Two children reported missing from Canton were safely recovered in Reykjavik, Iceland, following a months-long investigation involving local, federal, and international agencies, authorities said.
The U.S. Marshals Service in Northern Ohio, working with the Canton Police Department and the U.S. State Department, located the children, ages 8 and 9, on Jan. 10. The children had been reported missing to Canton police on Oct. 25, 2024, after a family member raised concerns.
Investigators learned the children’s mother, 34, had stopped taking her mental health medication, abandoned her apartment, and withdrawn the children from school, according to the initial report. The Canton Police Department requested assistance from the U.S. Marshals Missing Child Unit in Cleveland, prompting a joint investigation.
The search began in Denver, where the children were initially tracked. Investigators discovered the family had traveled to London, then to the Island of Jersey in the English Channel, and finally to a remote fishing village in Iceland. Icelandic police ultimately located the children and their mother at a hotel in Reykjavik.
The children were placed in the care of Icelandic social services until they could be reunited with a trusted family member. The mother was admitted to a hospital in Iceland, where she will remain until she is well enough to return to the United States.
The recovery involved cooperation among the Canton Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service, Interpol, the State Department, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and authorities in England and Iceland. NCMEC provided financial support to reunite the children with their family and facilitate their return home.
“The collaboration of effort in this case can’t be understated,” U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said in a statement. “The ability to respond and recover these children abroad is an extremely difficult task. Our investigators did an outstanding job. We are lucky to have such strong and dedicated law enforcement partners, and credit should be given to them for helping bring these children home.”
