What Did Lori Vallow Accuse Husband Joseph Ryan Of, According To 'Sins Of Our Mother'?

Joseph Ryan is one of the several spouses connected to the Lori Vallow case, as seen in the new Netflix docuseries “Sins of Our Mother." While Vallow has become known for her marriage to doomsday author Chad Daybell — and her alleged involvement in the shooting death of her fourth husband Charles Vallow — she also had a rocky relationship with her third husband, Joseph Ryan.

“Sins of Our Mother” explores some of the lesser known details of Lori Vallow and Joseph Ryan's marriage.

Vallow has been charged in connection with the murder of her two children Tylee Ryan, 16 — Joseph Ryan's daughter — and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7 — Charles Vallow's son. Both children’s remains were discovered in 2020 on an Idaho property owned by Daybell. 

Daybell has further been accused of killing his then-wife Tammy Daybell, who was found dead in the former couple’s home in October 2019 — shortly before he wed Vallow. And Vallow has additionally been indicted with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the 2019 killing of her fourth husband Charles Vallow, who was shot by her now-deceased brother Alex Cox.

Cox, who later died of an apparent pulmonary embolism, had also attacked Ryan while he and Vallow were married. During a 2010 standup routine — included in both the new docuseries and previously uncovered by the Daily Mail — he talked about tasing Ryan in the groin, a 2007 incident for which he served three months in Texas after being convicted of aggravated assault. 

As the docuseries shows, Cox believed that Ryan had molested Vallow’s children. Court records from 2008 obtained by Law&Crime reveal that a social worker reported that Tylee Ryan, then 5, alleged that her father molested her.

"I found out that my ex-brother-in-law was a pedophile,” Cox said in the footage obtained by the docuseries, by way of explaining his attack.

Vallow’s son, Colby Ryan — her child with second husband, William Lagioia, who Ryan later adopted — also noted in the doc that Ryan, who he called "Joe," started off being a “sweet person” in the beginning. But, Colby claimed, as he came to be a larger part of the mother and son's lives, he became physically abusive.

Colby alleged that Ryan began sexually abusing him when he was just 8.

As the docuseries shows, Vallow had expressed that she thought about killing Ryan over the alleged sexual abuse.

Ryan died in 2018 of an apparent heart attack, but his death was recently reopened after investigators because suspicious of other spousal deaths involving Lori and Daybell, KTVB reported last year. Phoenix Police concluded that he did indeed die of natural causes.

Colby Ryan was charged with the sexual assault of a woman in Mesa, Arizona over Labor Day weekend 2022, according to the Arizona Republic.