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

[hparker36]

Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. I doubt that the trucker had malicious intent, he was probably just misremembering what he saw and where he saw it.

He also described seeing a light skinned male by her car. However, IMO, if there was a legit witness, they surely would have contacted LE by now.

 

[Midge Montana]

Huh. A real head-scratcher.

 

[MistyWaters]

Unanswered questions linger in Carlee Russell's mysterious disappearance and return

There are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding the disappearance of 25-year-old Carlee Russell, who returned home to her parent's house in Hoover Satur

abc3340.com

“Police have spoken to Russell once and are following up on that information, however aren't able to publicly share the details from the initial interview. Hoover police plan to follow up with her again to attempt to get a better understanding of what happened and said they will provide information when they are able to do so.”

“Each piece of information is helping investigators reconstruct Carlee’s movements during the time she was missing. 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," a news release from Hoover Police Department read, which was sent out Monday evening.

A recap of the timeline of events from Thursday night was also laid out again by police:

• Russell left work from a business at The Summit in Birmingham at approximately 8:20 PM. She ordered food from a nearby business at The Colonnade and traveled there. It appears she was alone during this time and investigators have no evidence that she was being followed.
• Russell communicated on her cell phone with individuals known to her while on her path of travel up to the point of calling 911 at 9:34 PM. The conversation with the 911 operator ended and Carlee called a relative.
• She went missing during that conversation sometime after 9:36 PM after telling both the 911 operator and the relative she had seen a male toddler in a diaper on the side of I-459 and was stopping to check on him.
• Traffic camera footage was obtained which depicted this portion of the incident, and that footage is still being analyzed as part of the investigation in conjunction with the 911 call to accurately determine the timeframe.
• Russell’s 911 call remains the only timely report of a child on the interstate and no one has called to report that a child is missing.
• Hoover Police officers arrived on scene within five minutes of being dispatched, and several other officers arrived shortly behind.
• They located Carlee’s wig, cell phone and purse on the roadway near her vehicle, and Russell’s Apple Watch was in her purse. Hoover Police detectives, along with investigators from other local and federal agencies began pursuing possible leads and collecting evidence throughout the day Friday and Saturday.

"The details of that statement are a part of the ongoing investigation which is expected to continue over the next several days. During the initial portion of the investigation, detectives were able to retrace nearly all of Carlee’s steps until the point she went missing and are confident that will continue to be the case," stated Hoover Police.

 

[hparker36]

Or mistaken…

So the Trucker claimed to see a toddler?! I must have missed that.

 

[DS2021]

So the Trucker claimed to see a toddler?! I must have missed that.

Everything I've read says she was the only one to report seeing a toddler

 

[BCSleuth]

Gray showed a full hour of the traffic camera video. Watch at about 33:50, the time on the clock is 9:34pm when she makes the 911 call.

Also watch at 9:30 pm where you will see someone with their right turn signal on and then there is a jump cut in the video and you can't see what happens

I see flashing lights first appear at 31:30. So she sat there for a little over 3 minutes before coming into view. Amazing that she could spot a toddler hundreds of meters up the road from there. A toddler that is somehow completely hidden from our view...

 

[Van Helsing]

Gray showed a full hour of the traffic camera video. Watch at about 33:50, the time on the clock is 9:34pm when she makes the 911 call.

Also watch at 9:30 pm where you will see someone with their right turn signal on and then there is a jump cut in the video and you can't see what happens

At 9:31 or 32, there are flashing lights from a stationary vehicle just off camera.

 

[ifimmurderedjoedidit]

Gray showed a full hour of the traffic camera video. Watch at about 33:50, the time on the clock is 9:34pm when she makes the 911 call.

Also watch at 9:30 pm where you will see someone with their right turn signal on and then there is a jump cut in the video and you can't see what happens

That jump cut is weird.

 

[Pavelsky]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed for rumor>

I don’t know what happened and follow the facts! The facts and hearsay got jumbled and at the end of the day, Carlee is home safe. I don’t need to know the details! I wish her family peace and Sending healing vibes to Carlee. I joined this site to see respectful dialogue about true crimes, to spread the faces of the missing when I could and to share tears with those who suffer when those who are victimized suffer. If there was never a kidnapping, then I move on and wish her healing. If there was a kidnapping then I want LE to inform and protect the public. Either way, I am here because I love the exchange of reliable facts and the caring behind this group. I don’t need to give anyone the benefit of the doubt because I never thought this group was about judging anyone. It is about the facts and looking at those facts in a nonjudgmental way. This is my opinion and I am glad admin cleaned up the site and restated rules…whatever the future enfolds for Carlee and her family I feel Compassion regardless of whether she was kidnapped or not is the best course of action…no person deserves anything less!

 

[MistyWaters]

Gray showed a full hour of the traffic camera video. Watch at about 33:50, the time on the clock is 9:34pm when she makes the 911 call.

Also watch at 9:30 pm where you will see someone with their right turn signal on and then there is a jump cut in the video and you can't see what happens

Any idea why that traffic cam footage is so poor - her car is barely visible at the very top of the screen - compared to that which was released earlier?

 

[Gardenista]

Any idea why that traffic cam footage is so poor - her car is barely visible at the very top of the screen - compared to that which was released earlier?

Gray's is raw footage. The enhanced video has a daylight filter placed over it.

 

[Ghostwheel]

Gray showed a full hour of the traffic camera video. Watch at about 33:50, the time on the clock is 9:34pm when she makes the 911 call.

Also watch at 9:30 pm where you will see someone with their right turn signal on and then there is a jump cut in the video and you can't see what happens

OK, the cut is beyond weird. It is OBVIOUSLY a cut, the entire position of all the cars are different, yet the timer doesn't flinch? WTH?

 

[Gardenista]

Gray is discussing the video now

 

[MistyWaters]

Posting this for reference since the grey vehicle and man is often mentioned.

“One witness reported seeing a gray car and "a light complected" man standing outside Russell's vehicle during the time of the incident, Hoover police said. Police Chief Derzis told NPR that they have since disregarded that tip because traffic camera footage did not back up claims about the gray vehicle.”

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/16/1187997868/carlee-russell-found-toddler-missing

 

[Gardenista]

Re: the jump cut where the care had on it's blinker, Gray said one minute 46 seconds were cut from the video which is the exact amount of time short the video is from 1 hour.

 

[Ghostwheel]

This gives me a different direction to think. What if the first place she stopped, outside of the view of the camera is where she made the call and got out to check on the toddler she believed she saw (whether or not is was a real child). At that point, someone grabbed her, maybe knocked her out and pushed her INTO A GRAY CAR WE CANNOT SEE. Then they drive further down, get out of the driver seat and go around to the side, disappear into the dark and walk/run back to the car out of camera range. Could have two people involved. It's a theory.

 

[ptandj]

Re: the jump cut where the care had on it's blinker, Gray said one minute 46 seconds were cut from the video which is the exact amount of time short the video is from 1 hour.

Does he say why? (Can’t watch right now myself)

 

[thebedbug]

One of the nice things about our modern society (when it comes to solving crimes) is the presence of cameras... almost everywhere.

I'm thinking of things we saw in the investigation of the Idaho murders...

If it turns out that an element of this incident happened in the neighborhood on the other side of trees, I'd imagine it is very likely there will be video evidence (ring cameras up and down the streets and other video throughout the area).

Also, despite people being familiar with some of the ways they can be digitally or electronically tracked, people participating in crimes often overlook others.

I don't get a feeling this situation will be remembered as a representation of the work of criminal masterminds.

I wish the police the best of luck in their investigation.

 

[Gardenista]

Does he say why? (Can’t watch right now myself)

Nope.

 

[Gardenista]

This gives me a different direction to think. What if the first place she stopped, outside of the view of the camera is where she made the call and got out to check on the toddler she believed she saw (whether or not is was a real child). At that point, someone grabbed her, maybe knocked her out and pushed her INTO A GRAY CAR WE CANNOT SEE. Then they drive further down, get out of the driver seat and go around to the side, disappear into the dark and walk/run back to the car out of camera range. Could have two people involved. It's a theory.

It definitely opens possibilities.