Police in Alabama continue to investigate the disappearance and safe return of Carlee Russell, combing through numerous pieces of evidence collected from the time she disappeared until her return home, authorities said Monday.
“Each piece of information is helping investigators reconstruct Carlee’s movements during the time she was missing,’’ Hoover police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said.
“This is a tedious process, but it is important to make sure everything is methodically evaluated so that we have the clearest possible picture of what took place from the time Carlee called 911 until she returned home Saturday night.”
Czeskleba said investigators have confirmed that Russell left work from a business at The Summit- which family said was The Woodhouse Day Spa – in Birmingham at approximately 8:20 p.m. She ordered food from a nearby business at The Colonnade – Taziki’s – and drove there.
“It appears she was alone during this time, and we have no evidence that she was being followed,’’ he said.
Russell communicated on her cell phone with individuals known to her while on her path of travel up to the point of calling 911 at 9:34 p.m., Czeskleba said.
The conversation with the 911 operator ended and Carlee called a relative, which family has identified as her brother’s girlfriend.
Russell went missing during that conversation sometime after 9:36 p.m., after telling both the 911 operator and the relative she had seen a male toddler in a diaper on the side of I-459 and was stopping to check on him.
“Traffic camera footage was obtained which depicted this portion of the incident, and that footage is still being analyzed as part of the investigation in conjunction with the 911 call to accurately determine the timeframe,’’ Czeskleba said.
“Carlee’s 911 call remains the only timely report of a child on the interstate,’’ he said, “and no one has called to report that a child is missing.”
Hoover police officers arrived on scene within five minutes of being dispatched, and several other officers arrived shortly behind.
They located Carlee’s wig, cell phone and purse on the roadway near her vehicle, and Carlee’s Apple Watch was in her purse.
Hoover police detectives, along with investigators from other local and federal agencies began pursuing possible leads and collecting evidence throughout the day Friday and Saturday.
At 10:44 p.m. on July 15th, the Hoover 911 center received a call from Carlee’s residence that she had returned home on foot.
Hoover police and fire responded to the residence where Carlee was located. She was immediately transported by the Hoover Fire Department to UAB Hospital to be evaluated and was treated and released.
Detectives responded to the residence and to UAB to take an initial statement from Russell. The details of that statement are a part of the ongoing investigation which is expected to continue over the next several days.
“During the initial portion of the investigation detectives were able to retrace nearly all of Carlee’s steps until the point she went missing and are confident that will continue to be the case,’’ he said.
Czeskleba said no additional information is being released and no press conferences have been scheduled.
Tell us your thoughts...