Missing Pullman girl, 2, found alive with couple who fled to Mexico
Jul 9, 2024, 12:30 AM | Updated: 6:48 am
From left, 2-year old girl Seraya Aung Harmon, Nadia Cole, center, and Aaron Aung. Aung is engaged to Cole and is Aung Harmon's father. (Photos courtesy of Pullman Police Department)
(Photos courtesy of Pullman Police Department)
The search a missing 2-year-old girl from Pullman and the engaged couple last seen with the child ended when they were all found alive in Mexico.
According to a news release from the city of Pullman, authorities located missing Seraya Aung Harmon, 2, over the weekend at a roadside checkpoint near Santa Ana, Mexico. The release didn’t specify exactly when the child was found.
Aung Harmon father, Aaron Aung, failed to return the child to her mother’s custody on June 3 in Pullman. Aung’s fiancée, 21-year-old Nadia Cole, was reported missing to the Port of Seattle Police Department at the end of May as she was last seen at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac Airport). She was believed to be possibly traveling with Aung and Aung Harmon.
Previous coverage: Missing Pullman girl, 2, likely with couple who fled to Mexico
Authorities in Mexico detained Aung, Aung Harmon and Cole and turned them over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the city of Pullman reported. The FBI coordinated with authorities at the National Institute of Migration, Mexican State Police, the Nogales Police Department in Mexico and CBP.
Aung is being held at a detention center in Nogales, Arizona, awaiting extradition back to Whitman County, where Pullman is located, on an outstanding warrant for custodial interference in the first degree.
Cole was subsequently deported back to the U.S., the press statement from the city stated.
The child has been in the care of Arizona Child Protective Services.
Background on the case: How we got here
“Seraya was last seen with her father, Aaron Aung, on May 29,” the Pullman Police Department (PPD) stated on social media. “The two reportedly traveled to Montana on a fishing trip,” but the two never returned to the home of the girl’s mother.
More on missing people in Washington: Mount Vernon girl, 14, found safe in Michigan
“It’s hard, I can’t even really tell you what I do because I just basically think about her and try and find a way to find her,” the missing 2-year-old’s mother told KIRO Newsradio at the time.
Initially, Aung was thought to have traveled to Montana because he was seen buying camping gear and a Montana map book in Moscow, Idaho. However, the PPD revealed in a later update that Aung and Cole likely traveled to Mexico in a black 2014 Cadillac XTS.
Crime blotter: Covering the crimes committed in the Puget Sound region
Contributing: Frank Sumrall
Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.
