Washington’s Federal Way: A judge heard arguments from a Florida couple accused of traveling across the nation to abduct the child of a relative.
Charges of kidnapping, assault, and robbery were brought against the two suspects on Thursday at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
The suspects are Marlly Ardila-Urrego and her accomplice Chun Ho Vincent Lai, both of Miami. Prosecutors in King County accused the woman of being attacked, her infant abducted, her toddler abused, and her tablets and phones taken so she was unable to call for assistance.
“We looked at this and the information we received from police investigators and thought these multiple felony charges were appropriate,” stated Casey McNerthney, a spokesman for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. “It is unusual to get a case like this.” The strategy required careful planning, according to the prosecution.
In February, the mother, her spouse, and their two-year-old daughter and seven-month-old son moved into their Federal Way apartment. Ardila-Urrego, the mother’s cousin, is suspected by detectives to have promised the family that a new bed frame would be arriving on February 20th from Amazon.
Two persons wearing gray attire were seen on surveillance cameras that day, one of them carrying a box. Before they left the frame, they were standing next to a white or light-colored automobile.
“According to the charging paperwork, the mother stayed at home by herself with her kids while her spouse was at work. The mother heard a loud knock on her door. She speaks Spanish. According to the documents, “She noticed a man holding an Amazon box via the peephole, wearing sunglasses and a gray overcoat. The man repeatedly hit her in the face as opened the door.
See More: Accused Alabama Kidnapper Corresponds with Judge, Shares Inmate Letters Regarding Cliff Incident
According to the mother’s account in the police files, she was pushed down from behind by a woman, and “the male shoved face-down onto the ground and bound her hands and feet with zip-ties.” According to detectives, the man used her child’s clothes to gag the mother, tapped her mouth shut, and wrapped tape around her toddler’s mouth while stealing the seven-month-old baby girl, telephones, and iPad from her. A bedroom was thrust upon the two.
Investigators claim the suspects fled with the infant. Witnesses saw the suspects, carrying a red bag that looked heavy, make their way back to their light-colored automobile.
The mother managed to remove herself from the zip ties around her ankles and hurried outside to look for the suspects, but she was unsuccessful. The site’s maintenance staff swiftly responded to her call and removed the tape from her mouth and the zip ties from her hands.
The FBI and Washington State Patrol assisted in the baby’s search, and the Federal Way Police Department opened an inquiry. The two suspects with the infant were eventually apprehended by state troopers about 200 miles away from the site on I-90 in Gray County, west of Moses Lake. An explanation for the kidnapping is being looked into.
See More: Fatal Shooting in Avondale Leaves Woman Dead, Man Fighting for His Life
Documents show that the mother’s father informed authorities that he thought Ardila-Urrego, a Miami resident, was responsible for the baby’s abduction. According to the documents, the father informed the police that Marlly had been insistent in requesting the victim’s address, which he considered unusual given Marlly’s lack of family interaction. Additionally, the records mentioned that the father remembered Ardila-Urrego talking about “something about having a baby herself and then selling the baby for money.”
Ardila-Urrego and Lai entered not-guilty pleas during their arraignments. Their defense lawyers asked that the cameras not show their faces since they believed this to be a case of mistaken identity. The request was approved by Judge Johanna Bender.
It’s possible that identity problems won’t come up during the trial. I can see why the defense would bring up identification as a possible problem at this point in the case,” Bender stated.
Each of the accused is being jailed at the King County Jail on a $750,000 bond.
