Murder charges dropped against Indiana couple after bone fragments found in backyard of home

ByABC7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Charges dropped against Indiana couple after bones found in backyard
Murder charges were dropped against Steven Valle and Samantha Jo Sebella after bone fragments were found in their Wheatfield, Indiana home's backyard.

WHEATFIELD, Ind. (WLS) -- Charges have now been dropped against two people who were charged with murder after bone fragments were found in the backyard of their Northwest Indiana home.

Investigators found the bones after searching a fire pit at the home in Wheatfield last year.

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Steven Valle and Samantha Jo Sebella pleaded not guilty to the charges in October. They were also charged with neglect of a dependent, abuse of a corpse, obstruction of justice and failure to report a dead body, officials said.

In court Wednesday, a judge approved a motion to dismiss charges due to lack of evidence. The state is permitted to refile charges at later date.

"The cases against Steven Valle and Samantha Sebella were dismissed today, with the State being permitted to refile charges if they obtain new evidence," defense attorney Mark Van Der Molen said. "Working in concert with Sabella's talented attorney Brooke Scheurich, we have reviewed all material and have seen no evidence that a crime even occurred. It is our hope that this dismissal will put an end to this matter."

New details were revealed in court in October on what led to the arrest of Sebella and Valle as documents outlined an alleged confession.

In a probable cause affidavit, investigators said Valle told someone he knew, "I killed two of my kids." He allegedly told that acquaintance, who later went to police, that he smothered the couple's first-born child and drowned their second before burning both their bodies in their home's fire pit.

The Jasper County Sheriff's Office said the couple, who have a four-year-old son who was born at home and whose birth was never registered, initially told investigators they had no other children or ever experienced a miscarriage or still born birth. But on their phones, authorities said they found messages indicating Sebella could have been pregnant "on three separate occasions," as well as several messages from her to Valle, calling him "Baby Killer."

During a search of the home in October, two K-9 units alerted to the burn pit and to a pile of ashes near the garage. Investigators said they dug up bone fragments.

Two days later, Valle allegedly told investigators that twice in recent years Sebella gave birth alone at home, and that he found both babies dead shortly after they were born.

He told authorities he buried them in the backyard, only to dig them up years later to burn them in the fire pit.

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