A teenager held captive for 521 days after disappearing from her home in Utah finally managed to escape using the online video game Among Us, according to reports.

​The girl was 15 when she went missing in Garden City on May 29, 2025, sparking a nationwide, multi-agency manhunt. The search came to an end nearly 18 months later on November 1 this year, when the teen was finally rescued from a house in Huntington, Oregon.

Adam Hunter Harmel, 39, has since been arrested and charged with transporting a minor to another state to engage in criminal sexual activity, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence on conviction.

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Utah said in a statement Harmel initially met the girl on social media last year before driving across state lines to take her to his home, where he allegedly held her captive.

Prosecutors say the victim was forced to sleep in Harmel’s bed beside a wall and that he sexually assaulted her, according to a federal criminal complaint filed cited by Fox13 Salt Lake City .

Harmel forced the teen to tear out the braces from her teeth with pliers to make herself more difficult to identify, the filing further claims.

“During the investigation, the FBI learned that the minor victim was allegedly groomed on gaming platforms that are commonly used by Nihilistic Violent Extremist (NVE) Groups members to solicit sexually explicit photos and maiming photos,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “The grooming then transitioned to other social media applications.

“As alleged in court documents, Harmel kept a knife under his pillow to prevent the minor victim from escaping.”

The suspect threw her phone into a river after picking her up but later allowed her to have a replacement with no data, prosecutors say.

That meant she could only go online via a wi-fi connection, which she used to play the spaceship-building whodunnit game Among Us and interact with another player last month.

The captive told another teen playing the game who she was and even shared news stories reporting her disappearance, prompting the player’s mother to contact the FBI, which arranged to monitor a video call with the missing girl on November 1.

Authorities say she described her ordeal during the call, prompting Oregon State Police and federal agents to raid the property later that day to rescue her, taking her away to receive medical treatment.

Harmel was subsequently apprehended during a traffic stop in Ontario, Oregon, and booked into Malheur County Jail, according to KGW.

He did not enter a plea when he appeared in court in Boise, Idaho, on November 4 but was due back for a detention hearing Tuesday.

Following the suspect’s detention, Attorney General Todd Blanche said: “Anyone engaged in the sexual exploitation of a minor will be held accountable.

“Today’s arrest is the first step toward bringing the accused to justice and relieving the pain endured by the victim and her family. This Department of Justice will never stop investigating and prosecuting individuals engaged in vicious predatory behavior.”