Hours before J.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan‘s bodies were discovered on their step father’s Idaho property, their parents called each other. That particular conversation they had over the phone had been recorded and during one of the most recent court hearings, the recording of that phone call had been made public.
For the last five months, J.J. and Tylee’s mom Lori Vallow has been incarcerated. It was while she was still in Madison County Jail that she made the call to her husband and their stepdad Chad Daybell on June 9.
According to the Daily Mail, who obtained a copy of the phone conversation, it began with Vallow saying “Hi, Babe” before asking Daybell if he’s okay. “No, they’re searching the property,” Daybell responded.
After asking if those who were searching the property were in the house and if they were seizing stuff again, Daybell again said, “They’re searching.” The next few seconds of their conversation is unintelligible before he tells Vallow that he’s glad she called him.
“So we’ll see what transpires,” Daybell says before Vallow adds, “Okay. So what do you want me to do? Pray?” It sounds like he says yes before the conversation becomes unintelligible again. Daybell then tells Vallow, “I love you so much.”
“I love you. Should I try to call you later,” Vallow replies. Daybell seemed unsure before saying she could try and that he’ll try to answer if he can. The couple then said their goodbyes.
You can listen to the full conversation between Vallow and Daybell below:
Not long after the phone call was made, authorities revealed that the bodies of J.J. and Tylee had been found after they were last seen in September 2019, but not reported missing until November 2019. As Mamas Uncut previously reported, during an earlier court hearing, Rexburg police Detective Ray Hermosillo described what J.J. and Tylee looked like when they were finally found.
J.J. was reportedly “dressed in red pajamas and placed inside a black plastic bag, with his ankles and wrists bound by duct tape. Several layers of duct tape also secured a white plastic bag around the boy’s head.” Tylee was then found in a nearby pet cemetery, which was also in Daybell’s yard. “Authorities recovered a mass of burned flesh and bone held in a melted green bucket, and under the bucket, a partial human skull,” Hermosillo told the court, according to People.
So far, Daybell has since been charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence, and two felony counts of destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence. And Vallow has been charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence.
They both have maintained their innocence by pleading not guilty. Neither of them has been charged with Tylee or J.J.’s murders as of August 12.