PHOENIX — Two sets of unidentified human remains were found at Chad Daybell's home in Idaho on Tuesday, hours after a warrant was served in the search for Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan.
Daybell has also been taken into custody in connection to the found remains, the Rexburg Police Department said in a press conference Tuesday.
According to EastIdahoNews.com, Daybell was booked into the Fremont County Jail on Tuesday night.
Daybell was booked on two counts of destruction or concealment of evidence, according to court documents.
Each count carries up to five years in prison or a $10,000 fine.
Daybell appeared in court for the first time Wednesday morning for his initial appearance. He was represented by Attorney John Prior.
Judge Faren Eddins set Daybell's bail at $1 million.
Prosecutor Rob Wood said he was aware that the remains were of children, even though they were not identified.
Daybell is expected to appear in court next on July 1.
Rexburg police said Wednesday that investigators found two sets of unidentified human remains.
Authorities could not confirm whether the remains found were of Joshua or Tylee, who are Daybell's wife Lori's kids. The autopsy results are pending.
Tylee was last seen Sept. 8 at Yellowstone National Park. Joshua was last seen at his Idaho school on Sept. 23.
The court documents detailed that Daybell concealed human remains between Sept. 29, 2019, and June 9, 2020 and Sept. 8, 2019 and June 9, 2020.
Investigators said their mother, Lori Vallow, refuses to say where her children are or what might have happened to them.
The Rexburg Police Department, with the assistance of the F.B.I. and the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, served a search warrant on Daybell's Idaho home in reference to the missing children’s case on Tuesday.
The warrant was sealed, meaning any information pertaining to it is not available to the public.
No other information was immediately known.
According to EastIdahoNews.com, multiple sources said they saw several officers pull him over about one mile south of his Idaho home.
The outlet said Daybell was wearing a baseball cap, gray button-up shirt and blue jeans.
EastIdahoNews.com said witnesses said Daybell got out of his silver SUV, was placed in handcuffs and put into a police car.
Vallow has been charged with two counts of felony child desertion.
Prosecutors said the maximum sentence of each count of desertion of a child is 14 years in prison.
She is being held at a jail in Rexburg, Idaho, on a $1 million bond. Vallow was initially arrested in Hawaii but has been held in Idaho since March.
This case started to unfold in Arizona in July 2019.
Chandler Police said Vallow's estranged husband Charles Vallow was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox.
Originally Cox told police it was self defense, but police are still investigating the case and in April confirmed that Vallow was considered an "investigative lead."
In early September, Vallow moved the children from Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho. Tylee was last seen on a family trip to nearby Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 8 and Joshua was last seen at his new school in Rexburg on Sept. 23.
In November, Vallow married Daybell, a Rexburg doomsday religious author.
Daybell's wife Tammy died just weeks earlier. Idaho investigators are still looking into her cause of death.
In April, documents obtained by East Idaho News show the Idaho Attorney General is investigating both Daybell and Vallow for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in Tammy's death.
"Why the sudden marriage to Chad?" Keith Morrison asked Melani Pawlowski, Lori's niece, on "Dateline NBC."
"I can't answer why they got married quick," Pawlowski said. "I don't know if - both being able to share that common ground of being a recent widow...I can't speculate."
Investigation documents show Pawlowski moved to Rexburg near her aunt in November after the kids disappeared.
"Did you ever see Tylee and JJ?" Morrison asked her.
"When I moved up there, I did not see them," Pawlowski replied.
Morrison pressed to see if she asked where they were.
"I'd ask Lori," Pawlowski said. "You know, I wasn't close with Tylee during her teenage years. She was very independent. So if Lori, you know, said she was with friends, I just believed her."
Back in Arizona, Pawlowski is currently in a custody battle with her ex-husband Brandon Boudreaux.
Court documents from that case detail how Pawlowski was at one point worried about the children and that Vallow said they were "zombies" that might need to die.
This is a developing situation. Stay tuned to 12 News for the latest.
