PULLMAN – Over the weekend, authorities located missing two-year-old Seraya Aung Harmon at a roadside checkpoint near Santa Ana, Mexico.
Seraya’s father, Aaron Aung, failed to return Seraya to her mother’s custody in Pullman on June 3, 2024. Aung’s fiancée, 21-year-old Nadia Cole, was reported missing to the Port of Seattle Police Department at the end of May, and was believed to be possibly traveling with Aaron and young Seraya, whose whereabouts were unknown.
According to information provided by the City of Pullman Police Department, Aaron Aung, Seraya Aung Harmon, and Nadia Cole were detained by authorities in Mexico and turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) coordinated with authorities at the National Institute of Migration, the Mexican State Police, the Nogales Police Department, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Aaron Aung is currently being held in the Santa Cruz County Detention Center in Nogales, Arizona, awaiting extradition back to Whitman County on an outstanding warrant for Custodial Interference 1st Degree. Cole was subsequently deported back to the United States. Seraya has been in the care of Arizona Child Protective Services.
Detectives with the Pullman and Moscow (Idaho) Police Departments have been working with FBI Seattle since early June to locate Seraya and reunite her with her mother.