Police are continuing to build a timeline of Carlethia "Carlee" Nichole Russell's whereabouts after the 25-year-old vanished Thursday night after calling 911 to report spotting a toddler on an interstate in Alabama. Russell returned home two days later as the incident gained national attention.
Russell vanished after she called 911 in regards to a toddler in a diaper walking along the side of a highway, authorities say. She returned home Saturday night, but in the days since, investigators have not found any evidence of a child on the highway, the Hoover Police Department said Wednesday. The department never received any other 911 calls about a toddler on Interstate 459, even though multiple vehicles passed through the area on Thursday night.
"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 in a social media post Wednesday.
So far, police have been able to determine some of what happened before Russell vanished.
She left from work at a business in Birmingham, about 10 miles from Hoover, around 8:20 p.m. on Thursday, police said. Russell ordered food from a nearby business at The Colonnade and picked it up. She then stopped at a Target on Highway 280 to buy some snacks.
At 9:34 p.m. she called 911 to tell them about a toddler on the highway, saying she'd stopped to check on the boy, police said. The call quickly ended and Russell then called a relative.
The family member "lost contact with" Russell during the call, "but the line remained open," Hoover Police Lt. Daniel Lowe said in a news conference Friday.
Hoover officers arrived on scene within five minutes of being dispatched, police said. Russell was gone, but officers found her car, cellphone, wig and purse. Her Apple Watch was in the bag and no snacks were found.
Russell returned home on foot on Saturday night, about 49 hours after she went missing. Police received a call at around 10:45 p.m. local time notifying them of her return. While the 911 caller told the dispatcher Russell was "unresponsive but breathing," she was conscious and speaking when first responders arrived.
Officers spoke with Russell "very briefly" and got a statement, police said. She was taken to a hospital for evaluation and has since been treated and released.
Police are still waiting for Russell to be made available so they can get a more detailed statement about what happened while she was missing.
The Hoover Police Department will hold a news conferenceat 2:30 p.m. CST Wednesday regarding the case.
