Police probing the disappearance of a 20-year-old woman were struck by a chilling email from her abductor.
In 2017, British model Chloe Ayling flew to Milan, Italy, anticipating a photoshoot. However, the trip took a horrifying turn when Chloe was drugged and kidnapped by a man impersonating a photographer under the alias ‘Andre Lazio’, who had been corresponding with her agent.
Chloe was intended to be auctioned and sold on the dark web, but she survived to recount her experience. Eventually, her captor developed feelings for her, which Chloe leveraged to persuade him to let her go.
Meanwhile, authorities in Italy and England were diligently working to locate Chloe before she could be sold to the highest bidder.
On the day of the anticipated auction, investigators received an alarming email that left one officer feeling like he had ‘failed’.
The email stated ‘she’s gone mate’, suggesting that Chloe had already been transferred. At that point, the police were not aware that Chloe was still relatively safe.
One of the officers involved in the 2017 case participated in a new BBC documentary series, choosing to remain anonymous.
The series, titled “Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping,” debuted its first episode on the BBC last night (August 4).
In the documentary, the investigator shared the moment he received the email indicating that Chloe had allegedly been sold.
He explained: “There was a single email that came in around 3am that just said ‘she’s gone’. She was going to be sold into the sex industry. You don’t know where she’s going to be held or for how long, what’s she’s going to endure… You think, well there’s no coming back from that.
“That moment was terrible,” he added. “It was probably the lowest ebb in 30 years. I’d been given a responsibility and I’d failed. It’s not an easy thing to admit but it’s true.”
However, Chloe had not been sold, and the next day, the investigator learned that her kidnapper had taken her to the Milan consulate instead.
Despite being advised to end any investigations into her kidnapping, Chloe provided the authorities with detailed information about her abductor, who was later identified as Łukasz Herba.
About a year after the terrifying incident, Łukasz went to trial and was found guilty of kidnapping Chloe. He received a sentence of nearly 17 years in prison.