Judy Villanyi and James Button were found dead in their South Carolina apartment. The policed received a call and a letter “describing that a person was deceased and their body could be found” at the apartment. Upon investigation, they found two people who died from suicide.
According to police, “go back several years to a potential religious cult, Sovereign Citizen Movement.”
It is not clear why the police believe that they are or were in a religious cult. They had known each other for many years “and they had some kind of a religious bond together.” It could be that this religious element of their behavior led police to assume they were involved a cult. Sovereigns are more of an extremist group than a cult but there could be more to the story.
Villanyi was previously sentenced to federal prison for tax fraud and was once again under investigation for similar charges prior to her death.
Perhaps the investigation played a role in the decision to end their lives.
Update (Feb 6, 2022): This article has more details about their lives. They were religious and materials related to their religions by-laws were found in the home. That could be why the news (or whomever) made comments relating to them being in a religious cult. Buttons was a minister and the leader of the “Church of Charleston” which at one point had as many as “seven or eight followers many years ago.” The couple had a history of bank fraud. In their most recent case, the government was pitting them against each other which could explain their decisions.