A forensic pathologist has revealed how Lori Vallow Daybell's son J.J. was killed, amid her highly publicized criminal trial.
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.
Earlier this month, an 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.
This week on Wednesday (April 26), expert forensic pathologist Dr. Garth Warren revealed during his testimony at Vallow's trial that her son J.J. had been asphyxiated with a plastic bag and duct tape over his mouth. Warren stated that J.J.'s autopsy was conducted two days after the children's remains were found.
Warren also said he found scratch marks on J.J.'s neck, as well as bruises on his wrist and ankles where he was bound by duct tape. "Was J.J. trying to get the bag off his head? It could be scratch marks of him trying to get it off his head," he said, via KTVB. Tylee's cause of death is still undetermined and her autopsy took several days because her remains were not intact.
"This autopsy was different," Warren stated, per East Idaho News. "The vast majority of the time when I perform an autopsy, I get an entire body and there's a process we go through. Tylee's case was different. Her remains were received in three separate sealed bags."
Investigators on the case looked for bullets and knife fragments in her remains to determine her cause of death but were unsuccessful in finding anything. As such, Tylee's cause of death was determined to be "homicide by unspecified means," per Fox.