- Marlly Jarina Ardila-Urrego and Chun Ho Vincent Lai embarked on a cross-country expedition aimed at kidnapping a small child, police say
- The man allegedly posed as an Amazon delivery person before forcibly entering the apartment, attacking the mother and taking the baby
A Florida couple was arrested after driving 45 hours from their home state to Washington, where they allegedly kidnapped a woman’s infant daughter.
Marlly Jarina Ardila-Urrego, 33, and her husband Chun Ho Vincent Lai, 42, were charged and taken into custody last week after carrying out a bizarre plan that involved kidnapping, burglary and assault.
According to authorities and footage of the incident, Lai posed as an Amazon delivery person before entering the mother’s home – an apartment about 20 miles south of Seattle.
He then hit her and restrained her before taking the baby, two cellphones and a tablet, police say.
The baby’s mother is a cousin of Ardila-Urrego. She told police that Ardila-Urrego told her she had purchased a bed frame for the baby’s two-year-old brother and that it would be delivered on February 20.
We see the husband and wife co-conspirators emerge from 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 punched her repeatedly in the face, knocked her to the ground and tied her limbs with zip ties and placed her in a bedroom with the two-year-old when Ardila-Urrego entered the apartment to steal the baby. .
Lai then put the child in the Amazon box and left.
When the mother broke free from the zip ties and tape with which he had gagged her, she discovered her baby was gone and ran outside with the toddler, 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 her parents.
Authorities have not provided a clear motive for the crime. Charging documents say the family was targeted “because they were known to the defendants and known to have children.”
Police added that there is “no evidence that mental illness or substance abuse contributed to this crime.”
They were found after the State Patrol obtained Ardila-Urrego’s cellphone records. Authorities also discovered that Lai owns a Honda Insight that was in the same location as Ardila-Urrego’s phone.
A police officer conducted a traffic stop on the Honda on the day of the kidnapping around 1 p.m. He sent a photo of the child to police and her parents confirmed her identity.
The man places the box containing the child in his vehicle
The baby’s grandfather, who is also Ardila-Urrego’s uncle, said his niece had been constantly asking for his daughter’s address, which struck him as strange because she is generally out of touch with the family.
He also noted that Ardila-Urrego told him about a year ago that she would make $70,000 by becoming a surrogate mother for a couple. However, he doesn’t believe she ended up getting pregnant.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Phillips wrote in the indictment filed Thursday that this is an “extremely 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 on a child for allegedly harming the 2-year-old. -old.
Both remain in jail in lieu of posting $750,000 bail. They will be arraigned on March 7.