Lori Vallow, mother of missing Idaho kids, faces multiple charges including desertion
Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan have not been seen since last September; Jonathan Hunt reports from Los Angeles.
New court papers accuse Lori Vallow, the mother of two missing Idaho children, of being a flight risk who abandoned her children and lied to police.
Vallow was arrested Thursday in Hawaii on a warrant prepared by Idaho police investigating the disappearance of her 7-year-old autistic son Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 17-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan.
Vallow, 46, was found living in the vacation paradise with Chad Daybell, 51, a man she married Nov. 2, 2019, after his wife died under what police now consider suspicious circumstances.
In a 14-page court affidavit unsealed Thursday after Vallow's arrest, Rexburg Detective Ron Ball claimed Vallow was a flight risk because she and Daybell have significant financial resources.
This combination photo of undated file photos released by National Center for Missing & Exploited Children show missing children Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, left, and Tylee Ryan, 17. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children via AP)
“I am aware that Chad Daybell received at least $430,000 in life insurance proceeds upon the death of his wife Tammy,” Ball wrote. “As such, Lori and Chad have resources sufficient to help them travel and hide from law enforcement and the Court.”
Ball also said in the affidavit that he believes Vallow abandoned her children because no one has seen Tylee since Sept. 8, 2019, and no one has seen JJ since Sept. 23.
He wrote that medication JJ takes because of his autism had not been refilled in Idaho at a time when he was “verifiably” with Vallow.
Additionally, he said that Tylee’s “financial transaction card” was in Vallow’s possession in Hawaii even though Tylee was not with Vallow.
In the court papers, Ball accused Vallow of lying to Rexburg police when she said on Nov. 26 that JJ was in Arizona with a friend named Melanie Gibbs.
LORI VALLOW, MOTHER OF MISSING IDAHO KIDS, ARRESTED IN HAWAII ON SEVERAL CHARGES
Chad Daybell, 51, and Lori Vallow, 46. (Rexburg Police Department)
The affidavit said that when contacted, Gibbs told police JJ was not staying with her and she had not seen him for several months.
Gibbs also told police that on Nov. 26, Vallow and Daybell had called her at separate times and asked her to tell the police that she had Joshua even though he was not with her, Ball wrote.
The detective said in the affidavit that Joshua had a service dog for his autism that is named Bailey.
On July 22, Vallow sent Bailey’s trainer in Arizona an email asking about finding another family for Bailey “due to a change in life circumstances,” according to the affidavit.
The trainer picked up Bailey on Aug. 30, Ball wrote.
Idaho prosecutors have charged Vallow with two felony counts of deserting the children and with three misdemeanors: obstruction, solicitation and contempt.
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JJ’s grandparents on Thursday told Fox 10 Phoenix they are hoping that Vallow’s arrest will prompt her to “start talking” about what happened to JJ and Tylee.
Local media outlets have quoted members of Vallow’s extended family as saying that Vallow joined a “cult” with Daybell, a self-proclaimed Latter-day Saint author known for his religious books detailing the end of the world.
The outlets have reported that many of Daybell's books deal with doomsday situations or near-death experiences, including his own.
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