Father Details Burying, Burning Children in Fire Pit After Damning Text Messages Uncovered: Police

Steven Valle, 31, and Samantha Sebella, 25, first came under police investigation after Valle allegedly confessed to a friend about killing two of his "undocumented" children and burying them in the backyard of the family home.

Now, additional details of those alleged confessions are painting an even more disturbing picture after bone fragments were found in the yard and fire pit, and ultimately determined to be human, according to the Jasper County Sheriff's Office.

The two children were reported as "undocumented," per authorities, meaning they had no government files on them like birth certificates or social security numbers. A third "undocumented" child, 4, was removed from the parents' custody.

According to a probable cause affidavit seen by Law&Crime, the couple is looking at likely charges of murder, neglect of a dependent causing death, abuse of a corpse and failure to report a dead body. Formal charges are expected to be filed Wednesday, October 9.

As revealed in the affidavit, when Valle allegedly confessed to a friend, "I killed my two kids," the friend dug deeper, at which point Valle added that he and Sebella "smothered their first born but had drown[ed] the second born."

The same friend told authorities, per the affidavit, that Sebella allegedly told him, "Steven burnt my babies," as reported by local NBC affiliate WTHR. It was this friend who reported all of this to the police, triggering their investigation.

Investigators reported finding some evidence of Sebella's pregnancy via a "Baby Center" app that appeared to have been used to document the progress of the pregnancy and uploaded dates to her Google Calendar.

Police also detailed in the court documents extracting text messages between Valle and Sebella from her phone that further incriminated both of them, as well as seemingly confirming the existence of their children. Their phones were seized for investigation after police first made contact with them.

In a text message recovered from September 17, per the documents, Sebella allegedly texted Valle, "GUESS WHAT BABY KILLER." An hour later, she purportedly followed that up with, "You killed my kids cause you are a f----t you never loved me." The affidavit reports Valle's alleged response the next day, "Yeah I know the fire will be known for what you did."

Additionally, Sebella allegedly texted, "YOU KILLED OUR BABIES I HAVE THERE DNA IN BODY FOREVER," as well as, "Yes and they will be right there to get you baby killer this will happen," and, "They will know everything you took me to the doctor in 2017 to prove that I was pregnant THEY WILL KNOW."

A final message documented in the filings read, "I have all the pictures from 2017 you holding my belly with bones."

When confronted with this evidence on October 3, per the affidavit, Valle admitted that Sebella had given birth to a son in 2018 while he was on his way home. He told police that by the time he arrived, he found her passed out with the child unresponsive and not breathing between her legs. He described the baby as weighing about 10 pounds and 18 inches long.

According to the court documents, Valle claimed he "cleaned him up to make him look 'pretty,' wrapped him in a baby blanket, face exposed, and placed him in a box." He told police, per the documents, that after three days, he determined the baby "wouldn't be coming back to life," and so he buried him in the backyard.

Valle then said that "some time" after this, Sebella became pregnant again, per the documents, again claiming he was away when she gave birth to a girl. According to police, he told them this second birth was premature, and again, the baby was already dead when he got home, so he buried it next to the first body.

Police said in their affidavit that it was about three to five years later, according to Valle, that he dug up their bodies and burned them in the fire pit. He reportedly told them he sifted through the ashes afterward and saw bone fragments. He told police, per the documents, he "kept some of the ashes to make a necklace as a memento."

Valle and Sebella were found living in a hotel in Newton County, per Law & Crime, a neighboring county to Jasper County, where they were living when the "undocumented" children were allegedly born, killed, buried, and then burned.

The Jasper County Sheriff's Office partnered with Indiana State Police and the Jasper County Coroner's Office, with two cadaver dogs, for a search of the property the couple had once lived in.

"With the cooperation of the landowner and the current residents, the search began, and the cadaver dogs alerted to three separate locations on the property," deputies wrote in their probable cause affidavit seen by Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN. "A preliminary search at these locations uncovered partial bone fragments."

The pair were arrested on October 4 and are currently being held in the Jasper County Detention Center without bond. The "undocumented" child that had been removed from custody remains with the Indiana Department of Child Services.