Image credit: Innersloth
How an Among Us conversation led to the rescue
Their conversation moved to another social media application, where she revealed her identity and explained that she was being held at a man’s home in Oregon. Arellano also said authorities had stopped looking for her.
Investigators said Harmel eventually gave Arellano a phone without cellular data. The child told their mother, who contacted the FBI. The device could connect to Wi-Fi, allowing her to access online games. In October, she began speaking with another child through Among Us, a multiplayer game in which players communicate to identify hidden impostors. During a video call this month, Arellano described how she had been taken to Oregon. She also showed investigators a knife Harmel allegedly kept beside his bed and other evidence supporting her account. Officers reached the property later that day and took her for medical treatment.
What investigators allege happened after she disappeared
The 17-year-old, who had been missing since May 2025, contacted another child while playing the online game and later explained that she was being held against her will at a home in Oregon. A Newsweek report cited federal court documents to claim that the other player’s mother alerted the FBI. Oregon State Police and federal agents rescued her this month, ending a 521-day search. Adam Harmel, 39, has been charged with transporting the teenager across state lines for the purpose of exploiting her. Arellano was 15 when she disappeared from Garden City, Utah, on May 29, 2025.
Harmel contacted her online earlier that month and offered her money to travel to Oregon. Investigators allege that he drove to Perry, Utah, to collect her, then threw her phone into a river in Logan Canyon before taking her to his home in Huntington, Oregon. Once there, he allegedly prevented her from leaving and kept her in the basement, where he also slept, according to the federal complaint cited by Newsweek. Investigators said he became increasingly violent during her captivity. Utah teenager Kylie Arellano, who was allegedly kidnapped, found help through Among Us. Investigators subsequently monitored a video call with Arellano, who described her circumstances and provided evidence supporting her account. Authorities arrested Harmel during a traffic stop in Ontario, Oregon. He appeared in federal court in Boise, Idaho, this week. You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.