Niece of Lori Vallow appears in Mesa Courtroom
MESA, Ariz. - On Thursday, the niece of Lori Vallow appeared in a Mesa courtroom for a matter unrelated to Vallow's recent legal troubles.
Melani Pawlowski's court appearance came just a week after Vallow's arrest in Hawaii.
Vallow is the mother of Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan. JJ and Tylee were last seen in September 2019. Their disappearances have uncovered a complicated sequence of events related to Lori and her new husband, Chad Daybell, including details surrounding the death of Vallow's former husband, Charles Vallow, details surrounding the death and subsequent burial of Daybell's former wife, Tammy, and allegations of cult membership. The disappearances have also garnered national and global media attention.
Joshua "JJ" Vallow (left) and Tylee Ryan (right) (Photo Courtesy: Rexberg, Idaho Police Department)
A week ago, FOX 10 uncovered documents filed by Pawlowski's ex-husband. In the documents, the ex-husband claims Pawlowski knows where JJ and Tylee are. Pawlowski moved to Idaho just two months after Vallow did, and they even lived in the same apartment complex.
Pawlowski Asked About JJ and Tylee
Pawlowski went to court on Tuesday with her husband, Ian, her aunt, Summer, and the widow of Alex Cox, Zulema Pastenes. FOX 10's Justin Lum confronted Pawlowski while she was outside of the courtroom. During the confrontation, Lum asked Pawlowski on JJ and Tylee's whereabouts, the last time she spoke with Vallow, and how often she spoke with Cox, up to the day Brandon Boudreaux was shot at.
During the confrontation, lawyer Stephen Zachary said they are going to give "full respects to the judge", and that they will give a full presentation "once the judge gets done".
According to Pawlowski's lawyers, she has spoken to the FBI three times, but has no information at all on JJ and Tylee.
"I don't know that Melani has an opinion about any of that, other than it's what some people are saying that's what she said," said Garrett Smith with the Law Office of Robert P. Jarvis. "Here's one of the problems that we have with questions like that. You are taking material that is taken from a divorce pleading filed by an ex who has, as we've seen in this case, motivation to lie, to withhold evidence, to behave in a very bad way. You're taking that and saying Lori says she's a God, and it must be a fact. It's something that was written in a divorce statement by an ex who has nothing nice to say good to say. Why should we take that as fact, or as reliable? Melani is very fond of her aunt. Her fondness has little to do with her religious beliefs, but more about the kind of person she thinks she is."
Pawlowski's ex-husband absent for hearing
Pawlowski was in court for a so-called "Resolution Management Conference". Represented by her lawyers, Pawlowski is fighting for the custody of her four children. Her ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, was not present.
According to court documents filed by Boudreaux's lawyer, Pawlowski's current husband told law enforcement that she admitted to conspiring with her uncle to kill Boudreaux on October 2.
Boudreaux's Tesla was reportedly shot at in Gilbert, but Pawlowski's lawyers say Cox was shown, on surveillance video, at a storage unit in Idaho the same day. The surveillance video was obtained by East Idaho News.
Another hearing is set for March 26.