While hundreds of people – including FBI agents and volunteers throughout the Quad Cities – searched for a missing 4-year-old girl, she was safely in her home, according to Rock Island Police Chief Tim McCloud.

A 4-year-old Rock Island girl who was reported missing after an apparent kidnapping during an auto theft, triggering a statewide Amber Alert, was never missing, police said at a press conference Thursday.

At a Thursday morning press conference, Rock Island Police Chief Tim McCloud said Blessing Aoci was in her home during the search.

Rock Island Police Chief Timothy McCloud says the abduction of a 4-year-old girl from Rock Island was an “intentional deception.“