Lori Vallow Was Once in a Much Brighter Spot

Former beauty pageant contestant was a 'Wheel of Fortune' winner
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2020 10:34 AM CDT
Updated Mar 15, 2020 1:15 PM CDT
Lori Vallow Was Once in a Much Brighter Spot
From left, Larry Woodcock, Kay Woodcock (the grandparents of Joshua Vallow) and Brandon Boudreaux attend the hearing for Lori Vallow Daybell in Rexburg, Idaho, on March 6.   (John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool)

With bail bondsmen refusing to work with her, Lori Vallow remains jailed in Idaho on charges of felony child abandonment, obstructing an officer, solicitation of a crime, and contempt of court, all related to the disappearance of her children, Tylee Ryan, 17, and Joshua "JJ" Vallow, 7. It's a far cry from Vallow's days in the spotlight some 15 years ago. As Oxygen.com reports, Vallow won $17,000 on Wheel of Fortune in 2004, shortly before strutting across the stage in the Mrs. Texas beauty pageant. In video footage of the pageant, an announcer mentions Vallow's third husband, Joseph Ryan. Like several others linked to Vallow, Ryan—the father of Tylee—is now dead. The FBI has asked Phoenix police for information on his 2018 death from an apparent heart attack, per AZFamily.com, which reports Ryan was cremated.

A family member claims Vallow received money from Ryan's life insurance policy despite her describing him as "evil" and claiming "God took care of him." Vallow also claimed "God told her she was going to be on Wheel of Fortune before she auditioned," Ryan’s sister tells Inside Edition. Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, had previously been convicted of attacking Ryan with a stun gun and threatening to kill him. Cox shot and killed Vallow's fourth husband, Charles Vallow, in July 2019. On Oct. 2, months before he was discovered dead, Cox may have also fired a bullet at Brandon Boudreaux, the husband of Vallow's niece, from a vehicle registered to Charles Vallow, reports the East Idaho News. That same month, Vallow married current husband Chad Daybell, whose wife had died in her sleep two weeks earlier. That death is also under investigation. (Much more here.)

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