Medical Examiner: Lori Vallow’s Brother Died From Natural Causes
May 8, 2020, 6:10 PM | Updated: 6:41 pm
The FBI is asking anyone who visited Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 8, 2019, to submit photos and videos that may show missing children Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow. They were reported at the park with their mother, Lori Vallow, and their uncle, Alex Cox. (Photo provided by the FBI)
(Photo provided by the FBI)
PHOENIX, Ariz. – Officials with the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner said Alex Cox, Lori Vallow’s older brother, died from natural causes.
Cox was found dead on Dec. 12, 2019, in Gilbert, Arizona. Officials listed “Bilateral Pulmonary Thromboemboli” — a blockage of arteries in the lung caused by blood clots in most cases — as the primary cause of death.
Medical Examiner Lesley E. Wallis said high blood pressure and a build-up of cholesterol plague were contributing factors in Cox’s death and a blood clot was found during an autopsy.
Cox’s family released a statement confirming the results on Friday, saying they found comfort in the medical examiner’s findings.
“In interviews with many news agencies, the family stated numerous times what they knew to be true — Alex’s death had no sinister aspect,” they said. “With a degree of vindication, the family hopes that the confirmation of this truth will help all to step back, take a breath and allow the truth to unfold through the process.
“Rampant rumors of evil plots and conspiracy robbed the family of their time to grieve the loss of their husband, son, brother, and uncle. Even so, the family finds comfort in the medical examiner’s finding that Alex Cox died of natural causes.”
Arizona police were still investigating the death of Charles Vallow, Lori Vallow’s former husband.
According to police, Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Cox after a confrontation on July 11, 2019.
Cox claimed he fired in self-defense and Gilbert police said they previously considered his death suspicious.
Cox’s death came one day after authorities exhumed the body of Tammy Daybell in Springville.
Daybell died on Oct. 19, 2019, but officials deemed her death suspicious and an autopsy was performed after her body was exhumed.
Her husband, Chad Daybell, and Lori Vallow remarried on Nov. 5, 2019, in Hawaii.
Vallow’s children, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan were reported missing in December and were last seen in September.
Vallow was arrested in Hawaii on Feb. 20 and subsequently extradited to Idaho, where she faces felony charges of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children.
On May 1, an Idaho judge denied a request from Lori Vallow’s attorney to lower her bail during a two-hour hearing.
