Charges filed against doomsday mother and uncle of missing teen
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GILBERT, Arizona — Criminal charges have been filed against the mother and uncle of a missing Arizona teenager.
Blaze Thibaudeau, 16, has been missing since Monday, when his mom, Spring Thibaudeau, checked him out of school in Gilbert, Arizona. They boarded a flight to Boise with Abi Snarr, Blaze’s 23-year-old sister and Spring’s daughter, to meet up with Brook Hale, Spring’s brother and Blaze’s uncle. Nobody has heard from any of them since.
Spring, Brook and Abi believe the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent and feel Blaze will play a pivotal role in the last days, according to Ben Thibaudeau, Blaze’s dad and Spring’s husband. Ben spoke with EastIdahoNews.com Thursday and said Blaze does not believe in the extreme religious teachings, and Ben worries his son could be in danger.
An Arizona judge granted Ben an emergency petition of custody for Blaze on Tuesday. Spring and Brook were charged in Arizona on Friday with conspiracy to commit custodial interference and custodial interference, both Class 4 felonies. (In Arizona, felonies are listed by class, with Class 1 being the most serious and Class 6 being the least.)
“Mother’s absconding with the child as part of an end of the world scenario poses an imminent risk of irreparable harm to the child,” Mark Shields, Ben’s attorney, wrote in court filings. “He is unwillingly caught in Mother’s end of the world doomsday scenario. By all appearances, the child was taken against his will and is now fully caught up in her doomsday beliefs, beyond the reach of Father at the moment. Mother and her group have cut off all communication with the outside world, and Husband is painfully aware of how other such doomsday cases between here and Idaho have turned out.”
The court documents reference the Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow Daybell case, with Shields noting Spring believes herself to be a “chosen prophetess,” and “the group’s belief in their super-elite chosen status as messengers of the last days is particularly chilling.”
Before the group left, Brook wrote a two-and-a-half page “last will and testament” letter to his children, withdrew about $50,000 in cash and divided his assets among his children, Ben says. In the letter, provided to EastIdahoNews.com and included in court documents, Brook wrote about his faith and beliefs in Jesus Christ.
“If you are reading this right now, it means that I am gone. I don’t know where I am going. I was not told. You will not see me for some time. How long I do not know but I WILL see you again,” he wrote.
Ben has been in Idaho since Tuesday and learned Thursday that the group used their passports to enter Canada. Warrants issued for Spring and Brook note they “assisted in transporting child out of the country.”