Three missing children who vanished two years ago found alive after tip off

Three missing children who vanished two years ago have been found alive, police confirmed.

The children disappeared in October 2022 from their family home in Beaver County, Utah. Their disappearance prompted a years-long search which concluded at a tiny desert town south of the Arizona-Utah border. A tip received by police in late August led officials to the possible whereabouts of the missing trio.

Members of the force had previously believed the children's father may have "orchestrated the disappearance and subsequent hiding" of his children. All three have since been found in Fredonia, Arizona, less than five miles from the Arizona-Utah border. They were found in the custody of their grandmother.

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Further investigations from the Fredonia Police Department found the children had been intentionally concealed from the world as family members helped to hide their location. Both the children's unnamed grandmother and aunt have been arrested in connection with the 2022 disappearance while the children's father remains at large.

It is believed the children had been living in a Fundamentalist Latter-day Saint church, a religious movement which has been compared to a cult for its involvement in various illegal activities like human trafficking, child marriages, sexual assault, and child abandonment, the Daily Mail reported. A press release from the Fredonia Police Department has since thanked those who helped with the investigation and confirmed the children are back with their mother.

It reads: "The Fredonia Police Department would like to thank all involved for their assistance. As of today, the children are safe with their mother as this investigation continues." The town boasts a population of 1,203 according to a United States census bureau, with the Arizona-based town known as the gateway to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Three children who vanished from their Utah home were found in a border town just five miles away from the border (file)

One of the many wives of cult leader Warren Jeffs has since spoken out on her time in the cult, with Briell Decker claiming to be the Arizona-based cult leader's 65th wife at the age of just 18, The Mirror previously reported. She added they lived in a 44-room mansion with Jeffs and dozens of his other wives.

Briell said: "I married him after he was the prophet, so he was already on the run. It (going on the run) was almost immediately. Yeah, it was September. And then I... my birthday was in November and I married him in January. So I turned 18. Yeah, I turned 18 so the fathers had a lot more say... kind of before that... erm.

"When Rulon (Jeffs - Warren's father) was the prophet, they could tell the prophet when their daughter was old enough or when they felt like they were ready... erm. But when Warren became the prophet, he called up the fathers and said, 'Your daughter is ready', so it put them in a really tight position cuz if they didn't go along with it, they could lose all their children all at the same time."

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