‘Doomsday’ Couple Investigated For Murder Amid Missing Kids Investigation
An Idaho mother whose two children have been missing since September is the subject of a suspected murder investigation along with her newlywed husband, new information shows.
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, who’s a Christian doomsday author, are being investigated for conspiracy, attempted murder and murder, according to a letter signed last week by the Idaho attorney general’s office and the Fremont County prosecutor’s office in Idaho.
The letter does not identify the victim by name, though multiple outlets, including The Associated Press, have identified the individual as Daybell’s former wife, Tammy Daybell, who died last October.
The county prosecutor’s office had requested the AG’s assistance due to a lack of resources and experience to handle the case, according to a letter sent by Fremont County prosecutor Marcia Murdoch and obtained by East Idaho News.
“We would be willing to assist in any way to help the AG’s office, as needed at your request and at your discretion,” she had said.
A representative for the Fremont County prosector’s office and the AG’s office declined to comment when reached by HuffPost Thursday.
Tammy Daybell, 49, mysteriously died in her sleep at her Idaho home just a couple of weeks before Chad Daybell married Vallow in Hawaii.
Tammy Daybell’s body was exhumed in December for testing. Any results have not been released.
Her death hadn’t raised suspicions until Vallow’s two children, Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, were reported missing in November after their extended family requested a welfare check. An investigation concluded that the children hadn’t been seen since September.
Vallow and Daybell moved to Hawaii shortly after the investigation was launched and, after failing to comply with a court order to produce the children, Vallow was arrested in February for two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children.
Authorities say the couple has refused to say where the children are and have accused them of lying to investigators.
In a rare, albeit brief, public statement in March, Daybell told a reporter inquiring about Vallow’s children: “The kids are safe.”
Vallow remains behind bars in Idaho where she was extradited while awaiting trial. She is being held on $1 million bond.
Attorneys for Daybell and Vallow did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.