Tylee Ashlyn Ryan (September 24, 2002 – c. 2019) and Joshua "J. J." Vallow (May 25, 2012 – c. 2019) were two American children from Rexburg, Idaho, who were missing since September 2019 and subsequently found deceased on June 10, 2020. Tylee Ryan was last seen alive at Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019. J.J was last seen alive on September 23, 2019, at Rexburg's Kennedy Elementary School. Prompted by relatives concerned not only about the children they hadn't heard from in weeks, but also about other suspicious incidents, in November 2019 police questioned their mother, Lori Vallow, about the children's whereabouts and welfare.
Vallow and her new husband Chad Daybell told the police that J.J. was staying with family friend Melanie Gibbs in Arizona, from where they had moved in early September. When police reached Gibbs by phone, she told police that Joshua was not with her and had not been there for several months. More than a week later, Gibbs called police saying that both Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, had asked her to lie to police about J.J.'s whereabouts but she refused. Police efforts to locate J.J. led them to discover that his older sister Tylee Ryan was also missing.
Further complicating the children's disappearances and lack of cooperation from the mother was a string of suspicious deaths and a shooting. In July 2019, Vallow's estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot and killed in Phoenix, Arizona by Lori's brother, Alex Cox, allegedly in self-defense. Cox himself died of a blood clot in December 2019. In early-October 2019, Brandon Boudreaux, the then-estranged husband of Lori Vallow's niece, Melani Boudreaux, was shot at in the driveway of his Gilbert, Arizona home from a vehicle still registered to the deceased Charles Vallow. This shooting prompted Boudreaux to hire a private detective to investigate the suspicious incidents. Other private investigators hired by Boudreaux in Idaho noticed the children missing. Also in October 2019, Chad Daybell's wife, Tammy Daybell, was attacked in her driveway by what she believed was someone shooting a defective paintball gun. A few weeks later, on October 19, she died in her sleep from what was initially recorded as "natural causes". No post-mortem or autopsy was performed. After Chad and Lori married just two weeks after Tammy's death, law enforcement became suspicious and began investigating Tammy's cause of death.
On February 20, 2020, Lori Vallow Daybell was arrested in Kauai and charged with desertion and nonsupport of her dependent children. Vallow was extradited to Idaho and traveled there on Thursday, March 5, 2020. She appeared in court on Friday, March 6 where the judge reduced the bail from $5 million to $1 million, but as of May 2, 2020, Vallow remains in jail.
On June 9, 2020, police executed a search warrant at Chad Daybell’s home where they discovered human remains. Daybell was booked into jail later that day on destruction or concealment of evidence. On June 10, 2020, it was announced by both the Woodcock and Ryan families that the remains on Daybell's property were that of J. J. and Tylee. On June 13, 2020, authorities have publicly confirmed the remains have been identified as those of J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan
Chad Guy Daybell was born August 11, 1968, in Provo, Utah. He married Tamara "Tammy" Douglas (born 1969 or 1970) in Manti, Utah on March 9, 1990. After graduating from Brigham Young University in 1992 with a B.A. in journalism, Daybell worked as a cemetery sexton, before establishing end of days publisher Spring Creek Book Company, in 2004, with Douglas, a graphic artist and manager. Chad and Tammy had 5 children: Garth, Emma, Seth, Leah, and Mark.
In 2015, Chad Daybell allegedly twice heard a voice telling him to relocate to Rexburg, Idaho; he and Tammy moved there from Springville, Utah that June.
On October 9, 2019, Tammy Daybell was assaulted in her driveway by a masked man with an unloaded or defective paintball marker; the Fremont County sheriff's office did not find the perpetrator. Ten days later she was found dead, purportedly from natural causes; Chad Daybell claimed that she had retired the night before "with a terrible cough" and died in her sleep. No post-mortem or autopsy was performed at the time as Chad Daybell declined and the county coroner, Brenda Dye, did not overrule his decision. Two months later, Tammy Daybell's body was exhumed and autopsied but the results have not been made public. On June 9, 2020, police executed a search warrant at Chad Daybell’s home where they discovered human remains. Daybell was booked into jail later that day on obstruction or concealment of evidence. On June 10, 2020, Chad's bail was set at $1 million.
Another factor contributing to the mystery is Lori Vallow's and Chad Daybell's apparent obsession with certain "end of times" beliefs, about which Daybell has written a number of books, and together they have discussed in podcasts. Reportedly Vallow's niece, Melani Boudreaux, also shares these beliefs.
