What is false victim syndrome? Expert says Carlee Russell 'needs help not punishment' if kidnapping turns out to be a hoax
HOOVER, ALABAMA: Carlee Ruseell, a 25-year-old nursing student, has been in the news after alleging she was kidnapped on July 13 after she went to help a child walking on a highway. She told the police that she managed to escape and returned home on July 15.
Initially, there were a lot of people hoping and praying for Russell’s safe return. An investigation to find her was also launched. However, with time, several new pieces of information have come to light, heavily hinting that the woman’s story may have been fake. Though Russell’s parents have insisted that their daughter was not a liar, cops have rejected a part of her alleged kidnapping story.
In a Facebook statement, the Hoover (AL) Police Department noted, “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.”
What is false victim syndrome?
Dr Louis B Schlesinger, Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the US Sun that there were chances Russell might have “a condition called false victim syndrome." He explained, “False victim syndrome is often found in stalking cases,” where the person claims to be stalked however “it turns out through an investigation, through a lot of expenditure with respect to police resources, that it never really happened.”
Schlesinger continued, “Of course, it’s a crime to do that, but these people are never charged because after evaluating them it turns out that they’re psychologically disturbed.” The professor compared Russell’s case with Sherri Papini, who staged her own abduction in 2016 to be with her former boyfriend. However, after being found guilty, the 40-year-old was given 18 months in a jail cell.
‘There seems to be more psychopathology with Carlee’
Schlesinger said that even if Russell’s case was a hoax, it appeared “to be a little bit more pathological than Sherri's.” He asserted that the nursing student did not seem to copy Papini. “I think if she copied anything it would probably be more with the movie Taken than some other case she may not have even been aware of. My guess here from a distance is that there seems to be more psychopathology with Carlee, a more difficult, more complex case — more difficult to understand,” he stated.
Schlesinger added that if it was determined that Russell was lying and if a subsequent psychological test proved that she was “disturbed," she probably would not face any charges and would be "more in need of help than punishment.”
Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis reportedly said, “We pretty much know exactly what took place from the time she left work to the 911 call. After that, I think only she knows. We're ready to talk as soon as she's ready.”