Mom ‘kidnapped her eight children from their foster home and smuggled them across the country’ before they were found in a Dodge pickup truck in California
- An Arkansas woman is in custody in California after she was found to have kidnapped eight children and driven them across the country, police say
- Trista Fullerton, 36, is the children’s biological mother and has lost custody
A 36-year-old woman is in custody in California after kidnapping her eight biological children from their foster homes and smuggling them across the country, police say.
In the early hours of Saturday, a resident of the town of Anderson, just north of Sacramento, saw Trista Fullerton “exhibiting bizarre behavior” while sitting in her Dodge pickup with six children.
Images of the incident have been released by the Anderson Police Department showed how dirty the Dodge was, with trash strewn about the interior.
The person called police in Anderson to ask them to conduct a welfare check. When officers contacted her, they discovered there was a warrant out for her arrest in connection with the kidnapping of the eight children.
Fullerton had driven the children 2,000 miles from their homes in Arkansas.
Trista Fullerton, 36, pictured here, is in custody in California after being accused of kidnapping her eight children
FILTH: Photos released by police show the dire condition of the car the children were forced to travel in
An Anderson resident called authorities when they noticed Fullerton was acting strangely Friday evening
During an interview, Fullerton told police the location of the two other children who had been kidnapped. They were located at a home in the nearby Cottonwood community. According to Fullerton’s Facebook page, she has several friends who live in Cottonwood.
The children were taken by Shasta County Children and Family Services so they could be reunited with their guardians in Arkansas.
It is not known how long the children have been missing. Fullerton is being held by the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office pending extradition to Arkansas.
Online records show the mother has previously been charged with charging the battery in the home.