2 charged in abduction of Harnett County 15-year-old missing for nearly 48 hours
Two men were arrested Thursday on multiple charges, including human trafficking, for allegedly abducting a Harnett County teenager.
Elihue Mahler, 31, of Virginia Beach and Austyn Lee Cole, 23, of Kitty Hawk are each charged with human trafficking a child victim, kidnapping and two counts of felony conspiracy in the Tuesday morning disappearance of 15-year-old Azalea Strifler.
Strifler went missing from a Harnett County home about 6:15 a.m., The News & Observer previously reported. Strifler’s mother wrote on Facebook that she believed her daughter was “picked up” and that she was “in imminent danger.”
Arrest warrants for the two men accuse them of kidnapping the teenager to place her in “sexual servitude.”
An Amber Alert was issued for Strifler on Wednesday, and was canceled after authorities found her safe in Dare County early Thursday morning, Harnett County Sheriff Wayne Coats said. Strifler didn’t appear to be injured but was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, according to Coats.
Federal, state and local law enforcement officers in North Carolina and Virginia assisted in the search, using tools like forensic analysis and social media to hunt for the teenager, Coats said.
“This went on all night long,” he said in a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Strifler met the two men online, according to FBI State Agent in Charge Philip VanWyngarden. Authorities didn’t specify what online platform they used.
“As, unfortunately, we have seen previously in other investigations the FBI and our partners have worked, this ultimately led to a transition from the online space to the real world, which can obviously be extremely tragic and have significant consequences,” VanWyngarden said.
Mahler has previously faced charges related to assault on a law enforcement officer, weapons and drugs, according to State Bureau of Investigation Director Chip Hawley. He described Cole’s prior record as “minor.”
A Facebook profile appearing to belong to Cole shows he is from Portsmouth, Virginia, and works in the construction industry. It’s not clear when he moved to Kitty Hawk, though his Facebook page states he began working at a local septic company in November.
Coats said Strifler’s family is grateful she has been found and is requesting privacy at this time.
Court records show Mahler and Cole remained in the Harnett County jail as of Thursday evening. Mahler’s bail is set at $1.5 million, while Cole’s is set at $1 million. Authorities are still investigating the relationship between the two men.
Arrests also made in Siler City missing teen case
On Friday, two men were arrested after another missing 15-year-old girl was missing for almost a week.
Ronny Suarez and Saul Ramirez Guvara were both charged with first-degree kidnapping, human trafficking of a child victim and soliciting a child by computer in the abduction of Geydi Hernandez Fernandez from Siler City.
An Amber Alert was issued for the teen on Thursday morning after she’d been missing for six days. The Siler City Police Department and the North Carolina SBI announced her safe recovery around 8 p.m. Thursday.
Chad Flowers, a North Carolina SBI public information officer, told The N&O on Friday that it’s not believed that the two abduction cases are related.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 5:57 PM with the headline "2 charged in abduction of Harnett County 15-year-old missing for nearly 48 hours."
