I go back and forth on this. I think there was some sort of plan centered around the end of the world or second coming this summer. I'm not sure how extensive it was but Nate interviewed some former "cult members" a couple of months ago. There was something going on with prepping, wife-swapping, and other activities.
But I'm not sure that had anything to do with the murders of the kids or spouses.
That said, the revelation about 60 burner phones has me thinking again that there may be more going on. I can think of only three reasons to have multiple phones: an affair, criminal activity, or one each for business/personal use. Affair explains why they each may have had two. Chad may have had a third for business use. But I'm at a total loss to understand why 60 for just a few people unless there was something else going on.
There were a few years when I carried 2 phones (work/personal, not burners). It is a pain to keep track of them and have separate contact lists etc. I don't think anyone would do that for very long unless they had a very good reason.