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Police share new details about the disappearance of Carlee Russell, the woman who went missing in Alabama after calling 911 about a child on an interstate | CNN

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Police share new details about the disappearance of Carlee Russell, the woman who went missing in Alabama after calling 911 about a child on an interstate | CNN




CNN
 — 

Police shared new details on the case of Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell, the Alabama woman who went missing after calling 911 to report a toddler walking alone on the side of the highway, as questions remain about what exactly happened before she returned home.

Russell, 25, was driving Thursday to her home in Hoover from her job in Birmingham, about 10 miles to the north, when she called 911 to say she was stopping her car to check on the child and then called a family member who lost contact with her – though the line remained open, according to the Hoover Police Department.

When police arrived, they found Russell’s wig, cell phone and purse near her vehicle, but no sign of her or the child.

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Two days later, around 10:45 p.m. Saturday, she returned home on foot, according to Hoover police. Authorities said she was taken to a hospital, treated and released.

While detectives briefly spoke with Russell when she returned home, they are now waiting to “obtain a more detailed statement about the sequence of events” during the time she was missing, Hoover Police said in a statement Tuesday night.

As investigators try to piece together what happened in the approximately 49 hours Russell was missing, her mother has said she believes her daughter was abducted.

“Carlee has given detectives her statement and hopefully they are pursuing her abductor,” Talitha Robinson-Russell said in a statement to CNN affiliate WBRC.

“She definitely fought for her life. There were moments when she physically had to fight for her life, and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life,” Robinson-Russell told NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday.

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Investigators have not indicated whether they suspect foul play in Russell’s disappearance or released details of her initial statement to police.

Adding to the mystery, Hoover Police said Tuesday they have not found any evidence of a toddler walking down the interstate, nor did they receive additional calls about it, “despite numerous vehicles passing through that area as depicted by the traffic camera surveillance video.”

Russell’s 911 call remains the “only timely report of a child on the interstate” and no one has reported a child missing, Hoover Police said Monday.

Here’s what we know about the investigation.

On Thursday at around 8:20 p.m., Russell left her job at a business in Birmingham and went to pick up food before driving south on Interstate 459 toward Hoover, police said.

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After picking up her food order, Russell also stopped at a Target and purchased some snack food items, police said Tuesday.

At around 9:34 p.m., Hoover dispatchers received a 911 call from Russell, who reported seeing a toddler in a diaper walking on the side of the interstate. Russell told both the 911 operator and, later, a family member that she was stopping to check on the child, police said Monday.

Russell was on the phone with her sister-in-law, who could hear Russell asking someone if they were okay, Russell’s mother told WBRC. There was no audible response, and then the sister-in-law heard Russell scream, Robinson-Russell said.

Police have said they are reviewing traffic camera footage captured at the time of the 911 call. “That footage is still being analyzed as part of the investigation in conjunction with the 911 call to accurately determine the timeframe,” police said Monday.

Officers arrived at the scene within five minutes of being dispatched and found Russell’s vehicle and some of her belongings.

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The snacks Russell purchased at Target were not at the scene, police said Tuesday.

Hoover Police Chief Nicholas Derzis told WBRC Russell showed up at her family’s front door Saturday night, but officers weren’t sure how she got there.

“She walked up, banged on the door and that was her,” he said.

Russell returned to her home Saturday night, police said.

On Tuesday, police said they obtained surveillance video from Russell’s neighborhood that shows her walking down the sidewalk alone before she got to her home.

Fire department radio traffic revealed that medics were dispatched to her home on a call about an “unresponsive but breathing” person, police said, adding that was the term used by the dispatcher relaying information from what a 911 caller told the emergency communicator.

“When first responders arrived on scene, they found Ms. Russell conscious and speaking and she was transported in that condition,” police said. “She was later treated and released from a local hospital.”

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Russell’s mother told NBC that when she reunited with her daughter, they “tried to hug as best they 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.”



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Alabama

Alabama baseball avoids Iron Bowl sweep, wins season finale with Saturday win over Auburn

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Alabama baseball avoids Iron Bowl sweep, wins season finale with Saturday win over Auburn


Alabama baseball won its regular season finale at Auburn 12-5 on Saturday in a game that lasted over six hours due to a ninth-inning weather delay. Auburn clinched the series with wins on Thursday and Friday, but Alabama avoided the sweep with Saturday’s victory.

The No. 24 Crimson Tide (33-21, 13-17 SEC) started the scoring with an RBI single by Kade Snell to score Ian Petrutz in the first inning. Auburn (27-26, 8-22 SEC) responded with an unearned run in the bottom of the frame. After Chris Stanfield reached first on an error and stole second, Ike Irish brought him home with an RBI single to tie the game 1-1 after one.

In the second inning, Alabama went down in order, and Auburn scored again on an RBI groundout by Stanfield. The Tigers stretched their lead to 4-1 with a two-run home run by Mason Maners in the fourth inning.

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Game One: Alabama baseball falls to Auburn, 4-2, in the first game of final series of the season

Game Two: Alabama baseball battles back but drops wild game at Auburn to lose the Iron Bowl series

The Alabama offense looked flat against Auburn starter Christian Herberholz through four innings but finally got a hold of him in the fifth frame. A Will Hodo walk and Max Grant single gave the Tide runners on the corners, which Gage Miller turned into an RBI single. Petrutz laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Grant and Miller to scoring position, and a single by William Hamiter into right field gave Alabama two more runs to tie the game at 4-4.

Mac Guscette caught two Auburn runners stealing in the bottom of the fifth, and the Alabama offense stayed hot into the sixth, even after Auburn turned to Dylan Watts on the mound. Consecutive singles by T.J. McCants, Hodo and Grant loaded up the bases, and Watts was pulled for Ben Schorr. Miller welcomed Schorr to the game with a three-RBI double to reclaim the lead for Alabama. A hit-by-pitch, balk and intentional walk sequence reloaded the bases for Guscette, who got hit by a pitch to cross another run and give Alabama an 8-4 lead.

With two outs and the bases still loaded, Auburn turned to Conner McBride on the mound, marking the Tigers’ third pitching change in one Alabama trip through the lineup. McBride struck out McCants to strand the runners and end the Tide threat in the sixth, but the Tigers couldn’t respond after a double play and strikeout ended the inning quickly.

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Ben Hess put together another long, efficient outing on the mound for Alabama. He tied last week’s career and season-high with 6 ⅔ innings pitched and tossed a career-high 108 pitches. Hess allowed five runs (three earned runs) on 10 hits with nine strikeouts. Hess’ night ended in the bottom of the seventh after he allowed a two-out RBI single, and Alabama turned to Alton Davis II for the rest of the game.

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Davis retired Auburn’s batters in order in the eighth, and Miller brought Hodo home with an RBI single for his fifth RBI of the game in the ninth. Petrutz blasted a three-run home run in the next at-bat to make it 12-5. The game then went into a lightning delay after one swing by Justin Lebron.

After a two-and-a-half-hour delay, the ninth inning resumed. Auburn’s Griffin Graves struck out three Alabama batters in a row. Looking to mount a seven-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth, Maners opened with a double and advanced to third after a groundout by Deric Fabian. Stanfield struck out swinging, and a groundout ended the game six hours and 15 minutes after it started.

With the victory, Alabama will head to Hoover as the No. 7 seed in the SEC Tournament.



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Florence, Alabama’s Kodachrome Gardens is a testament to innovation and community – Alabama News Center

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Florence, Alabama’s Kodachrome Gardens is a testament to innovation and community – Alabama News Center


In the heart of Florence, Alabama, just a couple of blocks from the University of North Alabama, a dream has taken root and begun to flourish. The idea for Kodachrome Gardens came to Adam Morrow, a working musician in bands like Speckled Bird, Belle Adair and John Paul White’s touring band, during



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Scott Martin: Some stormy weather for Alabama Saturday, much better on Sunday – Alabama News Center

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Scott Martin: Some stormy weather for Alabama Saturday, much better on Sunday – Alabama News Center


SOME STORMS TODAY: We have a dynamic weather system heading our way today. A shortwave will move through north-central and north Alabama, bringing a mix of decent instability and higher mid-level lapse rates. This setup means we could see



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