Father asks Provo City Council to help find two missing 7-year-old daughters

Joshua Johns, a Provo resident, told the Provo City Council that his daughters, Amelia and Sophia, both 7, have been missing since last July and that family efforts to get police help have met what he described as "callous, dismissive, and cold" responses.

Johns told the council he has spent tens of thousands of dollars on private investigators and lawyers, obtained a judge's writ of assistance and repeatedly sought help from local and federal authorities, but said police told him the case was a civil matter and would not act. "I have been met with responses that were callous, dismissive, and cold," he said, and asked the council to use their personal and agency social media accounts to spread the word and to allow him to leave flyers with staff for distribution.

Glenn Johns of Springville — who identified himself as the twins' grandfather — told the council the children have been missing for nine months. He said the family has been told by officials that "no laws have been broken" and that the children are "with their mother," and described repeated declines from authorities to pursue the matter as a criminal investigation.

Under the meeting's public-comment rules, speakers were allotted two minutes and an open public-comment period of up to 15 minutes was available; the council did not take formal action on the family's requests during the meeting. Joshua Johns asked the council to urge the police to make the case a higher priority, to help spread awareness and to support efforts to change state law to improve responses to family abduction cases.

The council did not indicate a specific follow-up or staff directive on the record during the meeting.