Disappearance of Carlee Russell
# Disappearance of Carlee Russell

Carlee Russell (born 22 July 1997) is a Hoover, Alabama (Birmingham metropolitan area) nursing student alleged to have disappeared for 49 hours on July 13, 2023. Russell appeared at her parent's house on July 15, and questions have been raised as to whether an abduction actually occurred. The alleged disappearance went viral on TikTok and other social media platforms.

Russell disappeared from the side of Interstate 459 after claiming to have stopped because she saw an unattended young child on the side of the highway. She made a 911 call shortly before disappearing at 9:34pm on July 13, which has been publicly released. She later reported that she was placed inside a tractor trailer truck, escaped, and was re-captured and put in a car. After saying she was undressed and photographed while blindfolded, though not bound at the wrists to avoid marks of being bound, she says she escaped again.

After her return, the local police department and investigators stated that they were "unable to verify" most of Russell's statement, and "continuing investigation had cast doubt on much of Ms. Russell’s account." In the days prior to her disappearance, Russell had done online searches such as "Do you have to pay for an Amber alert", "How to take money from a register without being caught", "Birmingham bus station", "One way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville", and about the abduction movie Taken. The Hoover Police Department stated in a press release that they have "not found any evidence of a child walking on the side of the road" nor "receive any additional calls about a toddler walking down the interstate."

