Advocates working to help find missing young Black women say that their cases rarely get the amount of media attention they deserve, but Carlee Russell’s was the exception.
The 26-year-old called 911 claiming to have spotted a toddler walking along the highway July 13 in Alabama, authorities said. When she got off the line with a dispatcher, she spoke with her sister-in-law who heard Russell ask someone if they were OK and then heard her scream.
At that moment, Russell went missing and her story went viral. Advocates praised the Hoover Police Department and national media for immediately investigating and highlighting Carlee’s disappearance. According to the Black and Missing Foundation, people of color make up 39 percent of the missing people population, but only 13 percent of those are Black people.
In Russell’s case, the alleged kidnapping ultimately turned out to be a hoax. She returned home 49 hours after going missing. On Monday, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis revealed that Russell made the whole thing up and read a statement provided by Russell’s attorney indicating as such.
“There was no kidnapping,” Derzis said during a press conference. The statement he read included an apology from Russell 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.”
Natalie Wilson, a co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, hopes communities turn their focus from Russell’s story to how they can help solve other cases. Approximately 30,000 Black people went unfound in 2022 alone, data from the National Crime Information Center shows.
“I can only imagine how many more families we could help if we put the same energy into finding other missing people,” Wilson said.
She pointed to the cases of Keeshae Jacobs and Tiffany Foster. Jacobs went missing in September 2016 and Foster disappeared March 2021.
“The list goes on and on,” Wilson said. “But we need to remember their names too and their stories and keep their profiles in the forefront.”
“We know that not everyone will get the same level of media coverage or law enforcement resources,” Wilson added. “But if we can have more eyes on these cases, it can result in a recovery.”
Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, reiterated some of Wilson’s remarks, adding that he doesn’t believe that the cases of missing young Black women are investigated as thoroughly as they should be.
“A person of color should be given the same opportunity,” he said.