Disappearance of Carlee Russell

Submission 1,502

About

Disappearance of Carlee Russell refers to Alabama woman Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell who went missing for 49 hours in early July 2023 after calling 911 to report a toddler walking alone on the side of the highway. The 25-year-old nursing student returned home two days after she disappeared, with the police questioning her statements and investigating her internet search history in the following weeks. The Disappearance of Carlee Russell became a viral topic online after users on social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter started to reenact and speculate about what happened, as well as mocking her in memes.

History

On July 13th, 2023, Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell was declared missing after telling a 911 dispatcher that she saw a toddler walking alone on the side of an interstate.^[1] The official Hoover Alabama Police Department Facebook page^[2] posted a series of pictures of the woman in hopes of finding her (shown below), which garnered over 10,000 likes and 92,000 shares in a week.

Roughly 49 hours later on July 15th, the Hoover 911 center received a call that Carlee had returned home to her residence. Carlee told the police that she was forced into an 18-wheeler truck and taken to a home where a man and woman forced her to strip and took photos of her.

On the same day, a video of the moment she purportedly pulled over her car to check a toddler walking alone on the side of the highway was posted on YouTube by the news channel @aldotcom.^[3] The video (shown below) amassed roughly 705,000 views and 2,400 likes in five days.

Police Press Conference

On July 19th, 2023, the Hoover Police Department held a press conference to give details on the investigation surrounding Carlee Russell's disappearance. Police told reporters about Russell’s peculiar internet search history the day before her "abduction," stating she had searched for the movie Taken, amber alerts, booked a bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville and “how to take money from a register without being caught,” according to Hoover Police Department member Nicholas Derzis. The full press conference was uploaded on YouTube^[4] by the news channel FOX 5 Atlanta, which garnered over 493,000 views and 5,100 likes in a day (shown below).

Online Reactions

After the Hoover Police Department held a press conference on July 19th, 2023, memes erupted on TikTok and Twitter, sparking disbelief in Carlee Russell's abduction story in addition to poking fun at her. For example, that same day, Twitter^[5] user @BonnetteJess posted a Gone Girl movie poster using Russell's picture (shown below), which garnered roughly 990 likes and 240 retweets in a day.

On July 19th, 2023, Twitter^[6] user @Pweetie_509 posted a TikTok video of a reenactment of Carlee Russell's abduction (shown below), which amassed over 701,000 views and 5,300 likes in a day.