Human remains found on the property of Lori Vallow’s husband ARE those of her two children

Local Idaho authorities have confirmed that the remains found on the property of Lori Vallow’s husband belong to her missing children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow. 

The Rexburg Police Department announced in a Saturday press release that it was with ‘heavy hearts’ that they confirmed the identities of the 17-year-old and her seven-year-old brother.

‘It is not the outcome we had hoped; to be able to find the children safe. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of JJ and Tylee,’ police said in the release.  

A search warrant led to authorities finding the bodies at Chad Daybell’s Fremont County home. The bodies were taken to the medical examiner’s office where an autopsy was performed. 

The bodies of JJ and Tylee were discovered Tuesday following a neighbor’s tip about large bonfires on Chad’s property. The children had been missing since September.  

Neighbor Matt Price, who has lived next door for about five years, said he recently informed detectives about having seen several bonfires at the property over the past nine months since the children were last seen. 

‘This year they had two really big fires that we noticed,’ Price told the Deseret News. ‘Probably less than a month ago.’

Price claimed that the detectives told him his information, among other details, was used to secure the search warrant that eventually led to this week’s discovery of the bodies.  

Chad was arrested after the bodies were uncovered. He remains behind bars on a $1 million bond. 

His wife, Lori Vallow, has spent the past four months behind bars at the neighboring Madison County Jail on five charges related to the children’s disappearance: two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of children and one misdemeanor count each for obstructing an investigation, criminal solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court. 

Prosecutors have not said whether they plan to add additional charges in light of the body discovery. 

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 is 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 – which investigators say was a lie.  

Officers returned the following day and found that Lori and the man she married weeks earlier, Chad Daybell, had fled from the home.