CACHE COUNTY, Utah — A reward is now being offered for two missing Idaho teens who were originally believed to be headed to Utah over what law enforcement officials say are "religious beliefs."
The $5,000 reward is being offered days after the AMBER Alert was issued for 15-year-old Rachelle Leray Fischer and 13-year-old Allen Larand Fischer. The teens left their home on Sunday in Monteview, Idaho, located about 50 miles northwest of Idaho Falls.
Police originally thought the two were planning to return to Trenton in the Cache Valley of Utah, where they previously lived. However, the teens have yet to be found, and law enforcement thinks they "may be heading to [an] FLDS group" — or the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which their mother said she left years ago.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said that when their mother, who has custody of the children, left for Bible study on Sunday, the teens were missing when she returned home that evening. Investigators say the children went missing sometime between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. that evening.
Police say Allen is 5’9”, 135 pounds with longer sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Rachelle is 5’5”, 135 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. East Idaho News reports that Rachelle was last seen wearing a dark green prairie dress and had her hair braided. Allen was reportedly last seen wearing a light blue shirt, blue jeans and black Crocs-style slip-on shoes.
FOX 13 News spoke with their mom, Elizabeth Roundy, on Monday. She said she used to be a plural wife and left the FLDS Church in 2020.
"They consider me to be an apostate now," she said. "I was sent away to repent, and I came back for my children, and I had to go through the courts to get them back.”
Court documents show that Roundy was awarded custody of her three youngest children. One of them, Elintra Dee Fischer, disappeared two and a half years ago. Now age 18, police believe she may have taken her two siblings, although it's possible they also left of their own accord.
“They’ve just been brainwashed and turned against me," Roundy said.
The missing teens were expected to be traveling in a gray Honda or Hyundai with Utah license plates. However, on Tuesday, Jefferson County Sheriff's officials reported that they have been unable to find evidence proving the vehicle they expected was in Idaho at the time of the disappearance.
Anyone with information on the children is asked to call the sheriff's office at 208-745-9210 and press extension #7.
WATCH: Mothers of children missing inside the FLDS Church beg for help to find them
