The search continues for a missing Washington woman who disappeared from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month, along with a 2-year-old child who failed to arrive for a scheduled pickup with her mother.
Recent Washington State University graduate, Nadia Erika Cole, 21, hasn’t been seen since 3 p.m. on May 29, who could possibly be traveling with her fiancé, Aaron Aung, who is wanted by police for failing to return his child, 2-year-old Seraya Aung Harmon, to her mother.
“The main thing is just try and find her, our daughter, and hope she’s safe,” Nadia’s father, Kirk Cole, said on Wednesday, according to The Peninsula News. “She left her phone, which I thought was odd, and her carry-on (a small backpack) and went to the bathroom and never returned.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Pullman police, in collaboration with the Moscow Police Department and the FBI, began investigating the disappearance of Serya after she was last seen with her father, Aung, on May 29.
The Pullman Police Department said Aung and Seraya went to Montana for a fishing trip but never returned. Seraya was also scheduled to meet with her mother in Pullman for a custody exchange on June 3, but never showed up.
Police subsequently issued a warrant for Aung’s arrest on a custodial interference charge.
𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: 𝗔𝗿𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝗱 for 21-year old Aaron Daniel Aung, for Custodial Interference 1st Degree.
Aung is 5’ 9”, and approximately 135 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Call law enforcement immediately w/ tips or info.
PPD: (509) 334-0802 pic.twitter.com/9F9gwVGsOH
— PullmanPolice (@PullmanPolice) June 5, 2024
“We’ve done intensive interviews with the FBI (Tuesday),” Kirk Cole added.
“Because of the baby, it’s a child custody issue. We’re assuming they are related, but we don’t know for sure. But I’m a doctor and I don’t believe in coincidences. The FBI is treating them as two separate issues. It’s just been crickets.”
Sea-Tac security footage captured Cole leaving the airport wearing a black North Face jacket, a sage or olive green hoodie, black yoga pants, white Converse shoes, and carrying a tan shoulder bag, according to her father.
Later, at around 4 p.m. on May 29, she was spotted on Sound Transit security footage while exiting the light rail at Third Avenue and University Street in Seattle, and heading toward the waterfront.
Cole’s mother, Beata Colr, told KOMO News that they were waiting to board a flight to Italy to celebrate Cole’s recent college graduation, when Cole said she needed to go to the bathroom, leaving most of her belongings behind and never returning.
“Nadia is cherished by the hundreds of people who know her, and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance are entirely out of character for her,” Cole’s parents said in a statement. “We are utterly devastated by her disappearance and are fervently praying for her safe return.”
“Any piece of information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, could be crucial in bringing Nadia back to us.”
Meanwhile, Seraya’s mother, Samara Harmon, said she last saw her daughter on May 29 when she dropped her off with Aung during a custody exchange at the Pullman Police Department. Harmon later learned that Aung had taken their daughter out of state.
“I physically felt my heart hit the floor, and I felt pain and fear and confusion like I’ve never felt coursing through my whole body,” Harmon told KOMO News. “I just didn’t know how to process it. I was kind of just trying to figure out what had happened, where she was, why she was ever in Montana, why I hadn’t been told about this beforehand.”
Multiple agencies looking into the strange disappearances of Nadia Cole, 21, from the airport on 5/29 & Seraya Aung-Harmon, 2, out of Pullman. Seraya was last seen w/ her father Aaron Aung who is Cole’s fiancé. Both disappeared the same day @komonews pic.twitter.com/rYyHb8x9vE
— Lynnanne Nguyen (@LynnanneNguyen) June 5, 2024
A $1,000 reward is currently being offered by the child’s family for information that leads to her whereabouts.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Pullman PD tip line at (509) 334-0802.
[Feature Photo: Pullman PD]
