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A Utah mother obsessed with doomsday prophecies has been arrested overseas after allegedly kidnapping her four young children and abandoning them in a Croatian orphanage, triggering an international legal battle to bring the kids home.
Elleshia Anne Seymour, 35, was taken into custody in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on Jan. 16, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to Digital. Prosecutors said they are now working with federal partners to explore extradition options, though no timeline has been announced.
Seymour is charged in Utah with four counts of custodial interference — removing child from state, all third-degree felonies, after authorities say she took her children out of the country without the consent of their fathers and failed to return them for court-ordered visitation.
Officials say Seymour boarded a one-way flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam on Nov. 29 before traveling on to Croatia with the children. Investigators allege the deadline for her to return the children to their fathers had “long since elapsed,” and both fathers told police they never agreed to allow the children to leave the state or the country.
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Seymour’s children are shown in a family photo with her ex-husband, Kendall Seymour. Authorities said the children were later found in a Croatian orphanage after being taken abroad by their mother. (GoFundMe)
According to Kendall Seymour, the father of three of the children, the family did not realize the kids were missing until days after they had already been taken overseas.
“On Sunday, Nov. 30, my ex-wife flew to Europe, kidnapping all three of my kids and her fourth child from another dad,” Seymour wrote in his original GoFundMe post. “We didn’t learn until Tuesday, Dec. 2, that anyone was missing.”
Court records show a no-bail arrest warrant was issued in December after prosecutors argued Seymour posed a flight risk and a danger to her children.
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Photos show the missing Seymour children alongside a separate image of their mother. Authorities said the children were allegedly taken abroad by their mother and later found at an orphanage in Croatia. (GoFundMe)
According to charging documents, officers later found Seymour’s apartment unlocked and abandoned, her vehicle parked at Salt Lake City International Airport, and a notebook outlining plans to discard phones and documents. Kendall Seymour said his ex-wife allegedly forged passport paperwork for the children and left behind what he described as a delusional note claiming she had received a message from God promising she 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 phone,” and “purchase pre-paid phone.”
In a voicemail left for Kendall Seymour days after disappearing, Elleshia Seymour allegedly claimed she was in France and said she needed to get the children out because the “end times” were coming, according to police.
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Kendall Seymour is shown with his children in an undated family photo taken prior to their alleged abduction. (GoFundMe)
The children were eventually located in Croatia and placed into a state-run orphanage.
Now, Kendall Seymour has flown to Europe in a desperate effort to bring them home.
In a Jan. 25 update posted to a GoFundMe campaign, Seymour said the children remain “trapped in Croatia in a state-run orphanage” as he works to secure their release from government custody.
“We are in the country, trying to get the kids out of the custody of the local government,” he wrote, adding that the family has been forced to hire Croatian lawyers who specialize in international child abduction cases, file applications under the Hague Convention, pay for court-approved translators, and extend their stay overseas indefinitely.
Seymour said the fundraiser’s original goal has already been consumed by travel costs alone and warned that future expenses — including therapy — remain unknown.
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“Who knows how much money is going to be needed for therapy for the five of us, after this is all over,” he wrote.
He also revealed that a fifth American child, who had been traveling with Seymour and her children, is housed at the same orphanage. That child has not been publicly identified, and Seymour said his legal situation is “even more difficult,” requiring additional legal strategy and assistance.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to [email protected].
