ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (DDN) – A 4-year-old girl who was reported missing by her mother earlier this month, sparking a huge search in the Quad Cities, was found safe inside her house during the search, Rock Island police said Thursday.
According to Rock Island Police Chief Tim McCloud, Princess Ilunga lied to dispatchers and officers when she reported her kid was in the backseat of a stolen automobile from her driveway, causing a nationwide Amber alert.
According to McCloud, Ilunga made “every effort” to hide her daughter from Police.
“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 said. “I want to be clear that this is not just a big misunderstanding. This was not the result of a language barrier. From the minute our first responding officer arrived, Ms. Ilunga could have told the truth.”
Ilunga contacted 911 at 6 a.m. on January 16 to report that her car had been taken while her 4-year-old daughter was in the back seat.
When police arrived, Ilunga stated that she did not have any photos of her daughter. Police had to contact the school system to obtain a photo of the girl to issue an Amber Alert.
Also Read – 17-Year-Old Dies in Crash After Car Hits Wall and Rolls Over in Pima County
Ilunga, a mother of seven, spoke to police officials in English but directed her children in Swahili to remove the 4-year-old’s pink coat and refer to their sister solely by her Swahili name. According to McCloud, Ilunga first refused to allow officers to search the house for her daughter. Police stated the mother purposefully deceived officers by claiming the missing girl was her sister.
Body camera footage showed Blessing inside the house, no longer wearing the pink coat she was described as wearing.
“This was, by all accounts, an intentional deception that wasted the time and resources of six local law enforcement agencies, the Illinois State Police, the FBI and the federal Marshals,” McCloud told the media.
The Illinois State Police have issued an Amber Alert for the missing girl. Six local law enforcement organizations, the FBI, and the United States Marshals Service launched a huge search for Blessing. Over 120 officers took part in the search, which included drones and infrared imaging.
About 15 minutes later, the stolen car was discovered abandoned around 8th Street and 15th Avenue.
Read More – Eight-Vehicle Crash on I-70 in Columbia Leads to Fire and Traffic Delays; Missouri Authorities Respond to Crash Site
A detective appointed as Ilunga’s liaison briefly returned to the police station at 2:53 p.m.
Ilunga has an arrest warrant for making a false police report, which is a class 4 felony. McCloud stated her current location is unclear.
McCloud stated that the kidnapping accusation against the 16-year-old teenager suspected of driving the stolen car would be dismissed.
Leave a Reply