Carlee Russell’s return home has elicited a strong reaction from community members, particularly parents who have experienced the loss of their own child to violence, including an Alabama mother whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered.
Shea Pilkington-Wiley’s daughter, Madison Pilkington, was found murdered in Hoover 18 months ago. The distraught mother is now calling Carlee Russell’s alleged actions as “disrespectful” to all parents who have suffered the loss of a child and to those who are still searching for their missing children.
“It breaks my heart for Angela to go out there and have to relive everything,” Pilkington-Wiley told NBC 13.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Russell called 911 earlier this month at around 9:30 p.m. to report seeing a toddler walking along Interstate 459 in Hoover. Minutes later, she reported the same information while on a call with her sister-in-law, adding that she would stop to see if she could help.
Traffic camera footage showed Russell’s car, hazard lights blinking, slow to a stop near mile marker 11. The family member reported hearing Russell ask, “Are you OK,” but heard no response, and then Russell screamed.
Days later, at around 10:45 p.m., Russell arrived at her parents’ house in Hoover.
Police have no evidence of a toddler walking along the highway. No other calls to 911 reported a toddler, “despite numerous vehicles passing through that area as depicted by the traffic camera surveillance video.”
Shea Pilkington-Wiley became upset when she learned Aniah Blanchard’s mother, Angela Harris, helped search for Russell.
In 2019, police found Blanchard murdered after she was kidnapped from an Aubrun convenience store.
“I was calling, I was texting… those unanswered messages, all those kinds of things that you initially start doing, and I’m sure that her parents were doing the same,” Pilkington-Wiley said, recalling the desperate search for her daughter.
Pilkington-Wiley added that was she furious when she heard Russell allegedly made up a fake story, causing grief among the community.
“Her actions with her being safe the entire event is disrespectful to all of the boys and the girls, the adults and children that have gone missing that didn’t make it home,” she said. “That are still gone or maybe came home, but they didn’t come home alive.”
Pilkington-Wiley is now pushing for Russell to apologize to the people who spent time looking for her, as well as to parents who lost children to kidnapping and violent crimes.
“She needs to admit to what she did.”
So far, police have not charged Russell with any crime, although former criminal defense lawyer Eric Guster said the search for Russell consumed the time and money of both law enforcement and concerned community members.
He also listed the crimes she allegedly committed, including lying to police, theft, and filing a false report.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo via Hoover PD]
