Two children who were reported missing from Washington state in December 2023 have been found, alive and safe, in the state of Virginia, following a multi-agency search, according to information from the U.S. Marshals Service. The U.S. Marshals revealed that the kids were initially reported missing to the Redmond, Washington police department.
In the early part of August 2026, Redmond police, along with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, asked the U.S. Marshals Service for assistance in searching for the missing children. Investigators with the Marshals Service Missing Child Unit immediately jumped on the case and worked to locate the kids, which they later determined were in the greater Washington, D.C. area.
Through further investigation by the agency, it was determined that the children were taken by their mother after she lost custody of them and concealed their names to try and evade law enforcement. The U.S. Marshals Service explained that the Missing Child Unit followed leads that took them across three states.
According to KOMO News, the U.S. Marshals Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Baltimore County Police Department, and the Arlington Police Department, all provided the Missing Child Unit with assistance that ultimately led to the children being found safely on September 16, 2026. The kids were then returned to their father.
The agency also pointed out that the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 expanded the authority granted to the U.S. Marshals in assisting law enforcement in recovering estranged missing children, even when no fugitive or sex offender is directly involved in the case. The Marshals Service said it created the Missing Child Unit to oversee and manage the implementation of the authority the act provided for the agency.
Since the act was signed into law in 2015, it has contributed to the location and recovery of 5,218 missing kids. The response on social media concerning the closing of the case was highly positive. “Very happy to hear that the government is doing some good. Sorry it took 3 years but grateful they didn’t stop looking. May the families be blessed in every way possible. I hope the kids are able to get through the trauma of this and are able to have a great life moving forward,” one user wrote.
Another user pointed out that according to statistics, most children who go missing in the country are kidnapped by someone they know, such as a friend or family member. “Yup, mother did it. 99.9997% of all abducted children are from family or relations to,” another user said. The U.S. Marshals Service, according to a report from The Post Millennial, has a location rate for missing children of 67%.
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A total of 61% of that number are children who are found within seven days of their involvement. The Washington case follows another missing-child recovery by the agency that took place during the same week. Authorities told the media that two children under the age of 15 who had gone missing in Maine were safely recovered in Dorchester, Massachusetts, after a joint investigation performed by local police and the Marshals service.