Four children from West Jordan, Utah who vanished with their mother over Thanksgiving have been located in a state-run orphanage in Croatia, Us Weekly reports. The mother, Elleshia Seymour, 35, was arrested in Dubrovnik on Jan. 16.
West Jordan police said Seymour disappeared with her children, ages 11, 8, 7 and 3, after a visit during the Thanksgiving holiday in November 2025. Surveillance footage last captured them at Salt Lake City International Airport boarding a flight to Europe.
Kendall Seymour, the father of three of the children, confirmed their location in a Sunday update on a GoFundMe page.
“The kids are trapped in Croatia in a state-run orphanage. We are in the country, trying to get the kids out of the custody of the local government,” he wrote.
The family is raising money to hire lawyers and translators to regain custody from the Croatian government.
A fifth child, another American, was found with Kendall Seymour’s children.
“My children were traveling with him and his mother. The fifth child’s situation is even more difficult than my own kids’ status,” he wrote. “We would like to help him as much as possible – his situation is going to need more legal help and strategy than ours.”
Elleshia Seymour has been charged with four counts of felony custodial interference, Fox 13 reports. An Endangered Missing Advisory was issued for the children on Dec. 10, 2025.
Before leaving, she left behind two notes, according to police. One contained a “delusional message from God” saying she would be “in Italy by Christmas,” according to Us Weekly. The second was a to-do list that included buying a prepaid burner phone.
Kendall Seymour learned his children were missing from a panicked call from their babysitter.
“She was in a panic and just said, you know, ‘Your — Kenny, I think your kids are missing,’” he said in a Jan. 4 interview with East Idaho News’ Courtroom Insider.
He said his ex-wife’s behavior was new.
“When we were married, there was nothing like this,” he said. “We both grew up LDS, or Mormon, … but (there were) none of these beliefs about end times or Salt Lake specifically being destroyed.”
The West Jordan Police Department and the FBI are investigating the disappearance.
Read the original article on cleveland.com.