GILBERT, Ariz. — We’ve seen tribute after tribute in the city after city for two children with ties to the valley, found dead in Idaho last week.
After months of searching, investigators found JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan’s bodies in their stepfather Chad Daybell's backyard. Chad, along with the children's mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, are both behind bars.
The news, rattling JJ's school community in Arizona.
"Upset, sad, heartbroken," says his teacher Nicole Rapp. "I never thought this in a million years."
Before Lori moved the children to Idaho in early September 2019, JJ was enrolled for more than two years at Lauren's Institute for Education in Gilbert.
JJ was pulled from school in August 2019 after Chandler Police say Lori’s brother killed her then-husband Charles Vallow, JJ’s father. His death is still under investigation.
The kids went missing for months after the move to Idaho until they were found last week, buried in Daybell's backyard.
At this point, Lori is charged with deserting her children while Chad is charged with concealing evidence. Investigators say more charges are expected as they continue investigating.
"JJ deserved a lot better," adds Julia Allen, another one of his teachers.
The teachers and staff who had contact with Lori Vallow and her then-husband Charles says they never noticed any red flags for nearly two years.
"She was a great parent," Rapp says. "She was on top of it with the school. She would drop him off every day."
Until August 2019, what would be JJ’s last day in the classroom.
"His very last day with us he came in very angry," Allen says. "The whole day he kept saying 'My dad’s not dead. My dad’s not in heaven. My dad’s just traveling he’s not in heaven.'"
School staff says Lori told them Charles died by suicide but they later found out it was Lori’s brother who shot and killed Charles. And that wasn’t the only lie Lori told them. When she pulled JJ out of school at the end of August, she said she took a new job and was moving the family to California.
As his teachers wait for answers in the ongoing investigation, they held a tearful tribute Friday. They read JJ a book one last time and released balloons in his memory.