Mom Jailed After Faking Her 4-year-old Daughter’s Abduction, According to Police

By Lucas

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Mom Jailed After Faking Her 4-year-old Daughter's Abduction, According to Police

An Illinois mother has been arrested for filing a false report after investigators believe she staged the abduction of her 4-year-old daughter.

Rock Island Police Chief Timothy McCloud stated that Blessing Aoci’s alleged abduction was a “intentional deception” by her mother, Princess Ilunga.

According to investigators, Blessing remained in her own home throughout the incident.

According to police, the incident began on January 16 at around 6 a.m., when Ilunga called 911.

The mother stated that she put Blessing in her car and then ran inside to get her other children. During that time, she claimed her vehicle had been stolen.

According to police, Ilunga told dispatchers six times that Blessing was in the car.

Investigators stated that, while Ilunga’s car was stolen, the child was not in it.

“From the moment the 911 call was made, our officers were lied to, with the only thing being true was that the car had been stolen after she left it running,” McCloud told the press.

Police issued an AMBER Alert and spent hours searching for Blessing.

Blessing was found safe in an alley behind her home around 3 p.m., nearly nine hours after she was reported missing.

The police chief stated that officers were immediately suspicious because Blessing was not in distress and was warm.

During the investigation, police discovered Blessing was inside her own home for the entire time of the search. McCloud claimed Blessing was never missing.

McCloud stated that authorities are unsure of the motive.

Blessing Aoci, 4, was reported missing by her mother. Police say it was a hoax.

While police were searching for Blessing, she was present, but Ilunga allegedly lied to officers, claiming the child was a different daughter named Baraka.

McCloud stated that Ilunga spoke to officers in English but spoke to her family in Swahili.

Later in the investigation, as police combed through hours of body camera footage, they discovered Ilunga was instructing her other children in Swahili to support the lie.

However, an officer from the police department who speaks Swahili was able to translate the body camera footage.

“Fortunately, we have an officer who speaks fluent Swahili,” says McCloud. “We were able to determine that Ms. Ilunga was lying to us from the very beginning.”

Officers became suspicious when Ilunga refused to provide a photo of Blessing for police to use in the search.

“Ms. Ilunga actually pointed to ‘Baraka’ and said that Blessing looks just like her sister,” McCloud recalled.” “Additionally, Ms. Ilunga advised officers not to speak with the daughter that she referred to as ‘Baraka’ because she was too young and did not speak very well.”

According to McCloud, a detective was assigned to stay with Ilunga at home throughout the day. When the detective returned to the station in the afternoon, Ilunga took advantage of the opportunity to hide Blessing in her coat and take her to the alley, where she was “found” by two women.

“We have tried to understand why she would invent this story, but when confronted with all the information, the family stopped cooperating with the investigation,” McCloud told me.

Richard Aoci, Blessing’s father, said he was unaware of the situation because he was in Iowa at the time.

He told KWQC that he doubts the police department’s version of events and believes they are attempting to spin the story.

He stated that Ilunga is scared and feels “targeted” by police.

After days of searching, Ilunga and her seven children were discovered in Wisconsin on January 31.

The Wisconsin State Patrol stopped her vehicle, and police reported that seven of her children were inside.

Ilunga was arrested and transported to the Jefferson County Jail. According to Rock Island police, she is currently awaiting extradition to Illinois.

The children were safe and returned to their father that evening.

Police made five arrests in connection with the stolen vehicle. Any kidnapping charges have been dropped because police claim Blessing was never in the car.

Jaron Bailey-Harris, 18, was arrested and charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possessing a stolen vehicle. He is scheduled to return to court on February 27 for a pretrial conference.

Other arrests include two 16-year-old boys, a 15-year-old girl, and a 14-year-old girl. All have been charged with possessing a stolen vehicle.

SOURCE


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