Joshua “JJ” Vallow, and Tylee Ryan
Authorities in Idaho have confirmed that the human remains found on Chad Daybell‘s property are those of Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan, the long-missing children of Lori (Vallow) Daybell.
The Rexburg Police Department discovered those remains on June 9 during a search of the Daybell property in Fremont County, Idaho.
On that day, Chad Daybell was taken into custody after a warrant was served on his home by local police working in conjunction with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho State investigators and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The search began at 7:00 a.m. and was effectuated “in regards to a missing children’s investigation,” a press release notes.
“During the search of the property, investigators found what appeared to be two sets of unidentified human remains,” police said in their statement released Saturday afternoon. “The remains were taken to the medical examiner’s office where an autopsy and positive identification were performed. It is with heavy hearts that we now confirm that those remains have now been officially identified as those of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan.”
On June 10, Chad Daybell was charged in a criminal complaint with the disappearance of the two children as well as with helping to conceal human remains in an effort to obstruct justice.
A sworn affidavit alleges that Chad Daybell “on or between the 22nd day of September, 2019, and the 9th day of June, 2020 […] did willfully conceal and/or did aid and abet another to willfully conceal human remains, knowing that said human remains were about to be produced, used and/or discovered as evidence in felony proceeding, inquiry and/or investigation authorized by law, with the intent to prevent it from being so produced, used and/or discovered.”
That same day, police confirmed that the remains found on Chad Daybell’s property did, in fact, belong to two different people. A prosecutor later confirmed that those remains belonged to children.
Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood stoked the fire of macabre speculation by adding that the manner of concealment used to hide one of the dead children was “particularly egregious,” but he refused to elaborate on what exactly that meant.
Lori Daybell was previously charged with child desertion. According to local police, she left town in November 2019 instead of helping authorities attempt to find her missing children.
Seven-year-old JJ Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan were last seen in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming in September 2019. Several states are currently involved in various aspects of the ongoing and decidedly grotesque criminal controversy.
According to a March court filing, Lori Daybell referred to her children as “zombies” right around the time they went missing. And she was apparently serious about that supernatural characterization.
Those claims surfaced in an Arizona court document filed by Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow’s niece, Melani Boudreaux Pawlowski. That shocking document is part of an ongoing custody battle between Boudreaux and Pawlowski over their own children–who are currently safe and living with Boudreaux.
“Melani had been told by Chad and Lori that their children had been possessed and had become zombies,” the document which offers a window into the doomsday cult beliefs of the Daybell family. “She shared concerns that she’s been told Brandon needed to die and that may indicate that the [sic] Tylee and JJ needed to die as well.”
Cathy Russon and Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
[Joshua Vallow and Tylee Ryan via National Center for Missing and Exploited Children]