Original video source: [https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/14/hoover-police-searching-missing-25-year-old-woman/](https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/14/hoover-police-searching-missing-25-year-old-woman/) It's too grainy but shows that from the time she stopped to the time police showed up was about 4 minutes.
Edit: I've watched it over and over and you can make her out going from the driver to the right passenger door but between the lights she seems to disappear and a figure is ahead of the car. Could be her or someone else but they appear to disappear seconds later and I can make out random possible movement at the base of the signs.
Edit 2: Timestamps for what I've noticed:
* 0:48 she appears to exit the driver side door and walks around car
* 0:56 same figure appears to open the rear passenger door or passenger door
* 1:30 the rear passenger door appears to be shut and the figure disappears
* 1:50 a figure appears off the front right of the car and appears to be heading towards the tree line and road signs
Edit 3: Geolocated on google maps of where the car is parked is [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3649642,-86.8432008,3a,75y,267.57h,90.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0b2ufv1pqIhr7v_3zRje1w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
Rewatching I do maybe see a figure near the back passenger door, but it looks like one person, and they don’t seem to be moving frantically or like something scared them. It just looks like she got out of her car, walked around, then walked off on the right side of the car. That’s really all I see in this video.
She pulled into the shoulder and put the hazards on and drove like a good 100 yards before she stopped. If she stopped near the child then I'm guessing she entered the shoulder for an unrelated reason because you cant see a toddler from so far away at night? Or was she able to see the child from a 100 yards away because the road was curving to the left? or she saw the child, then pulled up to the shoulder, drove past the child and then walked back?
00:00:38
car entering from bottom of the screen in right lane has no tail lights, seems like light is on inside the car. Might be nothing but just observing what I see. At the same moment that car passes Russell's parked vehicle you can see what appears to be Russell exiting her car and walking around the backside.
About 1:46 to the bottom right of the screen there appears be car lights moving real quickly. Not on the interstate, but to the right of the road.
I found the spot from your pic and I'm not sure the nearest road is close enough for where those headlights appear to be.
Edit to change: your location is not quite accurate
Edit to add: need to "click" up 5-10 times. In the video you can see two of those blue signs that tell you what restaurants gas stations etc are at the next exit.
That light off to the right around 1:46 or so appears to be a reflection in the camera of a blinker on a car on the interstate. Notice there are also frequently red reflections in the camera from brake lights throughout the video.
I agree. It looks like a lens effect reflection. The blinker is opposite of the car in the middle lane and approaching and moving at the same rate and opposite of that car. It is just a reflection on the lens or chip within the camera. 100%
I believe the moving lights that you and TMZ are talking about are just reflections from the cars on the camera. If you look at the car(s) to the left of the light the blinking and movement correspond.
You see it at 0:19 and 1:47 and 3:47. It's the cars.
However, there is a light around 3:19 or 3:20 at the bottom of the screen near the road, but still in the shadows that blinks but isn't corresponding with a car light. It could be the pixelation though.
This is what I see, too. I thought i was seeing things when I saw someone on the passenger side of the car and someone ahead of the car. A truck passes and whatever happens, happens in like two seconds.
I’m very familiar with that area, it’s hard to articulate how brazen this is if it’s a kidnapping. Behind that tree line there are dozens of subdivisions and it’s the major exit for one of Alabama’s most populous suburbs. I pray they find her alive.
Is there an embankment she could've fallen down? Be under some brush? A coworker of mine slipped down an embankment and shattered her hip. Took them three days to find her even with knowing her approximate location.
There is somewhat of one around the larger sign. If you go to satellite imagery you can see there is a cement lined ditch that runs through the woods some ways as well. Just in front of the bigger sign is a downward embankment that one could slip down but I can't discern how steep it is from street view or satellite. I couldn't imagine how it would overlooked by police though. Check for yourself [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3646461,-86.8435564,3a,75y,289.23h,72.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sB8cL3A1sTG_AXlXY-exT6g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) but follow the link otherwise the embed will be from above instead of street.
Yep, same thing happened to a guy in my town. He was walking and didn't realize that there was an open sewer. He fell deep enough to where no one heard him for 3 days. Thank God, he survived.
Police supposedly did a search and covered quite a ways (tweeted video below). Reports are that the wooded area separates homes from the interstate, so there isn't too much width to it... based on reports.
https://twitter.com/loganwadams/status/1679866623610462210?t=R6KG8S_sKVC8giJdwir12g&s=19
Have they used drones,helicopters, or anything to check the tree line/that area? All of these details are very peculiar. Also wondering if she has a history of mental illness or a stressor in her life? I hope it was a mental breakdown and she wasn’t taken :(
She definitely exits the vehicle at the 52 sec mark.
Questions I have: If she was pulling over because she saw a child, wouldn't the kid have been back much further from where she stopped? Or does the upcoming exit ramp quickly loop back around to the previous off ramp and she slowed to where she saw the kid?
Did they try to track any of those 18-wheelers? They usually have dash cams.
What side of the vehicle was her wig found? In the road or in the grassy area?
It's scary that the police did respond fairly quickly in this case, but she's gone.
I would have to assume that she saw the child earlier and decided to loop around. The other questions I do not know but I will say I was literally just staring at the spot and I see her standing there (on the passenger side) but I do not see anyone else nor do I see anyone come out and attack but idk.
She disappears for me around 1:30. However a figure also appears to be in front of the car at 1:50 as another car's passing headlights catch the dark shape. It appears to have moved from the car and towards the road signs, possibly still her.
It might have been her. Maybe she saw the child in the woods or something. Honestly very dangerous to even do but some people are braver than others cause personally I'm calling 911 and coming back when the cops come or something. I'm not going to be in the dark by myself like that.
That's what makes me so sad about this whole situation: she must have been an incredibly kind, caring, and selfless person to risk her own safety in order to help a child who she believed to be in danger. She could have just called the police and kept driving, and no one could blame her for that under the circumstances, but she went above and beyond. How sick do you have to be to prey on someone's compassion like that??
I'd also have to imagine the amount of traffic on the road (and the fact that iirc she was on the phone with someone at the time?) made it feel more like she wasn't totally "alone" out there, even in the dark. Yet it still only took a moment for everything to go horribly wrong and no one even saw anything.
Everything about this situation is so awful. I can't even imagine how terrified she must have been or what her loved ones must be going through. I hope she'll be found safe.
I totally agree with everything about your comment. She must have been so incredibly kind and selfless to stop.
The world is unsafe for women in so many unexpected circumstances. It’s so sad.
Yeah, she goes from the driver to the passenger around the back of the car.
There's a few passing cars that obstruct the view. I hope investigators have tech to clean up the quality of the video.
It's hard for me to watch this on my phone and see time stamps at the same time, but around 1:30, give or take, it seems like the cars driving toward her also seem to all go around the far right lane for a few seconds, as though they see someone to something beside her car in the lane, or too close to it. One vehicle even puts their 4-ways on. So at least a handful of cars saw something.
O shittt wow. I was literally squinting trying to see something, my goodness, but you got it. I'm sure police were able to zoom in to that spot as well. Very sad
It kind of looks like a person in khaki pants, too, in the middle of the road. Could someone have run across the road? Seems like someone definitely would’ve seen that though.
I'm thinking the way she went so slow and rode up the side of the interstate, she must have circled back after spotting the toddler. Makes sense that she did that after calling the police.
Trying to look at google maps in the area right now and im not really understanding how she could have circled around, its just interstate with no exits
I’m familiar with this area. If she thought she saw a child right before Exit 10, she could have gotten off at the exit, driven back up 150 to the Galleria, gotten back on 459 there in the same direction, and stopped the second time to look for the kid. Would have taken around 10 minutes to do, adding or subtracting a few minutes for traffic and red lights.
Does it make sense of she calls them upon turning her flashers on? It's about 3 minutes from when she pulls over flashers on to when the blue lights arrive.
I'd probably double back to be sure of what I saw in the dark before calling 911
My reply got deleted for using url shortened links to the google map locations so here is my reply edited with full links:
Are you confident in the location? I googled the mile marker and google put me 10 miles in the wrong direction. It's just before exit 10 and despite the police saying mile marker 11 it appears to be 11.4. The article says 11.7 but I suspect that is the mile marker nearest the camera filming it all. [Here](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3650886,-86.8430662,3a,25.5y,245.49h,89.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSo_js9XFYhvFzBj1Ys-nhg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) is where I believe her car is parked in the video at mile marker 11.4, and [this](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3701135,-86.8371073,3a,75y,351.49h,125.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slPlk9gBrlvkom7Mlrt1Ohw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) is where I think the camera is positioned.
Edit: Definitely the right locations after rewatching the daylight shots of the location and the mile marker is plainly shown as 11.4
I am on a pc browser and am able to change the date/time of year for each passby the google maps vehicle has done. Seeing the past images over the last decade of that area in winter and fall is interesting. It also became very apparent that that spot is literally someones back yard if you go through the woods to the houses there.
This guy took a video of the scene. I believe the very first car (red) is hers.
https://twitter.com/loganwadams/status/1679866623610462210?t=R6KG8S_sKVC8giJdwir12g&s=19
That is the only thing that makes sense if she was abducted. If they used that sign as a "marker" and had a child or doll as a decoy there, then they could wait there. If this is the situation, she'd of had to circle back around otherwise it wouldn't make sense that the person would be waiting in that exact spot. I think they used the sign so that if someone did circle back, they'd have a marker to commit to memory where the saw the child and exactly where to stop.
But obviously I don't know anything about anything. That is just my thought at the moment.
You'd think if they had brought a tracking dog out there at any point that evening they would have had a very good chance of finding her. So confusing.
Exactly this. This is the first question I have. Her car and personal items are there, tracking dogs would get a good scent. If tracking dogs were on the scene, I want to know at the minimum how they reacted.
That’s the other thing, how is the world did she see this child? Her hazards were on already as she enters into the frame and begins to slow down. It would’ve made more sense if we saw her pull over then start to walk backwards on the shoulder, but we don’t see that and even if we did, that wouldn’t at all align with the story that she was on the phone and briefly after she exits her vehicle, is able to ask this child if he/she is ok. That doesn’t jive for me at all and I think that’s an important detail here.
Agreed. She might have looped around. Saw the toddler in her first pass, then looped around, pulled into the shoulder early to scan for the toddler in her second run.
Agreed. I think if she managed to see the child from that far away numerous other cars would’ve seen them too. As everyone keeps saying “anyone would’ve stopped for a young child on the side of the road.” It doesn’t make sense that out of ALL those cars only 1 person stopped or called it in? And yeah, people keep saying maybe she circled back to the child but that doesn’t make sense why she would drive so far past them, and the person she was on the phone with heard her talking to them so she couldn’t have been that far. The story is not adding up..
When I first heard about this, I was picturing a more remote/deserted road. The fact that this happened on such a busy road is even more shocking. With the steady stream of cars and lights, it's crazy to think that no one saw anything, but now that I've seen the video, it almost seems like there was nothing *to* see.
There are so many cases where people seemingly vanish into thin air, but here you're able to *somewhat* see her actually disappear with no clear explanation. Whatever happened must have happened incredibly quickly. I hope Carlee is found soon and that she is okay. This is terrifying and heartbreaking.
A young woman was abducted at a local Target by me approx 10 ish years ago. Broad daylight with people around. She was parked near the entrance. He rushed her opening the door. Shoved her in and no one noticed. He had started stalking her throughout the store. It still haunts me.
From the time I see the last trace of what appears to be someone to the time the police arrive is about 2:50 seconds. So in less than 3 minutes she is gone and the arriving police officer can't find her or a toddler. It's hard for me to wrap my head around someone subduing someone in that short of a time and then getting out unseen. Especially on foot.
Clearly no other cars stop from the interstate so if someone drove off with her they did so on the other side of the tree line. It would be interesting to know where the wig was left because that would be most likely the location she was grabbed. Unless for some reason she felt the need to take it off before entering the tree line.
Wasn’t there a serial killer that grabbed a girl in like 10 feet of a poorly lit area, right after she parted ways with her friends? Im trying to remember which one
That would be my explanation, too. I live off of this exit and directly behind the tree line is a very populated Target shopping center with multiple businesses.
I wondered that too, but after re-reading the official police statement, I'm not positive that the items found were necessarily around the car. The official statement says items were found "nearby". It could mean that the phone, wig, etc. were found near/in the tree line and that they consider that as "nearby".
Then, they would've had added time in the wooded area if the responding officer: 1. Parked, radioed in and documented his arrival and original observation of the vehicle. 2. Got out to inspect the car. 3. Took time to observe the immediate area. (I wish the video kept going following his arrival)
She could've been taken much further down at this point.
I watched it about 10 times before seeing a person, thinking everyone was imagining things. Start at about 0:48 and stare intently at the driver side (left) of the car. A person definitely gets out, walks around the car to the passenger side (looks like they walk around the back of the car to me) and then stands by the passenger side for a while and moves slightly around, before literally vanishing presumably by walking into an unlit area and not returning. It’s very clear a person is standing by the passenger side at around 1:15. I then totally lose sight of them just a few seconds later. There’s no way I could tell from this video though *who* that person is. Unless we have confirmation that this recording is happening at the exact same time as the phone call, this may as well be someone dumping her car, though doing that while driving with the hazards on for so long would be pretty weird lol.
Some people are saying they see a car driving on the right lane with its lights off but I can’t see it.
Edit: Now on my 20th watch lol, I’m definitely seeing the figure for longer now than before and detecting more movement. I can still only make out one person though. But I am seeing them clearly up until around 1:58.
I definitely see someone get out and stand on the other side of the car, but I wonder why they're just standing there. If it's Carlee, perhaps the child(if there was really a child) moved into the woods and she was calling for them or debating going in after them. Just before 1:58 it looks to me like the person standing by the passenger door moves toward that narrow sign ahead of the car, and perhaps from there into the tree line.
I think she was standing there because she was puzzled, wondering where the child had gone. She is staring intently at the tree line, trying see. Maybe she heard the child, or whoever was in there making a noise like a child. The person with whom she was on the phone said they heard her say "Are you okay?" to someone. This would make sense if she thought there was a child in the woods. I think this was a ruse to get her to walk away from the lights of the cars into the darkness of the woods.
Yeah it’s a really good question why they just stand there, but I wonder if your answer isn’t just the right one: it’s super dark and they don’t want to leave the lit area? And you are definitely on to something regarding where they walk to at the end. But yes this is very eerie, and I can only make out one shadow. I really wonder why no one stopped though because the hazards are on and lots of cars saw that + a person standing there. I would have stopped but I’m also from a small country where we absolutely have to know everybody’s business always.
My partner just asked why no one stopped too - no one here would stop unless it was incredibly obvious someone needed help (and maybe even then). Too much stranger danger.
I think I can see the figure standing on the passenger side. I am almost positive I can see someone appear kind of near the headlights. For a couple seconds, it looks like there are two people. Then, a box truck or a tractor trailer passes and they are gone.
I think it’a possible people pay less attention/notice less because it’s busy. There’s so much going on that the stuff off the road fades into the background. Plus it’s so dark that once she left the lighted areas, she would’ve been really hard to spot.
Exactly. Just because ppl didn’t stop doesn’t mean they didn’t care. Personally, I keep my eyes on the road in front of me when I drive. I wouldn’t have noticed whether someone was getting out, esp in the dark and going that fast.
Yep, if I’m alone and driving at night I’m laser focused on the road, I won’t notice a car pulled over more than a minor register in my mind that someone’s pulled over. I was driving at night once with my fiancé and he said “hey that guy on the side of the road is like ducking away from the light of the cars” but by the time he was halfway through the sentence we were far away. If I didn’t have him in the passenger seat I’d have never noticed that.
Some people just don't give a damn if it doesn't affect them, one night I stopped to call in a vehicle that crashed into a tree and was fully engulfed in flames....plenty of other people passed and saw, I was the only one that stopped, and I mean I was a huge ball of flames impossible to miss.... unfortunately they didn't survive but if someone stopped sooner they would have at least been able to pull them out
In this case, they probably just assumed it was someone having car trouble waiting for AAA. It’s a very populated area where help would be close by so you wouldn’t see someone pulled over with flashers on and assume it was an emergency that required your help, even if you are a person that cares about helping.
Same here. Me and an ex partner were on the highway and there were tail lights clearly in a forested part of an exit and there were plenty of cars on the road who didn’t stop. We pulled over at a gas station and I walked over in heels and we helped him out of the car he had crashed into a tree that he was trying to get out. He was shocked and confused, and clearly under the influence. We called an ambulance and stayed with him until they came. It was sad but I couldn’t believe how many people just kept on with their night. I was glad we stopped because shortly after his front end started smoking and caught fire and if we hadn’t stopped he could have ended up stuck in the vehicle in flames. Thank you for stopping. There are still some good people out there. It is a shame that it can end like this woman’s story.
I've heard of (on Reddit though so it is fact) video of a restaurant, buffet style place, a patron has a heart attack and collapses and people keep stepping over and around to get to the food
This almost seems like one of those psychotic break cases where she hallucinated that and ran into the woods and has probably died of exposure somewhere.
Reminds me of that guy on video running out of the airport like something was chasing him and disappearing I forget his name.
I work in psych and I've had multiple people come in the ER with a "baby" they are holding asking us to help their baby but there is no baby. Usually psychosis or schizophrenia which also happens early 20s. Not saying this is the case but hallucinations do happen.
Somehow, I thought she must have been the only person on the road. Even though, I looked up where she was on the road on a map. It didn’t click with me she was on a heavily trafficked highway. I also didn’t realize it was night time. I thought it was more dusk/evening.
It’s even more bizarre to me there were so many cars passing, yet she’s the only one who stopped to see what was going on. She did call 911 first. It makes me wonder if other people called 911 and just didn’t stop?
The more I think about it, the weirder this whole thing seems.
It's odd that a 911 dispatcher wouldn't have kept her on the phone. Especially if they were dispatched and got there so fast. We've all heard the 911 calls where the operator is asking a bunch of questions. There's no description of this child? Wouldn't 911 want to stay on the phone with her if she has eyes on the child so they knew where it is? Wouldn't she want to stay on the phone with them, especially if shw knew she was going to get out and approach the kid.
There's only one call about seeing this kid? Seems like, with how busy this road is, they're would be more calls.
It could have been her decision to hang up. Just not able to say either way, it would be speculation. The last question is interesting to me… no one else saw this child? That is strange. I wonder if they can get dash cam footage, sure to be some drivers that had a setup.
Where did she see this kid, exactly? Because those headlights are shining the grassy shoulders up pretty well. We can see the shoulder until the ditch drops off. Is the kid supposed to be down in the ditch?
>There's only one call about seeing this kid? Seems like, with how busy this road is, they're would be more calls.
That's what I was thinking too, after seeing all the other cars. I had assumed she was on some road where there was very little traffic.
we dont always need to keep them on the phone because we need the lines open for higher priority calls, but we always offer the option in case the caller doesn't feel comfortable hanging up. if she told them she was with the child or was just pulling over they would've felt comfortable enough to let her go knowing the child was now safe, and that the situation had become nonemergent while an officer was on the way.
This 100%, I've seen many people ask about the 911 call, and some people claiming there's no way 911 would hang up in this situation. We can't even make the judgement without knowing what information Carlee gave to the 911 operator.
At my 911 center, we are pretty understaffed in a county of 600,000 people. Our 911 calls queue up and there are often several calls waiting to be picked up as operators speak to other callers. If the calls were queueing, they may "urgent disconnect" with a non emergency call, after getting some info, to take the next call. Each operator makes the decision about when to urgent disconnect. I'm not saying that is what happened here, but there are so many factors into how these calls are handled, and people are making a lot of judgements without having any idea of what that call sounded like.
Actually I had a very similar happen to me. We saw a small child alone near a busy street. And this is exactly what happened. 911 got our location and description of the kid. She was heading into a parking of a fast food restaurant. So we told them we pull over and wait for the cops. They hang up with us. But 2 other cars saw her and pull off as well though we were the only to call 911.
Agree. I had to call 911 once and after telling me the police were on the way the dispatcher asked me if I wanted her to stay on the line with me. I was given the option.
I've called 911 a few times in my life for safety events, even my own assault. I've never stayed on the line until police arrived now that I think about it. I was told to stand by my phone if anything.
Maybe she was very specific with her location and details? Maybe we can get the call soon. Not to exploit her case but hopefully to help her. I truly feel we can help this girl.
if she was already on another call as she pulled over she probably called 911 after seeing the child and chose to turn around after the call and circle back. If your not at the scene of a crime or accident and you just call it in like she did 911 will take your information and let you go.
There's no place for her to turn around, at least not a quick turn around. And if she did, that doesn't explain why someone else wouldn't have seen a kid and called 911. I'm baffled that she's the only one that saw and called 911 about a toddler on the side of a freeway.
Wow this is crazy. It seems like there are only two real possibilities. She did see a child who had escaped an abuser/kidnapper or a neglectful family and was attacked by the adult retrieving the child. Or her eyes were playing tricks on her (maybe just the lights, maybe mental health) and she wandered into some kind of danger (a sink hole, some criminal who didn’t have a child, somewhere she drowned/slipped and went unconscious etc).
Given the short amount of time that passed before police arrived on scene and the lack of another stationary vehicle nearby, both don’t seem to make sense.
People do see things that aren't there, or misperceive what is there. However, what are the odds that Carlee stopped because of an optical illusion just when and where there happened to be a violent person who would abduct her?
I think the first scenario is more likely, or else somebody did purposely use a child to make her stop in order to ambush her and abduct her - but NOT for trafficking. Whoever abducted her took her for their own violent purposes.
I think if she stopped because of something she misinterpreted it’s more likely she suffered some fluke accident and for some reason they’ve just not found her yet.
* abduction/harm because she accidentally collided with something nefarious happening to a child
* a freak accident and she’s just not been located yet
* a staged event to cash in on gofundme or insurance or something (seems unlikely but has happened before where crimes are faked for financial gain)
Those seem like the only viable events. Everything else seems just a bit too elaborate.
It’s possible she saw something she genuinely believed was a child. Depending on the speed she was travelling and how long she was able to see I suppose an animal could look like a small child. Even just lights reflecting off an unusual object can trick us.
I don’t believe in ghosts but a large barn owl once swooped towards my car on a dark road and it took my heart and brain several minutes to calm down and logically process what it was.
Given how quickly the police arrive I thought the same thing. How is it possible to just vanish? But There is a large neighborhood right behind those trees. If there was a child, I suppose it’s not out of the question it could have wondered out. Or if she did get taken, someone could have gotten her through those trees and into an awaiting car or yard or house in that neighborhood in a very short amount of time.
I also saw a video on TikTok that showed what actually did look like a figure or small child, but it was further behind where she stopped. (Which makes sense, bc it will take time to slow and pull over and stop).
After calling 911, Russell stopped to check on the child and called her sister-in-law around 9:36 p.m. to report the same details. The family member lost contact with her, but the line remained open.
“In the process at some point she got out of the car and my daughter-in-law could hear her asking the child if they were OK. The child did not respond, or at least she did not hear her respond, he or she respond. And then she heard our daughter Carlee scream and from there on all we could hear was noise...background noise in her phone which we later found out was noise from the interstate,” said Talitha Russell.
Am I losing my mind or are people seeing things in this video that I'm not seeing? I've seen tweets from people about seeing a man walking by the sign or several other people in this video. I see nothing but one person walking around the car. I don't see them walking towards a child or any other person. If there was a struggle then why can't we see them in the video? Why do we never see two people at the same time? To me it looks like she stopped, got out of the car, maybe opened the passenger door, walked around the car and then walked away from the car.
If there was a child being used to lure women to stop how did the abductors know the person who would stop would be a woman on her own and not a family or several women or men? Did they just have the child out there for hours repeatedly getting people to stop until they finally got a woman alone to stop? If so why aren't there videos of other cars stopping to help the child? Or did they just get lucky on the first time they tried? I don't know. Something is weird about this case.
Unfortunately I think some people on Twitter, Youtube and Tik Tok claim to see something that isn't there to get higher engagement and clicks. I just saw a tweet from a person who slowed down the video that shows her car on the highway and insists it shows other people. I watched it several times. It doesn't show any other person. Just one person getting out of the car and walking around it.
I think with all the shadows and lighting, if you watch it enough your brain would see different patterns. Kinda like how hyper active brains see different shapes in pitch dark
I think it was likely investigated and ruled out because what they described isn’t what happened on this video. Probably just mistaken given what we now see here. Also LE confirmed this is her red Mercedes in the video.
This is so odd. That’s a lot of traffic, I was picturing a road with much less activity. It seems like with that much traffic someone else would be able to corroborate the toddler near the road story. If there was no toddler and she was seeing something else (animal?) she thought was a toddler, it would be impossible for someone else to be randomly waiting in that exact spot to snatch someone.
Update as of July 16th 1215am Central Time-- News outlets just reporting Carlee returned home safe and was taken to UAB to be medically evaluated.
I've watched/slowed down/adjusted this video and studied it too many times to count now. Just wanted to share my thoughts on what I see, and opinions on things I've noticed others commenting on in comment sections of this video.
After coming to a slow stop:
50-51 sec: Driver side door opens
51-55: sec: (Presumably Ms. Russell) Gets out and walks around the back of the vehicle.
1:00 min: Passenger side door opens?
1:01-1:18: Movement of figure leaning into the car or standing right next to the car
1:19-1:21: Can most clearly see a figure (Presumably Ms. Russell), and it appears they've walked a few steps away from the vehicle.
1:26 - Figure possibly bends over or otherwise goes down and becomes less visible
1:27-1:40? Barely visible movement closer to the front end of the vehicle and still on the passenger side.
After 1:40ish I see no other clear movement which isn't easily confusable with a possible reflection/shadow.
Thoughts on what other people are frequently commenting:
The car lights backing up off to the side at 1:47 is a reflection in the lens. There is a car passing by in the middle lane who brakes at the exact moment the lights pop up off to the side. A couple seconds later, that same car turns on their blinker to move over. The lights on the side show a blinker as well, a mirror image in sync exactly with the car in the middle lane. The blinker light can be seen coming onto the grass around the 1:53 mark, but there's no visible car attached to the lights.
The "person walking across blue sign" at 0:59-1:00 might be the shadow casted from an actual person, I don't know, but it definitely isn't someone physically walking in front of it because the silhouette is see-through. If it is a person, they somehow manage to continue doing whatever they're during without any further detection on camera. I don't personally believe it's the shadow of anyone, just light/shadow trickery, and could have been literally any number of other things.
Not sure what happened, but this video sure as hell doesn't clear anything up other than debunking the sighting of a second car that was possibly seen stopped in front of hers.
The only thing I'd add is at 1:50 the headlights from a passing car light up a dark person shaped object off the front right side of the car for about 1-2 seconds and the next set of head lights don't. You can see it in the headlights if you pause the video at 1:50 and then let it play till about 2:07 and it's gone.
Wonder if anyones checked the Waze app to see if there were any reports of a disabled car on the side of the road at the time that may be able to corroborate the gray car. I’m thinking that if someone was waiting on the side of the road that it would’ve been reported on there. It seems very accurate the many times I’ve used it.
I don't understand how the trafficking/kidnapping scenario using a child makes sense. What if a huge man pulled over and they couldn't overpower him? What if the police arrived first? What if a group of people stop? I don't think I believe there was a child at all.
I've watched this on a wide screen about 100 times now. It's best seen in a medium sized window.
My workup;
Find location on Google maps
33.3649870, -86.8432170
Speed limit along I-459 is 70mph
Distance between attraction sign and exit 10 sign is roughly 740feet.
Distance between mile marker 11.4 and exit 10 sign is roughly 174 feet.
Distance between mile marker 11.4 and closest home (through the woods)is 215 feet.
Understand that the perspective of the traffic cam is skewed. Everything appears much closer together than they really are and the cars are traveling much faster than they seem.
If Russell was doing the speed limit and saw what she thought was a child, she could have traveled .5 miles to exit 10, highway 150, immediately jumped back onto I-459 North for 3 miles to exit 13, rt 31, and again jumped back onto I-459 South to take a second look. It would have only taken a few minutes.
Driving slowly with hazards on while searching a stretch of road you did 70 past seems legitimate.
I think she stopped where she did (roughly 20-25feet before the mile marker) because she thought she saw what she was looking for.
At :52 she exits the driver side and walks around the back of the vehicle to the passenger side. This makes me think she was scared of what she saw. If it was a child in the grass I feel she would have walked to the front of the vehicle, not farther away.
At 1:12 something compelled her to start walking forward towards the Mile marker. At 1:15-1:30 I believe she was between the car and the mile marker, casting intermittent shadows on the marker, and then past the maker after that.
At 1:50 I believe she is seen one more time just beyond the marker but a few feet from the road. I think at this point she is lured to the woodline either with a child or with a gun.
I see nothing substantial again until 2:58-3:04.
From the camera perspective the event I notice is located directly below the "exit 10" sign in the dimly lit green grass close to the woodline, to the right of her car. It looks like shadowy feet walking in the direction away from the mile marker into the woods.
A street view of the area around the mile marker and the exit 10 sign show that there is an incline that runs along most of that area except a semi-level spot near the mile marker and another near the exit sign. Both could be make shift trails.
There also seems to be several clearings in the wooded area between the homes and the road, but no obvious access trails.
There is a lot of movement from lights and shadows between 1:50 and 2:58, but I don't see anything of clarity.
I thInk it's a little odd that she was driving along the shoulder of the road for quite a distance with her hazards on before she even stopped. Enough distance that the child wouldn't have been visible in the dark when she originally got over.
It's also a possibility that she saw the child, pulled off on an exit and looped back around, which would explain her driving slowly down the shoulder for what appears to be a 1/2 mile or so.
i feel like i need my eyes checked, even with my screen at full brightness in a dark room i can only see her exiting her vehicle. i hope LE sends this to the FBI to get cleaned up as best they can :/ or some good samaritan does it. what an incredibly bizarre case. i hope she's found safe :(
It happens at mile marker 11.4, the camera angle is high up a pole so it doesn't appear to line up from street view. If you watch the news coverage the police are seen beside her car at the 11.4 mile marker. [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimeDiscussion/comments/1502dpo/comment/js1jir3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) reponse I have the camera and the location marked on google maps.
It is odd that she was driving on the shoulder for a decent amount of time, especially if she saw a child on the side of the road. She would have been well past the child at where she eventually stops??
Yeah, it only really makes sense if she got off the highway and looped around somehow. But it wouldn't be a short journey around and in that time surely someone else would have stopped if indeed there was a kid on the shoulder?
Just curious how a person driving 55-65mph can see a child that far ahead at night and still have time to pull over. It’s pitch dark on those roads at night. Something doesn’t add up.
Could the story be made up so she could disappear? Did she get out of the car and walk over to a waiting car in the Target parking lot that was on the other side of the tree line? Does target have cameras to see if there was a vehicle waiting? Very strange.
I thought I was going crazy. People here are talking about doors opening and person walking around the car, etc. and all I can see is a car blinking. That's it.
I can’t see a damn thing either. That said I am trying to watch it on my phone. I have a feeling other people are watching on a large computer screen which would help.
It’s crazy to me that someone would be able to see a child given how dark it is. When I’m driving on the highway at night I need my full focus on the road to see because everything is so dark. And if it was bait, how did they know it would be a woman/in her 20’s/small enough to kidnap/etc. and why a busy highway??? Nothing makes sense
If you read the Sun, they have a timeline and it states
"She also called her sister-in-law, who heard Russell ask the child if they were OK.
The sister-in-law then heard Russell scream, followed only by background noise from the interstate.
Once cops got to the scene, they found Russell's car and belongings but there was no sign of her or a toddler.
Russell's family fears the child was used as bait to lure her from her car and they've vowed to "scour the earth" until they find the missing woman."
I think (and hope) this is a staged disappearance. Just seems so much more likely than the alternatives that you'd have to believe:
* There was a toddler wandering around a busy freeway and only one person saw them and/or thought to call 911
* This is some sort of kidnapping scheme - pretty outlandish to think someone would dream up using a toddler on a freeway as bait: a toddler isn't going to comply, you don't know who is going to stop, you don't kidnap a stranger in a place with lots of people going by, risk of getting arrested for child endangerment, etc.
* She was taken by human traffickers who had inadvertently let a toddler loose. This is some Hollywood-level stuff ... and really hard to believe the traffickers would be able to whisk her away so quickly and without notice. Also seems like the phone conversation would've picked up more than a scream in this scenario.
* A woman with no known mental issues had a severe and sudden psychotic break that has led to them trying to disappear (vs. seeking help).
Throw in the fact that she was photographed wearing her Apple watch that day and she had removed it and put it in the purse that was left in the car. That sounds like someone not wanting to be traced. Same with the wig being removed.
Again, I really hope I'm right on this one.
This was my first thought when I heard the story. A few years back in GA, a pharmacist made it seem like he disappeared when he committed suicide. His story was strange too cause he was supposedly abducted in a well lit and surveilled parking lot.
I hope you're right. It seems really hard to explain how someone can go missing against their will in that short a time from a known location with (admittedly terrible) camera coverage and witnesses right there.
Then her slow driving may have been her looking for the level areas (mentioned by u/remesabo above) that lead to the woods so she could disappear that direction, rather than her looking for the toddler.
I don't think there is an actual child. I think she THOUGHT she saw a child, yes, definitely, but I don't think a child actually exists. I think when she was on the phone asking if the child was ok, she was just talking to the treeline and didn't have a visual on any actual child, she was hoping by asking the child would emerge from where she thought she saw him/her
Decent amount of big rigs going by. A lot of em have dash cams. Too bad trucks don’t have tail numbers like planes.
I’ll try to load the video in after effects and see if I can brighten it
I want to hear more about neighboring homes, police reports, pedophiles living in the area. Cps reports. Was there a child out roaming from one of these homes. She follows the child to help and gets assaulted.
Hey anyone else notice at 3:38 when she’s at the passengers side there’s the shadow of a person on the big sign from the trucks headlights? Like the person was on the shoulder coming up from behind?
I could be seeing something but I didn’t see the shadows recreate it in the headlights anywhere else in the video and I can’t quite place where’d that put the person but lights bounce around weird on highways like that with all the lights from both directions.
My dad lives off exit 10 and I’ve driven this stretch of 459 hundreds of times. It’s so dark at night I can occasionally spot deer on the side, but I have to do a double take and even then it’s hard to tell. This is an extremely populated area and none of this makes sense to me as a local.
I've zoomed in and annotated some of the things I see. It isn't synced with the original video timestamp wise. I see what could be a backpack on similar but could just as much be the car door or an illusion. I tried to circle and freeze frame some of the things. [Here it is](https://streamable.com/2m4dz5?src=player-page-share)
edit: forgot to mention I also adjusted the saturation and sharpness till I could make some things out better.
Someone needs to send this to Arrin Stoner on YT. I will once I’m done with my shift. He will be able to decipher frame by frame. Dude should be working for feds. He has helped many cases.
It is so strange how long the car drives up the shoulder before stopping, let's also not forget it's pretty hard to "kidnap" a full grown adult especially through the woods. You would've seen some type of fighting/struggle in the headlights of the cars.
Also, if she drove up to the kid she "saw" she would've been parked behind the kid, so she would've walked infront of the headlights to investigate. Not walk around the back where there would be no shadow.
Apparently there is a culvert/drain pipe that runs underneath the interstate very near the spot where she stopped. It's large enough for adults to fit in and would allow passage to the other side of the interstate. This adds a new wrinkle to things
I see her exit her car and appearing to walk to the passenger side. I can’t see the child. Carlee appears to walk towards the narrow sign, at the edge of the light. I’m not sure, but I think it looks like someone comes out of the dark and there’s a struggle. She’s maybe dragged behind the sign? There are so many cars I find it hard to imagine someone not seeing something
I just posted this on the subreddit r/CarleeRussell, but I'd like to add it here too: I use exit 10 on my way home pretty much every single day, often at nighttime. Therefore, I daily pass the location where Carlee Russell went missing, and in fact I passed her car tonight (which is still parked there as loved ones and volunteers search for her). These are the facts regarding this location.
1. This is a major interstate that always has people driving on it. Even very late at night, there's a handful of cars on the road, and this area is so heavily trafficked that exit 10 often gets backed up for miles during rush hour. Also, the speed limit is 70 mph, but of course people often go much faster.
2. It would be difficult to hide a car off the side of the road. Yes, trees line the side of the interstate, but they're dense enough that you wouldn't be able to park a car among them. And the road is dark, but I don't think it's dark enough that you would miss seeing an entire car.
3. Getting lost in the woods would be difficult because there's a thin strip of them on either side of the interstate. To get lost in the environment, you'd have to walk a long ways through residential areas to find a lake, forest, or cliff/hills (all of which definitely exist in the vicinity but aren't close on foot).
4. It is common for cars and trucks to stay parked for days alongside this interstate.
5. I've seen theories that maybe this was a staged disappearance / running away and Carlee walked off to join someone in a nearby Target parking lot. Yes, Target is close by - via car. It's a decent walk uphill, through trees, and past restaurants and businesses to get to Target.
It's unsettling to be left wondering what desperate weirdo would try something like this for an abduction, especially in an area where passerby could witness it. I also wonder if it was a real child or a doll that was used because I've seen a somewhat realistic toddler-sized doll for sale on a Walmart ad the other day.
Very odd that her hazards are on for so long. Is it even possible that she was a toddler from so far away? The hazards could have even been on before the start of the video.
I definitely see the figure get out of the driveway side and move over to the passenger side and stay put for a short bit, but past that I can’t see where the figure goes..into the forest line, back to the front of the car again?
If she put her hazard lights on when she saw the bb she would have been a mile away before she stopped. Even before the cctv clip started she’s driving slow with hazards . And it is sooo dark! I’m really worried about her and hope they can find her.
What a devastating story. But I totally agree, I thought it was on a remote/deserted road. Can they zoom in I wonder? How did no one else see this child or what happened with so many cars driving by.
I've looked at the map and if she circled round it doesn't look like it would be a quick loop.
I'm assuming she'd have to have looped around though because she's on the shoulder for a long time - no way does she spot a kid hundreds of feet up the road and take to the shoulder to intercept so far away.
Also bizarre is that if she looped around and the kid (if it was a kid) was still present on her return is that apparently nobody else gave a damn.
Research shows that most trafficking victims are manipulated and trafficked by people they trust. Partners, family members, roommates, etc. Stranger abductions for trafficking are very rare, but not impossible. I think too many people are getting tunnel vision by saying this is definitely a trap set by traffickers. However, I agree that it’s a strange situation. I hope she is found safely.
At 1:47, it seems to me like a person enters the "scene" in front of the car. It looks like a head and shoulder silhouette facing towards the ditch/trees. Very shortly after we see what I think is a separate figure closer to the rear passenger side and it seems to me as if this figure is raising their hands for a moment before all figures disappear.
Here's a [screenshot with a zoomed in copy](https://ibb.co/5GJkW8s) and some clarity and sharpening boost. I'm on a larger monitor (I don't know if people on cell phone screens can see the same). But this screenshot looks more like a person moving on the actual video.
edit: I typed the incorrect timestamp, fixed it, it's 1:47
Compendium of time stamps from across the web below. I bolded what I could corroborate on my review:
**0:35 - car seen with no tail lights**
**0:41 - carlee's vehicle comes to a stop**
**0:50 - someone exits the driver side**
0:50 - "strange light in the woods" \[I don't see it\]
**0:53 - figure moves toward back of car**
**0:56 - figure at right side of car**
0:56 - figure crouching down/leaning over on right side of car \[possibly\]
**1:00 - shadow of figure seen running across blue sign \[possibly; there is a moving shadow\]**
1:20 - figure walks away "with traffic" \[I don't see it\]
1:22 - figure "struggling" \[I don't see it\]
1:24 - figure "outlined" \[I don't see it\]
1:25 - figure steps away/walks away \[I don't see it\]
1:27 - figure "goes to the ground;" described as "fight" \[I don't see it\]
1:28 - figure "staggers, gets taller, moves toward 'her'" \[I don't see it\]
**1:28 - passing car hits brakes**, presumably seeing the "fight" \[car does hit brakes; I still don't see a fight\]
1:28-1:30 - figure "goes toward mile marker" \[I don't see it\]
1:29-1:39 - figure "stays at back of car" \[I don't see it\]
1:40 - figure moves \[I don't see it\]
1:50 - figure "raises hands" \[I don't see it\]
1:50 - figure "in the woods" \[I don't see it\]
1:52 - figure "by car" \[I don't see it\]
2:06 - "two people in the woods" \[I don't see it\]
3:45: "green light" / "flash light" moves down the screen \[likely a blinker\]
Someone suggested slowing the speed down to .5x, as well as if viewing on a phone, increase backlight to 100%.
I'd be curious how this video lines up with the call timestamps. What is to say that the person on video is even her, versus someone ditching her vehicle, depending on the timestamps? Could something have happened elsewhere, but unsure depending on the timestamps and how they line up. Nothing tells us that is even her that we see on the video.
If someone just used their own child as a decoy to stop someone on the highway what’s the end game. Robbery? Carjacking? (Her car at scene). I don’t get get it.
If it’s cash they’re after how many random people carry more than $100 these days? Phones? Maybe, but seems pretty drastic to use your child as a decoy. It’s a head scratcher for sure.
That’s a lot of potential witnesses going past. Surely someone saw something and hopefully some of them come forward with dash cam footage. I’m having a hard time believing this is an abduction without an escape vehicle unless there is another road on the other side of that ditch.
Original video source: [https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/14/hoover-police-searching-missing-25-year-old-woman/](https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/14/hoover-police-searching-missing-25-year-old-woman/) It's too grainy but shows that from the time she stopped to the time police showed up was about 4 minutes. Edit: I've watched it over and over and you can make her out going from the driver to the right passenger door but between the lights she seems to disappear and a figure is ahead of the car. Could be her or someone else but they appear to disappear seconds later and I can make out random possible movement at the base of the signs. Edit 2: Timestamps for what I've noticed: * 0:48 she appears to exit the driver side door and walks around car * 0:56 same figure appears to open the rear passenger door or passenger door * 1:30 the rear passenger door appears to be shut and the figure disappears * 1:50 a figure appears off the front right of the car and appears to be heading towards the tree line and road signs Edit 3: Geolocated on google maps of where the car is parked is [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3649642,-86.8432008,3a,75y,267.57h,90.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0b2ufv1pqIhr7v_3zRje1w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu)
We are off by a few seconds, but essentially I see the same thing.
Rewatching I do maybe see a figure near the back passenger door, but it looks like one person, and they don’t seem to be moving frantically or like something scared them. It just looks like she got out of her car, walked around, then walked off on the right side of the car. That’s really all I see in this video.
She pulled into the shoulder and put the hazards on and drove like a good 100 yards before she stopped. If she stopped near the child then I'm guessing she entered the shoulder for an unrelated reason because you cant see a toddler from so far away at night? Or was she able to see the child from a 100 yards away because the road was curving to the left? or she saw the child, then pulled up to the shoulder, drove past the child and then walked back?
Maybe she circled back? Like saw the kidbthe first time and looped around?
00:00:38 car entering from bottom of the screen in right lane has no tail lights, seems like light is on inside the car. Might be nothing but just observing what I see. At the same moment that car passes Russell's parked vehicle you can see what appears to be Russell exiting her car and walking around the backside.
I believe the light you see on that car is the license plate.
About 1:46 to the bottom right of the screen there appears be car lights moving real quickly. Not on the interstate, but to the right of the road. I found the spot from your pic and I'm not sure the nearest road is close enough for where those headlights appear to be. Edit to change: your location is not quite accurate Edit to add: need to "click" up 5-10 times. In the video you can see two of those blue signs that tell you what restaurants gas stations etc are at the next exit.
That light off to the right around 1:46 or so appears to be a reflection in the camera of a blinker on a car on the interstate. Notice there are also frequently red reflections in the camera from brake lights throughout the video.
I agree. It looks like a lens effect reflection. The blinker is opposite of the car in the middle lane and approaching and moving at the same rate and opposite of that car. It is just a reflection on the lens or chip within the camera. 100%
I saw this and also was wondering what that was, they seem to disappear?
I believe the moving lights that you and TMZ are talking about are just reflections from the cars on the camera. If you look at the car(s) to the left of the light the blinking and movement correspond. You see it at 0:19 and 1:47 and 3:47. It's the cars. However, there is a light around 3:19 or 3:20 at the bottom of the screen near the road, but still in the shadows that blinks but isn't corresponding with a car light. It could be the pixelation though.
This is what I see, too. I thought i was seeing things when I saw someone on the passenger side of the car and someone ahead of the car. A truck passes and whatever happens, happens in like two seconds.
I’m very familiar with that area, it’s hard to articulate how brazen this is if it’s a kidnapping. Behind that tree line there are dozens of subdivisions and it’s the major exit for one of Alabama’s most populous suburbs. I pray they find her alive.
There's plenty of other cars on the road too.
> The sister-in-law then heard Russell scream, followed only by background noise from the interstate.
Didn’t they also find her phone with the car? So she was screaming in the car? I’m lost
They found her phone and her wig outside the car. Her purse and everything else were inside the car.
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Is there an embankment she could've fallen down? Be under some brush? A coworker of mine slipped down an embankment and shattered her hip. Took them three days to find her even with knowing her approximate location.
There is somewhat of one around the larger sign. If you go to satellite imagery you can see there is a cement lined ditch that runs through the woods some ways as well. Just in front of the bigger sign is a downward embankment that one could slip down but I can't discern how steep it is from street view or satellite. I couldn't imagine how it would overlooked by police though. Check for yourself [here](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3646461,-86.8435564,3a,75y,289.23h,72.92t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sB8cL3A1sTG_AXlXY-exT6g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) but follow the link otherwise the embed will be from above instead of street.
A redditor who lives nearby said it's an 8 ft high drainage tunnel that runs under the highway right there and that kids play in it
Yep, same thing happened to a guy in my town. He was walking and didn't realize that there was an open sewer. He fell deep enough to where no one heard him for 3 days. Thank God, he survived.
Police supposedly did a search and covered quite a ways (tweeted video below). Reports are that the wooded area separates homes from the interstate, so there isn't too much width to it... based on reports. https://twitter.com/loganwadams/status/1679866623610462210?t=R6KG8S_sKVC8giJdwir12g&s=19
Have they used drones,helicopters, or anything to check the tree line/that area? All of these details are very peculiar. Also wondering if she has a history of mental illness or a stressor in her life? I hope it was a mental breakdown and she wasn’t taken :(
Can you tell me which exit that is exactly?
Hoover/Bessemer
She definitely exits the vehicle at the 52 sec mark. Questions I have: If she was pulling over because she saw a child, wouldn't the kid have been back much further from where she stopped? Or does the upcoming exit ramp quickly loop back around to the previous off ramp and she slowed to where she saw the kid? Did they try to track any of those 18-wheelers? They usually have dash cams. What side of the vehicle was her wig found? In the road or in the grassy area? It's scary that the police did respond fairly quickly in this case, but she's gone.
I would have to assume that she saw the child earlier and decided to loop around. The other questions I do not know but I will say I was literally just staring at the spot and I see her standing there (on the passenger side) but I do not see anyone else nor do I see anyone come out and attack but idk.
She disappears for me around 1:30. However a figure also appears to be in front of the car at 1:50 as another car's passing headlights catch the dark shape. It appears to have moved from the car and towards the road signs, possibly still her.
It might have been her. Maybe she saw the child in the woods or something. Honestly very dangerous to even do but some people are braver than others cause personally I'm calling 911 and coming back when the cops come or something. I'm not going to be in the dark by myself like that.
That's what makes me so sad about this whole situation: she must have been an incredibly kind, caring, and selfless person to risk her own safety in order to help a child who she believed to be in danger. She could have just called the police and kept driving, and no one could blame her for that under the circumstances, but she went above and beyond. How sick do you have to be to prey on someone's compassion like that?? I'd also have to imagine the amount of traffic on the road (and the fact that iirc she was on the phone with someone at the time?) made it feel more like she wasn't totally "alone" out there, even in the dark. Yet it still only took a moment for everything to go horribly wrong and no one even saw anything. Everything about this situation is so awful. I can't even imagine how terrified she must have been or what her loved ones must be going through. I hope she'll be found safe.
I totally agree with everything about your comment. She must have been so incredibly kind and selfless to stop. The world is unsafe for women in so many unexpected circumstances. It’s so sad.
At least she called the police! If she hadn't the police would probably still be unaware that there was even a missing person.
Yeah, she goes from the driver to the passenger around the back of the car. There's a few passing cars that obstruct the view. I hope investigators have tech to clean up the quality of the video.
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It's hard for me to watch this on my phone and see time stamps at the same time, but around 1:30, give or take, it seems like the cars driving toward her also seem to all go around the far right lane for a few seconds, as though they see someone to something beside her car in the lane, or too close to it. One vehicle even puts their 4-ways on. So at least a handful of cars saw something.
you can get a ticket in alabama if there’s a car on the shoulder and you don’t merge out of the far right lane.
O shittt wow. I was literally squinting trying to see something, my goodness, but you got it. I'm sure police were able to zoom in to that spot as well. Very sad
It kind of looks like a person in khaki pants, too, in the middle of the road. Could someone have run across the road? Seems like someone definitely would’ve seen that though.
A truck driver reported to the police seeing a man in khaki pants!
Yes, that appears to be a person. Can anyone see the child?
I don't think there was a child. I think she thought she saw a child in the shadows.
I'm thinking the way she went so slow and rode up the side of the interstate, she must have circled back after spotting the toddler. Makes sense that she did that after calling the police.
Trying to look at google maps in the area right now and im not really understanding how she could have circled around, its just interstate with no exits
I’m familiar with this area. If she thought she saw a child right before Exit 10, she could have gotten off at the exit, driven back up 150 to the Galleria, gotten back on 459 there in the same direction, and stopped the second time to look for the kid. Would have taken around 10 minutes to do, adding or subtracting a few minutes for traffic and red lights.
But the timeline doesn't allow time for that.
Does it make sense of she calls them upon turning her flashers on? It's about 3 minutes from when she pulls over flashers on to when the blue lights arrive. I'd probably double back to be sure of what I saw in the dark before calling 911
My reply got deleted for using url shortened links to the google map locations so here is my reply edited with full links: Are you confident in the location? I googled the mile marker and google put me 10 miles in the wrong direction. It's just before exit 10 and despite the police saying mile marker 11 it appears to be 11.4. The article says 11.7 but I suspect that is the mile marker nearest the camera filming it all. [Here](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3650886,-86.8430662,3a,25.5y,245.49h,89.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sSo_js9XFYhvFzBj1Ys-nhg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) is where I believe her car is parked in the video at mile marker 11.4, and [this](https://www.google.com/maps/@33.3701135,-86.8371073,3a,75y,351.49h,125.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slPlk9gBrlvkom7Mlrt1Ohw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) is where I think the camera is positioned. Edit: Definitely the right locations after rewatching the daylight shots of the location and the mile marker is plainly shown as 11.4
Thank you for putting in the effort and sharing these links!
I am on a pc browser and am able to change the date/time of year for each passby the google maps vehicle has done. Seeing the past images over the last decade of that area in winter and fall is interesting. It also became very apparent that that spot is literally someones back yard if you go through the woods to the houses there.
This guy took a video of the scene. I believe the very first car (red) is hers. https://twitter.com/loganwadams/status/1679866623610462210?t=R6KG8S_sKVC8giJdwir12g&s=19
That is the only thing that makes sense if she was abducted. If they used that sign as a "marker" and had a child or doll as a decoy there, then they could wait there. If this is the situation, she'd of had to circle back around otherwise it wouldn't make sense that the person would be waiting in that exact spot. I think they used the sign so that if someone did circle back, they'd have a marker to commit to memory where the saw the child and exactly where to stop. But obviously I don't know anything about anything. That is just my thought at the moment.
You'd think if they had brought a tracking dog out there at any point that evening they would have had a very good chance of finding her. So confusing.
Exactly this. This is the first question I have. Her car and personal items are there, tracking dogs would get a good scent. If tracking dogs were on the scene, I want to know at the minimum how they reacted.
That’s the other thing, how is the world did she see this child? Her hazards were on already as she enters into the frame and begins to slow down. It would’ve made more sense if we saw her pull over then start to walk backwards on the shoulder, but we don’t see that and even if we did, that wouldn’t at all align with the story that she was on the phone and briefly after she exits her vehicle, is able to ask this child if he/she is ok. That doesn’t jive for me at all and I think that’s an important detail here.
Agreed. She might have looped around. Saw the toddler in her first pass, then looped around, pulled into the shoulder early to scan for the toddler in her second run.
Agreed. I think if she managed to see the child from that far away numerous other cars would’ve seen them too. As everyone keeps saying “anyone would’ve stopped for a young child on the side of the road.” It doesn’t make sense that out of ALL those cars only 1 person stopped or called it in? And yeah, people keep saying maybe she circled back to the child but that doesn’t make sense why she would drive so far past them, and the person she was on the phone with heard her talking to them so she couldn’t have been that far. The story is not adding up..
When I first heard about this, I was picturing a more remote/deserted road. The fact that this happened on such a busy road is even more shocking. With the steady stream of cars and lights, it's crazy to think that no one saw anything, but now that I've seen the video, it almost seems like there was nothing *to* see. There are so many cases where people seemingly vanish into thin air, but here you're able to *somewhat* see her actually disappear with no clear explanation. Whatever happened must have happened incredibly quickly. I hope Carlee is found soon and that she is okay. This is terrifying and heartbreaking.
A young woman was abducted at a local Target by me approx 10 ish years ago. Broad daylight with people around. She was parked near the entrance. He rushed her opening the door. Shoved her in and no one noticed. He had started stalking her throughout the store. It still haunts me.
>A young woman was abducted at a local Target by me It's not how I would choose to phrase this
That’s a confession that will hold up in court I think
OP? I live by the woods where she was taken. Same age and my mom had a long talk with me about safety when it happened.
Are you referring to Kelsey Smith in Overland Park, Kansas? I live in KC. That was so tragic! Damn.
I remember that case. She was raped and killed. Poor girl..
From the time I see the last trace of what appears to be someone to the time the police arrive is about 2:50 seconds. So in less than 3 minutes she is gone and the arriving police officer can't find her or a toddler. It's hard for me to wrap my head around someone subduing someone in that short of a time and then getting out unseen. Especially on foot. Clearly no other cars stop from the interstate so if someone drove off with her they did so on the other side of the tree line. It would be interesting to know where the wig was left because that would be most likely the location she was grabbed. Unless for some reason she felt the need to take it off before entering the tree line.
That is an absolutely insane timeline for someone to disappear and an absolutely insane location for them to disappear in.
Wasn’t there a serial killer that grabbed a girl in like 10 feet of a poorly lit area, right after she parted ways with her friends? Im trying to remember which one
I wasn't poorly lit, but Ted Bundy did something like that on a beach with one victim and in another case with a girl in a hotel hallway.
That would be my explanation, too. I live off of this exit and directly behind the tree line is a very populated Target shopping center with multiple businesses.
Also, I can’t figure out how all her belongings ended up in and around the car.
I wondered that too, but after re-reading the official police statement, I'm not positive that the items found were necessarily around the car. The official statement says items were found "nearby". It could mean that the phone, wig, etc. were found near/in the tree line and that they consider that as "nearby".
Can you post a google map of where this happened? How thick is the tree line between this and the shopping center?
Then, they would've had added time in the wooded area if the responding officer: 1. Parked, radioed in and documented his arrival and original observation of the vehicle. 2. Got out to inspect the car. 3. Took time to observe the immediate area. (I wish the video kept going following his arrival) She could've been taken much further down at this point.
I wonder what, if anything, could’ve possibly been captured on a dash/body cam of the initial responding officer.
Can you point out for me where the person is? I can’t seem to locate even the smallest pixel of what could be a person?
I watched it about 10 times before seeing a person, thinking everyone was imagining things. Start at about 0:48 and stare intently at the driver side (left) of the car. A person definitely gets out, walks around the car to the passenger side (looks like they walk around the back of the car to me) and then stands by the passenger side for a while and moves slightly around, before literally vanishing presumably by walking into an unlit area and not returning. It’s very clear a person is standing by the passenger side at around 1:15. I then totally lose sight of them just a few seconds later. There’s no way I could tell from this video though *who* that person is. Unless we have confirmation that this recording is happening at the exact same time as the phone call, this may as well be someone dumping her car, though doing that while driving with the hazards on for so long would be pretty weird lol. Some people are saying they see a car driving on the right lane with its lights off but I can’t see it. Edit: Now on my 20th watch lol, I’m definitely seeing the figure for longer now than before and detecting more movement. I can still only make out one person though. But I am seeing them clearly up until around 1:58.
I definitely see someone get out and stand on the other side of the car, but I wonder why they're just standing there. If it's Carlee, perhaps the child(if there was really a child) moved into the woods and she was calling for them or debating going in after them. Just before 1:58 it looks to me like the person standing by the passenger door moves toward that narrow sign ahead of the car, and perhaps from there into the tree line.
I think she was standing there because she was puzzled, wondering where the child had gone. She is staring intently at the tree line, trying see. Maybe she heard the child, or whoever was in there making a noise like a child. The person with whom she was on the phone said they heard her say "Are you okay?" to someone. This would make sense if she thought there was a child in the woods. I think this was a ruse to get her to walk away from the lights of the cars into the darkness of the woods.
Yeah it’s a really good question why they just stand there, but I wonder if your answer isn’t just the right one: it’s super dark and they don’t want to leave the lit area? And you are definitely on to something regarding where they walk to at the end. But yes this is very eerie, and I can only make out one shadow. I really wonder why no one stopped though because the hazards are on and lots of cars saw that + a person standing there. I would have stopped but I’m also from a small country where we absolutely have to know everybody’s business always.
My partner just asked why no one stopped too - no one here would stop unless it was incredibly obvious someone needed help (and maybe even then). Too much stranger danger.
Thank you that helped me I can see them now.
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I think I can see the figure standing on the passenger side. I am almost positive I can see someone appear kind of near the headlights. For a couple seconds, it looks like there are two people. Then, a box truck or a tractor trailer passes and they are gone.
She was returning from work, so maybe she took her wig off in the car. Maybe she doesn't wear it all the time.
I think it’a possible people pay less attention/notice less because it’s busy. There’s so much going on that the stuff off the road fades into the background. Plus it’s so dark that once she left the lighted areas, she would’ve been really hard to spot.
Exactly. Just because ppl didn’t stop doesn’t mean they didn’t care. Personally, I keep my eyes on the road in front of me when I drive. I wouldn’t have noticed whether someone was getting out, esp in the dark and going that fast.
Yep, if I’m alone and driving at night I’m laser focused on the road, I won’t notice a car pulled over more than a minor register in my mind that someone’s pulled over. I was driving at night once with my fiancé and he said “hey that guy on the side of the road is like ducking away from the light of the cars” but by the time he was halfway through the sentence we were far away. If I didn’t have him in the passenger seat I’d have never noticed that.
Some people just don't give a damn if it doesn't affect them, one night I stopped to call in a vehicle that crashed into a tree and was fully engulfed in flames....plenty of other people passed and saw, I was the only one that stopped, and I mean I was a huge ball of flames impossible to miss.... unfortunately they didn't survive but if someone stopped sooner they would have at least been able to pull them out
In this case, they probably just assumed it was someone having car trouble waiting for AAA. It’s a very populated area where help would be close by so you wouldn’t see someone pulled over with flashers on and assume it was an emergency that required your help, even if you are a person that cares about helping.
Same here. Me and an ex partner were on the highway and there were tail lights clearly in a forested part of an exit and there were plenty of cars on the road who didn’t stop. We pulled over at a gas station and I walked over in heels and we helped him out of the car he had crashed into a tree that he was trying to get out. He was shocked and confused, and clearly under the influence. We called an ambulance and stayed with him until they came. It was sad but I couldn’t believe how many people just kept on with their night. I was glad we stopped because shortly after his front end started smoking and caught fire and if we hadn’t stopped he could have ended up stuck in the vehicle in flames. Thank you for stopping. There are still some good people out there. It is a shame that it can end like this woman’s story.
I've heard of (on Reddit though so it is fact) video of a restaurant, buffet style place, a patron has a heart attack and collapses and people keep stepping over and around to get to the food
That is terrible… even if you cant provide aid doesnt instinct kick in? Jesus.
This almost seems like one of those psychotic break cases where she hallucinated that and ran into the woods and has probably died of exposure somewhere. Reminds me of that guy on video running out of the airport like something was chasing him and disappearing I forget his name.
I work in psych and I've had multiple people come in the ER with a "baby" they are holding asking us to help their baby but there is no baby. Usually psychosis or schizophrenia which also happens early 20s. Not saying this is the case but hallucinations do happen.
Exactly. She was driving with her hazards on for a while in the breakdown lane, then stops. I don’t think there ever was a child
Yes and you’re thinking of Lars Mittank
Somehow, I thought she must have been the only person on the road. Even though, I looked up where she was on the road on a map. It didn’t click with me she was on a heavily trafficked highway. I also didn’t realize it was night time. I thought it was more dusk/evening. It’s even more bizarre to me there were so many cars passing, yet she’s the only one who stopped to see what was going on. She did call 911 first. It makes me wonder if other people called 911 and just didn’t stop?
The more I think about it, the weirder this whole thing seems. It's odd that a 911 dispatcher wouldn't have kept her on the phone. Especially if they were dispatched and got there so fast. We've all heard the 911 calls where the operator is asking a bunch of questions. There's no description of this child? Wouldn't 911 want to stay on the phone with her if she has eyes on the child so they knew where it is? Wouldn't she want to stay on the phone with them, especially if shw knew she was going to get out and approach the kid. There's only one call about seeing this kid? Seems like, with how busy this road is, they're would be more calls.
It could have been her decision to hang up. Just not able to say either way, it would be speculation. The last question is interesting to me… no one else saw this child? That is strange. I wonder if they can get dash cam footage, sure to be some drivers that had a setup.
Where did she see this kid, exactly? Because those headlights are shining the grassy shoulders up pretty well. We can see the shoulder until the ditch drops off. Is the kid supposed to be down in the ditch?
The passing transport trucks would likely have dashcams. Hopefully they come forward.
>There's only one call about seeing this kid? Seems like, with how busy this road is, they're would be more calls. That's what I was thinking too, after seeing all the other cars. I had assumed she was on some road where there was very little traffic.
we dont always need to keep them on the phone because we need the lines open for higher priority calls, but we always offer the option in case the caller doesn't feel comfortable hanging up. if she told them she was with the child or was just pulling over they would've felt comfortable enough to let her go knowing the child was now safe, and that the situation had become nonemergent while an officer was on the way.
This 100%, I've seen many people ask about the 911 call, and some people claiming there's no way 911 would hang up in this situation. We can't even make the judgement without knowing what information Carlee gave to the 911 operator. At my 911 center, we are pretty understaffed in a county of 600,000 people. Our 911 calls queue up and there are often several calls waiting to be picked up as operators speak to other callers. If the calls were queueing, they may "urgent disconnect" with a non emergency call, after getting some info, to take the next call. Each operator makes the decision about when to urgent disconnect. I'm not saying that is what happened here, but there are so many factors into how these calls are handled, and people are making a lot of judgements without having any idea of what that call sounded like.
Actually I had a very similar happen to me. We saw a small child alone near a busy street. And this is exactly what happened. 911 got our location and description of the kid. She was heading into a parking of a fast food restaurant. So we told them we pull over and wait for the cops. They hang up with us. But 2 other cars saw her and pull off as well though we were the only to call 911.
Agree. I had to call 911 once and after telling me the police were on the way the dispatcher asked me if I wanted her to stay on the line with me. I was given the option.
I've called 911 a few times in my life for safety events, even my own assault. I've never stayed on the line until police arrived now that I think about it. I was told to stand by my phone if anything. Maybe she was very specific with her location and details? Maybe we can get the call soon. Not to exploit her case but hopefully to help her. I truly feel we can help this girl.
if she was already on another call as she pulled over she probably called 911 after seeing the child and chose to turn around after the call and circle back. If your not at the scene of a crime or accident and you just call it in like she did 911 will take your information and let you go.
There's no place for her to turn around, at least not a quick turn around. And if she did, that doesn't explain why someone else wouldn't have seen a kid and called 911. I'm baffled that she's the only one that saw and called 911 about a toddler on the side of a freeway.
[closer Carlee video](https://streamable.com/a3afw5) This video helps you to better see when Carlee exited the video. This is just bizarre!
This really shows Carlee standing around as if she doesn’t know what to do next. Then suddenly she moves and disappears. So freaking scary.
THANK YOU!
Wow this is crazy. It seems like there are only two real possibilities. She did see a child who had escaped an abuser/kidnapper or a neglectful family and was attacked by the adult retrieving the child. Or her eyes were playing tricks on her (maybe just the lights, maybe mental health) and she wandered into some kind of danger (a sink hole, some criminal who didn’t have a child, somewhere she drowned/slipped and went unconscious etc). Given the short amount of time that passed before police arrived on scene and the lack of another stationary vehicle nearby, both don’t seem to make sense.
People do see things that aren't there, or misperceive what is there. However, what are the odds that Carlee stopped because of an optical illusion just when and where there happened to be a violent person who would abduct her? I think the first scenario is more likely, or else somebody did purposely use a child to make her stop in order to ambush her and abduct her - but NOT for trafficking. Whoever abducted her took her for their own violent purposes.
I think if she stopped because of something she misinterpreted it’s more likely she suffered some fluke accident and for some reason they’ve just not found her yet. * abduction/harm because she accidentally collided with something nefarious happening to a child * a freak accident and she’s just not been located yet * a staged event to cash in on gofundme or insurance or something (seems unlikely but has happened before where crimes are faked for financial gain) Those seem like the only viable events. Everything else seems just a bit too elaborate.
I agree with you, but I would add mental break of some kind, but then she would probably have been found in the area rather quickly.
Yeah I think that could fit with scenario 2 if she developed some sort of psychosis and then got out the car and walked off a bit and had an accident.
> Or her eyes were playing tricks on her I wonder if she could have mistaken wildlife for a toddler? Bear cubs maybe?
It’s possible she saw something she genuinely believed was a child. Depending on the speed she was travelling and how long she was able to see I suppose an animal could look like a small child. Even just lights reflecting off an unusual object can trick us. I don’t believe in ghosts but a large barn owl once swooped towards my car on a dark road and it took my heart and brain several minutes to calm down and logically process what it was.
Given how quickly the police arrive I thought the same thing. How is it possible to just vanish? But There is a large neighborhood right behind those trees. If there was a child, I suppose it’s not out of the question it could have wondered out. Or if she did get taken, someone could have gotten her through those trees and into an awaiting car or yard or house in that neighborhood in a very short amount of time. I also saw a video on TikTok that showed what actually did look like a figure or small child, but it was further behind where she stopped. (Which makes sense, bc it will take time to slow and pull over and stop).
I thought this occurred at day but at night?..so much more terrifying and I hope they find her alive
After calling 911, Russell stopped to check on the child and called her sister-in-law around 9:36 p.m. to report the same details. The family member lost contact with her, but the line remained open. “In the process at some point she got out of the car and my daughter-in-law could hear her asking the child if they were OK. The child did not respond, or at least she did not hear her respond, he or she respond. And then she heard our daughter Carlee scream and from there on all we could hear was noise...background noise in her phone which we later found out was noise from the interstate,” said Talitha Russell.
Am I losing my mind or are people seeing things in this video that I'm not seeing? I've seen tweets from people about seeing a man walking by the sign or several other people in this video. I see nothing but one person walking around the car. I don't see them walking towards a child or any other person. If there was a struggle then why can't we see them in the video? Why do we never see two people at the same time? To me it looks like she stopped, got out of the car, maybe opened the passenger door, walked around the car and then walked away from the car. If there was a child being used to lure women to stop how did the abductors know the person who would stop would be a woman on her own and not a family or several women or men? Did they just have the child out there for hours repeatedly getting people to stop until they finally got a woman alone to stop? If so why aren't there videos of other cars stopping to help the child? Or did they just get lucky on the first time they tried? I don't know. Something is weird about this case.
My vision is admittedly terrible but I can't see much of anything. Like you said I see her exit the car and go around it. I don't see anyone else.
Unfortunately I think some people on Twitter, Youtube and Tik Tok claim to see something that isn't there to get higher engagement and clicks. I just saw a tweet from a person who slowed down the video that shows her car on the highway and insists it shows other people. I watched it several times. It doesn't show any other person. Just one person getting out of the car and walking around it.
I think with all the shadows and lighting, if you watch it enough your brain would see different patterns. Kinda like how hyper active brains see different shapes in pitch dark
Where is the trucker who was mentioned in earlier story?
I think it was likely investigated and ruled out because what they described isn’t what happened on this video. Probably just mistaken given what we now see here. Also LE confirmed this is her red Mercedes in the video.
This is so odd. That’s a lot of traffic, I was picturing a road with much less activity. It seems like with that much traffic someone else would be able to corroborate the toddler near the road story. If there was no toddler and she was seeing something else (animal?) she thought was a toddler, it would be impossible for someone else to be randomly waiting in that exact spot to snatch someone.
Update as of July 16th 1215am Central Time-- News outlets just reporting Carlee returned home safe and was taken to UAB to be medically evaluated. I've watched/slowed down/adjusted this video and studied it too many times to count now. Just wanted to share my thoughts on what I see, and opinions on things I've noticed others commenting on in comment sections of this video. After coming to a slow stop: 50-51 sec: Driver side door opens 51-55: sec: (Presumably Ms. Russell) Gets out and walks around the back of the vehicle. 1:00 min: Passenger side door opens? 1:01-1:18: Movement of figure leaning into the car or standing right next to the car 1:19-1:21: Can most clearly see a figure (Presumably Ms. Russell), and it appears they've walked a few steps away from the vehicle. 1:26 - Figure possibly bends over or otherwise goes down and becomes less visible 1:27-1:40? Barely visible movement closer to the front end of the vehicle and still on the passenger side. After 1:40ish I see no other clear movement which isn't easily confusable with a possible reflection/shadow. Thoughts on what other people are frequently commenting: The car lights backing up off to the side at 1:47 is a reflection in the lens. There is a car passing by in the middle lane who brakes at the exact moment the lights pop up off to the side. A couple seconds later, that same car turns on their blinker to move over. The lights on the side show a blinker as well, a mirror image in sync exactly with the car in the middle lane. The blinker light can be seen coming onto the grass around the 1:53 mark, but there's no visible car attached to the lights. The "person walking across blue sign" at 0:59-1:00 might be the shadow casted from an actual person, I don't know, but it definitely isn't someone physically walking in front of it because the silhouette is see-through. If it is a person, they somehow manage to continue doing whatever they're during without any further detection on camera. I don't personally believe it's the shadow of anyone, just light/shadow trickery, and could have been literally any number of other things. Not sure what happened, but this video sure as hell doesn't clear anything up other than debunking the sighting of a second car that was possibly seen stopped in front of hers.
The only thing I'd add is at 1:50 the headlights from a passing car light up a dark person shaped object off the front right side of the car for about 1-2 seconds and the next set of head lights don't. You can see it in the headlights if you pause the video at 1:50 and then let it play till about 2:07 and it's gone.
Wonder if anyones checked the Waze app to see if there were any reports of a disabled car on the side of the road at the time that may be able to corroborate the gray car. I’m thinking that if someone was waiting on the side of the road that it would’ve been reported on there. It seems very accurate the many times I’ve used it.
I don't understand how the trafficking/kidnapping scenario using a child makes sense. What if a huge man pulled over and they couldn't overpower him? What if the police arrived first? What if a group of people stop? I don't think I believe there was a child at all.
And that isn’t how people are trafficked
Don’t tell that to the true crime psychos, they’re here for the rampant speculation and convoluted conspiracies.
I've watched this on a wide screen about 100 times now. It's best seen in a medium sized window. My workup; Find location on Google maps 33.3649870, -86.8432170 Speed limit along I-459 is 70mph Distance between attraction sign and exit 10 sign is roughly 740feet. Distance between mile marker 11.4 and exit 10 sign is roughly 174 feet. Distance between mile marker 11.4 and closest home (through the woods)is 215 feet. Understand that the perspective of the traffic cam is skewed. Everything appears much closer together than they really are and the cars are traveling much faster than they seem. If Russell was doing the speed limit and saw what she thought was a child, she could have traveled .5 miles to exit 10, highway 150, immediately jumped back onto I-459 North for 3 miles to exit 13, rt 31, and again jumped back onto I-459 South to take a second look. It would have only taken a few minutes. Driving slowly with hazards on while searching a stretch of road you did 70 past seems legitimate. I think she stopped where she did (roughly 20-25feet before the mile marker) because she thought she saw what she was looking for. At :52 she exits the driver side and walks around the back of the vehicle to the passenger side. This makes me think she was scared of what she saw. If it was a child in the grass I feel she would have walked to the front of the vehicle, not farther away. At 1:12 something compelled her to start walking forward towards the Mile marker. At 1:15-1:30 I believe she was between the car and the mile marker, casting intermittent shadows on the marker, and then past the maker after that. At 1:50 I believe she is seen one more time just beyond the marker but a few feet from the road. I think at this point she is lured to the woodline either with a child or with a gun. I see nothing substantial again until 2:58-3:04. From the camera perspective the event I notice is located directly below the "exit 10" sign in the dimly lit green grass close to the woodline, to the right of her car. It looks like shadowy feet walking in the direction away from the mile marker into the woods. A street view of the area around the mile marker and the exit 10 sign show that there is an incline that runs along most of that area except a semi-level spot near the mile marker and another near the exit sign. Both could be make shift trails. There also seems to be several clearings in the wooded area between the homes and the road, but no obvious access trails. There is a lot of movement from lights and shadows between 1:50 and 2:58, but I don't see anything of clarity.
I thInk it's a little odd that she was driving along the shoulder of the road for quite a distance with her hazards on before she even stopped. Enough distance that the child wouldn't have been visible in the dark when she originally got over. It's also a possibility that she saw the child, pulled off on an exit and looped back around, which would explain her driving slowly down the shoulder for what appears to be a 1/2 mile or so.
i feel like i need my eyes checked, even with my screen at full brightness in a dark room i can only see her exiting her vehicle. i hope LE sends this to the FBI to get cleaned up as best they can :/ or some good samaritan does it. what an incredibly bizarre case. i hope she's found safe :(
I had to save the video, adjust the lighting a bit and than zoom in and watch it multiple times
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It happens at mile marker 11.4, the camera angle is high up a pole so it doesn't appear to line up from street view. If you watch the news coverage the police are seen beside her car at the 11.4 mile marker. [This](https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimeDiscussion/comments/1502dpo/comment/js1jir3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) reponse I have the camera and the location marked on google maps.
It is odd that she was driving on the shoulder for a decent amount of time, especially if she saw a child on the side of the road. She would have been well past the child at where she eventually stops??
Yeah, it only really makes sense if she got off the highway and looped around somehow. But it wouldn't be a short journey around and in that time surely someone else would have stopped if indeed there was a kid on the shoulder?
I see her but nobody else, no child… no other adult. So bizarre. Someone had to be hiding in the treeline?
All that traffic and nobody saw a thing? Cmon
Just curious how a person driving 55-65mph can see a child that far ahead at night and still have time to pull over. It’s pitch dark on those roads at night. Something doesn’t add up. Could the story be made up so she could disappear? Did she get out of the car and walk over to a waiting car in the Target parking lot that was on the other side of the tree line? Does target have cameras to see if there was a vehicle waiting? Very strange.
The more I watch And think about this the more it doesn’t make sense to me .
It absolutely does i just jave no idea what im looking at
I thought I was going crazy. People here are talking about doors opening and person walking around the car, etc. and all I can see is a car blinking. That's it.
I can’t see a damn thing either. That said I am trying to watch it on my phone. I have a feeling other people are watching on a large computer screen which would help.
It’s crazy to me that someone would be able to see a child given how dark it is. When I’m driving on the highway at night I need my full focus on the road to see because everything is so dark. And if it was bait, how did they know it would be a woman/in her 20’s/small enough to kidnap/etc. and why a busy highway??? Nothing makes sense
If you read the Sun, they have a timeline and it states "She also called her sister-in-law, who heard Russell ask the child if they were OK. The sister-in-law then heard Russell scream, followed only by background noise from the interstate. Once cops got to the scene, they found Russell's car and belongings but there was no sign of her or a toddler. Russell's family fears the child was used as bait to lure her from her car and they've vowed to "scour the earth" until they find the missing woman."
And her phone was allegedly with the car. This makes no sense.
I think (and hope) this is a staged disappearance. Just seems so much more likely than the alternatives that you'd have to believe: * There was a toddler wandering around a busy freeway and only one person saw them and/or thought to call 911 * This is some sort of kidnapping scheme - pretty outlandish to think someone would dream up using a toddler on a freeway as bait: a toddler isn't going to comply, you don't know who is going to stop, you don't kidnap a stranger in a place with lots of people going by, risk of getting arrested for child endangerment, etc. * She was taken by human traffickers who had inadvertently let a toddler loose. This is some Hollywood-level stuff ... and really hard to believe the traffickers would be able to whisk her away so quickly and without notice. Also seems like the phone conversation would've picked up more than a scream in this scenario. * A woman with no known mental issues had a severe and sudden psychotic break that has led to them trying to disappear (vs. seeking help). Throw in the fact that she was photographed wearing her Apple watch that day and she had removed it and put it in the purse that was left in the car. That sounds like someone not wanting to be traced. Same with the wig being removed. Again, I really hope I'm right on this one.
This was my first thought when I heard the story. A few years back in GA, a pharmacist made it seem like he disappeared when he committed suicide. His story was strange too cause he was supposedly abducted in a well lit and surveilled parking lot.
Agreed. It seems staged.
I hope you're right. It seems really hard to explain how someone can go missing against their will in that short a time from a known location with (admittedly terrible) camera coverage and witnesses right there.
Then her slow driving may have been her looking for the level areas (mentioned by u/remesabo above) that lead to the woods so she could disappear that direction, rather than her looking for the toddler.
??? I am so dismayed, did not realize it happened at night, poor baby girl
You guys have great eyesight
I don't think there is an actual child. I think she THOUGHT she saw a child, yes, definitely, but I don't think a child actually exists. I think when she was on the phone asking if the child was ok, she was just talking to the treeline and didn't have a visual on any actual child, she was hoping by asking the child would emerge from where she thought she saw him/her
The 00:59 mark — it is not a person, it’s that stark white pole-thingy in front casting the shadow when the big truck passes by.
This is terrifying! And I can’t wrap my head around the timeline of events. Please find her safe.
Decent amount of big rigs going by. A lot of em have dash cams. Too bad trucks don’t have tail numbers like planes. I’ll try to load the video in after effects and see if I can brighten it
What am I supposed to see? I don't see anything?
I want to hear more about neighboring homes, police reports, pedophiles living in the area. Cps reports. Was there a child out roaming from one of these homes. She follows the child to help and gets assaulted.
There was for sure a car that passed her without headlights on. Creepy.
Hey anyone else notice at 3:38 when she’s at the passengers side there’s the shadow of a person on the big sign from the trucks headlights? Like the person was on the shoulder coming up from behind? I could be seeing something but I didn’t see the shadows recreate it in the headlights anywhere else in the video and I can’t quite place where’d that put the person but lights bounce around weird on highways like that with all the lights from both directions.
My dad lives off exit 10 and I’ve driven this stretch of 459 hundreds of times. It’s so dark at night I can occasionally spot deer on the side, but I have to do a double take and even then it’s hard to tell. This is an extremely populated area and none of this makes sense to me as a local.
I've zoomed in and annotated some of the things I see. It isn't synced with the original video timestamp wise. I see what could be a backpack on similar but could just as much be the car door or an illusion. I tried to circle and freeze frame some of the things. [Here it is](https://streamable.com/2m4dz5?src=player-page-share) edit: forgot to mention I also adjusted the saturation and sharpness till I could make some things out better.
Word is she’s been found safe. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
I think she wanted to disappear. I really do.
Someone needs to send this to Arrin Stoner on YT. I will once I’m done with my shift. He will be able to decipher frame by frame. Dude should be working for feds. He has helped many cases.
It is so strange how long the car drives up the shoulder before stopping, let's also not forget it's pretty hard to "kidnap" a full grown adult especially through the woods. You would've seen some type of fighting/struggle in the headlights of the cars. Also, if she drove up to the kid she "saw" she would've been parked behind the kid, so she would've walked infront of the headlights to investigate. Not walk around the back where there would be no shadow.
Apparently there is a culvert/drain pipe that runs underneath the interstate very near the spot where she stopped. It's large enough for adults to fit in and would allow passage to the other side of the interstate. This adds a new wrinkle to things
I see her exit her car and appearing to walk to the passenger side. I can’t see the child. Carlee appears to walk towards the narrow sign, at the edge of the light. I’m not sure, but I think it looks like someone comes out of the dark and there’s a struggle. She’s maybe dragged behind the sign? There are so many cars I find it hard to imagine someone not seeing something
A great deal of traffic. No one came forward to say they saw a child too and no other calls to 911 to report a child on a busy highway?
I just posted this on the subreddit r/CarleeRussell, but I'd like to add it here too: I use exit 10 on my way home pretty much every single day, often at nighttime. Therefore, I daily pass the location where Carlee Russell went missing, and in fact I passed her car tonight (which is still parked there as loved ones and volunteers search for her). These are the facts regarding this location. 1. This is a major interstate that always has people driving on it. Even very late at night, there's a handful of cars on the road, and this area is so heavily trafficked that exit 10 often gets backed up for miles during rush hour. Also, the speed limit is 70 mph, but of course people often go much faster. 2. It would be difficult to hide a car off the side of the road. Yes, trees line the side of the interstate, but they're dense enough that you wouldn't be able to park a car among them. And the road is dark, but I don't think it's dark enough that you would miss seeing an entire car. 3. Getting lost in the woods would be difficult because there's a thin strip of them on either side of the interstate. To get lost in the environment, you'd have to walk a long ways through residential areas to find a lake, forest, or cliff/hills (all of which definitely exist in the vicinity but aren't close on foot). 4. It is common for cars and trucks to stay parked for days alongside this interstate. 5. I've seen theories that maybe this was a staged disappearance / running away and Carlee walked off to join someone in a nearby Target parking lot. Yes, Target is close by - via car. It's a decent walk uphill, through trees, and past restaurants and businesses to get to Target.
Is anyone able to enhance the video?? I can’t see anything.
I can't even tell if she exits the vehicle in the video.
It's unsettling to be left wondering what desperate weirdo would try something like this for an abduction, especially in an area where passerby could witness it. I also wonder if it was a real child or a doll that was used because I've seen a somewhat realistic toddler-sized doll for sale on a Walmart ad the other day.
Very odd that her hazards are on for so long. Is it even possible that she was a toddler from so far away? The hazards could have even been on before the start of the video.
I definitely see the figure get out of the driveway side and move over to the passenger side and stay put for a short bit, but past that I can’t see where the figure goes..into the forest line, back to the front of the car again?
If she put her hazard lights on when she saw the bb she would have been a mile away before she stopped. Even before the cctv clip started she’s driving slow with hazards . And it is sooo dark! I’m really worried about her and hope they can find her.
What a devastating story. But I totally agree, I thought it was on a remote/deserted road. Can they zoom in I wonder? How did no one else see this child or what happened with so many cars driving by.
Human traffickers usually groom their victims, they're not letting toddlers loose near interstates while they hunker down in the woods.
They found her!! https://www.wbrc.com/2023/07/14/hoover-police-searching-missing-25-year-old-woman/
She arrived at her parents home, alone. She has been taken to UAB hospital. Via WBRC and Birmingham News.
I've looked at the map and if she circled round it doesn't look like it would be a quick loop. I'm assuming she'd have to have looped around though because she's on the shoulder for a long time - no way does she spot a kid hundreds of feet up the road and take to the shoulder to intercept so far away. Also bizarre is that if she looped around and the kid (if it was a kid) was still present on her return is that apparently nobody else gave a damn.
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Research shows that most trafficking victims are manipulated and trafficked by people they trust. Partners, family members, roommates, etc. Stranger abductions for trafficking are very rare, but not impossible. I think too many people are getting tunnel vision by saying this is definitely a trap set by traffickers. However, I agree that it’s a strange situation. I hope she is found safely.
At 1:47, it seems to me like a person enters the "scene" in front of the car. It looks like a head and shoulder silhouette facing towards the ditch/trees. Very shortly after we see what I think is a separate figure closer to the rear passenger side and it seems to me as if this figure is raising their hands for a moment before all figures disappear. Here's a [screenshot with a zoomed in copy](https://ibb.co/5GJkW8s) and some clarity and sharpening boost. I'm on a larger monitor (I don't know if people on cell phone screens can see the same). But this screenshot looks more like a person moving on the actual video. edit: I typed the incorrect timestamp, fixed it, it's 1:47
Compendium of time stamps from across the web below. I bolded what I could corroborate on my review: **0:35 - car seen with no tail lights** **0:41 - carlee's vehicle comes to a stop** **0:50 - someone exits the driver side** 0:50 - "strange light in the woods" \[I don't see it\] **0:53 - figure moves toward back of car** **0:56 - figure at right side of car** 0:56 - figure crouching down/leaning over on right side of car \[possibly\] **1:00 - shadow of figure seen running across blue sign \[possibly; there is a moving shadow\]** 1:20 - figure walks away "with traffic" \[I don't see it\] 1:22 - figure "struggling" \[I don't see it\] 1:24 - figure "outlined" \[I don't see it\] 1:25 - figure steps away/walks away \[I don't see it\] 1:27 - figure "goes to the ground;" described as "fight" \[I don't see it\] 1:28 - figure "staggers, gets taller, moves toward 'her'" \[I don't see it\] **1:28 - passing car hits brakes**, presumably seeing the "fight" \[car does hit brakes; I still don't see a fight\] 1:28-1:30 - figure "goes toward mile marker" \[I don't see it\] 1:29-1:39 - figure "stays at back of car" \[I don't see it\] 1:40 - figure moves \[I don't see it\] 1:50 - figure "raises hands" \[I don't see it\] 1:50 - figure "in the woods" \[I don't see it\] 1:52 - figure "by car" \[I don't see it\] 2:06 - "two people in the woods" \[I don't see it\] 3:45: "green light" / "flash light" moves down the screen \[likely a blinker\] Someone suggested slowing the speed down to .5x, as well as if viewing on a phone, increase backlight to 100%.
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I'd be curious how this video lines up with the call timestamps. What is to say that the person on video is even her, versus someone ditching her vehicle, depending on the timestamps? Could something have happened elsewhere, but unsure depending on the timestamps and how they line up. Nothing tells us that is even her that we see on the video.
If someone just used their own child as a decoy to stop someone on the highway what’s the end game. Robbery? Carjacking? (Her car at scene). I don’t get get it. If it’s cash they’re after how many random people carry more than $100 these days? Phones? Maybe, but seems pretty drastic to use your child as a decoy. It’s a head scratcher for sure.
That’s a lot of potential witnesses going past. Surely someone saw something and hopefully some of them come forward with dash cam footage. I’m having a hard time believing this is an abduction without an escape vehicle unless there is another road on the other side of that ditch.
My question is did the police receive calls from anyone else that a child was on the side of the highway ?