An Indiana couple has been arrested after police made a gruesome discovery in their backyard fire pit.
Agents began investigating Steven Valle, 31, and Samantha Sebella, 25, on September 20, when Valle confessed to friends that he had killed two undocumented children and burned their bodies in the fire pit in their Wheatfield backyard. Fox 32 reports.
The children did not have any documentation such as a birth certificate or a social security number and therefore never appeared in government archives.
But when Jasper County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the Wheatfield home where Valle and Sebella lived, they found “partial bone fragments” that an Indianapolis specialist was able to determine were human. according to Law & Crime.
The couple was then taken into custody Thursday and charged with murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, abuse of a corpse, obstruction of justice and failure to report a corpse.
Samantha Sebella, 25, and Steven Valle, 31, were taken into custody Thursday for allegedly killing their children and burning their bodies
Authorities say the couple initially denied any knowledge that children had been burned in their backyard fire pit when officers found them at a Newton County hotel on September 20.
They admitted to having one child, for whom they did not have a birth certificate because the birth took place at home and the child was not documented, court documents show obtained by Fox 59.
The couple also allegedly told officers they never had a miscarriage or stillbirth, and police conducted a records check with the Jasper County Health Department and determined there was no documentation showing Sebella had ever given birth.
But police still confiscated their cellphones, from which they reportedly discovered numerous messages indicating that Valle had murdered and burned several children.
“You killed my kids because you are an asshole, you never loved me,” one message read, according to court documents.
“YOU KILLED OUR BABIES, I HAVE DNA IN MY BODY FOREVER,” read another message between Sebella and Valle.
A third undocumented child was subsequently taken from their custody, police said.
Then, on September 30, the sheriff’s office, Indiana State Police and Jasper County Coroner’s Office, along with two cadaver dogs, descended on the Wheatfield home where they used to live. Valle and Sabella were reportedly evicted from the property earlier this year.
The dogs marked a fire pit and a pile of ash near the garage, prompting investigators to dig out part of the backyard with shovels and uncover the bone fragments, Fox 59 reported.
Court documents show that Valle admitted on October 3 that Sebella gave birth to a boy in 2018.
He told officers that Sebella had given birth to the child while he was away, and claimed that when he returned home, he saw Sebella passed out and the child lying between her legs.
The child was not awake and not breathing, Valle said, claiming he cleaned the newborn, covered him in a blanket and put him in a box.
Valle also reportedly said that he buried the child in his backyard after three days because he “knew the child would not come back to life.”
The suspect then told officers that Sebella became pregnant for a second time and prematurely gave birth to a child in a bathtub while he was at work.
He said the child was dead and wrapped in a blanket when he got home, and buried the child in the backyard of the former, according to court documents.
Police also say Valle told them the children had been buried for about three to five years before he dug them up and burned them in the fire pit.
He reportedly added that he had saved some of the ashes to make a necklace.
As the investigation continued, officers learned that Valle and Sebella had been physically violent toward each other, and determined that Sebella took no action to protect her two deceased children, her living child, or herself from the violence.
Police also said they made no effort to notify authorities of the children’s deaths, burials or burns.
Valle and Sebella are now in the Jasper County Detention Center, where they remain without bond.