Mother of missing Idaho children waives extradition from Hawaii after bail remains $5M
Lori Vallow Daybell, the mother of two Idaho children missing since September, surprisingly waived extradition in a Hawaii courtroom on Wednesday after a judge refused to reduce her $5 million bail.
Judge Kathleen Watanabe denied Vallow Daybell’s request and reconfirmed the bail amount, and moments later, her attorney announced that she would waive her right to an extradition hearing and consent to return to Idaho to fight “false allegations.”
“I am firmly establishing and confirming what I previously said at the last hearing,” Watanabe said in court Wednesday. “Bail is confirmed at $5 million.”
An extradition hearing had been scheduled for Monday, March 2, but now Idaho law enforcement will go to Hawaii to bring Vallow Daybell to Madison County, where she has been charged with felony desertion of a child, resisting and/or obstructing an officer, contempt, and solicitation.
The exact date of her transfer is not yet known.
Craig De Costa, Vallow Daybell’s lawyer, explained in court that his client is not disputing the legality of her arrest or that she is the person charged in the state of Idaho.
“She would like to expedite her return there so that she can defend herself against these false allegations,” De Costa said.
Vallow Daybell is still being held at the Kauai Correctional Center, where her husband, Chad Daybell, visited this week. A TV reporter caught up to Chad, who refused to answer questions about the missing children.
Lori’s kids, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, have not been seen since September. Tylee was last seen on Sept. 8 when the family went to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. JJ was last seen a couple of weeks after that at school in Rexburg, where Lori and the children had just moved.
Lori and Chad Daybell were married in November in Hawaii, just weeks after the death — now being called suspicious by authorities — of Tammy Daybell, Chad’s former wife.
Lori Daybell has been married five times. Her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, was shot to death last summer by Alex Cox, Lori’s brother, in what Cox told police was self-defense. Cox then died in December in Arizona, and his death is under investigation.
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 6:14 PM.
