“Cult mom” Lori Vallow is trying to get the grandparents of her slain son banned from her murder trial, in a move that the family members say has left them “blindsided and heartbroken”.
Ms Vallow’s trial is set to begin on Monday in a court in Idaho, where she faces life in prison for the murders of her two children Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, seven.
Tylee and JJ were last seen alive in September 2019 with their remains found buried on the grounds of her new husband doomsday cult author Chad Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho, in June 2020.
Ms Vallow is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and grand theft in connection with the deaths of JJ and Tylee and is also charged with conspiracy to murder Mr Daybell’s first wife Tammy Daybell.
The 49-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges in a dramatic case that has captured the attention of the nation for its deeply disturbing pattern of suspected murders, unexplained deaths and bizarre cult beliefs about killing zombies.
Mr Daybell is due to stand trial separately at a later date after the judge made a last-minute ruling last month to sever the two cases.
Now – after delays brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and Ms Vallow being admitted to a psychiatric facility for almost a year – jury selection is set to begin on Monday in her trial.
However, JJ’s grandparents Kay and Larry Woodcock may no longer be able to attend the roughly 12-week trial due to a motion filed by Ms Vallow’s defence attorneys seeking to ban them from the courtroom.
Last week, Judge Steven Boyce issued an order ruling that any witnesses in the case will be excluded from the trial – and from hearing other witness testimony – unless they are victims in the case.
Ms Vallow’s legal team is arguing that the grandparents do not fall under the legal definition of victims under Idaho law, and so should be excluded from the trial’s proceedings.
Prosecutors and the Woodcocks have argued that they do.
The Woodcocks said in a statement released by their attorney Shanon Gray that the attempt by Ms Vallow to exclude them from the trial was them being “victimised” by her once again.
“We appreciate the outpouring of love and support from all of you after yesterday’s hearing,” they said.
“We were completely blindsided and heartbroken at the argument made saying we are not JJ’s grandparents and should not be considered victims in this case.”
They added: “We continue to be victimised by Lori every single day living life without JJ, Tylee and Charles, then again by possibly denying us the chance to be the face in the courtroom seeking justice for them. We made a promise over 3 years ago to Tylee and JJ to see justice prevail. We will fight until we have exhausted all options to keep that promise.”
The judge is yet to issue a ruling on the matter after hearing arguments in court on Thursday.
JJ, who had autism, was Kay Woodcock’s biological grandson and she and her husband raised him for the first year of his life.
The boy was then adopted by Ms Vallow and her fourth husband Charles Vallow – Ms Woodcock’s brother – in 2014.
As part of the adoption agreement, the Woodcocks would still be present in JJ’s life.
Vallow was shot dead by Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox in July 2019.
It was ultimately the grandparents who raised the alarm about JJ’s disappearance, prompting a huge search to find the missing children.
JJ and Tylee were last seen alive in September 2019 – not long after Ms Vallow had moved the two children from Arizona to Idaho, allegedly to be close to Mr Daybell.
Chilling photos captured a smiling JJ, Tylee and Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox on a visit to Yellowstone National Park on 8 September.
The photo is now believed to be the last proof of life of 16-year-old Tylee.
After that day, she was never seen or heard from again.
Days later, on 22 September, JJ was also seen for the last time – at his school in Rexburg and by his mother’s friends at her apartment that night. By the next morning, the seven-year-old had also vanished.
Before their disappearance, Ms Vallow’s had reportedly told friends that her children were “zombies” and that the only way to free someone’s soul from evil spirits was to kill them.
JJ’s grandparents alerted authorities after they were unable to get in touch with their grandson but Ms Vallow refused to reveal where either of the children were.
In June 2020, JJ and Tylee’s remains were discovered buried in Mr Daybell’s backyard.
JJ’s body was found in a black plastic bag wrapped in duct tape while Tylee’s body had been dismembered and burned in a fire pit, before being buried in the pet cemetery.
The children’s disappearance and deaths brought to light a series of other mysterious deaths connected to the doomsday couple.
One month after the children were last seen alive – in October 2019 – Mr Daybell’s wife Tammy died suddenly in her sleep at the age of 49.
At the time, her death was ruled as “natural causes” and Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell flew to Hawaii to get married on a beach one month later.
It was only after the case involving the missing children picked up steam that investigators grew suspicious of Tammy’s death and exhumed her body, before bringing murder charges against the couple.
Prosecutors say that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with Cox to kill the three victims so as to further their doomsday cult beliefs and to collect the victims’ life insurance money and benefits.
The investigation into the death of Charles Vallow was also reopened.
At the time of Vallow’s death, Cox claimed Vallow attacked him with a baseball bat and it was ruled self-defence.
Yet he waited about 43 minutes to call 911 after the shooting and failed to perform CPR on Vallow.
In another bizarre twist to the case, Cox was then found dead by his stepson in December 2019.
Now, Ms Vallow is facing charges in Arizona of conspiring with Cox to murder Vallow.
An autopsy found he had a blood clot wedged in the arteries of his lungs and his death was ruled natural causes. However the overdose drug Narcan was also found in his system.
