February 24,2020
Lauren Steinbrecher on Twitter
Lauren Steinbrecher
@LaurenSnews
JJ'S NANNY: Lori Vallow-Daybell contacted her through
http://care.com. She went to Lori's townhome Sept. 18. "She was very welcoming and gave me a hug. Their home was clean and had a picture of a temple on the wall." (con't)
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JJ'S NANNY: "She explained to me, as we watched JJ play outside with the neighbor kids, some of his tendencies. He gets emotional easily, frustrated, distracted, has difficulty communicating with others, but can follow orders if you look at him right in the eyes."
JJ'S NANNY: "She explained to me how they recently moved here from Arizona. Her husband had just died of a heart attack and how JJ doesn't quite understand the situation. Lori said how she and her husband adopted JJ and that he was her nephew."
JJ'S NANNY: Lori Vallow-Daybell talked to nanny about Tylee: "Her daughter also lives in Rexburg and is going to college. She said her daughter doesn’t like to babysit JJ without being paid so she wanted me to work for her."
JJ'S NANNY-- What Lori said about Tylee: "Occasionally her daughter would come visit for dinner or to do laundry, but she never said that she lived there with them. It appeared that only Lori and JJ lived there, from the look of things and from what she told me."
JJ'S NANNY: "My overall impression of her was that she was kind but seemed stressed out being a newly widowed mom alone with her autistic son."
JJ'S NANNY: Nanny came back Sept. 19 to babysit JJ. "When I walked inside, she mentioned how she was waiting for her brother to come and leave with her to the airport. She said she was going to the Idaho Falls airport. She said her brother also lived here in Rexburg."
"[Lori] mentioned how if she got home later to give JJ his medicine right before bed because it makes him tired fast. She joked about how she liked that because some days when he was extra tough for her to handle, she would give him his meds and have him go to bed early..."
"...to give her a break. Then her brother came over and was quiet, just said hello and then they left. JJ was upset about her leaving and went into the garage. I followed him to make sure he didn’t block the garage from closing."
JJ'S NANNY: Says after Lori left, JJ went to play with neighbor kids. Nanny fed him dinner. JJ tried to leave during dinner. "Lori said she had to put on 2 locks because sometime JJ escapes." Eventually JJ went back to friend's townhouse to play.
"...He threw the chair from their wooden table down, flipped the ottoman over by their couch, and then ran upstairs. I let him cry for a bit, hoping he would calm down, but he didn’t. I felt I should check on him to make sure he wouldn’t hurt himself or break anything..."
"...I quickly found him under the bed in his mom’s room. He also had a room upstairs but from what I remember it just had toys in it and no bed. Lori’s room appeared normal, she had a large bed, bathroom, and it looked clean. Although something kind of strange..."
"...something kind of strange was that there was a small mattress in the corner where JJ slept. It was pretty thin, the size of a twin mattress, with sheets and a pillow. There was a mirror hanging above the mattress in the corner, as JJ ran up from under the bed..."
"...he went toward the mirror and knocked it off the wall. Hoping it didn’t break glass all over the mattress, I picked it up. While doing so he ran back downstairs. As I went back downstairs, JJ was still upset and said his mom wouldn’t want me to come over again..."
"...that he hated me, and didn’t want to be my friend. Shortly after this freak out his mom, her brother, and the friend walked in from the garage. The mom calmed JJ and asked me what happened. I explained the situation and she babied him..."
JJ'S NANNY: Said it was "overwhelming the amount of love" Lori showed JJ after his breakdown. Nanny met Lori's friend Lori picked up from airport, a woman who did podcasts with Lori. "I didn’t see a suitcase, so I don’t think she was staying that long."
J'S NANNY: Lori thanked Nanny and paid $40 cash. "From what we had talked about yesterday that was what she seemed to be needing, was nearly daily assistance from me. This was the last day I saw JJ and Lori."