The relatives of “cult mom” Lori Vallow’s missing children made the grim announcement Wednesday that remains found on an Idaho property this week were the children — Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17.
Police arrested Chad Daybell, Vallow’s husband and the writer of more than a dozen self-published doomsday novels, on Tuesday after finding human remains on his property. He faced felony counts of destroying and concealing evidence. A judge set his bail at $1 million Wednesday.
Vallow, the so-called “cult mom,” was the mother of both missing children.
JJ’s remains were among those found on Daybell’s property, his grandmother, Kay Woodcock, told 360APROKO Wednesday — before the children’s relatives in the Woodcock and Ryan families released a joint statement that said Tylee’s remains were discovered there as well.
Rexberg Police confirmed they found two sets on Daybell’s property during a search Tuesday.
Rob Wood, the special prosecutor handling the case, said investigators found the concealment of at least one of the bodies “to be particularly egregious,” Fox 10’s Justin Lum reported.
Daybell and Vallow were married in November 2019 — a month after Chad Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell, died at home. The family reportedly declined an autopsy before her burial in Utah. The children were first reported missing by their grandparents a month before that.
A local investigation grew into an interstate probe that attracted global attention as details continued to emerge. The short span between Tammy Daybell’s death and Chad Daybell’s new marriage initially raised suspicions, and investigators exhumed her body, according to Fox 10. The results of the ensuing autopsy have not been publicly released.
Vallow’s former husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed in a Phoenix suburb in July 2019 by Lori Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox.
He claimed the shooting was in self-defense and died that December. A coroner ruled that his death was the result of natural causes — a blood clot in his lung, according to Fox 10.
Charles Vallow had filed for divorce from his wife, claiming he was afraid she might kill him and that she held apocalyptic beliefs, according to the outlet — including that she was “a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020.”
The 144,000 number appears in the Bible and has varying religious significance among different Christian groups.
After her previous husband’s death, Lori Vallow moved with her children to Rexburg, Idaho.
She was living there with Daybell when the children’s grandparents asked local police to perform a wellness check.
Investigators say Daybell and Vallow allegedly lied about the children’s whereabouts and left for Hawaii.
That’s where police arrested Lori Vallow in February on child abandonment charges. She was again living with Daybell.
She was extradited to Idaho and remains in custody on $1 million bail.
