Chad Daybell’s gravedigger past emerges as bodies of ‘cult mom’ wife Lori Vallow’s missing kids found at his Idaho home
THE GRAVEDIGGER past of “cult mom” Lori Vallow’s husband Chad Daybell has emerged as the bodies of her missing children were found on his property.
Vallow’s daughter Tylee Ryan, 17, and seven-year-old son Joshua “JJ” Vallow have not been seen since September, but their grandparents confirmed Wednesday that human remains discovered at the family’s home in the Idaho town of Salem had been matched to the siblings.
“We are filled with unfathomable sadness that these bright two stars were stolen from us, and only hope that they died without pain or suffering,” Larry and Kay Woodcock and Colby and Kelsee Ryan said in a joint statement.
Autopsy results are currently pending.
Daybell, 51, was charged on Tuesday with two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence in relation to the Vallow children’s disappearance.
Meanwhile, details about Daybell’s past as an author of fictional doomsday books and a gravedigger – also known as a sexton – have surfaced.
In 2001, he wrote a book about his experiences called One Foot in the Grave: The Strange But True Adventures of a Cemetery Sexton, and last year released an updated version – viewed by The Sun.
Daybell dedicated one chapter of the book to myths and facts about gravediggers and noted that corpses were “rarely” buried in the wrong place.
“A sexton knows his cemetery like the back of his hand, and a good-one will double check himself as he begins digging each new grave,” Daybell wrote.
“Mistakes are extremely rare, and almost impossible.”
In the book, Daybell also shared industry “secrets”.
“We don’t dig graves deeper than we have to,” he wrote.
Taking “care of graves” and “helping widows and grieving family members deal with trauma” was “rewarding”, he said.
“Sad times are always when you have to bury babies,” Daybell wrote.
“That’s always a poignant moment.
“I couldn’t really exaggerate or fabricate any of these stories, they’re just too bizarre.”
Daybell also pondered whether or not “death isn’t still playing games in another realm”.
According to a colleague who spoke to Fox 10 in March, Daybell frequently talked about “his near-death experience and the visions he’s had about mostly what’s coming to Idaho and Utah”.
“He thinks that he has some kind of priesthood authority or sealing power that has been given to him to perform ordinances that one day will be on the Earth but are not now and he has no business messing with any of this,” Julie Rowe said.
Vallow’s children disappeared less than two months after the homicide of her ex-husband Charles Vallow, who was killed by her brother Alex in what was deemed an act of “self defense”.
The “cult mom” married new husband Daybell six weeks after JJ and Tylee vanished.
The newlyweds were reportedly aligned with a “doomsday cult” that says its mission is to “prepare the people of this earth for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ”.
Daybell has written more than 25 novels, mostly about the end of time, according to his website.
Fremont County prosecutor Rob Wood on Wednesday confirmed the remains were of children and hinted that upgraded charges could be forthcoming.
One of the bodies, he said, was concealed in a “particularly egregious” manner.
“The evidence that has been concealed in this case is not simply a document, or drugs or a gun,” Mr Wood added.
“These are human remains.”
Judge Farrin Eddins set Daybell’s bail at $1 million on Wednesday.
A criminal complaint accuses Daybell of “willfully conceal[ed] and/or did aid and abet another to willfully conceal human remains, knowing that said human remains were about to be produced, used and/or discovered as evidence in a felony proceeding.”
It says he hid the remains sometime between September 8, 2019 and June 9.
Vallow, 46, was arrested in February on charges stemming from the disappearance of the children.
She has been charged with felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime, contempt of court and willful disobedience of court process or order for failing to produce the children.
She has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $1 million bond.
The couple is also under investigation by the Idaho Attorney General’s Office for “conspiracy, attempted murder and/or murder” in the death of Daybell’s former wife, Tammy Daybell.
Daybell and Vallow married shortly after Tammy was found dead in her home in October.
In an interview published on Thursday, Vallow’s close friend Melanie Gibb said she no longer expects the children to be found alive.
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“They’re not on this planet anymore. I don’t think they are,” Gibb told the East Idaho News.
“That’s my personal opinion. Tylee is a very strong-willed individual, and she’s capable of making a phone call if she needs to call, and she hasn’t reached out to anybody and let anybody know she’s alive.”