- Marlly Jarina Ardila-Urrego and Chun Ho Vincent Lai embarked on a cross-country expedition with the goal of kidnapping a baby, police say.
- The husband allegedly posed as an Amazon delivery driver before forcing his way into the apartment, attacking the mother and taking the baby.
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A Florida couple was arrested after driving 45 hours from their home state to Washington, where they allegedly kidnapped a woman’s young daughter.
Marlly Jarina Ardila-Urrego, 33, and her husband Chun Ho Vincent Lai, 42, were charged and detained last week after executing a bizarre plot involving kidnapping, robbery and assault.
According to authorities and footage of the incident, Lai posed as an Amazon delivery driver before entering the mother’s home, an apartment about 20 miles south of Seattle.
He then punched and restrained her, before taking the baby, as well as two mobile phones and a tablet, police say.
The baby’s mother is Ardila-Urrego’s cousin. She told police that Ardila-Urrego told her that she had purchased a bed frame for the baby’s two-year-old brother and that he would be born on February 20.
The husband and wife conspirators are seen leaving the mother’s apartment with a large Amazon box.
The woman said that after her husband left for work, she heard a knock on the door and through the peephole saw a man holding an Amazon box and a clipboard.
When she opened the door, Lai repeatedly punched her in the face, threw her to the floor, tied her limbs with zip ties, and placed her in a bedroom with the two-year-old child while Ardila-Urrego entered the apartment to steal the baby. .
Lai then put the baby in the Amazon box and left.
When the mother freed herself from the zip ties and the tape that had been used to gag her, she discovered that her baby was gone and ran outside with the child, where a neighbor called 911.
Less than four hours later, the couple was stopped on Interstate 90, where the baby was found unharmed and returned to his parents.
Authorities have not referred to an obvious motive for the crime. Charging documents say the family was targeted “because the defendants knew them and knew they had children.”
The police added that “there is no evidence that mental illness or substance abuse contributed to this crime.”
They were found after the State Patrol received Ardila-Urrego’s cell phone information. Authorities also discovered that Lai owns a Honda Insight that had been in the same location as Ardila-Urrego’s phone.
A state trooper conducted a traffic stop on the Honda around 1:00 p.m. on the day of the kidnapping; He sent a photo of the girl to the police and her parents confirmed her identity.
The man places the box containing the baby in his vehicle
The baby’s grandfather, who is also Ardila-Urrego’s uncle, said his niece had been persistently requesting his daughter’s address, which he found strange because she is usually not in contact with the family.
She also noted that about a year ago, Ardila-Urrego told her she was going to earn $70,000 by becoming a surrogate mother for a couple. He, however, does not believe that she finally became pregnant.
Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Phillips wrote in the charges filed Thursday that this was an “extraordinarily unusual” case.
Ardila-Urrego and Lai, who live together in Lake Worth Beach, about 60 miles north of Miami, were charged with first-degree kidnapping, robbery and burglary, as well as second-degree assault of a child by allegedly harming his two-year-old daughter. -old.
Both remain in jail in lieu of posting $750,000 bail. They are scheduled to be arraigned on March 7.