8 abducted Arkansas children found safe in California
California police rescued eight abducted Arkansas children after receiving a tip about a “woman displaying bizarre behavior” shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Responding officers found Trista Fullerton, 36, and six children in the parking lot of an Anderson, California, convenience store.
There was an arrest warrant out for Fullerton after she allegedly took her eight biological children from foster families, police said. Fullerton, a resident of Rogers, Arkansas, who lost custodial rights to her kids, told officers where the other two children were, and law enforcement found them safe.
The kids were reunited with their foster families, police said.
Fullerton was arrested on the fugitive from justice warrant and is being held without bail in the Shasta County Jail, according to inmate records.
“The Anderson Police Department would like to thank the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in this case, and thank the alert citizen who reported the incident,” police said in a statement.
No other information on Fullerton’s “bizarre behavior” or the circumstances of her capture was immediately released by police. Before this weekend, Fullerton was arrested on charges of domestic battery and violating a no contact order with the children’s father in June 2021, according to court records.
Fullerton “knowing and with the purpose of causing physical injury to a family or household member, caused physical injury to a family or household member, after having been previously convicted of Domestic Battery in the Third Degree,” June 2021 charging documents say.
She ultimately pleaded guilty in July 2022 and was sentenced to four years of probation, court records show.
Following the rescue the Anderson, California Police Department made the following post on their Facebook account:
APD Recovers Eight Abducted Children from Arkansas
On Saturday, October 21, 2023, at about 12:30 AM, a concerned citizen contacted SHASCOM Dispatch requesting a welfare check on a group of six children and the woman they were with, due to the woman displaying bizarre behavior.
APD Officers responded to the location and located the woman and children in the parking lot and found them to be associated with an Arkansas plated Dodge pickup. Officers contacted the woman and identified her as Trista Fullerton, age 36, of Rogers, Arkansas.
A records check revealed Trista to have a felony warrant for her arrest for the abduction of eight children. Officers arrested Fullerton on her arrest warrant and interviewed her regarding the location of the other two abducted children. Officers learned that the children were located at a residence in the Cottonwood area, and requested the assistance of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office in locating them.
Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office successfully located the children and transported them to our officers to coordinate with Shasta County Children and Family Services. A records check on the eight children revealed them to all be listed as abducted with protective custody warrants issued for their safety. Officers learned that Fullerton was the biological mother of all of the children, however had lost her custodial rights and had abducted the children from their foster placements.
Fullerton was transported and booked into the Shasta County Jail on her Arkansas arrest warrant. The children were released to Shasta County Children and Family Services for reunification with their guardians in Arkansas.
The Anderson Police Department would like to thank the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in this case, and thank the alert citizen who reported the incident.