4-year-old girl found safe after mom’s car stolen ‘in seconds’ outside IL home, cops say
_fitted.png "An Illinois girl, Blessing Aoci, was found safe after her mother’s car was stolen while she was in the back seat, police say.")
UPDATE: The 4-year-old girl who was in the back seat of a vehicle that was stolen Thursday, Jan. 16, was found safe, police in Illinois said, according to multiple reports.
The original story is below.
A large-scale search is underway for a 4-year-old girl missing after her mother’s car was stolen while she was in the back seat, Illinois police say.
The car was stolen from outside a Rock Island home at about 6 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 16, according to investigators.
Officers responded within minutes and found the vehicle a short time later, at 6:24 a.m. It had been abandoned but the girl, Blessing Aoci, was nowhere to be found.
It’s “possible Blessing was transferred to another vehicle,” police said in a news briefing, adding that other area law enforcement has joined the search effort, as well as the FBI.
According to officials, the girl’s mother put Aoci in the back seat and left the car running as she went inside to get another child. When she returned, the vehicle was gone and Blessing with it.
“This happened in seconds,” police said. “I would caution everybody not to point fingers at the mother in this case.”
Police don’t believe this was a targeted kidnapping, adding that an unusually high number of vehicles were stolen in the area overnight, some of which have not been recovered. Law enforcement is focusing its search efforts on areas related to those stolen vehicles.
Officers have been going door-to-door with a picture of Blessing, asking residents if they’ve seen her or know anything that could lead police to her.
Blessing was last seen wearing a pink jacket, with blue pants and pink boots, according to an Amber Alert issued for her. She weighs about 50 pounds and is 3 feet tall.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Rock Island Police Department at 309-732-2677.
Rock Island is about a 170-mile drive southwest from Chicago.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 2:59 PM with the headline "4-year-old girl found safe after mom’s car stolen ‘in seconds’ outside IL home, cops say."