FBI points to nihilistic extremists as missing Garden City teen is found safe after nearly 18 months

GARDEN CITY, Rich County — A teen who disappeared from her northern Utah home in May of 2025 has been found safe, according to the FBI and the Rich County Sheriff's Office.

A spokesperson for Oregon State Police told KSL that troopers received a request from the FBI to assist with the recovery of a missing 17-year-old female. The spokesperson said the teen was later found inside a Huntington, Oregon home. The suspect, 39-year-old Adam H. Harmel, was later arrested in Ontario, Oregon, and is being held at the Malheur County Jail.

While the Rich County teen, who was 15 at the time, is not being named by the FBI, Stephanie Coleman posted to Facebook that her daughter, Kylie Arrellano, had been found safe. Arrellano had previously been reported missing from her Garden City home in May of 2025.

In a statement from the FBI, director Kash Patel put out a warning: "To anyone using gore groups to target and exploit children: the FBI and our partners are coming for you."

While Patel did not elaborate on the exact tie to the case, he went on to say, "We are using every tool at our disposal to combat nihilistic violent extremism, bring offenders to justice and protect America's children."

KSL had previously reported on nihilistic violent extremism, or NVE groups, as investigated by Detective Tanner Hulse and now Chief Erik Christensen at the Utah State University Police Department. Hulse told KSL on Monday that the groups are largely decentralized and difficult to track.

"It's hard for law enforcement to essentially undercover join their group(s)," Hulse explained. "They do quite a bit of vetting, and they're very hard to join. They (are) very suspicious of outside people, unless you provide them some sort of photograph or video, basically confirming who you are."

Hulse said these so-called "gore groups" consist of those who "pass along photos, videos of any sort of gore incidents. That could be mass shootings. It could be any sort of murder, anything like ISIS, beheadings, things like that."

Hulse added that they're also closely tied to NVE groups that are focused on "watching the world burn" or seeing others' pain. He said both often target young adults and teens.

"They operate on Telegram and Discord," he said. "That's honestly their easiest targets is to go after teens, especially vulnerable teens that are looking to get into edgy things or any sort of online content. They're constantly targeting them."

Hulse said it's important for parents to watch out for excessive use of those apps. Discord, which is often used to connect video gamers and facilitate chats during gameplay, is also attractive to the groups, because it can be used to set up private chat groups for virtually any topic.

"Parents need to monitor their kids' online activity," Hulse explained. "Monitoring some sort of unfettered access to these apps, as well as just behavior change — self-harm is a big thing for NVE groups, including gore groups."

While NVE groups are not especially well-known to parents and the general public now, Hulse said it's important for everyone to watch out for them.

"It's a big thing, and it's just going to increase," Hulse said. "Getting the word out about nihilistic violent extremism is so important right now because it is highly on the rise. And it's very hard for law enforcement to catch these individuals."

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