June 13, 2020 | 11:54pm
The remains of Joshua Vallow (left), and Tylee Ryan were found buried on their stepfather Chad Daybell’s property in Idaho earlier this week.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Noting that the announcement came with “heavy hearts,” officials confirmed Saturday that the two bodies recovered from a backyard in Idaho were the remains of the missing children of “doomsday cult” mom Lori Vallow.
Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, had been missing since September. Their remains were found Tuesday, buried on the property of stepdad Chad Daybell, the former gravedigger who was Lori Vallow’s husband.
The couple is in custody in Fremont County, Idaho.
Friends and family members have said Lori was an attentive mother to the two kids until she became involved with Daybell in a religious group called “Preparing a People.”
Daybell frequently spoke of near-death experiences, his acquaintances have said, and in 2001 authored a macabre memoir: “One Foot in the Grave: The Strange But True Adventures of a Cemetery Sexton.”
“The remains were taken to the medical examiner’s office where an autopsy and positive identification was performed,” the Rexburg Police Department said in a statement.
“It is with heavy hearts that we now confirm that those remains have been officially identified as those of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan,” the statement said.
“It is not the outcome we had hoped, to be able to find the children safe,” the statement added.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of JJ and Tylee.”
With Post wires
