Joshua “JJ” Vallow, the missing 7-year-old autistic child, was found playing in the front yard in the doorbell camera footage of his Rexburg, Idaho, home. The newly released footage dates back to Sept. 17, days before the disappearances of Joshua and his sister, Tylee Ryan, 17.

Joshua was reportedly last seen on Sept. 23 at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg. His mother, Lori Vallow, withdrew him from the institution the next day saying she would homeschool him. Tylee was last seen on Sep. 8 in Yellowstone National Park, East Idaho News reported.

Lori moved into the Idaho house with her kids on Sept. 1. Neighbors told police Joshua used to play with their children.

The siblings’ disappearances prompted Rexburg Police Department to question Lori and her present husband Chad Daybell during a welfare check on Nov. 26. The woman told them Joshua was staying with a family friend in Arizona but the investigators later found it was a lie.

Police were using surveillance camera footage from nearby places to sequentially arrange the events leading up to Joshua’s disappearance. Earlier this month, Lori was seen on surveillance camera visiting a storage facility in Idaho which she began renting from Oct. 1. The facility was found to be accommodating many of her children’s belongings.

Lori was arrested on Feb. 18 by Hawaii police for not complying with a court order to turn in her children to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare within Jan. 30. She was facing several charges, including two counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, against a $5 million bail bond. She was scheduled to appear in court on March 2.

Missing case
A bag to collect forensic evidence is seen as the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner hosting DNA Extraction demonstration to unveil groundbreaking technology in New York, on Sept. 6, 2018. Getty Images/ANGELA WEISS