Lori Vallow didn't meet the Thursday deadline to turn her kids over to the state. Their grandma believes the 'monster' will face consequences.
by horecchio@businessinsider.com (Haven Orecchio-Egresitz)National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
- Doomsday prepper Lori Vallow, who is said to believe she's "a god," missed a judge's deadline to turn over her missing children to the state of Idaho.
- Tylee Ryan, 17, and J.J. Vallow, 7, have not been seen since September.
- Vallow's biological grandparents have offered a $20,000 reward for the return of the children.
- Vallow and her new husband, apocalyptic novelist Chad Daybell, have been vacationing in Hawaii without the children.
- Vallow is entangled in a web of suspicious death cases.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Doomsday prepper Lori Vallow missed an Idaho judge's Thursday deadline to produce her two missing children to the state and is believed to still be vacationing in Hawaii.
Her adopted son's grandmother Kay Woodcock, who is also Vallow's former sister-in-law, said she thinks law enforcement will hold the "monster" accountable.
"I can't say for sure what's going to happen next other than that I hope it is something that will get her attention because I'd love to know where those kids are," Woodcock said at a press conference Thursday night. "I think all of America wants to know where they are, and that all this is just beyond crazy."
Rexburg Police Department/Facebook
Vallow and her apocalyptic novelist husband Chad Daybell skipped town in November after police began investigating reports that her children, J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan, hadn't been seen or heard from in months. The couple, who are entangled in a web of suspicious death investigations, have been refusing to tell law enforcement where the children are. Last weekend, when law enforcement found them vacationing without the children in Hawaii, a judge gave Vallow five days to produce proof of her children to the state.
A gaggle of journalists stood outside the Health and Welfare Department in Rexburg, Idaho, on Thursday, waiting for Vallow to show up with J.J. and Tylee. She never did.
She was still in Hawaii, Woodcock said.
"I was informed that they are still there, probably sunning on the beach somewhere while we're sitting here wondering where the kids are," Woodcock said. "Lori is not going to make this easy."
Woodcock and her husband are offering $20,000 for information leading to the return of Tylee Ryan, 17, and "J.J." Vallow, 7.
The children were last seen on Sept. 23. Rexburg Police went to the couple's home to conduct a wellbeing check on Nov. 26, but when they got there, Vallow and Daybell told police that the children had been staying with friends in Arizona, which they learned wasn't true.
When the police returned with a search warrant the next day, Vallow and Daybell were gone.
Woodcock is J.J.'s biological grandmother. Vallow used to be married to Woodcock's brother, Charles Vallow, and the couple adopted the boy while living in Arizona.
Charles Vallow had filed for divorce from Lori Vallow last February. In court documents, he alleged that his wife believed she was a god, according to AZcentral.com.
At the time, Charles Vallow claimed that Lori didn't want anything to do with him or J.J. "because she had a more important mission to carry out," according to court documents.
In July, Charles Vallow was shot in their home and Lori's brother, Alex Cox told police he fired the gun during an altercation in self-defense.
Then in October, Vallow married Daybell whose wife, Tammy Daybell, had died only two weeks earlier.
On Dec. 12, Cox was found dead at his home in Gilbert, Arizona, according to Brenda Carosko, a spokeswoman for the Gilbert Police Department. Police are awaiting the results of his autopsy.
In light of the trail of bodies following Lori Vallow, Tammy Daybell's body has been exhumed for an investigation.
"She was done, and I guess she thought it was Lori-time so she got rid of everything. or got them out of her way, just like she did Charles. She got him out of her way," Woodcock said of Vallow and her missing children. "There's too many people dying around Lori for it to all be natural, unless she is the most unlucky person in the world."
Woodcock said that she and her husband Larry are trying to remain optimistic and refusing to accept the "worst-case scenario" as a possibility.
Still, she doesn't think that Vallow will turn over the children unless "absolutely forced to do it."
And after speaking with police on Thursday, she and her husband Larry were feeling confident that law enforcement was planning to hold her accountable for missing the deadline.
The decision on what happens next is up to an Idaho judge.
Vallow's oldest son, Colby, has also publicly urged his mother to return the children.
Woodcock said that if the children are returned she and her husband would "absolutely" file for custody.
"Larry and I would be the one place she knows JJ would be the most comfortable with. If not with Charles, because he's dead, and if not with her because she doesn't want him, the next place would be for us to have him and so obviously she didn't [think] that was a good idea."
"I pray that they are with a family somewhere, that is caring for them emotionally and any other way, in a good home," Woodcock told reporters. "They're not with our family. As far as I know, they are not with anyone in her family. It shows just a complete lack of concern about the best interests of a 7-year-old autistic child who does not deal well with change."
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