Was there a toddler on the road when Carlee Russell vanished? Police debunk family claims of human trafficking bait
HOOVER, ALABAMA: The mystery of Carlee Russell’s disappearance and her return has taken a new turn as the Hoover Police Department released new details on Tuesday night. The 25-year-old nursing student had gone missing on July 12 after she called 911 to report a child walking on I-459.
She also spoke to her sister-in-law on the phone and told her about the child before she disappeared. Her wig, cellphone, purse, and Apple Watch were found by the police on the roadside, who reached the scene five minutes after her call.
Was there a toddler on the road when Carlee Russell vanished?
However, the police said they have not found any evidence of a child on the interstate, nor did they get any other calls about it. They also checked the surveillance video from the traffic camera and saw no sign of a child in the area. “The Hoover Police Department has not located any evidence of a toddler walking down the interstate, nor did we receive any additional calls about a toddler walking down the interstate, despite numerous vehicles passing through that area as depicted by the traffic camera surveillance video,” according to the press release.
The police said she was conscious and speaking when they got there
This contradicts the claim made by Russell’s family that she was abducted by human traffickers who used the child as bait to lure her out of her car. The family has maintained this theory even after Russell came back home on July 14, walking down the sidewalk alone, as shown by the video from her neighborhood. She was taken to UAB hospital for evaluation after someone from her house called 911 and said she was unresponsive but breathing. The police said she was conscious and speaking when they got there.
'This is not a tactic that traffickers use'
Experts have also rejected this theory, saying that there is no proof of such a method being used by traffickers. “As far as we are aware, this is not a tactic that traffickers use,” said Sabrina Thulander, a spokesperson for Polaris, the organization that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline according to New York Post. The police have not been able to interview Russell in detail yet, as they are waiting for her to be available.
They said they are still looking at various evidentiary items to figure out what happened to her before and during her disappearance. “Numerous evidentiary items are still being evaluated, and those items are key in the process of determining exactly what took place in the approximately 49 hours Carlee was missing, but also what took place prior to her disappearance,” police said. The police said they will hold a press conference on July 19 at 2:30 p.m. local time to give more information on the case.