A woman who Lori Vallow hired to take care of her seven-year-old son JJ says the mother abruptly stopped answering her text messages the day after the boy disappeared last September along with his older sister Tylee.

The nanny, who asked to remain anonymous, provided FOX13 with a copy of the statement she gave to police this week as a multi-state search continues for JJ and Tylee.

The children were last seen in Idaho over five months ago but were never reported missing by their mother, who was arrested in Hawaii last week on charges of child abandonment and desertion.

In her statement the nanny described the two consecutive days she spent with JJ and Lori after the mother reached out to her about babysitting the seven-year-old.

She said that after the second visit, Lori told her that JJ was going to spend a month with his grandparents - which she later discovered was a lie.

A woman who Lori Vallow hired to take care of her seven-year-old son, Joshua 'JJ' Vallow (left), says the mother abruptly stopped answering her text messages the day after the boy disappeared last September along with his older sister Tylee. The children were never reported missing by their mother Lori, who was arrested in Hawaii last week on charges of child abandonment and desertion. Lori is pictured in her mugshot (right)

Police are still searching for Tylee, 17, and JJ, seven, who went missing over five months ago

JJ was last seen at his elementary school in Rexburg on September 23, a day before his mother withdrew him and told administrators she would be homeschooling him.

Doorbell camera footage recorded at a neighbor's house appeared to show JJ playing in his front yard on September 17.

Tylee was last seen on September 8 at Yellowstone National Park on a day trip with her mother, uncle and JJ.

Police recovered a photo of Tylee in the park from Lori's iCloud account and said there's been no sign of the 17-year-old since.

Timeline of JJ and Tylee's disappearance July 11: Lori Vallow's husband, Charles Vallow, is killed by her brother, Alex Cox, in Arizona August: Vallow moves children JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, Idaho September 8: The last time Tylee was seen on a day trip to Yellowstone park September 23: The last time JJ was seen at his school in Idaho October 19: Chad Daybell's wife Tammy dies at their Idaho home October 25: A friend of Tylee receives a text from her phone November 5: Vallow and Daybell marry November 26: Out-of-state relatives ask Idaho police to perform a welfare check on JJ. Vallow and Daybell claim he is in Arizona with relatives. Police also learn Tylee has not been seen since September, either November 27: Police execute a search warrant at Vallow and Daybell's home, discovering the couple have fled Idaho December 11: Tammy Daybell's body is exhumed from the Utah cemetery December 12: Vallow's brother, Alex Cox, believed to have died in Arizona December 21: Police issue a press release about JJ and Tylee, revealing they believe their disappearance is linked to Tammy's death December 24: Vallow and Chad issue a statement through an attorney saying they love their son and daughter and look forward to addressing 'allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor' December 30: Police accuse Vallow and Chad of lying to investigators and say they believe the couple know where the kids are or what happened to them January 26: Vallow and Chad are seen for the first time in months as police serve two search warrants in Kaua'i January 30 Vallow misses court deadline to produce the children to authorities Advertisement

In her statement to police, the nanny wrote that Lori had responded to an ad she posted on the babysitting site Care.com and the pair began exchanging text messages.

On September 18, Lori asked her to come over for an interview 'to see if I could handle watching JJ since he has autism', the nanny wrote.

She described Lori as 'well put together and happy', and said the mother was 'very welcoming and gave me a hug'.

'Their home was clean and had a picture of a temple on the wall,' the nanny wrote.

'She explained to me, as we watched JJ play outside with the neighbor kids, some of his tendencies.

'He gets emotional easily, frustrated, distracted, has difficulty communicating with others, but can follow orders if you look at him right in the eyes.'

The nanny said Lori mentioned how the family had recently moved to Rexburg from Arizona after her husband, Charles Vallow, died from a heart attack, adding that 'JJ doesn't quite understand the situation.'

Months later when the search for JJ and Tylee made national headlines, the nanny learned that Charles had actually been fatally shot in the chest by Lori's brother, Alex Cox, who himself died in December.

Lori also talked about her daughter Tylee, the nanny said, and claimed that the 17-year-old didn't live at the home but would sometimes visit for dinner or to do laundry.

'It appeared that only Lori and JJ lived there, from the look of things and from what she told me,' she wrote.

Lori's charging documents indicated that the mother had told people Tylee was attending Brigham Young University's Rexburg campus, but detectives determined the teen was never enrolled there.

At the end of the visit Lori asked the nanny to come watch JJ for a few hours the following day when she went to the airport to pick up a friend.

'I told her I was available and could come over,' the nanny wrote.

She added: 'My overall impression of her was that she was kind but seemed stressed out being a newly widowed mom alone with her autistic son.'

The last known footage of JJ, recorded on a neighbor's security camera, showed the seven-year-old playing outside his home in Rexburg on September 17

When the nanny returned the following day, instructed her to give JJ his medicine right before bed in the event that she came home late because 'it makes him tired fast'.

'She joked about how she liked that because some days when he was extra tough for her to handle, she would give him his meds and have him go to bed early to give her a break,' the nanny wrote.

She said Lori's brother Alex came over to the townhome and the pair left together.

She said JJ was upset that Lori left but calmed down quickly.

He then went outside to play with some other kids, before getting into an argument with one of them that sent him into a meltdown.

'He started crying and screaming. I tried to calm him down, distract him with a show, tell him how sometimes people need a break, and how he needs to share,' the nanny wrote.

'He threw the chair from their wooden table down, flipped the ottoman over by their couch, and then ran upstairs.

'I let him cry for a bit, hoping he would calm down, but he didn't. I felt I should check on him to make sure he wouldn't hurt himself or break anything so I went upstairs. I quickly found him under the bed in his mom's room.

'He also had a room upstairs but from what I remember it just had toys in it and no bed. Lori's room appeared normal, she had a large bed, bathroom, and it looked clean.

'Although something kind of strange was that there was a small mattress in the corner where JJ slept. It was pretty thin, the size of a twin mattress, with sheets and a pillow.

'There was a mirror hanging above the mattress in the corner, as JJ ran up from under the bed he went toward the mirror and knocked it off the wall.'

On September 18, Lori asked the nanny to come over for an interview 'to see if I could handle watching JJ since he has autism', she wrote in her statement to police. JJ is pictured in 2018

Soon after Lori returned home with her brother and the friend they'd picked up from the airport.

'The mom calmed JJ and asked me what happened. I explained the situation and she babied him…' the woman said.

'It felt a little overwhelming the amount of love she was showing him instead of trying to teach him and calm him.'

Lori paid the nanny $40 in cash before she left the home.

'From what we had talked about yesterday that was what she seemed to be needing, was nearly daily assistance from me,' she wrote. 'This was the last day I saw JJ and Lori.'

Five days later the nanny reached out to Lori about watching JJ again.

'She responded to me that JJ was with his grandparents for a month and that she was in Hawaii,' the nanny wrote.

'She said in about a month, when they come back, that I could work again.'

JJ's grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, have said that the last time they saw JJ was over FaceTime in August.

It wasn't until around Halloween that the nanny followed up with Lori and asked if she needed help caring for JJ - but the mother never replied.

'I thought it was pretty weird that they just up and left for a month and didn't need me to work ever again after just hiring me,' the nanny wrote.

'I assumed she must have really needed a break from JJ I guess, and I left it at that. That was the last time I ever communicated with Lori.'

JJ's grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, have said that the last time they saw JJ was over FaceTime in August

Authorities began searching for the children in late November after performing a welfare check ordered by concerned relatives who said they hadn't spoken to JJ, who is autistic, in months.

When officers first went to Lori's home in Idaho on November 26, she told them that JJ was visiting relatives in Arizona - which investigators say was a lie.

Officers returned the following day and found that Lori and the man she married weeks earlier, Chad Daybell, had fled from the home.

Authorities say the couple have repeatedly lied about where JJ and Tylee are and refused to cooperate with the investigation.

It has since emerged they had told people Tylee was dead and that Lori has no minor children.

Lori and Chad were named persons of interest in the children's disappearance after investigators said they believe the mother knows where her children are or what happened to them.

The couple issued a statement after they went on the run insisting that they'd done nothing wrong.

Police have said there is reason to believe the children are in danger.

Lori's estranged husband Charles Vallow (pictured together) was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in Arizona on July 11

Chad's wife Tammy Daybell (pictured together) was found dead under mysterious circumstances in October, just two weeks before he married Lori

The case captured nationwide attention with the revelations that police are also investigating three mysterious deaths linked to Lori and Chad, as well as family members' claims that the couple are members of a dangerous doomsday cult.

The first death is that of Lori's estranged husband Charles Vallow, who was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in Arizona on July 10.

Charles and Lori had gotten into an argument when the father came to pick up JJ at the mother's home in Chandler.

Lori's brother intervened and fatally shot Charles.

Lori's brother Alex Cox (pictured) died under mysterious circumstances on December 12

Police initially determined that he acted in self defense - but the case was reopened amid the multi-state search for JJ and Tylee, who had moved to Idaho, where Chad lived, with their mother in August.

The second mysterious death was Tammy Daybell - Chad's previous wife - who was found dead at the couple's home in Salem, Idaho, on October 19.

An obituary stated that Tammy passed away in her sleep and her cause of death was ruled as natural after Chad reportedly declined an autopsy.

Investigators reopened the case after learning that JJ and Tylee were missing, as their mother had married Chad just two weeks after Tammy died. They believe the two cases could be linked.

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

On December 12, Lori's brother, Alex Cox, was found dead in Gilbert, Arizona.

The 51-year-old's death is now under investigation as police wait for an autopsy to determine the cause.

Police are seen frisking Lori before she was taken into custody outside her Kauai apartment

As officers prepared to take Lori away in a patrol car, her Doomsday author husband Chad Daybell (right) watched helplessly

Police tracked Lori and Chad down in Princeville, Hawaii, late last month and served the mother with a court order requiring her to physically produce the children to authorities in Idaho by January 30.

Lori failed to meet the deadline and was arrested last Thursday in Kauai.

She is currently jailed in lieu of $5million bail as she awaits extradition to Idaho, which officials say could take up to 90 days.

She is due to appear in court on March 2 for the next step in the extradition process.