The parents of Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman who went missing for about 48 hours after making a 911 phone call, spoke of their relief after her return home.
Talking on NBC’s”TODAYIn an interview that aired Tuesday, Talitha Robinson-Russell, the mother of Carlee Russell, said she felt “so much joy” after her daughter returned home Saturday.
“We tried to hug her as best we could, but I had to back away because she wasn’t in good condition,” he said.
Russell, 25, went missing Thursday after calling 911 shortly after 9:30 p.m. in a timeline of his disappearance.
She also called a relative and said she saw a toddler in diapers on the side of the road and was stopping to check on her, but that relative lost contact with her, the Hoover Police Department said.
When officers arrived on scene, they found her wig, cellphone and purse on the road near her car, but there was no sign of Russell or the boy she called about, police said. The call from him was the only report of a child being seen on the interstate, police said.
On Saturday night, police said they received a call notifying them that Carlee Russell had returned home. Authorities responded to her home and she was transported to a local hospital for evaluation, treatment and release.
Detectives also took an initial statement from her.
“The details of that statement are part of the ongoing investigation that is expected to continue over the next few days,” police said.
Talitha Robinson-Russell and Carlos Russell, Carlee Russell’s father, told the “TODAY” show they could not share details about how their daughter got home or their account of what happened during her disappearance, citing the ongoing police investigation. .
However, Carlee Russell’s mother said her daughter had been kidnapped and she believed the perpetrator was still out there. She also said that her daughter had to fight for her life while she was missing.
Asked Monday to comment on whether she was abducted, Hoover police public information officer Keith Czeskleba said only that authorities “had spoken to Carlee once and are following up on that information, however we cannot publicly share the details of our initial interview. .”
“We will follow up with her again to try to get a better understanding of the last 72 hours and will provide what information we can when we can,” he said. Police did not immediately respond to an overnight request for further comment.
In the days after her return, Carlee Russell’s father, Carlos Russell, said his daughter was struggling with “bad dreams” and “moments where things make her tremble, scared,” including loud noises. “Just different things that trigger,” he said.
His mother said the family was also traumatized. She also said they received “many” text messages and calls from people who “maliciously lied to them” and pretended to know the whereabouts of her daughter while she was missing. “I just didn’t know people could be so evil,” Talitha Robinson-Russell said, noting that there has also been widespread speculation about what happened during her daughter’s disappearance following her return home from her home. .
Jefferson State Community College has said that Russell is a student and that the entire community was praying for her.
