A Utah mother who allegedly abducted her four children under the belief the apocalypse was imminent has been apprehended in Croatia after a two-month international search, with the children now located and safe in state custody. Alicia Seymour, 35, was arrested by police in the southern Croatian town of Dubrovnik following a tip that unraveled her alleged plan to flee the United States permanently with her children.
The children, ranging in age from three to eleven, are currently being held at a state-run childcare facility in Croatia as authorities work to repatriate them to their fathers in the United States. Seymour’s ex-husband, Kendall Seymour, and his sister, Jill Seymour, have traveled to Croatia and are now navigating a complex foreign legal system to regain custody of the three children who are Kendall’s. The fourth child is Seymour’s from another relationship.
Seymour and the children vanished on November 29 after being captured on surveillance video boarding a one-way flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, with a final destination of Croatia. A warrant filed by West Jordan Police in Utah details four felony counts of custodial interference against Seymour, who had joint custody agreements with both fathers. The warrant states the fathers never consented to the children leaving the country.
Authorities allege Seymour was motivated by extreme doomsday beliefs. In a voicemail left for an ex-husband on December 2, she claimed to be in France seeking permanent residence, stating she “needed to get the children out because the end times were coming.” Her social media, under the username “daughter of light,” featured posts about apocalyptic dreams involving electromagnetic pulses causing global chaos.
The breakthrough in the case came from an unexpected source: a 13-year-old boy living in Croatia. According to Jill Seymour, Alicia had connected online with the boy’s mother, an American expatriate living in Dubrovnik who shared similar end-times ideologies. The Seymour family had been living with this woman for approximately six weeks.
The teenage boy grew suspicious and, at the request of one of the Seymour children, Googled the child’s name. He discovered news reports about the international search and alerted his mother. The woman then confronted Seymour and drove her to a local police station, where an altercation allegedly led to the arrest of both women.
“The 13-year-old child is actually who found out that the kids were missing and that the FBI was looking for them,” Jill Seymour stated in an interview. She confirmed that both Alicia Seymour and the American woman she was staying with are now in Croatian custody.
While the children are physically safe, their aunt described the conditions at the facility as substandard, citing issues like black mold and a lack of structured care. The children are allowed only two hours of supervised visitation per day with their family. “They hate it and they very often say that they feel like they’re in jail,” Jill Seymour reported. “They want to go home.”
The path to bringing the children back to the United States is fraught with legal and bureaucratic hurdles. The family must hire Croatian lawyers specializing in child abduction, submit applications under the Hague Convention, and have all U.S. custody documents professionally translated and physically submitted to authorities who do not accept digital filings.
“Everything that we are told is since the kids are now in custody technically… they have to verify every single document that we turn in,” Jill Seymour explained, noting the process moves at “molasses speed.” There is no definitive timeline for the children’s release and return.
The Utah arrest warrant paints a picture of a woman whose family expressed deep concerns about her mental state, citing previous emotional breakdowns and hallucinations. Police have requested she be held without bond if returned to the U.S., arguing her “extreme erratic behavior will escalate and put her children at risk.”
The FBI, which led the international search, has declined to comment, referring inquiries to Croatian authorities. The West Jordan Police Department also deferred comment. The investigation into how Seymour orchestrated the international flight and whether forged documents were used remains ongoing.
This case echoes other high-profile incidents involving mothers with extreme beliefs, such as Lori Vallow Daybell, though with a crucial distinction: these children were found alive. The role of social media in connecting individuals with fringe ideologies is again under scrutiny, with TikTok serving as the alleged platform where Seymour and her Croatian contact first bonded over their apocalyptic visions.
For now, the Seymour family remains in Croatia, facing an uncertain wait and mounting legal costs while working to finally bring the children back to Utah. The relief of finding the children safe is tempered by the daunting procedural maze that now stands between them and a return to normalcy.