REXBURG, Idaho, March 6, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Lori Vallow Daybell — the mother of missing children J.J. Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17 — faced an Idaho judge Friday afternoon after her extradition from Hawaii.
The defendant — addressed in court as Mrs. Daybell — again requested a reduction in bail through her attorney. Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins stopped short of setting bail at the $10,000 to $50,000 requested, but did reduce bail to $1 million from the original bail order of $5 million. That amount was set by a judge in Hawaii, where Daybell and new husband Chad Daybell had moved after being contacted by Rexburg police.
It was unclear immediately after the hearing if Vallow could raise the ten percent required to make bail.
In addition, Judge Eddins ordered that if Lori Daybell did make bail, she not travel beyond Madison and three surrounding counties in Idaho. He also said she would be and that she wear a GPS ankle monitor at all times. She must also sign extradition waivers, he said, and must maintain contact with her counsel.
Any violation of terms would land her back in custody, the judge said.
Daybell now faces two counts of felony desertion of a child in the disappearance of J.J. and Tylee, and misdemeanor charges of resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime, and contempt. If convicted on all charges, she faces as many as 30 years in jail.
Daybell’s next court dates were set for March 18 and 19.
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 are 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 her 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 Saturday, 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.
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.
Gephardt Daily will have more information on the case as it becomes available.
