Kidnapped model recounts ordeal, says she was 'terrified'

August 13, 2017 at 6:11 a.m. | Updated August 13, 2017 at 6:15 a.m.

by Associated Press

In this image made from video taken on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017, model Chloe Ayling speaks with the media outside of her house in Surrey, England. The lawyer for British model Chloe Ayling says police are holding a suspect in her kidnapping. The 20-year-old says she was lured to Italy with the promise of a photo shoot, then drugged and kidnapped by a man who advertised her as a sex slave on the criminal "dark web." Ayling says her captor released her at the British consulate in Milan. Her lawyer acknowledges that aspects of the case seem bizarre. (RAI via AP)
In this image made from video taken on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017, model Chloe Ayling speaks with the media outside of her house in Surrey, England. The lawyer for British model Chloe Ayling says police are holding a suspect in her kidnapping. The 20-year-old says she was lured to Italy with the promise of a photo shoot, then drugged and kidnapped by a man who advertised her as a sex slave on the criminal "dark web." Ayling says her captor released her at the British consulate in Milan. Her lawyer acknowledges that aspects of the case seem bizarre. (RAI via AP)

LONDON (AP) - A British model who was allegedly abducted in Italy says she understands why people may doubt her story, but insists she was certain she would die during the terrifying ordeal.

Chloe Ayling says she was lured to Milan for a fake photo shoot, then drugged, stuffed into a suitcase and held by criminals who threatened to auction her on the dark web.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, 20-year-old Ayling said "I was terrified beyond words. ... I thought, 'I'm not going to get out of here alive.'"

Ayling says she was told she would be killed if she tried to flee.

She was freed after six days when a captor took her to the British consulate. Italian police have arrested a 30-year-old Polish man, Lukasz Herba.

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