According to chilling new testimony released Wednesday, the autistic 7-year-old son of “Doomsday Mom” Lori Vallow Daybell was asphyxiated with a plastic bag and duct tape over his mouth.
Dr. Garth Warren, a forensic pathologist, testified during Vallow Daybell’s Idaho murder trial that little J.J. Vallow had scratch marks on his neck and bruises on his wrists and ankles where he was bound with duct tape.
“Was J.J. attempting to remove the bag from his head? According to KTVB, Warren said on the stand, “It could be scratch marks from him trying to get it out of his head.”
The child’s autopsy was performed two days after the remains of J.J. and his 16-year-old sister, Tylee Ryan, were discovered buried in June 2020 on the property of Chad Daybell, Vallow Daybell’s fifth husband.
Tylee’s cause of death was unknown, and her autopsy proved to be a gruesome challenge, according to Warren.
“The vast majority of the time when I perform an autopsy, I get an entire body and we go through a process.” Tylee’s case was unique. According to the East Idaho News, her remains were received in three separate sealed bags.
Prosecutors have described how Tylee’s body was so dismembered and burned that investigators weren’t sure they’d discovered a body until they discovered a skull beneath a melted plastic bucket.
Warren stated that he searched the remains as thoroughly as he could for bullets and knife fragments but found none, and that her death was ruled a “homicide by unspecified means.”
Vallow Daybell, 49, is standing trial for the murders of her children and Daybell’s ex-wife, Tammy. Prosecutors claim she was inspired to murder them by her belief in a “doomsday” religious cult, as well as “money, power, and sex.” She has pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.
During the trial, Vallow Daybell’s family members testified that she didn’t want to raise J.J. and instead became obsessed with religion and her new romance with Daybell.
Prosecutors said the couple, who believe the end of the world is near and Christ will return, collected life insurance and Social Security money related to the three deaths.
During opening statements, Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake revealed that Tammy died of asphyxiation as well.
Vallow Daybell was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of conspiracy in the deaths, and grand theft for collecting government benefits on behalf of her murdered children.
Daybell was also charged in the deaths of Tylee, J.J., and Tammy and will face separate charges.