(NewsNation) — In an exclusive interview Friday on NewsNation’s “Banfield,” Megan Eyden, the cousin of so-called Doomsday Mom” Lori Vallow, discussed the ongoing trial, a “separation” in the family and a powerful influence on the personality of the murder suspect.

Eyden is first cousin to Vallow. The brother of Vallow’s mother, Janis Lee Cox, is Eyden’s father.

Their families were together every summer in California. In fact, Eyden and her family used to call the Vallows the “Disneyland family” because they were in California.

During the year, they would write each other all the time. And then when they grew up, at about 19 years old, they actually lived together. Vallow and Eyden lived together in Austin, Texas.

They had a falling out because things started to change, but Vallow still served as Eyden’s bridesmaid.

Eyden is now estranged from the family. For the last three years, she said she has really tried, for the most part, to refrain from listening to all of the media coverage surrounding Vallow’s murder case.

“A lot of it has been speculation, of course,” she said. “And so it’s pretty difficult to, you know, to hear everybody trying to talk about what they think happened and not really know. So until the trial started, I really stayed for the most part out of it. And I think most of my immediate family has done the same as well.”

Vallow, 49, is a beautician by trade, a mother of three, and a wife — five times over. She’s pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and grand theft charges in the deaths of her two youngest kids and her new husband’s previous wife.

“I really didn’t pay attention to what was going on in the courtroom until the actual trial started,” Eyden said. “And I didn’t really get involved in listening to any of the preliminary hearings or any of the preliminary evidence that was offered.”

Eyden said, “For my own mental health, I really had to just come to terms with the fact that I was not optimistic about the children being found alive.”

She said she had to process that grief herself and once police executed a search warrant at Chad Daybells’s home, where they discovered the remains of Vallow’s children buried in a purported pet cemetery, she “completely turned everything off.”

Eyden said she tuned out details of the case until a couple weeks before the trial started.

The last time that she saw Vallow’s daughter, Tylee, she was probably 3 years old, Eyden said. And she was never able to meet Vallow’s adopted son JJ.

Vallow’s mother and her sister have really been the only ones who’ve talked out about the case; the other brothers and the rest of the family haven’t said much.

Jurors heard recently about the death of Vallow’s fourth husband. The couple was estranged when Charles Vallow was shot and killed outside his Phoenix, Arizona-area home by Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox. Cox claimed the shooting was self-defense and was never charged in connection with the death. He later died of what was determined to be natural causes in December 2019.

“All I can tell you is that for sure there was a rip in the family when Charles was killed,” Eyden said. “There was part of the family that believed that Alex acted in self-defense and there was a part of the family that believes that he did not. And that definitely was a separation in our family. And I think that sort of continues … somewhat today.”

Eyden said the thing she wrestles with the most is “that if her immediate family had been willing to hold her (Vallow) accountable and hold Alex accountable at that time that the kids might still be alive.”

“I know that Adam (Adam Cox, brother of Vallow) did try really hard to advocate for Charles and to try and get his story out there and to the police, to law enforcement,” Eyden said. “And the family really ripped him apart for that because they wanted to protect Alex and Lori from consequences. And I think that’s the crux of where all of this comes down to …nobody wanted to hold Lori and Alex accountable.”

Eyden said the family wanted to keep it quiet and wanted to try to explain it away and make sure they didn’t face any consequences.

“There’s just a lot of dysfunction in the entire family system,” Eyden said. “There’s a lot of secrecy, there’s a lot of shame, there’s a lot of manipulation and control. I think there’s some mental illness. But, you know, by all accounts, and from my own experience, I can tell you that, you know, Lori’s dad has been a big factor in her personality and in the way that she has turned out”

Lori’s dad, Barry Cox, is the most powerful influence, Eyden says, in Vallow becoming the person that she is.

“Anybody who has dug into his history a little bit will tell you that he definitely believed he was above the law,” Eyden said.

According to Eyden, he has tried to sue the IRS, always talked about how the IRS is an illegal organization that should be dismantled, and then served prison time for tax evasion.

“I think the most pervasive thing that ran throughout the family system was this concept that Barry talked about called the lower 95, where he believes that 95% of the population are stupid, sheep, unattractive people. And he and his family are in the upper 5% who are smarter than everybody more intelligent, more exceptional, more beautiful. And certainly that plays into a lot of Lori’s personality.”