Seraya Aung Harmon, left, was last seen with her father, Aaron Daniel Aung, far right. Nadia Cole, Aaron Aung’s fiancee, next to him above, was traveling with them. (Pullman Police — Washington state)
Authorities found a 2-year-old Washington state girl at a roadside checkpoint in Mexico and arrested her father, ending an international manhunt after he failed to make a scheduled custody exchange with the girl’s mother.
The girl, Seraya Aung Harmon, was found safe over the weekend and placed into the care of Arizona Child Protective Services, police said in a news release. Her father, Aaron Aung, 21, and his fiancee, Nadia Cole, also, 21, were detained by authorities in Mexico before they were turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, authorities said.
Aaron Aung is being held in the Santa Cruz County Detention Center in Nogales, Arizona, and is awaiting extradition back to Washington state on an outstanding warrant for custodial interference, authorities said. Cole was deported back to the U.S., the statement added.
In a statement, Cole’s parents said their daughter was found safe and unharmed on Thursday and was safely transported to the border to reenter the U.S. She voluntarily came back to her parents and has been fully cooperating with authorities, her parents said.
“She is recovering from her ordeal at a secure private location,” said the statement from Kirk and Beata Cole, posted on the Facebook page of Security Services Northwest, which acted as a hub for tips and information in the missing persons case. “Details of the circumstances that led to her disappearance remain part of an ongoing investigation, and we trust that more information will be released as deemed appropriate by the investigating agencies.”
As Law&Crime reported in June, Aaron Aung was being sought on a warrant for first-degree custodial interference for violating a parenting plan for retaining custody of Seraya.
The international search began when Seraya was last seen with her father on May 29. They were supposed to show up to a scheduled custody exchange with the girl’s mother in Pullman, Washington, about 285 miles east of Seattle, after a planned fishing trip in Montana, police said.
Cole’s parents said they last saw her on May 29 when she told them she had to use the restroom at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The family was set to travel to Italy to celebrate her graduation from Washington State University. Surveillance video showed her leaving the airport, getting on the light rail, getting off at the University Street stop and walking toward the Seattle waterfront, her parents said.
“The main thing is just try and find her, our daughter, and hope she’s safe,” Kirk Cole told the Peninsula Daily News at the time. “She left her phone, which I thought was odd, and her carry-on (a small backpack) and went to the bathroom and never returned.”
A month after the disappearance, Seraya’s mother, Samara Harmon, wrote on Facebook, “Words can’t even begin to describe the pain, terror, and downright trauma this has caused not only me, but I can only assume my precious baby girl as well. A whole month apart is nothing but torture.”
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