Lori Vallow’s daughter Tylee’s body was so badly burned when it was discovered in her husband’s backyard that she had to be identified by her jaw line, new court records have revealed.
Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell are in custody in Idaho awaiting trial on charges of concealing evidence and neglecting her children, JJ and Tylee.
Their bodies were found in Daybell’s yard earlier this month but no one has been charged over their deaths. The kids were last seen alive in September.
New court documents that emerged on Tuesday reveal that cops asked Lori where JJ was after he was reported missing by relatives but that Lori lied. She then fled to Hawaii.
The children’s bodies were finally discovered after police tracked cellphone data from Lori’s dead brother Alex Cox. He died in December in mysterious circumstances too.
JJ and Tylee, left, went missing in September and their bodies were found a few weeks ago after police tracked cell phone data from their uncle Alex Cox’s (right) cell phone. He died in December
Chad Daybell, 51, was arrested on June 9 and charged with two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence. Lori Vallow Daybell, has been in jail for the last four months, charged with desertion of children and three misdemeanors. Both remain in jail on $1million bail
When they eventually dug up the bodies, seven-year-old JJ’s was easy enough to identify but Tylee’s was decomposed beyond recognition.
‘It was not possible to identify those remains by simply looking at them as they were too damaged by fire and dismemberment and no longer had any recognizable features.
‘However, Dr. Glen Smith, an orthodontist and Deputy Coroner in the Ada County Coroner’s Office was able to identify these remains as belonging to Tylee Ryan by matching an irregular jawline with an X-ray of Tylee when she was alive,’ a police officer wrote about the discovery.
‘Cult’ mom Lori Vallow has been hit with fresh charges after the bodies of her two children were found buried in husband Chad Daybell’s pet cemetery.
Lori was also recorded on bodycam telling police JJ was with her friend, Melanie Gibb, in Arizona, and that Tylee was living with her and attending BYU-Idaho.
Records show Vallow, 46, is now charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence.
Rexburg Police officers were seen at Daybell’s home in Salem on Monday around 1.15pm. Daybell’s son Garth was seen moving boxes out the home in the days after his father’s arrest on June 9 as another child of the ‘cult leader’ prepared to move in.
It is not known if Vallow’s new charges relate to Monday’s search.
Officers were seen entering the home and searching exterior buildings on the property including a shed and barn and entering the backyard with cameras.
The officers left around 2.50pm but did not disclose any details of their search or what they were looking for. Fremont County Sheriff’s deputies were assisting Rexburg Police in Monday’s search.
Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood had declined to comment on the warrant.
Monday’s investigation marked the third known time Rexburg Police have searched Daybell’s property. Monday’s search was on a much lower-scale than the warrant served at the same residence on June 9 which led to Daybell’s arrest.
At that investigation scene earlier this month, dozens of officers flanked the home and surrounding roads were closed for two days as Daybell’s property was excavated and police discovered the remains of the two children.
Rexburg Police officers executed a third search warrant at Chad Daybell’s Salem, Idaho property on Monday afternoon. Investigators entered the home, were reportedly seen in the backyard with cameras and searched a shed and barn in the yard
Monday’s investigation marked the third known time Rexburg Police have searched Daybell’s property and is likely linked to the discovery of the remains of wife Lori Vallow’s missing children Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, seven, and Tylee Ryan, 17, earlier this month
Daybell is pictured being placed in cuffs and arrested on June 9 following the grisly discover of the children’s remains
Chad Daybell’s adult son, Garth, was seen moving boxes in and out of the family home in Salem, Idaho, on June 11
The last known sighting of Tylee was on September 8, when she visited Yellowstone National Park with her family. JJ, who would have turned eight last month, was last seen two weeks later on September 23.
Vallow married Daybell less than two months after her kids vanished.
During the previous raid of Daybell’s home on January 3, authorities removed 43 items from the home and combed over several sections of the yard with metal detectors and rakes.
Daybell was arrested June 9 and charged with two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence. Vallow has been in jail for the last four months, charged with desertion of children and three misdemeanors.
Both remain in jail on $1million bail.
In this aerial photo, investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell’s residence in the 200 block of 1900 East in Salem, Idaho on June 9
In this aerial photo, investigators search what appears to be a burn pit and dig near a patch of recently disturbed earth
Tylee was last seen on September 8 when she visited Yellowstone National Park with her family (pictured). JJ was last seen two weeks later on September 23
Daybell’s preliminary hearing is set for July 1 after he entered a not guilty plea on two felony counts of destruction of evidence. His wife also pleaded not guilty and her preliminary hearing is set for July 9.
She and Chad – the prolific Doomsday author, alleged cult leader and former grave digger – have repeatedly refused to say where the children were but insisted that they were safe.
Authorities began searching for the children in late November after performing a welfare check ordered by concerned relatives who said they hadn’t spoken to seven-year-old JJ, who was autistic, in months.
When officers first went to Lori’s home in Idaho on November 26, she told them that JJ was visiting relatives in Arizona.
Officers returned the following day and found that Lori and the man she married weeks earlier, Chad Daybell, had fled from the home.
Authorities say the couple have repeatedly lied about where JJ and Tylee are and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General’s Office and Fremont County Sheriff’s Office are still investigating the death of Daybell’s wife Tammy, who mysteriously died at the Salem home in October.