Amber Alert

Illinois Amber Alert: Police update on how 4-year-old disappeared in Rock Island

Police said while the young girl remains missing, they don't believe she was targeted in the incident, though they aren't ruling out any possibility

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UPDATE: The Amber Alert has been canceled after Blessing J. Aoci was found safely. More coverage here.

Rock Island police gave an update Thursday just after an Illinois Amber Alert was issued for a 4-year-old girl who was inside a vehicle that was stolen earlier in the morning.

Police said while the young girl remains missing, they don't believe she was targeted in the incident, though they aren't ruling out any possibility.

The vehicle she was taken in was one of several car thefts reported overnight in Rock Island, Chief Timothy McCloud said during the press conference.

"We aren't going to rule anything out and are looking at all possibilities," McCloud said. "But at this time, the number of stolen vehicles that happened overnight, we believe that this was probably inadvertent at the time. And we're hoping that there are people, even anonymously, that can give us information about where that child was taken out of the car or where that child is right now."

Blessing J. Aoci, described by police as a Black 4-year-old girl who weighs 50 pounds and has black hair with twists and brown eyes, was in a booster seat in the back of her mother's car when the vehicle was stolen at about 6 a.m. near the intersection of 14th 1/2 Street and 13th Avenue in Rock Island, police said.

Police said Blessing's mother left the vehicle running and went inside the residence. The car was stolen with Blessing inside, police said.

Police found the vehicle "a short time later" at 9th Street at 14th Avenue in Rock Island, but the child was missing from inside.

"We're hoping that at this point she's just got out of the car early on and is in a residence right now," McCloud said, noting that officers are going door to door in the area where the car was found for that reason.

He urged the public not to organize a search effort at this time, saying it could be difficult to manage.

"Now, I will also say that there are several stolen vehicles that occurred last night, and several of them have not been recovered. So it's possible that Blessing was transferred to another vehicle," McCloud said, noting that police are looking for several of the remaining stolen vehicles still.

Blessing is wearing a pink jacket, blue pants and pink boots, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Rock Island Police Department at (309) 732-2677.

"All available resources are being dedicated to finding the missing child, including assistance from surrounding agencies, door to door canvassing and searching utilizing drones from RIPD, Rock Island County Sheriff's Department, and Moline Police Department," the police department wrote on Facebook.

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