Lori Vallow, the Idaho “cult” mom whose two children haven’t been seen for months, was arrested on Thursday in Lihu’e, Hawaii, the Kaua’i Police Department said.
Vallow was arrested on a warrant issued by Madison County, Idaho, where the Rexburg Police Department is investigating the disappearance of the children. Vallow is being held on a $5 million bond.
Seven-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan were last seen in September, and Vallow and her husband have not been cooperating with the police investigation into their disappearance.
Earlier this month, Rexburg police found items belonging to children in a storage unit rented by Vallow a week after the kids were last seen, as CrimeOnline reported. She stopped making payments on the unit in January.
Kaua’i police said the Rexburg department asked for their help in December after Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, left Idaho during their investigation. Police served Vallow on January 25 with an Idaho order to present the children to authorities in Madison County on January 30, which she failed to do.
The warrant for her arrest charges her with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, Kaua’i police said. She has also been charged with resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime, and contempt of court.
Kaua’i police said the next step is a court hearing in which Vallow can waive or fight her extradition to Idaho.
Vallow and Daybell married last fall, shortly after Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell, died in October. Vallow’s husband, Charles, was shot to death by her brother last summer, and her brother died under mysterious circumstances in December. Officials are giving all these deaths a second look, as CrimeOnline has previously reported.
Daybell is a high-profile member of an end-days religious group Preparing with People, a group that includes members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and anticipates the second coming of Jesus. He is an author of religious texts and the host of a podcast.
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[Featured image: JJ Vallow, Tylee Ryan, Chad Daybell, Lori Vallow/Rexburg police]