It doesn’t seem like doomsday mom Lori Vallow is ready to answer any questions about her missing children.
At a brief hearing Hawaii before Vallow was extradited to Idaho on a red-eye flight late Wednesday, her attorney said he was invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and she should not be questioned on the trip.
The judge noted that once Idaho officials take custody of Vallow, her court no longer has any jurisdiction over the case.
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“Yes, but I want to make a record of that so her Idaho attorney can suppress any statements they may try to elicit,” defense lawyer Craig De Costa said.
Vallow, wearing an orange jumpsuit, stood next to De Costa, her ankles shackled.
A team from Idaho traveled to Kauai this week to take Vallow back to Rexburg, where she is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Friday. Video showed her, handcuffed, after she landed in Los Angeles following the flight from Hawaii.
Vallow is charged with desertion of 17-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old J.J., who have not been seen since September; contempt of a court order to produce the children; and promoting a criminal act for allegedly asking a friend to falsely tell police she was watching J.J.
Rexburg police have said they believe Tylee and J.J. are in danger but have not provided details on why they think so. They do say that Vallow and her new husband, doomsday author Chad Daybell, have not cooperated in the hunt for the kids.
In a brief statement issued weeks ago by their Idaho attorney, Vallow and Daybell denied any wrongdoing. Vallow’s Hawaii lawyer claimed she did not produce the children because she did not want them to go into foster care—but that does not explain why she allegedly lied to police who came to the house to check on them.
The children’s disappearance also focused scrutiny on the deaths of Vallow’s and Daybell’s previous spouses: Charles Vallow was shot to death in July by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, who claimed self-defense; and Daybell’s wife Tammy died of unknown causes in October and her body has since been exhumed.
Vallow, 46, and Daybell, 51, both members of a community of doomsday preppers, married weeks after he was widowed.
