Why Did No One Stop Sunny Naqvi?

This is part two of our investigation. Read part one here.

Sunny Naqvi’s story spread quickly. Her family claimed that ICE detained the 28-year-old U.S. citizen for over 43 hours after her flight landed at O’Hare. Her family shared screenshots of her phone pinging near ICE facilities as they staged a press conference. But Naqvi’s story soon fell apart. Now, new evidence has emerged that might explain how those phone pings happened.

But for people from Sunny’s past, who knew of her propensity to tell grandiose tales and ruin the lives of those in her orbit, her ICE story felt less a mystery and more a pattern. Police reports that The Juggernaut obtained involved a fake pregnancy, fake burglaries, fake police reports, and even a severed koala plushie. 

To understand why Sunny’s story matters, the answer might lie in how families might condone certain behaviors — especially when loved ones move beyond hurting themselves to hurting others. “Parents do this all the time…just absorb what their child has done, to…soften what’s happened, to prevent the conflict, or shame,” Jyothsna Bhat, a clinical psychologist, told The Juggernaut. “How many times have you heard somebody say, ‘That’s okay? It’s all right?’”