'certain they're alive'
THE missing children of Lori Vallow are alive, according to the cult mom's family.
Those same family members would not reveal why Vallow has chosen to remain behind bars rather than inform officials of the whereabouts of daughter Tylee Ryan, 17, and her 7-year-old son JJ.
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In an interview that ran on CBS This Morning, Vallow's mother Janice Cox and sister Summer Shiflet said that they were certain the children were alive.
They would not however reveal where JJ and Tylee were, or give a clear explanation as to why Vallow, 46, felt the need to hide the two.
"We know there's another whole side to this," said Vallow's mother in an interview that will air in full on 48 Hours later this week.
"We don't know what it is, but we know her."
When pressed however, Janice could only say that she spoke to JJ on October 1, a conversation that she could not provide proof of in the form of a phone bill.
When the two were asked where the children might be, they said: "That's a great question."
Cox's daughter is currently behind bars for her failure to produce the children to officials back in January.
Vallow instead chose to publicly flout that order while out and about in Hawaii with her fifth husband, Chad Daybell.
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Confirmation that her children were alive would have served her well last Friday when she appeared in court for a bail reduction hearing.
Prosecutors stated ahead of the proceedings that a reduction should not be considered unless Vallow produced the children.
In the end, her request was denied by the judge.
Vallow was arrested in February, months after she and fifth husband Chad Daybell said "I do" in Hawaii.
She has since been charged with two counts of desertion and nonsupport of her children, one misdemeanor count for each child of resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime and contempt.
Officials are still unsure as to the whereabouts of Tylee and JJ, who have been missing since September.
Their mother appears to find the situation amusing, smiling her way through court appearances.
She is currently being held in jail until her trial because she has not posted bail, which started at $5million after her arrest in Hawaii and was reduced to $1million once she returned to Idaho.
Vallow was hoping to get it down to $50,000.
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Vallow's defense filed paperwork earlier this week suggesting that officers had recorded their client speaking with her lawyer on multiple occasions.
Police then admitted that two conversations had in fact been recorded, but claimed that the situation had been immediately addressed.
Lt. Ron Ball of the Rexburg Police Department admitted in a court filing that he was recording Vallow when he became "concerned that this conversation was between the defendant and her attorney."
At that point he halted the recording and stopped listening in on the conversation.
"Very soon after hearing the phone call I discussed it with Special Agent Ricky Wright of the FBI and concluded that I should call the jail," wrote Lt Ball.
"I called the jail and spoke with Lt. Jared Willmore and informed him that call between the defendant and her attorney had been recorded.
Vallow and her lawyer Mark Means made it seem like this was a far more frequent occurrence, a claim prosecutors shot down while stating that the defense "has made the following material assertions which are demonstrably false."
Prosecutors did not hold back in their filing.
On Thursday, the prosecuting attorney for Madison County filed his Second Objection to Defendant's Declared Motion for Bond Reduction.
Attorney Rob H Wood laid out the state's case against the defendant in the eight-page filing, and closed out the brief with a summary of the case.
- Due to the fact that Defendant’s sworn Declaration in Support of Defendant’s Amended Motion for Bond Reduction omits material and relevant facts, makes false assertions, fails to articulate standard by Which relief should be granted and fails to articulate any substantial prejudice, the State again respectfully requests that the Court deny the Defendant’s motion for bond reduction. The State again encourages the Court to require the Defendant to comply with the court order to produce her children as condition of any further bail reduction.
The demand to produce her children came a month after it was revealed that Vallow thought the two youngsters might be "zombies."
That is according to court filing from Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of the cult mom's niece Melani.
The filing also claims that Vallow believed her kids "needed to die."
Those troubling claims were uncovered after Boudreaux claimed to have obtained a detailed affidavit written by his ex-wife Melani's new husband Ian Pawlowski.
In this new document, Ian details everything he claims to have learned about the religious group Lori was running and information his wife Melani had told him over the course of their relationship.
The most shocking of those revelations had to do with Lori's children.
"Melani had been told by Chad and Lori that her children had been possessed and had become zombies," according to the document, which the East Idaho news claims was written by Ian.
"She shared concerns that she’s been told Brandon needed to die and that may indicate that Tylee and JJ needed to die as well," the court filing reads.
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The talk then allegedly got far darker according to the document.
"She told me she was worried that [Lori's brother Alex] may have had to 'take care' of the kids. She explained that [her brother] had great faith and never wavered in his trust in the Lord. No task would be too difficult or great for him."
Ian shared most of this with police but still maintained his relationship with Melani, whom he believes played no role in any sinister plots based on conversations the two had over the past year.