Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - TOT- GIRL, 2, MISSING AFTER MAN BUYS CAMPING GEAR, MAPS | MOM SPEAKS TO NANCY
Episode Date: June 10, 2024Seraya Aung Harmon's mother, Samara Harmon, joins us on today's "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace." Samara Harmon and Aaron Aung welcome a daughter, Seraya in early May 2022. While the parents split sho...rtly after Seraya’s birth, they share custody of the happy toddler with a big personality. When Seraya is about 18 months old, Aung proposes to his new girlfriend, Nadia Cole. On June 3, Samara Harmon drives to the exchange location to pick up daughter Seraya from her father, Aaron Aung. When Aung doesn’t arrive 30 minutes later, he starts to worry. Aung isn’t answering her calls or texts. Harmon reaches out to Aung’s parents, who inform her that Aung planned to take Seraya camping at Flathead Lake, Montana for the week. Harmon discovers Aung’s fiancé is also unaccounted for, and immediately reports her daughter missing. Aaron Aung’s fiancé, Nadia Cole, sets out to join her family for a planned trip to Italy, to celebrate her recent graduation from Washington State University. Aung stays behind to pick up his daughter Seraya from Pullman for their week together. The Cole family makes it to their gate at Seattle’s SeaTac airport, and Nadia leaves her luggage with them while she runs to the restroom. She never returns. Just after 3 p.m., surveillance video shows Cole hastily leaving the airport, getting on a light rail train to downtown Seattle, and appearing distressed. JOINING NANCY TODAY: Samara Harmon - Seraya's Mom Tara Malek – Bosie, ID, Attorney & Co-owner of Smith + Malek; Former State and Federal Prosecutor; X: @smith_malek Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA. Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Jason Jensen – Private Investigator (Jensen Private Investigations), Cold Case Expert (Salt Lake City, UT), and Co-founder: “Cold Case Coalition;” Investigations; X: @JasonJPI, Facebook/Instagram: “Jensen Investigations” Lauren Conlin – Investigative Journalist, Host of The Outlier Podcast, and also Host of “Corruption: What Happened to Grant Solomon; X- @Conlin_Lauren/ Instagram- @LaurenEmilyConlin/YouTube- @LaurenConlin4 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Breaking news tonight, a two-year-old little girl goes missing after cops learn a man buys
camping gear and maps for Backwoods, Montana, and is talk girl Soraya's disappearance connected to a 21 year old
missing woman good evening I'm Nancy Grace this is crime stories thank you
for being with us dinosaur Aww, you gave the dinosaur a kiss.
I'm ready to kiss you!
You're ready to kiss me?
Can you imagine the anguish of Soraya's mother?
Suddenly, her daughter is gone.
Thank you for being with us tonight.
We are on the search for a two-year-old little talk girl.
Let me give you the tip line right off the top.
509-334-0802.
Repeat.
509-334-0802.
Also, an 800 number.
800-225-5324.
800-225-5324, 800-225-5324.
Look at this little girl.
Can you imagine all of your love, all of your energy, all of your money, your hopes, your dreams poured in to this little girl and now, bam, she's gone.
Where is Soraya?
Listen.
June 3rd.
Samara Harmon drives to the exchange location to pick up daughter Soraya from her father, Aaron Ong.
When Ong hasn't arrived 30 minutes later, Harmon starts to worry.
Ong isn't answering her calls or texts.
Harmon reaches out to Ong's parents who inform her that Ong planned to take Soraya camping at Flathead Lake, Montana for the week.
Harmon discovers Ong's fiance is also unaccounted for and immediately reports her daughter missing.
OK, all right there. Everything is sideways.
Joining me in all star panel to make sense of what we know right now, but first to a very special guest joining us.
This is Soraya's mom, Samara Harmon.
Ms. Harmon, thank you for being with us.
Of course.
Ms. Harmon, tell me about the moment you discovered your daughter is missing.
I was sitting in the police station and we're waiting for hopefully her and her father to show up for
a custodial exchange like we had every time we had one in front of the police station to which
he did not show up. So you were sitting in a car or in a van or inside the station where were you?
I was inside the station. Okay was that normal? Did you normally go inside to swap off?
I normally do, yes, because I myself don't have a personal vehicle.
So unless I had a ride given to me by a family member or a friend, I would often wait inside with Soraya or for her.
How often did you let Soraya be with her dad? We had a 5-5-2-2 schedule. So I would have her for five
days. He would have her for five. Then I would have her for two and he would have her for two.
It was 50-50 custody. Okay. How long had that custody agreement been enforced? It took place
around August of 2023. So since then. So not even a year.
Exactly.
Question regarding the swap off.
How would Soraya act when she would come back to you from being with her father?
Super excited.
She would often reach out for me.
Sometimes when he would walk with her, she would let go of his hand and run to me.
She was always really excited to see me.
Unless she wasn't feeling well, then sometimes she would be a little bit more calm and nonchalant.
But she was still always very excited to be reunited with me.
Had there been any issues?
I know she's only two years old.
I'm not sure how much she could communicate with you.
Were there any issues
with her going to her dad's? Not that she told me. The only ones I'd seen were the little
interactions we had when I handed her off, when she would kick and scream and cry and fight or
ask for me when going with him or a family member of his. Do you know why she did that?
I don't know.
No, but I know it broke my heart every time.
Ms. Harmon, again, I want to thank you for being with us.
And I'm just imagining if I had to give my twins over
and be away from them for five days, then two days, then five days,
then two days, that in itself would be hell for me to be away from them, much less when they cry
and literally kick and scream when they're taken away from me. I don't, how do you do that?
I mean, how do you keep going?
I just keep her in all of my thoughts
and just know that she's too little to understand
and that it's important for her to see both parents.
That's what the courts agreed.
She's staying with that
and just hoping and praying that even if she's upset in that moment, that she calms down and she enjoys her time with her father.
It's it's that in and of itself has been really, really hard.
Like you were saying, when did the girlfriend get in the picture?
I don't know the exact date they got
together. I know I first heard about it about 10 or so months ago. Okay. Now, wait a minute. Wait
a minute. How long before you guys divorced?
We were never married.
Okay.
But I'm not certain if he was seeing her beforehand or not.
I don't know that.
Okay.
And you're right.
You're right.
You're right, Ms. Harmon.
That's neither here nor there.
Did you ever meet this woman nadia cole no
not officially what did you know about her did your daughter did did sarai ever tell you about
her anything about her um so i didn't know about her name until the day i discovered my daughter
was missing but in hindsight i do recall my daughter saying she missed Nada,
which I can only assume meant Nadia. So your daughter liked Nadia? As far as I know, yes.
Okay, wait a minute. What is that? Hold on. Lauren Collin joining me in addition to
Soraya's mother. Lauren Collin, who is he and who is she? Aaron is Soraya's father and Nadia Cole is his girlfriend who just graduated from the University of Washington.
How I'm looking at her.
She's gorgeous.
And I'm very curious.
Do we have any idea anything about her other than she graduated?
She lived at Pullman, right?
Yes, she she lived in Pullman and she lived in the beautiful college town.
And as Samara said, she had been dating Aaron for the last 10 months.
And as of right now, that is all we know.
Okay, I think that's all I need to know right now.
Joining me in all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now.
But I want to take Samara, this is Soraya's mother, back to the moment that she gets a ride to the police
station, like she typically does, to pick up her daughter. Okay, tell me what happened at the police
station. So I had been asked if I had been in contact with the Moscow Police Department earlier that day, to which I responded yes, which in that previous conversation, they just said they were searching for Aaron in regards to Nadia Cole.
In the police station, I was then informed that Nadia was missing as well as my daughter and her father.
What went through your mind when you heard that, Samara? I was trying to process everything
because it was a lot of information to dump with 30 seconds to just kind of let me know that not
only is his new girlfriend, who I've never met before, missing, but my daughter is. I just,
I fell apart. Did you have any idea where she was or what had happened?
They had told me they believed that she went on a camping trip with her dad to Montana.
And that still in and of itself made no sense to me.
I knew, I had no idea where she was.
I knew nothing about where she was or how she was doing anything about that.
And they didn't have really any
information to answer any questions I had. Guys, what exactly happened around the time
Soraya disappears? Listen. Erin Ong's fiancee, Nadia Cole, sets out to join her family for a
planned trip to Italy, celebrating her recent graduation from Washington State University.
Ong stays behind to pick up his daughter, Soraya, from Pullman for their week together.
The Cole family makes it to their gate at Seattle SeaTac Airport,
and Nadia leaves her luggage with them while she runs to the restroom.
She never returns.
Just after 3 p.m., surveillance video shows Cole hastily leaving the airport
and getting on a light rail train to downtown Seattle, appearing distressed. So Lauren Conlon, who spots Soraya with the dad
looking for maps and buying camping gear?
To my knowledge, this was seen on camera.
And at this point, again, like Samara said,
she was very confused because this was never planned.
And Montana is pretty far away here
from from Pullman and from from Idaho so this was very confusing to Dr. Angela Arnold joining us
renowned psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction you can find her at AngelaArnoldMD.com dot com. Dr. Angie, thank you for being with us. I mean, when we say domestic issues,
it sounds so warm and cozy like a Hallmark movie. Domestic is anything but. The reality is that when
children are kidnapped or harmed, it's usually by someone that knows them and is related to them.
Right now, we have no idea where this two-year-old girl is.
No idea where she really is.
All of this plotting and planning and scheming and gnashing of teeth and twisting of tails
was done without mommy knowing a thing. You think mommy knows
daddy was out getting camping gear and maps of Montana? H-E-L-L-N-O. No idea. She's sitting there
on her little bench at the police station waiting for Soraya to come running through the door and nothing happens. And the next thing she
finds out, daddy's buying camping gear. I mean, how does it go so sideways? And the thought that
this girlfriend, the mistress is part of the plan. I can't wait to get my mitts on these two. Why does it go so sideways, Dr. Angie?
Well, there's so many questions here that are unanswered, Nancy.
And I'm sitting here wondering, what were they plotting?
I do believe the little girl is in danger.
What was this man like?
What was the biological father like before any of this happened?
And what is their intention with this little girl? Of course, I'm thinking the worst. I'm
thinking the absolute worst. This man has no boundaries. Why do they have to constantly meet
at a police station to exchange the child. So there has to be some level of
concern there from the attorney's point of view that they have to meet at a police station.
I am so concerned about this little girl and actually his girlfriend. And I would love to
know more about who the biological father is. If we could hear more about who he is and what the
mother knows about him, I think that that could be very helpful to us. Nadia Cole is reported
missing to Porto Siano Police. Cole is five foot nine inches tall, weighs about 130 pounds,
has long blonde hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing a green hoodie, black yoga pants,
and white Converse sneakers, carrying a black North Face jacket and a tan purse.
Cole's family has hired a private investigator, and there is a $1,000 reward for information
leading to Nadia Cole's safe return home. Anyone with information is asked to call 877-220-8129. Where is two year old Soraya? We now learn there's a possibility she's out what
backpacking out in the Montana forest, or is she in Mexico? Uh, is she on a flight?
Have we been bamboozled? Is she somewhere completely different? The mother shows up.
Now imagine this.
It's hard for me to imagine because I can't even imagine being away from my twins.
The mom has her five days and two days and five days and two days.
It's a split custody with dad.
She has to do the drop off at a police station.
Why?
I need to know that. Why a police station? Why can't
daddy just drop her off at the front door? What? Anyway, the mom sitting at the police station
waiting, waiting, tick, tock, tick, tock. No idea. Anything is wrong. When a cop comes out and says she's missing I can imagine the mother's whole
world just imploding at that moment she's missing with me is Soraya's mother Samara Harmon
Miss Harmon what went through your mind and your body when you heard your daughter's missing? It was like being told every nightmare I've ever had, all of my worst fears, everything
evil and terrible about the world was just being thrown at me that my daughter, my whole
world, my everything was nowhere to be seen and completely unaccounted for.
I felt that in every inch of my body, every fiber of my being wanted to scream out to find her.
What did you say? What did you do?
I immediately fell apart. I was trying to be able to be understood by the officers.
I was trying to breathe and kind of talk.
I just kept asking, where are they?
When I was informed that they could be on a camping trip to Montana, I started asking, why?
Why Montana?
Why wasn't I told?
Why is this the first time hearing about this?
Just every question I could think of, even whether they made sense in that moment or not. I just wanted, I just wanted to know where she was. I wanted to know every bit of information they had.
Ms. Harmon, I'm having questions about why you had to go to a police station to do the swap off
with your husband. Why couldn't he just drop Soraya at your front door?
I had wanted us to do it in a public place
for my own feelings of uncertainty and discomfort.
So he decided that the police station would be the best bet.
There had been times I'd asked him a bit closer
to a hotel that was nearby
that still had video surveillance and witnesses around.
And he only did that one time.
Every other time I had to either find a way to get her to the police station or walk her the 30 minutes to get her there.
Okay.
You had to walk your two-year-old daughter 30 minutes for drop-off and pickup? More times than not, yes.
Does your husband have a car? Yes, he has multiple and he's not my husband. Wait, wait, wait, wait,
wait. I'm sorry. He has multiple cars. Is that what you said? Yes. Did he ever explain why he
couldn't meet you closer to your home? He said it was a breach in the parenting plan
and that if I wanted to change the drop-off or pickup location to contact his lawyer,
when I did that, his lawyer said he no longer represented him and it was between us to figure
out. Joining you right now, a high-profile lawyer out of this jurisdiction, Tara Malik is joining us,
a named partner in Smith & Malik, a former state and federal prosecutor.
Tara, thank you for being with us.
That is completely bass-ackwards.
Why is the mother being put out in this way?
I mean, I got a bigger fish to fry right now, Tara, about mainly where is Soraya. It's not a far jump, a far leap of logic to be concerned about Soraya's well-being.
If he would make Soraya walk along the side of streets and roads, 30 minutes to get to drop off
pickup, what else would he do with multiple vehicles? Okay, Tara, how is this okay? It's not okay. It's
absolutely not okay. You know, the custody agreements that talk about the exchange of
children have certain conditions in them. That doesn't mean that the parents can't come up with
an alternative if it makes sense for the situation, which is what you're talking about here.
Why is this little girl having to walk with her mom down a street for 30 minutes and put themselves in danger? We've all heard
about accidents and cars going off roads. There's really no reason for this at all. And then to say,
talk to my lawyer, but your lawyer no longer represents you, just seems like a control
technique and a cop out. Talk to the lawyer.
You know, Jason Jensen is joining us,
private investigator and cold case expert,
co-founder of the Cold Case Coalition,
but you can find him at Jensen Private Investigations.
Jason, thank you for being with us. About how many of your cases deal with a parent taking off with a child?
No, it's really quite rare, Nancy.
The situation that we're seeing here happens so infrequently, but this is why we have legal
provisions out there that are tantamount to kidnapping, that when there is interference
like this of a custody provision, they can be charged criminally
because there have been examples where a parent will defy a court order and leave the jurisdiction
because they don't want to follow the court orders.
So you're saying that does happen. How often does that happen?
I say one in 10,000 maybe.
I find that really, really hard to believe. To Tara Malik, you know, it seemed to
me that domestic disputes often erupt and the child is used as a weapon. How often have you
seen that, Tara? I've seen it really frequently that the child is used as kind of a pawn between
the two parents. Oftentimes you'll see in really acrimonious
back and forth and fights between the parents, there'll be all sorts of allegations,
including allegations that one parent or the other is sexually abusing the child or abusing
the child generally. And so the situation can get really heated. And at the end of the day,
it's this poor, innocent child who's stuck in the middle of these huge fights that sometimes spill over into courts or sometimes spill into situations like this.
June 3rd, Samara Harmon drives to the exchange location to pick up daughter Saraya from her father, Aaron Ong.
When Ong hasn't arrived 30 minutes later, Harmon starts to worry.
Ong isn't answering her calls or texts.
Harmon reaches out to Ong's parents, who inform her that Ong to take Sarai up camping at Flathead Lake, Montana for the week. Harmon
discovers Ong's fiance is also unaccounted for and immediately reports her daughter missing.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. crime stories with nancy grace nadia cole is reported missing to porto siano police cole is five foot nine inches tall
weighs about 130 pounds has long blonde hair and green eyes she was last seen wearing a green hoodie
black yoga pants and white converse sneakers carrying a black North Face jacket and a tan purse.
Cole's family has hired a private investigator, and there is a $1,000 reward for information
leading to Nadia Cole's safe return home. Anyone with information is asked to call 877-220-8129.
Back to Lauren Collin joining us, investigative journalist and host of The Outlier. Lauren, I'm a little confused. Does
somebody actually think Nadia Cole went with the bio dad against her will? Yes, her parents
absolutely believe that. But authorities stepped in and they were like, well, it looks like she's
leaving the airport, not under any type of duress. And just going back to what we know about Nadia, her Instagram is
interesting because as a 21 year old, you tend to see a lot more photos. You tend to see a lot more
activity on the quote stories with Nadia Coles. You really don't see much of anything. You only
really see one picture of her and Aaron. So she's kind of a mystery here, but that is correct. She left the airport,
left her luggage and her parents believe she is missing and could possibly be in danger.
So she, the dad, the dad is spotted there buying maps, buying camping equipment.
When is he spotted next, Lauren? So he technically has not been spotted there was a cadillac stx with
an idaho license plate on its way to mexico at the border and nadia's car and aaron's vehicle
stayed in pullman there have been reports that this vehicle might be tied to Aaron's father, but that is not yet confirmed.
It is just tied to a, quote, family member.
Guys, take a listen to this.
Pullman, Washington police are asking for help locating two-year-old Soraya Ong Harmon.
Soraya is last seen at a 6.30 p.m. custody exchange with her father on May 29th.
Aaron Ong is set to return Soraya on June 3rd, but he does not appear at the
scheduled drop-off. There is now an active warrant for Ong's arrest for first-degree custodial
interference. Ong is 5'9", 135 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information is
asked to call Pullman PD at 509-334-0802. Lauren Collin, do you believe that the sightings in and around the airport
were an attempt to throw everyone off? Oh, that's interesting. You know,
it's possible. If Nadia is as calculated as Aaron, then absolutely. If she actually
were to trick her parents into think that she's going to go on this family trip to Italy,
and then she really has this ulterior motive of leaving the country with Aaron and, you know, little Soraya.
I mean, that's very calculated. I could absolutely see that happening.
Now, tell me about the trip to Italy.
This was just a family trip. I assume it was to celebrate her graduation because she did just graduate from the University of Washington at Pullman.
So I just assumed it was her family celebrating and taking her away.
I want to go back to Samara Harmon joining us.
This is Soraya's mother.
Samara, I know that the bio dad was spotted buying maps and camping equipment.
Did you ever know him to be an outdoorsman?
No.
When I knew him, he was not.
He was more of a germaphobe and would rather stay inside than go out.
I tried to get him engaged in fishing.
It's an activity I like to do.
But he never really took any interest in it.
So when I knew him, no, it was not something he was known to do.
It was not something I'd heard him even show any interest in.
When you said germaphobe, why do you say that?
What makes you think the bio dad is a germaphobe?
He needed everything to be super neat and tidy. He was the kind of person that when he
wasn't out doing something for a job, if he got his hands dirty, he'd have to wash them. Even if he
pet his dog or went outside taking Saraya to the park with us, he'd need to go and immediately
wash his hands. He always kept hand sanitizer. He had told me himself he was a germaphobe. Okay, to you, Dr.
Angie, what is that? Well, it shows that he needs a lot of control around him. He probably has other
symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder because of, and that is all, Nancy, for him to have control
of whatever is going, that he can't control of what's going on through his
own head okay it's a form of anxiety but it has a lot to do with his need for control back to you
samara why did you believe that he originally had planned to go on this camping trip, which is totally
uncharacteristic in Montana, the backwoods of Montana? Did you have contact with his family,
his parents, for instance? The only contact we had was when I let them know about my daughter's
medical condition at that point. And they were very brief and vague with their responses. They did not inform me he was going on any trip. I was not let known or aware until
they told me she had not made it home. I thought that they told you he took her fishing at Flathead
Lake, Montana for the week. The police were the ones who told me that. And his parents showed up
to the police station
with a handwritten note that stated that, but I never heard from them specifically before she was
reported missing or anything, not even after. Okay. Let me understand what you just said.
You said his parents, the Ong parents show up with a handwritten note. What handwritten note
that he was going to Montana,
Flathead Lake for a week?
They showed up to the police station
maybe two to five minutes after I was informed
my daughter and Aaron were missing
with a handwritten note that stated
they went to Montana for a camping slash fishing trip
and they may be delayed due to weather supply issues
or someone sprained an ankle.
That sounds like a lot of BS to me. Someone sprained an ankle, weather problems, supply
problems, supply of what? Jason Jensen, private investigator. Why did they bring a handwritten
note saying he went camping in Montana where we and we all know now he's not in Montana. One of the concerns that I have in light
of this revelation is was Soraya injured in some capacity and now that this is consciousness of
guilt to flee the country or are they fleeing with Soraya because there was a complete disregard for
the maternal role you know of the mother being involved in raising this child.
Back to you, Lauren Collin.
I want to make sure I understand these facts.
This woman, the mistress, Nadia Cole, just graduated Washington State.
Okay.
She planned to take the LSAT and go to law school.
That's my understanding about her.
She works with her mom for over a year to plan
a trip to Italy. And then she spotted at the SeaTac airport with family, her family to catch
that flight to Italy, May 29. They all make it to the gate. She leaves her luggage with them,
says she's got to go to the bathroom and then she just leaves.
And she spotted, there she is. She spotted leaving the airport at 3 p.m. We know that the mistress
boards a light rail train to downtown Seattle looking distressed. Now, I don't know how they
can tell she looks distressed in that picture, but if I left my whole family at the gate with my luggage, I would be distressed too.
She gets off the train near University Avenue, downtown Seattle.
That's a four and a half hour drive to Pullman.
Now, I believe that she then rendezvous with the bio dad and they leave with Soraya.
That's what I think happened.
We also know her car is unaccounted for. Ang's car is unaccounted for. And we think we know
they were in a 2014 black Cadillac. Idaho tag 1L Love 5147 Utah.
What can you tell me about what I have just recited that I'm learning from police?
This all is correct as of right now, as of today.
And as you stated, it's very confusing that they believe she was in duress or she was under duress when she left because you can't tell.
There also have been reports that she left her cell phone there, which makes me believe that, again, this was planned.
She knew what she was going to do and she didn't want anyone to find her or anyone to ping her phone.
Well, I can tell you this much, Tara Malik.
It'll be a cold day in H-E-double-L this
woman gets into law school if she's part of a custodial interference in taking this child away
from her mother. That's not happening. If I have to see to it myself, you are not going to be an
officer of the court after you have taken part in this, if in fact she did. No way. Yeah, you're
exactly right. These are extraordinary circumstances
and to be an attorney, as you know, Nancy, you have to go through a character and fitness
portion of the application. So if you've got something like this on your record, if she did
in fact do this and she planned it and she planned to interfere with this child's mother's custodial
rights? Absolutely not. I would think that that certainly would not pass any sort of
character and fitness analysis. Oh, no way. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Dr. Angie Arnold, this is not like somebody shoplifting when they're 15 years old and stealing some Maybelline mascara at the Walgreens.
That's not what we're talking about.
This is custodial interference.
And that is certainly a euphemism.
Putting the perfume on the pig.
Custodial interference.
That doesn't even sound that bad.
Did you see the mother? Did you hear her say what went through her mind and body when she finds out her daughter serea is gone her whole life is that child and montana fishing camping bs
and this girl dr angie this girl just as bad She leaves her whole family waiting to get on a plane to Italy.
Her whole family, her mother, her father, the whole kit and caboodle with her luggage.
And she takes off to meet this no good bio dad.
Right.
And for what purpose?
I mean, Nancy, what kind of hole does this kid have over these people? Right.
I just don't understand it. And I'll tell you something, Nancy.
We are this is just the beginning of this story.
This there is so much more that has to be dug under to find out what's really going on.
I am very worried about the little girl and where she is.
I can't even imagine how long these two
have been planning this. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Dr. Angie, this is my fear.
Okay. Yes. Just what you said, because if the father has put the mom through all this,
the bio dad, if he's put the mom through all of this, he convinces this 21 year old law school lawyer wannabe to take off with him to, we think now, Mexico.
If he will do all this and commit a felony, then what else will he do?
What will he do?
Exactly.
Authorities begin to close in on him in the search for that child.
Will it be along the lines of if I can't have her, nobody's going to have her. Aaron Ong,
5'9", 135 pounds, black hair, brown eyes. If he will take this child, kidnap Soraya to Mexico after this elaborate plan, faking out his own parents, faking out the mistress's family.
What else will he do?
Mom Samara Harmon is extremely concerned for Soraya's well-being after a serious doctor's visit the week before her disappearance.
The two-year-old is extremely sick and doctors warn Harmon that Soraya could easily become septic. Harmon provided Ong with prescribed
medication for Soraya, but has no idea if she's been taking it. Harmon says Ong has withheld
Soraya before, but never for this long, nor across state lines. We've got a big, big problem. In addition to us now believing that Soraya has been kidnapped to Mexico,
which is a whole nother can of worms. It's one thing if she's in Montana,
it's a whole nother search technique trying to find her and bring her home from Mexico.
But now to top it all off, we find out Soraya has a condition
that can quickly put her into sepsis.
I sadly know way too much about sepsis.
Well, Dr. Angie Arnold, you die.
You can die from sepsis.
Very, very easily explained.
Well, Nancy, sepsis means that all of your organs get infected.
I wonder if they've determined that she has some sort of problem with her kidneys at this young age. And so they've got her on some sort of medication to help whatever organ
is debilitated in a way that if something happens, her whole body could become septic.
But Nancy, think of everything that that means. That means that he has to be giving her water
appropriately and feeding her appropriately, as well as giving her the
medication that has been prescribed so if this little girl does become septic
septicemia is something that can kill you within hours to days okay so we're
also assuming that if that he would be able to recognize the signs of
septicemia and give her to a proper hospital situation where she could be taken care of appropriately wherever she is.
OK, so, yes, this is a this is a very dire situation. I've talked about this before, but my brother-in-law was in the hospital being IV'd with all sorts of antibiotics, everything you can imagine, and passed away with sepsis.
Okay.
Yes.
I mean, even in a hospital setting, much less on the run in the back of a black Cadillac in Mexico.
I mean, okay.
I know.
I know. Let me understand right now.
Guys, the very latest is that the FBI is now working with local police
trying to find Soraya.
Back to Soraya's mom, Samara Harmon.
What are cops telling you
about Mexico as a possibility?
They just said that they had seen the vehicle
that's registered to the family crossing the border. They have informed me that,
well, specifically the FBI has informed me that even with this sighting, they are still searching
everywhere. They are leaving no stone unturned. They aren't completely sold on any theory. They're following the evidence and it hasn't made them 100% believe in one direction or not.
But they are searching high and low across the globe for my daughter.
The FBI plus Moscow police are now helping Pullman police find this girl. Why? Because her life is in danger. Not only is she with a bio dad who is
willing to do anything to hurt the mother, to get the child, she has a very serious life-threatening
issue with the possibility of septicemia hanging over her head at just two years old. Do you remember when mommy
talked about how she would kick and scream when she had to go with daddy, how she would run to
mommy at the trade-off every five days, run to mommy. And now she's last seen in a black Cadillac
crossing the Mexican border.
Ms. Harmon, you stated that you were the one that wanted a public pickup drop off swap for your own safety. Why?
Because of situations that he'd said or stated things in a way that would manipulate me or kind of make me think one way when he meant it another,
times when he would kind of try to weaponize her. And I wanted video surveillance of every foot,
like every time she'd been dropped off, every time I had handed her over.
So he couldn't try and claim something that I knew to be false.
Like when you say things he had said made you want to do the
swap off in public. What things did he say? What concerns you the most? Just he knew exactly how
to get to me. He knew what to say to scare me and make me think one thing over another.
He knew me very well and I didn't want to be in a situation. Like what? Explain to me, what did he say to make you afraid?
There had been a lot of things he'd said throughout our relationship about how he had connections so I'd never get to see her again. things up like that all the time to try and use them against me and make me not want to say
anything about our relationship or any of my fears or concerns. He actually told you he could fix it
with his quote connections that you would never see Soraya again. He said that to you? Yes and
I've had people witness this. This was when we were still in a relationship so this was well
over a year ago but it was something I still very much feared every day. While police initially
speculate that Nadia Cole is traveling in an unknown vehicle with Aaron Ong and his daughter
Soraya Ong Harmon, they now believe that the couple is driving a 2014 Cadillac XTS with Idaho
license plate 1L5147U. Ong's camping gear and Montana map book purchases led Pullman PD
to believe that's where Ong was heading, but authorities now say Ong is in Mexico with his
fiance and daughter. Authorities remain tight-lipped about the investigation, but we do know the FBI
is assisting local police. Samara, what are police telling you about FBI, Pullman, Moscow police efforts to find your daughter in Mexico? What are they doing? the evidence. They are searching high and low across the globe, not in just one singular area.
They have spread out agents far and wide searching every nook and cranny to find her.
How close is the bio dad to his parents?
From what I witnessed, they were very close. When I lived with him, we would frequently go
over to his parents' house for dinner or go out to dinner with them or even have them over to our apartment to eat dinner.
I know that he worked for his dad's business, so they were in contact every day, multiple times a day.
And he was the kind of guy when something went wrong or he was upset or even felt sick, he called his mom.
They were all very close.
If you want to find this little girl, hear me, FBI, Pullman in Moscow.
If you want to find this girl, find the bio dad.
If you want to find the bio dad, go to his parents.
Wire tap, phone tap, intercept messages.
That's how you can find this little girl.
And every minute counts for so many reasons. If you know or think you know anything about missing Soraya, call 800-225-5324. Repeat toll free 800-225-5324.
We stop to remember American hero Sergeant Corey Maynard of Mingo County, West Virginia.
Killed, ambushed in the line of duty June 2.
Sergeant Maynard had served 15 years valiantly with West Virginia State Police.
He is survived by wife Rachel and two children, Zoe and Finnegan,
parents Stephen and Leslie.
American hero, Sergeant Corey Maynard.
I want to thank all of you for being with us tonight
and our search to find Soraya,
just two years old. Nancy Grace signing off. Good night, friend.
This is an iHeart Podcast.