Doomsday Mom Drops Fight to Stay in Hawaii, Will Return to Idaho to Face Charges

Doomsday mom Lori Vallow agreed Wednesday to return to Idaho to face charges tied to her two missing kids—after a Hawaii judge refused to lower her $5 million bail.

Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, her long blond hair looking unkempt, Vallow agreed to waive extradition once she learned she would not be sprung.

Her attorney argued that she was not a flight risk, but the prosecutor noted that she left Idaho for Hawaii the day after police came knocking at her door looking for 17-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old J.J.

“She has a history of digging out when the chips are down,” prosecuting attorney Justin Kollar said.

Vallow’s lawyer said the move to Hawaii with new husband Chad Daybell was pre-planned, but then Kollar pointed out that she apparently made those plans before her previous husband was dead.

Tylee and J.J. have not been seen since September, and police have said that Vallow has refused to cooperate with their investigation. The children’s disappearance has brought scrutiny to Vallow and Daybell’s obsession with doomsday scenarios and near-death experiences, along with some other suspicious events:

• The July 11 shooting death of Vallow’s last husband, Charles, by her brother, Alex Cox, who died months later.
• The Oct. 19 death of Daybell’s wife Tammy, weeks before he married Vallow. Her body was exhumed so an autopsy could be conducted because her husband, who got $430,000 in life insurance money, declined one.
• An October 2019 incident in which someone shot at the estranged husband of Vallow’s niece from a car that police say belonged to her late husband.

Earlier this month, an Idaho judge ordered Vallow to appear in court with Tylee and J.J., and when she failed to do that, issued a warrant for her arrest. Her attorney said in court in Hawaii on Wednesday that she didn’t show up because the court intended to put the children into foster care.

“That’s why she is fighting that,” attorney Craig De Costa told the court, insisting that Vallow fully intended to return to Idaho on her own and contest the charges.

He suggested Vallow was being punished because the case is so high-profile. “In 23-plus years, I have never seen a Class B felony case where bail was set at over $1 million dollars,” he said.

The prosecutor countered that Vallow had flouted court orders in a different custody case involving an earlier husband in the past. “She has a history of disappearing when the custody of her children is at issue,” he said.

In the end, the judge declined to lower the bail and Vallow immediately dropped her challenge to extradition. It’s not clear exactly when she will leave Hawaii for Idaho or whether her husband will go with her.

When she arrives, she will be formally charged with child abandonment, contempt of court, and promoting a crime for allegedly asking a friend to lie to police and say she was taking care of J.J.