Police: No Evidence That Carlee Russell Was Followed Before She Went Missing

Alabama authorities are reviewing all evidence and retracing all of Carlee Russell’s steps from the moment she went missing along the I-459 freeway in Alabama on Thursday evening.

She returned home by foot on Saturday at 10:45 p.m., Breitbart News reported.

Hoover Police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said every bit of information is crucial for understanding what happened to Carlee over the 48 hours she was missing.

“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 told Al.com.

Video shows the moment Carlee Russell’s car pulled over and she disappeared in Hoover, Alabama:

The 25-year-old nursing student got off of work around 8:20 p.m. on Thursday from the Woodhouse Day Spa in Birmingham and then ordered food from a nearby business. According to Czeskleba, there is no evidence that Russell was followed.

Russell called 911 around 9:30 p.m. to report she saw a male toddler along the I-459 freeway. Footage shows what appears to be her car pulling over on the phone. The last contact Russell had was with her brother’s girlfriend on the phone.  

“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 time frame,’’ Czeskleba said. “Carlee’s 911 call remains the only timely report of a child on the interstate, and no one has called to report that a child is missing.”

Upon returning home, authorities took Russell to UAB Hospital for an evaluation. Her parents are confident that their daughter was abducted and are worried since her abductor is still at large, according to a sit-down interview with Today. 

“There were moments when she physically had to fight for her life, and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life,” Russell’s mother, Talitha Robinson-Russell said.

Authorities have not located the toddler Russell had seen on the side of the road. Her parents believe the child was used as bait.

However, Sabrina Thulander, a spokesperson for Polaris, the nonprofit that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, said traffickers typically don’t target strangers, since they don’t want the extra attention, Insider reported. She said since 2007, only 6 percent of sex trafficking victims reported being abducted.

“Far more common ways that traffickers use to recruit is that it’s a family member. You have a lifelong tie to them, and they will exploit that,” she said. “Another is through an intimate or romantic partner who’s exploiting a vulnerability — a need that you have.”