Topline
Carlee Russell, a nursing student who alleged she was kidnapped in Alabama this summer and captured the nation’s attention with her story, was found guilty of faking the kidnapping, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.
Key Facts
In municipal court, Judge Brad Bishop determined Russell was guilty of false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident—both misdemeanors she was charged with in late July.
Russell was ordered to pay $831 for each charge and more than $17,000 in restitution, CBS 42 in Birmingham reported, and the state recommended she receive a maximum of one year in jail.
Russell had pleaded not guilty—despite admitting to police her story was bogus after a days-long investigation—and her lawyer said they will appeal the decision because “they’re trying to ask for jail time, which we totally disagree with,” according to CBS.
Key Background
In July, Russell disappeared for two days before turning up again and claiming she had been kidnapped by a trucker while trying to help a toddler on the interstate. On July 13, Russell called 911 on her way home from work to report a lost child in a diaper was wandering along the side of the highway. Traffic camera footage showed Russell pulled over, exited her car and walked to the passenger side of the vehicle, but by the time police arrived three minutes later she was gone. Then, about 49 hours after she first disappeared and after a statewide search ensued, Russell returned home on foot and told investigators she had been abducted by a man and woman in a truck who took her to their home and took photos of her while she was undressed. Less than a week later, investigators said they were “unable to verify” Russell’s statement. Five days after police said they couldn’t verify her story, Russell admitted through her lawyer that there was no kidnapping or toddler and that she “did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person.”
Surprising Fact
The Hoover Police Department—with the help of the U.S. Secret Service—analyzed Russell’s internet search history and found Google searches from the day she went missing for the action-thriller kidnapping movie Taken. Other search results included searches for the “maximum age” for an Amber alert, whether Amber alerts were paid for, and how to take money from a register without getting caught.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/10/11/carlee-russell-found-guilty-of-faking-her-own-kidnapping-in-alabama/