As Chad Daybell awaits his July 1 preliminary hearing on two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence after the remains of two children were found on his property, he has been remanded on a $1 million bond. If Daybell can post that bond, he is required to reside in the immediate area of Fremont County, Idaho and report to the court weekly, according to ABC’s local affiliate KIDK,
Daybell was formally charged Wednesday after Rexburg police confirmed that the two sets of unidentified human remains recovered on his property Tuesday were indeed those of children. Police are currently working to verify if they are the remains of Tylee Ryan, 17, and JJ Vallow, 7, the missing children of Daybell’s wife, Lori Vallow. Daybell is accused of willfully concealing or helping someone else conceal these remains, knowing that they were about to be used as evidence in a felony proceeding or investigation. Each charge is subject to a maximum fine of $10,000 and a sentence of 5 years in prison.
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The Idaho Attorney General’s Office announced earlier this year that it was also investigating Daybell in the death of his late wife, Tammy Daybell. Vallow is currently awaiting trial on charges of child abandonment and obstructing an investigation after her children were last seen in September and has pleaded not guilty.
The complicated case began in July 2019, when Vallow’s estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot to death by her brother, Alex Cox, who claimed that the shooting was in self-defense. At the time of his death, the couple was in the midst of a divorce, and in court documents, Charles Vallow claimed his wife had become convinced she was some kind of god-like figure surrounded by people who had been infected with demonic energies. Cox died in December of an apparent blood clot in his lung.
Vallow married Daybell in November, just two weeks after the death of his wife, Tammy, who died of what her obituary said were natural causes. Investigators have exhumed Tammy’s body, but autopsy results have yet to be released. Meanwhile, Vallow’s children disappeared not long after she moved to Idaho with Daybell before their wedding. Tylee was last seen in September headed into Yellowstone National Park with her family for a day trip, and JJ was last seen by school officials days later. Police began investigating the children’s whereabouts after relatives contacted authorities. Vallow claimed her children were staying with friends but refused to produce them when ordered.
