Carlethia ‘Carlee’ Nichole Russell, a 25-year-old nurse, vanished from the side of the I-495 interstate in Alabama, after calling 911 to report seeing a toddler

Hoover Police in Alabama said they have found ‘no evidence’ a toddler was on the highway where Carlee Russell went missing Thursday, July 13

Russell who was on the phone with her brother’s girlfriend screamed and stopped communicating and was not seen again

Responding officers found Russell’s car, along with her cell phone, purse, wig and Apple Watch in the nearby area

However, neither Russell nor the child she claimed to have spotted were in sight

Russell was found alive Saturday, July 15, night when she showed up on foot at her parents’ home after a frantic two-day, multi-state search

Police say she was found wandering alone near her home  

Authorities in Alabama indicate there are holes in the version told by a nurse from Alabama who vanished after stopping at the side of an interstate highway only to be found a couple of days later.
Carlethia ‘Carlee’ Nichole Russell, 25, vanished from the side of the I-495 interstate after calling 911 to report the toddler, but police said late Tuesday there were no other reports or evidence to support that claim. 
Hoover County cops have found no evidence of a mysterious toddler walking along a highway that Carlee Russell reported before she vanished for 49 hours, adding that she was found wandering alone near her home when she reappeared. 
Carlee Russell, 25, was found alive on Saturday night after showing up on foot to her parents’ home after a frantic two-day search by a combined team of federal, state and municipal agencies, across state lines.
Officials also confirmed Carlee stopped at a Target to buy snacks before arriving at the scene of her disappearance, after she picked up her dinner from a restaurant.
The items she purchased were not found anywhere in or around her car which was left on the roadside, still running, when it was found.  

Cops now say nursing student Carlee Russell, 25, who went missing from the side of an Alabama interstate after reporting there was a toddler by the road was found wandering near her home 

Police revealed surveillance footage taken from her neighborhood shows Russell ‘walking down the sidewalk alone’ before arriving at the home she shares with her parents on Saturday night.
The police update many questions in the case unanswered, including whether or not Russell had been abducted, or why she vanished for so long.
Addressing media after her return Saturday, her parents Talitha and Carolos Russell, said she had been kidnapped. Her boyfriend Thomar Simmons on Sunday said she had been ‘fighting for her life’ in the two days she was gone. 

The Colonnade restaurant where Russell picked up food before she disappeared last Thursday

The tale begins Thursday July 13, after Carlee Russell, a nursing student, left work at The Summit in Birmingham and stopped to pick up food at a restaurant in The Colonnade before getting on I-495 and heading back towards her home in Hoover.
She called 911 at 9.34pm and reported she was stopping along the interstate to check on a toddler she saw in the area, police said.
Russell’s 911 call was the only report of a child on the interstate at the time, and there were no reports of a child missing in the area, police said.

The multi-state search was conducted by a combined of feds, state and local agencies as well as volunteers from the general public who helped in the hunt for the nursing student after her mysterious disappearance

After the call, her family said she was on the phone with her brother’s girlfriend, who didn’t hear a child but listened as Carlee Russell screamed. The line remained open but Carlee stopped responding.
Within five minutes of being dispatched, Hoover police officers arrived and found Russell’s wig, cellphone and purse with her Apple Watch on the road near her vehicle.
At 10.44pm on Saturday, a 911 caller reported Russell has returned home to her parents’ house on foot.
Police dispatch audio revealed that Russell was ‘unresponsive, but breathing’ after officials said she returned to her parents’ home. However, police later said that was information related to a dispatcher and when officers arrived, she was alert.
Russell was taken to a hospital to be evaluated, where she was treated and released. Detectives went to Russell’s home and the hospital to take a statement from her.

Responders at the scene after Carlee Russell’s disappearance after stopping on I-495 on Thursday night reportedly, found her car, which was still running, was found on the side of the interstate – along with her phone, watch and her wig

‘There were actually just so many calls and texts from people who maliciously lied to us,’ Talitha Russell said. ‘I just didn’t know people could be so evil.’
The mother grew emotional as she described the moment she was reunited with her daughter, saying it was filled with ‘so much joy’.
‘We tried to hug as best we could, but I had to stand back because she was not in a good state. So we had to stand back and let medical professionals work with her,’ said Talitha.
In a social media post, Russell’s boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons, claimed she was ‘fighting for her life for 48 hours’ while she was missing.

He said Sunday afternoon his girlfriend was not currently ‘physically or mentally stable’ enough to speak about the whereabouts of her alleged kidnapper.
Simmons, who shared loving photos of the couple together, mentioned he was falsely accused of being involved in her disappearance but had ‘faith’ she’d return.

Russell’s boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons [left], said she was ‘fighting for her life for 48 hours’ after vanishing. He revealed that initially he’d been seen as a person of interest in her disappearance

The boyfriend, who last week went on a trip to New York City with Carlee, described his ‘nonstop’ hunt for her – and said he was not giving up ‘until I saw her face again.’
He wrote: ‘I don’t even know how to start off this post but to only say thank you to my lord & savior Jesus Christ for saving my girlfriend’s life!’
‘The details of that statement are a part of the ongoing investigation, which is expected to continue over the next few days,’ police said in a statement on Monday.
‘During the initial portion of the investigation detectives were able to retrace nearly all of Carlee’s steps until the point she went missing and are confident that will continue to be the case.’
‘We rejoice with the Russell family as they continue to rest and recover from this situation and ask for their wishes to be respected regarding their privacy.’

Despite a witness reporting possibly seeing a gray vehicle and a man standing outside of Russell’s car, police said they have no additional information about the ‘eerie’ figure

However, Russell’s parents have insisted an abductor was behind their daughter’s disappearance. 
‘Carlee has given detectives her statement so that they can continue to pursue her abductor,’ said Carlee Russell’s mother Talitha Russell in an interview with the Today Show Tuesday.
Pressed on whether they believe an abductor is at large in the case, Talitha responded ‘absolutely, absolutely,’ as Carlee’s father Carlos nodded in agreement.
In the new interview, Carlee’s parents said they were subjected to cruel taunting and fake messages claiming to have information about their daughter while she was missing.

Carlee’s parents Talitha and Carolos Russell [photo], said they believe the young child was used as ‘bait’ to lure Russell from her car on Thursday night. Duringn an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show they urged the public not to speculate about her disappearance.

In another development a crowd funding campaign purportedly created to help Carlee Russell ‘get her life together’ has been taken down at the fundraising site.
It was not clear why the campaign had been taken down, although Carlee’s family has publicly said they did not wish to have any GoFundMe fundraisers for her, and the service has been known to take down fake campaigns seeking to cash in on high-profile events in the news.
Eerie footage of the moment Russell slowed on the highway shows a shadowing figure, adding to the mystery of the disappearance.

Thomar Simmons, Carlee’s boyfriend, is pictured with her on a July 4 trip to New York City – just a week before she vanished off the side of an interstate in Alabama

In the footage, Russell’s car is seen moving to the right lane. Later, the footage is lit up in blue lights as police attend the scene where her empty car was found.   
When officers arrived at the location, they found Russell’s car, along with her cell phone, purse, wig and Apple Watch in the nearby area. However, neither Russell nor the child she claimed to have spotted were in sight. 
Police are now using the footage to help analyze what happened.
‘We have looked at the video. It’s not the greatest,’ Hoover police Chief Nick Derzis said. ‘It proves that Carlee’s car was there, and we know that when the officers responded after the 911 call that she was not.’