A father in Utah revealed that he has been reunited with his three kids and their half-brother after their mother abducted the children and traveled with them abroad, eventually leaving them at a Croatian orphanage.
Kendall Seymour first announced that his kids were missing after his ex-wife, Elleshia Seymour, was seen getting on a plane with the four children on November 30, 2025.
In a Sunday, January 25, update on his GoFundMe page, Kendall shared that the kids were located in a Croatian orphanage. However, he said that the family needed 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” in order to get the kids back.
Kendall shared a happy update on Thursday, January 29, revealing that he was able to take all four of the children back to Utah.
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“After so much work from SO many people, the Social Services employees informed us that the police had finished their investigation, returned the children’s passports, and gave us the go ahead to pick up the kids from the children’s group home in the morning! We are all excited to get back to (mostly) normal life,” he wrote, alongside photos of his reunion with the kids.
After he thanked everyone who helped “locate and fight for these kids,” Kendall continued, “In no way, shape, or form could we have done this without all of you and our amazing network of family and friends. We don’t even know where we would be (or where the kids would be) without you all.”
In his initial post, Kendall explained that there was a fifth American child at the orphanage who traveled to Croatia with his mother, Elleshia and her four kids.
Kendall explained in the January 29 post that he didn’t “have an official update on the fifth child.”
“We are reserving funds for any legal help he needs to get himself into a good situation, wherever he considers home to be. He has been very worried about not being able to communicate with family and friends (‘they probably think I’m dead!), so we’ve purchased him a decent phone with a plan,” Kendall wrote. “Luckily, he was able to log back into his old apps and re-connect with the friends he hasn’t spoken to in a few weeks. We put our contacts in his phone so that he can reach out to us for help at any time.”
Kendall added that he and his family purchased “a number of items for the children’s group home,” while he hopes to “find other ways to give back” to the orphanage.
On Sunday, February 1, Kendall announced that he, his three kids and Elleshia’s fourth child were officially on their way home. “We were able to take the three Seymour kids and their little half-brother,” he wrote.
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Not only are the kids heading home, but the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office previously confirmed that Elleshia was taken into custody on Friday, January 16, in Dubrovnik, Croatia. She was previously charged with four counts of Custodial Interference – Remove Child from State in December 2025.
It is not currently clear if Elleshia has entered a plea, retained legal representation or was given bond. The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office told Us Weekly that they did not have any updates to share regarding her arrest.
