Lori Vallow Daybell’s sister speaks out following sentencing, shares tribute to Tylee Ryan
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IDAHO FALLS — Summer Shiflet was not surprised when her sister Lori Vallow Daybell was sentenced to serve life in prison without parole Monday and believes justice was served for Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.
Shiflet has not done any media interviews since her niece and nephew were found buried on Chad Daybell’s property in June 2020 and her sister was charged with killing them and conspiring to kill Tammy Daybell.
Shiflet spoke on Zoom with EastIdahoNews.com from her Arizona home hours after Lori Daybell read a statement at her sentencing and said Jesus Christ “knows that no one was murdered in this case.” A presentence investigative report was referenced at the hearing that reportedly said Daybell suffers delusional disorder with grandiose features.
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“I have known she’s been in this delusion for a while. It took me a long time to accept that and understand what was going on,” Shiflet explained. “I had never seen anybody with a delusion disorder before. I didn’t know how to process that or what it looked like (but) that’s about typical of most conversations with her. It’s about her faith and there’s never any acknowledgment of what actually happened. You can’t ever really get any answers so it leads to frustrating situations.”
Shiflet believes her sister started experiencing delusions in late 2017 or early 2018 but she “cherry-picked” different religious experiences to share with certain family members. During her statement Monday, Daybell stated that while giving birth to Tylee, she died, chatted with deceased family members and spoke with Jesus Christ before her spirit returned to her body.
“She has never once told me that she had a near-death experience when she was giving birth to Tylee and left her body and saw my sister Stacey,” Shiflet says. “That has never been talked about ever by her with us.”
Shiflet says parts of Daybell’s statement were true, such as the fact Tylee suffered from severe pancreatitis and was abused by her biological father Joseph Ryan, who died in April 2018. Colby Ryan, Daybell’s oldest son, has publicly spoken about the abuse.
GALLERY: Photos from Lori Vallow Daybell’s sentencing
The life sentence was “bittersweet” for Shiflet and her family but it’s what they expected, she says. She did not attend her sister’s sentencing but sent a victim impact statement to Judge Steven Boyce.
“I know from my own experience in writing to Lori and talking to Lori – she’s not open to hearing what I’m saying. She is not responsive to the things I’m saying. I knew anything I said there would fall on deaf ears to her,” Shiflet explains. “I wanted the judge to know how I felt for purposes in doing his sentencing.”
During the hearing, Kay Woodcock spoke about her grandson JJ Vallow. Memories and thoughts of Tammy were shared by her sister, Samantha Gwilliam, and aunt, Vicki Hoban. Shiflet says had she attended, she would have spoken about Tylee and read the following statement:
We knew on June 9, 2020 that this day would come. While we knew and tried our best to prepare for today, it has still been difficult and heartbreaking. I have lost a sister to a long, horrible illness, and I can honestly say that it is more painful to lose a sister in this way, to severe mental illness. And there are just no words to express the pain of knowing what happened to Tylee and JJ.
We heard some powerful victim impact statements and many of them captured great qualities about Tammy, JJ, and Tylee. Our hearts go out to all of the family members that have been hurt and affected by these crimes. A lot of people have inquired about Tylee and we would like to share some of our experiences with her. While words can’t do her justice, the beautiful girl that we know and love shines through our poor attempts to honor her.
Tylee Ashlyn Ryan was born Sept. 24, 2002. Making her my almost birthday twinner, as I was born Sept. 23 at 11:55 p.m. She was a tiny baby, just over 5lbs, and had beautiful dark hair. I lived in a different state, so I didn’t get to see her nearly enough, but when I did see her, she was a happy baby with beautiful pink cheeks, fierce blue eyes, and her hair had lightened to a soft golden blonde.
Tylee was extremely bright and learned how to do everything: rolled over, walked, talked, read, and many other things earlier than expected. She was a darling bright baby who laughed easily but hardest at Colby, who entertained her 24/7!
Tylee was a little mermaid. I remember visiting her at the age of 2, almost 3, and she got in the pool with no floaties and swam all around the pool. She was amazing!! I have never seen another child swim that early. But she loved the water, and she and Colby would swim as early as February when the water was too cold for everyone else, and swim into the later winter months. Later in life, Tylee also patiently helped JJ learn to swim when they lived in Hawaii.
Tylee was extremely clever, witty, and hilarious as a little girl, even from a young age. She adored her older brother, Colby like no other. Tylee’s mother had a hair salon built into the house, and Tylee saw her mom working on lots of clients. Tylee loved to get into her mother’s chair and get her hair done like a big girl.
Tylee had a happy life and a hard life. She was adored by her immediate family, especially her big brother, Colby, who saw her birth as the first step to “Texas sizing” their family! Her hardships included her father’s abuse of her and 7 episodes of pancreatitis — an extremely painful disease. Each time she had an attack, she was in the hospital for 10 days and would have been longer if Lori had not advocated for Tylee with her doctors. We all went to visit her through each attack and did all we could to show her love and support. Lori did the most. She spent every night with her each time and would not eat in front of her since she could not eat or drink for at least 8 days of her stay.
Tylee loved Lori more than anyone and Lori was right there helping her with schoolwork so she wouldn’t get behind, coming up with fun things she could do and arranging visits from school friends, church friends and family. Lori’s dedication as a mother was undeniable…Tylee was a straight A student most of her life. She did a science project that won a prize on tsunamis! She had a beautiful singing voice and was a very talented dancer. It was easy to see that she was a natural-born performer and we loved watching her shows.
Tylee learned to do expert makeup and loved trying new hairstyles. On a side note, I will forever miss hugging Tylee and smelling her hair, it always smelled so good and was so soft.
Tylee was very artistic. She could draw, design, do calligraphy and also had an incredible eye for photography! Her photographs are some of our most precious treasures, especially the beautiful pictures she took of little JJ. Tylee was funny, kind, but could also be bitingly sarcastic. She really came into her own when she turned 16.
She tested out of high school at college-ready levels in every subject; she got her driver’s license, and she took a job with my husband’s chiropractic office for her first job. She had a great interest in physical therapy and enjoyed her short time working with patients. She was so cute wearing her scrubs proudly every working day! To celebrate and honor all of these accomplishments, we did an all girls big celebration for her. We had so much fun and we were thrilled to celebrate her.
One of the most precious memories I have is the night Tylee spent at my house when Ryley was born. I will never forget her beautiful little face and the huge tears in her gorgeous blue eyes that rolled down her slightly pink cheeks and watching her shake with emotion when Colby texted her a picture of her first little niece. She said “she is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” It was instant love. It hurts my heart so much that Ryley and Ava will be deprived of being spoiled and played with by the most loving aunt they could ever have.
I know how much Tylee adored Colby and JJ. I wasn’t able to witness her relationships with her step brothers Cole and Zach as much, but I know her love and respect for them was present. When Charles was shot, Tylee was the one who pushed her mother to tell them. Tylee was also responsible for tracking down the kennel that Charles had placed Bailey in when he left Houston so that they could bring him home.
Tylee was a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She had great faith in her Savior Jesus Christ. She loved the Young Women’s program. She went to the temple frequently. The first time my daughter went through the temple, Tylee walked her through everything and was so sweet and patient with her. Tylee and my oldest son were only a year apart and had so much fun together. They both spoke sarcasm fluently and were such good friends. My youngest son, Tylee’s name sake, loved to banter with Tylee. My children also loved JJ and will ever be deprived of their special friendships with their cousins.
Tylee was sensitive, thoughtful, considerate, humble, generous, caring, and tough. She would have been the best mother, as she loved children. Her favorite color was a bright blue, she called it the color of Hawaii. Her favorite dessert was a no-bake cheesecake. I have yet to be able to make one without completely breaking down in tears as I think of that precious girl!!
Tylee loved the shows ‘The Office,’ ‘Friends,’ ‘The Bachelor’ and others. She loved music. She loved her friends and had so many fun times with them. Her friends truly loved Tylee and will have to live with this enormous hole in their hearts, and confusion as to why they had to lose their friend.
Tylee loved her mother above all and was protected by her mother most of her life. We know that only the severe mental illness that her mother has would be stronger than a mother’s love. Tylee and JJ both wanted to be with their mother more than anyone else. But after Lori met Chad Daybell, Tylee and sweet little JJ were served up on a platter like a lamb to the slaughter. There is no sense, logic, or explanation that will ever be satisfactory in their murders.
The world would have been a better place with Tylee in it. The world would have been a better place with JJ in it. We will always be grief-stricken over their untimely deaths and are beyond sad that they were betrayed by the very mother they loved. There are no excuses for Lori’s actions regarding Tylee and JJ; but we do see that she is mentally ill.
It’s such a tragedy that this beautiful bright girl and most precious little boy were murdered but that in no way reflects on the wonderful people the were and the many contributions that they were poised to make in this world.
