Before she vanished, the Alabama lady who went missing for two days last week looked for information about Amber Alerts, local bus tickets, and the action film Taken, according to authorities.
The information was one of many that the authorities released during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. They gave the most comprehensive description of what happened in the mysterious occurrence that has attracted widespread attention.
Carlee Russell, a 25-year-old nursing student, vanished on Thursday after she reported seeing a toddler stumbling by the side of the road to 911 and her brother’s girlfriend.
According to police, there is still no proof of a missing toddler, and no other drivers have reported seeing one along the busy section of road.
Minutes after the 911 call, first responders spotted Russell’s car and her things, including her wig, mobile and pocketbook, but they couldn’t find her.
Russell then went back home on Saturday, some 49 hours after she had first vanished.
Russell allegedly informed authorities once she reappeared that she had been kidnapped and held by two people until she was able to escape, according to Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis.
Derzis, however, revealed more details that contradicted Russell’s story and said that the investigators haven’t yet been given permission to speak with her.
Before she vanished, Russell conducted online searches connected to abductions.
Russell looked into whether there was a fee for an Amber Alert on July 11, which was two days before she vanished.
Russell looked up information on the Birmingham bus station, which is around 10 miles from Hoover, on the day she vanished. She also looked for a bus ticket that went from Birmingham to Nashville in one direction.
On the day she disappeared, she also looked up the movie Taken and how to steal cash from a register covertly.
According to Derzis, it is exceedingly unusual for someone to be exploring the internet or watching the movie Taken about an abduction seven to eight hours before they are taken. “I find that to be very strange.”
Derzis claimed that although investigators discovered other online searches that seemed to shed light on Russell’s mental state, authorities were keeping them confidential out of respect for her privacy. Two online searches about Amber Alerts were also made on a computer at her place of employment.
Investigators also discovered Russell travelled 600 yards along the roadway while speaking with the 911 operator thanks to cell phone records.
Since I’ve always been one of these men who never says never, she said it, and I’m not saying it can’t happen, Derzis added. “It’s just very hard for me to understand that a toddler — barefoot, that could be three or four years old — will travel six football fields without getting in the roadway or crying,” the speaker said.