Aya Stukalkina, a two-month-old infant, was last seen in Fairfax County, Virginia, on June 23, 2025. She was described as having brown hair, blue eyes, about one foot tall and weighing roughly 10 pounds. A custody dispute between Aya’s parents preceded her disappearance.

Aya’s mother, Elena Stukalkina, who also uses the name Elena Pendergrass and is a Russian citizen living in Alexandria, reportedly listed the child’s father as unknown on Aya’s birth certificate despite a paternity test taken before the birth. The father petitioned a domestic relations court for paternity, visitation and custody on June 5; in response Pendergrass reportedly threatened to take the baby to Russia.

On June 26 Pendergrass filed for an emergency passport for Aya listing the father as unknown, and on June 28 she flew with the infant from New York to Istanbul and then to Kazakhstan without the father’s knowledge or consent. Authorities believed Aya may have been taken to Kazakhstan and that the mother and child might later travel to Russia. Anyone with information about Aya’s whereabouts or who knew the family is asked to come forward.