Three missing children who vanished two years ago found alive

Three children who vanished two years ago have been found alive, police confirmed. The youngsters disappeared from their family home in Beaver County, Utah, in October 2022.

Their disappearance prompted a years-long search which ended at a tiny desert town south of the Arizona-Utah border. A tip-off received by police in late August led officials to the possible whereabouts of the missing trio.

Police had previously believed the children's father may have 'orchestrated the disappearance and subsequent hiding' of them. All three have since been found in Fredonia, Arizona - less than five miles from the Arizona-Utah border.

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They were found in the custody of their grandmother, Mirror reports. Further investigations from the Fredonia Police Department revealed that the children had been intentionally concealed from the world as family members helped to hide their whereabouts.

Both the children's grandmother and aunt have been arrested in connection with the 2022 disappearance. The children's father remains at large.

It is believed that 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 activities like human trafficking, child marriages, sexual assault, and child abandonment, according to the Daily Mail.

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 read: "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."