Lori Vallow Wipes Away Tears in Court Appearance for New Charges Against Her in Deaths of Her Children

On Tuesday, Lori Vallow made a tear-filled court appearance on new felony charges in relation to the disappearance and death of her two children, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. Appearing in a Madison County, Idaho, court alongside her attorney, Mark Means, Vallow could be seen wiping tears from her eyes and reaching for tissues when Judge Faren Eddins mentioned Tylee.

The hearing was held via Zoom due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with Vallow’s oldest son and daughter-in-law, Colby and Kelsee Ryan, also appearing on-screen during the proceedings, according to East Idaho News. JJ’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, listened to the hearing offscreen. After Eddins read the charges against her, Vallow responded “yes” when asked if she understood them. The hearing lasted approximately 15 minutes. Vallow’s bond was kept at $1 million. She will next appear in court on Aug. 10 and 11.

Vallow’s court appearance came just a day after authorities filed two additional charges against her: two counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence. A 16-page probable cause affidavit released just hours before the Tuesday hearing and obtained by East Idaho News detailed the accusations against her and how she conspired to conceal evidence in the deaths of her children, whose remains were discovered on the property of her husband, Chad Daybell, on June 9.

According to the criminal complaint against her, “Vallow provided a false and/or misleading physical location of JJ Vallow to law enforcement during a lawful investigation” around Nov. 26. Around that same time, she allegedly contacted her friend, Melanie Gibb, “for the purpose of requesting and/or encouraging noncooperation with law enforcement’s lawful investigation regarding the whereabouts of JJ Vallow during a lawful investigation as well as “for the purpose of requesting and/or encouraging Melanie Gibb to prepare and/or present false evidence to law enforcement.” On Jan. 30, she defied a court order “physically produce” her children to the Rexburg Police Department of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in Madison County.

The affidavit also offered new information about the Tylee and JJ, who were last seen alive in September, and the manner in which their bodies were found. According to the documents, Rexburg Police detective Lt. Ron Ball noted that “it was not possible to identify” Tylee’s remains by “simply looking at them as they were too damaged by fire and dismemberment and no longer had any recognizable features.” Tylee, who police now believe was killed before she turned 17, was identified by X-rays and DNA tests. Authorities believe that Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, played a role in disposing of her body. JJ’s body, meanwhile, “was well preserved” and was “identified by Brandon Boudreaux (the ex-husband of Lori’s niece, Melani Pawlowski), who was shown an autopsy photograph of the body and face.”