Doomsday cult mother is refusing to help police find her missing children

A mother who spent ‘all her time’ with a doomsday cult before her son and daughter vanished is now refusing to help police find them.

Authorities have been searching for 46-year-old Lori Vallow’s children, Joshua Vallow, 7, and Taylee Ryan, 17, since November after police in Rexburg, Idaho attempted to conduct a welfare check on Joshua, who is adopted and has autism.

Vallow’s relatives called police when they had not heard from Joshua and became concerned. They also said Lori, who was once a ‘wonderful, loving, attentive mother,’ changed after she became involved with ‘Preparing a People,’ a group whose mission is to help prepare Earth for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which Vallow’s family called a ‘cult.’

This week, Idaho police said they ‘strongly believe’ the missing siblings are in danger. They also blasted Vallow for leaving the state with her new husband, Latter-day Saint and doomsday author Chad Daybell, instead of cooperating with the investigation.

‘We publicly call on Lori Vallow/Daybell and Chad Daybell to do the right thing and come forward with the information they have about the location and welfare of Joshua and Tylee. This entire investigation could have been avoided if Lori and Chad had simply been honest with law enforcement,’ Rexburg police said on Monday.

‘It is astonishing that rather than work with law enforcement to help us locate her own children, Lori Vallow has chosen instead to leave the state with her new husband,’ the statement continued.

Until 2018, Vallow had been married to Charles Vallow, who she ‘deserted’ for more than two months this year after she became involved with the alleged cult, Charles’ sister, Kay Vallow Woodcock said. 

‘Charles did his best to save the marriage, of which she had no interest,’ Woodcock said.

On July 11, Charles went to Lori’s home to pick up Joshua and take him to school – but Lori’s brother, Alexander Cox, shot and killed Charles during a domestic disturbance that remains under investigation. Cox claimed he acted in self defense and was never charged.

Three months after Charles Vallow was killed, Daybell’s wife, Tammy, died at the age of 49. Daybell refused to order an autopsy and the coroner listed the cause of death as ‘natural,’ but investigators have since exhumed her body for testing, NBC reported. 

Then, on December 12, Cox died of unknown causes, leaving no other witnesses to Charles Vallow’s death other than the Joshua and Taylee- who were last seen in September.

Daybell and Vallow got married weeks after Tammy Daybell died. According to police, the new couple has repeatedly lied to witnesses and investigators about the missing children, telling a family friend that Joshua was in Arizona with a family friend.

The couple also lied to witnesses that Taylee had died a year before her father died, police said. Chad also reportedly told a witness that Lori had no children.

Police said: ‘We know that the children are not with Lori and Chad Daybell and we also have information indicating that Lori knows either the location of the children or what has happened to them. Despite having this knowledge, she has refused to work with law enforcement to help us resolve this matter.’

Last week, a lawyer hired by Daybell and Vallow insisted the couple did nothing wrong.

Attorney Sean Bartholick said: ‘Chad Daybell was a loving husband and has the support of his children in this matter. Lori (Vallow) Daybell is a devoted mother and resents assertions to the contrary. We look forward to addressing the allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor.’

In early December, police said they believed Joshua and Taylee’s deaths are connected to the investigation into Daybell’s first wife’s death, which occurred approximately a month before the children were last seen.

Woodcock wrote on Facebook: ‘Help us shed light on this. Someone out there knows something but doesn’t know how all the pieces fit together. Help me connect them with the police so we can bring justice to my brother and the other victims.’