HOOVER, ALABAMA: A grieving mother of a murdered daughter has voiced her outrage against Carlee Russell who has been previously accused of fake kidnapping. Shea Wardrip Pilkington-Wiley said the Alabama nursing student's disappearance and reappearance story was "disrespectful" to parents who have experienced the loss of a child.
Russell was reported missing on July 13 and returned home two days later. On Monday, July 24, the 25-year-old finally admitted she made up the entire kidnapping story. "There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13. Carlee again asks for your forgiveness and prayers," read Russell's statement prepared by her attorney, according to Daily Mail.
Who is Shea Pilkington-Wiley?
Shea Wardrup Pilkington-Wiley, mother of Madison Pilkington who was murdered by her boyfriend in 2022 in Hoover described how Russell's missing case resurfaced the same "sickening feelings" she associated with the loss of her child.
"The unanswered calls that kept going to voicemail. The unanswered texts. The sickening feelings we all felt. Remembering shattering like glass and our souls being ripped from our bodies. She dredged it all up to the surface," Pilkington-Wiley wrote on her Facebook. "To find it was all a hoax well… I’m freaking angry! I’m angry for every parent out there that has lost a child," she added.
Pilkington-Wiley previously extended her help to Russell's family
Along with the members of the community including Angela Harris, mother of Aniah Blanchard who was killed and Pilkington-Wiley extended their help to Russell's family when she was first reported missing. However, following Russell's return home on July 15, police cast doubt on her claims that she was abducted while helping a toddler on the road after she pulled her car over.
Investigators revealed Russell's suspicious internet searches before she went missing including, kidnap revenge thriller 'Taken', Amber Alert costs, 'How to take money from a register without being caught,' and the cost of bus tickets to Nashville and suggested she may have planned her fake abduction.
Ms Pilkington-Wiley said she felt that Ms Russell “disrespected every parent that has lost a child” and told WVTM 13 News that she believes Ms Russell should admit to her wrongdoing.
"She needs to admit to what she did," Pilkington-Wiley said in her post before Russell actually admitted to making up the story 11 days after she was declared missing. "Her actions with her being safe the entire event is disrespectful to all of the boys and the girls, the adults, children that have gone missing," added in her post.
