Mom Allegedly Abducted Her 4 Children and Fled Overseas as She Feared ‘End Times’ Were Coming: Police

A Utah mother of four has been accused of abducting her children allegedly because she feared that “end times” were coming.

Elleshia Anne Seymour, 35, has been charged with four counts of custodial interference and removing a child from the state after allegedly abducting her four children and fleeing to Europe, according to ABC4 Utah. 

Court documents reviewed by ABC4 revealed that officers with the West Jordan Police Department arrived at a residence belonging to Elleshia for a welfare check on Dec. 2, and found it unlocked and unoccupied.

Officials have been unable to contact the mother, and she also hasn’t answered phone calls from a co-worker and a friend since Nov. 29, which is the day the alleged abduction occurred.

An endangered and missing advisory was issued by the Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) on Dec. 10 for the children, who are between the ages of 3 and 11. 

ABC4 previously identified the children as 11-year-old Landon Seymour, 8-year-old Levi Parker Seymour, 7-year-old Hazel Raye Seymour and 3-year-old Jacob Kurt Brady.

DPS said, per the outlet, that it is unknown what the children were last seen wearing or where they were last seen. The advisory named Elleshia as the alleged abductor, identifying her as a white female who is 5 feet 3 inches and 121 lbs. with hazel eyes and brown hair. 

During the investigation, officials found a notebook in the mother’s residence with plans to get rid of documents and phones, as well as take passports, according to ABC4. She was said to have left a voicemail for one of the two fathers, in which she claimed to be in France with the kids. 

Elleshia, who shares custody with the fathers, allegedly said she was looking for a permanent residence and took the kids because she feared “end times” were coming, according to police.

Officials determined neither of the fathers were aware of Elleshia’s plans. They also determined that she appears to have no intention of returning to the United States and has broken her court-ordered custody agreement. 

DPS said Elleshia’s vehicle was left in a parking lot at the Salt Lake City International Airport. Airport video footage later reviewed by ABC4 showed the mother boarding an international flight with her four kids on Nov. 29. The one-way flight included a stop in Amsterdam before arriving to Croatia.

Kendall Seymour, the father of three of the kids, created a GoFundMe that has raise more than $12,000 so far. In the description, he alleged that his kids “have been abducted overseas by their mother” and he didn’t learn that they were missing until Dec. 2.

Kendall also wrote on GoFundMe that he was advised by someone to pick up the children “wherever they are found” in order to “minimize the trauma.”

“If we can be there to get them ASAP after mom is arrested, they will feel safer and will not suffer as much wondering what is going to happen to them, to their mom, and to their future,” the father wrote, before expressing optimism in the search efforts. 

Kendall said the funds will go toward flights as well as a potential hotel stay. He said they “don’t know yet who will pick up the fourth child.”

Additional funds, the father wrote, “will go toward therapy needed because of this traumatic experience.”

“My genuine hope is that the kids are found quickly, and we can pick them up while they still think they’re on a vacation,” he concluded. 

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Kendall told KSLTV that he was previously unaware of his ex’s beliefs but recently discovered concerning videos on her social media.

“I didn’t know about any of these ideas of hers until a couple of weeks ago when someone found her TikTok account … She thinks Salt Lake is going to be destroyed and she is trying to get the kids to safety. My only hope is that she is motivated to protect them,” he said. “There were no signs of that when we were married or divorced in the last five years.”

ABC4 reported that the West Jordan Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are working on the case. 

PEOPLE reached out to the West Jordan Police Department and Utah Department of Public Safety for information on Dec. 28, but did not receive immediate responses.