Police say two children believed to be endangered after being allegedly abducted by their mother in St Joseph have been located.

Police issued a Nixle alert just after 1:30 this afternoon, saying the two children were located.

In what they called a child custody issue, police issued a try-to-locate order at 11:18 this morning.

Police Detective Jennifer Protzman said earlier today they were looking for two children, 7-year-old Grace Carter and 3 year old Addison Carter. They called it a parental abduction and police had feared their mother, Megan Carter, may have been trying to take the children out of the county.

They were last seen with their mother and an adult male leaving St. Joseph in a white 2011 Ford Fusion, but were found around 1:30 in Independence, Missouri.

An adult male and an adult female were taken into custody, and were going to be transported back to St Joseph for the ongoing investigation, Police Commander Janice Rothganger said.

The case will be submitted to the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office for consideration of formal charges.