Police have recounted the horrifying moment they discovered the bodies of Lori Vallow's children in shallow Idaho graves.
The case is one that has shocked the nation - a 49-year-old mother who is on trial for murdering her son and daughter, as well as her new husband's ex-wife.
Vallow is currently battling charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft following the grisly deaths of her 17-year-old daughter Tylee and seven-year-old son J.J., who were last seen alive in September 2019.
In June 2020, their bodies were discovered on the property of Chad Daybell, Vallow's new husband (with whom she wed soon after her children went missing), per The Independent.
Vallow is also charged with conspiracy to murder Daybell's first wife Tammy Daybell, who died suddenly in October 2019. The case is also the subject of a Netflix documentary.
On Tuesday (April 11), the Idaho court heard graphic testimony from Detective Ray Hermosillo and was shown distressing images of J.J. and Tylee's remains. Tylee's body was so badly charred that an autopsy to determine her cause of death was impossible. J.J. was still wearing his red pajamas and a diaper when his body was removed from the shallow grave.
Hermosillo told the court that when he and his team headed to Vallow and Daybell's property to conduct a search for the missing children, Vallow initially claimed that the children were living with relatives in Arizona. The newlyweds then refused to leave Hawaii (where they were on vacation), cooperate with authorities, or explain the whereabouts of the missing children.
Eventually, he was called over to the pond area after investigators noticed a shorter section of grass. "As they began to remove the top layer of soil, it exposed three large rocks. At that point, there was a strong order that through my training I knew was a decomposing body," he stated, via The Daily Beast.
The detective then explained that underneath the rocks were large pieces of wood that were on top of a large black object that "appeared to be the crown of a head." When the body was discovered, however, Hermosillo testified that Daybell had quickly driven off the property, before being taken into custody by authorities.
He then told the court that he and his team later found burnt flesh and charred bones, explaining that the stench was so awful that his team had to take shifts digging through the area. "Eventually we uncovered bits and pieces of …whom we assumed was Tylee, that had been burned. There were pieces of bone, charred flesh, just globs of flesh that were falling apart."
At one point during the testimony, Vallow asked to be excused from the court, which was swiftly denied by the trial judge. Her trial is currently ongoing.
