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Lori Vallow: Mother of missing children seen in video leaving their belongings in storage before fleeing to Hawaii

Private investigator asks 'If they had expected the kids to be coming home soon, why would that stuff be in a storage?'

Chris Riotta
New York
Thursday 06 February 2020 19:01 GMT
Police looking for missing children are studying CCTV of their mother repeatedly visiting storage unit

New video from an Idaho storage company has raised questions about the disappearance of two missing children after their mother was found with her new husband in Hawaii, following a string of mysterious deaths.

The video, released by Self Storage Plus in Rexburg, Idaho, shows the mother, Lori Vallow, entering the storage facilities on multiple occasions after signing a rental agreement in October of last year.

She appears to visit the storage site on numerous occasions with her late brother, Alex Cox. The two were moving items like bikes, backpacks, photos and gun cases into and out of the unit, according to East Idaho News.

Many of the items brought to the storage unit during those nine visits belonged to her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan.

Ms Vallow failed to comply with a court order demanding she produce the two children, who have been missing since September. She reportedly fled to Hawaii from Idaho in November following a welfare check on the children at her house.

The mother was reportedly discovered in Hawaii with her husband, Chad Daybell. Both of the pair’s former spouses have died in what police described as suspicious circumstances, CBS News reported.

Ms Vallow’s brother believed to be seen in the video from the storage facilities, Mr Cox, also passed away in recent months under mysterious circumstances.

Rich Robertson, a private investigator working with the grandparents of the missing children, told CBS News it was “disturbing to see that it was the children's belongings that were in that storage unit” after reports of the storage facility video emerged.

"If they had expected the kids to be coming home soon, why would that stuff be in a storage?” he asked. “On the other hand, if they didn't think the kids were ever coming back, why keep it?"

Officials said it did not appear the children had made it to Hawaii with Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell, neither of whom have been arrested. The complicated web of deaths surrounding the pair remain under investigation. Police have also said they are assessing the video from the storage facility and working with the company, which has been cooperating throughout the investigation.

Ms Vallow’s late ex-husband filed for divorce last February, saying his former spouse claimed to be “a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020”. Mr Daybell meanwhile has written books claiming to have faced near-death experiences which provides him the ability to see into the future.

The court documents also stated that Ms Vallow warned her husband she had “an angel there to help her dispose of the body” if he attempted to stop her.

Brandon Boudreaux, a member of the family who was shot by an unknown suspect, told USA Today he believed the deaths and his shooting were linked to a religious organisation suspected of being a cult. Ms Vallow reportedly joined the group nearly 18 months ago.

“I just don’t know how people can get so wrapped up that they can end up in this space where these people are,” he said. “It’s just so radical, so different.”

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