An Idaho 'doomsday' couple has been indicted on murder charges in connection with their children's deaths

• Authorities charged Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell with first-degree murder in their kids' deaths Tuesday.
• The 'doomsday' couple sparked outrage last year when they were found in Hawaii while Vallow's kids were missing.
• The indictment says the two "endorsed" and "espoused" religious beliefs in justifying three homicides.

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, the mother and stepfather of two kids, whose 2019 disappearances sparked national attention into the couple's "doomsday" religious beliefs, were indicted on first-degree murder charges on Tuesday in connection to their deaths.

Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, were last seen in September 2019.

The Rexburg Police Department in Idaho searched for Vallow and Daybell for months in order to question them about the missing children, before finding the couple vacationing at a resort in Hawaii in January 2020. Vallow never reported the children missing and was unable to "physically produce" her kids one month after authorities found her. She was charged with two counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children in February.

Police arrested Daybell in June 2020, after finding the children's remains on his Idaho property.

Daybell on Tuesday was also charged with first degree murder in the death of his then-wife Tammy Daybell, who was found dead in her home in October, 2019. Both Daybell and Vallow also face additional fraud and theft charges related to Social Security benefits and life insurance policies connected to the three deceased.

At a Tuesday press conference, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood and Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake said local, state, and federal law enforcement authorities have worked "tirelessly" for almost a year in order to gather evidence on behalf of Tylee, JJ, and Tammy.

Due to pandemic restrictions, Blake said prosecutors only recently obtained permission to present the case to a grand jury, which "deliberated and determined" that there was probable cause to believe the couple "willfully and knowingly conspired to commit several crimes that led to the death of three innocent people."

Tylee was last seen on September 8, 2019, in a photo police found that showed her on a trip to Yellowstone National Park with JJ, Vallow, and Vallow's brother, Alex Cox.

JJ, who had special needs, was seen for the last time at school in Rexburg, Idaho on September 23, 2019. His grandmother reportedly prompted police to conduct a welfare check on the boy in November, and JJ could not be found.

Vallow and Daybell married in October, only weeks after Daybell's then-wife, Tammy, was found dead at the age of 49. Authorities initially ruled her death as natural, but later changed it to suspicious. Her remains were exhumed in order to conduct an autopsy, which has not yet been released, due to the ongoing investigation, according to NBC News.

Daybell, a self-published author who has written more than two dozen books about near-death and doomsday events, reportedly told a friend he had prophesied Tammy would die before her death.

According to the indictment, Vallow and Daybell "did endorse and espouse religious beliefs for the purpose of encouraging and/or justifying" the homicides of Tylee, JJ, and Tammy.

Relatives had previously raised concerns about the couple's ties to a doomsday group called Preparing the People, which they believed to be a religious cult.

After the children's bodies were found in June 2020, Melani Gibb, one of Lori Vallow's friends, told authorities that Vallow believed her children had become zombies, according to AZ Central. Vallow reportedly thought her children were stuck in a "limbo" that can only be undone if the person's "physical body" is killed.

Tuesday's indictment also names Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, as a fellow defendant in the conspiracy to commit first degree murder and grand theft by deception against JJ and the conspiracy to commit first degree murder of Tammy. According to the indictment, Cox attempted to shoot Tammy 10 days before her death, after she and her husband had signed an application to increase her life insurance to the maximum amount.

In 2019, Cox fatally shot Vallow's fourth husband, Charles Vallow, during a confrontation in Arizona in which he claimed self-defense. The brother and sister were both questioned by police but never charged.

Cox died in December from unknown causes, according to The Associated Press.

Before Charles Vallow died in 2019, he filed for divorce, claiming his wife believed she was a reincarnated god sent to lead people during the second coming of Christ, NBC reported. She also reportedly told her estranged husband that she would kill him if he got in her way.

Penalties for the charges announced Tuesday range from life in prison to the death penalty, though prosecutors did not say which penalties they will seek. They have 60 days to inform the defendants of their decision after the defendants first enter a plea.

Defense attorneys for Vallow and Daybell did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.