Found Alive AL - Carlethia “Carlee” Russell, 25, 911 call reported toddler walking on side of interstate, car found, she & toddler gone, Birmingham, 13 Jul ‘23 #2

[neesaki]

Carlee Russell was 'unresponsive but breathing' 48 hrs after vanishing

Nursing student, Carlee Russell, 25, who went missing from the side of an Alabama interstate returned to her parents home 'unresponsive, but breathing' 48-hours after disappearing.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I haven’t seen this mentioned here before… “unresponsive but breathing”?!?

She was unresponsive, but walking?

 

[NewMommy09]

I personally interpret this as she simply wasn’t responding to questions.

I was a nurse for 10 years, and I have to disagree. Unresponsive on a 911 call generally means the person isn't conscious. It's a specific term used to medically denote the seriousness of someone's condition. And using this term when calling EMS can mean the difference of response times. JMO

Also noting, I worked MDS and Patient Care Plans before leaving my nursing career. I was trained to do mini mental assessments as well as overall nursing assessments. Per all reports I've seen, Carlee appears to have been acting very logically and reasonably, she notified police, notified family she was stopping, used her emergency blinkers to safely pull over etc. I have seen nothing at all to suggest any kind of mental break, let alone to the point of hallucinating and talking to a child who isn't there.
She was able to tell dispatch and family her location.
In assessing a person, a nurse would find out about orientation first. Do they know who they are, where they are, what day and time it is? Carlee appears to be fully orientated to person place and time.
Carlee being a nursing student herself, well that may be why she noticed the child on the road when nobody else seems to have seen one. Assessment skills are highly honed in nursing school and work and you start using them ALL the time, not just at work.
Until I see MSM that says different, I believe Carlee.

 

[Rusty Braincells]

I was a nurse for 10 years, and I have to disagree. Unresponsive on a 911 call generally means the person isn't conscious. It's a specific term used to medically denote the seriousness of someone's condition. And using this term when calling EMS can mean the difference of response times. JMO

Also noting, I worked MDS and Patient Care Plans before leaving my nursing career. I was trained to do mini mental assessments as well as overall nursing assessments. Per all reports I've seen, Carlee appears to have been acting very logically and reasonably, she notified police, notified family she was stopping, used her emergency blinkers to safely pull over etc. I have seen nothing at all to suggest any kind of mental break, let alone to the point of hallucinating and talking to a child who isn't there.
She was able to tell dispatch and family her location.
In assessing a person, a nurse would find out about orientation first. Do they know who they are, where they are, what day and time it is? Carlee appears to be fully orientated to person place and time.
Carlee being a nursing student herself, well that may be why she noticed the child on the road when nobody else seems to have seen one. Assessment skills are highly honed in nursing school and work and you start using them ALL the time, not just at work.
Until I see MSM that says different, I believe Carlee.

Fair enough. We’ll see, but I consider it extremely unlikely personally there was ever a child at the side of the road and until I see mainstream media that says there was or was likely to have been, I won’t consider that to be true on my end…

I also don’t think “unresponsive” was accurate for the reasons you suggest. I think Carlee walked up to the door of the house and was okay to do so which as you say isn’t consistent with “unresponsive” in the sense it’s usually used. Of course, that doesn’t explain why the term was used. I have a theory that I won’t share in case it is inaccurate as if I’m wrong it will be unfair on Carlee.

I’m happy to be proven wrong on all counts of course.

 

[kittythehare]

I was a nurse for 10 years, and I have to disagree. Unresponsive on a 911 call generally means the person isn't conscious. It's a specific term used to medically denote the seriousness of someone's condition. And using this term when calling EMS can mean the difference of response times. JMO

Also noting, I worked MDS and Patient Care Plans before leaving my nursing career. I was trained to do mini mental assessments as well as overall nursing assessments. Per all reports I've seen, Carlee appears to have been acting very logically and reasonably, she notified police, notified family she was stopping, used her emergency blinkers to safely pull over etc. I have seen nothing at all to suggest any kind of mental break, let alone to the point of hallucinating and talking to a child who isn't there.
She was able to tell dispatch and family her location.
In assessing a person, a nurse would find out about orientation first. Do they know who they are, where they are, what day and time it is? Carlee appears to be fully orientated to person place and time.
Carlee being a nursing student herself, well that may be why she noticed the child on the road when nobody else seems to have seen one. Assessment skills are highly honed in nursing school and work and you start using them ALL the time, not just at work.
Until I see MSM that says different, I believe Carlee.

Nurse here too.
Same as that.

 

[NewMommy09]

Fair enough. We’ll see, but I consider it extremely unlikely personally there was ever a child at the side of the road and until I see mainstream media that says there was or was likely to have been, I won’t consider that to be true on my end…

I also don’t think “unresponsive” was accurate for the reasons you suggest. I think Carlee walked up to the door of the house and was okay to do so which as you say isn’t consistent with “unresponsive” in the sense it’s usually used. Of course, that doesn’t explain why the term was used. I have a theory that I won’t share in case it is inaccurate as if I’m wrong it will be unfair on Carlee.

I’m happy to be proven wrong on all counts of course.

I agree in the unlikelihood of a toddler wandering around the side of the highway at night. I equally feel it's unlikely that someone needing a break would immediately involve the police by calling them herself and giving herself all of only 3 minutes to ditch her car and belongings on the highway and disappear. It seems that at least something unlikely happened here though. I'm trying to remain open to all avenues of possibility but I've seen no cause to doubt the only victim we know of thus far. Eta: I guess the point is determining what she is a victim of exactly.

The family very well could have used the word "unresponsive" when calling and it very well could be that she was conscious just not talking. I'm just pointing out that in the medical community, unresponsive is a specific term and I believe that EMS believed they were responding to a call about someone who was not conscious. Medical and emergency staff would not use that term to describe someone who's alert but not answering questions. I did read somewhere that Carlee was believed to be in shock when she arrived home. Its entirely plausible that she made it home on foot as is reported, but then collapsed as soon as she was safe. The nervous system can do amazing things in fight or flight scenarios.

 

[Rosiebones]

There are several "facts" reported that give me pause.
1. How did she know that it was a diapered MALE child that she saw on a dark highway? If in fact she did see a child, how did she know it was a male.
2. She WALKED up to her home when she returned and no one saw her coming or being dropped off?
3. If the report that an employee of Red Roof Inn phoned in to say she was there but hadn't registered, how did she get into a room and how did the employee know she was there?
MOO MOO MOO

 

[Snail-Overlord]

I had seen it too. It's in this article:

Where did Carlee Russell go? Family rejoices; police investigate what happened after I-459 disappearance

"We’re going to find out exactly what took place," Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis said.

www.al.com

"Derzis said he doesn’t yet know how Russell got back to the Hoover subdivision, but that she walked up to the house and knocked on her parents’ door.

Police and fire medics quickly responded. Russell, who was said to be having difficulty breathing, was taken to UAB Hospital where she was held overnight for an evaluation, and then discharged early Sunday."

“having difficulty breathing” could mean she was having a panic attack or otherwise severe anxiety. If that was the case, that would explain why she was released from the hospital fairly quickly.

No judgment from me btw if that’s the case. Lots of people visit the ER for panic attacks because they can cause the sensation of not being able to breathe.

MOO

 

[NewMommy09]

Noting from the above article that the statement is they do not know how Carlee got to her parents subdivision but that she walked up to the door and knocked on it.

 

[athenna]

View attachment 435474
Here's a map edit to show how far she went on the shoulder.

To me, this is very telling.

 

[txsleuth70]

Would it be that the skip jump in the video is just from where LE snipped the shorter first video that we've all seen?

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

I used to think that too but a psychologist told me that a nervous breakdown IS psychosis. I was surprised. @Beginnersleuth? Is that right?

No, the psychologist is wrong. The term nervous breakdown isn't used medically because it's so non-specific, but it definitely doesn't refer to psychosis in modern times. It's an older term meant to describe people who get so overwhelmed with their life that they become distressed. The word "nervous" is used because of the effort to link it to "neurosis" and/or the nervous system due to both stigma and gross misunderstandings of mental illness.

 

[ilovewings]

She was unresponsive, but walking?

Delete

 

[athenna]

Do tell!

I’d be happy to explain if people want to hear the story because I do think it’s very relevant to this case to hear what someone did in an actual real-life scenario with striking similarities to what Carlee has claimed, but I’d like to get approval from the admins before I spend time typing it all out just to have it deleted.

<modsnip>

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Passing out, by itself, is not a medical emergency. People pass out & come to, often just fine. If someone passes out, and then stops breathing & is unable to be aroused, you call 911 and start CPR.

Actually, passing out can be a medical emergency and even if it's not, it requires full medical workup unless the cause has already been established. There are a number of things that can lead a person to pass out and some are complex medical conditions, so a trip to the ER isn't unwarranted.

That said, these are not medical professionals (her family) that we know of. What they told 911 was "unresponsive" may have very well just been Carlee not answering their questions, either due to trauma, being drugged, or wilful refusal. We just don't know.

JMO

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Just thinking aloud....I know...holes in this scenario.

Is it possible that Carlee was stopped on the side making the 9:34 pm 911 call and the call to her SIL, before her car comes into view, and that something happened then, when she screamed?

So when the car actually comes into view it was not Carlee who was driving, that whoever was driving, abandoned the car by the side to flee into the woods or wherever, or maybe met up with the abductor later....in that residential area?

Meanwhile Carlee was taken away. Two people involved. One driving his own car, with Carlee, and the accomplice driving the red Mercedes.

Could the grey car have actually been seen by the trucker also before Carlee's car comes into view ?

So in this scenario, why dump the car further along the road? To stage it further along so as to avoid any evidence left where Carlee may have been taken? To confuse that trucker witness who they noticed in case he reported it afterwards?

I also don't remember which call was made first, 911 or the SIL?

That blackened section of the video has to mean something...what did it show?

I had the same thoughts as you, after watching Gray's video with the flashers displaying in the lower right around the 9:30 mark. That video completely changed my way of thinking, and also makes me wonder - why do those flashing lights not appear in any other videos we'd seen prior?

I skipped toward the end and apparently earlier in the show Gray checked a camera at another mile marker and it glitched at the exact same time as Carlee's.

That is bizarre! We have a cheap security camera on our house exterior, and in the middle of the night, every night, at 2:00am, it does a sort of refocus. I can't find any settings to change this, or stop it from happening, either. The whole screen zooms in and out, refocuses, keeps its direction, fortunately, and then carries on.

I don't think the phone was near her car. In the police dispatch audio (YouTube - I would link but not sure it's allowed), the LE who found the phone said he found it 1.5 miles from "exit 1" (I assume he meant exit 10). If that is right, I think it would have been closer to the off-camera location where you see emergency flashers but no car. I assume the wig was near the phone, but it wasn't mentioned. JMO.

I seem to recall reading in one article that they had to ping it, and it took them 40 min to find it, but other sources claim it was found near the car. I really wish the reporters could all be accurate on basic facts...

 

[Kroni]

To me, this is very telling.

3 miles from her house via highway exit

 

[txsleuth70]

Actually, passing out can be a medical emergency and even if it's not, it requires full medical workup unless the cause has already been established. There are a number of things that can lead a person to pass out and some are complex medical conditions, so a trip to the ER isn't unwarranted.

That said, these are not medical professionals (her family) that we know of. What they told 911 was "unresponsive" may have very well just been Carlee not answering their questions, either due to trauma, being drugged, or wilful refusal. We just don't know.

JMO

A full medical work up is not always warranted. I've had children pass out during stitches, teens pass out during injections, etc. Sometimes the causes ARE known. Lock your knees during a wedding ceremony. Passing out after a traumatic event.

IMO passing out after something like this has happened and you're really not up to facing the music would likely be another example of your body's fight or flight protective mechanism because you really don't want to be answering questions about it all at the time. Regardless, it hasn't been confirmed that she passed out, but when medical personnel hear the term unresponsive it means unconscious.

(And yes, sometimes falling unconscious might be a medical emergency, IMO not the case here.)

 

[CTPDMom]

The thing is that if it was a simple matter there wouldn't need to be an investigation, would there?
Police would have just released a statement saying it was 'put to bed'
That's what I was expecting had it been a personal crisis.

My instinct and desire is to steer clear of it. That it's over. i don't feel 'entitled' to more information about Carlee's life.
The internet, on the subject is a truly horrible thing to witness at this time.

And though I want to park it, bless her and let her go, I feel like I'm awaiting a 'release' from it which is elusive.

just my thoughts.

Not necessarily. The costs associated with a 2 day search for a missing, suspected abducted person and an unknown toddler would be staggering. (Not to mention the non-dollar 'costs' like stress to responders...) They would need to do their due diligence to determine what, if any, crimes were committed if the person returned home on their own. i.e. Was this an actual abduction and they need to continue to investigate and find the perpetrator(s), was this a mental breakdown/mental illness of some kind that the person had no control over, or was this an intentional staged event, and then further investigation in that direction to determine appropriate charges, if any, and restitution.

She was unresponsive, but walking?

Unresponsive doesn't mean unconscious. You can be conscious and unresponsive, catatonic is the word that comes to mind to best describe this.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Just thinking aloud....I know...holes in this scenario.

Is it possible that Carlee was stopped on the side making the 9:34 pm 911 call and the call to her SIL, before her car comes into view, and that something happened then, when she screamed?

So when the car actually comes into view it was not Carlee who was driving, that whoever was driving, abandoned the car by the side to flee into the woods or wherever, or maybe met up with the abductor later....in that residential area?

Meanwhile Carlee was taken away. Two people involved. One driving his own car, with Carlee, and the accomplice driving the red Mercedes.

Could the grey car have actually been seen by the trucker also before Carlee's car comes into view ?

So in this scenario, why dump the car further along the road? To stage it further along so as to avoid any evidence left where Carlee may have been taken? To confuse that trucker witness who they noticed in case he reported it afterwards?

I also don't remember which call was made first, 911 or the SIL?

That blackened section of the video has to mean something...what did it show?

@whitelilac - I also wanted to expand on what you wrote above.

I'm curious if anyone else noticed this in Gray Hughes's video. When Carlee's car comes into view in the lower right around 9:34:44, pay attention at the 9:34:51 mark.

A car appears right next to hers in the right lane. (She is, of course, in the shoulder, so I mean the actual driving right lane.) When you compare its speed with other car speeds, it seems like it's moving along at a speed somewhere between her speed and the other drivers. One car in the middle lane even passes it.

I guess it's possible that it was just someone slowing down because they saw her start to move from her parked position, but I also wonder if it's the mystery gray car we keep hearing about. Was it parked next to her and then moved on as she did?

At 9:35:07, it even seems to almost veer into the shoulder itself, in the area where her car parks a second time.

 

[stormymama]

Until we know for sure what happened from law enforcement, if we ever do, I'm going to assume Boyfriend took some creative liberties describing Carlee's condition. It doesn't make sense to me that she showed up at her door unresponsive yet was released from hospital shortly thereafter. MOO