Lori Vallow cops say they ‘pray for the safe return of these beautiful children’ on birthday of ‘cult mom’s’ missing son
IDAHO police have issued a touching statement to mark what would be the eighth birthday of 'cult mom' Lori Vallow's missing son.
The Rexburg Police Department said on Monday authorities are praying for the safe return of Joshua "JJ" Vallow and his 17-year-old sister Tylee Ryan.
"We would like everyone to know that today (May 25th) is JJ Vallow's 8th birthday and that we continue to hope and pray for the safe return of both of these beautiful children each and every day," the department's Assistant Chief of Police Gary Hagen said in a statement obtained by .
JJ and Tylee vanished in in September 2019, but weren't reported missing until two months later, when JJ's biological grandparents asked cops to do a welfare check.
and her husband Chad Daybell have refused to reveal the location of the two kids.
The couple - who married just two weeks after Daybell's first wife died in October - were seen vacationing in as police desperately searched for JJ and Tylee.
When she didn't show her kids to police to prove they're alive, Vallow was arrested in Hawaii and extradited to Idaho.
Vallow's sister, Summer Shiflet, said she believes the missing kid are safe and that she has her "reasons" for being secretive about JJ and Tylee's whereabouts.
"I don't know all of her reasons for doing what she's doing, but I know she has...the reasons," Shiflet said in an interview on Saturday with .
The allegedly neglectful mom is currently behind bars on $1 million bond and awaiting trial on several charges, including contempt and solicitation of a crime.
Vallow has pleaded not guilty to felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, as well as resisting or obstruction officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime, contempt of court and willful disobedience of court process, according to PEOPLE.
Melanie Gibb, Vallow's best friend, said on Monday that .
Gibb also suggested that her friend believed little JJ was "a zombie" and slowly started to believe that "everyone in her life was turning into zombies."
"On one occasion, Lori said to me, 'If Chad is Satan, he sure is a good one'," said Gibb.
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However, Vallow's family have insisted that the children are alive, and that the 'cult mom' would never hurt her kids.
"She's not a monster," Shiflet told 48 Hours.
"Lori would never harm her children, ever."
She added: "She's not a heartless, cold-calculated, murderess-type of person."
