‘It’s not over yet.’ Family fights for return of Utah children found in Croatia
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WEST JORDAN, Utah — Four missing children out of West Valley City have been found in Dubrovnik, Croatia, according to the family.
Jill Seymour, aunt to three of the missing children, says the family was alerted by the FBI on Friday that the missing children, who authorities say were taken illegally to Europe by their mother, were found at a children’s center, similar to a foster home, in Croatia.
Elleshia Seymour, 35, disappeared with her children — Landon Hal Seymour, 11; Levi Parker Seymour, 8; Hazel Rae Seymour, 7; and Jacob Kurt Brady, 3 — following an extended visit with them over the Thanksgiving holiday, according to West Jordan police. They were later seen on surveillance video at Salt Lake City International Airport boarding a plane for Europe.
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Before the alleged kidnapping, Seymour, who shared joint custody of three of the children with her ex-husband, Kendall Seymour, had posted increasingly extreme religious messages on her TikTok account, some titled “Urgent Word,” “Brace Yourself,” “Zombies,” and “US Decimated.” She spoke of darkness consuming America, urged followers to “get provisions,” and warned that Salt Lake City would soon be destroyed.
Jill spoke with EastIdahoNews.com on Monday, just up the hill from where the children are being kept in a children’s center. She says she, Kendall, and Kendall’s fiancée, Heather, flew to Croatia as soon as possible, arriving last Sunday afternoon, Jan. 17.
Watch the interview in the player above.
“We are able to see the children for a whole two hours a day. I wouldn’t say they’re OK,” Jill says. “They are, of course, safe. They are eating. They have somewhere to sleep. They are together, which is huge, they’re out of physical harm’s way, but I wouldn’t say they’re OK by any means.”
Jill says they have learned what occurred between when Elleshia took the children from Utah on a one-way flight to Europe.
According to Jill, Elleshia had met an unidentified woman living in Croatia over TikTok, and had planned to bring the children to live with her and the woman’s 13-year-old son, which they did for nearly two months.
The woman reportedly did not know that Elleshia did not have full custody of her children. The woman’s son, who has not been named, reportedly discovered the children had been kidnapped, and sent news articles about it to his mother.
“He is hugely instrumental in us locating the kids. He had a cell phone, and Googled Levi’s name, and that’s how he found all of the news articles,” Jill says. “That’s where he learned the kids were kidnapped.”
The boy reportedly showed his mother and Elleshia the news articles, prompting the mother to pack Elleshia’s things and drive her to the police station.
“From what it sounds like, allegedly a fight broke out, a verbal disagreement broke out between the two women and they were actually both arrested outside of the police department,” Jill says. “The 13-year-old is now in the children’s center with them.”
Further detail about Elleshia’s arrest is unknown.
“Croatia is pretty tight-lipped when somebody is going through this process. They don’t have any arrest records that (are) released to the public like we do in the States,” Jill says. “From what we’ve heard from locals … she’s in some type of a holding center, like a holding cell. She’s not in actual jail yet, until she has a court date.”
Jill says they believe the woman had similar religious beliefs to Elleshia, and found her through her social media videos, warning others about the apocalypse.
After the Seymour family made it to Croatia, they learned more about the children’s whereabouts since they were reported missing on Dec. 2.
“We learned that they did in fact fly to Amsterdam, then they flew to Italy, and from there it’s kind of fuzzy coming from the children,” Jill says. “We think that they then flew to Split, Croatia, and they’ve been on a lot of boats, taking ferries to different islands, different places. The kids can’t even count how many ferries and buses and things they’ve been on.”
Speaking more with the children, Jill says they learned about what their mother had told them about why they suddenly had to leave the United States.
Seven-year-old Hazel reportedly told her family that her mother had told them that “America is a bad place and we weren’t safe anymore, so we had to get out of there.”
“I said, ‘What do you believe, Hazel?’ and she said, ‘I don’t think that’s true,'” Jill says. “So that’s just a relief that they didn’t think any of these things she was telling them are true. She was telling them that Utah was going to be destroyed, that all of America was going to be destroyed and that basically, an apocalypse was coming. But they are very intelligent children, and they knew that was not possible.”
Jill says the struggle now is getting the children home to the United States. Between language barriers, tight-lipped law enforcement officials and little knowledge of Croatian child-custody laws, the family says the process has already been longer than they anticipated.
“This country operates very differently than America as far as quickness and how documents are turned in. There is no e-filing — it doesn’t exist. You’re not emailing documents back and forth — you’re turning them in by hand, in print and copies,” Jill says. “We’ve had to get everything translated into Croatian so all of the documents we have from the States have needed to get translated.”
Jill says the next step in the process is to hear back from a Utah judge, get it translated, and keep working through the legal process.
“We are waiting for an amended document to get signed by a judge today in Utah, then we will get that translated and turned back into the authorities here, and crossing our fingers that is enough,” Jill says. “Once the (Croatian) police department has concluded their investigation and decides that all of these documents are legitimate, the children’s center has custody of the children right now, and it will be up to (them) to hand over custody back to Kendall.”
The conditions of the children’s center where the children are staying are “abysmal” according to Jill, who says she found black mold in a hallway, and children being unattended.
“It’s not anywhere you would want your kids to be living as far as the quality of care, or lack there of that they’re receiving,” Jill says. “They pretty much do what they want unless it’s mealtime, they’re gathered to eat. Other than that, they’re pretty much left alone, including 3-year-old Jacob, which is pretty alarming. So yes, they’re found, but this is long from over.”
One of the biggest concerns is the language barrier between the kids and their caregivers.
“A large concern for the kids is they can’t use their words, so emotions are overriding. You’re not heard until you’re crying and screaming,” Jill says. “It’s going to be a lot of undoing, a lot of therapy.”
A GoFundMe has been organized to help with travel costs for the family to and from Croatia, medical costs, food and lodging, therapy, and other necessities the family and children will require.
As for now, Jill says they are meticulously seeing the children everyday for as long as they are allowed, and hoping the process will be quick to return home with them.
“It’s very bittersweet. It’s very difficult for all the children to say goodbye every single day. They do understand that we’re coming back the next day, but the in-between time is so difficult,” Jill says. “And to go from seeing your dad and having to say goodbye every day, and then really not knowing what the next 12 to 15 hours is going to bring you.”
Watch Kaitlyn Hart’s interview with Jill Seymour in the player above.
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