LORI VALLOW DAYBELL'S MOTHER AND SISTER SPEAK TO "48 HOURS" ABOUT THE DISAPPEARANCE OF VALLOW'S CHILDREN AND DEFEND THE IDAHO MOTHER IN THEIR FIRST NETWORK TELEVISION INTERVIEW

"The Missing Children of Lori Vallow Daybell"

Saturday, May 16

In their first network television interview, the sister and mother of Lori Vallow Daybell defend the Idaho mother and speak out to CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti about the disappearance of her children, in 48 HOURS: "The Missing Children of Lori Vallow Daybell" to be broadcast Saturday, May 16 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

It's a case that has gripped the nation. Vallow has been charged with two felony counts of child abandonment for the disappearance of her children, 7-year-old son JJ and 17-year-old daughter Tylee. Vallow never reported them missing. No one has seen the children in months. She's not talking about what happened, nor is her new husband Chad Daybell, who has not been charged with a crime.

Now, as a nationwide hunt for the missing children continues, Vallow's mother, Janis Cox, and her sister, Summer Shiflet, reveal theories on what may have happened, even whether the children could be hidden in a bunker somewhere out of sight.

"She would never harm her children," says Cox. "And I know her."

"I don't know all of her reasons for doing what she's doing," says Shiflet. "But I know she has ... has the reasons."

Police say the children disappeared in September 2019, shortly after the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho, from Arizona. Investigators say Tylee was last seen in Yellowstone National Park with her family on Sept. 8. Investigators say JJ vanished on Sept. 23, though Cox claims she briefly spoke with him on Oct. 1.

48 HOURS takes a close look at Vallow, who is at the center of investigations into her missing children and two suspicious deaths.

"Looking at these cases separately, you begin to see there is a common denominator," says Morgan Loew, a journalist and CBS News consultant. "And that common denominator is Lori Vallow. She has a dead husband ... she has two missing children. She has a new husband who has a dead wife. ... She is the factor that connects all of these separate cases together."

But where are the children?

"It's a great question," says Shiflet. "We would love to know the answer to that. We don't know. But ... we are very confident that Lori would never harm her children, ever."

Could they be in a bunker somewhere, Vigliotti asks Cox.

"I think that's possible," Cox tells Vigliotti.

In the hour, Vigliotti and 48 HOURS retrace the life of Lori Vallow Daybell through interviews with her family, friends, investigators and Dee Ann Carter, a member of Christmas Misery, a Facebook group that is dedicated to trying to find the children.

"When I think about their mother, Lori Vallow," says Carter, "it's hard to think of a good mother."

48 HOURS: "The Missing Children of Lori Vallow Daybell" is produced by Liza Finley, Richard Fetzer and Emily Wichick. Greg Fisher and Cindy Cesare are the lead development producers. Marlon Disla, Diana Modica, Joan Adelman, Greg Kaplan, Eric Modena and Jon Baskin are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

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