Phoenix PD Detail How They Found Body Of Lori Vallow's Ex-Husband

PHOENIX — Phoenix Police Department records detail for the first time how investigators discovered the body of Lori Vallow Daybell's ex-husband.

On April 3, 2018, police found the 59-year-old man dead in his apartment. Joseph Ryan was the father of Vallow Daybell’s daughter, 17-year-old Tylee. Vallow and her new husband Chad Daybell are awaiting trial after investigators found human remains on Daybell's property that were later identified as belonging to 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, who had been missing since September 2019.

According to the police report, obtained by FOX 10, Ryan’s neighbor left his apartment and noticed his dog scratching at Ryan’s door. Then he smelled an odor. The police were called and Ryan’s body was found in bed in an advanced stage of decomposition. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner determined Ryan’s cause of death to be from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which hardens and narrows the arteries.

As next of kin due to their shared daughter, police officers notified Vallow Daybell 10 days after the discovery. According to the police report, she said she had not heard from her ex-husband in two years but that she would speak with Tylee about her father's death. Police have said Vallow Daybell is not under investigation for Ryan's death. Court records show that Ryan had previously accused his ex-wife of parental alienation and that she had been keeping his daughter from him.

On July 11, 2019, Alex Cox, Vallow Daybell’s brother, shot and killed her fourth husband Charles Vallow – claiming self-defense to Chandler Police. Cox died of natural causes in his Gilbert home in December. Vallow’s death is still under investigation and the Chandler Police Department has said they will be submitting charges against Vallow Daybell to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in the coming months.

Vallow Daybell is currently being housed in the Madison County jail in Idaho, facing two charges of conspiracy to conceal, destroy or alter evidence in connection to the deaths of her children. Daybell is also in jail, accused of two counts of concealment, destruction or alteration of evidence as well as two charges of conspiracy to commit those crimes. Police in Rexburg, Idaho are also investigating the death of Daybell's wife Tammy, who died two weeks before he and Lori Vallow were married in Hawaii.

Vallow Daybell's arraignment in district court is scheduled for August 27. Daybell's is set for August 21.