SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 13, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Allison Brimhall, the non-custodial mother who sparked an Amber Alert when police say she took her four daughters from their South Jordan home, has been charged with four counts of child kidnapping, each a first-degree felony.
The girls, who are 12, 11, and twins age 9, were in the temporary custody of their father while permanent custody was being determined following a divorce order filed in November. Allison Brimhall, 39, had been granted supervised visits.
The father, identified in court documents as K.B., told police he was not feeling well, and fell back to sleep after awakening at 9 a.m. and hearing his daughters talking.
He awoke again when he heard a knock on the door at about 11:45 a.m. It was a neighbor dropping off Christmas gifts for the girls. It was then the father discovered the girls were no longer in the house or the vicinity.
“K.B. noted that winter coats and shoes were still in the house,” Brimhall’s probable cause statement says. “K.B. stated that he saw bare footprints in the snow, walking away from the house. K.B. believed that his ex-wife (Allison) Brimhall, had taken the girls to California.”
South Jordan police learned Brimhall had been in California on Dec. 7, and told a friend she was going to Utah for dental work. At some point, a ping was done on Brimhall’s phone, and showed she was in San Diego, the probable cause statement says.
San Diego is 737 miles away from South Jordan, and the driver takes almost 12 hours, according to online sources.
A sergeant with the San Diego Police Department contacted a South Jordan Police detective to inform him the girls had been located, and Brimhall had been taken into custody.
A Utah warrant has been filed for Brimhall’s arrest, and motion has been filed to hold her without bail. A records check showed that as of 4 p.m. Monday, Brimhall was still being held on a fugitive warrant at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee, California.
Brimhall’s initial court appearances in Utah is set for Wednesday, Dec. 15.