'Cult mom' Lori Vallow bragged she's bigger news than Covid-19 and Kobe Bryant's death, reveals jailmate
A woman who spent time in jail with Lori Vallow before being transferred to another correctional facility has opened up about her experience with the cult mom. The woman, who preferred not to use her real name, has been referred to as Missy Cook by EastIdahoNews.com who interviewed her after her recent release from custody.
Cook said she was locked at Madison County Jail on a parole violation at the time Vallow was booked into the jail in early March. Vallow was initially arrested in February in Hawaii after she and her husband Chad Daybell fled in late 2019 after her kids — 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow — went missing in September. “Everybody in the jail was talking about how Lori was coming back from Hawaii and we wondered if we’d be able to see her. So I’m sitting in the pod and in walks two or three guards with her. They were very nice and she was nice. She walked in with her stripes on but she also had a bulletproof vest on. I had never seen another inmate like that,” Cook told EastIdahoNews.com.
She continued: “I made it a point not to ask about her kids. I wanted to gain her trust and see if she would tell me anything. I’d been judged (unfairly) for one of my crimes and turned inside out for something it wasn’t. I couldn’t imagine feeling what she was feeling when she got there.” Cook also said that Vallow never seemed heartbroken or sad to her, instead, she was cheerful and friendly. The cult mother was also happy in Madison County jail since the jail in Hawaii was “bad”. “She said the jail in Hawaii was so bad. There were roaches on the floor and it was awful. She kept saying how nice Madison was compared to that and how amazing the food was here,” Cook told the news site.
The woman said that the day after Vallow was arrested, she was scheduled for her first appearance in court. At the time, media from across the country gathered outside the court and many others also came to catch a glimpse of her. “She was totally aware of all of it. She said, ‘we have the death of Kobe Bryant and Covid but no — there’s me. I’m the lead story. I’m more important than all that stuff',” Cook said, adding: “She knew she was the main story and she liked it.”
Cook also said that Vallow was more concerned about her looks than anything. “So she comes to the door and has on this bright pink lipstick. She said, ‘How does it look?’ I hesitantly paused and said, ‘Oh... you look good.’ I gave her some tips and said she could use a regular pencil to draw in her eyebrows and helped her get ready for court,” the woman stated.
According to Cook, Vallow “knew how big of a deal” the hearing was. After the court's appearance when she returned to jail, she wanted to watch the news with Cook. “As the news came on, she said, ‘here it comes! Here’s my story. Turn it up. Let’s see what they say about me now',” Cook recalled. The fellow prisoner also mentioned that Vallow was determined to get out of jail after her bail was set at $1 million by Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins. “Every day she’s going out with her lawyers and I’d say, ‘Are you bonding out?’ She would say, ‘I hope so.’ I remember before one of those meetings, she ran her fingers from her head down her body and said, ‘We’ll see if all of this is worth $1 million,’” Cook said.
The woman said if Vallow was not with her attorneys figuring out her bail, she probably then talked to Daybell or her son, Colby Ryan, on the phone or having video chats. “She talked on the phone with her son literally almost two days straight. After the big entrance at her arraignment, she got on the phone with her son and said, ‘I didn’t see you (in the courtroom). There were just so many people.’ He kept saying, ‘Mom, where are JJ and Tylee? Why won’t you tell us? What’s going on?'” Cook told the site.
Cook also added that she never heard Vallow discussing where her missing kids were and when her son Colby became frustrated over his mother’s non-cooperation, she advised him to read the scriptures. “She told Colby to read Job (a book in the Old Testament) and he would understand. She said she was being tested like Job. She would say, ‘Colby, just listen to me. Everyone wants to know but it’s none of their business. God doesn’t judge me and they shouldn’t judge me. The prophet says to stay off social media so don’t go on there',” the fellow inmate said.
The remains of Tylee and Joshua were found by detectives on June 11 in her husband’s backyard. Though the couple has not been charged with murder, they are facing charges of conspiracy to destroy evidence, and Daybell is facing additional felony charges of concealing evidence. Cook said Vallow might put the blame of her kids’ death on Daybell. “I think she will turn against Chad. If she’s as vindictive as she is... those kids were buried on his land and at his house,” Cook stated.