Kay Woodcock and her husband, Larry Woodcock, took in J.J. shortly after his birth when his birth parents couldn’t care for him. When he was about a year old, Kay Woodcock’s brother, Charles Vallow, and his then wife Lori Vallow (later Daybell), asked to adopt the boy from the Woodcocks. The grandparents allowed for the adoption but requested and received permission to continue as grandparents to J.J. They spoke to the boy several times throughout the week and often more than once during the day until all contact with the boy went unanswered starting in August 2019. After not hearing from J.J. for several weeks, the Woodcocks asked Rexburg Police to do a welfare check on the boy in late November. When it was learned Vallow-Daybell lied about J.J.’s whereabouts, an interstate police investigation was launched.

The Woodcocks have led the effort to keep a spotlight on the case since J.J. was first reported missing.

On March 30, Vallow-Daybell’s lawyers, Jim Archibald and John Thomas, filed a motion asking the court to only allow relatives legally defined by law to attend. According to Idaho State code, “immediate family members are considered victims of homicides.” Idaho Code also denotes immediate family members to be “a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent or grandchild, and includes stepparents, stepchildren, stepsiblings and adoptive relationships.” It does not include aunts, uncles or cousins. Legally the Woodcocks are J.J.’s aunt and uncle.

KTVB reported that Archibald told Boyce that Kay Woodcock can’t be a “victim” in this case because she “isn’t a grandma.”

The prosecution vehemently argued about not allowing the Woodcocks to attend the trial because they also are witnesses.

In Boyce’s motion he noted that the Woodcocks didn’t meet the legal requirements of victims, but that they could serve as the “representatives” of J.J. Vallow. He also noted that J.J.’s adoptive father, the late Charles Vallow, was Kay Woodcock’s biological brother.

“For purposes of applying an exception to the exclusionary rule, the court cannot find that Kay Woodcock initially qualifies as a ‘victim,’” he wrote. “However, because a homicide ‘victim’ cannot assert rights for themselves, the Idaho legislature codified Idaho Code to extend the rights of ‘victims’ to the ‘immediate families of homicide victims.’”

Boyce designated Kay Woodcock to serve on J.J.’s behalf.

“In the interest of justice, the court finds it wholly appropriate to designate Kay Woodcock the representative for victim Joshua Jaxon Vallow in Charles Vallow’s stead,” he wrote. “As such, she qualifies to be excepted from the exclusionary rule for testifying witnesses and may observe trial testimony prior to any testimony she may offer.”

Boyce also noted that while Larry Woodcock doesn’t meet the definition of an “immediate family member,” he would be allowed to watch the trial when there isn’t any testimony being offered. After Larry Woodcock testifies, Boyce would allow him to observe the remainder of the trial.

Disappointed that the state code didn’t clearly, identify and protect the rights of family members, Boyce noted the situation showed the need to “designate representatives from the immediate family of victims in this case, which may have prevented much of the confusion surrounding this issue.”

Boyce is also allowing Summer Shiftlet, Vallow-Daybell’s sister, to attend and to serve as Tylee’s representative. Vallow-Daybell’s surviving son, Colby Ryan, also will be allowed to attend as he meets Idaho’s definition of immediate family.

Vallow-Daybell’s trial starts Monday in Boise.