Cars were seen lining up outside Karlie Russell’s Alabama home on Sunday, just one day after her 26th birthday.
There was no official word on why all the cars were at the home of the woman, who has become a central player in a missing-person case that has captivated the nation.
A dozen cars lined the driveway and around the house and drew the attention of police in Hoover, Alabama, who drove by the house as people entered and left.
Police said Russell delayed additional requests to interview her again about her presumed July 13 disappearance. Russell disappeared after calling 911 to report a child wandering an Alabama highway.
This sparked a national manhunt for him that ended 49 hours later when he returned to his family home.
Authorities said they found no evidence to support the woman’s claims and are now investigating her story.
Cars piled up in the driveway of Russell’s Hoover, Alabama home Sunday, the weekend of his birthday
Friends and family gathered at Russell’s Alabama home on Sunday, just one day after his 26th birthday
Police in Hoover, Alabama, are investigating claims that Russell was abducted on July 13 and say they have found no evidence to support the claims.
Russell claimed he left work at around 8.20pm on July 13 before stopping to pick up food for him and his mother.
He then drove to Hoover and called 911 around 9:30 p.m. to report the missing child wandering off the interstate in Alabama.
After calling 911, Russell called her brother-in-law to tell her she was going to check on the child. At 9:36 PM, the family member cut off contact with him but the line remained open.
Responding officers found Russell’s abandoned car and her cell phone, her purse, wig and Apple Watch in a nearby area, but no sign of her or the child.
Hoover police later said they had not received any other missing child calls.
A witness reported possibly seeing a gray vehicle and a man standing outside Carly’s vehicle, but police said they had no additional information.
After reappearing at her parents’ house two days later, Carly told detectives that she had been kidnapped by a man with orange hair who had held her captive for two days.
He then managed to escape, Russell claimed.
The nursing student is now said to be cooperating with authorities, but police say they have found no evidence that she was a child on the side of the road or the abduction story she told them.
This led some to accuse him of faking the entire ordeal.
Russell was reported missing on July 13, after making a strange phone call to 911 in which she claimed to have found a child on the side of a highway.
People were seen entering and exiting the suburban property on Sunday. Russell returned home safely on July 15, claiming he had been kidnapped
Three Hoover Police Department vehicles also drove past the suburban family’s home, as police continued to investigate Russell’s story.
An unidentified man is pictured outside Carly Russell’s Hoover home on Sunday
The nursing student told detectives she was kidnapped by a man with orange hair who held her captive for two days. Friends and family were seen outside his suburban home on Sunday
Authorities said Sunday that more than $63,000 raised during the two-day search for Russell will not be returned.
Crime Stoppers initially said the money would be returned to the donors when Russell showed up at his parents’ house on July 15.
Now the company has backtracked on this promise as the investigation is ‘still ongoing’.
Crime Stoppers announced Sunday that they would not return more than $63,000 spent during the two-day search for Russell.
“This investigation is still ongoing, and accordingly, there is no basis to refund any contributions at this time,” the agency wrote.
‘Furthermore, the Hoover Police Department has not requested the release or refund of any donor contributions.’
The announcement served as an abrupt about-face from a statement issued just hours earlier by the agency’s executive director, Bob Kappas, in which he said an unspecified amount of grants had already been returned amid lingering doubts about the legality of the case.
Other payments, he said, were in the process of being refunded — if requested by private donors.
As of Sunday, it was unclear how much money had actually been returned.
Newstimesuk.com has reached out to the Hoover Police Department for comment.
Russell disappears off a highway and a nationwide search for her begins, which ends a few days later when she returns home alone.
Russell’s boyfriend Thomas Latrell Simmons – who first took to Facebook to ask for help in finding the missing woman – appears to have distanced himself from his sweetheart.
After a Hoover Police Department press conference on July 19 — two days after the Crimestoppers announcement — Thomer deleted all references to Carly from his Instagram and Facebook accounts.
He not only deleted her posts about her disappearance, but also deleted every photo of her and them together.
On Saturday, Simmons urged people to ‘stop bullying’ the nursing student.
‘All I can say is, I wish everyone would stop teasing him. I know what he seems to have done. Just stop bullying on social media,’ boyfriend Thomas Latrell Simmons told the New York Post.
‘Think of his mental health. He doesn’t deserve it. he doesn’t No one deserves to be cyber bullied,’ he added.
As for the rest of her family — including a sister-in-law who claimed Russell called her while she was chasing the illegitimate child — they swallowed her story and appeared to repeat it on Monday’s Today show after Carly reappeared at their home with a busted lip.
The 25-year-old was on the phone with her brother-in-law when the family member heard screams and went to check up on the child before losing contact.
In the programme, his parents recalled how they found Harris ‘in a bad state’.
‘She fought for her life,’ her father Carlos, VP of underwriting at BBVA Bank, said, adding that she also allegedly ran from her captors.
But police revealed that Russell researched the Liam Neeson movie ‘Why’ and whether he was too old for the Amber Alert and searched for a one-way bus ticket to Nashville.
As of Sunday, the police investigation into the circumstances surrounding Harris’ disappearance was still ongoing.
Filing a false police report in Alabama is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $6,000 fine.
Alabama Attorney Eric Guster previously said he expects Curley to be charged with filing a false police report, but said police are likely waiting to finish their investigation first.
‘They cannot compel him to give a statement or make a statement. I think what will happen is Hoover continues to investigate this case.
‘I hope Carly will be charged at some point, at least for making a false statement. But they have to ensure that they complete the full investigation,’ he said.
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