Elleshia Anne Seymour, a Utah mother accused of kidnapping her four children and fleeing to Europe without their fathers’ permission, has been arrested. However, the situation remains difficult for the children. While the 35-year-old mother is now in custody in Croatia, her four children are still being held in a state-run orphanage overseas.
According to Unilad, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that Seymour had been arrested and charged. She faces four counts of the third-degree felony of Custodial Interference, which involves removing a child from the state. Officials took her into custody on January 16 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
In late November, Seymour reportedly took her four children on a flight to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and then continued to Croatia. She made the trip without getting permission from either of the children’s fathers. When the fathers realized their kids were missing days later, one of them, Kendall Seymour, launched a GoFundMe campaign to help fund the search.
The fathers now face a complicated international custody battle
Kendall, who is the father of three of the four children, claimed the mother left behind a note with a “delusional message from God promising her she would be in Italy by Christmas.” Kendall Seymour is now in Croatia himself, working to get the children released from government custody.
The latest update from January 25 states that the four children remain in Croatia, currently being housed in a state-run children’s home. This case highlights the serious nature of international abduction incidents involving children. Getting them out requires meeting complicated and expensive legal requirements.
Kendall explained that they have to “hire Croatian lawyers who specialize in child abduction, create and submit Hague Convention applications, hire court-approved translators, and extend our stay here by an unknown amount of time.” He raised the GoFundMe donation goal to cover the rising costs.
Kendall is also concerned about the long-term effects on the children. He pointed out that “who knows how much money is going to be needed for therapy for the five of us, after this is all over.” Cases like these are not uncommon, as parental kidnapping cases can remain unsolved for decades.
There is a fifth American child in the same children’s home who was traveling with Seymour and her four children. Kendall noted that the fifth child’s situation is “even more difficult than my own kids’ status.” He wants to help this child, saying the child “is going to need more legal strategy than his own kids.”
The Ministry of the Interior for the Croatian Republic of Serbia confirmed that the fathers simply arriving in the country would not be enough to get the children released. The United States needs to conduct a procedure verifying all the relevant facts and then make a valid decision on the handover of the children. The ministry noted that the father is familiar with the documentation that must be submitted to collect the children.
Published: Jan 30, 2026 07:27 am