Casefile True Crime - Case 116: Chloe Ayling

Episode Date: June 29, 2019

British glamour model Chloe Ayling was ecstatic to be hired for a photoshoot in Milan. But after failing to return to the United Kingdom on her scheduled flight, it appears that the golden opportunity was too good to be true. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Eileen Ormsby For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-116-chloe-ayling

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. In 1987, London-based lawyer and part-time DJ Phil Green cemented a new career endeavour by founding his own modelling agency, aptly titled Supermodel Agency. By 2017, Phil was entering his 30th year in the industry and Supermodel Agency was a major success, representing a large catalogue of glamour models, promo girls and Instagram influencers.

Many were featured in erotic calendars and men's magazines like FHM, Maxim, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo Weekly, with the elite appearing in the more illustrious Playboy. Several earned a level of popularity as Page 3 Girls, a British tabloid tradition where female glamour models were featured topless on the aforementioned page of The Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Star newspapers. Phil primarily ran his business online, meeting with aspiring models at private residences to assess if they were suitable to join his books. His email inbox was consistently filled with requests from clients from across the world

who required models for a variety of purposes, including photo shoots, commercials, corporate events and parties. No request was off limits as Phil sent his personnel to a range of jobs, from fetish shoots and jelly wrestling competitions to trade shows and motor races. Models with a significant following on social media would occasionally be selected to audition for a role on television as a game show hostess, or to compete in a reality series like Love Island or Celebrity Big Brother. Phil Green took every opportunity to network with the rich and famous, arranging parties

at London's trendy nightclubs where he would spend the evening in the VIP area surrounded by a bevy of attractive women half his age. If one of his models hooked up with a celebrity or sports star, Phil would put them in touch with tabloid newspaper journalists and earn a cut of the profit for the scoop. He also pocketed 20% of the sales from photos depicting his models in compromising situations, such as accidental flashes of public nudity, most of which were staged. On the morning of Wednesday, July 12, 2017, Phil sat down at his computer to check his work emails.

These inbox contained the usual array of offers from clients seeking models, but there was one email that stood out from all the others. It was sent from an organisation titled The Black Death Group, and began, We've got Chloe Ailing. Chloe Ailing never intended to be in the limelight. Her initial focus was on academia, studying law, business and psychology at A level, before moving into sports science. Regarded as a conventional beauty, she began modelling at 18 years old, complemented for

her round, feminine face that was framed by thick, long, wavy blonde hair and a slender, though shapely figure. Standing at just five foot three inches tall, she wasn't suitable for modelling high fashion, which generally required a minimum height of five foot eight. Instead, Chloe set her sights on glamour and commercial modelling. The teenager established an online presence by featuring in strip football challenge videos on YouTube, where she was tasked with kicking a soccer ball in high heels to her male teammates, who would then take a shot at goal.

If they missed, Chloe would have to remove a piece of clothing, the game carrying on until she was standing in the open field as naked as YouTube's rules would allow. She also took part in prank videos where she participated in staged practical jokes, which involved her having to strip down to her underwear. Chloe didn't earn much for taking part in these videos, but they raised her profile and led to better jobs. In August 2016, two months after turning 19, Chloe signed a contract with the Supermodel Agency and became one of Phil Green's most prominent models, amassing hundreds of thousands

of followers on her Instagram page by posting a variety of scantily clad, seductive photos. She worked constantly, eventually earning up to £500 per magazine shoot and becoming a popular choice for the Daily Star, the only newspaper that continued to feature Page 3 girls. It therefore came as no surprise to Phil Green when in March 2017, he received an email from an Italian photographer named Andre Lattio, personally requesting Chloe ailing for a glamour photo shoot in Paris. His studio was titled Basime Afique and he wanted Chloe to model some leather apparel

for a motorcycle magazine advert. Lattio was straightforward and professional as he detailed the shoot to Phil, explaining Chloe would be posing on a motorbike in front of a green screen so that background scenery could be digitally added later. The job included flights, overnight accommodation at the four-star Hotel Madeleine Plaza in central Paris, a spa treatment and spending money. As part of his role as a modeling agent, Phil Green was expected to research any potential clients and verify that the jobs they were offering his models were genuine.

In his book, Confessions of a Model Agent, Phil said, I checked Andre Lattio's address and this was perfectly legitimate, even to the point of looking at Google Maps to find the location. I asked him to send me pictures of previous work he had done to which he duly obliged. He even sent me a picture of his studio and there above the studio door were the words Basime Afique, a little Italian temper in the heart of France, exactly as he said. Satisfied he had confirmed the legitimacy of the job and client, Phil agreed to send Chloe to France for the shoot.

Chloe was thrilled by the opportunity. The prospect of travel, glamour and adventure was exactly what had enticed her into the world of modeling in the first place and having never been to Paris, she was itching to explore the famed city. Phil told Chloe that despite having her measurements taken upon joining Supermodel Agency, she had to come in for a second fitting as Lattio requested her exact sizing for the custom made motorcycle leathers she would be wearing in the shoot. Phil was known as the man with the tape measure and insisted on measuring all the models himself,

claiming to have been duped in the past by women who lied about their dimensions. Chloe reluctantly agreed. To ensure she had as much time as possible to experience the foreign city, Chloe requested the earliest flight available to Paris and the latest one to leave. Upon landing on the morning of Thursday, April 20, a driver was awaiting her arrival at the gate, holding a sign with her name in big black letters. She was driven to her hotel where she checked in and deposited her luggage before heading out to see the Eiffel Tower.

As she walked the three and a half kilometres to the famous landmark, Chloe video called Phil on her mobile phone so she could show him the sights. She reached the tower and took a selfie underneath before moving off to have dinner on her own at a nearby restaurant. Chloe arrived back to her hotel later that evening, but her plans of a relaxing night were interrupted by the screech of emergency beagle sirens outside. She received a text message from a friend alerting her to a headline that had appeared online, which read,

Terra hits Paris as policemen shot on the Champs Elysees. Chloe bunkered down in her room as news of the shooting began to filter through. Around the time she had been eating dinner, a gunman wielding an AK-47 rifle roamed the Champs Elysees shopping boulevard one kilometre away. One police officer was killed, and two others, as well as a German tourist, were seriously injured. The perpetrator was shot dead and found to be carrying a list of police station addresses he had planned to ambush, along with a note praising jihadist militant group ISIS.

As such, the incident was declared a terror attack. The next morning, Chloe received a phone call from Andrea Lazio, the photographer overseeing the motorcycle photo shoot. He informed Chloe that his studio had been ransacked during the chaos of the terror attack, and that all of his camera equipment and lighting gear had been stolen. Lazio had no choice but to cancel the shoot, and was sending a prepaid taxi to collect Chloe from the hotel and take her back to the airport. Frustrated but understanding, Chloe finished her breakfast and checked out, before jumping

into a car that was waiting at the front of the hotel. It wasn't until she arrived at the airport that Chloe realized she had gotten into the wrong car. The driver demanded cash for the trip, but she didn't have any as she had been expecting to receive her expenses later that day. Chloe scrolled through her mobile phone until she found the email containing Andrea Lazio's contact number and promptly called him, passing the phone to the driver so the two of them could resolve the situation.

After a conversation in French, the driver informed Chloe she was to wait in the car until Lazio arrived with the payment. Eventually, a lean Caucasian man with cropped dark hair wearing sporty sunglasses appeared at the window, introducing himself as Andre Lazio. For an experienced senior photographer, Lazio appeared remarkably young to Chloe, seemingly under 30 years old. He paid the driver and apologized profusely to Chloe both for canceling the shoot and for the mix-up with the car.

He seemed agitated and keen to get going, giving Chloe her promise to £90 for expenses before leaving her to wait several hours for her scheduled flight home. Although she didn't get to complete the shoot, the trip wasn't a complete ride-off for Chloe. Back in London, The Daily Star newspaper wrote an article about how one of their top Page 3 models was caught up in Paris during the recent terror attack, accompanying the story with a topless picture of Chloe. A few months later, Chloe was on assignment in Dubai, which involved partying with the client, attending nightclubs and frolicking on the beach, when she received a call from

Phil Green with some good news. Andre Lazio had rescheduled the Motorcycle magazine photo shoot. Finding Paris too dangerous, he had since relocated his studio to his home country of Italy, with the shoot taking place in the northern city of Milan on July 11. With a couple of weeks after Chloe's 20th birthday, Chloe had never been to Milan and was excited to visit the city deemed the fashion capital of the world, again requesting the earliest arrival flight possible to make the most of the trip. Lazio offered a £900 payment up front and sent images of his new Milan-based studio

which bore the same Bessemer fake signage as his one in Paris. Phil checked the studio's address on Google Maps, confirming the building existed and matched the details Lazio had provided. On Tuesday, July 11, Chloe flew into Milan and checked into the Best Western Plus Hotel on the Piazza Lima, where Lazio had arranged complimentary spa treatments and breakfast for her. She went shopping and purchased some bikinis for an upcoming trip to Ibiza, where she planned to take some beachside photos for her Instagram account.

The next morning, Chloe awoke early and dressed in a pink chenille bodysuit, designer jeans, sneakers, a pink leather jacket and a cap. She packed her suitcase and at 8.30am checked out of her hotel to begin the 20 minute taxi ride to the photography studio. After that night, as midnight approached in England, Bayada Eiling was struck with worry. Her daughter Chloe was due to land at Gatwick Airport hours earlier at 9.30pm but she had not arrived home and there had been no word from her. This was unusual as Chloe would always ring her mother to keep her updated on her travels.

Bayada phoned Phil Green but he hadn't heard from Chloe either, even though she would call him after a photo shoot to let him know how it had gone. Phil checked the status of Chloe's flight from Milan and confirmed that it had landed in Gatwick on schedule. Knowing she had plans to fly to Ibiza the next day, Phil suggested she may have decided to stay in Milan another day and fly directly to Ibiza from there. Bayada had a hard time believing her daughter would make such a radical change without notifying her first and considered the possibility that Chloe had lost her phone.

Phil proposed they wait until the morning before making inquiries about Chloe's whereabouts, expecting a logical explanation to arise in the meantime and Bayada reluctantly agreed. The following morning of Wednesday, July 12, there had still been no contact from Chloe. Phil called the airline and discovered there was no record of her checking in for her flight from Milan. He turned on his computer to check whether Andre Lazio had emailed through any revised plans for the photo shoot and as he scanned his inbox, one email caught his eye, at red. Hi, Phil Green, I go by the name M.D.

I am a mid-high-level contract killer working for Black Death Group. Chloe has been taken and is currently under my wings and as long as I live, nothing will happen to her. I give my word. It went on to explain that Chloe was set to be auctioned as a sex slave on the dark web the following Sunday, unless Phil raised a ransom of €300,000. He was instructed to get the money from three men Chloe had named, two of whom Phil recognised as supermodel agency clients and the other, Rory, who he did not know.

M.D. stated he was risking his life by writing to Phil and protecting Chloe, but was unable to release her as, quote, The sentence for that would be death, for both myself and Chloe as a part of a rule that no merchandise leaves Black Death unpaid. Phil responded to the email with a single word, received. The Black Death Group alleged to be an organised crime group from Eastern Europe that dealt with weapons, drugs, bombings, assassinations, provision of mercenaries, false identity creation, human trafficking and dark web sales.

To remain incognito, Black Death did not advertise their sex slave auctions to the masses and would change web addresses whenever their site received too much traffic. Those who managed to find Black Death's website were greeted by a drawing of 11 ominous figures wearing long robes and masks associated with plague doctors in the 1300s. The masks featured a six-inch-long black beak that was traditionally filled with pleasant spelling plants and spices to conceal the stench of corpses. The Black Death website featured an auction page which was only accessible to users who had been recommended by current members.

It advertised a range of women referred to as merchandise that were available to purchase, with the youngest the most expensive. Each auction profile included a starting bid, photos and details of the woman's height, weight and size. According to the group, a doctor was on staff to test the captives for sexually transmitted diseases and virginity, with those declared as pure commanding a higher price. The auctions occurred in Europe, but the victim could be delivered to the winning bidder anywhere in the world, and customers with a specific woman in mind could also pay a significant

cost to have the Black Death group kidnap targets that fulfilled their individual requirements. Black Death's notoriety was well-established, but also dubious. In July 2015, two years before the group claimed to have kidnapped Chloe Ailing, journalist Joseph Cox wrote an article for Tech magazine Motherboard detailing his encounter with Black Death. Upon gaining access to the site, he came across an auction for a woman named Nicole with a starting bid of $150,000. The auction advertisement was accompanied by an image of a blonde, topless woman with

her hands tied behind her back, thrashing around as the shadow of a man loomed in the background. Joseph Cox attempted to infiltrate the site by pretending to be a cryptocurrency rich customer, but was unsuccessful in gaining entry to an auction. It was later determined that the images of Nicole were screenshots taken from an unrelated pornography video, raising doubts over the legitimacy of that particular auction. A year later, in May 2016, UK authorities were alerted to a fully booked online auction taking place on the Black Death group's website, where a 15-year-old girl named Laura was on

sale for £575,000, and a 17-year-old girl identified as Gemma was on sale for £92,000. Investigators were unable to determine whether these auctions were real, or if the sales ever went ahead. A year passed before the next Black Death auction was scheduled for Sunday, July 16, 2017, this time advertising the sale of 20-year-old Chloe Aileen. Despite the email from the Black Death group warning him not to notify the police, Phil Green contacted law enforcement in Milan to alert them of Chloe's abduction. Local police wanted him to make a missing person's report in person, but as this was

not practical, Phil reached out to the British Consulate Office in Milan for help, who expedited an investigation. An alarm police arrived to Andre Lazio's photography studio, and upon gaining access to the building, discovered that it was empty inside, and there was nothing to suggest that it had ever been used for such a purpose. Temporary walls had been set up to create a makeshift corridor from the front door to the back of the building. Police found an abandoned suitcase by the door, and further inside, they came across

a mobile phone, jeans, shoes, and a pink leather jacket. Alongside the clothes, a piece of paper featured a picture of 11 men wearing long gowns and beaked masks, marked with the words, Black Death Group, Chloe. Working in conjunction with the authorities in the UK, Milan police initiated the search for Chloe and her abductors. With little to go on, a team of investigators started the arduous task of trawling through CCTV footage near Lazio's fake photography studio to see if they could piece together Chloe's final movements.

Meanwhile, specialist officers in the UK covertly took over Phil Green's email account to begin negotiations with Black Death, which continued throughout the five days leading up to the auction. One email from the mysterious group read, I think I haven't been clear enough. My superiors tell me there is a high interest in Chloe for auction. Time is running out. Auction is on Sunday. I might be a contract killer, but real life isn't fucking John Wick.

I will be unable to protect her if you people do nothing about it. The email contained an advertisement for the auction that was apparently being circulated on the dark web. The ad featured photographs of a seemingly unconscious pale Chloe sprawled out on the floor wearing her pink Chanel bodysuit and ankle socks, with her long blonde hair messily tassled around her and arms awkwardly bent upwards. Her eyes were open but glazed and staring off into the distance, and her pupils were noticeably dilated.

The piece of paper found at the fake photography studio with the image of the masked men in robes was laid on her stomach, reading, Black Death Group, Chloe. Believed to be a victim of human trafficking, Chloe was subject to the highest alert in Europe. Thus the date of the auction loomed, her image was distributed to police stations all over the continent, with international police organisation Interpol now involved in the investigation. Bayard Arale and Phil Green were in constant contact with the British consulate to receive updates on any developments in the case, which were limited.

Investigators had yet to find evidence indicating Chloe's whereabouts, and were so far unsuccessful in locating the invitation-only dark website where her auction was to take place. Phil had attempted to come up with the ransom, but had only managed to extract an offer of £20,000 from one of the three men on the list of names Chloe had provided to the Black Death Group. As the date of the auction came and went, the police and Chloe's loved ones waited in nervous, helpless anticipation. At 9.30 am on Monday, July 17, the day after the auction, the British consulate in Milan

opened its doors and a man and woman walked in together. The young blonde-haired woman was wearing a tracksuit that was too big for her petite frame and a pair of running shoes. She approached the front counter and told the receptionist that was an emergency and that she'd be seen to immediately. The couple were rushed through a metal detector and passed two armed soldiers into the office of the consulate. A translator greeted them and the young woman announced,

I was kidnapped. I'm Chloe Eileen. Chloe was immediately led into a private room. When the man she was with tried to follow, a group of armed security guards gathered around him ordering him to stay put. Chloe told the consulate staff the man was a friend and that she called him after being released by her kidnappers. However, when the police arrived, they asked her to provide the phone number she had used

to call this supposed friend and she was unable to. Caught in her lie, Chloe panicked, telling the police that although she was now free, she was still under the clutches of the Black Death Group. Chloe relayed her ordeal to police, starting her story six days earlier on Tuesday, July 11, the day of the photo shoot. After departing her hotel, she took a taxi to André Lartier's studio. A prominent number seven to the right of the front doors indicated that Chloe was in the right place, but the building's lower floor windows were covered in bars and there was

no signage to suggest there was a studio inside. When she tried to open the doors, they wouldn't budge. A panel of buzzers sat to the left of the door, but there was nothing to indicate which one she should press. Chloe flicked through the emails on her mobile phone until she found the number she had used to contact André Lartier months earlier when she was in Paris. She called the number and a man answered who introduced himself as Daniel, before directing Chloe to walk a little further down the road to a smaller building which looked like a

disused shopfront in a garage. As she had been on many shoots in a wide variety of locations, there was nothing about this location that set off any alarm bells for Chloe. In the modeling world, photographers often used empty shops and unrenovated warehouses as the large spaces gave them the versatility to light the shot from all angles. Chloe pushed the front door open, placing her suitcase to the side before heading down a makeshift corridor that led further in. Towards the back of the building, she found a door marked with a black sign that said

Studio in white lettering. Unlike typical modeling shots which were a hive of activity with the bustle of the creative team and loud music playing, this building was eerily silent. As Chloe reached out to open the studio door, a gloved hand slammed over her mouth from behind and another snaked around her neck. Unable to squirm away, she watched as a second figure appeared in front of her, his face covered by a black ski mask. He pushed up the sleeve of Chloe's leather jacket and jabbed the needle point of a syringe

into her right wrist before injecting its contents into her body. The last thing she remembered was her muscles beginning to relax, before everything went black. When Chloe awoke some time later, it was pitch dark, her wrists were handcuffed together, her feet were bound, and there was duct tape covering her mouth. She was still wearing her body suit and socks, but everything else was gone. Her heart was beating abnormally fast and she was only able to take short, shallow breaths through her nose.

She could feel movement beneath her, but was completely confined in a hot, compact space that limited her to the fetal position. She soon realised she was inside a bag. Chloe was able to manoeuvre her hands to peel the tape off her mouth and began wiggling her finger against the zip of the bag, eventually opening a small gap that allowed some air in. As her groggyness subsided, she realised she was in the boot of a moving vehicle and screamed for the driver to stop.

She worked the zip open until she could get her cuffed hands out and began hitting them against the underside of the parcel shelf above, which dislodged and came tumbling down on top of her. The vehicle immediately swerved and came to a stop. Chloe heard its doors open before the lid of the boot launched upwards and she saw two men wearing black ski masks looking down at her. Without a word, they replaced the tape over her mouth and to zip the bag up again. They drove for what felt to Chloe like ours, only stopping occasionally so her captors

could give her sips of water and replace the tape over her mouth, which had a hard time sticking against her sweaty skin. When the car stopped for a third time, an unfamiliar, unmasked man climbed into the boot and started spooning her. Chloe considered whether his lack of disguise meant she was not expected to get out alive to identify him and took the opportunity to bombard him with questions about her predicament. He spoke with an accent in broken English, never raising his voice above a whisper, telling her that she had been kidnapped by two Romanian men who had now passed her under him and the

driver of the car. He answered her many questions with the same response. I don't know. Helplessness washed over Chloe and she started to cry. The man tried to calm her nerves by promising they would not harm her and she felt somewhat soothed by his soft voice and kind manner. He gently pulled her bodysuit straight without any unnecessary touching to prevent her breasts from being exposed, which reassured Chloe that he did not intend to sexually assault

her. The pair remained in the hot, stuffy boot together for the remainder of the journey, during which the man agreed to unlock Chloe's handcuffs to provide her momentary relief but replaced them as soon as the car reached its final destination. Chloe was zipped back up into the oversized duffel bag, with her two captors threatening to inject her with a sedative again if she didn't cooperate. Terrified at the thought of the syringe, she complied, remaining still so they could carry her up what felt like a steep hill.

She heard the sound of a door unlocking and they gently placed her down and unzipped the bag. Once her eyes adjusted, Chloe realized she was in a cramped and cluttered kitchen. The man who had spent the final leg of the car ride in the boot with her remained unmasked while his cohort wore a balaclava. Chloe asked to use the toilet and was directed up a flight of bare concrete stairs with a wall to the left and no banister. The men followed her to the shabby bathroom and ordered her to leave the door open.

Once she was finished, the men led Chloe through a beaded curtain to a small room that was painted yellow-green. Her chest of wooden drawers took up the length of one wall and a sleeping bag was positioned on the floor next to it. A single bed sat on the other side with a multicolored crocheted blanket pulled neatly across it. The masked man pointed at the sleeping bag, indicating for Chloe to lie on it. Her hands and feet were then handcuffed to the legs of the chest of drawers.

Satisfied that she wasn't going anywhere, her captors went back downstairs where she could hear them speaking in a foreign language. After some time, the unmasked man returned. Still speaking in his quiet, soothing voice, he told Chloe that he's part of the job was complete and it was time for him to leave. But something had gone wrong and his angry boss was now on the way to see her. He assured her that once the boss arrived she would be told what was going on. Chloe remained on the floor, her ability to move limited by the awkward position she had

been handcuffed in. She heard a commotion downstairs with men yelling and a door slamming, followed by a one-sided heated conversation which she assumed was conducted on the telephone. Before long, another man entered the room and released the handcuffs around Chloe's wrist, leaving her shackled by the ankle. The man sat on the single bed and Chloe twisted around so that she could see him. She didn't immediately recognise the skinny, brown-haired, clean-shaven man, but didn't find him particularly daunting either.

He calmly told her, I don't know if you remember, but I briefly met you in Paris. It then clipped to Chloe. Although he was wearing sunglasses during their first meeting, the man sitting before her was Andre Lazio, the head photographer for the motorcycle photo shoot. He revealed that his name was not Andre Lazio, nor was he a photographer, reintroducing himself as MD. He claimed that the Romanians who had kidnapped Chloe and to the pair who had driven her to the remote house all worked for the same organisation as he did.

The Black Death Group According to MD, the Black Death Group was the largest mafia-style organisation in the world, with members positioned throughout a 20-level hierarchy. MD was at level 12 and operated as an assassin for the organisation, with poisoning being his preferred method of murder. The other men involved in Chloe's abduction were low-level foot soldiers who had drugged her before strip-searching her for tracking devices. He explained the purpose of Chloe's abduction was to sell her on the dark web, with her

auction scheduled to take place in five days' time. It was not the first time Black Death had carried out such an auction. MD explained that the group usually snatched three to four girls a week from bars or nightclubs, bringing them to their remote property where they were kept in a shed and chained to the rafters. Once the girls were sold, they were used as sex slaves and passed around to other men in the buyer's family before being fed to pet tigers when the owners grew bored of her. To prove his claims, MD took out his laptop and showed Chloe the advertisement for her

sale. Her featured a photograph of her she didn't recall having taken, where she was sprawled out on the floor in her pink bodysuit, along with a link to her Instagram profile and a description that read, Chloe, born in UK, abducted in Italy, held in Germany, 19 years old, Caucasian, 34 double D, 25, 35, beginner model. Starting bid, 300,000 euros. Auction takes place, 16 July, 2017.

MD revealed that very powerful men in the Middle East were showing a lot of interest in her auction, but a problem had since arisen in Black Death's plans and his superiors were not happy. He scrolled through their website to the list of rules governing Black Death's auctions and pointed to one that read, We do not sell girls that are terminally ill, pregnant, have STDs, or are young mothers. The group had failed to realise that Chloe was the mother of a two-year-old son, having fallen pregnant at the age of 17.

She had long since split with her son's father and the estranged couple shared custody of the young boy. Under the Black Death group's own rules, Chloe Ailing could not be sold. MD only found out Chloe had a son after seeing pictures of him on her Instagram page, forcing him to cancel her abduction, which was originally intended to take place during her trip to Paris in April. However, the lesser-ranking Black Death members had misunderstood the change of plans and continued emailing Phil Green using the André Lartier alias to reschedule the fake photo

shoot in Milan to carry out the crime there instead. As she had already been advertised for sale and to the Black Death group didn't want to upset their wealthy clients, MD stated that the only way to secure Chloe's freedom was for her to come up with her own starting bid of €300,000. This wasn't particularly reassuring to Chloe as she didn't have access to such funds, but MD said he would do whatever he could to help her out. He told her to come up with the names of three people who would be willing and able to provide the money to secure her release.

Chloe gave him the names of three well-off associates, Rory, an investment banker she had recently dated, and two supermodel agency clients, one who managed public relations for 66 magazine and one who owned Men's Lifestyle magazine, Loaded. MD explained he would email the names to Phil Green and tell him he had until Saturday to get the money together, otherwise Chloe's auction would go live on Sunday. Although being a mother had significantly decreased Chloe's value, MD was confident there would still be interest in her sale. Chloe spent her first night in captivity lying on the floor on top of the sleeping bag, cuffed

by her wrists and ankles to the chest of drawers. MD came in and out of the room throughout the night, sitting on the single bed beside her and rambling on about Black Death, his important role within the organization and the risks he was willing to take to help her. He even offered to pay part of the release money himself, provided Chloe was able to raise the bulk of it. He told Chloe she was no longer in Italy and was being held elsewhere on a remote property owned by MD that was isolated enough that nobody would be able to hear her scream.

He threatened that she would be hunted down and killed if she tried to escape, but maintained that she was safe in his presence, as the penalty for any Black Death operative who messed with the merchandise was death. MD brought her food, but as he had already informed her that he carried out assassinations by poisoning his victims, she refused to eat it. As the second day wore on, Chloe was informed that Phil Green had responded to the ransom email with a single word and nothing else. That afternoon, MD offered that she share the double bed in the next room with him.

Comforted by the fact that MD would be killed if he did anything to harm her, Chloe opted to sleep in the bed, and the two slept back to back under separate blankets. From then on, Chloe was allowed to remain in the bed, leaving only to go to the bathroom. MD strictly warned that she was not allowed to go downstairs or attempt to look through the shuttered windows. MD left the house frequently, telling Chloe he was driving to get reception on his phone so that he could check on the status of her ransom payment. She obeyed all his orders while he was gone, fearful there were cameras in the house or

that other people nearby were keeping an eye on her. MD would return frustrated with the lack of progress obtaining the ransom money, telling Chloe that if they didn't get the payment soon, there was no choice but to prepare for her auction. This required more photographs to be taken for her bidders and a visit from a doctor to check her for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. By the third day of Chloe's captivity, MD began opening up about his earlier life in the military and how he came to be an assassin.

When he boasted that he had earned $15 million from his work in the Black Death Group, Chloe realized he was trying to impress her. As she was no stranger to men's affection and flirting was part of her job when attending events and working as a hostess, Chloe saw this as a chance at survival. She responded with warmth and affection, encouraging him to talk more and more. MD confessed he wanted to break free of the Black Death Group, but doing so would require him to pay $1.5 million and transfer all 20 of his properties to the organization. When they weren't talking, MD and Chloe played hangman and battleship to pass the time.

She's demeanor softened and he became less formal, with Chloe sensing she was no longer just a business transaction to him. Famished and to no longer fearful he was trying to poison her, she accepted a chocolate bar from him. Although furious inside, she remained poised and tried to humanize herself further by talking about how much she missed her mother and son. The more the pair spoke, the more it felt like MD believed a bond was forming between them and Chloe used this to her advantage.

By Friday morning, four days into Chloe's captivity and two days before her scheduled auction, MD asked if they could share a kiss. Chloe told him it would only be possible once she was free, prompting MD to start brainstorming ideas about how they could secure her safe release if they couldn't come up with the ransom money in time. As the Black Death Group didn't have a strong presence in London, he suggested she agreed to promote the group in the UK in exchange for her freedom. MD took his plan to the higher-ranking members of the organization, later informing Chloe that

they had struck a deal. He handed her a letter, which read, You are being released as a huge generosity from Black Death Group. Your release does, however, come with a warning, and you should read this letter carefully. Chloe was given strict instructions that upon her return to London, she was not allowed to pursue any investigation into her kidnapping. She was also required to pay 50,000 euros in cryptocurrency to the Black Death Group and promote them by, quote,

sneaking a predetermined set of information into the media. The letter went on to say, You and your family will in no way ever talk about us in bad language and without respect. You have been treated fairly, with respect, and we expect to hear exactly the same about us in return. Any sort of disobedience with the above will result in your elimination. Following her release from the Black Death Group on Monday, July 17, Chloe Ailing was transported to the Milan police station where she was formally questioned about every detail

of her abduction and captivity. Everything she said was recorded, analyzed, queried, and clarified, which was a time-consuming process requiring the help of a translator. She was also subjected to a thorough medical examination. Forensic testing revealed there was no trace of drugs in her urine, indicating she had not had any within the previous couple of days. But a hair sample came back positive for ketamine, a horse tranquilizer notoriously used as an incapacitating agent in date rape incidents.

A pinhole-sized puncture mark on her wrist was evidence of a syringe wound, and the bruises around her wrists and ankles were consistent with having been handcuffed for an extended period. As she was being questioned, officers had been following up all of her claims and had figured out the location where she had been held captive, finding her DNA on the handcuffs, floor, and bed. M.D. had lied to Chloe about crossing the Italian border. The run-down farmhouse she had been taken to was located in a tiny hamlet of derelict

houses near the small northern Italian village of L'Amnière, 35km northwest of the city of Turin. M.D. did not own the property, as he said, but had rented it for a 20-day period over the time of her imprisonment. The closest place to buy food and supplies was a 15-minute drive away in VU, a picturesque alpine town with a grocery store, cafes, and shops. Although VU was busy during the snow season, it was quiet during the summer, and strangers in the town stood out.

Local traders were shown photographs of Chloe and her male consulate companion, and several recognized M.D. right away. He had visited the town to dine at the local pizza restaurant nearly every day of Chloe's captivity, with the owner of the minimart telling police that he had been into the store three or four times to purchase groceries. On the morning of Chloe's auction, witnesses saw him at the minimart again, but this time he was in the company of a blonde-haired woman. The pair appeared to be a couple, holding hands and wearing matching outfits consisting

of tracksuit pants and white t-shirts. The woman, who was positively identified as Chloe Ailing, had been left standing outside the store while M.D. went in to buy fruit. The pair were also seen shopping in a shoe store, where M.D. purchased Chloe a pair of running shoes that cost around 40 euros. CCTV footage collected from the streets of VU confirmed to these sightings, capturing Chloe and her alleged kidnapper leisurely strolling hand-in-hand in broad daylight. This evidence provided a stark contrast to the allegations made by Chloe, who told police

she was not permitted to leave the farmhouse where she was being held. After 15 hours of interrogation, police confronted Chloe with this discrepancy, causing her to break down in tears. Chloe revealed that upon securing her release, M.D. made plans to drop her off a 20-minute walk away from the British consulate in Milan. But as her jacket, jeans and sneakers had been left in the abandoned building following her abduction, she had no clothing or shoes to facilitate the journey. She borrowed a tracksuit from M.D. and on the morning of Sunday, July 16, he decided

to take her shopping for shoes. For the first time since her captivity, Chloe was allowed downstairs and out of the farmhouse. M.D. drove her to VU, asserting that Black Death operatives were everywhere, rendering Chloe too afraid to scream or ask anyone for help. As she couldn't speak Italian, she was also nervous that she wouldn't be understood even if she did manage to get someone's attention. Firmly believing that earning M.D.'s trust was her only chance of escaping, she maintained her romantic facade, holding his hand as they strolled through the village together.

The visit to the shoe shop was brief. Chloe never spoke to the staff members, simply pointing to the first pair of trainers she saw and buying them in a slightly bigger size as they didn't have her own. On the way back to the car, M.D. bought some fruit from the minimart and they went back to the farmhouse for the final night before she was due to be released. The next morning, the plan to drop Chloe near the consulate was abandoned when they arrived to Milan two hours before the building was due to open. Instead, they headed to a cafe for breakfast, where M.D. advised the new plan was for Chloe

to tell the consulate staff that she had escaped, borrowed a phone from a stranger, and called him to accompany her. Investigators were skeptical of Chloe's changing story and she was forced to remain in a safe house in Italy while the investigations continued. After being informed that she would not be allowed to return home until she had provided police with all the evidence they needed, she agreed to participate in video interviews over the following days, in which she escorted investigators on a tour of the locations of her kidnapping.

She was remarkably calm as she pulled on blue latex gloves and took the police to Andrei Lazio's phony photography studio, the ramshackle two-story farmhouse, and the shops in nearby VU where they had purchased their shoes. At the farmhouse, she broke down upon discovering the property was not as remote as she was led to believe, with occupied houses neighboring both sides, close enough that they would have likely been able to hear Chloe if she had screamed. Following herself, she took the investigators on a tour of the house, where everything, down to the colours of the bedspreads and the walls, were exactly as she had described during questioning.

Italian police held a press conference to provide the details of Chloe's kidnapping for ransom and to the story was quickly picked up by the British press, who ran the story alongside the raunchiest of her social media photographs. Following Chloe's high-profile identity as a glamour model, it didn't take long before the public started raising serious doubts about the veracity of her story. The press clamoured for an interview with the young model, but she continued to be held by the Italian police. M.D. had been detained for questioning, with police identifying him as a 30-year-old Polish

national whose real name was Wukasz Herber. Wukasz possessed a false ID issued in the name he had used to rent the false photography studio for the fabricated Andre Lattio. He also carried a business card that listed his business name as Permanent Solution, featuring a logo of the grim reaper on one side and a complicated dark web email address for M.D. on the other. Wukasz initially stuck to the story that he was a friend of Chloe's, but police remained unconvinced.

He eventually confessed to participating in the plot to kidnap her, declaring the abduction had been orchestrated by a group of Romanians who lived near his flat. They forced him under duress and paid him £500,000 for his role, which was limited to renting the fake studio and farmhouse. He made no mention of the Black Death Group, justifying that he had only agreed to participate in the crime because he was undergoing treatment for leukemia and needed money for the medical care. However, he was unable to provide any proof that he had been diagnosed with the life-threatening

cancer or was undergoing any treatment and was subsequently placed under arrest for his participation in the kidnapping of Chloe Eileen. During his time in police custody, Wukasz Herber was badly beaten by other inmates after they heard he was involved in a violent crime against a woman. News of the attack reached Chloe Eileen, who felt a mix of sympathy and fear, wondering who would protect her from the Black Death Group now that Wukasz was in prison. The answer came later that week when police advised Chloe that the Black Death Group did not exist.

In fact, they suspected there were only two people involved in her abduction, Wukasz and his older brother, 36-year-old Mihao Herber. Evidence indicated the Herber brothers had been solely responsible for the crime. Wukasz was the silent masked man who later revealed himself as MD and hair samples found in the boot of the vehicle Chloe had been transported in confirmed it was Mihao who climbed in the car boot with her following her abduction. Wukasz had told Chloe that he had never been to England, when in reality he lived there in a council-owned flat in the western Midland city of Oldbury.

He had become obsessed with Chloe over the past two years, admiring her from afar through social media. Police believed Wukasz had kidnapped Chloe in the hopes of obtaining a ransom payout and that by posing as her saviour she would enter into a relationship with him. There was no evidence to indicate the auction was anything but a fictional tale woven by Wukasz to fool both Chloe and her agent, Phil Green. The Herber brothers' involvement came as a shock to those who knew them in their native home of Poland where they were known as polite, bright, kind and hard-working.

Their neighbours in the UK had other opinions regarding Wukasz in particular as a strange loner who walked around with a pet rat on his shoulder and was obsessed with computer games. One of Wukasz's former girlfriends described him as a Walter Mitty type character who lived in a fantasy world and lived to impress others. She said he was selfish and narcissistic, presenting himself as too good to be true. He'd drive around in a luxury Mercedes whilst wearing a pinstripe suit, fabricating lies that he owned land overseas, was involved in the gold trade, was a crack shot with a sniper rifle and ran a successful international firm making synthetic chicken feed.

He also raised concerns by joking to his former girlfriend about spiking her drink with drugs. She told the Daily Mail newspaper. He seemed different to other guys, like he had class, but that is just the image he was trying to create. I was very impressed by him. He'd told me he had finished three types of business studies, had a big imagination and big plans for his business.

He told me he was going to Los Angeles for six weeks to find new contractors. In reality, Wukasz was in Milan, busy executing his plot to kidnap Chloe Eileen. During the pre-trial court proceedings, a curtain separated Chloe from the gaze of her abductor as she provided her testimony against him. When the court was satisfied, she was finally allowed to fly home to the UK, where the paparazzi were camped outside her house. After preparing a statement, her smiling Chloe greeted the press, scratching her pet dog's ears and posing for the cameras.

Her brief statement read, I've been through a terrifying experience. I feared for my life, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. I am incredibly grateful to the Italian and UK authorities for all they have done to secure my safe release. I have just arrived home after four weeks of being in Italy and haven't had time to gather my thoughts. I'm not at liberty to say anything further until I have been debriefed by the UK police.

Phil Green's phone was ringing off the hook with clients offering to pay 10 times Chloe Eileen's usual rate to book the infamous model. He phoned Chloe over and over again, but the only time her phone was answered, a man on the other end introduced himself as her new agent and unceremoniously told Phil he had been fired. Hurt and angry, Phil took his frustration to the interview circuit, claiming to have been left out of pocket for expenses related to the kidnapping. He told television presenter Jeremy Kyle,

I'm hacked off because Chloe has had the most amazing year with the agency. In his book, Confessions of a Model Agent, Phil claimed he had done everything in his power to assist Chloe and that he was her lifeline while she was being held by the authorities in Italy. She had begged him to call her two to three times each day, with each call lasting a minimum of one hour. Chloe's recollection differed entirely. In her own memoir titled Kidnapped, The Untold Story of My Abduction, Chloe said Phil was

extremely unhelpful during her abduction and even told her mother to stop calling him when the search was on to find her. Chloe blamed Phil for her predicament, believing he had not done his due diligence before sending her overseas to meet Andre Lattio. One telephone call was all it would have taken to confirm that the photographer, studio and agency never existed. Chloe's story was covered by every news outlet in the UK, with the public backlash swift and vicious.

People were quick to note that her jovial demeanor did not correspond with someone who had just been through a traumatic experience, with many voicing their opinion that Chloe was lapping up the attention and not acting the way a real victim should. Every headline about the case had the words kidnap and victim in inverted commas, suggesting they were not accurate descriptors. Screenshots taken from CCTV footage showing Chloe and Wukash walking hand in hand were used to imply her involvement in the plot, as was the previous meeting they had in Paris, which ran with the headline, Chloe Knew Her Kidnapper.

Things got even more out of hand in the press when it was discovered that Chloe had accepted a Facebook friend request from Wukash Herber two years prior to the kidnapping. Chloe justified there was nothing suspicious about the connection, explaining she accepted any and every friend request to network and raise her profile. Chloe's new agent negotiated increasingly higher fees for an interview with her, and she appeared on many high-profile interview shows, including 60 Minutes, where she outright blamed Phil Green's failure to perform adequate research into Andre Latio for her kidnapping. In an interview with Dr Phil, the celebrity psychologist raised doubts about Chloe's

story, telling her, If this was a publicity stunt gone wrong, the time to say so and stop this runaway train is now. He was one of many interviewers who treated her story with skepticism, but stopped short of calling her an outright liar. Chloe was offered £5,000 to appear in an interview with UK breakfast program Good Morning Britain, in which the host, Piers Morgan, accused her of lying about her ordeal. As in all her other interviews, Chloe came across as unemotional and aloof, appearing

to have the glimmer of a smirk on her face. Her lack of emotion, coupled with her willingness to promote the situation for publicity and profit, did not sit well with a majority of the public, who labelled her an attention seeker. In February 2018, Wilcash Herber faced trial in Milan, appearing happy and relaxed as he entered the courtroom. His defence team argued that Wilcash had become infatuated with Chloe and that the whole ordeal had been set up by her.

They pointed to the fact that they had been Facebook friends since March 2015 and presented the CCTV footage of the two holding hands in VU. A neighbour of the farmhouse where Chloe was held testified that he had seen Chloe with Wilcash at least twice and that from a distance it looked like they were a couple. Wilcash told the court that Chloe had been complicit in the plan from the start, saying she wanted to be a model and she wanted to go on reality TV. She said she wanted to raise her profile and that it would be useful to her career to create a scandal.

She needed help and so I decided to help her. She had a site where if you paid money you could see spicy photographs. She has no money so I said I would help her. I hoped that at the end she would remember me and we could be together. I loved her. I never hurt the girl. I was not violent with her. If she felt forced to verbally in any way I am very sorry but it certainly was not as

Chloe has described. I was in love and I was hoping that once her fame took off that she would repay me with feelings and we would share the money. In his testimony Wilcash claimed he had told Chloe about the plan when she was in Paris but she was unhappy with the location he proposed she be kept in so he changed the plan to Milan. He admitted to creating the fake auction website claiming Chloe helped him write the extortion emails to Phil Green. His story changed continually and he contradicted himself often without noticing.

He flat out denied ever telling the Italian police he had leukaemia and his delusions became so strong and obvious that his lawyer requested a mental health assessment partway through the trial. Chloe did not have to appear at the trial with the court relying on the testimony she had given in the proceedings shortly after her release. The prosecution believed he intended to carry out the kidnapping during the original trip to Paris but backed out after being spooked by the terror attack. They described Wilcash as a fantasist with narcissistic tendencies and used evidence gained

from his phone and computer to argue that he had spent months planning the kidnapping. Shortly before Chloe's abduction he had ordered ski masks and gloves over the internet and had repeatedly used his personal computer to google the terms Chloe ailing, black death, sex trafficking and ketamine. During his time in police custody, Wilcash phoned his mother and asked her to dump his car and delete his emails, unaware that all calls made within the prison were recorded. As he gave his mother the password to his computer, investigators had no trouble accessing his files.

They found correspondence between Wilcash and his brother Mihael with one message instructing — buy a big trip back, very big. You know for what purpose it serves, so you know how big it should be. In another, Mihael advised Wilcash to be kind to Chloe as she would be more willing to cooperate. Investigators didn't find a single record of any message, email or telephone call between the Herber brothers and Chloe. On June 11, 2018, Wilcash Herber was convicted of kidnapping Chloe ailing and sentenced to 16 years and 9 months in prison.

The court found no evidence to suggest Chloe had been complicit in her own abduction. This should have been total vindication for Chloe. However, the press continued with the narrative that she had masterminded the whole scheme and continued to shed doubt with headlines like, British model Chloe ailing helped write her own ransom note. It was only when reading the full article that it became clear this was not a fact but a claim made by Wilcash Herber. Chloe's story never wavered.

Police, investigators and the court authorities in Italy and England had checked every detail and ultimately supported her story. But many members of the British press and public simply refused to believe that someone who looked and acted like Chloe was the victim of a violent crime. Regardless, Chloe defiantly continued to capitalize on her new notoriety, competing on reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother for a rumoured fee of £75,000. She was embroiled in a scandal with a married contestant and was the second person voted out of the competition.

The father of Chloe's son gave interviews saying Chloe had not been to visit her child since she had returned home from Italy, preferring to travel the world following her sudden heightened fame. She also ran into trouble with the lawyer who had assisted her in Italy, with a disagreement arising between the pair over whether his services had been performed pro bono. A court subsequently ruled Chloe had to pay the lawyer £9,000 in unpaid legal fees. In May 2019, she started a new job with an adult website, Studio 66 TV, charging visitors £2 per minute to watch her strip and engage in what was advertised as sexy chat, in some

instances wearing a pink chenille bodysuit akin to the one she wore during her abduction. Denying any involvement in the kidnapping plot, Mihal Herber fought to avoid extradition from the UK to Italy to face trial. In December 2017, he was granted permission to appeal the decision at Westminster Magistrates Court, with the solicitors releasing a statement arguing the entire case was a sham and that there was no evidence of Mihal being involved in any of the alleged conduct. They believed he would not receive a fair trial in Italy given his brothers had already commenced.

The appeal was rejected, and Mihal was eventually extradited to Italy in October 2018. Despite Chloe initially being told she would not be required to provide evidence in court, Mihal won an appeal requiring her to be questioned over her alleged involvement. As she expressed feeling vulnerable about returning to the city where she had been abducted two years earlier, she was permitted to appear from the Westminster Magistrates Court via video link. She continued to stick by every word of her original story, and denied the Defence Council's claims that she orchestrated her kidnapping as a publicity stunt to boost her public profile.

Chloe said the whole incident had completely ruined her reputation, and it had never been her choice to go public with the details. As of June 2019, Mihal Herber's trial is still underway. Chloe has since had time to reflect on her ordeal and the public's perception of her. In a 2018 interview with the Guardian News site, she said, I don't think people believed me because I wasn't in tears, but I was happy, as you would be, seeing your family after a month when you thought you weren't going to again. Also, because cameras are an everyday part of my life, I probably reacted differently

from how most people would if they had been through the same thing. I think if you're going to be a glamour model, you're bound to be portrayed in that way. It's just the stereotype, I guess, that we want fame and publicity. In her book Kidnapped, the Untold Story of My Abduction, Chloe wrote, Every single word printed in this book is the truth. If you still think this is a fictitious story that I have made up because I'm an attention seeker, I suggest you read something else. I don't have time for you or your scepticism.

Going through what I have gone through has taught me one thing. You never know what is going to happen. You never know what is round the corner. You have to live every moment.