Chad and Lori Daybell have been in Hawaii for a month in gated million-dollar community

KAUAI, Hawaii – Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell likely spent Sunday night at the Kauai Beach Resort after local police served them with a search warrant and seized their rental SUV.

But the Daybells, who have been in Hawaii since mid-December, have been staying at a home in Princeville, a community 16 miles north of the resort where they were pulled over.

Many homes in the Princeville Resort, a gated community, cost millions of dollars and Lori Daybell had been renting a unit on Queen Emma’s Drive. Neighbors who spoke with EastIdahoNews.com say they rarely saw the couple and were unaware of the investigation surrounding Lori’s missing children, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow.

EXCLUSIVE: Daybells served with search warrants in Hawaii

The townhome police searched Sunday night that Lori and Chad Daybell had been renting. | Eric Grossarth, EastIdahoNews.com

Police have not said if anything was found or taken from the Princeville home or the couple’s SUV.

Law enforcement from eastern Idaho remained in Kauai on Monday but declined to release further information on the investigation. Besides the search warrants, Lori Daybell was served with a court order Saturday demanding she have her children at the Rexburg Police Department or Idaho Department of Health and Welfare by Thursday or she could be arrested for being in contempt of court.

Sean Batholick, an attorney for Chad and Lori, told EastIdahoNews.com he had no comment on the latest developments.

More on the Daybell case

It’s not clear exactly why authorities chose now to approach the Daybells. Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries did confirm the timing of the warrants had nothing to do with the investigation into the death of Tammy Daybell, Chad’s former wife.

On Sunday, some media agencies reported Chad Daybell’s family had been given a copy of Tammy’s autopsy report. However, Humphries says the autopsy results are still pending, and that no one has seen them.

RELATED: The major players and timeline of events in the disappearance of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan

Lori’s former sister-in-law, Kay Woodcock, says she had guessed the Daybells were in Hawaii but was not sure until she saw video of EastIdahoNews.com approaching them at the Kauai Beach Resort.

It is Lori’s favorite place on the island, according to Woodcock, and in February 2019, Lori and Tylee checked into the resort after Charles Vallow, Lori’s husband, filed for divorce. They stayed for around a month, according to resort workers, and then returned to the mainland.

Woodcock was surprised when she learned last summer that Lori was moving to Rexburg.

“She is a very cold-natured person. When she moved to Idaho, I thought that was extremely unusual because if it’s below 80 degrees, she’s cold. She’s got a jacket on,” Woodcock tells EastIdahoNews.com.

After Lori and Chad were served with warrants Sunday, they refused to answer questions posed by EastIdahoNews.com for nearly three minutes. Lori carried the warrant in her hand along with a gallon sized Ziploc bag containing a wad of cash.

“Maybe they were headed to the airport to get out,” Woodcock says, wondering if suitcases were in their vehicle.

The Daybells kept a low profile on Kauai on Monday, but many people on the island were discussing the case after EastIdahoNews.com’s video went viral and multiple news agencies around the world aired the footage.

Woodcock and her husband, Larry, booked airline tickets and will be in Rexburg later this week. They hope Lori Daybell shows up with Tylee and Joshua.

“The only way we’ve been able to get through this is we have very strong faith in God,” Woodcock says. “We have a very strong support army of friends and family and everybody that has emailed or texted – plus perfect strangers that are so compassionate.”