Eight years after her abduction, Chloe Ayling continues to deny allegations that she fabricated her story.
In April 2017, Chloe, who was believed to be 19 years old at the time, traveled to Paris, France, for a photoshoot arranged by her former agent, Phil Green.
The shoot was organized by someone named ‘Andre Lazio’, but the plans were canceled while Chloe was still in France due to a tragic terror attack on the Champs-Élysées boulevard that resulted in the deaths of three police officers.
Months later, Andre reached out to Phil again, this time to schedule the same shoot in Milan, Italy.
Chloe flew to Italy as arranged, and the day following her arrival, she made her way to the supposed photoshoot location.
Upon arrival, however, there was no shoot, and Chloe was instead drugged and kidnapped.
The British model was held captive for several days, with her captor claiming to be working for a criminal entity known as ‘The Black Death’.
After Chloe’s abduction, her captor — who called himself MD — was allegedly instructed to auction her off as a sex slave on the dark web.
MD contacted Chloe’s agent via email, informing him of the auction and demanding a $300,000 ransom for her release.
Phil immediately notified the English and Italian authorities about the situation, who were pressed for time to locate Chloe before the auction date. Initially, there was skepticism about the kidnapping’s authenticity, with some speculating that Chloe had staged it to advance her career. However, police soon verified that the threat Chloe faced was very real.
While investigations were ongoing, Chloe took a proactive role in ensuring her own safety, as she details in the new BBC docu-series, Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping.
Chloe recounted a pivotal moment when ‘things changed’ with her captor, identified by police as Łukasz Herba.
She reflected on maintaining a composed demeanor throughout the ordeal, which she believes may have been advantageous.
“I always remained calm,” Chloe stated in her documentary. “With anything that happens, it’s like, so this has happened and what can I do about this? If the answer is nothing and it’s out of my control then I have to just accept it.”
She added that she believed panicking would have only exacerbated the situation.
Chloe continued: “In that moment, I knew I needed to rely on myself, and that was when I got the first ever inkling that he liked me in any way.
“I had no clue before. I thought maybe he liked me as a person because I was not throwing a fit, but this was the first time I thought ‘wow, things have changed’.”
Chloe recounted an incident where her captor attempted to kiss her. While she aimed to keep him appeased for her safety, she found it difficult to reciprocate.
“I just said, ‘I don’t really feel up for that right now. I’m not in the right mind set,'” Chloe recounted. She implied that something might occur between them if she were freed.
Chloe continued this charade until six days into her kidnapping, when she persuaded her captor to release her.
On July 17, Łukasz escorted Chloe to the Milan consulate. Despite a stipulation to cease police investigations as a condition of her release, Chloe disclosed everything to the authorities.
In June 2018, despite skepticism that Chloe had fabricated the incident for attention, Łukasz was found guilty of kidnapping and sentenced to 16 years and nine months in prison.
The first episode of Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping premieres on BBC on August 4.