Carlee Russell admits disappearance was a hoax

BNO News

Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman whose disappearance earlier this month sparked a two-day search, admitted Monday that the entire incident was a hoax.  "There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13th, 2023. My client did not see a baby on the side of the road," her lawyer said in a statement read by police. "My client apologizes for her actions to this community."  Prosecutors are expected to meet on Tuesday to decide whether Russell will face criminal charges.

Transcript

00:00 Good afternoon. Thanks to everyone for attending again today. I want to thank

00:07 the members of our department and all of law enforcement who played a role in

00:10 investigation of this case. Last Wednesday, July 19th, we held a press

00:15 conference and provided you with the facts of the Carly Russell

00:17 disappearance. We told you the investigation was ongoing. We hope to

00:22 determine where Carly was in the 49 hours of her disappearance. Today I've

00:26 talked to and received a statement from Mr. Emery Anthony, attorney for Carly

00:31 Russell. Mr. Anthony has scheduled a meeting for Carly to meet with

00:34 investigators early this afternoon, but then I received an email stating that a

00:38 statement was being provided by him on her behalf. Mr. Anthony asked that I read

00:44 the statement in its entirety, which I will do now.

00:47 My client has given me permission to make the following statement on her

00:54 behalf. There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 9th, 13th 2023. My

01:02 client did not see a baby on the side of the road. My client did not leave

01:07 the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person.

01:10 My client did not have any help in this incident, but this was a single act

01:16 done by herself. My client was not with anyone or any hotel with anyone from

01:22 the time she was missing. My client apologizes for actions to this

01:26 community. The volunteers who were searching for her to the Hoover Police

01:31 Department and other agencies as well as to her friends and family. We ask for

01:36 your prayers for Carly as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward,

01:41 understanding that she made a mistake in this matter. Carly again as for your

01:46 forgiveness and prayers.

01:50 We have a meeting scheduled Mr Anthony to further discuss this case. We're

01:54 currently in discussions with the Jefferson County District Attorney's

01:57 Office in Bessemer about possible criminal charges related to this case,

02:02 and we will announce those charges when and if they're filed.

02:06 All right, with that, we'll take a few questions as an officer. Hail seven

02:10 calling you. Please state your name and your affiliation. Yes, sir. Chief

02:13 Mims W. A. G. G. 16 100.1 FM Summit Media Chief. Do we at this time of

02:21 visiting the police department know the whereabouts of Carly Russell during

02:27 that 49 hour period that she was supposedly missing? As I said the other

02:32 day was talking facts and everything. If I said anything today would be

02:35 speculation. Actual facts. We do not

02:38 13.

02:42 Excuse me. What?

02:42 I wish I could tell you. I think only a car knows that maybe returning now.

02:48 But again, the statement that we see from him does not indicate any

02:51 RC.

02:53 That was strictly be up to the district attorney's office.

02:59 42. Can you

03:01 there is a meeting scheduled for this afternoon with the family?

03:08 No, not a meeting with the attorney, not family or Carly. We have a meeting

03:12 scheduled with the attorney, and that will take place some point tomorrow.

03:15 Not scheduled. No, sir.

03:19 Well, again, we want to talk to talk to Mr Anthony tomorrow and see if he has

03:30 any anymore to discuss about about the case. We'll certainly be asking if we

03:35 will get an opportunity to again interview Carly like we've wanted to

03:39 since since she returned

03:40 Chief Steve Quinn. Yes, sir. Your reaction now knowing that Carly is

03:47 admitted that this was made up. Well, I'm glad that we got this. You know,

03:51 we we certainly laid the facts out to the to the to the to you guys and to

03:55 the national media that had a lot of interest in this particular case. Uh,

04:00 the sad thing is that again, there were so many people that that were involved,

04:06 took this thing very, very seriously. And and again, we wanted the focus to

04:11 be bringing her home. She got home. We're very excited about that. Uh, you

04:15 know, just, you know, it is what it is. The facts, I think, last Wednesday

04:19 pretty much showed that we knew that it was it was a hoax.

04:22 Please.

04:24 Do you know the expense you went to during this search? And if you don't

04:30 have a dollar figure for us, just the how big it was. Well, it was it was all

04:36 hands on deck and we don't have a dollar figure yet. But we're certainly

04:40 working towards getting one and not only ours, but there'll be there'll be

04:44 other agencies that that had a lot of a lot of support that they gave us and

04:49 had monetary expenses themselves.

04:51 Jonathan.

04:52 Investigate.

04:54 Are the parents under investigation? You know, as I said the other day, we

05:00 were gonna try to determine exactly those 49 hours. So right now, you know,

05:04 anything's on the table. We're we still don't know what happened. Those 49

05:07 hours where she was. Did she have any help? We have no idea. You know, I read

05:11 the statement from his grant and that's all we know.

05:13 Keep

05:14 the agency.

05:16 Chief, let me ask you this. What do you think prompted or provoked calling to

05:24 do this kind of thing?

05:28 Are there any kind of mental issues that police department or the public

05:33 should be concerned about? You know, not that I'm aware of. I mean, it's, uh,

05:38 you know, this is a very elaborate. This was elaborate deal. When you talk

05:41 about calling the 911 and being up on the interstate again, it would have all

05:46 be conjecture. So really, I don't know. I was hoping that we'd have an

05:50 opportunity to interview and we'd able to ask her those questions.

05:54 Involved in putting this story together for her. Mr Anthony, in his statement,

05:59 says there was not

06:00 living on the county. WPRC Fox six news. You said that you had a meeting

06:05 scheduled and it kind of switched to a statement. Did they give any type of

06:09 reason that that switched? No, they did not. Thank you.

06:12 Well,

06:14 but just for clarification, Carlos was not in custody right now. That is

06:19 correct. That is correct. Last question with David David. Once again. So first

06:24 of all, when did you actually see this letter? And second of all, do these

06:29 admissions and the content of the letter alter the investigation? No, not

06:35 at all. We'll continue to investigate. We're still trying to determine where

06:38 those where she was during those 49 hours. But I am glad that we receive

06:42 this. It at least puts put some of the social media super sleuths hopefully

06:47 arrest for a little bit. As far as what everyone, the conjecture of what

06:50 everybody thinks took place. We know that that by her own admission, it

06:55 didn't happen. And, you know, we thank for that. All right. Thank you guys

06:59 very much.

06:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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