Three children who mysteriously disappeared over two years ago have been found alive in a tiny, unassuming desert town just south of the Arizona-Utah border.
The children strangely vanished two years ago in October 2022 from their home in Beaver County, Utah, prompting a years-long search that has finally met its end.
A tip received by local police in late August alerted the officials to the possible whereabouts of the children.
At the time, police believed that the children’s father may have ‘orchestrated the disappearance and subsequent hiding’ of his three kids.
The missing children have now been later discovered in Fredonia, Arizona, a small desert town less than five miles from the Arizona-Utah border, in the custody of their grandmother.
Upon further investigation it was revealed by the Fredonia Police Department that the children had been intentionally concealed from the rest of the world as family members helped hide their location.
The unnamed children’s grandmother and aunt have both been arrested in connection to the 2022 disappearance. Meanwhile, their father remains at large.
Three Utah children who have been missing since 2022 have been found alive and have reportedly been returned to their mother
The missing children were later discovered in Fredonia, Arizona, a small desert town less than five miles from the Arizona-Utah border, while in the custody of their grandmother
The children were said to be living with the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saint church, a religious movement that has oft been compared to a cult for its involvement in various illegal activities, including child marriages, child abandonment, sexual assault and human trafficking. Pictured: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fredonia, Arizona
The children were said to be living with the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saint church, a religious movement that has oft been compared to a cult for its involvement in various illegal activities, including child marriages, child abandonment, sexual assault and human trafficking.
A press release issued by the department stated that in a joint effort, both the Arizona and Utah law enforcement agencies were able to liberate the children on September 1.
The children have since been returned to their mother.
‘The Fredonia Police Department would like to thank all involved for their assistance,’ the release stated. ‘As of today, the children are safe with their mother as this investigation continues.’
The quaint northern Arizona town, known as the gateway to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, boasts a population of just 1,203, according to the United States Census Bureau.
A former member of the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saint church previously opened up about what life is like inside a commune linked to the Latter Day Saints.
In December, a married couple, Sam and Melissa, of Hilldale, Utah, opened up to popular YouTube creator Peter Santanello to discuss their experience growing up within the religion.
The pair told Santanello that they were raised under the reign of Warren Jeffs’ polygamous Mormon cult, where girls could be married off as young as 14 and ‘men were living in fear.’
Sam laid bare the truth about the pervasive control within the church and dished on the intimidation tactics used to spread fear throughout the members.
Popular YouTube creator Peter Santanello met with former members of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church (FLDS) in Hildale, Utah. Pictured: Married couple Sam and Melissa talk to the popular YouTuber
Sam laid bare the truth about the pervasive control within the church and dished on the intimidation tactics used to spread fear throughout the members
He began by explaining that he was raised by his three moms in a trailer, which was home to dozens of kids at once – all of whom were his siblings.
He said: ‘My mom was the second wife. That’s a whole interesting story about how the wives got along and all of that – but my mom was the second and I am about the middle child of hers she had 12 kids.
‘I have 36 siblings altogether.’
He explained that birth control was ‘completely against the rules’ and that ‘the sexual stuff was so taboo.’
‘Marriages were all arranged and completely dependent on what Warren Jeffs decided at the moment – if someone deserved another wife, if they were righteous enough, it was up to him,’ Sam explained.
The former member said that this often meant people were ‘forced’ to get married – including girls as young as 14 to older men.
Melissa explained: ‘Most of the men in the community they’re assigned their wives and if the prophet says here’s your new wife she’s 14 are you going to look him in the eye and say “well I don’t want a 14-year-old”?
‘He’s going to look at you and say so your questioning what God wants for you. God told me that this 14-year-old is meant to be your fourth wife are you telling me you don’t trust God?
‘And that’s what these men are dealing with and so who’s going to question that authority in that sense.’
She continued: ‘The women can have situations where they are oppressed or in circumstances that there’s abuse or these other things that can happen – but the men also can be victims as well and I think we overlook that a lot.
In 2011, Jeffs, who is estimated to have had 85 wives, was sent away for life after he was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault for having sex with girls aged 12 and 14
Jeffs, who is estimated to have had 85 wives (pictured),kept FLDS members living in fear
‘We don’t think about the pressure that this man has to live perfectly and if his family’s not perfect, and if his wives aren’t perfect, and if his children aren’t perfect, if anything in his life and household isn’t perfect he can lose everything.’
Sam confirmed: ‘It became common for Warren Jeffs to just kick people out of the community – claim that they did something evil, say they’re not worthy to be here anymore.
‘He would force them out and that would open up all of this room for women to be passed around to other men.’
He continued: ‘Men were living in fear all the time that if I don’t obey perfectly this will happen to me and I’m gone.
‘He made an example of a lot of people to put fear into the other members of the church.’
Warren Jeffs has has since been imprisoned for life on two felony counts of child sexual assault.
