Brother of Missing Idaho Kids Begs Mom to Help Investigators Find Them
The oldest son of the Idaho mother of two missing kids who vanished under mysterious circumstances is asking for the safe return of his siblings.
“I want you to end this,” Colby Ryan said in a seven-minute YouTube video posted Thursday, addressing his mother, Lori Vallow. “I want you to end it for everybody, for the kids, for yourself, for all of us.”
His emotional plea comes months after the Rexburg Police Department publicly claimed that Lori Vallow had lied to them and been uncooperative about the whereabouts of her two youngest children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17.
Police have been trying to find the kids since November.
In the video, Colby said he was “hurt” by the situation and that his mother has an “opportunity to put this all to rest.”
“I know you know [what] the right thing to do is and I know you have a good heart,” Colby said. “It’s time to do the right thing.”
Colby then asked his mother to show his sibling’s faces on FaceTime for the police.
“I just want them to be safe and I want them to be OK,” he said. “And I just want you to find it in your heart to be able to help this situation.”
Vallow is married to Chad Daybell, a religious author who writes about prophecy and the end of the world.
Daybell’s late wife, Tammy, was found dead in October under suspicious circumstances.
It was during the investigation into Tammy Daybell’s death that police discovered the children had been missing for months.
Recently, family members have alleged that Lori Vallow has extreme religious beliefs — and they fear she has put her children at risk.
According to court documents obtained by Fox 13, the children’s father, Charles Vallow, wanted to divorce Lori Vallow because of her beliefs. He explained his concerns in a court filing last year.
“[Lori Vallow] has recently become infatuated, at times obsessive, about near-death experiences and spiritual visions,” Charles Vallow wrote in a filing last January. “Mother has told Father [Charles Vallow] that she is sealed [eternally married] to the ancient Book of Mormon prophet Moroni and that she has lived numerous lives on numerous planets prior to this current life.”
Charles Vallow’s allegations in the filing continued: “Mother informed Father that she was a God assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020 and that if Father got in her way of her mission she would murder him.”
On July 11, Lori Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles Vallow. At the time, Cox told police the shooting was in self-defense. The case is still under investigation. Cox was not charged and died in December, local News 8 reports.
Charles Vallow’s sister, Kay Woodcock, tells Fox 13 that the family has long struggled with Lori’s beliefs. “For her to say she’s a translated being and she is reincarnated? That is scary,” she tells the station.
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The case of the missing kids began when police conducted a welfare check on November 26 after receiving calls from concerned relatives. They spoke with Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow. According to a police department press release released last month, Vallow and Daybell told authorities that Joshua was with a family friend in Arizona. But police later learned the boy, who is adopted and has special needs, was not staying with the friend.
Later that month, police issued a blistering new statement, alleging that the children’s mother had been uncooperative.
“Lori Vallow has completely refused to assist this investigation,” Rexburg police said in the statement. “We know that the children are not with Lori and Chad Daybell and we also have information indicating that Lori knows either the location of the children or what has happened to them. Despite having this knowledge, she has refused to work with law enforcement to help us resolve this matter.”
“It is astonishing that rather than work with law enforcement to help us locate her own children, Lori Vallow has chosen instead to leave the state with her new husband,” the release continues. “We strongly believe that Joshua and Tylee’s lives are in danger.”
Anyone who has seen either child since September is asked to call 208-359-3000 or 1-800-THE-LOST (843-5678).
