The doomsday-obsessed mother of two children who have been missing for months was arrested Thursday in Hawaii.
Lori Vallow, 46, was nabbed on a $5 million warrant from Madison County, Idaho, after she missed a Jan. 30 court-ordered deadline to bring the kids to authorities, the Kauai Police Department said in a statement.
The children, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, have been missing since September, according to the Rexburg Police Department in Idaho.
Authorities have been searching for them since November, when a relative called for a welfare check on Joshua, who is special needs, at the family’s home in Rexburg.
Family members have expressed concern that a doomsday group that the kids’ mother is affiliated with may have played a role in their disappearance.
Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, the kids’ stepdad, have allegedly refused to cooperate with authorities and were tracked to a Hawaiian resort last month.
Police said there was no indication that the children were on the island of Kauai.
Vallow reportedly joined the group, Preparing a People, then wed Daybell, a Latter-day Saints author who has penned several books about the end of the world, around the same time the kids vanished.
Authorities have said their disappearance may be tied to the death of Daybell’s first wife, 49-year-old Tammy Daybell. She was found dead in her home in October, weeks before Chad married Vallow.
Vallow was charged with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children. She also faces charges of resisting or obstructing police officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court, among others.
She will have the opportunity to waive or fight extradition to Idaho at yet-to-be-set court date.