GILBERT, Ariz. — The brother of Lori Vallow, the mother of two missing children with Arizona ties, died in Gilbert last year of natural causes, according to a medical report released Friday.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner says Alex Cox, 51, died last December due to a blood clot. The report says the FBI and Gilbert Police were involved in the examination.
In early September 2019, Lori Vallow moved her children, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old JJ Vallow to Rexburg, Idaho from Arizona. Court records show Cox rented an apartment near Lori in Rexburg, Idaho last fall.
The FBI says Tylee was last seen on a family trip to Yellowstone National Park on September 8th. Photos show she was with Lori, Alex and JJ inside the park. JJ disappeared days later from Rexburg.
Before the children disappeared, Chandler Police say Alex Cox shot and killed Lori's estranged husband Charles Vallow inside their Chandler home in July 2019. Cox told police he shot Charles in self-defense, but Chandler Police are still investigating what happened.
“I got in a fight with my brother-in-law and I shot him," Cox said calmly during a recorded 911 call on the night of the shooting.
Cox has also been linked to the attempted shooting of another family member shortly after the children's disappearance.
Brandon Boudreaux, the estranged husband of Lori's niece, was shot at in front of his Gilbert home in October 2019. He told police he thought Cox pulled the trigger but missed.
"He is at least circumstantially implicated in the disappearance of Tylee and JJ and he seems to be kind of the family hit-man," said private investigator Rich Robertson, who is still working on the case for Brandon Boudreaux's family and for Kay and Larry Woodcock, JJ's grandparents.
Lori Vallow is currently being held in the Madison County Jail in Idaho under $1 million bond on charges of felony child desertion.
Read the medical examiner's report below:
