Search continues for Carlee Russell: Woman vanished in Hoover after reporting child walking on I-459
Russell reportedly stopped to check on the child and has not been heard from since.
www.al.com
Search continues for Carlee Russell: Woman vanished in Hoover after reporting child walking on I-459
Rewards totaling $25,000 are being offered as the search continued Friday for a woman missing after she told family she was checking on a child she said was walking alone along Interstate 459 in Hoover.An anonymous donor has put up $20,000 for the safe return of 25-year-old Carlethia Nichole “Carlee” Russell, Hoover police said Friday afternoon. Additionally, Crime Stoppers is offering up to $5,000.
The search began Thursday night when Hoover 911 at 9:34 p.m. received a call from Russell, said Lt. Daniel Lowe.
Russell told the dispatcher that she was near mile marker 11 when she saw a toddler walking alone on the side of I-459 between the flyover to the Galleria and Highway 150.
After calling 911, Russell stopped to check on the child and called a family member to report the same details, Lowe said. The family member lost contact with her, but the line remained open.
Officers who were already en route to the location of the initial 911 call located Russell’s vehicle and some of her belongings nearby but were unable to find her or a child in the area.
Hoover police have not received any other calls of someone missing a small child.
Authorities are not committing to any one theory in Russell’s disappearance, police said at a Friday afternoon press conference.
”We currently are investigating every possibility,’’ Lowe said. “We’re certainly leaving nothing off the table.”
Talitha Russell said her daughter left The Woodhouse Day Spa at the Summit, where she works part time, and stopped by Taziki’s at the Colonnade at 9 p.m. to pick up food for herself and her mother.
Talitha Russell talked to her daughter at 9:19 p.m. as she was leaving Taziki’s and heading to the Hoover home she shared with her parents.
At 9:36 p.m., Talitha Russell said, her daughter was on the phone with her brother’s girlfriend when she was pulling over on the side of the interstate after saying she saw a child alone that appeared to be 3 or 4 years old.
“She called 911 when she pulled over,’’ Talitha Russell said. “She got out of the car. I think she probably let her guard down thinking 911 would be there in a second.”
“My son’s girlfriend heard her asking the child, ‘Are you Ok? She never heard the child say anything but then she heard our daughter scream,’’ Talitha Russell said. “From there all you hear on her phone is background noise from the interstate.”
A Hoover police officer dispatched Carlee Russell’s report of a child alone on I-459 arrived within three minutes, Talitha Russell said.
“Her car door was open, the engine was running, and they found her phone on the ground, along with her wig and her hat,’’ Talitha Russell said. “Her purse was still in the car. Her Apple watch was in her purse and her Air Pods as well.”
Talitha Russell said a tip was called in from a trucker who was traveling along I-459 at the time of Carlee Russell’s disappearance.
“He saw her red car with the door open and he saw a grey car with a tall brown skinned man with khaki shorts on leaning over in the car,’’ Talitha Russell said.
“The police did find some tire tracks in the grass,’’ she said. “They said because it was not a muddy area, they were not able to determine what type of vehicle it could have been.”
Russell is too old to be the subject of an Amber Alert, but her family is questioning why no Ashanti Alert was issued in this case.
An Ashanti Alert deals with critical missing adult cases and became a law in 2018.
MEDIA - CARLEE RUSSELL: Missing from Hoover, AL - 13 July 2023 - Age 25
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