In trying to figure out what might've happened to the kids, it makes sense to look at the history, character, and past behavior of the adults. I vacillate back and forth on whether I think CD is a violent criminal or whether he suffers from some mental illness or personality disorder. Narcissistic Personality Disorder (grandiose subtype) maybe? Not sure I agree with all the DSM stuff (it seems to have become an excuse for everything), but some of it certainly fits.
I think CD has a superiority complex, is deluded, and lives in a world of dreams and visions - yet there is nothing in his background to suggest he might be a murderer. And while anger can apparently manifest in NPD if a person is confronted by "unmet expectations" or "perceived slights", I have not read about CD having any anger management issues. In fact, a recent poster (who apparently knew CD well several years ago) referred to him as "living a humble life", not animated, nor high energy", yet "always craving the spotlight and wanting to be an authority figure".
CD seems intelligent, and was certainly persuasive (he managed to convince people to follow him despite what some would say were nonsensical and irrational claims). I think you could almost describe his adult life as a narcissistic child-like attempt to escape the world in which he found himself - an attempt to create a make-believe world in which he played an outsized role. Grandiosity and narcissism? Sure. But murder?
He and TD had been married for what, 30 years? I think his family and friends would've seen some dramatic change in his personality if he'd suddenly gone off the deep end. And I think his family (both sides) would've been raising hell back in November if they truly thought he'd murdered TD.
CD seemed to be a straight arrow. He was a Boy Scout, and a scout leader. He was a leader in the church. From all appearances, a good husband and a good father. He was admired. AFAIK, TD wasn't threatening divorce. And she wasn't the one who reportedly wanted to stop publishing.
It's hard to imagine anything happening to CD that would've been so extreme as to prompt him to murder his wife (and imo it would've had to have been something bigger than a mid-life crisis, bigger than an insurance payout, and bigger than a 46 yo blond). It just doesn't fit. No matter how I look at it, it unexplainable. But the whole case has been unexplainable from the start.
Not only would you have to be deluded and living in a fantasy world to murder your wife (after supposedly recently upping her insurance policy just months before?), then marry another woman 2 weeks later, and then disappear into the wind (all while thinking nobody would ever be suspicious?) - you'd have to be flat out stupid. I just don't buy the "love blinds" thing. Maybe Lori did just inherit 2m (does anybody know? - they definitely don't seem strapped for $ in HI..). But I still don't see it. Too easy to get caught doing what is stated above. Can you say: "death penalty"?
I acknowledge though that one of the characteristics of "oblivious narcissism" is "diminished awareness" (of self and/or reality?) - and that this can apparently have an "impact on relationships". Maybe CD's personality disorder blinded him sufficiently. But masterminding the whole thing would've been in total contradiction to his life.
So, maybe I'm wrong, but I have a hard time seeing CD as a cold-blooded killer. And even if he did murder his wife (either to be with Lori, or to collect big bucks or to fulfill some crazy religious/cult belief about the afterlife), it's hard for me to believe he would have harmed those kids - or married Lori if he knew that a violent crime had been perpetrated against them (in fact, from the posts I've read, he may not have even known she had kids).
Because of this take on CD, I am starting to think that the maybe the kids are alive someplace in ID or UT or AZ. If the kids were killed, I don't think CD had anything to do with it. If the kids were killed, imo there's only two people in this whole stranger-than-fiction story who could ultimately be responsible: Lori and AC.
Imo, Lori has been revealed to be a master manipulator. She's the one who: benefitted from the deaths of former spouses, was suspected of being mentally ill, lied to police about the children's whereabouts. lied to police about Tylee being dead a year before her father died, said she didn't want her own children, and threatened to kill someone. She's also would benefit from the children's disappearance, and (after TD's death) would benefit by marrying CD.
All that said, you gotta be pretty cold to personally kill your own kids. Though it's happened before, I don't think many moms fit that description. But AC.. AC WAS a violent criminal. He had possibly acted as Lori's muscle (and possibly her hit man) before. Both AC and Lori might've had motive to disappear the kids if they thought the kids could reveal (or change their statements about) what happened in the CV shooting back in July. I hope not, but perhaps AC was Lori's hit man with the kids as well.
I'm hoping that the kids are in ID or UT or AZ (perhaps they were dropped off at a supporter's place by AC, Lori, MB - or some combination of those three - during the last week of September or sometime in mid-Oct), and that they will be brought before the court in ID by Lori (or Lori's atty?). But that would solve only one of Lori's problems. AC has no problems as he's dead. I'm not sure yet if CD has any problems or not.