Trista Fullerton, a 36-year-old woman from Arkansas was arrested in California amid kidnapping accusations. Fullerton allegedly kidnapped eight children from their foster home in Rogers, Arkansas.
Moreover, she is the biological mother of the children, but she no longer has custodial rights. On Saturday, a person called the police in Anderson, California after witnessing erratic behavior from Fullerton in her Dodge pick-up truck.
After a welfare check, authorities discovered the existence of a warrant in her name for the abduction of the children. According to the police, she drove 2,000 miles with them in the vehicle.
The authorities have also shown photos from inside the truck. It was filled with a lot of trash. At the time of her arrest, only six children were in the vehicle. Fullerton later told authorities that the other two were staying with her friends in nearby Cottonwood.
Shasta County Children and Family Services took the children and made sure that they were returned to their foster parents in Arkansas.
Trista Dawn Fullerton has a well-documented record of encounters with the law that started in 2011 when she was 24 years old. She had smaller issues like traffic infractions and problems with child support.
However, there is more, she was also charged with third-degree domestic battery. Moreover, she also violated a no-contact order with the father of one of her children during an ongoing court case.
In the February 2020 domestic battery case, Trista Fullerton “punched her boyfriend in the head multiple times and scratched his face, causing redness and bleeding on his face.”
She had run-ins with the law in both Shasta County and Arkansas. Her arraignment took place on Thursday at the Shasta County Superior Court. Her extradition to Arkansas is also being processed.
So, why did Fullerton travel through five states with her abducted children? She reportedly wanted to start a new life after a quick stay in the small town of northern California.
According to her father, David Fullerton, she was planning to start over in Arizona. Mr. Fullerton spoke to a journalist from the Los Angeles Times and said: “My daughter stands a chance, you know. She made a mistake. She went across the line taking her babies but she didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to.”
For breaking the terms of her probation, Fullerton could face up to twelve years in prison. The community is ambivalent about what is unfolding around the case.
Some say that the mother deserves to be punished for what she did. Others claim that critics are being too harsh and should give her room to grow as a human being.
