Lori Vallow's cousin says the discovery of JJ's and Tylee's remains was 'not surprising, but horrifying'
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PHOENIX - A family member of the so-called "doomsday mom" Lori Vallow shares insight as the murder trial continues in Boise, Idaho.
Lori, who used to live in Arizona, is accused of killing her two kids, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. She's also facing murder conspiracy in the death of her husband’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell.
Lori is seen in a photo as a bridesmaid for her cousin Megan’s wedding. It was 1995 and Lori was 21, living in Texas.
Now, nearly 30 years later, Megan Eyden speaks about her cousin’s triple murder trial.
"Yeah, it's been really difficult for everybody who is a family member to have watched this all kind of unfold in front of us. It’s a really difficult thing to come to grips with that somebody that you cared about and loved, and you know, still do care about, is capable of this level of horror," she said.
Lori is accused of killing her two children after moving them from Chandler, Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho in 2019. Prosecutors say Lori and her husband Chad Daybell justified the murders with extreme religious beliefs connected to the end of days.
Megan says even years ago, Lori spoke about what it would be like to raise a family after Jesus Christ returned.
"It's another thing to talk openly about wanting to drive your kids off a cliff, and just, you know, just drive everybody off a cliff and just go to heaven," she said.
Long before Lori made national headlines, she was known as "doting mother."
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"And that was always true, unless you disagreed with her, and unless you got on her bad side, and if you got on her bad side, she could be vicious," Megan remembered.
Investigators say Lori and Chad taught followers a rubric assessing light and dark spirits and how to rid the world of zombies.
FOX 10 first reported on the document sent to Lori from Chad, grading her own family members.
"When I found out about the list Chad had that listed family members light and dark, I literally went out and put a security system on my home and contacted my family members and told them not to have anything to do with them. I said, ‘if these people reach out to you please don’t talk to them.’ I was scared for my safety. I was scared for the safety of my kids,'" she said.
(Left) Late brother of Lori Vallow, Alex Cox. (Right) Lori Vallow. Photo courtesy of Megan Eiden
Megan says a mitigation specialist with the defense interviewed her about Lori’s background when this was a capital case, but the death penalty is now off the table.
In early 2020 when Lori’s kids were missing, Megan says she had little hope they would be found safe.
She says, "When they were finally found, again, it was not surprising but horrifying."
A horrifying discovery of the children dead in Daybell’s backyard.
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