The woman from Alabama who went missing after claiming she had seen a toddler get abducted on the freeway has now revealed the truth.
Carlethia 'Carlee' Nichole Russell, 25, went missing on 13 July after putting in a call to 911 at around 9.34pm.
In the call, she told operators that she had seen a toddler aged around three to four years walking by the south carriageway of Interstate 459 near Birmingham, Alabama.
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Russell then called a family member, who lost contact with her while the phone line remained open, police said.
But after two days of concern and uncertainty, Russell returned home on 15 July and was taken to a hospital for evaluation.
In a police interview following her return, she claimed that a man with orange hair had come out of nearby woods to check on the toddler. However, he had then picked Russell up and made her go over a fence which was nearby.
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Following this, she claimed that the man had forced her into a car, saying she could remember being inside an 18-wheeler trailer.
She also claimed that after being blindfolded and made to undress, she was able to escape from the trailer but was then recaptured and put into a car.
Now, however, in an extraordinary statement released to authorities, Russell admitted that in fact she had fabricated the entire story.
In an email to the Hoover Police Department, Russell's attorney Emery Anthony said: "My client did not have any help in this incident. This was a single act done by herself.
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"My client was not with anyone or any hotel with anyone from the time she was missing. My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well and to her friends and family."
However, authorities are still not sure exactly what happened during the 49 hours Russell had been missing.
They are currently considering whether to pursue charges against Russell since the revelations about her claims came out.
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Police Chief Nicholas Derzis told reporters: "We still don't know what happened in those 49 hours, where she was. Did she have any help? We have no idea.
"We wanted the focus to be, bring her home. She got home. We're very excited about that. That facts that I (spoke about) last Wednesday pretty much showed that we knew it was a hoax."
Despite a search, no evidence of a toddler walking by the road was ever found by police.
Kit Roberts