A Utah girl missing for 17 months was rescued from an Oregon home after she contacted another child online; federal agents monitored a video call, and a 39-year-old man now faces a criminal charge.
A 17-year-old girl who disappeared from Utah in May last year was found at an Oregon home after an online conversation with another minor helped authorities establish her whereabouts. Investigators arranged a video call with the girl while FBI agents monitored the conversation, leading to a rescue operation and the arrest of a 39-year-old man. Adam Hunter Harmel was arrested during a traffic stop in Ontario, about 30 miles from the home, according to the AP. The federal complaint was filed on November 2 in the US District Court for the District of Utah. The FBI’s Salt Lake City Field Office received information from a family member on August 20, last year, that the girl had disappeared around May 29 that year. The tip followed contact between the missing girl and another minor who had met someone while playing the online game Among Us on October 15. Investigators also interviewed another resident, who said Harmel had travelled to Utah in 2025 to meet the girl before bringing her back to Oregon. The charge alleges that he knowingly transported someone under 18 across state lines intending that the minor engage in illegal sexual activity.
Investigators said they confirmed that the girl had shared sexually explicit material with online users.
Her parents had subsequently filed a missing-person report in June, according to an FBI agent’s sworn statement cited by Oregon news outlet KGW8. The person using the account identified herself as the missing girl and told the other minor that she had run away but was being held against her will at a man’s home in Oregon. She also said police were no longer looking for her and shared news reports about her disappearance, according to the complaint. The resident described the girl as Harmel’s new girlfriend, according to the complaint.
Harmel has been charged with transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. The FBI’s inquiry also examined the girl’s online activity. The agency reviewed information obtained from social media companies and interviewed people linked to the accounts. Their conversations later continued through a social media application. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.
The girl was located on Sunday at a residence in Huntington, Oregon, after investigators received a tip about her possible location. A breakthrough came on Sunday when investigators received information about her possible location.
FBI monitored video call before rescue
During the call, she identified Harmel as a man she had met online around May 2025, according to KGW8. The alleged assaults took place in both 2025 and 2026, according to the complaint. Earlier reporting noted: A 17-year-old girl from Utah who went missing in May 2025 was found at the home of an Oregon man who’s been charged with transporting her across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Earlier reporting noted: Authorities acting on a tip rescued the girl Sunday at a home in Huntington, Oregon, and arrested Adam Hunter Harmel, 39, in a traffic stop about 30 miles away (48 kilometers).
Investigators traced her interactions to gaming platforms, where the initial contact occurred, before the conversations shifted to social media, according to the complaint. She told investigators that Harmel had offered her money to travel to Oregon and later drove from Oregon to Perry, Utah, to pick her up. She also told investigators that he had hit her and sexually assaulted her during her time at the residence. Earlier reporting noted: She also said Harmel threw her phone in a river; told her she couldn’t leave his home; made her sleep against a wall to prevent her from escaping from the bed they shared; often hit her; sexually assaulted her; and forced her to remove her braces with pliers so she couldn’t be identified, according to the FBI.
Her parents had separately informed authorities that she was exchanging sexually explicit images and videos online for money. The family had also raised concerns about her self-harm. The complaint alleges that he threw her phone into a river in Logan Canyon before taking her to his residence. The complaint further alleges that Harmel forced her to remove her braces with pliers to make it harder for authorities to identify her.
Investigators arranged a video call between the girl and a family member on Sunday, with FBI agents monitoring the conversation.
They took her into protective custody and arranged medical treatment and evaluation, according to the federal complaint. A search of the property recovered knives, women’s clothing and sexual lubricant. Items initially suspected to be firearms were identified as BB guns, the complaint states.
Oregon State Police said officers responded to a residence on Fulton Street East in Huntington shortly before noon on Sunday, following a request from the FBI to locate the missing teenager.