New court records, surveillance video pinpoint last days missing Idaho kids were seen
PHOENIX – Newly released court records in the case of two missing Idaho children show that one was last seen in September in Yellowstone National Park, two weeks before the last known sighting of her brother in a small town in Idaho.
Authorities did not begin searching for the two children for nearly two months, when one of their grandmothers asked police in Arizona to check on her grandson, Joshua "J.J." Vallow, 7, who has autism, because she had not heard from him.
The grandmother, Kay Woodcock, told "Dateline" this month that she learned the children and their mother, Lori Vallow, had moved to Rexburg, Idaho, where Joshua was last seen Sept. 23 at school, a day before Lori Vallow withdrew him and told authorities she planned to home-school him.
His sister, Tylee Ryan, 17, was last seen two weeks earlier in Yellowstone National Park.
Gilbert, Arizona, police alerted Rexburg police Nov. 25 of Joshua's disappearance, kicking off a nationwide manhunt into the children's disappearance.
The case sparked national interest, partly because of a string of deaths around the family and the religious beliefs of Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, who spoke of the end of the world.
Vallow was arrested Thursday in Hawaii, where she was living with Daybell.
Children last seen in September
Vallow and the two children lived in the Phoenix area for years.
Court records filed in Maricopa County Superior Court show Tylee lived in Chandler as far back as June 2012, when she was 9 years old. Joshua was adopted in July 2014 by Lori and her then-husband, Charles Vallow.
Court records show Lori Vallow moved with the two children to Rexburg near the first week of September last year, according to court records. Before their move, Vallow returned Joshua's service dog, Bailey, to Dog Training Elite Arizona in Phoenix on Aug. 30, citing "a change in life circumstances," court records said.
Joshua was last seen Sept. 23 at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg, where he had been enrolled for three weeks, the records stated.
On Sept. 24, Vallow told the school he would no longer attend and she would home-school him, according to the records. Kennedy Elementary School officials told police no other schools requested Joshua's transcripts after he was withdrawn.
Colby Ryan, Tylee's older brother, told Gilbert police he last spoke with Tylee on Aug. 30 via FaceTime, court records say. After that, Vallow gave excuses as to why Tylee couldn't talk to him, records say.
Phone records indicate Tylee went to Yellowstone National Park with Vallow, Vallow's brother Alex Cox and Joshua on Sept. 8, according to court records. Police said they have a photo of Tylee at the park's entrance, and they obtained from Vallow's iCloud a photo of Tylee in Yellowstone that same day.
Melanie Gibb, Vallow's friend from Gilbert, told police Vallow said Tylee attended classes at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg; however, the school told police she was never enrolled at any schools affiliated with BYU, court records say.
Surveillance video shows Joshua days before he went missing
In doorbell surveillance video obtained by the East Idaho News, Joshua was seen Sept. 17 playing outside with another child in Rexburg.
The video was shot by a Ring doorbell camera at a neighbor's house. In it, Joshua runs toward Vallow's townhouse across a courtyard with the child, according to the East Idaho News. The children enter Vallow's residence.
East Idaho News reported that a child came to Vallow's townhouse late in September and asked to play with Joshua, neighbors told a detective. Vallow greeted the child and told them that Joshua was with family in Louisiana.
The Ring doorbell video shows Vallow at the door of the townhouse Oct. 29 as an unidentified woman enters the home, East Idaho News reported.
Police claim numerous lies told
Rexburg police performed a welfare check Nov. 26 on Vallow's residence in Idaho, where detectives met Cox and Daybell outside.
Daybell "acted like he didn't know Lori very well and stated he didn't know her phone number," court records say.
Cox told detectives Joshua was with Woodcock, his grandmother, in Louisiana; however, detectives said that "was not likely to be true" because Woodcock "called in a missing child report" to Gilbert police, court records say.
Cox showed detectives a vacant apartment that he said belonged to Vallow. Daybell later told police he last saw Joshua in October and admitted he'd been untruthful about not knowing his wife's phone number, court records say.
Later that day, police spoke with Vallow, who told them Joshua was in Gilbert with her friend Gibb. When Gibb could not be reached, police called Vallow, who told them Gibb and Joshua "were at the movie 'Frozen 2' " and unlikely to answer the phone, court records say.
Gibb told Gilbert police Joshua "had not been there for several months." More than a week later, she told Rexburg police that Vallow and Daybell called her Nov. 26, asking her to tell police Joshua was with her even though he was not, court records say. She said she declined their requests.
On Nov. 27, Rexburg police searched the apartments of Vallow, her niece Melani Boudreaux and Cox, which were in the same complex in Rexburg. Joshua was not located during the search; however, police found 17 pills from a prescription that was last filled January 2019 in Arizona, according to court records.
That same day, police searched Vallow's storage unit in Rexburg where they found two blankets – each with pictures of Joshua and Tylee on it – along with children's toys, clothes, bikes, scooters and a photo album, court records say. Vallow hadn't paid for the storage unit since the beginning of the year, and the facility told police its attempts to contact her were fruitless, court records say.
Vallow and new husband start new life in Hawaii
Daybell's previous wife, Tammy, died in Fremont County, Idaho, on Oct. 19, according to court records. Authorities initially said she died of natural causes but have since become suspicious.
Tammy's remains were exhumed, and autopsy results are pending, Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries told The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network.
About three weeks later, Daybell and Vallow married Nov. 5 in Kauai, according to court records. Tylee and Joshua were not in their wedding photos, the records say.
The couple returned to Rexburg after the wedding. Police said the newlyweds left their residence on the night of Nov. 26 after officers performed a welfare check.
They flew from Los Angeles to Kauai on Dec. 1 and have been there since. The children were not with them when they flew to Hawaii, according to court records.
The Kauai Police Department, which monitored the couple's condo in Princeville, said the children had not been seen in Hawaii, according to court records.
Court records indicate the couple told people that Vallow didn't have children. Daybell's parents, Jack and Sheila of Springville, Utah, told police the couple said in November that Vallow was an "empty-nester." Tammy Daybell's sister, Samantha Gwilliam, and her husband, Jason, told police that Chad Daybell and Vallow had no young children.
Authorities said Vallow and Daybell have not cooperated in their investigation into the children's disappearance and Vallow did not comply with a court order to produce her children in Idaho.
Vallow was arrested Thursday and appeared in a Hawaii court the following day where her bail was set at $5 million. An extradition hearing was scheduled for March 2.
Case connected to string of deaths
According to divorce records filed by Vallow's former husband, Charles Vallow, in Arizona last February, Lori Vallow believed she was a god and threatened to kill her husband.
Five months after he filed, Charles was shot to death by Lori's brother Cox on July 11 in Arizona. The Chandler Police Department's investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Cox, who claimed self-defense in the shooting in July, died Dec. 12 in Gilbert. His cause of death is not known, and an autopsy is pending, according to police.
A 911 call obtained by The Arizona Republic revealed Cox was found "passed out" in a bathroom by Joseph Lopez, 25. Lopez told dispatchers that Cox was his mother's boyfriend and that he didn't know him.
The Gilbert Police Department's investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Charles Vallow was the second of Lori's husbands to die in the past two years and the second to be in a confrontation with Cox.
Joseph Ryan was found dead April 5, 2018, in bed at his Gilbert home, according to a report from the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office. His cause of death was "arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease," the office said. Ryan was Tylee's father.
More than 10 years before his death, Ryan was attacked by Cox in Austin, Texas, after a supervised visit with Tylee. Cox tased Ryan, then threatened to kill him, according to court records.
Cox was convicted the following year of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to three months in jail, according to court records.
Brandon Boudreaux – who was married to Vallow's niece, Melani Boudreaux – said Cox shot at him Oct. 2 in Gilbert, according to "Dateline." He was driving home from the gym when the shooting occurred, and a bullet missed his head by inches.
Rexburg police were contacted by Gilbert and Chandler police after the incident for help in obtaining search warrants for the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, which was in Vallow's possession and believed to be "related to a possible attempted murder" of Brandon Boudreaux, court records say. The vehicle was registered to Charles Vallow.
Contributing: Ryan Miller, USA TODAY
Follow reporter Chelsea Curtis on Twitter @curtis_chels
This article originally appeared on The Republic | azcentral.com: Lori Vallow: Records, video show last days missing Idaho kids seen
