Doomsday mother accused of abandoning children in Croatian orphanage
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A Utah mother obsessed with doomsday prophecies has been arrested abroad for allegedly kidnapping her four young children and dropping them off at an orphanage in Croatia, triggering an international legal battle to bring the children home.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Salt Lake District Attorney’s Office confirmed that 35-year-old Elleshia Anne Seymour was taken into custody in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on January 16. Prosecutors said they were working with federal partners to explore extradition options, although no timeline was announced.
Seymour is charged in Utah with four counts of custodial interference: removing a child from the state after authorities say she took her children out of the country without their father’s permission and failed to bring them back for court-ordered visitation, all third-degree felonies.
Seymour took a one-way flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam on Nov. 29 before flying to Croatia with the children, authorities said. Investigators alleged the deadline to return the children to their father was “long overdue,” and both fathers told police they never agreed to allow the children to leave the state or country.
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Seymour’s children are shown in a family photo with ex-husband Kendall Seymour. The children were later found in an orphanage in Croatia after being taken abroad by their mother, authorities said. (GoFundMe)
According to Kendall Seymour, a father of three, the family did not realize the children were missing until days after they were taken abroad.
“On Sunday, November 30th, my ex-wife flew to Europe and kidnapped my three children and her fourth child with another father,” Seymour wrote in the original GoFundMe post. “We didn’t find out anyone was missing until Tuesday, December 2nd.”
Court records show a no-bail warrant was issued in December after prosecutors argued Seymour was a flight risk and a danger to her children.
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The photos show a separate photo of the missing Seymour children alongside their mother. Authorities claimed that the children were taken abroad by their mother and later found in an orphanage in Croatia. (GoFundMe)
Officers later found Seymour’s apartment unlocked and abandoned, his vehicle parked at Salt Lake City International Airport and a notebook outlining plans to destroy phones and documents, according to charging documents. Kendall Seymour claimed his ex-wife forged passport papers for the children and left behind a misleading note claiming she had received a message from God promising he would be in Italy by Christmas.
He also said police found a handwritten to-do list that included instructions to “shred paperwork,” “destroy identifying photos,” “throw away the phone” and “buy a prepaid phone.”
In a voicemail left for Kendall Seymour days after she disappeared, Elleshia Seymour allegedly claimed she was in France and said she needed to take the kids out because “the end times” were approaching, according to police.
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Kendall Seymour is seen with her children in an undated family photo taken before her alleged abduction. (GoFundMe)
The children were eventually resettled in Croatia and placed in a state-run orphanage.
Now Kendall Seymour has flown to Europe in a desperate attempt to bring them home.
In an update posted to the GoFundMe campaign on Jan. 25, Seymour said the children were “stranded in a state-run orphanage in Croatia” while they worked to secure their release from government custody.
“We are in the country, trying to rescue children from the custody of the local government.” he wrote, adding that the family was forced to hire Croatian lawyers specializing in international child abduction cases, file applications under the Hague Convention, pay for court-approved translators and extend their stay abroad indefinitely.
Seymour said the original purpose of the fundraiser had already been consumed by travel expenses alone and cautioned that future expenses, including therapy, were unknown.
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“Who knows how much money the five of us will need for therapy after this is all over,” he wrote.
He also revealed that the fifth American child traveling with Seymour and her children was also being held in the same orphanage. That child’s identity has not been publicly disclosed, and Seymour said his legal situation is “even more difficult” and requires additional legal strategy and assistance.
Stepheny Price covers crimes including missing persons, murders and immigration crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
