[Warning: Footage depicts dead body at one point. It is lightly censored.]
Newly released body cam footage footage shows the aftermath of a homicide connected to a disturbing missing children case. Cops are seen speaking to Alex Cox on July 11, 2019, shortly after he fatally shot brother-in-law Charles Vallow. This incident is just one part of a convoluted chain of events.
Vallow was the fourth husband of Lori Vallow (Cox’s brother). That woman’s whereabouts are publicly unknown, and her children Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan are considered missing. The kids were last seen on September 23, authorities say.
Cox killed Charles Vallow on July 11, at the home where Lori Vallow lived with the children, cops said. He claimed this was a matter of self-defense.
“It was over my sister,” he said. “He was getting physical with her, so my niece came out with her bat and he took the bat away with her.”
Cox claimed Charles Vallow struck him in the head with the bat, so he went to get his gun.
Officers found the victim’s body in the residence. No charges were filed. Hypothetical prosecution is a moot point now: Cox died in December of unclear causes.
The backstory of this is several layers of ugly. Charles Vallow had filed for divorce several months before. He claimed his wife said she was a “god” preparing for the second coming of Christ. Vallow had also allegedly voiced concern that his wife and brother-in-law might do something nefarious.
EXCLUSIVE: The former attorneys of Charles Vallow speak to Fox 10.
“Steve, I want to make sure that everyone knows that if something happens to me, Lori & Alex did it.”
5 months later, Lori Vallow’s brother Alex shoots Charles to death & claims self-defense.
More to come. pic.twitter.com/s4ER14vrwT
— Justin Lum Fox 10 (@jlumfox10) January 8, 2020
This isn’t even the first time Cox attacked one of his sister’s husbands. He previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 90 days in jail for attacking another one of her spouses in Texas. The defendant tased Joseph Ryan (Tylee Ryan’s father) and threatened to kill him in 2007, authorities said. Joseph Ryan passed away in 2018 from a heart attack.
Officers are looking for Lori Vallow and her current husband Chad Daybell. Cops in Rexburg, Idaho said the pair left the state instead of helping investigators find the missing children.
Daybell was previously married to Tammy Daybell. She was found dead at her Idaho home on October 19, 2019, just weeks before her husband wedded Vallow. This was considered a natural death, but investigators went as far as to exhume her body in December in the midst of everything else going on.
Joshua Vallow has brown hair, has brown eyes, stands 4’0″, and weighs 50 pounds, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Tylee Ryan has blonde hair, has blue eyes, stands 5’0″, and weighs 160 pounds. The children were last seen September 23, 2019 in Rexburg, Idaho, authorities said. Officials said the little brother “may be in need of medical attention.”
[Screengrab via Chandler Police Department; h/t Justin Fox at Fox 10]
