Two missing children were located unharmed Wednesday afternoon after a mother reportedly fled with them following a custody hearing, prompting a statewide Amber Alert, police said.
The statewide alert for the children — who are 2 months old, and 2 years old — was issued out of South Salt Lake just before 2 p.m. Wednesday. South Salt Lake Police said in a Facebook post that they were located unharmed at about 3:30 p.m.
Their 22-year-old mother and 38-year-old grandmother reportedly took off with the children after the mother lost custody of them to the Division of Child and Family Services during the Wednesday hearing, according to authorities. Both women are now in police custody.
The alert also mentioned two older children, whom their mother retained custody of. The women picked up those children from school before fleeing with the toddler and infant, police spokesperson Danielle Croyle said.
Police believed the younger children were in danger because the mother reportedly sent a text message to a DCFS caseworker stating that the kids “were killed or going to be killed” and refused to hand them over to DCFS. Police at the time were also concerned for the welfare of the older children.
No further details were available as of Wednesday afternoon.
