Grisly new twist after missing children's remains found

A mother with ‘doomsday’ beliefs charged in connection to her children’s death has been slammed with additional charges in a case which has captured the world’s attention.

In September last year, Lori Vallow Daybell’s children, Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, seven, disappeared. Their bodies were discovered in June this year in Idaho.

The new felony charges against Ms Vallow Daybell came late Monday, the latest twist in a case tied to the mysterious deaths of the couple’s former spouses and their beliefs about zombies and the apocalypse that may have affected their actions.

Now, Ms Vallow Daybell has been hit with two counts of conspiring to destroy, alter or conceal evidence of her children’s buried bodies.

CNN reported a complaint filed on Monday showed Ms Vallow provided authorities with false information about her children’s whereabouts.

Her husband, Chad Daybell, was charged this month with concealing evidence by destroying or hiding the children’s bodies. He’s pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors are using the same behaviour alleged in Ms Vallow Daybell’s older charges to support the conspiracy charge, saying she aided Chad Daybell’s efforts to hide the bodies by asking her friend to lie to police about JJ’s whereabouts and lying to police herself when she told them JJ was in Arizona and Tylee was attending college.

Ms Vallow Daybell is already charged with abandoning or deserting the children, but because police found their remains buried in her husband’s yard, it’s not clear if those allegations will stand.

Authorities have not divulged how the children died or who caused their deaths.

The remains of the two children were found when authorities tracked Ms Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, using data from his mobile phone.

Mr Cox died in December last year of an apparent blood clot in his lung at his home in Arizona, new court documents filed in Ms Vallow Daybell’s case show. Rexburg Police stated Cox was involved in hiding the children’s remains, by taking JJ to Mr Daybell’s property the day he was buried.

Mr Cox reportedly told police he was visiting his grandmother in Louisiana. His death came five months after he fatally shot his sister’s estranged husband, Charles Vallow, in what he said was self-defence.

The case has garnered international attention due to the bizarre beliefs allegedly held by Ms Vallow Daybell and Mr Daybell.

Ms Vallow Daybell moved to Rexburg, Idaho and married Mr Daybell just two weeks after his wife Tammy died.

The couple believed in dark spirits or ‘zombies’ which would possess people, according to documents.

In 2019 on different occasions, Ms Vallow Daybell reportedly told her friend both JJ and Tylee had become zombies. Her friend said the couple believed the only way to rid a person of a dark spirit was to kill them, so the person could rest in the afterlife.

Mr Daybell ran a small publishing company, putting out many fiction books he wrote about apocalyptic scenarios loosely based on the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He also recorded podcasts about preparing for the apocalypse, and friends said he claimed to be able to receive visions from “beyond the veil”.

In addition to the couple’s bizarre beliefs, Tammy Daybell’s obituary reportedly said she died of natural causes, however local police became suspicious when Mr Daybell quickly remarried.

Ms Daybell’s body was exhumed in December last year, however the autopsy results have not been released.

With Associated Press

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