Warning: this article contains some graphic descriptions.
An Idaho forensic pathologist on Wednesday detailed how doomsday mom Lori Vallow’s two children were killed in 2019, including how her 7-year-old son was allegedly strangled to death by a plastic bag over his head and duct tape over his mouth.
Dr. Garth Warren, who works for the Ada County Coroner’s Office, told jurors in Vallow’s murder trial that he conducted the autopsies on Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan a few days after they were found buried in the backyard of Chad Daybell’s home in June 2020.
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Authorities say that JJ was found in a pet cemetery while his sister, Tylee Ryan, was dismembered and buried in a fire pit nearby. Warren said JJ died of asphyxiation and Tylee died by unspecified means but her death was a homicide.
“[JJ] was found with a plastic bag over his head, it was tight and there were signs of a struggle,” he said, according to EastIdahoNews.
Warren told jurors that “right from the beginning there were some things that obviously jumped out” in JJ’s autopsy.
Warren said that JJ still wearing a red pajama set when he was found wrapped in a garbage bag with the white plastic bag over his head and duct tape all around his body, including his forearms, hands and ankles.
The child also had bruising on his arms and an abrasion to his neck from the grisly slaying. Warren added that a toxicology report concluded that JJ was found with low levels of ethanol, the date-rape drug GHB, and caffeine in his system. The amounts of GHB, he noted, were inconclusive.
“There’s really no way for me to tell for sure whether this is just a naturally occurring product in the body that was there or if JJ was given GHB,” Warren said. “I can't say one way or another based on the levels.”
Warren also noted that Tylee’s autopsy was different than her brother’s because she arrived at the morgue in multiple bags. He said her toxicology came back positive for ibuprofen, iron, and carboxyhemoglobin.
If carboxyhemoglobin is breathed in when a person is alive, the readings will be high but Tylee’s were extremely low. “There is no evidence to support that Tylee was alive when she was burned,” he said.
The bombshell testimony marks the first time prosecutors have revealed how Vallow’s long-missing children were killed in September 2019 before being buried in her apocalyptic author husband’s backyard. Prosecutors allege that a month later, the religious fanatics allegedly conspired to kill Daybell’s first wife, Tammy, for insurance and Social Security funds before fleeing to Hawaii.
Vallow has pleaded not guilty to several charges and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Defense attorneys for Vallow insist that the “loving” mother could never kill her children.
But Warren went into harrowing detail on the stand about how the two children, who were officially reported missing in December 2019, were killed. He noted that, in addition to the plastic bag and duct tape, he also immediately noticed that JJ had rapidly decomposed.
“There was dirt and mold on the tops and bottoms,” Warren said, according to EastIdahoNews. “You could tell even with the clothing on that the body was in a state of decomposition by the color of the skin.”
Warren then went into graphic detail about the state of JJ’s body, including a scratch-life abrasion on the left side of JJ’s neck and a hemorrhage on his right thumbnail. As Warren was speaking, jurors reportedly took detailed notes while Vallow looked at the witness stand.
“There were also other areas that were concerning or suspicious—bruising on the ankles that may have been associated with the duct tape,” Warren added. “All of the organs showed decomposition changes but I did not see any trauma to the internal organs or evidence of overt natural disease to any of the organs.”
Tylee’s autopsy was different to JJ’s, he said, because he usually performs autopsies on entire bodies but Tylee’s remains were “received in three separate sealed bags.”
Warren said that his team x-rayed the remains to look for foreign objects that would give them a clue about the cause of death. Instead, he said, they found “a collection of bones along with other debris. A lot of mud and dirt.”
He said his team was able to locate some of Tylee’s organs that had “severe decomposition” and several bones.
“There weren’t nice clean bones. These were bones that had significant artifacts secondary to the fire,” Warren said. “They were blackened and charred.”
