July 28th 2023.
The Police Chief in Hoover, Alabama, Nick Derzis, has admitted that authorities knew Carlee Russell was lying about her alleged abduction last week, even before the press conference they held days after her mysterious return home after being missing for 49 hours.
On Tuesday, Nick Derzis told WVTM 13, “It is what it is. The fact that I think last Wednesday pretty much showed that we knew that it was a hoax.”
It all began when Russell called 911 to report a toddler walking on I-459 after leaving work. Though she was missing for two days, Russell returned home with questionable details about her disappearance.
It wasn't until a week later that Russell admitted to lying about her kidnapping in a statement released on Monday. She apologized “for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies, as well as to her friends and family.”
Former criminal defense attorney Eric Guster believes the police should have spoken up sooner. He said, “The police chief went and talked to her family and said, ‘Hey, I have everything. I have everything. Do you still want to go forward with this?’ and they stood in that lie for a week.”
Guster continued, “It was frustrating that it took a week to get here because this should have been done last Monday or Tuesday. And if it was done Monday or Tuesday, we wouldn’t be talking about it now. A lot of people would have probably forgotten her name by Thursday or Friday.”
Russell’s former boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons, released a statement on Instagram calling out the “hurt, confusion, and dishonesty” she caused with her fake kidnapping. He wrote “Myself and my family’s nature was to react in love, and genuine concern. We are disgusted from the outcome of this entire situation. I strongly feel exactly like you all, blindsided with Carlee’s actions.”
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