Carlee Russell made some “really strange” internet searches in the hours before she vanished last week, according to police, who revealed what she told them in the brief interview they had with her after she returned to her family home 49 hours from her disappearance.

Hoover Police Chief Nicholas Derzis said at a news conference Wednesday that detectives had been “unable to verify most of Carlee’s initial statement made to investigators,” who spoke with her at the University of Alabama-Birmingham hospital, where she was taken Saturday night after she arrived back at the home.

“We’re ready to talk as soon as she’s ready,” Derzis said. “If she called right now, we’re ready.”

Russell’s parents, however, have told police “that she’s not ready to talk.”

Carlee’s story

In that initial, brief interview, Russell told investigators “that while traveling down the interstate, she saw a baby walking down the side of the road and called 911,” Derzis said. “When she got out of her vehicle to check on the child, a man came out of the trees and mumbled that he was checking on the baby.”

“That man then picked her up and she screamed. He then made her go over a fence. He then forced her into a car, and the next thing she remembers is being in the trailer of an 18-wheeler. She stated that the male was with a female, however she never saw the female, only hearing her voice. She also told detectives she could hear a baby crying.”

Russell described the man as having orange hair with a bald spot on the back. Derzis said she escaped the 18-wheeler and fled on foot, only to be captured again and put into a car. She was then blindfolded, but was not tied up because the captors said they did not want to leave impressions on her wrists.”

“She said that they took her into a house and made her get undressed,” the chief said. “She believes they took pictures of her, but she does not remember them having any physical or sexual contact with her. She stated that the next day, she woke up and was fed cheese crackers by the female.”

Russell said the woman played with her hair but couldn’t remember anything else.

“At some point, she was put back in a vehicle that she claims was able to escape from while it was west Hoover area. She told detectives that she ran through lots of woods until she came out near her residence,” Derzis said.

“During this interview, detectives noted that Carlee had a small injury to her lip and she complained of her head hurting. She also had a tear in her shirt. Detectives also noted that she had $107 in cash in her right sock.”

The investigation

Investigators found that two days before she called 911 to report a toddler alone on Interstate 459, Russell searched “Do you have to pay for an amber alert.” Early in the morning the next day, she searched “How to take money from register without getting caught Reddit” and an hour later, “Birmingham bus station.”

Minutes after that she searched for a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville, Tennessee, departing on July 13 (Thursday). And just after noon that day, she searched for the movie “Taken,” a Liam Neeson vehicle about an abduction.

On a computer at Russell’s job at Woodhouse Day Spa, there were two more searches about Amber Alerts, including one querying the maximum age for the alert.

Derzis said there were other searches on Russell’s phone “that appeared to shed some light on her mindset, but out of respect for her privacy we will not be releasing the content of those searches at this time.”

Russell left work at about 8:20 p.m. Thursday night, police said, taking with her a concealed “dark colored bathrobe, a roll of toilet paper, and other items belonging to the business prior to her departure.”

She ordered food from Taziki’s at the Colonnade and drove there to pick it up. Then she went to a Target on US280, where she bought Cheez-Its, granola bars, and a drink, remaining in the parking lot until about 9:21 p.m., when she drove to the interstate.

At 9:34 p.m., she made the 911 call reporting seeing male toddler in a t-shirt and diaper walking along the highway. Two minutes later, she gave the same report to her brother’s girlfriend. The girlfriend reported hearing Russell ask “Are you OK” but no response before hearing a scream.

Traffic camera footage showed Russell’s car drive slowly to a stop, hazards flashing, near mile marker 11. She gets out of the car, but the video wasn’t clear enough to show much else.

Dispatch radio traffic reveals officers arriving on the scene five minutes later and finding no sign of Russell or a toddler. They found her purse inside her still running vehicle and her phone and wig on the side of the road outside the car. The officers discuss checking with nearby houses to see if a toddler was missing and ask for a drone to check the area.

“The food she ordered from Taziki’s was also still in her car. The items she purchased from Target, as well as the items taken from her place of employment were not in the vehicle nor were they located at the scene,” Derzis said.

And there was no sign of Russell.

Early Saturday evening, family members suddenly arrived at a nearby Red Roof Inn, saying they’d gotten a call from Russell that she was there. Police responded as well, but again, there was no sign of Russell.

Almost four hours later, however, she was at her parents’ front door. Police said surveillance video showed her walking along the sidewalk prior to arriving.

‘The investigation continues’

Derzis said he felt it important to speak so that the public could hear what they’d learned.

“Due to the public interest, and in some cases public fear that this story has created, we owe it to our citizens to tell them the facts that we have uncovered at this point,” he said.

Derzis said he had spoken to Russell’s family earlier on Wednesday.

“I just wanted them to understand that today we were going to have a press conference and what we were going to detail today were facts,” he said. “Everything I’ve told you today is actual fact. It’s not innuendos, it’s not about what I think or these detectives think, it’s about the information we have.”

Russell’s family has said they believe their daughter was abducted and “fighting for her life” during at least part of the time she was missing.

Derzis said “there are many questions left to be answered, but only Carlee can provide those answers.”

“I do think it’s highly unusual the day that someone gets kidnapped that seven hours before that, they were searching the internet, Googling the movie Taken about an abduction,’’ Derzis said. “I find that really strange.”

Derzis also said the story about the toddler also hard to fathom. Russell drove about 600 yards, he said, while making phone calls about the child, who Russell said was barefoot.

“To think that a toddler barefoot that could be 3 or 4 years old is going to travel six football fields without getting in the roadway, without crying, just moving on, it’s very hard for me to understand,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said, “the investigation continues” while detectives try to determine what happened in the 49 hours Russell was missing.

“That’s the $100 question,” he said. “We pretty much know exactly what took place from the time she left work until the 911 call. We see her getting out of the car, and after that, only she knows.”

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[Featured image: Carlee Russell/Hoover Police Department]