We tell you the story of this American teenager, sequestered for almost a year and a half, saved thanks to a video game

Saved thanks to a video game. A 17-year-old girl was found in a house in Huntington, Oregon in the United States, after being kidnapped by a 39-year-old man for almost a year and a half, reports NBC News, citing the FBI. Kylie Arellano, who went missing from Garden City, Utah, was rescued about a thousand miles from her home after asking for help from a player she met on the video game Among Us.

Her family saw the young girl for the last time at the end of May 2025. Her mother, Stephanie Coleman, said she communicated by text message with her daughter the day before her disappearance. "She wrote to me: 'I love you, mom. Good night.' I said, 'I love you too, sweetheart,'" Stephanie told Dateline in December.

The next morning the family discovers Kylie's jacket left in the driveway and some packed belongings as well as the disappearance of a games console. If Stéphanie wondered if her daughter had left of her own free will, she quickly doubted. For several months, however, Kylie remained untraceable despite the efforts of the local sheriff's office. “I remain hopeful. I will never give up,” Kylie said.

The deliverance occurs more than 500 days after his disappearance. Using a wifi network, the teenager connects to Among Us, a multiplayer video game whose notoriety exploded during the Covid-19 epidemic. In mid-October, Kylie exchanges with another player. The conversation continues on a social network, explains 20 minutes. She reveals her identity and her situation, the player's mother alerts the FBI.

Kylie Arellano was kidnapped by 39-year-old Adam Hunter Harmel. They met through the social network Snapchat. On the day of her kidnapping, he confiscated the teenager's phone and threw it in a river. He ends up giving her another phone without a data plan but capable of connecting to a wireless network.

An FBI team showed up at the kidnapper's home on November 1, reports the regional daily The Oregon Life. Adam Hunter Harmel will be arrested the next day during a traffic stop. According to several American media, the teenager was confined in the basement of the house. She was allegedly beaten and sexually assaulted on several occasions.

After this arrest, the FBI warned against "gore groups", reports Newsweek. If the American agency does not provide elements allowing a link to this case, it indicates that these online extremist groups target and exploit children.

Members operate on social networks, messaging services, gaming platforms and online communities. They use graphic violence, sexual exploitation, blackmail and psychological manipulation, particularly against minors. Some claim to have “an organized ideology promoting chaos and the destabilization of society,” according to the FBI.