Carlee Russell’s lawyer hopes she will be charged with false disappearance

A lawyer representing Carlee Russell has said he expects her to be charged on false claims that she was kidnapped.

Emory Anthony told local news station WDHN that she had met with detectives from the Hoover Police Department to discuss her client’s case. Mr. Anthony said that Ms. Russell was doing better but that she was still “dealing with her problems” with her.

“It was a great meeting; it was a short meeting,” Anthony said. “We’re trying to figure out a few things about where we go from here. There [are] responsibilities we have to take care of.”

Mr Anthony’s comments come just one day after authorities confirmed that Ms Russell, 25, had admitted to lying about being abducted on the side of a road after stopping to check on a young child. The lawyer did not elaborate on what prompted Ms Russell’s false story.

He added: “I know you have a hundred questions, but we won’t be able to answer them right now, but just walk with us and we should wrap this up shortly,” Mr Anthony said.

A statement issued by Anthony and read by Hoover Police Chief Nicholas Derzis revealed Monday that there was no abduction or baby on the side of the road, as Russell had claimed in a 911 call shortly after she went missing on July 13.

“My client did not see a baby on the side of the road. My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person. My client did not have any help in this incident, but this was a one-time act done by herself,” the statement read. “My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, the Hoover Police Department and other agencies, as well as her friends and family.”

During an interview with police after she turned up at her parents’ home on July 15, Ms Russell alleged that she got out of her vehicle when she saw a barefoot boy walking in a field by the side of the road. A man with orange hair and a bald head “came out of the trees” and kidnapped her, she claimed.

Ms Russell told police she heard a woman and baby inside the trailer of an 18-wheeler, before briefly escaping. She said that she was then recaptured and taken to a house, where she was allegedly forced by her alleged captors to take pictures of her while she was naked.

He then claimed to have escaped a second time before fleeing into the woods. But authorities later found suspicious online searches conducted by Ms Russell after her disappearance, including the 2008 film. Taken, Amber Alerts and “how to get money from a cash register without getting caught”.

Mr. Derzis had previously said Monday that he contacted the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office about possible criminal charges.

Section 13A-10-9 of the Alabama penal code states that knowingly making a false report to police is a Class A misdemeanor.

Mr. Derzis did not provide the cost of the frantic search launched after the fabricated kidnapping of Ms. Russell.

“We don’t have a dollar figure yet, but we’re certainly working to get one and not just our own, but the other agencies that have been very supportive of us,” he said. “We still don’t know what happened during those 49 hours, where he was, if he had any help.”