanished from the side of an interstate after calling 911 to report seeing a toddler there.
Carlee Russell, 25, was reported missing not long after calling 911 on Thursday night to report that she saw a toddler on the side of Interstate 459 in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham, and was stopping to check on him.
Police said she was home safe on Saturday night, but have yet to release details about what happened to Russell or where she was. Her boyfriend said on Instagram that she had been kidnapped and was "fighting for her life" for the two days she was missing.
In a statement provided to Newsweek, Hoover police said detectives "are combing through numerous pieces of evidence collected from the time she went missing until her return home and beyond.
"Each piece of information is helping investigators reconstruct Carlee's movements during the time she was missing."
Police added: "This is a tedious process, but it is important to make sure everything is methodically evaluated so that we have the clearest possible picture of what took place from the time Carlee called 911 until she returned home Saturday night."
Among the evidence is traffic camera footage that shows part of the incident, police said.
That footage is "still being analyzed as part of the investigation in conjunction with the 911 call to accurately determine the timeframe," police said in a news release on Monday evening.
They also provided details that fill out the timeline.
They said Russell left work at The Summit mall in Birmingham at 8:20 p.m. to travel to The Colonnade, another mall, to pick up food she had ordered. Police said it appears that she was alone during that time and there was no evidence to suggest she was being followed.
They said she spoke to people she knew on her cellphone up until calling 911 at 9:34 p.m.
Police said during the 911 call, Russell reported seeing a male toddler in a diaper on the side of the interstate and was stopping to check on him. Two minutes later, police say she called a relative and told them the same thing. She went missing during that conversation, police said.
Hoover police officers arrived on the scene within five minutes of being dispatched, police said. They found Russell's wig, cellphone and purse—with her Apple Watch inside—on the road near her vehicle.
Russell's mother, Talitha Russell, told AL.com that her daughter was on the phone with her brother's girlfriend, who didn't hear a child but did hear Russell scream.
Police said Russell's 911 call was the only timely report of a child on the interstate.
At around 10:45 p.m. on Saturday, police were alerted that Russell has returned home on foot. She was taken to a hospital to be evaluated, and released on Sunday.
Police said detectives went to Russell's home and the hospital to take a statement from her.
Details from that statement are part of the ongoing investigation, police said. Police said detectives had been able to retrace almost all of Russell's steps up until the point she went missing.
The Hoover Police Department said the updates on Monday contain all the information they can currently release. "As the investigation continues, we will release information that is determined to be factual and pertinent to the public when appropriate to do so," police said.
Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant who is now a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, told Newsweek that he believes there is "nothing off the table" in Russell's case.
"It wouldn't be unusual for somebody to try to pull a ruse in order to get somebody's attention and then be able to kidnap them," Giacalone said about the possibility that Russell was abducted.
"We just know so little about the situation. But I think from the huge response we saw about trying to locate her, all the news press conferences and everything else, and then, now all of a sudden, she's home, she seems to be OK, she went to the hospital and now nothing else after that—I just find it very unusual."
Russell's mother posted a statement on Facebook on Sunday afternoon, saying her daughter is safe and thanking supporters. But her statement did not shed any light on what happened when Russell went missing.
She asked for privacy "to allow us to just love on our daughter and each other with our close family and friends. Also, please consider the fact we have not slept for three nights and we are mentally and physically exhausted."
Newsweek has contacted the Hoover Police Department for further comment via email.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more