Bail for Lori Vallow Daybell stays at $5 million

HONOLULU- Bail was set on Friday for $5 million for Lori Vallow Daybell. She is an Idaho mother whose children haven’t been seen for months. And her attornies say they will fight her extradition back to Idaho.  Meanwhile, court records reveal what police have found during a lengthy investigation.

Lori Vallow Daybell arrested and charged

Daybellwas arrested Thursday in Hawaii after a warrant was issued in Madison County, Idaho.  She is charged with two counts of felony desertion of a child. Her other charges include misdemeanor charges of resisting and obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime and contempt.

Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood said the complaint filed against Lori Vallow Daybell alleges abandonment of her two children. Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow haven’t been seen since September.  Daybell is accused of impeding attempts by police to find the children.

Officials have not confirmed whether they believe Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow are alive.

While Daybell was in the courtroom, her attorney declared she wants to have an extradition hearing to contest returning to Idaho.  He said previous attorneys offered to turn Daybell in, if police wanted to arrest her.

“[Her arrest] seems like it was a ‘made for media event’ at the taxpayers’ expense because, again, Mr. De Costa offered to the police, on January 30^th, to several police, that he would just simply turn her in,” he said.

The defense team argued to have Daybell’s bail reduced to $10-thousand since that was more in line with the level of felony charges filed against her.  They also argued that she wasn’t a flight risk.  However, prosecutors argued she has already fled from investigators.

“Certainly, she has indicated, in this case, she has already absconded from the jurisdiction where the underlying crime [is] alleged to have taken place.”

The judge decided to keep Daybell’s bail at $5 million, but, if she’s able to pay it, she has to surrender her passport to Kauai police.  Her next hearing will be an identification hearing, where she will be able to contest whether or not she’s the woman sought by Idaho police. That hearing is scheduled for March 2.

Daybell’s husband, Chad, declined to answer questions being asked as he left the courthouse.

Kauai police say they were contacted by the Rexburg police in December 2019. Rexburg police filed an action for Daybell to “physically produce Tylee and JJ to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in Rexburg … or to the Rexburg Police” by Jan. 30. She failed to do so.

A search warrant was filed by Rexburg police on Thursday which led to Daybell’s arrest.  She was booked without incident and will remain in a jail cell until her court appearance March 2.

Charging documents obtained by East Idaho News reveal what investigators found while searching for Tylee and JJ.  The docuyments show that the last time anyone saw Tylee was September 8, 2019. At that time she was seen in a picture at the gate of Yellowstone National Park.  However, she hasn’t been seen in any picture since then.

Also, no one has seen JJ since September 24^th.  A babysitter hired to care for the autistic boy claims she saw him on the 19^th. The babysitter says she was told a few days later that her services were no longer required.  Documents also show there was no evidence of either child attending Chad and Lori Daybell’s wedding in Hawaii in November.

The probable cause statement says a family friend reported to police that she was asked to lie to police and tell them JJ had been with her in Gilbert, Arizona.

While in Hawaii, investigators reportedly found some of the items that belonged to JJ and Tylee, including Tylee’s bank card that was reportedly still active and had been used after she disappeared.

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