It has been a year since the day investigators found the bodies of siblings Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, on property belonging to their mother’s new husband. The little boy’s grandmother Kay Woodcock had choice words for murder defendant Chad Daybell on Wednesday, who just pleaded not guilty to charges. The message? “Give it up.”
‘“I think he should just give it up,” Woodcock said after the arraignment of Chad Daybell, 52, according to East Idaho News. “How do you have two kids in your backyard and you don’t know anything about it?”
“He’s a liar,” she later said. “He’s a liar.”
The story behind Daybell and co-defendant wife Lori Daybell (known in court records as Lori Norene Vallow), 47, is convoluted. Charles Vallow, who was JJ’s adoptive dad and Woodcock’s brother, had been shot and killed in July 2019 by Vallow’s brother Alex Cox in Arizona. Charles had told cops months before that his wife Lori threatened to kill him. After his death, Lori moved with the kids to Rexburg, Idaho, where the children went missing on separate dates in September 2019. She did not report them missing, authorities said.
Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and Alex Cox allegedly conspired in the murder of Daybell’s wife Tammy Daybell, 49. Alex Cox attempted to shoot Tammy on October 9, 2019, prosecutors said. Ultimately, Chad Daybell is charged with being the person who killed his late wife, accused of doing this some time between Oct. 18 and Oct. 19 in 2019. Daybell went on to marry Lori in Hawaii on November 5, 2019, police have said. The children’s disappearances finally emerged later that month after Woodcock, who lived out of state, requested a welfare check. The newly married couple snubbed Idaho investigators and fled back to Hawaii, according to authorities. Cox, who claimed self-defense in the killing of Charles, would die in December 2019 of what medical examiners called a blood clot.
Months passed as Lori never publicly discussed the children.
“The kids are safe,” Chad cryptically said in a March 2020 report from ABC News.
The children were already dead, authorities now say.
The couple is charged with killing the children, with prosecutors saying the Daybells used religious reasons to attempt to justify the killings. Chad Daybell, who is already fighting charges in connection to allegedly hiding the bodies, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to murder and conspiracy charges. Police in Arizona have also claimed that Lori conspired to kill Charles Vallow.
“It’s hard,” Tylee’s older brother Colby Ryan told East Idaho News. “It’s really hard seeing him, knowing he did it and knowing everything about the truth. This whole process is really hard. Obviously, we’ve all had to go through it, but he’s going to say what he’s going to say. He’s going to lie about it. From the beginning, they lied about it, so there’s nothing you can do about it.”
BREAKING: Judge has signed an Order of Commitment for #LoriVallowDaybell. Prosecutor is no longer disputing the findings that Lori is not fit for trial. @LawCrimeNetwork #TyleeJj pic.twitter.com/JhsUSELR35
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) June 9, 2021
Meanwhile, Lori Vallow’s case is in standstill after prosecutors no longer opposed a determination that she was unfit for trial.
[Image of Kay Woodcock via East Idaho news; Chad Daybell via John Roark/the Post-Register/Pool]
