MILWAUKEE — A missing Milwaukee teen is back home safe after her mom and a community activist joined forces to find her.
Chicago Police are now investigating because Armoni Chambers' disappearance was likely connected to human trafficking. She would be one of 7,000 victims in just the state of Wisconsin.
Armoni went missing May 17. Her mom Bonnie Bruno said unbeknownst to her, her 16-year-old got on a Greyhound bus to meet a guy she had been talking to on social media. Bruno said the guy was not the boyfriend he claimed to be.
"She was mistreated every day. She was beaten like every day. Sometimes twice a day. She was afraid," said Bruno.
Bruno said she called Milwaukee Police to report her daughter missing, saying Armoni has a mental illness.
"I was told and I quote, 'Well she's gone missing before, maybe she'll come back,'" said Bruno.
On June 18, a month after Armoni disappeared, Milwaukee Police classified her as critical missing. MPD said it never stopped investigating.
"Members of the Milwaukee Police Department have worked diligently with the mother and have followed up with the information provided to the agency. Once MPD's Sensitive Crime Division received information from the mother that indicated the victim was at risk, she was then categorized as a critical missing. The Milwaukee Police Department takes missing persons reports seriously and will continue to do so," said Milwaukee Police in a statement.
Bruno said she was on her own until this week when she called community activist Tory Lowe, a stranger to her, to ask him to go with her to Chicago to follow a tip.
"My only words were let's go. We didn't what we were going to what we were going to run into. We didn't know what was going to happen," said Lowe.
A couple days later, Bruno says she received a Facebook Live video, showing her daughter on a dog leash and being held around her neck. As disturbing as it was to watch, Bruno said it helped them to zero in on a home where her daughter was being held.
A Chicago activist eventually talked a man into giving Armoni back to her mom.
"She told me, 'Mom, had you not gotten me away from those people I wouldn't be alive,'" said Bruno.
No one had been arrested for what happened to Chambers. Chicago Police said they are aware of the Facebook Live video. They have turned the case involving Chambers over to detectives and the Human Trafficking Task Force.
Bruno said her daughter has been taken to the hospital because of her injuries. She is now at home recovering.
