The Hoover Police Department said Saturday that 25-year-old Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell has “returned home”
A woman who police say disappeared after calling 911 to report a child walking along the side of a highway earlier this week has now “returned home,” authorities said.
The Hoover Police Department said in a Saturday statement that 25-year-old Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell has since been located, as the department received a call at 10:45 p.m. local time Saturday that she was back home.
“Police responded to the scene to investigate the latest development in the case,” a press release noted, adding that medics from the Hoover Fire Department transported her to a local hospital.
Additional information has not been shared.
In an email to , Hoover Police Captain Keith Czeskleba said that more information was not “available for release at this time,” and that the investigation into the case is ongoing.
The latest update in Russell’s disappearance comes just days after she called police Thursday night and reported seeing a toddler walking on the side of I-459 South near mile marker 11, according to a press release from authorities.
Police said at the time that she stopped to check on the child and called a relative before authorities arrived, but the relative lost contact with Russell.
Talitha Russell, the woman’s mother, told Alabama Local that her daughter was on the phone with her brother’s girlfriend, who said she heard screaming on the other line.
“My son’s girlfriend heard her asking the child, ‘Are you okay?’ She never heard the child say anything but then she heard our daughter scream,’’ she said, per the outlet. “From there all you hear on her phone is background noise from the interstate.”
Police then found Russell’s abandoned car and some of her belongings, but said they could not locate her or the child, and did not receive calls about someone missing a kid.
Russell’s mother also told Alabama Local that a trucker claimed he saw her car with the door open, as a gray car pulled over close to it around the time she reportedly vanished.
“Friends and family, whatever city or state you’re in I would like to have someone spearhead search parties,” Russell’s mother wrote on Facebook at the time. “Thank you and we are not receiving any negative thoughts. God is faithful and Carlee will be found safe and free from all hurt, harm and danger.”
A previous release reported a “single witness” reporting that they had “possibly” seen a “gray vehicle with a light-complected male standing outside of Carlee’s vehicle.”
At the time, police shared that a $20,000 reward from a donor who wished to remain anonymous was available, and a $5,000 reward was offered by Crime Stoppers.