A 4-year-old lady who went lacking throughout a court-ordered go to along with her mom in November 2021 has been safely recovered in a joint operation by the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Process Pressure and the Chicago Police Division, officers introduced Monday.
Blessing Wasso was one yr previous when her mom, Erika Ephraim, often known as Ericka Wasso, visited her at a facility in Brighton Park on November 5, 2021, officers mentioned. Blessing disappeared throughout the go to, and the Illinois Division of Youngsters and Household Providers (DCFS), which had authorized custody of the kid, reported each her and her mom lacking.
The Chicago Police Division (CPD) issued an up to date lacking particular person bulletin for Blessing in Might 2024 and a separate bulletin for her mom three weeks later. The bulletins indicated authorities suspected Ephraim had taken the lady to California or Texas.
With out naming Blessing or her mom, the U.S. Marshals Service issued a press launch Monday stating that CPD requested help in finding a lacking toddler on January 1, 2025. A supply confirmed the toddler was Blessing.
Investigation by CPD and the U.S. Marshals Service led authorities to concentrate on two residences—one in Chicago and one other in Blue Island—with a Chicago handle rising as the first lead, in line with the press launch. Authorities confirmed Ephraim was residing on the Chicago location, the place a younger lady, roughly 4 to five years previous, was seen peeking out of a second-floor window.
On June 3, 2025, authorities performed additional surveillance and decided the kid intently resembled an age-progressed picture of Blessing supplied by the Nationwide Middle for Lacking and Exploited Youngsters. Officers determined to proceed with an arrest operation to get better the kid, the Marshals Service mentioned.
After forcing entry into the residence, officers apprehended Ephraim as she tried to flee, in line with the press launch. Blessing was taken into protecting custody and returned to DCFS, as she stays a ward of the state, the Marshals Service acknowledged.
Ephraim was booked into Prepare dinner County Jail on a number of lively warrants, together with one for full extradition from the California Division of Corrections, in addition to non-extraditable warrants for retail theft in Prepare dinner County, stolen property in Orange County, California, and theft in Sign Hill, California, in line with the press launch.
CPD issued separate press releases on June 6, 2025, saying that Blessing and her mom had been “safely situated.”
