Alabama investigators “pretty much” knew that Carlee Russell was lying about being kidnapped when they held a press conference last week laying out the suspicious timeline of her disappearance earlier this month, according to the local police chief.
Russell, a 25-year-old nursing student, admitted Monday that she fabricated the story about her kidnapping, which made national headlines and led to a 49-hour manhunt across the state.
"It is what it is,” Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis told local WVTM 13. “The fact that I think last Wednesday pretty much showed that we knew that it was a hoax.”
The Hoover woman vanished after she called 911 late the night of July 13 and reported seeing a toddler walking alone alongside I-495. She later told police that when she went to check on the supposed child, a man then “came out of the trees” and kidnapped her.
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HOOVER (AL) POLICE DEPARTMENT
After two days, Russell reappeared on foot back at home and only gave a brief statement to police explaining her disappearance, while her family maintained on social media and in a televised interview they couldn’t provide more details because of the ongoing investigation.
But police couldn’t find evidence of a missing child being seen by anyone else along the interstate, and detectives soon pieced together the timeline of events leading up to Russell’s disappearance.
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HOOVER (AL) POLICE DEPARTMENT
Investigators uncovered surveillance footage showing Russell sneaking toilet paper and a robe from her job the night she claimed she was kidnapped. They also found evidence she stocked up on snacks at Target before calling 911, while her internet search history in the days leading up to her disappearance showed she was looking up information about Amber Alerts, local bus tickets for the night she went missing, as well as the movie Taken.
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Police say they’re now discussing whether to file charges against Russell, who asked for forgiveness in a statement through her 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,” Russell’s attorney Emory Anthony told reporters this week.
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Thomar Latrell Simmons/Instagram
Meanwhile, Russell’s now-ex boyfriend Thomar Latrell Simmons is speaking out about being duped, criticizing his former girlfriend for causing “hurt, confusion, and dishonesty.”
”I was made aware of the false narrative after coming to the defense of my ex Carlee Russell,” he wrote on Instagram. “Myself and my family’s nature was to react in love, and genuine concern. We are disgusted from the outcome of this entire situation. I strongly feel exactly like you all, blindsided with Carlee’s actions.”