More than $63,000 in donations poured in to help find Carlee Russell after she went missing on Thursday, but now the money is being returned to donors.
The 25-year-old woman was reported missing on Thursday night shortly after she said she spotted a male toddler walking on the side of Interstate 459 South in Hoover, Alabama. Russell called 911 and stopped to check on the toddler before calling a family member, who then lost contact after hearing Russell scream, according to a report by AL.com on Monday.
After Russell's 911 call on Thursday night, police arrived on the scene within five minutes. At the scene, officers said they found Russell's wig, cell phone and purse near her vehicle, but did not find her or the toddler.
Donations flooded Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama in hopes of helping find the woman. However, Russell returned home on foot on Saturday night. Confusion remains in the case, as it is still unknown what happened to Russell or where she was for the 48 hours that she was missing. Now, $63,378 in reward money is being returned to donors after the Hoover Police Department told Crime Stoppers that it would not be requesting payouts on Russell's case. Police did not share why they were not requesting payouts.
Newsweek reached out to the Hoover Police Department by email for comment.
Bob Copus, executive director of Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama, told AL.com that some of the donations—including the two largest sums of $25,000 by the Birmingham Board of Realtors and $20,000 from an anonymous donor—have been returned. The remaining $13,378.58 was donated by approximately 60 people, and Crime Stoppers emailed those donors on Monday to alert them about the refund process. Donations ranged from $5 to $25,000.
"Every dollar counted because it came from somebody who wanted to see Carlee come home," Copus said.
Newsweek reached out to Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama by email for comment.
If a donor doesn't want their donation returned, it will be rolled over into a reward fund operated by Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama, according to AL.com.
The return of reward money has only further muddled the case. Meanwhile, Russell's boyfriend Thomar Simmons posted on Instagram on Sunday that Russell had been kidnapped and was "fighting for her life," but the Hoover Police Department has not mentioned an abduction in a press release that was issued on its website about the case.
Newsweek reached out to Simmons via Instagram for comment on Monday.
The investigation is ongoing, and although detectives previously told Newsweek that they have spoken with Russell, they are "following up on that information, however we are not able to publicly share the details from our initial interview."
