Lori Vallow Update: ‘Murder’ Audio Clip Brings Ex-Husband’s Death Into Question

After the surfacing of a new audio recording, the Phoenix Police Department is looking back into the death of Lori Vallow’s third husband.

Vallow is currently facing charges for the disappearance and deaths of her two children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow. However, Phoenix police are now reviewing the investigation into Joseph Ryan’s death, which was initially ruled a heart attack, according to USA Today.

“The Phoenix Police Department has been made aware of the information and is reviewing the 2018 death investigation of Joseph Ryan. No person of interest has been identified,” Mercedes Fortune, a spokesperson for the Phoenix Police Department, said in a statement.

The reexamining of the case comes after Ryan’s sister, Annie Cushing, released audio of Vallow talking about wanting to kill Ryan.

In the recording, Vallow appears to be telling friends that she considered killing Ryan because of their custody battle over their daughter Tylee, the Daily Mail reports.

“He was constantly trying to get custody of my 3-year-old daughter,” Vallow allegedly says in the audio recording. “If he comes against you once, if he comes against you twice, if he comes against you three times then you can kill him, it says it in the scriptures.”

Cushing claims Vallow’s conversation was recorded in October 2018.

“I was going to murder him. I was going to kill him. Like the scriptures say. Like Nephi killed. Just to stop the pain and to stop him coming after me and to stop him coming after my children. And I just thought I couldn’t take it anymore,” Vallow continued.

Although Nephi is a prophet in the Book of Mormon, those close to Vallow have claimed that her beliefs differ from traditional Mormon ideals.

The remains of Vallow’s kids were found in June 2020 on her fifth husband, Chad Daybell’s, Idaho property. Neither Vallow nor Daybell has been officially charged in the deaths of her children.