The son of Charles Vallow, Lori Vallow’s former husband who died in July, has spoken out about the odd circumstances surrounding his father’s death and Lori’s behavior in the aftermath.

One of Vallow’s sons, who did not want to use his real name, spoke to East Idaho News about Charles Vallow’s death and his fears about what may have happened to Lori Vallow’s children: Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, have not been seen since September. “Steve,” as he is described in the article, said he had not seen or heard from JJ since April, although he was once very close to his half-brother.

Steve told East Idaho News that Vallow waited more than a day to tell Charles’s sons that his father had died, sending a text message 36 hours after he was shot and killed on July 11.

“I was texting him and I remember calling him a couple times the morning he had gotten shot, and he didn’t respond. It was really weird. He usually returns calls and texts relatively fast, so something was off,” Steve told the news outlet.

He also said that Lori Vallow was vague about the circumstances of his father’s death and refused to answer questions on a text message thread. Eventually, Steve said he asked Lori to send him his father’s watches, and Lori agreed. But what arrived were “two cheap Timex watches you’d find at CVS,” nothing from his father’s collection of “very fancy” watches, Steve said.

“Anything that was worth money, we didn’t get. I’m assuming she sold everything else.”

Steve told the news outlet that Vallow refused to provide information about his father’s memorial service or where his body was. Steve and his brother were able to track down the mortuary where their father’s body was being held, and he described a strange encounter there.

“[The funeral director] was very shaky and nervous. We asked him for information and he said something like, ‘I can’t tell you that. It was requested that I tell you nothing.'”

Steve also said that Lori Vallow did not attend the memorial service, and that Lori refused to allow JJ to attend, despite the wishes of his other relatives.

“I loved to hang out and play with him and watch movies and run around. He would call me all the time – something like 15 to 20 times a day – and then it dropped to two to three times a day, and then it just stopped,” Steve told East Idaho News.

“I figured maybe he’s going to school or something like that. I never thought anything bad was going to happen to him or Tylee.”

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Lori Vallow’s brother Alex Cox told police that he had fatally shot Charles Vallow at home in Chandler, Arizona, claiming self-defense after Charles Vallow allegedly threatened him with a bat. Alex Cox died suddenly in December, and police have not revealed his cause of death.

Steve says he doesn’t buy the self-defense claim.

“I don’t believe any of it. My dad was never verbally aggressive, never raised his voice, never physically threatened anyone or anything like that,” Steve reportedly said. “He was very good at baseball. He played in college, so if he was going to defend himself, he wouldn’t just tap an aluminum bat on someone’s head on self-defense. The entire story just doesn’t make any sense.”

Steve also indicated that he was fearful of Alex Cox, and implied that he believes Alex’s death may have been the result of foul play.

“I was much more worried when Alex was alive about my safety. But then we didn’t know if we should feel more or less safe,” Steve told the news outlet.

“I don’t know what happened to him, but I have a lot of ideas and if they’re possibly willing to take out their own, I have to assume the worst.”

Relatives have said they believe Vallow and her new husband Chad Daybell are involved in a so-called end-days cult, but Steve did not address this concern in the published interview.

Lori Vallow was arrested in Hawaii last week on child abandonment charges and will soon be extradited to Idaho where she will reportedly be taken to the Madison County Jail.

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