REXBURG, Idaho, May 1, 2020 (East Idaho News/Gephardt Daily) — A judge in Rexburg, Idaho, denied a bail reduction for Lori Vallow Daybell following a 2.5-hour hearing Friday.
Daybell — the mother of missing children J.J. Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17 — had her original bail reduced from $5 million to $1 million in March. But Idaho bail bondsmen reportedly declined to work with Daybell, who vacated her Rexburg residence immediately after being interviewed by police regarding the whereabouts of her children, last seen in September of last year.
Daybell, located living with her husband, Chad Daybell, was later extradited and returned to Idaho, where she remains incarcerated, awaiting her preliminary hearing, set for July 9 and 10.
An East Idaho News article says that during Friday’s hearing before Magistrate Judge Michelle Mallard, Daybell’s attorney, Mark Means, argued bail should be reduced because he was unable to effectively communicate with his client due to restrictions mandated by the Idaho Supreme Court due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Means cited several examples in which his conversations with Daybell were recorded, which he asserted violated attorney-client privilege.
Daybell’s case will be the focus of a two-hour episode of “Dateline NBC,” to air at 8 p.m. Friday. East Idaho News reporters were interviewed as part of the report.
Timeline
A timeline of events in the case follows below:
• J.J. Vallow was last seen on Sept. 23, 2019, when he was un-enrolled from his Rexburg elementary school by his mother, Lori Vallow, who said she would be homeschooling her adopted son. Daughter Tylee Ryan also was last seen in September.
• On Oct. 10, 2019, Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell, died suddenly outside the family’s home. It was initially believed the death was due to natural causes, but is now considered suspicious.
Within 14 days of his wife’s death, Chad Daybell married Lori Vallow, whose previous husband, Charles Vallow, had been shot and killed during an alleged domestic argument earlier in the year in Gilbert, Arizona. The man who killed him was Alexander Cox, Vallow’s brother.
Cox, who police say was injured in the violent confrontation, claimed he shot his sister’s estranged husband in self-defense. He was never charged in the case.
Cox died in early December 2019. His cause of death has not been released.
Chad Daybell, who at one time lived and worked in Utah, is an author of what has been described as religious-themed “doomsday” fiction.
• On Nov. 26, 2019, Rexburg Police officers responded to the Vallow-Daybell residence after family members requested a welfare check on J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan.
• The next day, police returned to the Vallow-Daybell residence with a search warrant and found the couple had packed up and left. The children were not found, nor was evidence they had been living in the house, police said at the time.
• On Dec. 11, 2019, investigators exhumed Tammy Daybell’s body for an autopsy. The results have not yet been released.
• On Dec. 20, Rexburg police announced the search for J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan to the public, hoping for leads. The next day, police named Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell as persons of interest in the investigation.
• On Dec. 23, Rexburg attorney Sean Bartholick, reportedly hired by the couple, put out a statement on their behalf:
“Chad Daybell was a loving husband and has the support of his children in this matter. Lori Daybell is a devoted mother and resents assertions to the contrary. We look forward to addressing the allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor.”
The attorney also stated he did not know the couple’s location.
• On Dec. 31, Rexburg police issued a statement urging Lori Daybell to contact them, because they believed she knew where the children are or what happened to them, they said.
• On Jan. 7 of this year, Kay and Larry Woodcock, the children’s grandparents, announced a $20,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the children. Kay Woodcock said Lori was overwhelmed with caring for J.J., who had special needs.
• On Jan. 10, Matt Daybell, brother of Chad Daybell, urged his brother to cooperate with police in a news conference arranged by the East Idaho News.
• On Jan. 25, Madison County authorities filed a child protection order on behalf of the missing children. The order required Lori Daybell to physically produce the children to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in Rexburg or to the Rexburg Police within five days of being served with the order.
• The protective order was served on Sunday, Jan. 26, by officers of the Kaua’i, Hawaii, Police Department. “Kaua’i police served Vallow with an order of petition in an attempt to have her physically produce her children to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare,” says a Kaua’i Police statement posted on Facebook. “On Jan. 26, Kaua’i police and Rexburg police executed a search warrant in support of the ongoing investigation related to the whereabouts of the two children. There are no local charges or any current warrants of arrest.”
• A Rexburg Police Department statement issued on Jan. 27 says no evidence was found that J.J. or Tylee had ever been in Hawaii. It also said that, concerning the order to produce the children, “Failure to comply with this order may subject Lori Vallow to civil or criminal contempt of court.”
• On Feb. 10 officials found a cellphone belonging to Tylee Ryan, East Idaho News reported. The report said it appears her phone was found in Hawaii with her mother. The CBS News report said that Tylee Ryan’s phone was used several times after she disappeared, but it’s not clear at this time who was using it. Also in October, two small Venmo payments were reportedly sent from Ryan’s account to a family member.
• The discovery of Ryan’s phone comes after items belonging to her and her brother were found abandoned inside a storage facility.
• On March 5, Lori Daybell was extradited to Idaho. Husband Chad, who has not been charged in the case, returned to Idaho several days prior. Lori Daybell was charged with desertion and non-support of dependent children.
• Also on March 5, the FBI Rexburg office issued a request for anyone who had been in Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 8, 2019, when J.J. and Tylee had been their with their mother and uncle, to please check photos and videos, and to report any images or memories concerning the family to the FBI.
