Missing Utah Children Found After 2 Years of Searching

Three missing Utah children have returned to their mother after they were reported missing in Oct. 2022, and they were found right next door to Southern Utah. 

Members of the police near Kanab said the children were last seen in Beaver and weren’t found until late Aug. 2024. Our news partners with ABC4 Utah reported on the case through an article written by Ryan Bittan. 

Bittan wrote, “Three Utah children missing for two years have been located living with members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to the Fredonia Police Department.” 

The children were found in the northern Arizona town of Fredonia near Kanab after police in the area received information regarding the missing juveniles. 

Bittan wrote, “It was suspected that the father had ‘orchestrated the disappearance and subsequent hiding’ of the children, along with help from family members of the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saint (FLDS) Church, a press release from Fredonia Police states. Arizona and Utah agencies conducted a joint effort to plan to retrieve the children. On Sept. 1, 2024, authorities found and retrieved the three children, returning them to their mother.” 

On top of the accusations against the father, police arrested the children’s grandmother and aunt who seemed to be overseeing the children. Police have yet to confront the father. 

Bittan wrote, “The Kanab City Police Department, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Kane County Sheriff’s Office, Kane County SWAT, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigation, and volunteers from the children’s family assisted in the planning and retrieval of the missing children.” 

We’ll provide more information as the case develops.