Authorities are searching for clues in the case of missing siblings, an uncooperative mother and the puzzling death of her husband's ex-wife.
Lisa Bernhard reports.
Mystery surrounds missing Idaho kids and a couple on the run
Missing children, a puzzling death and a couple on the run.
The small town of Rexburg, Idaho - population roughly 30,000 - is the setting for a mysterious, multilayered case that has so far stumped local police and the FBI.
It began a few months back when Chad Daybell's wife Tammy died from what was initially believed to be natural causes.
According to The Washington Post, the two had put out apocalyptic novels for a Mormon audience.
But when Daybell quickly married widow Lori Vallow just two weeks later, suspicions rose about Tammy's death, leading authorities to exhume her body for an autopsy.
Meanwhile, Vallow's two children - 7-year-old Joshua Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan - have disappeared.
The couple reportedly told the cops that Joshua was staying with a family friend in Arizona - but that wasn't true.
And when the police showed up at the couple's house the next day with a search warrant, the two were gone.
Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries: (SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) FREMONT COUNTY SHERIFF LEN HUMPHRIES, SAYING: "Well, this is a very complex case.
We have the death of Tammy and then we have the two missing children and they're all kind of tied together.
And I know that a number a family members have spoken out on social media.
But we're looking for whatever evidence we can find and have preserved to help us with our case." Lori Vallow's backstory is also complicated.
Both of her children's fathers are dead - one reportedly from a heart attack and the other, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed by Lori's own brother.
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) BRANDON BOUDREAUX, SAYING: "I don't know why they're doing what they're doing.
It doesn't make any sense." Brandon Boudreaux - who was married to Vallow's niece - has reportedly accused Daybell of luring Vallow into a religious cult.
Boudreaux says his own wife abruptly left him after spending time with Vallow - and that somehow, this tangled web may have ensnared the missing children.
(SOUND BITE) (ENGLISH) BRANDON BOUDREAUX, SAYING: "I don't know what happened to those kids.
I know there's people who do and they're not talking." The couple has not officially been charged with anything, but they have hired a lawyer.
In December, their lawyer asserted that Daybell was a "loving husband" and Vallow a "devoted mother" who "resents assertions to the contrary." The lawyer added that the couple look forward to addressing any allegations against them once they have, quote, "moved beyond speculation and rumor.” The children's whereabouts - and whether they are still alive - are still unknown.