BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Prosecutors accused a man of conspiring with his new wife to keep the bodies of her children hidden on his rural Idaho property, adding to the charges he faces in the strange case that involves the couple’s doomsday beliefs and the mysterious deaths of their former spouses.
In new charges filed Tuesday evening, prosecutors say Chad Daybell conspired with wife Lori Vallow Daybell to keep hiding the bodies of 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan because they knew the remains would likely be used as evidence in a court case.
The children vanished in September and a search for them spanned months before their bodies were found last month in Chad Daybell’s backyard. It’s not clear how the kids died or who caused their deaths.
Chad Daybell is already in jail on previous charges that he buried or helped bury the kids, first dismembering and burning Tylee’s body in an apparent attempt to hide the remains. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and is being held on $1 million bail.
Lori Daybell is also charged with conspiring to hide the remains and is being held on $1 million bail. She was charged earlier this year with abandoning the children, obstructing the investigation into their disappearance and asking a friend to lie to police on her behalf. She has not yet entered a plea in either case.