As the nation hangs on updates in the Carlee Russell case – which centers on the 25-year-old’s claim that she was abducted while checking on a wandering toddler in Hoover, Ala. – another report of an unattended toddler was confirmed at the other end of the state.
According to FOX 10, police arrested the parents of a 2-year-old toddler found outside her neighbor’s house in Daphne, Ala., over the weekend. She was fond dehydrated and naked with drugs in her system, said the report.
Records from the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office indicated that 21-year-old Hannah Mackenzie Straszheim and 23-year-old Tyler Bryan Still were still in jail as of Thursday. Both have been charged with chemical endangerment, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Their bond was set at $35,500 each, along with other conditions for making bail.
“Police said they found drugs and guns inside a residence at Atrium Apartments Saturday night, July 15, 2023 all within reach of the toddler,” said the FOX 10 report.
Capt. Reginald Ardis with Daphne Police said the person who found the little girl lives in the same complex with the child and her parents.
“I’m not sure how many feet away or how many apartments away the child had traveled but we believe she had been alone and unattended, unclothed…completely unclothed for upwards of twenty minutes,” he said. When the child was found, she was laying on the ground and appeared to be suffering from apparent heat-related issues.
“It was after the hospital notified investigators the child had tested positive for cocaine, a search warrant for the residence was obtained,” said FOX 10.
Ardis said the couple’s home was in a “pretty severe condition of disarray,” and that authorities also located more than 100 oxycontin pills, a small quantity of powder cocaine (some of which was actually in the child’s bedroom in plain sight) and three semi-automatic handguns. All were within reach of a small child, police said.
In addition to police, the Daphne Department of Human Resources was called to the scene to work with extended family on a custody plan for the toddler.
Daphne is located near Mobile, Ala., around 250 miles from Hoover, Ala., where the Carlee Russell case is playing out near Birmingham, Ala.
Russell called 911 July 13 to report that a toddler was wandering on the interstate and then went missing, with her car and belongings left on the roadway. She arrived at her home on foot around 49 hours later and claimed to police that she had been abducted but managed to get away.
However, there have been no other reports of the toddler, and police said in a Wednesday press conference that some strange details have come out during the investigation into the case. These include the fact that Russell drove the equivalent of six football fields while on the phone with 911 and that she searched for the abduction movie “Taken”, bus tickets and Amber Alerts right before she went missing.
“I find that very strange, yes,” said Hoover Police Chief Nicholas Derzis Wednesday. The investigation into the Russell case is ongoing.
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