Elleshia Seymour (left); Elleshia Seymour seen at the airport with her kids in November. Credit : GoFundMe; SLC International Airport via Storyful
Credit : GoFundMe; SLC International Airport via Storyful
Four Utah siblings who vanished over Thanksgiving after a court-ordered visit with their mother have been found alive in a European orphanage, ending a weeks-long international search that rattled their suburban community. Their mother is now under arrest, and the case has shifted from frantic hunt to complicated cross-border custody fight. What began as a family holiday in West Jordan has turned into a crash course in how quickly a domestic dispute can spill across oceans.
Investigators say the children were taken thousands of miles from home, moved through multiple countries and ultimately left in state care overseas. Relatives are relieved the kids are safe, but they are also staring down a maze of paperwork, hearings and travel logistics before the four can sleep in their own beds again.
The Thanksgiving disappearance and a trail to Europe
The story starts in WEST JORDAN, Utah, where the four American siblings were spending Thanksgiving with their mother under a custody arrangement. When the holiday ended, they did not come back. Relatives reported them missing, and what initially looked like a late drop-off quickly escalated into an alleged abduction case that drew in local police, federal agents and foreign authorities. Officials say the children’s mother, Elleshia Seymour, had been voicing intense religious fears about the “end of times,” a belief that now sits at the center of the criminal narrative.
Surveillance cameras at Salt Lake International later captured a woman authorities identify as Elleshia moving through the terminal with the children, a key piece of evidence that helped investigators map the group’s path out of the country. From Utah, they traveled to Europe, with officials tracing flights and passenger records to reconstruct how a family dispute in the Mountain West turned into an international missing children case. That trail eventually led to Europe, where authorities say Elleshia was moving the children in violation of a custody order.
Found in a Croatian orphanage and a mother in handcuffs
The break came when the four children from West Jordan were located in a state-run orphanage in Croatia, according to their father. Officials in the country say the siblings, identified as Landon Seymour, 11, Levi Parker Seymour, 8, Hazel Raye Seymour, 7, and 3-year-old Jacob Kurt Brady, had been placed in government care after arriving without a legal guardian who could keep them there long term. Croatian authorities confirmed the children’s identities, and their names, ages and family ties were later detailed in records that listed Landon Seymour, Levi Parker Seymour, Hazel Raye Seymour and Jacob Kurt Brady individually.
By the time the children were found, their mother was already in custody. Authorities say a Utah woman who had warned that the end times were near was arrested after allegedly taking her four young children to Croatia in violation of a custody order. The FBI had been receiving tips that The FBI linked to Elleshia Seymour and the four children, whose ages match the siblings from Utah, were in the country after leaving the United States. Local officials say the case was passed to Croatian police, who coordinated with American counterparts to secure her arrest while the children remained in state care.
Family relief, Croatian red tape and what happens next
Back in Utah, relatives are juggling relief with a new kind of anxiety. The children’s father, Kenny Seymour, traveled to Europe and has been in DUBROVNIK, Croatia, working with local officials to bring his kids home. He has described the situation as surreal, asking how it could be “really happening” as he navigates a foreign legal system and language barriers. Croatian authorities have made clear that the children will stay in the orphanage while paperwork is completed, a process that involves both the country’s child welfare ministry and American agencies. For now, the siblings are in a state-operated facility that handles children in crisis, a far cry from their neighborhood in SALT Lake County.
Officials in SALT LAKE CITY say the Utah Department of Public Safety and the Salt Lake County District Attorney are coordinating with federal partners as the criminal case against the children’s mother moves forward. A separate report notes that a Utah mom who believed the end times were near is accused of taking her four children to Europe, leaving Croatian officials to care for the children while the adults sort out jurisdiction. One account describes how one of the children approached a local family and asked them to Google their names, a small act of courage that, according to Seymour, helped trigger the chain of events that led to their mother’s arrest. As the legal process unfolds, the kids’ lives are on pause in a country better known to Americans as a summer stop in Dubrovnik than as the setting for a custody battle.
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