A nearly two-year search for three missing Utah children has come to an end after they were found safe near the Utah-Arizona border, authorities say.
The three children, who have not been named, went missing in October 2022. In late August 2024, police in Fredonia, Arizona received information that the missing children were in a town of 1,300 people a few miles from the Utah-Arizona border.
Police suspected that their father “planned the disappearance and subsequent disappearance” of the children with the help of members of the Catholic Church’s family, authorities said in a release Wednesday.
Fredonia police, along with other local authorities, took the children and returned them to their mother.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fredonia, Arizona. Police suspect the 2022 disappearance of three children was orchestrated by their father and the FLDS church (Google. Maps)
Their aunt and grandmother, who “appeared to be looking after” the children, were arrested, authorities said. Police have not identified any family members.
“Due to the complexity of this investigation involving minors, some information is, and will remain, withheld to protect the innocent,” police said.
The children and their mother are safe as the investigation continues, authorities added.
The whole operation was “short, quick,” Fredonia police officer Andrew Smith told Fox13. “So that’s how it works. It’s not the FLDS group, but anyone who gets a whiff that there’s more than normal energy in town, especially in a small town like this, things start to move. “
“It feels good to be able to pick them up and bring them back to their parent,” he continued. “That’s why we’re here.”