While Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are both behind bars, Idaho prosecutors may file conspiracy to commit murder charges against the married couple in the death of Vallow’s two children. Joshua (J.J.) Vallow and Tylee Ryan’s bodies were found on Daybell’s property in June. The potential new charges come after a recording was released by East Idaho News via PEOPLE. In the recording, Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood had a conversation with Vallow’s sister Summer Shiflet, informing her of the potential new charge they planned on pinning against the couple.
“I’m going to tell you right now we are going to be filing conspiracy to commit murder charges against both Chad and Lori,” Wood said to Shiflet. “And we aren’t shy about that.” He added that Daybell was “extremely manipulative” and continued to detail his thoughts saying, “And your sister manipulated him in some ways, too. But the context for everything that happened came from Chad. We do have enough evidence to prosecute him and we are. The case against your sister [Vallow] is stronger.”
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However, this did not go over well with Daybell and Vallow’s attorneys. They accused the prosecutor of misconduct and asked that he be removed from the case following the conversation. Their attorneys claimed that Wood “coerce, unduly influence, coach, and or intimidate,” Shiflet. He denied that he was guilty of any wrongdoing and Judge Steven Boyce agreed. “The court cannot find at this time that the interaction between Mr. Wood and the witness would render Mr. Wood’s continued participation, in this case, unfair and cannot determine that the prosecutor’s pretrial activity will be a material issue in this case.”
After police found Tylee and JJ’s remains, Vallow was initially charged with desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime, contempt of court and willful disobedience of court process or order. Daybell was charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence and two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence.
Just ahead of the couple’s charges and before police could issue a search warrant to search their property, Vallow and Daybell fled to Kaua’i, Hawaii. Onlookers naturally found this odd that they would flee at such a crucial time when Vallow’s kids were missing, creating even more suspicion around the situation. Vallow was eventually arrested on Feb. 20 after she refused a court order to turn her kids over to the police because they believed JJ and Tylee’s “lives [were] in danger.”
