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

[ConfusedPopsicle]

Who is going to put something they don't want people to see right next to a busy highway, though? If there was a real child next to the highway, you can almost guarantee multiple people would stop. It would be a terrible way to abduct someone, the average car might have 2 or even 3 people in it. A child along the highway could easily be enough to stop traffic.

A full grown man along the highway, standing or sitting, would be something most people would not be comfortable stopping for-and a woman traveling alone shouldn't stop for, IMO. So what could she have seen?

Maybe a petite/small statured woman? Maybe with it being dark at highway speeds she was mistaken in what she saw. That could play into the theory of stumbling across someone violent and it was a crime of opportunity. What doesn’t make sense though is how quickly they’d have to incapacitate and remove her. And what the heck could be happening on the side of the road that would make someone want to silence her? I don’t know. Maybe domestic violence that spilled over from houses on the other side of the woods? But then that’d be two women/people the person would have to get under control in just a few minutes. Ugh this is so frustrating! I hope law enforcement has more info than what they are releasing because nothing makes sense with what we have.

 

[eloquence]

Yikes. Not good, IMO. Wonder if she had a stalker. JMO

What's so yikes with her TikTok? It's one 3 year old video and she's just dancing. Very normal for her age...

 

[Kas80]

The timeline is where I get stuck. It’s just such a small window of time, anything accidental would take longer I think. The cops first there would have seen something. The quickness it happened seems intentional or animal drag off. Is that ditch deep with a lot of dense vegetation? Could she have fallen in and hit her head and she’s well hidden?

 

[lonetraveler]

UGHH, I'm going to change my tune here - I posted the above before watching the video!

It would have taken her a second to turn her flashers on if she had seen a child - so then WHY continue to travel several hundred more feet from where she had supposedly seen him/her?

It would have taken more than 5 mins for a child that age to walk to where she parked and not be hit by the traffic. It would have taken her at least 3-5 minutes to walk away from her car back to the child at the point she turns on her flashers.

Something else is definitely at play here. Still praying.

She was most likely traveling at 70 miles per hour and couldn't just slam on the brakes. She had to slow down slowly so that she would not be rear ended before she pulled off the interstate.

 

[MistyWaters]

Video Shows Missing AL Woman Carlee Russell Pull Over Before Vanishing

New video taken the night that Carlee Russell disappeared in Alabama appears to show the moment she pulled over on a highway to help a child ... this before mysteriously vanishing.

www.tmz.com

TMZ has posted extended footage on this link. I notice at about 3:53 a strange light on the right side of the highway moving quickly in the opposite direction. Please no, this wasn’t an alien abduction! But maybe a quad or motorbike???

 

[imstilla.grandma]

On Saturday police released this updated photo of Russell which they say is how her hair would have looked the night of her disappearance.

The Russells also say they believe that the child was used as 'bait' in order to lure Carlee out of her car.

On Saturday Keller Williams Realty posted on social media that it is committing another $25,000 for the safe return of Carlee Russell, bringing the reward to $50,000.

'We're just gonna scour the earth': Search continues for missing woman who called 911 to report toddler along I-459

Police in Hoover are investigating reports of a missing woman after they received a call from a woman stating she saw a toddler on the interstate Thursday night.

www.wvtm13.com

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

I no longer live in this area but I’m very familiar with it. I think a stranger abduction or hoax are remotely possible but I wanted to put out some possibilities I haven’t seen many people mention. Everything is MOO and I’m just suggesting possibilities, not arguing that any of these are definitely what happened.

1. There are homes on the other side of the treeline she disappeared into. She may have wandered into someone’s yard and been mistaken for an intruder by someone who harmed her (then hid her instead of calling the cops when they realized she wasn’t armed or a threat). If there was a child, they could have wandered away from one of those houses. Maybe she was found with the child by the parents and they thought she was a kidnapper, or the child was unrelated to what happened and is now safe at home, but the parents haven’t come forward because they’re afraid of CPS (if there were past incidents or drugs involved).

2. Animal attack. Maybe she screamed when she realized what she thought was a child was an animal? It would be a weird thing to happen there, but black bears and gators are occasionally seen around Birmingham. She was close to a subdivision that is literally built on a swamp that they turned into a “lake” (look for “LakeCrest” on Google maps) and a lot of the other subdivisions have their own manmade lakes, so my guess would be a gator, though a bear cub seems more possible to mistake for a child. Bobcats and coyotes are much more common but I don’t know if they’re big enough to drag off a whole adult human.

3. You can hallucinate without having a whole psychotic break, for example due to sleep deprivation. So the child could have not really been there even without her having other symptoms consistent with mental illness.

4. Someone asked about people in the woods. There are people living in the woods in the area but I don’t know if they were in that exact spot. They usually stay well-hidden and a narrow strip between a yard and a freeway doesn’t sound like a likely choice for an encampment.

5. This would be an incredibly bizarre choice for a location to set up an elaborate trap with a doll/child for bait. I can’t overstate how weird it would be. You would only have to go a few more miles down 459 to get to an area where there are a lot more woods and less traffic, cameras, and witnesses. Sometimes people do bizarre things so I won’t say it’s impossible but it’s unlikely.

I think your second point is definitely plausible. I said very early on that I could say she was dragged off by a gator, but I don't have any evidence of that. IMO, an animal of some sort dragging her off would explain everything, right down to the "child," the scream, and the hat and wig on the ground.

 

[Fuhgetabouddit]

I am trying to catch up. Was reading on Twitter. Do we know if she doubled back? I saw the traffic cam footage and she took a long time to stop. Far from where she first braked. I saw a baby on the side of the rode alone, I would be stopping as quick as I could and possibly backing up on the shoulder to get to them...not rolling to a slow stop. Please tell me what I am missing?

The speed on the video is very deceiving. She was actually going more than twice the speed I would be driving if I were looking for a small child on the side of the interstate.

 

[duckcat]

Something else to consider here, foul play doesn’t need to imply an elaborate kidnapping plan. What she thought she saw, she could have just come across a dangerous individual at the wrong time. Mentally ill or addicted folks can be very quick and erratic in their thinking and actions. Maybe this spot has easy access to something nearby. No one else on the road bothered to stop or was looking because most people usually aren’t. Or just weren’t looking at the right time. We are all wired differently.

Many bad crimes occur from random opportunity and make them even harder to solve.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

I no longer live in this area but I’m very familiar with it. I think a stranger abduction or hoax are remotely possible but I wanted to put out some possibilities I haven’t seen many people mention. Everything is MOO and I’m just suggesting possibilities, not arguing that any of these are definitely what happened.

1. There are homes on the other side of the treeline she disappeared into. She may have wandered into someone’s yard and been mistaken for an intruder by someone who harmed her (then hid her instead of calling the cops when they realized she wasn’t armed or a threat). If there was a child, they could have wandered away from one of those houses. Maybe she was found with the child by the parents and they thought she was a kidnapper, or the child was unrelated to what happened and is now safe at home, but the parents haven’t come forward because they’re afraid of CPS (if there were past incidents or drugs involved).

2. Animal attack. Maybe she screamed when she realized what she thought was a child was an animal? It would be a weird thing to happen there, but black bears and gators are occasionally seen around Birmingham. She was close to a subdivision that is literally built on a swamp that they turned into a “lake” (look for “LakeCrest” on Google maps) and a lot of the other subdivisions have their own manmade lakes, so my guess would be a gator, though a bear cub seems more possible to mistake for a child. Bobcats and coyotes are much more common but I don’t know if they’re big enough to drag off a whole adult human.

3. You can hallucinate without having a whole psychotic break, for example due to sleep deprivation. So the child could have not really been there even without her having other symptoms consistent with mental illness.

4. Someone asked about people in the woods. There are people living in the woods in the area but I don’t know if they were in that exact spot. They usually stay well-hidden and a narrow strip between a yard and a freeway doesn’t sound like a likely choice for an encampment.

5. This would be an incredibly bizarre choice for a location to set up an elaborate trap with a doll/child for bait. I can’t overstate how weird it would be. You would only have to go a few more miles down 459 to get to an area where there are a lot more woods and less traffic, cameras, and witnesses. Sometimes people do bizarre things so I won’t say it’s impossible but it’s unlikely.

Your first theory is interesting, but how would we account for her screaming and leaving all possessions behind? Even if there was a child, why would she walk into the dark woods with the child, leave all her items inc phone behind, and not place the child in her car and call 911 again?

Regarding animals, I think there’d be an obvious mess left behind other than perhaps a gator attack. Bobcats are just twice the size of a housecat. Small. They will go after small dogs but couldn’t drag a human away. Coyotes often hunt in packs but couldnt carry a 160 lb human away (they are about the size of a German shepherd) and there’d be obvious evidence of an attack. Plus all that highway noise… guessing not many animals live in that narrow strip of woods.

 

[Cubby]

The following is all speculation and my own opinion. It is what I think COULD have happened.
She did not want to finish or flunked out of nursing school and was hiding it from her parents. I am assuming that her job would not afford her to pay for school, a Mercedes and take out food after work. Let alone if she had much of a social life that cost money.
So that tells me mom and pop are helping their daughter financially while she lives at home at 25. Which is a good thing to do for your daughter.
The daughter however has been leading them to believe nursing school is going well when the ecact opposite is true.
She feels trapped and embarrassed.
She ran away.
The toddler was a lie to add to her disappearance. She however did not expect the cop to show so quickly.
She got out of the car, dropped wig hat and phone to leave her old self behind.
Left purse but had cash and or unkown to parents bank accounts credit cards.
She is not circling back a second time looking for a child.
She is driving slow looking for the spot she knows she can cut thru the woods to a car or a ride waiting for her (maybe a love intrest?)
and start her new life.

I'm there too. Jmvho.

 

[neesaki]

I no longer live in this area but I’m very familiar with it. I think a stranger abduction or hoax are remotely possible but I wanted to put out some possibilities I haven’t seen many people mention. Everything is MOO and I’m just suggesting possibilities, not arguing that any of these are definitely what happened.

1. There are homes on the other side of the treeline she disappeared into. She may have wandered into someone’s yard and been mistaken for an intruder by someone who harmed her (then hid her instead of calling the cops when they realized she wasn’t armed or a threat). If there was a child, they could have wandered away from one of those houses. Maybe she was found with the child by the parents and they thought she was a kidnapper, or the child was unrelated to what happened and is now safe at home, but the parents haven’t come forward because they’re afraid of CPS (if there were past incidents or drugs involved).

2. Animal attack. Maybe she screamed when she realized what she thought was a child was an animal? It would be a weird thing to happen there, but black bears and gators are occasionally seen around Birmingham. She was close to a subdivision that is literally built on a swamp that they turned into a “lake” (look for “LakeCrest” on Google maps) and a lot of the other subdivisions have their own manmade lakes, so my guess would be a gator, though a bear cub seems more possible to mistake for a child. Bobcats and coyotes are much more common but I don’t know if they’re big enough to drag off a whole adult human.

3. You can hallucinate without having a whole psychotic break, for example due to sleep deprivation. So the child could have not really been there even without her having other symptoms consistent with mental illness.

4. Someone asked about people in the woods. There are people living in the woods in the area but I don’t know if they were in that exact spot. They usually stay well-hidden and a narrow strip between a yard and a freeway doesn’t sound like a likely choice for an encampment.

5. This would be an incredibly bizarre choice for a location to set up an elaborate trap with a doll/child for bait. I can’t overstate how weird it would be. You would only have to go a few more miles down 459 to get to an area where there are a lot more woods and less traffic, cameras, and witnesses. Sometimes people do bizarre things so I won’t say it’s impossible but it’s unlikely.

You think Gators are on that specific area?!

 

[cuffem]

Maybe a petite/small statured woman? Maybe with it being dark at highway speeds she was mistaken in what she saw. That could play into the theory of stumbling across someone violent and it was a crime of opportunity. What doesn’t make sense though is how quickly they’d have to incapacitate and remove her. And what the heck could be happening on the side of the road that would make someone want to silence her? I don’t know. Maybe domestic violence that spilled over from houses on the other side of the woods? But then that’d be two women/people the person would have to get under control in just a few minutes. Ugh this is so frustrating! I hope law enforcement has more info than they are releasing because nothing makes sense with what we have.

Just using your post.

Abductors would want an easy grab, imo. No screaming, no fighting to leave marks or injury or leave DNA.No chance of being seen. Easy hunt ( not waiting on side of dark road for the chance for a person to stop )

 

[ConfusedPopsicle]

Video Shows Missing AL Woman Carlee Russell Pull Over Before Vanishing

New video taken the night that Carlee Russell disappeared in Alabama appears to show the moment she pulled over on a highway to help a child ... this before mysteriously vanishing.

www.tmz.com

TMZ has posted extended footage on this link. I notice at about 3:53 a strange light on the right side of the highway moving quickly in the opposite direction. Please no, this wasn’t an alien abduction! But maybe a quad or motorbike???

I think that’s just a reflection of a car with its blinker on.

 

[justinkjones1993]

This just feels eerily similar to the Brandon Lawson case to me.

For anyone unfamiliar, this case happened in 2013 in rural Texas. Brandon ran out of gas on the side of the road at night, called his brother to ask for help, then called 911 a few minutes later claiming state troopers had pulled some guys over and he was being chased by someone through a field. Then he asked for police and hung up on the 911 operator. A few minutes later Brandon's brother showed up at the truck, couldn't find him, and called to ask where he was. Brandon said he was in a field and he was bleeding, then the phone went dead.

Brandon was missing for nearly a decade, and in that time there were all kinds of wild theories about abductions, human trafficking, wild boar chasing him, or him stumbling on something nefarious on the side of the road and being murdered. Those were just *some* of the theories.

However, it was later disclosed that Brandon had purchased meth that very same day, and he was essentially in the middle of a meth-incduced psychosis and seeing things that weren't there. That's what caused him to run into the woods. His remains were found in February of last year not far from where he ran out of gas, but have not been identified and it's presumed he died from exposure/dehydration.

I don't think you necessarily need meth or drugs to have a mental break like this either, but I've seen several cases like this where people are cooking up all kinds of theories that just don't make sense given the facts, when Occam's Razor can pretty easily explain what happened. JMO.

 

[caradana]

Curious, any further MSM info about the interaction with LE the day prior?

 

[Minou]

I’m thinking that maybe she thought she saw a kid, got out of her car & was hit & then hidden. Side of the hwy is dangerous especially at night.

 

[duckcat]

The speed on the video is very deceiving. She was actually going more than twice the speed I would be driving if I were looking for a small child on the side of the interstate.

Yes, the depth perception in the traffic cam video is very deceiving which causes that inconsistency. The distance between the blue food sign, the mile marker sign, and the final green sign with city names are a lot further apart on foot than it appears in that video. We’re also not really accustomed to understanding highway distances outside of a car, so it’s difficult to tell by the eye.

 

[neesaki]

What's so yikes with her TikTok? It's one 3 year old video and she's just dancing. Very normal for her age...

I guess I’m very conservative when it comes to social media. I don’t think it’s wise to expose information about oneself on social media publicly. Close friends? A different story. Wisdom. JMO

ETA: Hey, I’m really worried about her. My mama bear instincts have kicked in. That’s all I can say.

 

[cuffem]

Your first theory is interesting, but how would we account for her screaming and leaving all possessions behind? Even if there was a child, why would she walk into the dark woods with the child, leave all her items inc phone behind, and not place the child in her car and call 911 again?

Regarding animals, I think there’d be an obvious mess left behind other than perhaps a gator attack. Bobcats are just twice the size of a housecat. Small. They will go after small dogs but couldn’t drag a human away. Coyotes often hunt in packs but couldnt carry a 160 lb human away (they are about the size of a German shepherd) and there’d be obvious evidence of an attack. Plus all that highway noise… guessing not many animals live in that narrow strip of woods.

I want to say that gators drag, roll their's and victims bodies to drown them, an easier faster way to kill instead of biting.
Would require a few feet of water.
Really doubt the gator theory.