REXBURG, Idaho — Editor's note: You can watch Lori Vallow's bond reduction hearing on 12 News' Facebook or YouTube pages.
Where are the kids?
It's a question that's loomed for months after Tylee Ryan, 17, and JJ Vallow, 7, disappeared in September 2019.
Their mother, Lori Vallow, is in a jail in Rexburg, Idaho, charged with two counts of felony child desertion.
After postponements due to COVID-19, Vallow finally appeared Friday for a bond reduction hearing at the Madison County Courthouse.
After a nearly two-and-a-half-hour hearing, the judge denied the request to lower Vallow's to between $150,000 and $250,000.
In court paperwork, Vallow's attorney Mark Means says "new facts" should call for a bond reduction in his client's case.
Means argued that Vallow has been treated much differently within the Madison County jail and that his conversations with the prosecution were unduly recorded.
The judge ruled that Vallow's constitutional rights remain upheld, and while Means' accusation is troublesome, he lacked evidence to prove it and is not pertinent to a bond reduction hearing.
Vallow's bail remains at $1 million.
12 News confirmed Vallow has been working with bail bond companies, but hasn't been able to reach a deal.
If she does bond out of jail, the court has strict guidelines she'll have to follow, like wearing an ankle monitor and limiting her travel to certain counties in Idaho.
Her bond was originally set to $1 million after Vallow's first court appearance in Idaho on March 6.
This case started to unfold in Arizona in July 2019. Chandler Police say Vallow's estranged husband Charles Vallow was shot and killed by her brother, Alex Cox.
Originally, Cox told police it was self defense, but police are still investigating the case and, in April, confirmed that Vallow was considered an "investigative lead."
In early September, Vallow moved the children from Arizona to Rexburg, Idaho. Tylee was last seen on a family trip to nearby Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 8 and JJ was last seen at his new school in Rexburg on Sept. 23.
In November, Vallow married Chad Daybell, a Rexburg doomsday author.
Daybell's wife Tammy, died just weeks earlier. Idaho investigators are still looking into her cause of death.
In April, documents obtained by East Idaho News show the Idaho Attorney General is investigating both Chad and Vallow for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in Tammy's death.
"Why the sudden marriage to Chad?" Keith Morrison asks Melani Pawlowski, Lori's niece.
"I can't answer why they got married quick," Pawlowski says. "I don't know if - both being able to share that common ground of being a recent widow...I can't speculate."
Investigation documents show Pawlowski moved to Rexburg near her aunt in November, after the kids disappeared.
"Did you ever see Tylee and JJ?" Keith Morrison asked her in an interview for Dateline.
"When i moved up there, I did not see them," Pawlowski replied.
Morrison pressed to see if she asked where they were.
"I'd ask Lori," Pawlowski said. "You know, I wasn't close with Tylee during her teenage years. She was very independent. So if Lori, you know, said she was with friends, I just believed her."
Back in Arizona, Melani Pawlowski is currently in a custody battle with her ex-husband Brandon Boudreaux.
Court documents from that case detail how Melani was at one point worried about the children and that Lori said they were "zombies" that might need to die.
Both Melani and Brandon are listed as witnesses to appear in court for Vallow's preliminary hearing. That's still scheduled for May 7 and 8, but a request has been submitted to postpone it.
You can watch the Dateline NBC special Friday, May 1 on 12 News starting at 8 p.m. followed by a breakdown from Vallow's bond hearing on 12 News at 10 p.m.
RELATED: VIDEO: Lori Vallow’s estranged husband tried to have her mentally evaluated 6 months before he died