A detective who searched for the missing children of ‘doomsday cult mom’ Lori Vallow discovered guns, knives and children’s toys scattered around her Idaho apartment hours after she allegedly fled for Hawaii with Chad Daybell, her murder trial has heard.
Detective Ray Hermosillo, of Rexburg Police Department, described in detail the chilling scene after police raided Vallow’s apartment in November 2019 during the search for her son, JJ Vallow, seven.
Police had obtained a warrant to search the home after a welfare check for JJ days earlier failed to locate the boy. Prosecutors allege JJ and his sister, Tylee Ryan, had already been murdered by the time the search took place.
Investigators found food in the fridge and dishes in the sink, ‘everything that looked like someone had lived there’, Hermosillo said. But ‘there were no clothes on the hangers.’
‘There were some toys on the front step, (they) appeared to be a little boy’s, scooters, toys, there was a little blue suitcase under the stairwell, there was also an old prescription (for) JJ Vallow. Aside from that, there was nothing else,’ said the detective.
‘There were several guns in the garage of [the apartment], several different army-type knives, several different empty magazines for various weapons. There was things of that nature in the garage that caught our eye.’
Detective Ray Hermosillo, pictured arriving at the courthouse on April 10, 2023, was part of the team who found JJ and Tylee’s burnt bodies on Chad Daybell’s property
Lori Vallow, pictured, allegedly killed her children after believing her children were ‘zombies’
The ‘doomsday cult’ mom allegedly murdered her children after believing the second coming of Christ was imminent and her children were ‘zombies’.
The 49-year-old is also accused of conspiracy to murder her husband Chad Daybell’s ex-wife Tammy, 49. Daybell – who will also face a separate trial over the killings – was a doomsday ‘prepper’ who forged a reputation through books and talks about the end of the world. They deny the murders.
When her trial began Monday, Vallow sat emotionless while tragic photos were shown to the jury of the gruesome scene detectives found at the Salem, Idaho property in June 2020.
But on the second day of her case, the ‘cult mom’ was in good spirits, laughing and chatting with her defense attorneys, John Thomas and Jim Archibald, as proceedings got underway.
She walked in wearing a pink blouse and navy pants, and her leg shackles were bolted to the floor as she sat down so she could not leave the table.
Hermosillo, a 22-year veteran of the force, recounted harrowing details over the case that shocked the nation
Lori Vallow, right, pictured with her daughter Tylee
The ‘doomsday cult mom’, pictured August 2022 outside Fremont County Courthouse in Idaho, fled to Hawaii hours before detectives issued a search warrant on her home
Lori Vallow, 49, had been due to stand trial alongside her husband Chad Daybell, 54, but their cases were separated earlier this month
Hermosillo, the third witness in the case, told the court that a search warrant was obtained on the property following a disturbing welfare check on the family’s apartment.
He recounted that during the search, on November 26, law enforcement discovered dishes in the sink and food in the kitchen that indicated that somebody had lived there.
Hermosillo said there were ‘red flags’ raised during his conversations with Daybell and Alex Cox, Vallow’s brother.
The pair refused to answer questions about JJ and instead both ‘looked at each other’ blankly, Hermosillo said. Cops were also unable to find Vallow.
‘I raised some red flags just based on the way they acted with that question,’ he added. ‘I then again asked Alex if he knew where JJ was at, and he stated that JJ was with Kay Woodcock in Louisiana.’
Detectives say the claim set off alarm bells, as they knew it to be false because it was Kay Woodcock’s concerns that triggered the welfare check.
Daybell also denied that he was close to Vallow – even though the couple married weeks earlier.
‘(Daybell) said he felt like I was accusing him of something,’ Hermosillo said, adding that he was suspicious of Daybell and Cox ‘based on the deception and the way they looked at each other – their evasive answers and their lies.’
After finding guns, army type knives and empty firearm magazines inside the Salem, Idaho apartment, the discovery of a rental agreement for a storage unit led to developments in their investigation.
There, they found ‘a personalized blanket with photographs of JJ and Tylee, Colby Ryan (Vallow’s other son), the defendant Vallow. Family photographs they had sewn onto a blanket.’
The cult mom was seen taking notes as Hermosillo was shown a series of images while on the stand, including photographs from inside her garage and a bathtub filled with ammunition.
The cult mom was later caught leaving the storage unit filled with her children’s possessions before fleeing Idaho for Hawaii, where they quickly married.
Despite her two children being reported missing at the time, images from the wedding show her elatedly celebrating her wedding day on the beach with Daybell.
Both Vallow and Daybell were later located in Hawaii in January 2020. She was served with a court order to produce JJ and Tylee but failed to do so, and she was arrested in February 2020 on charges of child abandonment and desertion. The murder charges were brought after the bodies were found.
Vallow is accused of killing her kids, seven-year-old Joshua (JJ), left, and 16-year-old Tylee, right
The ‘charred remains’ of Tylee Ryan, 16, and JJ Vallow, seven, were found at the couple’s home in Salem, Idaho. Pictured: Investigators searching the property on June 9, 2020
At the start of the cult mom’s murder trial in Boise, Idaho on Monday, the court was shown harrowing pictures of the scene where the remains of Vallow’s two children – Tylee Ryan, 16, and JJ Vallow, seven – were found in Salem, Idaho.
All that was left of Tylee was ‘a mass of bone and tissue’, the court was told. ‘That’s what was left of this beautiful young woman, the defendant’s daughter,’ Fremont country prosecutor Lindsey Blake told the jury.
JJ’s body was found in garbage bags with duct tape around him, including around his head. Jurors heard the bodies were found after Vallow referred to her children as ‘dark’ and ‘possessed’.
Blake argued that the gruesome crime was carried out by Vallow after she became motivated by ‘money, power and sex’ to kill JJ, Tylee, and Daybell’s husband’s ex-wife, Tammy Daybell.
‘Lori Vallow Daybell used money, power and sex – or the promise of those things – to get what she wanted. What she wanted was money, power and sex,’ Blake said. ‘It didn’t matter what obstacles she had to remove to get what she wanted.’
Blake said Tylee was a ‘vibrant young woman’ with her ‘whole life ahead of her’. ‘She was just about to enter into adulthood and make her own way in the world,’ Blake said.
She said Tylee would receive social security payments following the death of her father. ‘Tylee had money. Lori wanted it and because of that, Tylee is gone.’
She said JJ was a ‘vibrant, happy-go-lucky’. But caring for JJ, who had autism, required ‘time, effort and energy’.
Caring for JJ ‘took away from the defendant doing what she wanted to do – devoting her time to Chad Daybell,’ said Blake.
After they vanished, Vallow continued to collect benefits to ‘fund her lifestyle’.
Meanwhile, there were ‘no known actions’ by Vallow to find her children. Instead she posed as a ‘likable, energetic’ mom to convince people nothing was wrong.
Daybell and Vallow believed they could rate people ‘light or dark’ and getting ‘rid’ of evil spirits from dark people, jurors heard. They were convinced the second coming of Christ was imminent and only 144,000 people could be saved.
Prosecutors allege that Vallow and Daybell were religious fanatics who used their faith to ‘justify’ their actions, with Blake adding: ‘What she did on earth no longer counted for her.’
