A lost Alabama woman has been found.

Carlee knocked on her family’s front door, arriving back home alone and on foot. The case had garnered significant national media attention and prompted an intensive search by the police after Carlee first went missing along an Alabama Highway in a Birmingham suburb. Her disappearance was initially reported on Thursday night after she called 911 to alert them about a toddler walking alone along the interstate.

Following her safe return, Carlee was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation. Thankfully, she has since been treated and released, as stated by the police.

“The Hoover Police Department continues to be extremely grateful for the outpouring of support from the Hoover community and beyond, and all of the assistance provided by our law enforcement partners which are too numerous to name,” Lieutenant Daniel Lowe wrote in a statement. “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.”

After her daughter’s return, Talitha Russell, Russell’s mother, turned to Facebook to share the news and kindly requested privacy and some time before giving any statements to the media.

What happened to Russell?

Russell’s whereabouts over the 48 hours she was missing is still unclear, according to police.

Officers got a 911 call at 10:44 p.m. on Saturday informing them that Russell had returned home. Detectives went to the home and the hospital “to take an initial statement from Carlee . . . the details of that statement are a part of the ongoing investigation which is expected to continue over the next few days,” police said.

Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis told Fox 6 that they are giving the Russell family the time they requested “to get themselves back together… When we think it’s time to be able to sit down and have a conversation with Carlee and try to get some facts, we’ll do that.”

“The main thing right now is her- to make sure that she’s okay,” Derzis said.

The night of the disappearance

Russell was driving home from work Thursday night when she called 911 at 9:34 p.m. to say that she saw a male toddler in a diaper walking alone along the side of the interstate on I-459 south, roughly eight miles south of Birmingham.

The police have been unable to verify whether a child was indeed on the highway. According to a statement from the Hoover police, Carlee’s 911 call stands as the sole timely report of a child being present on the interstate.

Following the 911 call, Carlee was advised by the dispatcher to remain with the child until the police arrived, as mentioned by her mother, Talitha Russell, in an interview with the New York Times.

Shortly after, Carlee contacted her brother’s girlfriend to share the incident. During the conversation, Carlee stayed on the phone with the girlfriend while she stepped out of her car to approach the child and called out to him. However, at some point after 9:36 p.m., the relative heard what seemed like Carlee screaming, and the phone dropped to the ground, as recounted by Talitha Russell.

“My son’s girlfriend heard her asking the child, ‘Are you OK?’ She never heard the child say anything but then she heard our daughter scream,’’ Talitha said to AL.com. “From there, all you hear on her phone is background noise from the interstate.”

Police officers responded to the scene within five minutes of Russell’s 911 call and found her car abandoned on the side of the interstate. They also located Russell’s wig, cell phone and purse on the roadway near the vehicle and her apple watch was in her purse. However, they were “unable to find her or a child in the area,” police said in a statement.

However, a single witness has reported spotting a “light complected male” standing outside of Russell’s car. According to police, there is no further information available about that person.

Police did obtain video surveillance footage of the interstate that shows the moment when Russell pulled over her red Mercedes-Benz and slowly drove forward with her headlights flashing. The footage is grainy and doesn’t depict anyone else pulling their car over after Russell and before the police showed up. However, they are working to clarify the footage, police said.

Source: usatoday