Investigators have not been able to verify most of Russell’s statement about being captured, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said. Police said that, prior to her disappearance, Russell made several “very strange” online searches, including whether you have to pay for Amber alerts, how to take money from a cash register without getting caught and the movie “Taken.”

There were also searches related to the Birmingham bus station and bus tickets from Birmingham to Nashville.

[Uh oh. Police seem to be taking a skeptical approach to this incident, apparently with no other witnesses coming forward from the busy highway to say that they’d seen a child. That part of the story doesn’t add up at all, Derzis told the media this afternoon. Stay tuned. — Ed]