Newly released bodycam footage shows the moment 'cult mom' Lori Vallow smirked at Hawaii cops as they issued a search warrant a mo...
Newly released bodycam footage shows the moment 'cult mom' Lori Vallow smirked at Hawaii cops as they issued a search warrant a month before her arrest and five months before her children's bodies were found on her husband's property.
The video was taken on January 26, a day after Lori, 47, was served with a court order in Idaho to produce her missing kids, Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 16, who were last seen in 2019.
Cops found items belonging to the children but no evidence they were with Lori and her new husband Chad Daybell, 51, in Hawaii.
As she was detained, Lori didn't say much to officers but shrugs and smirks her responses.
'Cult mom' Lori Vallow smirks at Hawaii cops as they issued a search warrant on January 26, five months before her children's bodies were found on her husband's property
Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, seven, disappeared in September 2019 but were never reported missing by their mother or Chad, whom Lori married in early November
Investigators are seen recovering the remains of Tylee and JJ from the backyard of Chad's home in Salem, Idaho, on June 9. Nobody has been charged with their deaths
Authorities began searching for the children in November 2019, sparking an investigation that revealed a complicated timeline involving the deaths of both Lori and Chad's former spouses and rumors of a doomsday cult.
Lori and Chad married in Kauai, Hawaii, in November just days before concerned relatives asked police to carry out a welfare check on JJ.
It emerged that nobody had seen him or Tylee in weeks and when cops carried out a search warrant on Lori's home in Rexburg, they discovered she and Chad had fled Idaho.
The video on January 26 was the first time the couple was seen in months as police issued them with two search warrants.
Lori was also served with a court order to produce the children to authorities in Idaho in five days.
According to Fox 10, the couple had spent the morning on the beach before being stopped by officers at the Kauai Beach Resort in the Black Ford Explorer they had rented.
At this time, it was not known that Lori's children were already dead.
Cop cars are shown driving up behind their vehicle in a parking lot to block access and officers walk out to surround the car.
'Advise them that we have a search warrant, and don't let them use any communications,' an officer states.
'Step off,' said an officer. 'We have a search warrant for you guys, your car, your belongings.'
Lori simply shrugs as she is told by Hawaii officers in January they have a search warrant
She says little to the officers as they make her stand away from her rented car for the search
Lori was detained but it was another month before her arrest on child abandonment charges
Lori steps out of the car and stands by its door as she's issued with the warrant, but simply shrugs and looks unconcerned.
She is then led away from the car as an officer stands by her side and the car is searched.
Officers say they discovered JJ and Tylee's birth certificates, a bank card issued to Tylee, JJ's iPad, and a second iPad logged into his account, and JJ's school registration receipts from Rexburg, Idaho.
There were no signs that the children accompanied Lori and and Chad in Hawaii.
Lori is then taken to a cop car to be detained as she puts on her sunglasses and continues to read through the search warrant.
It would not be until February 20, however, that Lori was arrested on child abandonment charges.
Chad was arrested on June 9, the same day JJ and Tylee's bodies were discovered on his Salem, Idaho, property.
At the time of the video, the fate of her children was not known. Their bodies were discovered on June 9 at Chad Daybell's residence in Salem, Idaho, pictured above
Investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell's residence on June 9
Lori is charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence, as well as three misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing officers, solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court.
She is set to appear at an arraignment on September 10.
Chad pleaded not guilty last week to the same two felony counts, and previously pleaded not guilty to two other felony counts for destruction or concealment of evidence.
His attorney filed a motion last week for all of the charges against him to be dismissed because there is no evidence to support them.
The attorney said that the claims against Chad are 'vague and broad' and argued that the defendant's constitutional rights are being violated because he can not be 'fairly notified and apprised of when, how and what he is accused of doing'.
Judge Boyce has not yet responded to the motion.
Both defendants are set to face trial in January 2021.
This week, Idaho prosecutors asked a judge to combine the cases against Lori and Chad which experts say could help lead to conviction.
Madison County Special Prosecutor Rob Wood and the state of Idaho made the request in a motion on Tuesday, arguing that the cases should be joined because both defendants are facing charges for conspiring to hide the remains of the children.
Idaho prosecutors have asked a judge to combine the cases against Chad Daybell (left) and Lori Vallow (right) so they can be tried together in a move that could help lead to a conviction. In a motion filed Tuesday, they argued that the cases should be joined because both Chad and Lori are facing charges for conspiring to hide the remains of her children
The latest developments in the case came just days before the anniversary of Lori's daughter.
Tylee vanished on September 8, 2019, just days before her 17th birthday. Investigators said her body was burned and dismembered before being buried sometime the following day.
JJ was last seen two weeks later on September 23. His body was wrapped in duct tape and plastic and buried the same day, investigators said.
Authorities believe Lori's now-deceased brother Alex Cox brought the children's bodies to Chad's home to bury them.
He was found unresponsive in a bathroom in Arizona on December 12 and died .
Months later, an autopsy determined that he died of natural causes while he had the overdose drug Narcan in his system.
Neither Chad nor Lori have been accused of harming Tylee and JJ. Authorities have yet to say how the children died, or whether homicide charges will be filed in the future.
The story captured nationwide attention with the revelations that police were also investigating at least three suspicious deaths linked to Lori and Chad, as well as relatives' claims that the couple are members of a dangerous doomsday cult.
Lori and Chad went on the run the day after police began searching for the children and reopened an investigation into the death of Chad's first wife Tammy Daybell, who died on October 19, 2019.
The case on Lori's previous husband Charles Vallow, 52, was also reopened after the children went missing.
He was killed by Alex Cox in Arizona on July 10, 2019, after an altercation. Police initially rule that Alex acted in self defense.
However, Charles had been seeking a divorce at the time, saying Lori believed she had become a god-like figure who was responsible for ushering in the biblical end times.
In August, investigators in Arizona revealed they believe they could charge Lori in relation to Charles' death in 'four to six months'.
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