IDAHO FALLS - Two key people tied to Lori Vallow Daybell are speaking about their relationship with her, Daybell’s missing children (Joshua “JJ” Vallow and Tylee Ryan), the death of Daybell’s brother (Alex Cox) and other events that have come to light over the past few months.
Melani Pawlowski is Daybell’s niece. She married Ian Pawlowski last November and lived next door to Daybell in Rexburg during the time her children were missing. Melani is currently involved in a custody dispute with her ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, regarding their four children. Brandon was shot at in October and believes Cox, his ex-wife’s uncle, was the shooter.
The major players and timeline in the disappearance of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan
The Pawlowskis now live in Arizona and spoke with EastIdahoNews.com via Zoom on Saturday - the day after Cox’s autopsy report was released showing he died of natural causes.
Below is a transcript of the first part of their interview. It has been lightly edited for clarity. On Monday, we will post the rest of the interview including questions about JJ and Tylee, Lori and Chad, the Pawlowski’s religious beliefs and why they are speaking out now.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE AND THE LATEST STORIES ON THE CASE
Nate Eaton, EastIdahoNews.com: The first thing I want to ask, Melani and Ian, is your reaction to the autopsy results which came out Friday concerning Melani’s uncle, Alex Cox. What did you think when you heard the news?
Melani Pawlowski It was relieving but we weren’t surprised. We knew that it would be natural causes. We had no reason to think anything otherwise. I think it was just a comfort like, finally, this part is over and it’s one more stepping stone to just keep revealing truth. And then the second half of the day, (Gilbert Police) say it’s still under investigation. It feels like every time we get a little bit of good news, there’s a little bit of drag too, but overall, just relief and comfort to be in the right direction.
Eaton: You mentioned that police are still investigating and there is going to be people watching that still don’t believe the results or say there’s something more here. What do you say to them?
Melani: You post truth out there and people have already made up their minds and decided. Ian made a bad joke saying, ‘Did they test for all the invisible poisons?’ People will still think whatever speculation or rumors or whatever they want to believe even when it’s right in front of their face.
When Tylee and JJ show up and are here again, I don’t know if people would even believe it. They still go on with their own…it’s still they’ve done something bad and a lot of people have already made up their minds.
We just want to come on and share what we do know and share truth and hopefully keep getting opportunities where more people will be open to that and be able to listen.
Eaton: Melani, Alex was your uncle and a lot of people have thrown questions out there as to why he died. Was this just a big coincidence? Did you think there might be something more here?
Melani: There was absolute shock when I got the phone call from Zulema Pastenes (Alex Cox’s wife) and she was telling me (he had died). I had spoken with Alex earlier that day and he seemed okay, but I knew the week before he was having trouble. He was, overall, a pretty healthy guy, but stubborn. He wouldn’t do regular checkups and was just was a tough guy.
I was going to bring him some of his stuff because he had moved down to be with Zulema and he had said, ‘Let’s not meet up halfway. Let’s wait. I’m not feeling very good.’ That was big for him to say that because he never would say that he wasn’t feeling good.
The week before he said he had tightness in his chest and trouble breathing. He said he had bent down to get a water bottle and took the breath out of him. I was absolutely worried and was like, you need to get to the doctor. And he was like, ‘No, no, no, I’m fine.’
So that morning, I called him and Ian was at work. He was somebody I could kind of just - you could tell him anything. He’s like a vault. I was just openly telling him about things in my new marriage, things that were, challenging or things that were going really well and he was just my best friend at that point. He shared some things that I just felt I needed to write them down when he started talking to me.
Find the entire story here: www.eastidahonews.com/2020/05...