Mother shares 'chilling' experience of asking Lori Daybell where her children are

IDAHO FALLS -- Ursula Berliner will never forget her encounter with Lori Vallow Daybell. It was short, on an airport shuttle in Maui and an experience Berliner describes as "chilling."

The Oregon mother had just landed in Hawaii with her husband and daughter last week when they made their way to pick up a rental car. As they boarded the shuttle, she recognized Lori and Chad from stories she had seen in the news. Lori’s children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and his sister, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, have not been seen since September.

"Chad was really recognizable but Lori looked a lot different than the pictures I had seen," Berliner tells EastIdahoNews.com. "She was dressed in black, heavy clothes and it was 80 degrees outside. She had big bags under her eyes. I had eye contact with her and she just looked like she felt untouchable - like she knew people would recognize her and it didn’t bother her."

Berliner said her heart "sank to her legs" and she was concerned the Daybells may be on the run from law enforcement. After getting off the shuttle, she tried to call police but she couldn't get a cell phone signal. The couple went inside to rent a vehicle while Berliner remained outdoors with her family.

"I had just read that she had been talking to a friend and told her all the speculation around them was media hype that she was waiting for it to die down," Berliner recalls. "I wanted to have an exchange with her where she knew it wasn’t just the media and the police who were watching for them or cared about the children - that there are parents all over, just like me, who see her and are watching her. People who aren’t going to stop looking for the children."

Berliner says Lori looked right at her through the glass and Berliner mouthed the words, "I see you. Where are your children?"

"I’ll never forget the look on her face. She kind of shrugged and raised the corner of her mouth and eyebrow and she wanted me to know she knows where they are," Berliner says. "I really wanted to say something but it was a scary situation. There’s a lot of death around the case and my husband was really nervous about me making a scene."

Berliner and her family got into their rental car and drove away. She sent her photos to the Rexburg Police Department and detectives referenced them in court documents as proof that the Daybells did not have Lori's children with them.

Two days after Berliner's encounter, the Daybells returned to Kauai and on Thursday, on two counts of desertion and nonsupport of children, resisting and/or obstructing an officer, solicitation and contempt.

"Part of me was hoping I would see them again. I just don’t want them to fall out of view but also I hope I never see them again. It was just an awful exchange with her," Berliner says.

Видео Mother shares 'chilling' experience of asking Lori Daybell where her children are канала East Idaho News