Lori Vallow to be extradited to Idaho as search for missing children continues
Lori Vallow, the mother of two children missing since September, is denied a bail reduction in Hawaii and will be returning to Idaho face child desertion charges; Rick Leventhal reports.
A judge in Kaua, Hawaii refused on Wednesday to reduce the $5 million bail bond for Lori Vallow, the mother of two children missing from Idaho since September.
Vallow wore an orange jumpsuit for her bail hearing. After the judge denied the request, her defense attorney, Craig De Costa, said she is waiving an extradition hearing scheduled for March 2.
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The woman is to be extradited to Idaho, where she has been charged with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, in addition to resisting or obstructing police officers, solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court.
"The next step will be agents from the state of Idaho coming to Kauai to pick her up and transport her back,” Kauai prosecutor Justin Kollark told KUTV.
In January, Vallow ignored a court order to physically produce the two children – 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, who has autism, and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan – before Idaho child welfare workers or Rexburg, Idaho, police within five days. De Costa said she is fighting the order because it would allow authorities to take her children into foster care.
Her new and fifth husband, Chad Daybell, with whom she fled Idaho with in November after authorities arrived to their home to search for the children, was not seen on video of the hearing Wednesday. He visited his wife at the Kauai Community Correctional Center Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Hawaii Department of Public Safety told KUTV. Daybell was also present for Vallow’s first court appearance last week following her arrest.
Lori Vallow appears in court in Lihue, Hawaii on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. A judge ruled that bail will remain at $5 million for Vallow, also known as Lori Daybell, who was arrested in Hawaii over the disappearance of her two Idaho children. (Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island via AP, Pool)
LORI VALLOW'S EXTRADITION FROM HAWAII TO BE EXPEDITED BY IDAHO GOVERNOR IN MISSING CHILDREN'S CASE
Earlier this week, Vallow’s Kauai defense attorneys filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider Vallow's $5 million bail, arguing bail for equivalent felonies is normally set between $2,000 and $20,000, Fox 10 Phoenix reported. On Wednesday, De Costa urged Judge Kathleen Watanabe to "ignore the publicity, ignore the hype” and set reasonable bail.
Prosecutors argued Vallow is a flight risk and pointed out that Daybell had $152,000 available to him in an account at First Hawaiian Bank. They also said “given the extensive media attention, she is clearly aware that the authorities have prioritized her case” and Vallow “has the means to move across an ocean.”
Just a month after her kids were last seen, and weeks after Chad’s former wife, Tammy Daybell, died unexpectedly in their Idaho home, Vallow married Chad Daybell in October. He’s the author of several religious-themed novels about the end times.
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Vallow’s fourth and former husband, Charles Vallow, died in July in Arizona after he was fatally shot by her brother, Alex Cox. Cox claimed self-defense and was never arrested. He died unexpectedly in his own Arizona home of unknown causes in December.
The deaths of Tammy Daybell, Charles Vallow and Alex Cox all remain under investigation. Autopsy reports have not been released. Relatives of Vallow have accused her of joining a doomsday cult.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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