Wanted ‘cult mom’ Lori Vallow was discovered in Hawaii because she made the fatal mistake of booking a hotel room under her real name, DailyMail.com has learned.
And she gave the resort clerk a driver’s license with an address that cops did not know she lived at, hotel general manager Robert ‘Mick’ Minicola revealed in an exclusive interview.
That led cops on the island of Kauai to serve her with papers demanding she produce her two missing children in court by Thursday — a deadline she blew through leading to added fears that the half-siblings are dead.
Vallow, 46, is now likely to be arrested for contempt of court. Authorities in Rexburg, Idaho, will then apply to have her extradited from Hawaii so she can face interrogation about what has happened to her kids, Tylee Ryan, 17 and seven-year-old Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, neither of whom have been seen since September.
Vallow and her new husband, Doomsday author Chad Daybell, 51, fled to Hawaii after suddenly leaving their home in Rexburg once questions started to be asked about the whereabouts of the children.
Lori Vallow and her new husband Chad Daybell were seen for the first time since news of her children’s disappearance captured national attention in a video recorded after they were served with search warrants in Kaua’i on Sunday (pictured)
Vallow used her real name and provided her license when booking a room at the Kauai Beach Resort, tipping off cops to their whereabouts. The next time they checked in, police where waiting for them
This is the home the couple are now holed up in an exclusive Princeville resort on the Hawaiian island of Kauai
Vallow’s children, seven-year-old J.J. and 17-year-old Tylee were last seen in Rexburg, Idaho, in September and reported missing until November
Idaho police say the couple have refused to cooperate in their investigation.
They rented an apartment in a gated community in Princeville on the northern tip of the island, just yards from a $1.7million home where Vallow had previously lived with former husband Charles Vallow, whose shooting death is now being investigated.
Minicola, general manager of the Kauai Beach Resort and Spa, told DailyMail.com that Vallow and Daybell checked into Room 2509 on January 11 paying $294 for one night. The fifth-floor king-bed room with mountain views was booked under the name Lori Ryan, her name when she was married to Tylee’s father.
They then booked another night last weekend, but this time cops were waiting for them.
‘Detectives came on to the property asking to see me confidentially,’ Minicola said.
‘They told me who they were looking for and said it was a big national case and other police departments would be arriving on Kauai in the next week or two.’
Minicola said he found the record of Lori Ryan’s stay – and then discovered his staff had taken a photograph of her Hawaii driver’s license, complete with an address that police knew nothing about.
‘They were very happy to see that they now had a different address to work with,’ he added.
That allowed cops to tail Vallow to the hotel on the outskirts of Lihue, the island’s administrative center, where they stopped her in the parking lot and served her with court papers instructing her to produce the children in Idaho.
Vallow failed to physically produce her missing children to authorities in Rexburg, Idaho, by 5pm Thursday and now faces arrest for missing her court ordered deadline as fears grow over the safety of the kids who have not been seen since September
Vallow and husband Daybell were pulled over by local police and had their vehicle taken from them while staying at resort on Sunday
The address on her license revealed Vallow had lived with her former husband in this 1.7million dollar home on the island of Kauai that was not previously known to authorities
But they could not arrest her at the time because of lack of proof of what has happened to the children and whether they are still alive.
Minicola said rumor on the island is that the children have been given to a Satanic cult – but he admitted that he had absolutely no idea whether that was true.
As Vallow missed her Thursday deadline in Idaho, JJ’s grandmother Kay Woodcock spoke to reporters at a press conference after traveling to Rexburg from her home in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
‘This is just beyond crazy,’ she said.
‘How do you not produce your child? And how can you not have them for four months? What kind of a mother does that?
‘The only word that is coming to my mind right now is a monster, as much as I loved Lori,’ Woodcock added. ‘She was a great mother as far as I knew for years, and all this has been very disheartening.’
Woodcock said she and her husband Larry had hoped against hope that Vallow would turn up with the children. ‘I am a lot less optimistic at this moment,’ she added.
‘We just aren’t accepting the worst-case scenario,’ she added. ‘I don’t think we ever will until we know 100%.
She accused her former sister-in-law of playing with her children’s lives. ‘Lori’s not going to make this easy. She’s got an end game in her head. Although this is not a game obviously she thinks it is.
‘To blow it off like ”I’m not going to deal with it,” that arrogant, smug attitude she had is what really let me know she is not going to do anything unless she is absolutely forced to do it.’
In a separate interview with ABC News, Larry Woodcock said: ‘Nothing with Lori right now makes sense,’ adding that the woman he’s known for 12 years ‘is not the same person that is here on earth today.’
‘We’re in this for the long haul,’ he added. ‘This is not going to end tomorrow. I’m not going to let it end. Kay is not going to let it end. Our family is not going to let this end.’
JJ, who is autistic, and Tylee were last seen in Rexburg on September 23 but were never reported missing by their mother.
Authorities began searching for the children after performing a welfare check on November 26 ordered by concerned relatives who said they hadn’t spoken to JJ in months.
When officers returned the following day, they found that Vallow and Daybell – who tied the knot early that month – had fled their apartment.
Authorities say the couple have repeatedly lied about where JJ and Tylee are and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
MISSING: Lori’s children Tylee Ryan (left) and Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow (right) have not been seen or heard from since September but cops only realized they were missing two days before Thanksgiving when they were asked to conduct a welfare check by relatives who had been unable to contact JJ since September
Kay and Larry Woodcock made a final desperate plea for the safe return of their grandson Joshua ‘J.J.’ Vallow hours before his mother, Lori Vallow, faced a deadline to physically produce the boy and his sister, Tylee Ryan, to authorities in Rexburg, Idaho
The newlyweds were labeled persons of interest as investigators said they believe the mother knows where her children are or what happened to them.
‘We strongly believe that Joshua and Tylee’s lives are in danger,’ Rexburg police said last month.
The case captured national attention with the revelations that police were also investigating a string of deaths surrounding the couple, who family members say are members of a dangerous doomsday cult.
The first death is that of Vallow’s estranged husband and JJ’s adoptive father Charles Vallow, who was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in Arizona on July 10.
Charles and Lori had gotten into an argument when the father came to pick up JJ at the mother’s home in Chandler.
Police initially determined that Cox acted in self-defense while intervening in an argument between Charles and Lori. But the case was reopened amid the multi-state search for JJ and Tylee, who had moved to Idaho with their mother a month after the shooting.
The second mysterious death was Tammy Daybell – Chad’s previous wife – who was found dead at the couple’s home in Salem, Idaho, on October 19.
She was originally believed to have died of natural causes, but her death is now being reinvestigated. Chad and Lori married just two weeks after Tammy passed.
Tammy’s body was exhumed on December 11 and autopsy results have not yet been released.
The following day, December 12, Lori’s brother, Alex Cox — who killed Charles Vallow — was found dead in Gilbert, Arizona. The 51-year-old’s death is now being probed as police wait for an autopsy to determine the cause.
Also under investigation is the case of Brandon Boudreaux who was married to Lori’s niece Melani, a follower of Daybell. He narrowly escaped when a gunman in a car registered to recently deceased Charles Vallow opened fire on him.
THE PLAYERS: A WHO’S WHO IN THE CASE OF MISSING IDAHO KIDS TYLEE AND JJ
Authorities began searching for the children after performing a welfare check on November 26 requested by concerned relatives who said they hadn’t spoken to JJ in months.
When officers returned the following day, they found that Lori and Chad – who tied the knot early that month – had fled from the home.
Lori and Chad were labeled persons of interest as investigators said they believe the mother knows where her children are or what happened to them.
‘We strongly believe that Joshua and Tylee’s lives are in danger,’ Rexburg police said last month.
As police worked to untangle the troubling mystery, Lori and Chad were sunning themselves in Hawaii, which Kay Woodcock said was Lori’s ‘favorite place on earth.’
Their whereabouts became public on Sunday when officers served them with search warrants for their car and the townhome.
A journalist who had received a tip, approached the couple in the parking lot after the police confrontation.
Lori and Chad stayed silent and kept walking as East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton, repeatedly asked them where the children are and if they are alive.
The mother only spoke once after Eaton said that people in eastern Idaho and across the country are praying for J.J. and Tylee.
‘That’s great,’ she replied.
An attorney for Vallow and Daybell said last month that they love their son and daughter and look forward to addressing ‘allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor.’
While police have been careful not to cast suspicions on Lori and Chad publicly, a troubling portrait of the pair has emerged from accounts from family members who claim they are members of a dangerous cult obsessed with the end of the world.
Chad Daybell is a prolific Mormon author who has written 25 books focusing on doomsday scenarios and near-death experiences. He is considered to be a ‘prepper’ — someone who is getting ready for the End of Times.