Mom arrested after ‘kidnapping child in Utah and taking them to religious cult-like compound in Missouri’

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A mom is accused of kidnapping and taking a toddler from Utah to a religious compound in Missouri, federal prosecutors say.

Three other people were also arrested in connection to the case.

Kimberly Dell Davidson-Drolet, 53, kidnapped her non-custodial 4-year-old child in Utah and took them Springfield, Missouri, according to Fox 13. The child was allegedly taken in January 2023. An arrest warrant was issued in December 2023 and she was recently arrested

Prosecutors said the child was in Missouri until June 2024.

Drolet left Utah with the child and devised an elaborate plan to take the child to Missouri with the help of the other three suspects, according to OzarksFirst.com.

The 53-year-old was in the process of a divorce and did not have custody of the toddler, according to the report.

The mom was on the run for more than a year and prosecutors said they used burner phones and the postal service to evade capture.

Drolet was seen with the child and living at a religious compound led by Paul Dean, according to prosecutors. Dean is the head of a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints “religious-type cult,” according to prosecutors and reports.

Dean and Drolet are related, though it’s unclear how.

Kristine Merrill, 53, of Murray, Utah, 30-year-old Jaxson Davidson of Washington, Utah and Dallas Davidson, 23, of Washington, Utah, were also charged in the case. Jaxon Davidson is Drolet’s son.