Sentenced: Woman Acting 'Bizarre' Arrested In California For Allegedly Kidnapping Her 8 Children From Arkansas

[Sugar Cookie]

A 36-year-old woman from Arkansas was arrested in California over the weekend after she was allegedly caught with eight kidnapped children, all of whom were eventually safely recovered by authorities. Trista Dawn Fullerton, the biological mother of the eight kids, was taken into custody on Saturday and held as a fugitive from justice for unlawfully abducting the children and driving them more than halfway across the country, police announced.

According to a news release from the Anderson Police Department in California, a concerned citizen at about 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 21 contacted the Shasta Area Safety Communications Agency and requested a welfare check on a group of six children seen in the care of a woman the caller said was “displaying bizarre behavior” in the parking lot outside of a Mexican restaurant.

Officers responded to the scene and quickly located the woman — later identified as Fullerton — and the half-dozen children in front of the store. Police said that the woman and kids were all found to be “associated” with a white Dodge pickup truck with Arkansas license plates.

Authorities provided photos of the vehicle, which was filthy with food, drinks, wrappers, and other trash covering the dashboard and the floors in the front and back of the car.

“A records check revealed Trista to have a felony warrant for her arrest for the abduction of eight children,” police wrote in the news release. “Officers arrested Fullerton on her arrest warrant and interviewed her regarding the location of the other two abducted children. Officers learned that the children were located at a residence in the Cottonwood area, and requested the assistance of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office in locating them.”

SCSO deputies were subsequently able to locate the remaining two children. All eight siblings were reunited and placed into the care of Shasta County Children and Family Services.

“A records check on the eight children revealed them to all be listed as abducted with protective custody warrants issued for their safety,” police said. “Officers learned that Fullerton was the biological mother of all of the children, however had lost her custodial rights and had abducted the children from their foster placements.”

Woman's 'bizarre behavior' leads police to 8 kids she allegedly abducted 1,700 miles away

Trista Dawn Fullerton was arrested in California after abducting eight children from Arkansas and driving them more than halfway across the country.

lawandcrime.com

Court records from both Shasta County and Arkansas show Fullerton is no stranger to the legal system. We now know that Fullerton had court cases in Shasta County dating back to 2011 involving a child support issue, as well as a few cases involving traffic infractions just last year.

Court records in Washington County, Arkansas, show Fullerton has been charged multiple times with felonies for third-degree domestic battery, as well as a misdemeanor for violating a no-contact order with the father of her child during the pending domestic battery case.

According to the Shasta County District Attorney's Office, Fullerton is scheduled to appear in Shasta County Superior Court on Thursday afternoon for arraignment. They say a 1551, a process to recognize the warrant and extradite her back to Arkansas, will also be filed on Thursday.

A deeper look into the criminal history of Arkansas woman arrested for abduction of eight children on Saturday

We've learned new details about the criminal history of Trista Dawn Fullerton, the Arkansas woman arrested in Anderson over the weekend for kidnapping eight chi

krcrtv.com

 

[Burke]

Eight??

And the phrasing suggests the children were at multiple foster placements - so she just drove from place to place gathering all of them!

That's absolutely bonkers! I'm very interested to know what her game plan was after this step. How was she going to support and care for all these kids? Or - the cynic in me suggests maybe it would've ended poorly - as she had to know she was doing smth illegal.

 

[cubby]

Eight kids in a pick up truck? If you weren't crazy when you picked them up you would be before you got to your destination. I've had two in the back seat and thought about driving off a bridge. One day when I heard "Don't look at me, don't touch me, don't breathe my air" from the back made me wanna lock both of them in the trunk.

Maybe locking her up will ensure that her kids have a more normal childhood. With her being only 36, there had to be at least 2 toddlers in that mix of kids, bitch, leave your kids alone!!!!

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A Rogers woman accused of abducting eight children and taking them to California pleaded guilty to half of her initial charges and has avoided prison time.

Trista Fullerton, 38, was arrested after she had taken eight kids, which she didn't have custody of, to California.

The Anderson Police Department (APD) in northern California said that on Oct. 21, 2023, a concerned resident reported a woman acting strangely while with children.

Court documents filed on Aug. 13, 2025, said Fullerton took a plea deal, pleading guilty to only four of the felony charges while the other four were dropped.

She was sentenced to 35 days in the county jail, but had 35 days of jail credit for time served already.

Additionally, Fullerton received a six-year suspended imposition of sentence.

Arkansas woman avoids prison time after abducting kids, taking them to California in 2023

Police said although Fullerton is the biological mother of all eight children, she had lost her custodial rights.

www.5newsonline.com