The world was captivated by the gripping case of two missing children, JJ Vallow (born March 25, 2012) and his older step-sister Tylee Ryan (born September 24, 2002). The two half-siblings vanished from their residence in Rexburg, Idaho. Investigation Destination, the largest true-crime network, launched a first-of-its-kind venture to investigate the case to its depth.
‘Doomsday: The Missing Children’, a three part-event from the network which premiered on December 20, 2020, follows JJ’s grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock on their journey to find out what happened to their beloved grandchild JJ Vallows and his step-sister Tylee Ryan. The three-hour event portrays the baffling case through a plethora of evidence and the events that led up to the arrest of Lori Vallow, the mother of these unfortunate children. We tried to keep up with the case with a little investigation of our own.
How Did JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan Die?
Tylee Ashlyn Ryan and Joshua Jaxon ‘JJ’ Vallow went missing in September 2019. Their deceased remains were retrieved in June 2020 from the backyard of their mother Lori Vallow’s new husband Chad Daybell. While the exact causes of their deaths remain uncertain, Tylee’s remains were found charred, which implied that her body had been dismembered and burnt before being buried under the corpses of a cat and a dog in the area that was termed as ‘pet cemetery’. On June 10, 2020, the confirmation that the remains belonged to the missing children came from the Woodcock and Ryan families. The Rexburg Police Department further strengthened the confirmation with their own statement on June 13, 2020.
The children were discovered in the Daybell backyard as a consequence of a complex 6-month long investigation which uncovered a repugnant tale riddled with several other unexplained and unusual deaths characterized by the alleged driving forces of murder, greed, and religious fanaticism. Tylee was last seen alive at Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019, on a trip with her mother, her step-brother, and her mother’s brother, Alex Cox. Tyler was described to be JJ’s protector and loved him a lot. JJ was last seen at Rexburg’s Kennedy Elementary School on September 23, 2019. On being inquired by the police after her children, Lori and her new husband lied to the authorities about their whereabouts. Later Lori was arrested on the charges of child abandonment.
Who Killed JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan?
The children’s disappearance was first noticed by JJ’s grandmother, Kay Woodcock. Every time Woodcock called Lori and her new husband, Chad Daybell’s residence to ask about her grandson, she would be given numerous excuses as to where JJ was. The couple had previously also said that Tylee had died in 2017. After having heard enough excuses, Woodcock finally reached the police.
On November 26, 2019, two months after JJ was last seen, the Rexburg Police arrived at Lori’s house to inquire after the boy. She falsely told the officers that JJ was in Arizona with her friend, Melanie Gibb. Later Gibb revealed that in a call, Lori had asked her to pick up her phone and take pictures of random children running around and “to make it look like it was JJ.” Furthermore, according to what Lori had told Gibb, she was hiding JJ because she thought his grandmother was trying to kidnap him. In a recording of a phone call between Lori and Gibb, Lori is heard assuring Gibb that JJ was “perfectly fine.” After the recording was handed over to the authorities, people started noticing that both Tylee and JJ were missing.
However, neither Lori nor Chad seemed to be bothered about it and took off to Hawaii to enjoy a vacation. On January 25, 2020, Lori was served an order which included a five days’ notice for her to produce both her children. The order was ignored and Lori was arrested on the island of Kauai on children abandonment charges, following which, Lori was extradited to Rexburg, Idaho while Chad Daybell returned home. He was also soon arrested in connection with the disappearances on June 9, 2020. Lori and Chad Daybell were charged with the same crime: conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration, or concealment of evidence. However, none of them have yet been convicted for the murder of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow.
Read More: Where Is Lori Vallow Daybell Now?