Murder victim Tylee Ryan’s remains to be returned to family

The remains of teen murder victim Tylee Ryan will be released to her family, an Idaho judge ruled Thursday.

The order comes before the pending murder trial of Chad Guy Daybell, charged with first-degree murder in her death and after her mother, Lori Vallow Daybell was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, among other charges. It is expected he will be on trial in 2024 where he could face the death penalty.

Her brother Joshua “JJ” Vallow’s remains were previously returned to family.

“It is hereby ordered that the body of Tylee Ryan may be released to her next of kin,” the order of district judge Steven Boyce states. Prosecutors and Daybell’s legal teams were also signed on the stipulation.

Investigators and prosecutors in Idaho used evidence gathered from the body in the Vallow Daybell trial. In trial testimony, jurors heard graphic testimony about the killing of Tylee and the autopsy of her burned and dismembered remains. Experts testified the cause of her death was homicide but the manner of her death was by unspecified means.

The release of her remains means that family will be able to bury them, a long wait since she went missing on Sept. 8, 2019.

Tylee was also the daughter of Joseph Ryan, Vallow Daybell’s third husband. He faced a bitter divorce from then-Lori Ryan and had a custody battle over Tylee. He died in 2018 of what was officially ruled a heart attack.

Tylee was last known to attend Perry High School in Gilbert, Arizona, in the spring of 2019. She moved to Idaho with Vallow Daybell.

She was last seen in Yellowstone National Park with Vallow Daybell, her late brother JJ and her uncle Alex Cox on Sept. 8, 2019, just days before her 17th birthday on Sept. 24.

Court documents reveal that Cox’s phone was pinged that day, first at a restaurant in West Yellowstone, Montana. Then Cox drove back to Rexburg, Idaho, arriving around 8:37 p.m. according to phone records.

His phone was tracked the next morning to an area on Chad Daybell’s property where her remains were later found.

Tylee’s obituary states: “She had a unique sense of humor. She loved her Jeep. She enjoyed grabbing Chipotle with friends. Simply a teenage girl growing into a young woman in Arizona. She did not want to move to Idaho initially, her best friend said. But she went forward with the move because of her little brother JJ. She wanted to protect him.”

During the trial of Vallow Daybell, law enforcement officials who worked the case detailed the condition of Tylee’s body when it was discovered in the backyard of Chad Daybell. It was described as burnt flesh and charred bone.