♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, following the clues. two children missing for months. >> i just wanted to ask you, are the kids okay? >> their mother and her husband now charged in the string of murders. >> miss daybell is present here. mr. daybell, can you hear me okay? >> unraveling a timeline of twists and turns. ♪ >> the survivor, michelle williams. the destiny's child star opening up about her fight with depression. >> i was not only at the point of having suicidal thoughts -- there was an attempt. >> behind the fame and fortune, hope for the future.

celebrating aapi month, honoring those inspiring the world. >> what inspired me was the safety of my parents. we do it every night. like clockwork. do it! run your dishwasher with cascade platinum. and save water. did you know certified dishwashers... ...use less than four gallons per cycle, while a running sink uses that, every two minutes. so, do it with cascade. the surprising way to save water. when heartburn takes you by surprise. fight back fast, with new tums naturals. free from artificial flavors and dyes. it's the memorial day sale on the new sleep number 360 smart bed.

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disappearance and deaths of two idaho children. their mother and stepfather accused of the greatest betrayal. but as lori vallow competent enough to stand trial? here's abc's marcus moore. >> reporter: for months the disappearance of brother and sister j.j. val hoe and tiely ryan captivated the country, their grandparents' heartfelt pleas for help launching a nationwide search. >> two missing children in idaho -- >> reporter: two years after the 7 and 17-year-old vanished, kay and larry woodcock are one step closer to answers. >> it's like the world just stopped. >> reporter: speaking to a local news crew in arizona after the children's mother, lori vallow daybell, and husband chad, were indicted in idaho on nine new charges including first-degree murder. >> there are so many layers. every week, every month, there's something new in this case. >> reporter: the couple appeared separately at a hearing yesterday. >> miss daybell is present here. mr. daybell, can you hear me

okay? >> yes. >> reporter: before her charges were read, lori's attorneys unexpectedly requested to reschedule the proceeding. >> okay that will be all for today. thanks for appearing. we will be adjourned. >> reporter: today documents unsealed revealing in march, a competency evaluation found lori, quote, is not competent to proceed. prosecutors are appealing that finding. >> what they're going to try to do is try to find a way to make her competent. what exactly is the issue that makes it hard for her to understand how this case is going about? does she need to be medicated? does she need to be transferred to a different facility to get additional medical services? they're going to keep trying to find ways to make her competent until she can stand trial. if this was petit larceny, stealing a few dollars here, someone's cell phone or wristwatch, maybe the prosecution would find a different way of resolving the case. but for a case where you're talking about conspiracy to commit murder for three people and murder against two children, the prosecution is really going to wait for her to be found

competent, to throw the book at her. >> reporter: it is just the latest bizarre twist in a saga stretching from idaho to arizona to hawaii that includes the missing kids. a curious trail of deaths surrounding the couple. and accusations of belonging to a doomsday group wanting to rid the world of zombies. in september of 2019, lori moved j.j. and tylee to idaho. after months of no contact, the grandparents, kay and larry, asked police to conduct a welfare check. >> she never would respond to anything. texts, voice mails, emails, nothing. >> reporter: when police went to lori's home, they discovered not only was j.j. missing, so was tlee. authorities allege lori and chad told police a series of lies. >> do you want to tell the truth? >> reporter: chad acted as if he didn't know lori very well, authorities said, he didn't know her phone number, according to the affidavit, and lori's mother told police j.j. was with his grandma, kay, a clear lie since

kay called in the missing child report. lori told police j.j. was in gilbert, arizona, with a friend. the day after that police visit, the couple vanished, showing up two months later in hawaii. >> sir, can you tell me where your kids are? chad and lori, can you tell me where your kids are? >> reporter: lori and chad refused multiple times to answer questions about the welfare of their kids. >> i just want to ask you, are the kids okay? can you tell me -- >> man, i just can't comment. pending this process. >> and why can't you comment? >> legal reasons. i just can't. the attorney told me to the to speak. >> reporter: in november, chad and lori got married on a beach in hawaii. but neither j.j. nor tylee was there for the celebration. their wedding just two weeks after chad's former wife, tammy, died of, quote, natural causes. but in this week's indictment, prosecutors say lori and chad exchanged text messages claiming tammy was possessed by a spirit

named viola and alleging that chad received $430,000 from a life insurance policy after tammy's death. >> we're processing a lot of evidence that has been accumulated. >> reporter: he is now facing first-degree murder charges in connection with her death. in late january 2020, authorities in idaho demanded lorificely produce the children within five days. but no children surfaced. and in february, lori was arrested in hawaii. >> your surrender by the state of idaho -- >> know that you have been charged in the state of idaho with a number of charges. >> reporter: the 47-year-old faced with five charges, including two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of a dependant child. >> we would request that bail be reduced. >> what specific amount are you asking? >> i'm asking for $10,000. >> reporter: a judge declared her a flight risk, bail set at $5 million. >> what i want to reiterate is

that we are all hopeful that we are able to locate the missing children. >> we know it's a positive step forward. we also know that as good as this news is, it's as bad as it is also. because we still don't have the children. >> reporter: a week later, lori was smiling at times as she was read the charges in an idaho courtroom. but still no sign of the missing children. in june of last year, authorities executed a search warrant and chad's property was dug up. captured by "east idaho news." the children's remains were found and he was arrested. but murder charges against the couple were just filed this week. >> the prosecution's murder case is very strong, because there's so many different avenues in which they can get a conviction. they can say that one of the two of them, chad or lori, either assisted, actually did the killing, encouraged someone, or commanded them to do so. >> reporter: according to the latest indictment, they, quote,

espoused religious beliefs for purpose of justifying the homicide of j.j. and tylee. last year, friends told investigators chad and lori believed they were part of the, quote, church of the firstborn, their mission to rid the world of zombies. at least one friend telling investigators lori believed her children had turned into zombies, that j.j. was considered a dark spirit, that a person's true spirit was stuck until the host body is physically killed. >> of all the murder cases that's captivated this country, there's no such murder case that's so many layers. you have dead former lovers, missing bodies of children in a field, you have zombies, you have spirits there are so many interesting layers to this case that people can't stop watching. >> reporter: authorities in arizona are also considering whether to file charges against lori this time for the death of her former husband and j.j.'s father, charles. for "nightline," i'm marcus moore. >> our thanks to marcus.

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♪ behind the glam and chart-topping hits with destiny's child, michelle williams felt a sense of hopelessness, revealing how her battle with depression took her to the brink. here's abc's deborah roberts. >> reporter: many people would look at you and just think, you had it all. how is it possible you could have dealt with depression and

emotional issues? you were a major star. >> the music industry did not cause my depression. being in destiny's child did not cause my depression. it was something lingering that followed me from the seventh grade. without a diagnosis until i was in my 30s. >> reporter: michelle williams for the first time sharing the darkest details of her battle with depression. were you really at the point of having suicidal thoughts? >> deborah, i was not only at the point of having suicidal thoughts, there was an attempt. >> so you really went to a dark place. >> yes. yes. >> reporter: a stunningly brave confession from a woman who once basked in the thrill of success. rocketing to stardom in the early 2000s, alongside beyonce and kelly rowland, in destiny's child. >> michelle, this way! >> reporter: the trio becoming a cultural phenomenon. ♪

releasing chart-topping hits like "survivor." "lose my breath." ♪ and "booty licious." selling more than 60 million records globally. but for michelle, behind the fame, fabulousness, was dark reality. >> moments where i just wanted to stay in bed. i chalked it up to weird work and i'm just tired. but it was more than that. and i hate i didn't say anything to the girls specifically. >> did beyonce and kelly have any clue, do you think, the depths of your depression? >> i masked so good. there might have been an inkling, but it really wasn't until the past five or six years that i've been sharing bits and he pieces with them, more so now than ever, the real deal, the

real truth. >> reporter: that truth laid bare in michelle's new memoir, "checking in: how getting real about depression saved my life and can save yours." showing her fans in a recent instagram post how she checks in with her destiny's child sisters. >> y'all, kelly's making soup. >> okay what kind of soup you making? >> chicken and rice soup. >> yeah? >> she's cutting up directceler carrots. >> so proud of you, mimi. >> i know! >> thank you! >> reporter: denitra michelle williams was born in rockford, illinois, into a religious home, the third of four children. >> affection was not popular in our household, because they're dealing with their own things, probably with their own traumas. >> reporter: she was haunted by feelings of abandonment even at the height of her fame with destiny's child. >> i remember telling our manager at the time as well, hey, i think i'm dealing with

some depression. and he wanted me to see the brighter side of things. no, y'all are about to go on tour, y'all got barbie dolls, what are you talking about? y'all just signed a crazy big deal with columbia. i believed see myself in a pit, trying to get out. just feeling so heavy that when i would make one step, the weight would just pull me back down. and the weight just felt more comfortable than healing. ♪ >> reporter: instead of dealing with the pain, she doubled down on work. ♪ >> reporter: then in 2005, a world-shattering moment. destiny's child announcing they would go their separate ways. >> it's a loss. and maybe i didn't know how to grieve that loss properly. and maybe i carried a lot of that pain and trauma with me for a number of years. i was like, obvious oh, are you going to have to go to auto zone

and sell windshield weiner fluid now? >> reporter: she was devastated. but soon found her own path. in 2017, michelle fell for and later became engaged to chad johnson, a young, charismatic pastor. despite her reservations, they signed on to a tv gig. >> michelle, will you marry me? >> yes! >> reporter: a reality show "chad loves michelle." >> yes! >> yes? >> yes, i will! >> reporter: soon enough, the show's public glare left her feeling vulnerable. leading to dangerous, even suicidal thoughts. >> i was not feeling safe with myself. i called my therapist and said -- i think we better look into some help. i got in the truck and drove somewhere that we suggested that

i should go. i had no clothes, not a toothbrush, nothing. >> it was a real break, wasn't it? >> it was. it was. and i had to sit there, and during the intake, answer all these questions -- thinking, is someone going to know who i am? but i was so desperate that i didn't care. >> what did you learn about yourself in treatment? >> there's resilience. the bravery. that i'm brave. guess what? i'm here today in 2021. i'm alive to tell the story. because it could have went another way. >> reporter: today, michelle remains steadfast in her daily road to healing. >> it's been taking the weekly therapy sessions, working out, eating good, surrounding myself with loving people. >> reporter: she hopes her honesty can be a guiding light for others. >> i'm thinking about my

journey, but i'm also thinking the safety of this interview and how many people don't have that. because a lot of people are exploited or taken advantage of. and they don't have a safe place to talk about their process and their journey. >> you're clearly feeling a certain amount of freedom now, you're moving on. what's next for michelle williams? >> i feel even more cemented in my purpose, and i'm on a mission to help as many people as i can. >> our thanks to deborah. if you or someone you know might be struggling with thoughts of self-harm, you are not alone. the national suicide prevention lifeline is always open. 800-273-8255. for free, confidential assistance. up next, celebrating aapi

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♪

finally tonight, as asian-american and pacific islander heritage month comes to a close, here's my "nightline" coanchor juju chang with new trailblazer. >> hi! oh my gosh, nice to meet you! >> reporter: esther lim is a proud korean-american from southern california who answered the question, what can one person do? >> i nominated you as my inspiration. >> i know, i was so surprised. >> reporter: the 32-year-old used her own money to print booklets in several asian languages on how to report hate crimes and stay safe. >> what inspired me was the safety of my parents. i saw a lot of -- like an attack happening to ellerly women, and people who looked vulnerable. and most of them were people who

couldn't speak english very well. >> how many languages now translated with this booklet? >> nine languages. english only, simplified chinese, traditional chinese, japanese, korean, spanish, tagalog, thai, vietnamese. and i have more in the works. >> reporter: more than 150 people were nominated for the inspiration award. >> james holland here. as an american of chinese descent, i am proud to nominate chris naoki di, part of the next generation of inspiring artists making history. carry on my work, which i started in 1952. >> reporter: a recent study found that 42% of americans couldn't identify a single prominent asian-american by name. >> hey, what's up? it's your boy apple di apple, black-eyed peas. i'd like to nominate my good friend rosa lena lister.

like me, she thinks it's important for asians to be on the screen and tell their own stories. >> i identify as indian-american, and i'm proud to nominate sahej coaly and sej harma, amazing changemakers in the aapi community. >> our thanks to juju. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hue lie. see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night. i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love,... more adventure,... more community. but with my hiv treatment,... there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor... and switched to... fewer medicines with dovato. prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen. with... just 2 medicines... in 1 pill,... dovato is as effective as a 3-drug regimen... to help you reach and stay undetectable.