[caption id="attachment_63747" align="aligncenter" width="640"] mom faked abduction, now faces formal charges[/caption]Sheriff Claims Missing Mom Faked Abduction

The county sheriff in Rothville, Missouri is claiming that a young mother and her daughter who were reported missing has faked her abduction.

Sheriff Chris Hughes says that 28-year old Rachel Koechner and her 4-year old daughter have not been the target of kidnappers but were involved in a plot for Koechner to leave her current boyfriend in order to start a new life with her ex-husband, Brenda Koechner, Rachel's mother, said.

"I didn't know what to think," Brenda Koechner said.

Authorities were called in to investigate the case when Koechner's boyfriend received a text message from her requesting help, but they became suspicious when she was spotted in the nearby town of Brookfield, the same place where her ex-spouse Devon Sandner also resides.

"The boyfriend said it sounded like she was being coached or like she was reading a statement," Hughes said. The sheriff's office was able to trace the phone number she called from, which led them to a motel in Blue Springs, Mo., a suburb of Kansas City.

Sandner is the father of Koechner's daughter Zoee. When police tracked her to a motel in a Kansas City suburb, she abruptly left after the sheriff was able to reach her by phone and she ultimately called her boyfriend to ask family members to call off the search.

"When I called the hotel and asked if they were staying there, the hotel worker said 'yes, they are checking out,' and passed the phone to Rachel," Hughes said.

ABC News writes:

Hughes notified the Blue Springs Police Department and by the time they arrived at the hotel Koechner and her daughter were gone. The hotel clerk was able to give a description of the vehicle and confirmed that a man, later determined to be Devon Sandner, was with them.

Later that night, their vehicle was spotted more than 100 miles away back in the town of Brookfield. Linn County Sheriff's deputies and the Missouri State Highway patrol went to Sandner's home and located the three of them.

According to ABC News, Hughes said when he interviewed Koechner she admitted the initial text was a fake and alluded to the fact that she and her ex-husband had been planning to go off together.

Brenda Koechner said the whole situation has left her confused.

"I do not understand it," she said. "We are so confused about the whole ordeal. I go from anger, confused, hurt."

Koechner has been jailed and is facing charges.

On The Web:

Missing Missouri Mom Allegedly Faked Her Abduction, Sheriff Says
http://abcnews.go.com/US/missing-missouri-mom-allegedly-faked-abduction-sheriff/story?id=18766330