“Why should I care about Carlee Russell?”
As it was recently reported, 25-year-old Carlee Russell of Alabama was charged with false reporting an incident as well as false reporting to law enforcement- both misdemeanors that carry up to a year in jail. Subsequently, Russell turned herself in to law enforcement, was booked and released on $1,000.00 bail.
Of all the queries you have wrestled with in 2023, the aforementioned question concerning a kidnapping hoax in Alabama might be at the top of your list, right after, “why are we sending MORE money to Ukraine” and “Should I get the vaxx.” All are indeed great questions, but for the sake of time, let’s just consider why Carlee’s case is
significant.
If you’re like me, you have begun to realize the validity of the old adage, “the devil is in the details.” You’ve also noticed that if the media is trying to force your focus only to the ‘what’ ‘who’ ‘when’ and ‘where’ of a particular story, you must always, always, always direct your attention to the ‘why.’ That’s where your devil is.
The details (if you don’t know) were shared in a Facebook video by Russell’s brother, Marquis Bishop, after he felt the investigation wasn’t getting the attention it should have (although it was already being covered both nationally and locally).
“My sister Carlee Russell is missing,” Bishop begins. “My sister was traveling on I-459, after leaving work here in Hoover, Alabama. She spotted a toddler, and she stopped to render aid, as any decent human being with a heart would do. She contacted 9-1-1, as she’s been taught, and then she spoke with another one of our family members. Our family member hears a scream, and then my sister vanishes- along with that toddler. Her car and belongings were all left at the scene. We have no idea where she is. This story is not getting the national
coverage that it should, and we all know why.”
…Be Careful What You Wish For…
Within days of his “plea,” the race hustlers as well as the legitimate news outlets took the bait, and suddenly it was a nationwide story. Although many couldn’t put their finger on it, as details were slowly released, Russell’s story began to unravel.
We all remember just how quickly Jussie Smollett’s story fell apart days after details came slowly trickling out. A megastar accosted after a Subway sandwich run during the wee hours of the morning by Trump-hat wearing
“racists” with bleach and nooses suddenly seemed far-fetched. Duh..
Of course, the Mainstream media and the Black community were all on the Carlee bandwagon, not once questioning the story, or even wondering, “what happened to the mysterious baby?” Arguably, one of the biggest voices contesting Carlee’s believability factor was conservative podcast host Candace Owens (among others),
Owens started her show with, “The math just isn’t “math-ing” with the Carlee Russell story. Today I’m doing a deep dive into the details of the case and asking the questions that we apparently aren’t allowed to ask.” As a result, Owens devoted much of her popular podcast to getting to the truth, peeling back the onion-like case one layer at a time.
As you may have heard through various reports, the case quickly fell apart like a Hunter Biden plea deal as the truth revealed sounded like a bad movie of the week.
This from CBS news:
”Police on Wednesday listed some “very strange” online searches that Russell made in the days leading up to her disappearance. The search queries included:
July 11, 7:30 a.m. — “Do you have to pay for an Amber alert”
July 13, 1:03 a.m. — “How to take money from a register without being caught”
July 13, 2:13 a.m. — “Birmingham bus station”
July 13, 2:35 a.m. — “One way bus ticket from Birmingham to Nashville” with a departure date of July 13
July 13, 12:10 p.m. — “The movie ‘Taken'”
The report continues:
“Thursday, July 13, 9:34 p.m. — Just after 9:30 p.m., Russell called 911 to report a toddler on the highway, saying she had stopped to check on the boy, police said. While she was on the phone with a dispatcher about the toddler, Russell traveled in her car about 600 yards, the distance of about six football fields, Derzis said. Russell allegedly disappears and is reported missing Thursday, July 13, 9:36 p.m. — After her 911 call, which lasted less than two minutes, Russell called a family member, police said.
“She went missing during that conversation sometime after 9:36 PM,” police wrote on Facebook. The family member on the phone with Russell “lost contact with” her during the call, “but the line remained open,” Hoover police Lt. Daniel Lowe said. Talitha Russell, Carlee’s mother, told reporters that her daughter was on the phone with her sister-in-law at the time that her voice dropped out.
Russell’s mother then called the police and said Russell had been on the phone with a relative, and that relative had heard Russell scream. Hoover officers arrived on scene within five minutes of being dispatched, police said. Russell was gone, but officers found her car, cellphone, wig and purse. Her Apple Watch was in the bag. The snacks she had purchased at Target were not in the car or at the scene, police disclosed.
Saturday, July 15, 10:45 p.m. — Russell returned home on foot, about 49 hours after she went missing. Police received a call at around 10:45p.m. notifying them of her return. Officers and medics responded and Russell was taken to a hospital for evaluation, Hoover police Capt. Keith Czeskleba said. During her 40+ hour “ordeal,” Carlee claimed to be kidnapped, forced to remove all her clothing, and held against her will, until she was able to finally escape- miraculously ending up at her parent’s home.
The Smollett Special
While Russell’s case is similar to Smollett’s (including the pandering interview constructed to extrapolate sympathy points from the public), the sole difference being, Jussie never recanted- even after he was clearly busted.
In fact, Smollett was so well-believed that some people still back his story. However, here is why this case should matter. One of the trademarks of millennials like Russell and far too many others is the narcissistic desire for attention on themselves.
The internet and social media are flooded with selfies, You Tubers and Influencers. At the heart of such instances for Black youth, the intent is always to stir the anger of the Black community. However, Carlee was no Jussie Smollett. She had no audience to pander to or impress. Nor did she employ any real help to pull this off, or it might have at least appeared to be successful instead of disintegrating slowly from the moment of its conception and inception.
Why should we care? Because when an unknown commits such an act with nothing seemingly to gain and everything to lose, she sends a message. In her brief rise from anonymity to notoriety, Russell encouraged others to take a shot, even if it means dragging your family and friends through the mud, even taking valuable resources away from real crimes and active investigations. Keep in mind that someone could have died waiting for the emergency services dispatched to Russell.
For 40+ plus hours, America began watching “The Carlee Show.” During her “15 minutes of fame,” Russell forced millions of Americans to focus on her and know her name. Who will be the next Carlee? Sadly, I don’t think
it’s a matter of if; it’s just a matter of when.
