Lori Vallow’s Sister Says She ‘Was Wrong’ to Defend Her in Statement About JJ and Tylee’s Deaths

Lori Vallow’s sister has spoken out about the deaths of Vallow’s children, whose remains were discovered on the property of her husband, Chad Daybell. In a heartfelt post to Facebook on Sunday, Summer Cox Shiflet spoke about the loss of her niece and nephew, as well as apologized for her earlier defense of her sister.

“Words are hard and inadequate. Trying to type through this pain is difficult,” Shiflet’s statement began, via PEOPLE. “The last few months have been hard. The last week has been excruciating. Losing our precious Tylee and JJ in this horrific way is more than we can bear.” She goes on to speak about her “tremendous amount of gratitude to all of the law enforcement that have worked so hard to find Tylee and JJ.”

Later in the lengthy post, Shiflet spoke about her defense of her sister earlier in the case. “I know there are people waiting for me to admit I was wrong. If that’s all you want to know… here it is… I was wrong. I am an extremely imperfect person that loves my family with all my heart, and I wanted to believe the best in them, and I held out hope for the best possible outcome. I have always said things truthfully as I understood them, and will continue to do that as I learn new information.”

Police arrested Vallow in February after she failed to produce proof her children were alive and well under a court-ordered deadline. She’s been charged with child abandonment and obstructing the investigation and is currently on a $1 million bond since she’s pleaded not guilty. Following the discovery of Tylee and JJ’s remains, Daybell was arrested on June 9 and charged with two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence. The two children had been missing since September, which didn’t stop Vallow from marrying Daybell in Hawaii just weeks later, which aroused suspicions about how the couple could have been involved in their disappearance and later death.

Both Vallow and Daybell were the subject of an episode of Dateline on Monday, as was their doomsday religious cult they were both members of. Throughout the hour-long runtime, Vallow’s friend, Melanie Gibb, explained that Daybell had convinced her that her children were “zombies,” and that their religion viewed Oprah Winfrey as the ultimate evil spirit.