Utah teen recovery Oregon Adam Hunter Harmel federal charge, Digi Mart USA News (Huntington, Oregon): Eric and Keriann Solari say they reported an alleged assault to authorities in Baker County, Oregon, involving their 6-year-old daughter in 2024, months before a Utah teen was reported missing. When Oregon State Police troopers recovered a Utah teenager who had been missing for nearly a year and a half, Eric Solari felt relief and sorrow for the girl’s family.
“I’m glad to see that he’s off the street, not a menace to anybody anymore,” Solari said of Adam Hunter Harmel, the man charged with a federal crime related to the Utah teenager’s disappearance. “I’m sad for the family that has to deal with this like we had to deal with.”
Solari and his wife, Keriann, say their family knew Harmel from when they lived near each other in Huntington, Oregon. Their children went to school and played together.
The couple says their daughter was 6 when she told them something was wrong involving Harmel.
Eric Solari said she disclosed an alleged assault in late October or early November 2024. The family reported it to Baker County authorities that evening, he said, and their daughter had a forensic interview the next day.
“My daughter gave the information that she gave,” Solari said. “That’s still sealed from us because it is an ongoing case.”
The Baker County District Attorney provided an update, confirming the case remains “active and ongoing.” Harmel and his wife at the time of a protection order being authorized have not been charged, and the DA confirmed the case was brought to a grand jury in 2025. As a result of recent events in Huntington, the District Attorney’s Office obtained a new search warrant to continue pursuing the case.
Baxter told 2News the grand jury had three options when weighing the allegations regarding Harmel and the Solaris’ child: find that crimes were committed, find that crimes were not committed, or ask for further investigation. The grand jury declined to indict and asked for further investigation.
Documents the family shared with KUTV show an Oregon sexual abuse protection order stamped March 14, 2025, and outline specifics of the order pertaining to the child and Harmel. Keriann Solari said the experience left their daughter afraid to sleep in her own room because a window faced Harmel’s home.
“She would say that he would come and look in her window at night,” she said. “It really frightened her.”
In May 2025, a Utah teenager was reported missing from Garden City. She was 15 at the time.
On Nov. 1, 2026, authorities recovered the now-17-year-old from a home in Huntington, Oregon, according to the FBI. Harmel, 39, was taken into custody.
A federal criminal complaint filed Nov. 2 in the District of Utah charges Harmel with transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. The complaint alleges he met the teen online, drove to Utah to pick her up and transported her to Oregon.
Harmel made his initial court appearance in Boise on Nov. 4. KUTV reached out to various law enforcement entities to inquire about any potential charges that may be pending.
The Solari family says the timeline is difficult to process. Their protection order came about two months before the teenager was reported missing, and they say Harmel later moved across from their daughter’s school after the family got the Oregon Housing Authority involved.
“If we can see this man off the streets and not able to hurt anybody else, that’s our end goal,” Eric Solari said.
Harmel is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. His next appearance in federal court is scheduled for November 10, 2026, in Boise, Idaho.
