Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
REXBURG — Footage from a Ring doorbell camera shows 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow running outside and playing with a friend days before he disappeared.
In the video obtained by EastIdahoNews.com, JJ is seen playing in the yard of his complex on Sept. 17, 2019. He moves toward a neighboring door, activates the camera, and then runs across the yard before entering the townhome rented by his mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, on 565 Pioneer Road.
The video was shot nine days after JJ’s sister, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, was last seen at Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 8, 2019 with Daybell, her brother, Alex Cox, and JJ. On Sept. 23, JJ was last seen attending school at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg. Daybell withdrew him the next day and said she would homeschool him.
Daybell was arrested Thursday in Kauai and remains behind bars in the Kauai Community Correctional Center on $5 million bail. She is charged with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of children, misdemeanor resisting and/or obstructing an officer, solicitation and contempt.
Rexburg Police wrote in court documents that neighbors told them JJ played with their son multiple times since Daybell moved in with her kids around Sept. 1, 2019. The neighbors told a detective that in late September, a child went to the townhome to ask to play with JJ. Daybell reportedly told the child JJ was not home and went to stay with his grandmother in Lousiana.
That information proved to be false and investigators have looked for the children since November.
The camera also captured Daybell at the door of the townhome with an unidentified woman running through the yard on Oct. 29, 2019, around 2:40 p.m.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of the children is asked to contact the Rexburg Police Department at (208) 359-3000, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) at (800) THE-LOST.
