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

[CookieMonster21]

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.

Makes sense, but would she asked if it was okay?

 

[ConfusedPopsicle]

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 )

Exactly. There’s much easier, less likely to go wrong ways of abducting someone if that’s the goal. As far as I’m aware, when it comes to things like human trafficking they take people that they think society won’t “miss” or at least won’t notice are missing right away unfortunately.

It also seems a bit over the top for a staged disappearance. Why do something that would guarantee a fast police response and searches? Unless her family is really controlling it’d be much easier/better to leave in a way that gives you at least a few hours before anyone is aware.

Stumbling across something nefarious seems most likely to me but just barely. That theory also has issues that are difficult to explain away.

 

[positive]

Except she could have met them almost anywhere, minus the dark scary woods with snakes, coyotes, bobcats, ticks, etc. And At night? I know I wouldn’t do it. I’m just sayin’….

My theory posits she met them or had a car in the neighborhood thru the wood.
My theory posits that the reason she took so long to stop was she was looking for a place she could see the lights from the neighborhood or a place she knew about that she could cut thru the woods.
Look at google maps. This is not really a woods.
More of a copse at most.
Pn syreetview in the fall/winter you can see the neighborhood from the highway.
Also....desperation can lead one to take the chance...a slim chance imo, of encountering any of the wildlife you mentioned on a 3 minute walk through it.

 

[MistyWaters]

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.

My opinion is quite the opposite…vehicles with their emergency flashers on attract a lot attention since people are naturally curious. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if several didn’t have their cellphone video aimed at this vehicle as they passed by. It’s still early in the investigation.

“Authorities are not committing to any one theory in Russell’s disappearance, police said at a Friday afternoon press conference.”

Traffic cam footage of Carlee Russell’s car on I-459 investigated as search continues

Russell, 25, has been missing since she reported seeing a child walking on the interstate in Hoover.

www.al.com

 

[Snail-Overlord]

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.

IMO there’s a big difference between this case and Brandon’s disappearance in that Brandon was acting clearly erratic and disoriented before his disappearance. This doesn’t seem to be the case here at all.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Makes sense, but would she asked if it was okay?

She may not have been close enough to see that it was an animal when she asked that.

 

[sng]

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 was thinking along the lines of someone shooting on sight as they saw her walking out of the trees onto their property, not giving her time to explain or go back to her car. If she found the kid and they were old enough to communicate, she might have tried to take them directly through the woods to their house instead of her own car. You would think neighbors would hear a gunshot but that could be a detail the cops just haven’t released yet.

 

[noseynellie]

Watched the video. Curious how one might approach a small child at night near the road while in a vehicle. One might think that if they are concerned enough to stop, they would be cautious and afraid the child might dart in front of them and therefore they would drive extremely slowly.

Would they drive this far down the shoulder toward the child? Or would they drive away from/past the child and then walk back toward them?

According to previous reports, she spoke to someone while on her phone and asked if they were OK. Does this mean she pulled off fairly close to the child she called out to?

If she is driving toward the child she spotted, how far in advance would she be able to see the child at night, put on flashers and pull off, driving this distance down the shoulder before stopping at the sign and speaking to the child near her car?

 

[Snail-Overlord]

My opinion is quite the opposite…vehicles with their emergency flashers on attract a lot attention since people are naturally curious. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if several didn’t have their cellphone video aimed at this vehicle as they passed by. It’s still early in the investigation.

“Authorities are not committing to any one theory in Russell’s disappearance, police said at a Friday afternoon press conference.”

Traffic cam footage of Carlee Russell’s car on I-459 investigated as search continues

Russell, 25, has been missing since she reported seeing a child walking on the interstate in Hoover.

www.al.com

Why would someone want to film this though? It seems like a pretty normal occurrence. I see people driving with their hazards on the shoulder fairly frequently and never think anything of it. I just assume they are having car trouble or something

IMO

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Hopefully there is a ton of video from homes in the neighborhood on the other side of that narrow band of woods that will show whether any vehicles entered that street and exited around that time, that, obviously, were not owned by residents there.

 

[MistyWaters]

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

You must be looking at something different. It’s a white light starting at 3:53 in the video travelling the opposite direction of traffic. TMZ has identified it with an arrow.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

I was thinking along the lines of someone shooting on sight as they saw her walking out of the trees onto their property, not giving her time to explain or go back to her car. If she found the kid and they were old enough to communicate, she might have tried to take them directly through the woods to their house instead of her own car. You would think neighbors would hear a gunshot but that could be a detail the cops just haven’t released yet.

Understood. But she didn’t have a flashlight or even her phone to use as a light, so how would she navigate through the woods in the dark? Especially if she wasn’t perhaps familiar with that area to know there were homes back there.

 

[Cubby]

Ah, but calling 911 would give more credibility to an abduction scenario, hypothetically speaking of course.

And so would having someone on the other end of the phone hear Carlee ask if someone was ok before hearing her scream and then nothing but highway noise.

The person on the other end of the call didn't mention hearing the phone hit the pavement, did they?

 

[Soulmagent]

You think Gators are on that specific area?!

And they are snatching wigs off ?

 

[Coolcamino]

Did police have dogs search the area her car was found in? I'm curious if there was any sort of "trail" that led to the residential area or a water area.

Would LE have some sort of high tech way to scan license plates in this area for the 15 minutes prior to see if she had indeed passed the "toddler" but driven around and re-entered the freeway (hence her driving on the shoulder so long prior to stopping). Obviously the quality posted isn't enough but is there a way to check the next exit for her car leaving/getting back on?

I'm sorry for probably repeating the question - I am having problems maneuvering the search option.

Yes they showed video of them using a dog.

 

[MistyWaters]

Why would someone want to film this though? It seems like a pretty normal occurrence. I see people driving with their hazards on the shoulder fairly frequently and never think anything of it. I just assume they are having car trouble or something

IMO

I don’t know why people video half the stuff they do, one would probably have to be under the age of 30 to know the answer.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

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.

I was curious since someone mentioned seeing a retention pond/large ditch in the pics. It would account for no body.

 

[samsmom]

ICKEdMeL trying to figure this out

Dispatch Call Claiming To Be Carlee Russell, UNFOUNDED, Family Member Says False

Dispatch Call Claiming To Be Carlee Russell, UNFOUNDED, Family Member Says False #truecrime #alabama #missingperson Enchanded video https://youtu.be/TDmIOwbn...

www.youtube.com

 

[bdawk20]

A lot of possibilities here, and I’m hung up on them saying police were on scene in 3 minutes. That is SO fast if this was an abduction considering “they” couldn’t have known who was pulling over. And although I still think there may have been a child or doll as a trap, I find it odd they’d set up on a busy highway with a traffic camera in sight, and the lack of control over who would pull over gives me serious pause ….just as likely nobody would pull over, but would just call the cops to the location. I really dislike thinking it could be a hoax, but…

 

[ConfusedPopsicle]

You must be looking at something different. It’s a white light starting at 3:53 in the video travelling the opposite direction of traffic. TMZ has identified it with an arrow.

Nah I’m looking at the same thing. You see various reflections like that throughout the video. I’m not sure why it only happens with some vehicles and not all but you can see which ones are causing it. I’m also not sure why TMZ marked it with an arrow because it’s a car in the middle lane. Looks like maybe a Camaro?