On Thursday, a college official testified that Tylee Ryan never applied to the college or attended the school — despite Lori Vallow Daybell, her mother, claiming she was there at the time of her 2019 disappearance.
Wynn Hill, the Dean of Students at Brigham Young University-Idaho, stated that police had him search the student management system for several variations of Ryan’s name, including Tylee Cox and Tylee Vallow, and it returned nothing. The search was conducted in February 2020, months after Ryan disappeared with her brother, J.J. Vallow, 7, according to the East Idaho News.
Nearly two months after Ryan’s disappearance, Vallow Daybell allegedly told Rexburg police that she was at college while her son was with relatives in Arizona.
J.J. and Ryan were missing for nine months before they were found buried on Chad Daybell’s property in June 2020. Daybell is Vallow Daybell’s fifth husband.
Prosecutors said Tylee was dismembered and burned; her remains were located near a burn pit, while J.J. was in a plastic bag wrapped in plastic. His face, arms, wrists, and feet were wrapped with duct tape.
Vallow Daybell said she was with Melanie Gibb, David Warwick, or her husband when her son and daughter died in her brother’s apartment in Rexburg, Idaho. Vallow Daybell allegedly said she was at her residence, also in Rexburg.
Vallow Daybell claimed she was in Hawaii when Tammy Daybell was killed at her husband’s home in Salem, Idaho. Vallow Daybell stated she was with two other people at the time.
Vallow Daybell — who is believed to have been involved in a so-called doomsday cult — allegedly told a friend that her children had become zombies and the only way to exorcise their bodies of evil spirits was to kill them.
Vallow Daybell is currently on trial in Idaho for killing her two children and Tammy Daybell, who is Chad Daybell’s first wife. Chad is facing the same charges but will stand trial separately.
In addition to the three slayings, Vallow Daybell is charged in Arizona with conspiring the shooting death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.
Charles was fatally shot by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, in 2019, months before J.J. and Ryan vanished. Cox died, reportedly of natural causes, later that year.
Vallow Daybell underwent psychiatric treatment twice before she was deemed fit to stand trial in Idaho. She is not facing the death penalty. Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom per a court order.
The trial continues.
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[Featured image: Tylee Ryan and Lori Vallow/Chandler Police Department]
