Slain 7-year-old JJ Vallow's grandparents, Kay Woodcock, on the left, and Larry Woodcock, on the right, discuss various issues before Lori Vallow's triple murder trial begins. (Law&Crime Network)
The grandparents of slain 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow discussed a wide array of issues just hours before his mother and accused killer, Lori Vallow, stands trial on three murder charges in Idaho.
"She seemed very nice and just a very pretty girl," Kay Woodcock said, referencing the early days of the relationship between her brother and the defendant, "She just seemed like a regular, normal person."
Charles Vallow – the accused woman's husband prior to Chad Daybell – was shot and killed by Lori Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, in July 2019. The killer claimed self-defense at the time and was not prosecuted – he later died before authorities began to reassess the circumstances in which Charles Vallow died. Lori Vallow, however, has been charged with conspiracy in Arizona over her estranged-husband's death.
The grieving grandmother even met her brother's killer on numerous occasions.
"He seemed very quiet," Kay Woodcock told Law&Crime correspondent GiGi McKelvey. "We never really, like, had real conversation or, you know, if it was, you know, he would walk through the kitchen or something and I'd be there."
"Lori told me that her brother had a drug problem," she continued. "I don't know if he did or it's what she said, but it is what she said. So, you know, there's that. But other than that, we really didn't have, you know, a warm, fuzzy relationship."
JJ Vallow was born premature and was later diagnosed with autism, Kay Woodcock explained.
The boy's biological parents couldn't care for him, so the Woodcocks turned to Kay's brother Charles Vallow and his wife to help raise the boy – and they adopted him.
After the family moved to Hawaii, she said, the boy's grandparents spent a significant amount of time helping to raise him – but there was nothing lacking in the way Lori Vallow cared for her adopted son.
"He loved his mother and he was in love with his mother and just she, you know, little boys should be in love with their mother," JJ Vallow's grandmother said. "And it – it was very apparent. And she was so good with him – and patient – and she learned about his autism…She was engaged, she was loving, she was patient and she was everything a mother is supposed to be. And, people say: 'Oh, y'all had to see something in her before then.' Well, I never did."
At the end of 2017, Kay Woodcock said, her husband, Larry Woodcock, had a "gut feeling" that something was not quite right. At the time, she said, she dismissed those concerns. But they were soon borne out.
"In February of 2018, she and I had gone to Phoenix, Charles and Lori were going to Hawaii for like five days." she said. "So I flew there to stay with them while they were gone. And, my mom had a really bad stroke the very next day, and I had to wait for them to land in Hawaii so I could get a hold of them because I needed to go home. And, anyway, so then long story short, it wasn't another month later, my mom passed, and Lori didn't bother to come to the funeral and I took that as a huge slap in the face because that's not what family does, you know?"
The bad progressed throughout the year. Later in 2018, Lori Vallow met Chad Daybell, her fifth and current husband. He is also accused of murdering JJ Vallow, 7, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Daybell's first wife, Tammy Daybell, 49 – but is being tried separately.
"We met [Charles] and we flew to Las Vegas and met him for Thanksgiving," Kay Woodcock explained. "And so we had Thanksgiving together in 2018, which I'm so grateful for that because he didn't have a Thanksgiving in 2019."
Saying there were "all the classic signs," the Woodcocks were by then both convinced that something was seriously amiss.
"It was wrong," Kay Woodcock said. "But he wasn't going to – Charles didn't complain. He was not a complainer. And, so, you know, I wasn't going to pry."
Larry Woodcock interjected to say he was fine with prying and had repeatedly told his brother-in-law to watch his back.
"I did," JJ Vallow's grandfather told Law&Crime. "I had told Charles on numerous occasions: situational awareness. You better find out what's going on. You need to be aware. Protect yourself. We had those conversations. And those conversations were pretty well, as Kay just said, Charles didn't express a huge concern. I was concerned to the point I said: 'Charles, you need a weapon and you need to protect yourself. You don't know what's going on.' Because we were starting to get some rumors and so forth. But I never, never anticipated Charles's demise. I never anticipated – I never thought that that would happen to him."
Lori Vallow left her then-husband in February 2019, sending along accusations to the Woodcocks that Charles Vallow was having an affair in California. They quickly reached out and he denied those claims.
"I called Charles, and he was just in tears," Kay Woodcock said. "He was devastated. He was a wreck. I was like: 'What is going on, man?' And so after we talked to him for a while, I said I'll be there tomorrow. And, because he needed help with JJ, I mean, he was a wreck, so I needed to go and go and help. So I did. And, that's when he started telling me about, the email, the dance videos Lori was sending to Chad, and saying: 'She must be seeing this guy, Chad Daybell and blah, blah, blah, and she doesn't want JJ anymore.' And I was like: 'What? Oh, this is crazy.' I was like: 'Charles, are you sure?' And I was questioning him and, you know, shame on me, because he was on point 100%."
After the initial shock wore off, Kay Woodcock said, she and her husband began working on a plan to ensure that everyone's best interests were being secured. She said she told her brother to let his wife go and that they planned for him to move to Houston, Texas.
Months later Charles Vallow was dead. Lori Vallow did not tell the deceased man's children – some of whom were from another woman – that he was dead until some 36 hours later, East Idaho News reported. JJ Vallow and his sister disappeared on different dates in September 2019.
The Woodcocks relayed their reaction when it became more obvious than not that the two had been killed. That news came from a phone call with a detective on the case in December 2019.
"He said: 'Look, guys, I hate to be the one to tell you all this, but they don't think the kids are alive, but they don't know where they are,'" Kay Woodcock said. "We ended that call and we both just…fell apart. It was horrific. And then after a few minutes, I said: 'No, no, no. We don't know that they're dead. And until I know that there's a body, he's not dead. And I don't believe it. She's hiding him somewhere.' She is that vindictive."
The boy's grandmother soon came to believe that "the worst thing" Lori Vallow could have possibly done was given JJ Vallow up for adoption without ever telling anyone who he was given away to.
"We were growing and accepting that we may never see him again, but we never gave up hope," Larry Woodcock said. "We prayed. We, we, we got mad. We got every emotion you can think of wanting. JJ to be safe. But we also had many conversations and said: 'What if?' And so were we prepared for the blunt hands for that blunt answer? Maybe not. But, regardless, it hurt us. It tore up and that's been hard for us to live with all this time."
Jury selection in Lori Vallow's triple murder trial began Monday morning.
"I just want to stare her down and let her know that she's not winning this one," Kay Woodcock said.
Watch some key moments from the Woodcocks interview in the player below:
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story identified Charles Vallow as the Woodcock's son. He is Kay Woodcock's brother.
