(Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Carlee Russell is speaking out one year after stunning the country by faking her kidnapping in Alabama. This marks the first time she’s spoken out on social media since the entire ordeal, including her subsequent charges, conviction, and sentencing.
Russell returned to Instagram to celebrate her 27th birthday. Note that her page is now set to private. However, The Shade Room obtained screenshots of her post highlighting her growth in the last year.
In her caption, she admitted that she wasn’t going to make the birthday post, but she’d be “remiss to publicly acknowledge the goodness God has shown to me.”
“[God] not only allowed me to see another year but He changed the trajectory of my life from the negative place I was in this time last year. To those who have been there for me, your kindness and support have meant the world to me,” Carlee Russell wrote.
She added, “Whether it was a text, call, direct message on social media, post, prayer, thoughtful gift, or words of encouragement, nothing was too little, and each helped me to fight to live another day. Thank you sincerely for helping me find the light in the darkest of moments.”
As mentioned, Carlee Russell’s words come over a year after she disappeared for 49 hours. On July 13, 2023, she reportedly stopped at a Target for snacks. Afterward, she contacted the Hoover Police Department with a story about following a semi-nude toddler walking alone on the highway. When police arrived at the scene, they found her car, cell phone, and wig, but no snacks.
It turns out she had staged the entire scene. There was never a toddler walking on the highway. Prior to fake disappearing, she had also done multiple internet searches about Amber alerts, the film ‘Taken,’ and taking money out of a register without being caught. Additionally, the then-26-year-old looked up bus tickets from Birmingham to Nashville.
To this day, it’s unclear where Carlee was for 49 hours before walking up to her parents’ home barefoot and alone. Her initial story was that someone had snatched her when she stopped to check on the nonexistent baby. Before the end of July 2023, that story fell apart. She admitted via her lawyer to lying about the entire incident, but it also remains unclear why she did it.
In September, her ex-boyfriend Thomar Simmons shut down talks that he had cheated on Carlee with a stripper, thus inspiring her to fake kidnap herself. Thomar claimed that the entire situation “traumatized” him.
Additionally, he shared that they were in a “good” space in the weeks leading up to the kidnapping hoax. She had joined him and his family on a visit to New York City. However, Thomar admitted they had a “lil argument” when they returned but was adamant that it was “nothing to kidnap yourself over.”
Hoover PD and prosecutors didn’t let Carlee’s actions slide that easily. She was charged with two misdemeanors of false reporting and jailed on July 28. The same day, she posted her $2,000 bond.
In October, a judge found her guilty of the charges and ordered her to pay $831 for each charge and restitution. Her sentencing didn’t happen until March of this year. Though she avoided jail time, the judge set her restitution at $17 974.88 and ordered her to mental health services and 100 hours of community service.
That hearing was the first time Carlee Russell spoke in court, apologizing for her actions and their impact.
Details of her personal life these days aren’t known. However, in her birthday celebration post, the 27-year-old claimed her “work is not finished yet.”
“…as I step into this next year of life, I am filled with hope and optimism toward continuing to overcome challenges, cherishing those who cherish me, and embracing the future and God’s plan for my life with an open heart and mind. Happy 27th birthday to me,” she wrote.
