Carlee Russell told 911 dispatcher she'd stay on Interstate until officers arrived, new call recording shows
Carlee Russell told a 911 dispatcher that she'd stay on the Interstate until police officers arrived, new audio of the call released by police shows. (Hoover Police Department)
HOOVER, Ala. – A former homicide detective said that the movement of Carlee Russell's vehicle during the 911 call reporting a toddler on the Interstate does not make any sense.
Russell, 25, went missing on July 13 after calling 911 to report a toddler who was apparently walking on the side of Interstate 459 South near Birmingham, Alabama, around 9:24 p.m., according to the Hoover Police Department.
After the 911 call, Russell called a relative and stopped talking but the line "remained open," according to police. She returned home around 10:45 p.m. on July 15 and was taken to a hospital before being released.
During a press conference Wednesday, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said that Russell traveled "six football fields" – or 600 yards – during her 911 call in which she said she was following a 3 to 4-year-old child who was walking along the side of the interstate in a diaper.
The Hoover Police Department said in a press release that 25-year-old Carlethia "Carlee" Nichole Russell called 911 at 9:34 p.m. Thursday to report a child that she saw walking on the side of Interstate 459 South near Birmingham, Alabama. (Hoover Police Department)
Officials obtained the data by using the Life 360 application on Russell's cellphone.
By the time police arrived, Russell was no longer at the scene, but several personal belongings were still in the car, which was running.
"That child would have had to have been an Olympic runner to have run six football fields," former Washington, D.C., Homicide Detective Ted Williams told Fox News Digital. "That doesn't make any sense whatsoever."
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The Hoover Police Department said in a press release that 25-year-old Carlethia "Carlee" Nichole Russell called 911 at 9:34 p.m. Thursday to report a child she saw walking on the side of Interstate 459 South near Birmingham, Alabama. (Dana Mixer for Fox News Digital)
He added that Russell will likely be charged with a crime after the disappearance.
"The possibilities are high that she will be charged with some kind of a criminal offense. If nothing else, other than making a false report to law enforcement," Williams said. "You must think about the amount of money that was used or to investigate this matter. And remember, the investigation is still ongoing. And so you're talking about using a lot of resources to investigate something that appears as of now to be a hoax."
Hoover, Alabama police are reviewing traffic camera video from I-459 that shows Carlee Russell's car, seen driving slowly in the emergency lane with warning lights, pull over before she went missing July 13. (Courtesy: Hoover Police Department/TCA)
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam also told Fox News Digital that Russell should be charged.
"If they find out that she lied about this, she should, at a minimum, be charged for all the costs of the investigation for basically manufacturing this entire thing, which is a felony," Gilliam said. "It's no different than making up a story that your daughter disappeared or that somebody disappeared and wasting the time and effort and money of law enforcement."
Prior to her disappearance, Derzis said that Russell made several "highly unusual" searches online.
He said that Russell searched "do you have to pay for an Amber Alert" on July 11 at 7:30 a.m. On July 13 at 1:03 a.m., Russell searched "how to take money from a register without being caught," he said.
Russell also searched for the movie "Taken" on July 13 at 12:10 p.m., he said. "Taken" is a movie about a retired CIA agent who travels around Europe to save his daughter who was kidnapped while on a trip to Paris, according to IMDB.
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Derzis said it's "highly unusual" for someone who gets kidnapped to have searched for the movie "Taken" just hours before.
At 2:35 a.m. on July 13, she searched for a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville, Tennessee, with the departure date being July 13.
Russell also allegedly used a work computer to search for the "maximum age of an Amber Alert."
