The body of Lori Vallow’s 16-year-old daughter had been gnawed on by an animal and hacked with a tool before her severely burned remains were discovered buried in an Idaho backyard, the doomsday cult mom’s trial has heard.
FBI forensic anthropologist Angi Christensen, who examined Tylee Ryan’s skeletal remains, testified Wednesday that there was evidence of ‘carnivore activity’ on the back of one of the girl’s legs.
Tylee’s pelvis area had also suffered several ‘sharp traumas’ that were inflicted by a tool that likely had a point or bevel on it, Christensen testified, according to the East Idaho News.
Some of those sharp trauma puncture marks went all the way through the bone, the forensic expert testified, adding that a number of the bones also appeared to have been bent around the time of death.
Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, are accused of murdering Tylee and her 7-year-old brother J.J. Vallow after they vanished in Idaho in September 2019.
The children’s remains were discovered buried in a shallow grave in Daybell’s backyard a year later.
Tylee’s cause of death was ruled a homicide by unspecified means because her remains were so badly burned and decomposed by the time they were found.
Prosecutors have previously argued that Tylee’s remains were so burned that investigators initially weren’t sure they’d found a body until a skull was located.
Meanwhile, her younger brother’s autopsy showed he had been asphyxiated with a plastic bag and duct tape over his mouth, the medical examiner told jurors.
J.J.’s body also had scratch marks on his neck and bruises on his wrists and ankles where he was bound with duct tape, Warren added.
Vallow is on trial for the murders of her children, as well as Daybell’s ex-wife, Tammy Daybell.
Prosecutors allege Vallow and her husband were motivated to kill by their belief in a ‘doomsday’ religious cult, as well as ‘money, power and sex.’
The couple are also accused of collecting life insurance money and Social Security cash related to the three deaths.
The trial is still months away.
