Mother charged with abducting South Elgin girl

South Elgin police are asking the public's help in locating a 9-year-old girl whose mother was charged with child abduction.

Kayla Unbehaun was abducted by her mother Heather Unbehaun, 35, sometime before July 5, when the two failed to show up in Wheaton for a prearranged pickup by the girl's father, Sgt. Mike Doty said.

Heather Unbehaun is believed to have left with her daughter July 4 and to be driving a blue 2000 Toyota Camry with expired Georgia license plate PTM 3975, police said.

The girl lived with her father, Ryan Iskerka, in South Elgin; the mother's last known address is the 500 block of East Illinois Street in Wheaton, where the girl's maternal grandfather lives, Doty said.

The Kane County state's attorney's office charged Heather Unbehaun with one count of child abduction, police said in a news release Friday.

Iskerka set up a GoFundMe page earlier this month to raise funds to hire a private investigator. He wrote that Heather Unbehaun's relatives said she went on a camping trip to Wisconsin and was expected to return July 5 but did not show up.

Heather's social media accounts have been deactivated and her phone was turned off, Iskerka wrote.

"As far as we know, no one has been able to reach her or has talked to her since the 4th of July," he wrote.

A Kane County judge suspended Heather Unbehaun's parenting time on July 7 and granted all decision-making rights to the father, court records show. Previously, mother and father shared that.

Police are asking that anyone who spots the vehicle, the child or the mother call 911.

Anyone with relevant information should contact the investigations division at (847) 741-2151.

Staff writer Susan Sarkauskas contributed to this report.