Chad Daybell was arrested last month after the bodies of two missing children were found on his property.
Chad Daybell, the husband of Lori Vallow Daybell, appeared in court Wednesday to face new charges in the case of his wife's children, whose bodies were found last month on his property months after they went missing.
Wearing a white dress shirt and tie, Daybell said little during the Zoom hearing, where he was asked if he understood two additional felony counts he is now charged with: conspiracy to commit alteration and destruction or concealment in connection to the case.
"Yes, your honor," Daybell calmly replied.
He was arrested June 9 after the bodies of 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan were found in a pet cemetery on his rural residence in Idaho's Fremont County. The boy's remains were wrapped in plastic and duct tape, investigators said. The teen's body had been dismembered and burned, according to authorities.
Vallow Daybell's children had been missing since September. How they died has not been released. Neither Daybell, 51, nor Vallow Daybell, 47, has been charged with killing them.
Vallow Daybell appeared in court Tuesday to face the same new counts. Prosecutors said the additional charges are connected to the criminal act of concealing the bodies of JJ and Tylee.
According to an indictment in the case, Daybell and Vallow Daybell conspired with and another person to conceal evidence in the investigation. The couple lied when questioned by detectives and pressured others to provide false information about the location of her missing kids, prosecutors said.
According to a newly released probable cause affidavit, investigators said Vallow Daybell told a friend she had left her son with his grandmother, and had told the woman she was suffering from cancer.
The friend, Melanie Gibb told investigators Vallow Daybell said "she had arranged for JJ to go live with his grandma, Kay Woodcock," the affidavit said. Gibb also told police she had been asked by Vallow Daybell and Daybell in November to tell police JJ was with her when he wasn't, the document said.
It was Woodcock who reported the children missing in November, after having not seen them in months, police said.
Daybell and Vallow Daybell are each being held on $1 million bail. They have both previously denied any allegations of wrongdoing and have pleaded not guilty to previous charges.
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