Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow's marriage and flight
Chad introduced Lori to his children the day after Tammy's
funeral. One week after Tammy's death, he also told Todd and Alice Gilbert that
he had found the woman he would marry. Days later, Chad brought Lori to meet
the Gilberts. Alice Gilbert described the situation as "awkward", with Chad and Lori laughing and giggling, and
being very affectionate to each other, more than Gilbert had seen Chad be with
Tammy. Chad also mentioned that Lori "recently
had a daughter who had passed away".
Chad told Tammy's sister, Samantha Gwilliam, that Tammy's
spirit had appeared to him at the cemetery and advised him to "move on". He also told
Samantha that he and Lori had bonded over their recently dead spouses and that
Lori had no children, so they would be "empty
nesters".
Chad and Lori were married in Hawaii on November 5, 2019,
two weeks after the death (not yet known by others to be a killing) of Tammy,
and two months after Tylee and J.J. were murdered (a fact also not yet known by
others, who did not even know that the children were missing). Apart from his
children, Chad did not inform his family beforehand. Chad's mother discovered
that he and Lori were married upon meeting Lori.
Investigators later found in Lori's Web history that she had
ordered a pair of wedding rings in August 2019, several months before Tammy's
death, and that she had searched for wedding dresses on the day of Tammy's
burial.
On November 26, police visited Lori's townhouse in Rexburg
for a welfare check on J.J. at the request of his grandmother – Charles
Vallow's sister, Kay Vallow Woodcock. A police detective initially found Chad
and Alex Cox at Lori's home. Both men acted suspiciously, with Alex Cox (not
knowing that it was Kay who had requested the welfare check) claiming that J.J.
was with his grandmother and Chad (whom the detective knew was married to Lori)
saying that he was a friend of Alex and that he "hardly knew" Lori. Police later reached Lori, who
claimed that J.J. was in Arizona with her friend Melanie Gibb. However, when
contacted by police, Gibb stated that J.J. had not been with her for several
months. That night, a neighbor observed Lori and Alex Cox packing a truck
outside her home. The following day, when the police and FBI arrived to search
the house, it was abandoned. Chad's home was also searched by investigators.
Lori and Chad returned to Hawaii, where they resided in a
gated community in Princeville on the island of Kauai, living off the money
Chad had received from Tammy's life insurance. While searching for a home in
Hawaii, Chad had written in an application that the couple had no children.
Investigations and
media coverage
Prosecutors in Idaho became involved in the case when police
requested a warrant for locating the Jeep from which Brandon Boudreaux had been
shot at in Arizona. On December 6, 2019, Melanie Gibb contacted the police,
revealing that both Lori and Chad had called her separately on November 26 and
had asked her to tell police that J.J. was with her. Police efforts to locate
J.J. led to the discovery that Tylee was also missing. A connection was made
between the investigations in Idaho and those in Arizona. Law enforcement
agencies intensified their inquiries about the children's whereabouts, as well
as Chad and Lori's departure from Idaho. It was also decided to further
investigate Tammy's death: her body was exhumed for an autopsy on December 11.
On December 20, the Rexburg Police Department announced that
the children were officially missing and asked the public's assistance in
locating them. Investigators expressed concern for the children's safety,
asserting that they were not with Chad and Lori and that Lori had refused to
cooperate with the investigation, opting to leave the state with Chad instead.
Police also announced that the children's disappearance could be linked to
Tammy Daybell's "suspicious
death". The next day, police said Lori and Chad were "persons of interest".
The case soon received national coverage, with family and
friends describing Chad and Lori's "cult-like"
beliefs in interviews and on social media posts. On December 23, 2019, the
Daybells released statements through a Rexburg attorney, who said that "Chad Daybell was a loving husband and
he has the support of his children in this matter", adding that Lori
was a "devoted mother" who "resents assertions to the
contrary" and that the "allegations"
would be addressed "once they have
moved beyond speculation and rumor".
Colby Ryan, J.J.'s grandparents Larry and Kay Woodcock, and
Chad's brother, Matt Daybell, issued messages asking Lori and Chad to return
the children. On January 7, 2020, the Woodcocks held a press conference in
Rexburg offering a $20,000 reward for the children's return or for any information
leading to them.
On January 25, 2020, after Lori and Chad were located in
Kauai, law enforcement agents served them with a court order requiring Lori to "physically produce" within
five days Tylee and J.J. to the Idaho Department of Welfare or to the Rexburg
Police Department. The next day, police seized the couple's rental car and
searched their rental townhome in Princeville, where they found Tylee's debit
card and J.J.'s iPad. Also on January 26, the Daybells were confronted over the
children's disappearance by East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton: they refused
to answer questions.
In February 2020, authorities focused on a storage locker in
Rexburg that had been rented by Lori in October 2019. They discovered
belongings linked to Tylee and J.J., including clothing, bikes, and
photographs. These items had been left behind when Lori abruptly left Rexburg
in late November 2019. Video footage captured Lori and Alex Cox moving items to
and from the locker before her departure.
Death of Alex Cox
On November 24, 2019, Chad Daybell gave Alex Cox a "patriarchal blessing", which
he had no standing to give in the LDS Church, saying that Alex had assisted him
and Lori "in ways that can never be
repaid". Chad called Alex a prophet and a hero and predicted he would
have a future as a "messenger of the
Lord". The recording of this "blessing"
was later found by investigators on Lori's iCloud account.
Alex Cox died on December 12, 2019. His death was attributed
to blood clots and high blood pressure.
The day before his death, Cox had been informed by Lori and
Chad that Tammy Daybell's body was going to be exhumed. Zulema Pastenes later
testified that Cox had told her he was worried about being Lori and Chad's "fall guy".
Arrests and criminal
charges
Lori's arrest
On February 20, 2020, Lori was arrested in Hawaii by the
Kauai Police Department. On March 5, she was extradited back to Idaho.
Lori faced charges in Madison County, Idaho, including two
felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, as well as
three misdemeanors. Her bail was initially set at $5 million, but was later
lowered to $1 million after her extradition to Idaho. In May, Lori appeared in
court in Rexburg to request a further reduction of her bail, which was denied.
Multiple local bond companies were reportedly unwilling to work with her.
After Lori's arrest, Chad returned to Idaho. He tried to
convince the Gilberts to put their home up for bond to get Lori out of prison,
claiming that Jesus had given him this idea. When Alice Gilbert asked him about
the children and confronted him on what he had said about Lori's daughter being
dead, Chad answered that it was a custody issue. He added at some point that
Tylee "didn't like people"
and did not like him, using the past tense.
Discovery of the
children's remains and Chad's arrest
On June 9, police found human remains buried in unmarked
graves in the backyard of Chad's home during a search of the premises. The
bodies were located in an area the Daybell family called the pet cemetery, as
it had been used to bury their cats and dogs. As the property was being
searched, Chad phoned Lori in jail to warn her about the situation. After
police found and began to unearth the bodies, he tried to drive off from the
scene, but was chased down and apprehended. He was arrested for obstruction or
concealment of evidence. The next day, his bail was set at $1 million.
Authorities had decided to search Daybell's property after
tracking Alex Cox's cell phone. On September 9, 2019, the day after Tylee's
last verifiable sighting, Cox's phone had pinged in the middle of the night at
Lori's home, then in the morning at Daybell's home. In the morning of September
23, the day after J.J. was last seen; Cox's phone had again pinged at Daybell's
property. The FBI also intercepted a September 9 text conversation between Chad
Daybell and his wife: Chad told Tammy he had shot a large raccoon after finding
it in their backyard that morning, and buried it in their "pet cemetery". Investigators found that suspicious, as
raccoons are normally nocturnal animals.
On June 10, the Woodcock and Ryan families confirmed that
the human remains found on Chad's property were those of Tylee and J.J. This finding
was officially confirmed by Rexburg police on June 13. Tylee's body was burned;
her hands had been cut off and her bones were fractured in several places, from
which forensic examiners deduced that someone had attempted to dismember her.
J.J.'s body was wrapped in plastic; unlike Tylee, he had been buried with great
care, under rocks and wooden planks.
It was determined that J.J. had been asphyxiated with a
plastic bag and duct tape over his mouth. Due to the state of her remains,
Tylee's cause of death could not be determined and was ruled a "homicide by unspecified means". Tylee's
DNA was found on a pickaxe and a shovel seized at Daybell's home. Alex Cox's
fingerprints and Lori's hair were found on the plastic and duct tape on J.J.'s
remains.
In August, Chad Daybell was excommunicated by the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the basis of his religious teachings,
which the media has later described as a "doomsday
cult".
Charges
On July 2, 2020, prosecutors dropped two charges against Lori
related to desertion and nonsupport of dependent children, and instead charged
her with obstruction or concealment of evidence regarding her children's
remains.
On July 17, in light of the two felony counts against Lori
having been dropped, her bond was lowered by Madison County judge Michelle
Mallard. The bond was set at $50,000 for each charge, totaling $150,000. It was
further noted that Chad would still need to post $1 million in Fremont County
to be released from jail.
On May 25, 2021, Chad and Lori were indicted on charges of
conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for the deaths of Tylee, J.J. and
Tammy, as well as grand theft by deception regarding the children. Lori was
also charged with grand theft related to her children's Social Security Survivor
benefits. Chad faced an insurance fraud charge related to Tammy's life
insurance policy.
In June 2021, Lori was indicted by a grand jury in Maricopa
County, Arizona, on one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for
the death of Charles Vallow. Police documents read:
The evidence shows
that Charles' death was a planned event and necessary to prevent Charles and
others from confronting Lori about her extreme religious beliefs when he came
to town... The death of Charles Vallow was also necessary in order for Chad
Daybell and Lori Vallow to marry and fulfill their religious prophecy.
In July 2021, prosecutors in Maricopa County decided not to
prosecute Chad Daybell in connection with the death of Charles Vallow, citing "no reasonable likelihood of
conviction".
In September 2021, Chad Daybell's children issued a
statement defending their father's innocence and claiming he had been "fooled in the worst, most deadly way
possible" by Lori Vallow.
In 2022, Lori was indicted by a grand jury on one count of
first-degree premeditated murder related to claims that she conspired with her
brother to kill Brandon Boudreaux. Prosecutors believe that Lori hoped to
access Boudreaux's money through her niece.
Trials
Idaho
A jury trial for the Madison County charges against Lori was
initially set for January 25–29, 2021. On May 27, 2021, Lori was found
incompetent and unfit to stand trial, and her case was stayed. On April 11,
2022, she was deemed competent to stand trial after mental health treatment. On
October 6, 2022, after Lori's attorney filed several motions, Judge Steven W.
Boyce issued an order indicating the case was suspended until her competency to
stand trial could be determined. On November 16, she was once again found
competent.
Lori and Chad both pleaded not guilty to all charges in
Idaho. Their cases were split in March 2023, at Chad's request. The reasons
were that Chad had waived his right to a speedy trial and his attorneys said
they needed more time to review DNA evidence. Chad's attorneys also cited the "mutually antagonistic nature of the
defendants' positions". Since Lori had not waived her right to a swift
trial, the court ruled that her case would proceed as planned.
Lori
On March 21, 2023, the judge removed the death penalty from
Lori Vallow Daybell due to newly uncovered DNA evidence, discovered too close
to the trial to be tested and admitted into court.
Lori Vallow Daybell's trial began on April 3, 2023, in
Boise, Idaho. She did not testify in her own defense. Her lawyers did not call
any witnesses, while the prosecution called about 60 people to testify.
In the light of the evidence that pointed to Alex Cox's
direct involvement in the murders, prosecutors stated that Lori Vallow Daybell
had "groomed" and "manipulated" her brother to
participate in her crimes. Lori's sister Summer Shiflet testified that Alex had
suffered brain damage in a car accident and that his decision-making was "stuck at a teenage level".
Zulema Pastenes said that Alex was entirely under the influence of Chad and
Lori, who had convinced him that he was a reincarnated warrior of God and that "the only reason he had come to Earth
was to protect Lori". In his closing argument, Lori's attorney Jim
Archibald depicted her as being under Chad Daybell's psychological control.
On May 12, 2023, Lori Vallow Daybell was found guilty of all
criminal charges. On July 31, 2023, she was sentenced to consecutive life
sentences without the possibility of parole for, respectively, the murder of
Tylee, the murder of J.J., and the conspiracy to commit murder charge of Tammy,
in addition to fines and restitution for the grand theft charges.
Judge Boyce said that Vallow Daybell had murdered her
children to "remove them as
obstacles and to profit financially", by choosing "the most evil and destructive path possible" and going
down "a bizarre, religious rabbit
hole" to justify their killings.
Before her sentencing, Lori made her first public statement
since her arrest. She said that she had been speaking to Jesus, as well as to
her children and to Tammy, and that Tylee, J.J. and Tammy were "happy and extremely busy" in
heaven. She also stated: "Jesus
Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen,
suicides happen, fatal side effects from medications happen."
Chad
On November 9, 2023, Chad Daybell's legal team filed three
motions to remove the death penalty in his murder trial. The final motion
stated that Lori had "manipulated"
Chad "through emotional and sexual
control" and that Chad had "lesser
culpability than his co-defendant, who did not face the death penalty".
The motions were denied in December.
Chad Daybell's trial opened on April 10, 2024. In his
opening statement, prosecutor Rob Wood depicted him as a man motivated by "sex, money and power" and
craving for significance, who saw his spouse and Lori's children as obstacles
to his rightful destiny. Chad's attorney John Prior painted him as a religious
man who had been "lured"
into an inappropriate relationship by Lori Vallow: his statement also focused
on Alex Cox's history of violence and his role as "Lori's protector".
On May 16, Chad's defense team filed a motion for acquittal
after it appeared that an amended indictment had incorrectly listed J.J.
Vallow's death as having occurred between September 8–9, 2019, instead of
September 22–23. Judge Boyce ruled that this clerical error was not ground for
acquittal.
Two of Chad's children, Emma and Garth, testified in their
father's defense and said their mother had been experiencing health problems
and "was getting tired extremely
easily". On the contrary, three former colleagues of Tammy Daybell
said that she seemed healthy and energetic up until the day before her death.
Tammy's sister also testified that Tammy had seemed fine when she visited her
on October 14, 2019.
Chad did not take the stand. During the closing arguments,
prosecutor Lindsey Blake summarized the evidence that pointed to Chad's crucial
role in coordinating and giving a religious justification to the murders. Prior
painted Lori and Alex Cox as the true culprits, stating that Lori had been
motivated by greed, that she had manipulated Chad all along and that Chad would
likely have been her next victim.
On May 30, 2024, the jury found Chad Daybell guilty of first
degree murder and conspiracy in the deaths of Tammy, Tylee and J.J. He was also
found guilty of grand theft by deception related to the children's killing and
of insurance fraud related to Tammy's. The Woodcocks expressed their
satisfaction at the verdict. Larry Woodcock commented, about Chad and Lori's
crimes: "What did they accomplish?
Nothing. What did they do? They destroyed families." It was confirmed
that the prosecution would seek the death penalty for Chad.
At his sentencing hearing, Chad chose not to present any
mitigation evidence. On June 1, 2024, he was sentenced to death. For the
insurance fraud charges, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, each to run
concurrent to death and to the restitution of $130,000 plus $300,000. Since
Chad had been deemed indigent, no fines were added to the insurance fraud
sentence.
Tammy Daybell's extended family, Matt and Heather Daybell,
as well as the Boudreaux, Cox and Shiflet families issued statements expressing
their relief at the end of the trials and their thoughts for the victims, and
praising the work of law enforcement, prosecution team, judge and jurors.
Arizona
In November 2023, Lori was extradited to Arizona to face her
two conspiracy charges there. She pleaded not guilty to both. In February 2024,
her trial was scheduled to begin on August 1 of the same year, though the judge
mentioned that it might be moved at a later date due to the amount of evidence
to process. In June, Lori's defense team in Arizona filed a motion requesting a
delay for the trial. Lori objected and continued to assert her right to a
speedy trial. On July 2, the lawyers' request was granted and the trial date
was moved to February 24, 2025.
In October 2024, Lori's attorneys made a request for a
competency hearing. One week later, Lori requested to waive her right to
counsel and act as her own lawyer. At a December 5, 2024 hearing, Lori was
deemed by a doctor to be mentally fit and competent to stand trial. The judge
also granted Lori's request to represent herself. Lori said at the hearing that
she had "real trial experience"
and had been studying case law since her incarceration.
The court decided that the Charles Vallow case and the
Brandon Boudreaux case would be tried separately. The judge moved again the
trial date for the Charles Vallow conspiracy case, this time to March 31, 2025.
Scheduling for Lori's trial on the charge of Brandon Boudreaux's attempted
murder will take place after the conclusion of the first trial.
Depictions in the
media
In 2020, Investigation Discovery released the three-episode
documentary series entitled Doomsday: The Missing Children, which contained
first-hand accounts of JJ's grandparents Larry and Kay Woodcock, Lori's brother
Adam Cox, and former KPHO-TV reporter Kim Powell.
In 2021, Lifetime Movie Network released a dramatization of
the Lori Vallow story as a made-for-TV movie titled Doomsday Mom, also marketed
as Doomsday Mom: The Lori Vallow Story, starring Lauren Lee Smith as Lori
Vallow, Marc Blucas as Chad Daybell, Linda Purl as Kay Woodcock, and Patrick Duffy
as Larry Woodcock.
In 2022, Netflix released the three-episode documentary
series entitled Sins of Our Mother, mostly centered from the perspective of her
surviving child and Tylee's older brother, Colby.
The story of the case was the subject of the 2022 book When
the Moon Turns to Blood by investigative journalist Leah Sottile.
Notes
In late 2019, two
weeks before his death, Cox married Zulema Pastenes in Clark County, Nevada,
and according to their marriage certificate changed his legal name upon
marriage from Alexander Lamar Cox to Alexander Lamar Pastenes.
Daybell has been
known by a variety of legal names, including Lori Norene Cox and Lori Norene Ryan.
She is referred to as both Lori Norene Vallow and Lori Norene Daybell in court
filings. She has commonly been referred to as Lori Vallow Daybell in the media
during the investigation. Daybell's attorney submitted a court motion in March
2021 that her legal name is Lori Norene Ryan Vallow Daybell. Included in the
motion was Lori and Chad Daybell's marriage certificate from Hawaii, which
states her new legal name as Lori Ryan Daybell.
Preparing a People is
a doomsday preparation-focused series of events organized by a Mormon
multimedia company called Color My Media. The stated goal of these events is to
"prepare the people of this earth
for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ". Chad Daybell, a keynote
speaker for the event, gave lectures for the group on several occasions
The phrase "Church of the Firstborn" is
used in the Doctrine and Covenants to refer to the people sealed up in the end
times. It has since been used as the name of various Mormon groups; some of
them splinter from the LDS Church.
Melani was born
Melani Cope. She later changed her name to Melani Boudreaux during her marriage
to her first husband, Brandon Boudreaux. After marrying her second husband, she
changed her name to Melani Pawlowski.
Tylee was last seen September 8, 2019, at Yellowstone
National Park. Authorities believe Tylee died around September 9, 2019, in
Rexburg, based on location data on the cell phone of her uncle Alex Cox.
J.J. was last seen on
the evening of September 22, 2019, at his mother Lori Vallow Daybell's Rexburg
home. The next day, Lori told friends that J.J.'s uncle Alex Cox had taken the
boy to his apartment. Authorities believe J.J. died around that time frame
based on location data on the cell phone of his uncle.
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