Parents arrested after cops find bone fragments in firepit of 2 children who technically never existed on paper, authorities say

Samantha Sebella and Steven Valle

Top inset: Samantha Sebella. Bottom inset: Steven Valle (Jasper County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Wheatfield, Indiana, home where cops found bone fragments of two children (WGN/YouTube).

Prosecutors in Indiana have dropped murder charges against a couple who allegedly killed two children and burned their bodies in their backyard firepit.

Steven Valle, 31, and Samantha Sebella, 25, were facing charges of murder, neglect of a dependent causing death, abuse of a corpse and failure to report a dead body. But prosecutors with the Jasper County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion to dismiss. On Wednesday a judge dismissed the charges without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could refile the case at a later date. Jasper County Prosecutor Jacob Taulman told Law&Crime that prosecutors expect to do just that.

Taulman said part of the reason prosecutors dismissed the case is so anthropologists could continue to sift through the ashes, debris and other material cops uncovered from the firepit. He described the process as a “difficult and tedious task” because much of the material is so small. Prosecutors are also going through digital data from phones and other digital devices.

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