Carlee Russell , the 25-year-old Alabama woman whose account of her mysterious 48-hour disappearance was questioned by police, admitted she was not kidnapped, authorities said in a news conference Monday.

There was no kidnapping, Emory Anthony, Russells attorney, said in a statement read by Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis. This was a single act done by herself.

My client did not see a baby on the side of the road, Anthony wrote, referring to Russells original July 13 calls to 911 and her family saying she had seen a toddler in a diaper walking along the busy highway. When police arrived, they found her car running but abandoned, with her purse on the seat and her cellphone and other belongings nearby.

My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person, Anthony said in the statement. My client did not have any help in this incident. This was a single act done by herself. My client was not with anyone or any hotel with anyone from the time she was missing.

Russell apologized to her community, the volunteers and investigators who were searching for her, and to her friends and family, her attorney said in the statement, and asked for their forgiveness and prayers.

Derzis said the Hoover Police Department is in discussions with the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office about possible criminal charges facing Russell. We will announce those charges when and if they are filed, he said.