THE husband of 'cult' mom Lori Vallow has claimed she can't just come out and say where her missing kids are, it's been claimed.

Chad Daybell apparently spoke out hours before he was seen leaving Hawaii while his wife remains behind bars.

5 Author Chad Daybell seen leaving Hawaii late last night Credit: The Mega Agency

5 Joshua 'JJ' Vallow, seven, and Tylee Ryan, 17 have been missing since September Credit: Universal News & Sport (Europe)

The claims come from a woman who says she bumped into Daybell at a thrift shop in Kauai on Thursday afternoon, The Sun Online has learned.

She told a local on the island she spoke to him for around three minutes and grilled him about why Vallow hasn't revealed the whereabouts of her children.

The woman said she asked: "Couldn't Lori get out of jail if she just said where the kids are?"

He is then said to have replied: "It isn't that easy."

Daybell then told her he was moving back to Idaho "soon" to support Lori, it's claimed.

He is also said to have moaned that his wife's legal battle has been turned into a "media circus."

Vallow, 46, was arrested in Hawaii on two counts of child abandonment after failing to comply with an order to produce Tylee Ryan, 17, and her seven-year-old adopted son Joshua 'JJ' Vallow by January 20.

5 'Doomsday Cult' mother Lori Vallow was arrested on Tuesday in Hawaii Credit: AP:Associated Press

5 Tylee Ryan has not been seen since she went to Yellowstone with her mom in September Credit: Facebook

On Wednesday, she appeared in court in prison uniform during a failed bid to get her $5million bail reduced to $10,000 pending her extradition back to Idaho.

Vallow and her doomsday author husband, whom she married weeks after her children went missing, fled Rexburg in late November, hours after police began asking questions about the kids.

Police say the couple has refused to cooperate with investigators and have repeatedly lied about where the children are.

They hit the headlines following revelations cops are also investigating the mysterious deaths of both of their previous spouses and Lori's brother.

Lori's brother Alex Cox died on December 12 at a home in Gilbert.

His death is being probed and the results of an autopsy to determine the cause have not yet been released.

A search warrant uncovered earlier this month suggested he may have been under investigation for homicide in connection with the fatal shooting of Lori's estranged husband Charles Vallow.

Charles, who filed for divorce months earlier, had gone to Lori's home in Chandler, Arizona, to pick up JJ, the couple's adopted son, when they got into an argument that turned physical.

Cox told police that he intervened and Charles hit him with a baseball bat. He then went to get his gun and shot Charles two times in the chest.

'Cult mom' Lori Vallow appears in court for the first time as bail is set at $5million in missing kids case

Police initially determined that Cox acted in self-defense, but the investigation was reopened amid a multi-state search for JJ and Tylee.

Weeks after Charles' death, Lori moved her children from Arizona to Idaho, where her soon-to-be husband Chad lived with his then-wife Tammy.

Tammy was found dead under mysterious circumstances on October 19.

The 49-year-old's death was initially ruled as natural causes but an investigation was opened after police learned about Chad's quick marriage to Lori while searching for her kids.

Tammy's body was exhumed on December 11 and the results of her autopsy have not yet been released.

Lori is scheduled to appear again in court on March 2 for an identity hearing - the next step in the extradition process which could take up to 90 days.

Her husband Chad sat in the public gallery during the hearing but refused to answer reporters' questions outside the court.

The court appearance came as new details emerged of the last-known whereabouts of Lori's missing children, revealed in an affidavit filed two days before the arrest by Rexburg Police Detective Ron Ball.

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Tylee was last seen on September 8 when police believe that Lori took her on a day trip to Yellowstone National Park, which straddles the border between Idaho and Wyoming.

Police say that they have a photograph, taken from Lori's iCloud account, of Tylee at the park entrance.

JJ was last seen at school in Rexburg on September 23.

The documents reveal the last known footage of the seven-year-old, recorded on a neighbor's security camera, showed him playing outside his home on September 17.