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Alabama Kidnap Faker Avoids Jail · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. I can't believe that the
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Speaker 1: Alabama kidnapped faker Carly Russell has somehow managed to avoid jail.
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Speaker 1: She gets one year probation and eighteen thousand dollars fine. Ouch, gosh,
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Speaker 1: she's faking a big one like this at twenty six.
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Speaker 1: What will she be doing at thirty six? Do you
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Speaker 1: remember Curly Russell, the cute, cute, cute twenty six year
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Speaker 1: old causing a national panic when she goes missing, only
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Speaker 1: to miraculously be saved by herself claiming she was kidnapped
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Speaker 1: by a couple on the side of the road. Wow,
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Speaker 1: straight probation after all she put us through. The Alabama
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Speaker 1: woman who faked a story about a kidnapping has been
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Speaker 1: ordered to pay eighteen grand restitution and get straight probation.
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Speaker 1: I mean, sye Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thanks for
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Speaker 1: being with us. Carle Russell, aged twenty six, charged with
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Speaker 1: two misdemeanors for false statements last July when she told
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Speaker 1: cops she was kidnapped after going missing for several days.
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Speaker 1: You remember what happened? She claimed she saw a toddler
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Speaker 1: on the side of the road and left her car
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Speaker 1: pulled over and left her car to go save the
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Speaker 1: tot What a load of bs technical legal term.
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Speaker 2: Remember this, Where was she for those forty nine hours?
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Speaker 2: She said, she stayed in's Hoover the entire time and
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Speaker 2: no one helped her. So where was she for those
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Speaker 2: forty nine hours?
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Speaker 1: Where did she sleep? Where did she stay?
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Speaker 2: How did she leave that area where she abandoned her
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Speaker 2: a red Mercedes Sedan.
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Speaker 1: You're hearing our friends at w VM with me an
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Speaker 1: all star panel to make sense of what we know
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Speaker 1: right now. Twenty five year old Carly Russell says that
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Speaker 1: she is only trying to render a to a top
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Speaker 1: boy walking along the interstate wearing nothing but a diaper
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Speaker 1: and his shirt. Then she goes missing for forty nine hours,
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Speaker 1: throwing her family and the Hoover PD into chaos as
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Speaker 1: they search for her literally around the clock. People donating
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Speaker 1: nearly seventy thousand dollars to help find her, one anonymous
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Speaker 1: donor giving twenty five grand. The boyfriend that defended her
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Speaker 1: to the hilt has now broken up with her and
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Speaker 1: says quote, I'm disgusted. Well, I second that emotion. Guys.
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Speaker 1: I want you to hear what the chief of the
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Speaker 1: Hoover pd has to say in our cup fifty four.
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Speaker 3: Mister Anthony asked I read the statement in its entirety,
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Speaker 3: which I will do now. My client has given me
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Speaker 3: permission to make the following statement on her behalf. There
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Speaker 3: was no kidnap on Thursday July nineteen thirteenth, twenty twenty three.
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Speaker 3: My client did not see a baby on the side
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Speaker 3: of the road. My client did not leave the Hoovaria
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Speaker 3: which she was identified as a missing person. My client
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Speaker 3: did not have any help in this incident. But this
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Speaker 3: was a single act done by herself. My client was
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Speaker 3: not with anyone but any hotel, with anyone from the
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Speaker 3: time she was missing.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let me understand that that is Chief Nick Dervis
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Speaker 1: from the Hoover PDE reading a statement of a lawyer
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Speaker 1: who has been given a statement by Curly Russell. Woman,
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Speaker 1: get out there and apologize yourself for Pete's sake. But
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Speaker 1: you're hearing from Curly Russell, through her lawyer, through the Chief.
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Speaker 1: But I want you to hear this too. Now you
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Speaker 1: hear the Chief saying there was no baby, there was
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Speaker 1: no one in danger. I was never missing. Now take
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Speaker 1: a listen to our cut seven. The nine to one
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Speaker 1: one call. Listen to how Rich in detail.
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Speaker 4: It is two one seventy one. It's gonna be forty
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Speaker 4: nine south my Market ten. It's gonna be a child
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Speaker 4: walking on the three four year old child walking on
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Speaker 4: the side of the interstate next to Harpe's going to
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Speaker 4: be close behind the red rig Stadi Sedayan with the
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Speaker 4: hazards on. Child's gonna be a white male wearing a
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Speaker 4: white T shirt and a diaper from watch for forty two.
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Speaker 4: Harvey's advising there's no cars in the area with the
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Speaker 4: child's been abandoned on the.
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Speaker 5: Side of the ridge.
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Speaker 4: Fore you got a little phone negative. But she's saying
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Speaker 4: that she would stand by for police. Forty two calls
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Speaker 4: R feedback.
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Speaker 5: She's on at their vehicle.
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Speaker 1: Now remember police got to the scene in about four
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Speaker 1: minutes after that nine moment call. Now let's listen to
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Speaker 1: Carly Russell in her own words the detail I was
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Speaker 1: mentioning earlier in our cut thirteen.
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Speaker 5: Now one one, where's your records? Same?
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Speaker 6: Hi, I am on Interstate four fifty.
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Speaker 7: Nine and there is a chie just walking by their shells.
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Speaker 5: Oh hold on, hold on, where where I'm forest down?
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Speaker 5: Are you?
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Speaker 6: I'm right next to the exit exit ten by the
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Speaker 6: uver minute.
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Speaker 7: Like to get off by the super mit.
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Speaker 5: Okay, So you're before that exit, yes, okay? And where
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Speaker 5: you're headed.
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Speaker 8: Southbound or northbound towards two to eighty fort Tuscalusive okay?
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Speaker 5: And was the child on the left or right side,
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Speaker 5: on the right side where they walk out northbound or
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Speaker 5: round it down?
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Speaker 7: They're walking towards Tuscalusave walking southbound?
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Speaker 1: Did you hear that detail? Oh, there's some more. Listen
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Speaker 1: to cup fourteen.
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Speaker 5: How old did they look like?
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Speaker 6: The toddlers, like maybe like three or four?
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Speaker 5: Did you pull over with them or are you still
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Speaker 5: with them?
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Speaker 9: Yes?
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Speaker 5: Okay, you're Are you with the.
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Speaker 1: Child right now?
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Speaker 5: No, I'm not.
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Speaker 6: I didn't get out of the car. I'm just I
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Speaker 6: can see them though.
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Speaker 7: Can you do you mind staying and keep an eye
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Speaker 7: on them until we get there?
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Speaker 5: Yeah?
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Speaker 6: Yeah, sure, yeah?
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Speaker 5: Okay. What kind of car are you in? I'm in
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Speaker 5: a red Mercedes Ben and that's Savana receiving as you be.
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Speaker 6: I mean it's a sedan start.
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Speaker 5: Can you put your hazards off for me?
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Speaker 6: Yeah?
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Speaker 10: They're on.
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Speaker 5: Okay. Did you talk to the childhood or did you
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Speaker 5: say anything to know. Okay, No, do they look like
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Speaker 5: they're injured?
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Speaker 1: No, they don't. I love listening to this I woman
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Speaker 1: called because I know every word she says is a
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Speaker 1: big fat lie. And can you imagine her in her
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Speaker 1: red Mercedes at night conjuring up this lie and it's
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Speaker 1: intricate detail. Listen to more cut fifteen.
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Speaker 5: Are they wife like a senak or angel?
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Speaker 11: They're white?
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Speaker 5: As a male or female?
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Speaker 6: I think it's a boy, a little boy.
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Speaker 5: I'm right now. Okay, is you wearing clothes?
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Speaker 1: Yeah?
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Speaker 5: Okay, what is he wearing?
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Speaker 6: It's a white T shirt and it doesn't look like
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Speaker 6: he has any pants on.
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Speaker 7: It looks like a diaper.
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Speaker 5: And you don't see any cars anywhere? No, no cars anywhere? Okay,
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Speaker 5: all right, what's your name?
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Speaker 6: My name is Carly Russell.
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Speaker 5: And you don't see any injuries on the child from
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Speaker 5: where you're at?
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Speaker 7: Correct?
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Speaker 10: No?
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Speaker 7: No, But I can't really see them that good.
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Speaker 5: Okay, try to keep it on them for the best,
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Speaker 5: big cham because I don't want Julius shack of them.
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Speaker 5: And do they have shoes on? No, not that I
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Speaker 5: can be. I can't really see that.
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Speaker 1: Looks fine.
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Speaker 5: I've got them on the way Okay, just try to
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Speaker 5: say keep an eye on them, but offsters are on
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Speaker 5: the way.
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Speaker 1: Okay, they say, Man, she's such a good samaritan. A
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Speaker 1: good samaritan that costs the taxpayers that's US about five
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Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars and costs well wishers and those who
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Speaker 1: want to help nearly seventy thousand dollars in donations with
7:29
Speaker 1: me in all Star panel. But can I first go
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Speaker 1: to Cheryl McCollum, founder director of the Cold Case Research Institute,
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Speaker 1: star of Zone seven, a Hitting You podcast, and you
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Speaker 1: can find her at Coldcasecrimes dot org. Cheryl. Really, he's
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Speaker 1: wearing nothing but a diaper, and I can't tell if
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Speaker 1: he has on any shoes. And he's a white male,
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Speaker 1: about three or four years old. And I'm so worried.
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Speaker 1: I'm so worried that I'm not getting out of my car,
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Speaker 1: of course, but I am worried, and I'm going to
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Speaker 1: follow him for six hundred yards in my car. That's
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Speaker 1: six football feel as I try. Boy, that little tot
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Speaker 1: should be in the Olympics if it can go that
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Speaker 1: fast and nothing but a diaper and barefoot. I mean,
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Speaker 1: the story reaped on day one. That's why I didn't
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Speaker 1: cover it exactly on day one because it was a lie.
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Speaker 1: He was obviously a lie. And we have actual people
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Speaker 1: that are really missing, being raped, being sex traffick, being killed,
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Speaker 1: And here's this girl making up a whole big deal
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Speaker 1: because what I just want somebody to love me, really
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Speaker 1: get online? Woman, there are millions of people out there
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Speaker 1: that will love you. But why do this? What about
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Speaker 1: this statement on nine one one?
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Speaker 6: You make excellent points, But let's hope for a second
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Speaker 6: about what. We don't hear her say. We don't hear
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Speaker 6: her say please hurry, We don't hear her say help.
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Speaker 6: We don't hear her say I'm going to go out
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Speaker 6: and try to save him so that he doesn't get
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Speaker 6: into the expressway. She's just in her car, chilling, and
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Speaker 6: she's only answering questions. She didn't offer the description. She
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Speaker 6: didn't alfer that he wasn't hurt. She didn't offer she
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Speaker 6: was asked those things. The only truthful statement she says
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Speaker 6: in the whole thing is when she says, yeah, I
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Speaker 6: can't really see that's the truth.
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Speaker 12: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: Well, now we're just trying to figure out what really
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Speaker 1: happened during those days, And I've got a pretty good
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Speaker 1: idea that she was holed up in something akin to
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Speaker 1: a red roof And I'll tell you why, Guys say
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Speaker 1: to listen to our cut sixteen.
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Speaker 13: Fifty four unclassified complaints fourteen sixty six Montgomery Highway at
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Speaker 13: the red.
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Speaker 4: Roofs and the front office for caller.
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Speaker 13: Family members at this location and saying they received a
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Speaker 13: call from the female that's missing Carl Russell seven fifty four.
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Speaker 13: Family members are saying they received a call from the
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Speaker 13: female thing she without this location.
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Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace, She's right up there with
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Speaker 1: Jesse Smollette, Jennifer Wilbanks and remember super Mom Cherry Peppini.
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Speaker 1: They all need to be in the same pot to stew,
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Speaker 1: causing police, sheriffs volunteers to veer away from real crimes
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Speaker 1: translation real crime victims, costing thousands of dollars of man hours,
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Speaker 1: much less worry concern. I could have done a program
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Speaker 1: on a real crime victim instead of trying to find
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Speaker 1: Carly Russell. But no, I tried to find her, although
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Speaker 1: her story stunk to high heaven at the get go,
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Speaker 1: Just like Cheery Peppenies, just like Jennifer Willlbanks, just like
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Speaker 1: Jesse Smollette. Did they think we just fell off the
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Speaker 1: turnip truck? No, we did not. What happened in the case.
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Speaker 1: Tavana Sapp multimedia journalist, reporter WAFF four eight and Bama.
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Speaker 1: You can find her on Twitter at Savannah Sap Sapp.
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Speaker 1: Savannah what and the hey? If this girl is snugged
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Speaker 1: up and a king sized bed with ac on low,
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Speaker 1: ordering room service and watching pay per view while everyone
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Speaker 1: is tearing their hair out trying to find her, I'm
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Speaker 1: going to do a backflip, A backflip, Savannah Sap.
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Speaker 14: What do we know?
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Speaker 7: It's it's honestly confusing, to say the least. You know,
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Speaker 7: her statement that was written to an attorney and given
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Speaker 7: to police through the attorney claims that she was not
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Speaker 7: at a hotel. But you have all of these people.
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Speaker 5: Who are.
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Speaker 7: Commenting against that, and you have screenshots of you know,
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Speaker 7: family members and friends of hers texting each other saying, yes,
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Speaker 7: she was absolutely at a red roof in. You know,
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Speaker 7: it's again, it's confusing, to say the least. And if
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Speaker 7: she was hold up at a red roof in while
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Speaker 7: you know, hundreds of thousands of people are wondering where
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Speaker 7: she is, that she's even alive. I think that says
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Speaker 7: a lot about the testament of her characure.
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Speaker 1: Well, of course, you can't go to jail for telling
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Speaker 1: a lie unless you're under oath. And I was just
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Speaker 1: pointing out this morning about thirty minutes ago. Correct me
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Speaker 1: if I'm wrong. Shell Nutt with me. James shell Nutt,
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Speaker 1: high profile lawyer out of this jurisdiction in Alabama with
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Speaker 1: the shell nut Law firm. But listen to this twenty
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Speaker 1: seven years metro major case. As a cop, including Swatt,
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Speaker 1: that's not easy. Former prosecutor, he actually prosecuted false report cases.
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Speaker 1: You know what, I had so many felonies coming on
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Speaker 1: my ears. I didn't even bother with the lies and
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Speaker 1: the false report shell nut But I'm glad to know
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Speaker 1: that I've got an expert that did do it. You
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Speaker 1: know what, that reminds me of shell Nuck duy cases.
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Speaker 1: I never handled straight out DUI cases. The time I
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Speaker 1: got them somebody who's dead. It was a habitual violator
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Speaker 1: where you have five or more DUIs there have been
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Speaker 1: a vehicular homicide. That's when I would get a DUI.
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Speaker 1: I wouldn't get a flat out plane old misdemeanor d
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Speaker 1: UI and you know what, there's an art to proving
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Speaker 1: a dui. You've got to know all the ins and
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Speaker 1: outs of blood alcohol, the rights whether you take a
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Speaker 1: breathalyzer or don't take a breath. I mean, it's actually
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Speaker 1: very complicated to get all those hoops, and defendants can
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Speaker 1: win if the prosecutor doesn't know all the ins and
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Speaker 1: outs of prosecuting a dui. Same thing with a false report,
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Speaker 1: isn't it true? Show nut that at the bottom of
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Speaker 1: every police report there are words to the effect I
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Speaker 1: swear and a test under penalty of perjury that all
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Speaker 1: the information that I have given is true. Isn't that
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Speaker 1: at the bottom of every police report form?
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Speaker 14: Oh?
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Speaker 15: It absolutely is. And it's because you are about to
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Speaker 15: alert law enforcement to a situation that you know that
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Speaker 15: they are going to spend time and resources investigating. And
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Speaker 15: it gives you an opportunity to think twice about what
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Speaker 15: you just said.
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Speaker 1: It's perjury. Perjury is a crime. Now I want to
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Speaker 1: point out that Carly Russell is being handled with kid gloves.
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Speaker 1: Other people in her situation have gone to jail for this.
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Speaker 1: Think about Jesse Smollette, Sherry Peppini, Jennifer Wilbanks, it's so
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Speaker 1: called runaway bride Chloe Stein. But you know another thing
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Speaker 1: when it comes to those cases, those people always had
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Speaker 1: a culprit. Carly Russell has a white guy with orange
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Speaker 1: hair and a ball spot, and a woman she never saw,
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Speaker 1: and a baby crying in the background that fed her
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Speaker 1: cheese its and played with her hair. The woman said
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Speaker 1: that she said about the woman. That's part of her story.
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Speaker 1: Smolet blamed, didn't he say white guys wearing maga hats? Okay?
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Speaker 1: Well it turned out to be the two Osendaro brothers
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Speaker 1: his friends. Let's see Sherry Pepini blamed two unidentified Hispanic women,
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Speaker 1: and she proceeded to starve and brand herself and beat
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Speaker 1: herself up and snug up with her boyfriend for I've
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Speaker 1: forgotten how many weeks and showed up much like Carly
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Speaker 1: Russell on foot on Thanksgiving Day. Let's see where am I?
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Speaker 1: There's small Wilbanks, Jennifer Wilbanks, the runaway bride. She blamed
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Speaker 1: I guess basically a group of Hispanic males that kidnapped her,
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Speaker 1: assaulted her on the eve of her wedding. And then
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Speaker 1: we've got Chloe Stein. She didn't want her family to
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Speaker 1: know she wasn't going to graduate from college, so she
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Speaker 1: faked an abduction. Who does she blame, Sidney, You got
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Speaker 1: to blame somebody, the evil person that was responsible for
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Speaker 1: your dilemma. And in this case, Carly Russell is blaming
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Speaker 1: again a white guy with orange hair. So let me
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Speaker 1: understand this. To Mike Hatzel, joining US President, founder of
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Speaker 1: Peace River Canine Search and Rescue at p r s
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Speaker 1: R dot org, how much money would a search like this? First?
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Speaker 1: Describe the search because they really pulled out all the
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Speaker 1: stops what I was done to find Carly, Mike Cattle.
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Speaker 14: They're going to.
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Speaker 12: Pull every resource they can get on the resource list
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Speaker 12: in the area into that search that they can get
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Speaker 12: because this is a high probability search, meaning when you
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Speaker 12: have an adduction or you have a predatory abduction and
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Speaker 12: that person is missing or there's a child involved, the
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Speaker 12: survivability rate of the victim is less than six hours.
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Speaker 12: So we have a time clock where we're trying to
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Speaker 12: get the victim before the perpetrator either traffics them out
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Speaker 12: of the area or kill them. And so every all
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Speaker 12: hands are on deck at this point. Everybody's coming in.
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Speaker 12: So minimum cost on this is going to start at
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Speaker 12: a half a million dollars and go up because of
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Speaker 12: all the resources that are there. When I was watching
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Speaker 12: the video on TV, I saw this line of law
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Speaker 12: enforcement vehicles that just went on and on and on,
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Speaker 12: and you've got helicopters overhead, You've got people coming in
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Speaker 12: on overtime. They're calling everybody in that's off, and they're
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Speaker 12: they're pounding the ground. They're going to all the hotels
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Speaker 12: in the area, all the stores in the area. They're
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Speaker 12: they're canvassing the entire area that takes law enforcement personnel
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Speaker 12: and there everybody's there, everybody's out, and so it's very,
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Speaker 12: very expensive for these types of searches.
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Speaker 1: Guys, we're talking about Carly Russell, who, as it turns out,
17:46
Speaker 1: is a pretty good liar. Karen started joining me, renowned
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Speaker 1: psychologist out of Manhattan, trauma and crime expert. You can
17:54
Speaker 1: find her at karenstart dot com. That's Karen with a C. Karen,
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Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. You know, many people
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Speaker 1: are saying, oh, we should feel sorry for her. I
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Speaker 1: do that she would have to go to this link
18:06
Speaker 1: to try to get attention, and if she is having
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Speaker 1: some sort of dilemma or depression or sadness. That is
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Speaker 1: not a legal defense. And I want to point out
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Speaker 1: to you, Karen, start before you answer. She may be
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Speaker 1: crazy like a fox because she outwitted everybody, her family,
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Speaker 1: her boyfriend that stayed by her, police searchers, people that
18:31
Speaker 1: donated nearly seventy grand to help find her. So I
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Speaker 1: wouldn't call that crazy, Karen Stark.
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Speaker 10: Well, it's not legally crazy, like you said, Nancy, because
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Speaker 10: she does know the difference between right and wrong. That
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Speaker 10: seems really catch me because she was able to plot
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Speaker 10: everything out, you know, come up with this elaborate story
18:54
Speaker 10: then show up. I mean, she really when you listen
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Speaker 10: to her, though, you can see that there's something wrong.
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Speaker 10: She does has some kind of psychopathology because she's making
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Speaker 10: this elaborate story up and it's really.
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Speaker 6: So rich in detail.
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Speaker 1: She's a victim.
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Speaker 10: And the thing about being a victim, I mean when
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Speaker 10: you look at her text from before and the things
19:17
Speaker 10: that she said, they were inconsistent, they were really very
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Speaker 10: self hitting. And here she is now coming up with
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Speaker 10: a story where everyone is going to look first for
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Speaker 10: a baby and then for her. So there is a
19:32
Speaker 10: pathology there.
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Speaker 1: But does she know the.
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Speaker 10: Difference between right and wrong? Should we hold her responsible
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Speaker 10: that part? I think legally yes, absolutely.
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Speaker 1: The Alabama kidnap faker Carly Russell skates out of court
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Speaker 1: with straight probation and eighteen thousand dollars of restitution, and
19:56
Speaker 1: she admits she made up the whole thing. But hey,
20:01
Speaker 1: I don't want to go to jail. I think we've
20:04
Speaker 1: heard that before. She first planned not guilty to false reporting,
20:08
Speaker 1: a municipal judge ruled against her and recommended she pay
20:13
Speaker 1: eighteen grand and spend a year in jail. What happened
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Speaker 1: to that? Her legal team then appealed the conviction, hoping
20:22
Speaker 1: to avoid jail time, and they succeeded. Just ahead of
20:27
Speaker 1: a scheduled state trial. She pleads guilty to all charges,
20:33
Speaker 1: and she gets twelve years of probation, community service, and
20:39
Speaker 1: evidence of ongoing mental health counseling. She has to pay
20:44
Speaker 1: eighteen grand to the City of Hoover. I think that
20:47
Speaker 1: she could have had counseling behind bars. I mean, do
20:51
Speaker 1: you remember what happened?
20:52
Speaker 8: Russell called nine to one one, claiming she saw a
20:55
Speaker 8: little boy walking on the side of I four fifty
20:58
Speaker 8: nine in a diaper when it.
21:00
Speaker 4: Was a toddler three four year old wearing a white T.
21:04
Speaker 5: Shirt and a diverer.
21:05
Speaker 8: According to police, Carly then called a relative to tell
21:08
Speaker 8: them she was going to get out and check on
21:11
Speaker 8: the baby. Their relative says she heard Carly scream and
21:15
Speaker 8: then nothing but sounds from the interstate.
21:18
Speaker 1: So I wanted you to take into account the level
21:21
Speaker 1: of detail in her nine on one call, but also
21:25
Speaker 1: she said the same lie to her own family. Listen
21:29
Speaker 1: to cut three fox tim.
21:30
Speaker 4: Just her vehicles on lock, running, all her personal long
21:34
Speaker 4: and you could set for her phone.
21:35
Speaker 8: When police got there, Carly was gone, her Mercedes still running. Friends, family,
21:41
Speaker 8: and strangers on the internet did their part to find her,
21:44
Speaker 8: and then perhaps a clue.
21:46
Speaker 13: Saturday night, Montgomery Highway at the red roofs and family
21:50
Speaker 13: members at the flotation and saying they received a call
21:53
Speaker 13: from the female that's missing, Carly Russell.
21:55
Speaker 8: Family members say they showed up to knock on doors
21:57
Speaker 8: and find her, but she wasn't there.
22:00
Speaker 1: Police have used every synonym for a lie. They're saying
22:05
Speaker 1: things like we can't corroborate, we can't confirm, no evidence
22:10
Speaker 1: of so forth, and so on ad nauseum. But what
22:14
Speaker 1: it boils down to is this woman lied. Sent police
22:18
Speaker 1: and volunteers on a wild goose chase to the tune
22:20
Speaker 1: of at least a quarter of a million dollars while
22:24
Speaker 1: we think she was shacked up somewhere enjoying the attention
22:29
Speaker 1: vicariously that she was receiving. With me again, an all
22:33
Speaker 1: star panel to make sense of what we know right
22:35
Speaker 1: now with me Lee Reeber, mobile device forensic expert, CEO
22:40
Speaker 1: of Oxygen Forensics, Inc. An author of Mobile forensics Investigations,
22:46
Speaker 1: also hosts a podcast, Forensic Happy Hour. Lee. I believe
22:52
Speaker 1: since her cell phone was left behind, she may have
22:56
Speaker 1: had another phone. So how do we go about tracking
23:02
Speaker 1: what she was doing in order to make a case
23:05
Speaker 1: of perjury.
23:06
Speaker 14: Well, you know, it always comes down to you, right
23:08
Speaker 14: is your digital life? If you look at all the
23:11
Speaker 14: cases where it turns out that they have been lying,
23:15
Speaker 14: it comes down to you know, law enforcement just looking
23:17
Speaker 14: at that digital life. And the interesting thing about.
23:20
Speaker 1: This or.
23:23
Speaker 14: Is in Hoover, Alabama is NCFI, which is a National
23:27
Speaker 14: Computer Forensic Institute, one of the one of the best
23:30
Speaker 14: places to go to learn how to collect digital data.
23:34
Speaker 14: So it's probably the wrong place if you're going to
23:37
Speaker 14: be lying over your social media, if you're going to
23:40
Speaker 14: be utilizing your phone or if you have another phone,
23:43
Speaker 14: because quite honestly, they're going to be able to review
23:47
Speaker 14: your digital life. They're going to find and locate you
23:50
Speaker 14: if you're using another device, if you're just in the area.
23:53
Speaker 14: So again, trying to utilize social media. Even prior to this,
24:01
Speaker 14: they had a timeline. Once they had at a timeline,
24:04
Speaker 14: I'm sure that they assues that came out. They had
24:07
Speaker 14: the information that she was not telling the truth.
24:10
Speaker 1: Not telling the truth. I guess that's one way of
24:13
Speaker 1: putting it. Guys, It's happened many times before. Take a
24:18
Speaker 1: listen to our friends at WZTM and cut fifty nine B.
24:22
Speaker 2: Brother Eric Guster says he worries this case could affect
24:25
Speaker 2: future missing person's cases.
24:27
Speaker 9: It's going to be much more difficult for African American
24:30
Speaker 9: women to be believed, and it may actually decrease the
24:34
Speaker 9: number of actual reports of things because people are already
24:37
Speaker 9: afraid that they won't be believed.
24:39
Speaker 2: Auguster says, the police chief outlined three crimes that they
24:43
Speaker 2: believe Carly has committed. That's that lying to authorities and
24:46
Speaker 2: filing a false police report.
24:48
Speaker 1: We all remember the case of Jesse Smollett. Take a
24:53
Speaker 1: listen to this.
24:57
Speaker 16: Police body camera video shows the moment officers first arrived
25:01
Speaker 16: at Jesse Smollett's apartment after the actor claimed he'd been attacked.
25:05
Speaker 16: Smolette still has what appears to be a noose around.
25:08
Speaker 1: His neck if you want to take it off for anything.
25:11
Speaker 16: Just Smolette told police he was assaulted by two masked
25:15
Speaker 16: men yelling racist and homophobic slurs. For more than three weeks,
25:22
Speaker 16: at least twenty four detectives searched for the two men
25:25
Speaker 16: and investigated Smollett's claims.
25:27
Speaker 1: Guys, we're talking about Jesse Smollette. He ended up paying
25:33
Speaker 1: about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars of restitution. He
25:37
Speaker 1: got one hundred and fifty days behind bars for filing
25:41
Speaker 1: a false report. To Cheryl McCollum, what exactly went into
25:47
Speaker 1: the search for Carly Russell.
25:50
Speaker 6: They had air helicopter land, they had people on foot,
25:56
Speaker 6: they had canaines, They had you know, her sales and
26:00
Speaker 6: being looked at. They were interviewing family, friends and co workers.
26:05
Speaker 6: They pulled everybody off, you know, having days off. This
26:10
Speaker 6: was a full court press. Every available person including citizens
26:17
Speaker 6: that came to volunteer. Nancy, she had the SBI, the
26:21
Speaker 6: Secret Service, Hoover Police, Alabama State Police, She had you
26:26
Speaker 6: and crime Online, she had the Today Show.
26:29
Speaker 11: Think of the resources that were given to her, and
26:33
Speaker 11: every homicide, true missing person, child, molestation, aggravate assault, domestic violence.
26:40
Speaker 6: They were all put on hold to search for her
26:44
Speaker 6: because they believed time was of the essence. But I
26:46
Speaker 6: want to say something very clearly, she didn't fool everybody.
26:49
Speaker 6: Because you and I were talking Saturday and Sunday. We
26:52
Speaker 6: knew it was bogus on day one because it didn't
26:57
Speaker 6: add up. I mean, the story didn't make any sense.
27:01
Speaker 6: How many times did you and I look at that video.
27:05
Speaker 1: Scouring it, blowing it up, playing in a slow mo.
27:09
Speaker 1: There was no boy walking along the side of the interstate.
27:13
Speaker 1: That was all a big light. And let me tell
27:16
Speaker 1: you what Jesse Smilett got. Take a listen to our
27:18
Speaker 1: cut forty four from the Today Show.
27:20
Speaker 17: Judge James Lynn sentencing Smelett to thirty months felony probation,
27:24
Speaker 17: including that jail time, ordering he paid more than one
27:27
Speaker 17: hundred and twenty thousand dollars in restitution to the City
27:30
Speaker 17: of Chicago and pay the maximum fine twenty five thousand dollars.
27:35
Speaker 1: You've turned your life upside down.
27:37
Speaker 18: Fire this conduct in Shenanigan's You've destroyed your life as
27:41
Speaker 18: you knew it.
27:42
Speaker 17: As a defiance, Smolette was taken into custody last night,
27:45
Speaker 17: his family blasting the judge's decision.
27:48
Speaker 14: He's the reason why folks aren't going to report hate crimes.
27:50
Speaker 14: They're the reason why folks aren't going to report hate crimes.
27:53
Speaker 1: No, Smollette, you're the problem, not everybody else. And the
27:56
Speaker 1: same thing here, people giving time, gee, blood, sweat and
28:00
Speaker 1: tears to find Curly Russell when she's obviously propped up
28:04
Speaker 1: somewhere having takeout, watching the news about her own disappearance.
28:09
Speaker 1: And then of course there's Jennifer will Banks, the so
28:14
Speaker 1: called runaway bride. Now, this wedding was a big shindig
28:19
Speaker 1: in high society Atlanta. I mean a lot of money,
28:24
Speaker 1: tens of thousands of dollars shelld out for a big wedding,
28:27
Speaker 1: and poof, the bride disappears. She gets quote kidnapped. Take
28:33
Speaker 1: a listen to our cut forty seven her nine to
28:35
Speaker 1: one one call I hope.
28:38
Speaker 5: I would say there, I mean I would saying her
28:40
Speaker 5: forties maybe.
28:45
Speaker 1: Have lag?
28:47
Speaker 10: Was it?
28:47
Speaker 5: Longer, short, short, having a hair, no bocolor for Katackie,
28:51
Speaker 5: what you want I want to ask for him.
28:53
Speaker 18: I don't know Marion jacking and I don't know what.
28:55
Speaker 1: Color he's now.
29:00
Speaker 5: Looking at the lid.
29:01
Speaker 15: It was a blue van like a work vand looking
29:05
Speaker 15: a conversion or any It.
29:07
Speaker 5: Wasn't an It was like a like a paint, like
29:10
Speaker 5: a paint or work band.
29:11
Speaker 3: Direction did they leave in?
29:13
Speaker 17: I don't.
29:14
Speaker 1: I have no idea run in or know where I am,
29:17
Speaker 1: Dear Lord in Heaven shell Nutt. Do you hear that
29:21
Speaker 1: it sounds like Carl Russell at her elaborate lie about
29:26
Speaker 1: this little bearfoot boy wearing a diaper that she's trying
29:29
Speaker 1: desperately to say, yet not getting out of her car.
29:32
Speaker 1: Did you hear that Hispanic males, short hair, no facial hair,
29:37
Speaker 1: a maroon jacket, blue jeans, a blue van. But no,
29:42
Speaker 1: not a conversion or a mini van. It was a
29:45
Speaker 1: paint work van. I mean this woman had so many details.
29:50
Speaker 1: I mean, was she just running this like a movie
29:52
Speaker 1: in her head?
29:53
Speaker 14: Yeah?
29:53
Speaker 1: I don't know.
29:53
Speaker 15: You know, when you start looking at the stories that
29:56
Speaker 15: people tell about what happened to them, one of the
29:58
Speaker 15: things that you focus on is their ability to recall
30:01
Speaker 15: selective details, details that benefit them, but they don't recall
30:06
Speaker 15: details that may put a whole in their story or
30:09
Speaker 15: that may bring things into question. And that's exactly what
30:11
Speaker 15: you have. Here's what you haven't called the Russell's case.
30:14
Speaker 15: And you know that's a major tip off for investigators.
30:24
Speaker 1: Crime stories. With Nancy Grace, she says, I want to
30:32
Speaker 1: genuinely apologize for my actions and the resulting negative impact
30:36
Speaker 1: inflicted onto others. I made a grave mistake while trying
30:41
Speaker 1: to fight through various emotional issues and stress. I'm extremely
30:47
Speaker 1: remorseful blah blah blah for the panic blah blah blah
30:52
Speaker 1: experienced across the nation. But I don't want to go
30:55
Speaker 1: to jail, Okay, I added that last part. Russell's lawyer said,
30:59
Speaker 1: fall the sentencing, we want to thank Judge Carpenter. Blah
31:03
Speaker 1: blah blah. Carle apologized. Really, all criminals will apologize to
31:10
Speaker 1: avoid jail. The Queen of fake disappearances, Sherry Peppini Take
31:16
Speaker 1: a listen to our friend Matt Gutman and our cut
31:18
Speaker 1: thirty eight from GMA.
31:20
Speaker 18: In November of twenty sixteen, Sherry Peppinie vanished for twenty
31:23
Speaker 18: two days. Then on Thanksgiving morning, she materialized on a
31:26
Speaker 18: highway nearly one hundred and fifty miles from home, a
31:29
Speaker 18: trucker stopping and calling nine one one for her. That
31:32
Speaker 18: call her for the first time this morning.
31:36
Speaker 5: What's turning?
31:41
Speaker 12: You're chained up?
31:43
Speaker 1: She's chained up? Yes, she said, she was chained up, beaten,
31:51
Speaker 1: branded like you see on TV, branding cattle. And it
31:55
Speaker 1: turns out she was holed up with her boyfriend the
31:57
Speaker 1: whole time and actually tortured her. So hard to believe,
32:01
Speaker 1: but it happened. Karen Stark, that was a lot to
32:05
Speaker 1: swallow that she would brand herself, break her own tooth,
32:09
Speaker 1: beat herself, but she did, and she admitted to it.
32:13
Speaker 10: Nat she think about the amounts of attention she was
32:16
Speaker 10: able to get and how exciting that must have been
32:19
Speaker 10: with her for her, I mean, here she is, she's
32:22
Speaker 10: with her boyfriend and able to get everybody sterical about
32:27
Speaker 10: what happened to her. And that's narcissism to the highest
32:30
Speaker 10: degree that you could think of.
32:32
Speaker 1: Well, slow down, narcissism, explain.
32:35
Speaker 10: Well, I mean, that's somebody who is so involved with themselves,
32:39
Speaker 10: so much above the law, that they could go to
32:42
Speaker 10: that kind of extent to make sure that people see
32:46
Speaker 10: them as a victim and worry about them. And that's
32:50
Speaker 10: attention to speed on what's going on. It makes them
32:55
Speaker 10: really feel loved and wanted.
32:57
Speaker 1: Savannah Sap joining us from WAFF four Beate Alabama, and
33:02
Speaker 1: I understand sympathy or empathy for her, wondering what drove
33:07
Speaker 1: her to do this, But the reality is is regardless
33:12
Speaker 1: of her depression or sadness or desire for attention, whatever
33:16
Speaker 1: it may be, she lied in a police report, lied
33:20
Speaker 1: to detectives, and obstructing justice very quickly.
33:26
Speaker 7: I want to kind of hear it what Cheryl said earlier.
33:28
Speaker 19: You know, she not only took a lot of time
33:32
Speaker 19: from investigators, but you also have to look at it
33:35
Speaker 19: from a media standpoint. We had all hands on deck
33:39
Speaker 19: sharing Carly's story from all over the state. The whole
33:43
Speaker 19: state of Alabama was sharing her story is as well
33:46
Speaker 19: as national headlines. So not that you know she would
33:50
Speaker 19: be responsible for our coverage, but that's just something else
33:53
Speaker 19: to think of when you're talking about all of the
33:55
Speaker 19: resources that were.
33:57
Speaker 1: I mean, the moment I heard the story her about
34:00
Speaker 1: her disappearance, we immediately put it as the lead at
34:04
Speaker 1: crime Online dot Com and put it out on social
34:07
Speaker 1: media over and over and over to get attention and
34:11
Speaker 1: get the tip line out there for people to help
34:13
Speaker 1: find Carly. We contacted people in Alabama involved in the
34:17
Speaker 1: search to try to find out what was happening and
34:19
Speaker 1: how we could help. All the whiles, Cheryl McCollum, there
34:23
Speaker 1: are real victims of real crimes that need our help.
34:28
Speaker 1: I'm not as worried about the media, but I'm more
34:30
Speaker 1: worried about people. I remember working long nights, weekends on
34:35
Speaker 1: Easter on Thanksgiving on my so called vacation with my family,
34:43
Speaker 1: working cases, working, working. If I found out later that
34:48
Speaker 1: the victim was lying, I would be so deflated.
34:53
Speaker 6: Nancy again, the resources that she took from actual victims
34:59
Speaker 6: is astonished. But I tell you what, they need to
35:02
Speaker 6: be concerned about. Who's next. If you do not send
35:06
Speaker 6: a message that we are not going to put up
35:09
Speaker 6: with hoaxes and lies and outright premeditated crime, then what
35:15
Speaker 6: are we doing in the DA's offer.
35:17
Speaker 1: You know, just want people to understand what a search
35:21
Speaker 1: like this entails. Mud rain dirt, long hours twenty four
35:27
Speaker 1: to seven, looking worried, dealing with the victims' families who
35:32
Speaker 1: are all distraught. I mean, can you imagine if you
35:35
Speaker 1: thought your child was missing. Mike Hassel, you've been through
35:38
Speaker 1: it all. Mike Cassele, President founder Peace River Catine Search
35:41
Speaker 1: and Rescue, Explain the blood, sweat and tears that goes
35:44
Speaker 1: into a search like this.
35:47
Speaker 12: There's a lot of resources that go into having to
35:49
Speaker 12: keep the people up. You can get a searcher out
35:51
Speaker 12: there that can work for an hour, maybe an hour
35:54
Speaker 12: and a half if you're lucky, but then they're down
35:56
Speaker 12: for two hours because they got to cool off and
35:58
Speaker 12: get raised. Same thing with the dogs. You can get
36:00
Speaker 12: for twenty minutes, and then Zaga has to rest for
36:02
Speaker 12: fifty minutes because he's got a cool down before and
36:05
Speaker 12: go back out. So there's a lot of injuries involved here,
36:08
Speaker 12: snakes and vines and you know all kinds of stuff
36:11
Speaker 12: that goes on that, and especially for volunteers, because you
36:15
Speaker 12: know we volunteer. We go out, we help a law
36:18
Speaker 12: enforcement on these searches, but we have to cover our
36:20
Speaker 12: own expenses and we have to cover our own health insurance,
36:23
Speaker 12: So we get injured, it's on us.
36:25
Speaker 1: Then there is a Chloe Stein and I bring her
36:28
Speaker 1: up because she's about the same age as Carly Russell.
36:31
Speaker 1: She faked in her own abduction. Who does she blame
36:35
Speaker 1: a fake cop? I guess she was running out of
36:38
Speaker 1: people to blame. I want you to take a listen
36:40
Speaker 1: to our cut thirty seven Our friends from WTAA regarding
36:44
Speaker 1: Chloe Stein say.
36:45
Speaker 20: Police say she created an entire scenario to make people
36:48
Speaker 20: think she had been abducted by someone posing as a
36:51
Speaker 20: police officer on our way home from work Monday night.
36:54
Speaker 20: That set off a massive search effort yesterday afternoon, police
36:57
Speaker 20: estimating the entire ordeal costing thousands, not tens of thousands
37:01
Speaker 20: of dollars. Stein was found not far from her home
37:04
Speaker 20: yesterday evening. Police say at first she told them she
37:06
Speaker 20: was abducted, held at gunpoint, and then released eventually. Court
37:10
Speaker 20: documents they client admitted to never being in danger and
37:13
Speaker 20: making the whole thing up.
37:15
Speaker 1: You know, to you, Lee Reebert, what's the best way
37:19
Speaker 1: of finding out where Carly Russell was during those forty
37:23
Speaker 1: nine hours?
37:24
Speaker 15: Yeah?
37:24
Speaker 14: I think the important thing if we look at the
37:26
Speaker 14: teeny case, they got a lot of the leads from
37:30
Speaker 14: call records, right they found out that she was calling
37:33
Speaker 14: some friends or some boyfriends and I think in this
37:36
Speaker 14: case too, it might come down to be. I'm sure
37:39
Speaker 14: that they're still going over phone records. We had this
37:42
Speaker 14: whole red red up in who did she call? You know,
37:45
Speaker 14: did she call someone? Was there additional people? They're going
37:49
Speaker 14: to look at them, maybe the phones or the family
37:50
Speaker 14: members of boyfriends. I look at those records to see
37:53
Speaker 14: if any phone numbers from a red rope in or
37:55
Speaker 14: unknown number.
37:57
Speaker 6: Had come in.
37:58
Speaker 14: So I think they're still going to be some investigation
38:02
Speaker 14: into that. And I believe, you know, I would think
38:05
Speaker 14: that they're going to bring someone else in that had
38:07
Speaker 14: knowledge of her disappoint.
38:09
Speaker 1: Well, another kidnapped faker has escaped jail. Her name will
38:14
Speaker 1: live in infamy right beside Jesse Smilette, Sherry Peppini, Jennifer
38:20
Speaker 1: will Banks, that run away bride. They tried to blame
38:24
Speaker 1: a Hispanic team trying to steal her. Long story short,
38:31
Speaker 1: she's a faker and she caused law enforcement a lot
38:35
Speaker 1: of grief, headache, man hours into the night trying to
38:39
Speaker 1: find her. God willing, she does get rehabbed and never
38:48
Speaker 1: ever tells another lie, much less one that costs eighteen
38:52
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. Nancy Gray signing off, goodbye, friend, give me