Grandparents of J.J. The family of Vallow, a 7-year-old adopted son of Lori Vallow who was killed in 2019, say they are “blindsided and heartbroken” by the defense team’s attempts to exclude them from Vallow’s murder trial.
Lori Vallow’s Defense Team To Ban J.J’s Grandparents From Murder Trial(Photo: Fox News)
Idaho Judge Steven Boyce To Decide Whether Kay and Larry Woodcock Could Observe Vallow’s Trial
According to allegations, Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, killed Vallow’s two children, J.J. and Tylee Ryan, 17, as well as Tammy Daybell, Daybell’s ex-wife, between September and October 2019. Idaho Judge Steven Boyce convened a hearing on Thursday to decide whether Kay and Larry Woodcock, two witnesses in the case, could observe Vallow’s trial, which is set to start on April 3.
The Woodcocks aren’t actually J.J.’s grandparents, so they shouldn’t be considered statutory victims in the case, according to Vallow’s defense team, who also argued that they shouldn’t hear other witness testimony.
The Woodcocks released a statement on Thursday that was shared by their attorney, Shanon Gray of Gray Law, LLC. “We appreciate the outpouring of love and support from all of you after yesterday’s hearing. We were completely blindsided and heartbroken at the argument made saying we are not JJ’s grandparents and should not be considered victims in this case,” the Woodcocks said.
The biological father of J.J. is Kay Woodcock’s child. J.J. was cared for by Kay and Larry Woodcock. until 2013, when Charles Vallow, Kay’s brother and Lori Vallow’s late husband, agreed to adopt the child who was then 1 years old.
In June 2021, Arizona authorities charged Vallow with murdering Charles in July 2019.
The Vallows agreed that Kay Woodcock and her husband, Larry Woodcock, could be present in the boy’s life as his “Mamaw and Papaw” as part of the terms of their adoption of J.J., the Woodcocks previously told Fox News Digital.
Even though Charles and Lori moved around the country in their 13 years of marriage, they were able to visit their grandson, whom they previously described to Fox News Digital as energetic, ingestive, and friendly.
“We continue to be victimized by Lori every single day living life without JJ, Tylee, and Charles, then again by possibly denying us the opportunity to be the face in the courtroom seeking justice for them,” the Woodcocks said.
According to FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum, their new attorney, who also represented the family of University of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves, submitted a motion to allow the Woodcocks to attend Vallow’s trial on Friday.
In the document FOX 10 was able to obtain, Gray stated, “There is nothing about the presence of victims at a trial that would affect the defendant in any possible way.”
In May 2021, a Fremont County grand jury indicted Vallow and Daybell on two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Tylee and J.J. The two kids vanished in September of this year.
The couple allegedly lied to police about the children’s whereabouts while they were gone for months before their bodies were discovered in 2020, buried on Daybell’s property in rural Idaho.
After J.J. and Tylee’s murders, Vallow and Daybell, who wed in November 2019, allegedly benefited from their Social Security payments between October 1, 2019, and January 22, 2020.
In late May 2021, the couple was charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder, grand theft by deception, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Tylee and J.J. officials declared at the time, as well as Chad Daybell’s ex-wife.
Daybell has written a number of apocalyptic novels based on Mormon theology. Both were members of a group that promotes biblical end-of-the-world preparedness. Vallow and Daybell bonded over their religious beliefs after first meeting in 2018, when they appeared together on a podcast discussing theories about the end of the world for the first time.
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