Doomsday Cult Couple Kills Their Families.. The Vallow-Daybell Cult Murders

For months, no one heard or saw a 16-year-old girl and her 7-year-old little brother. And no one could get a straight answer out of their mother about where they were. Can you tell me where your kids are? Where are your kids? No comment. No comment? They've been missing for four months. You have nothing to say? Did you do something to your children? Are your children still alive? Their mother had gotten remarried and was living it up in Hawaii while the rest of the world was searching for her two children. And by the time this mother was tracked down in Hawaii, her two children weren't with her. Where are your kids? Just tell us where your kids are. Within one year of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell meeting, six people in their lives would be dead. The case of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell is a case that didn't just grip the nation, but it gripped the entire world. A case involving multiple murders, a doomsday cult, and even zombies. She thinks she's a resurrected being and a god. She said, you're not Charles. I don't know who you are, what you did with Charles, but I can murder you now with my powers. I'm basically a ticking time bomb. This one is going to be a lot, so I'm wasting no time here. My name is Brianna, and I'm hot on the case. Lori Vallow was born Lori Cox on June 26, 1973. She was the second youngest with four other siblings and her family was raised in California. Growing up, the family was really normal and they were always really, really close. Lori was that stereotypical, beautiful, blonde cheerleader. She was always very popular in school and was definitely the kind of girl that cared a lot about what other people thought of her. Growing up in a very religious Mormon household, Lori was always the perfect Mormon girl. She went to church with her parents every single week. She followed all of the rules, you know, like waiting till marriage. And Lori would get married. Five times, actually. And she got married the first time straight out of high school to her high school boyfriend, and she was the first one to get married. And the moment that Charles met Lori, he was instantly in awe of her. He converted to Mormonism for her. He got really, really close with her entire family. He was practically best friends with one of her older brothers. And he just supported and loved her and her two children. And everyone that knew him said that Charles was that one-of-a-kind kind of guy. He was extremely kind, but he was also very, very genuine. And Lori really seemed like a grandchild. And she was a great mom. She did all of the fun things to make sure that her children were going to have this super magical and memorable childhood. And together, they seemed like a very happy, affectionate couple. And in 2012, after being married for six years, Charles and Lori expanded their family by one more. Joshua Jackson, or better known as JJ, was born on May 25, 2012. He was the biological son of Charles' nephew and his nephew's girlfriend. Unfortunately, they didn't get married. They both really, really suffered with substance use and addiction and were not able to provide and raise little JJ. Charles Vallow's sister and brother-in-law, Kay and Larry Woodcock, were raising their biological grandson, JJ, while he was an infant. But eventually, Charles and Lori offered to adopt little JJ. Charles had two older sons of his own. By the time that he met and married Lori, his kids were already teenagers. Now they were out of the house. And by this point, Lori's oldest son, Colby, he's older. He's off at college. And she has Tylee. But Tylee is about nine at this time. So now, Charles and Lori have a little baby of their own. A little baby in the family. And they really, really felt like their family was complete now. The family spent some time in Hawaii before settling down in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. And by all accounts, they were a very happy, loving family. But things would change. And they would change very quickly. Lori Vallow had always been extremely religious and dedicated to her Mormon faith. But there was a very sudden, drastic, concerning switch in her beliefs. Lori Vallow seemingly out of nowhere became obsessed with the second coming, doomsday prophecies, and dark spirits, and the end of the world. And a lot of this interest seemed to come from one of Lori's newest favorite authors that she just became. obsessed with. And this author was named Chad Daybell. Chad was born and raised in Utah to a very religious Mormon family. He attended BYU, which is an LDS university. He married very young as well to his wife, Tammy. And together, they had five children. And overall, Chad really seemed like a very normal guy. He was a good father and a loving husband. And he seemed to be living a rather unremarkable life. His family moved to a very Mormon area of Idaho, where over 90% of the population were very devout Mormons. And there, he worked for a small local newspaper. He also worked as a grave digger and was now an aspiring author. He started publishing a bunch of religious doomsday novels depicting the end of the world. And these novels started to gain a lot of popularity with members of the LDS faith. Chad had become absolutely famous. But he was also very obsessed with the apocalypse and the second coming of Jesus Christ. He also published an autobiography, where he explained that he had two near-death experiences. And these two near-death experiences actually gave him special powers to see the past and to see the future. He believed that he had this bond with the universe and with spirits and with God. And he was actually a God himself. He was a reincarnated version of a lot of very important people. Throughout history and throughout spirituality. And he was the chosen one to lead all of the most devout and righteous people in the second coming. Chad, a self-proclaimed prophet, revealed in his autobiography that his novels, his works of doomsday fiction, were, in fact, visions and prophecies that he had had and were very real and should actually be taken as scripture. That all of these things he wrote and what he published, were his visions and prophecies that he had had and were very real and should actually be taken as scripture. wrote, and what he published as fiction doomsday novels were actually going to happen. Chad would also talk a lot about all of these doomsday prophecies he had and claims of being a god and the chosen one that would lead the righteous in the ends of days on multiple different podcasts, and he would also speak at different conferences hosted by this group that called themselves Preparing a People, and their official entire tagline was Preparing a People for the Coming of Jesus Christ, and these conferences would just be entire groups of LDS members that believed that the end of the world was coming very, very soon, and Chad himself even had a prophecy that the end of the world would be on July 22nd, 2020, so he would spread all of this doomsday rhetoric to all of these people that would pay to come hear him talk. And in October of 2018, Lori Vallow attended one of these conferences in Utah with two of her friends, and like I said, Chad Daybell was one of the speakers, and him being there was actually one of the reasons that she really wanted to go, because she was this huge fan obsessed with his novels that we now know are actually scripture, because they're happening. And because Lori was already so obsessed with Chad Daybell and his novels and all the things that he believed, she finally felt like she met someone that believed the same things that she believed. After the conference, Lori made sure to stop by Chad's booth to meet him in person for the first time. And when Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow met, they described this as being as much as love at first sight as something could be, despite the two of them having spouses of their own back home. It was definitely no secret that Chad was extremely attracted to Lori Vallow and throughout this entire weekend Chad and Lori would spend a lot of time together talking about their shared beliefs and throughout that entire weekend Chad conveniently would have a bunch of prophecies and visions about Lori and about past lives that him and Lori may have lived. Chad told Lori that they had both lived dozens of past lives and they were actually married in at least six of those lives and not only that Chad informed Lori that she was this very special person within the universe and spirituality now and throughout all of the past lives she's ever lived and that she will play a very important role in the end of the world. Together they were actually chosen to lead all of the worthy three. Chad and Lori were a perfect match for each other during the end of times and the second coming it was their destiny to do it together maybe as man and wife and Lori who has always wanted to be this special person she's eating all of this up and after that weekend was over Lori returned to Arizona to be with her husband and Chad returned to Idaho to be with his wife but the two would stay in almost constant contact. They're even speaking through burner phones and talking to each other in code to hide their connection from both of their spouses and as the months go on the spiritual connection between Chad and Lori and their beliefs that they are the god and goddess of the apocalypse and the second coming and that they are heavenly destined and bonded to be together does transition from that to a full-on love affair and these beliefs that the two of them have move on from just being extremely delusional to being extremely dangerous. Chad and Lori believe that they are the god and goddess of the apocalypse and the second coming and that they are heavenly destined and bonded to be together does transition from that to a full-on love affair and these beliefs that the two of them have move on from just being extremely delusional to being extremely dangerous. Chad and Lori believe that every single person is either light or dark and if you're dark that means that your body has been possessed by a dark spirit or by a demon and your soul or spirit is no longer in your body that your physical body is now just a vessel for this demonic dark spirit and that the actual person that this person was is now dead and their spirit or their soul is now in limbo or in heaven and the physical body that you see is no longer in your body. That person's no longer there at all and is just been taken over by this dark demonic spirit and they would call these people whose bodies have been possessed by a dark spirit and their actual soul was dead in limbo or in heaven they would call them zombies and the only way to kill this demonic dark spirit was to kill the physical body that they were inhabiting and over the next handful of months they would start to realize that a lot of people in their lives were actually dark spirits or zombies Lori is fully delved into this world now and she's sharing her and Chad's beliefs to everyone in her life and some of them are more accepting or influenced by this than other people in her life Lori's extremely close friend Melanie Gibb is full-on convinced as well as Lori's older brother Alex Cox and Lori and Chad start to form this small but devoted group of people that believed every single word she said was true. and it has been said that if this group wasn't a cult yet it was definitely on its way to becoming a full-on cult and Lori's husband Charles Vallow who we know absolutely loves Lori and her entire family and her children when he first hears his wife talk about all of this at first he does try to be supportive but he is more so concerned about his wife's mental state and it got even worse when Lori became convinced that her husband Charles was a zombie and his body was being inhabited by a dark evil spirit named Ned Schneider and Charles was so worried about his wife that he reached out to her family like I said he was very close with one of Lori's older brothers this was not Alex Cox who's also in this whole cult it was a different older brother he reaches out to this brother with all of these very concerning things that Lori is saying because he has no idea how to help her at this point and Lori's brother who's hearing Charles say all of this he believes Charles but is also thinking maybe this is an exaggeration so he reaches out to his sister Lori himself and he witnessed Lori telling other people that she was in transition to become an immortal goddess who would no longer need to eat food and because she was becoming immortal that bullets would not harm her things actually got so bad that Lori threatened to kill her husband Charles because Charles was no longer Charles he was an evil demon named Ned Schneider and she had to get rid of Ned Schneider because he was an obstacle in her way of saving the rest of the world and it was after this in January of 2019 that Charles called the police because he was not only scared for his life but he was scared for his wife and he told the police that his wife threatened to kill him and said you're not Charles and I'm going to kill you Chad is continuing to speak at different conferences hosted by the preparing a people group and he would also be a guest on different podcasts Lori and her close friend Melanie Gibb even started co-hosting their own podcast talking about all of these different things that they believed and Lori's brother Alex Cox even converted his girlfriend into this cult or almost cult and together all of them are teaching people how to identify zombies in their own culture. chest. I'm sorry, where in the chest? Okay, see awaken responsive run conscious unconscious breathing I can't tell are you wanting are you willing to go over to him and check sure do you just let me know if you see his chest going up and down how old is he it's not moving he's 60 okay and are you wanting to start CPR no I don't know how to do that I can walk you through it okay what I want to do is you're gonna put one hand in the center of his chest the other hands gonna go right on top of it okay you're gonna interlock your fingers keeping your arms straight and you're gonna press down hard and fast into his chest and go two inches down and fairly quickly one two three four and just keep going with those compressions PD did you have any other questions yes what's your name sir my name is Alex last name is Cox you Alex where are you in the house now in the living room where is the gun it's in a bedroom who else is there in the house with you just me were you guys arguing when this happened yeah and you said there's nobody else there just you and him correct correct but they would note that that 9-1-1 call that came from Alex the shooter came nearly 45 minutes after Charles Valla was fatally shot and Charles's wife Lori was present and witnessed the entire thing but chose not to immediately call emergency services that might have saved her husband's life and on top of that Lori seemed oddly nonchalant when first responders arrived at the scene some even noticed that she seemed happy smiling and joking while her husband laid dead killed in front of her son and daughter how long have you lived here like three weeks oh geez yeah okay that's why the neighbors gotcha like hi neighbor sorry like I've previously told you Charles had two older sons from a previous marriage and Lori texted one of his sons the following day to casually let them know that their father was dead no information no details it was a text sent in less than ten words but a text message to deliver that kind of news that your father is dead in a text message when they tried to text her back or call for more information she just wouldn't pick up the phone but four days after her husband was killed Lori would get on the phone again this time to call his life insurance company because she wanted to get a payout turns out Charles Vallow had a life insurance policy of one million dollars claims department are you calling in reference to a death claim yes may I have the name of the insured Charles Vallow and your relationship to the insured um he's my husband and who am I speaking with this is Lori Vallow and what was the cause of his passing well he was shot okay so I don't know what how I want to put that was it a homicide no it was an accident but when she calls the insurance company she's informed that Charles must have had a prophecy of his own involving his own death because just a few months prior he removed his wife Lori as the beneficiary of his life insurance because he was scared that she would try and kill him for the money and instead he had his sister Kay Woodcox who's JJ's biological grandmother listed as his life insurance beneficiary and almost immediately after her husband's death Lori her older brother Alex Cox who was the one that shot and killed her husband and her two youngest children Tylee and JJ they all pick up their lives and they move from Arizona to Ruxburg Idaho where Chad lived with his wife Tammy and just a few months later on October 2nd 2019 Lori's niece's ex-husband Brandon Boudreau who Lori did not get along with was outside of his home when a Jeep drove by and shot at him and the bullet just nearly missed Brandon's head Brandon called the police to report his own attempted murder and he actually knew exactly whose Jeep it was that drove by and almost killed him the Jeep was registered to Lori's late ex-husband Charles Valo who has now been dead for nine 10 months and Brandon actually believed that he knew who was driving the Jeep Lori's brother Alex Cox seven days after that there was another attempted shooting but this time it was against Chad's wife Tammy Daybell Tammy called 9-1-1 on October 9th to report that a masked man shot at her in her driveway he missed but honestly Tammy thought that it was a prank that the gun was like a BB gun or something like that but that idea that this was a prank seems a lot less likely considering that 10 days later Tammy Daybell would be dead Chad called the police early in the morning to report that his wife was dead he explained that the night before his wife Tammy got extremely sick she was coughing she went to bed but woke up multiple times in the middle of the night to throw up and by the next morning she was dead died in her sleep and police accepted that Tammy Daybell a young healthy 49 year old had just died in her sleep from natural causes without doing an autopsy and then within two weeks Lori and Chad were married on a beach in Hawaii family of both of their recently dead spouses found out that they were married after pictures were posted on social media Lori's husband had just died four months earlier Chad's wife had just died a few days ago and both of those deaths were under pretty mysterious circumstances and now the two were married Lori had even used her dead husband Charles Amazon account to purchase her wedding ring and that purchase was actually made on October 2nd 16 days before her new husband Chad's wife Tammy died and the fact that the two had gotten married absolutely shocked people that knew Chad Daybell he lived a pretty seemingly normal life as well as most people believed he wasn't really opening up to people in his life about all of his beliefs and all of his extracurricular activities him and Tammy had been married just shy of 30 years and then he just moved on and got remarried within 14 days it was shocking and when Chad returned from his beautiful wedding in Hawaii with his new bride he was actually bragging to his neighbors about his new hot wife calling her an empty nester bragging about how she had no young children for him to have to deal with which is confusing because Lori did have two young children that were still living at home right well no that's the thing on top of all of this other suspicious things that are going on in Chad and Lori's lives up into this point to make it even worse Lori's two young children 16 year old Tylee Ryan and seven-year-old JJ Vallow had been missing at this point for weeks alarm bells first started ringing for JJ's biological grandparents right after Charles died in July of 2019. before this they always had very constant contact with JJ I mean they raised him right after he was born this was their biological grandson this was the child of their own son so they loved JJ like he was their baby so they were always in constant contact if they weren't going to visit JJ they were always calling him always facetiming him but then after Charles died they only spoke to JJ three more times and each of these calls would be less than three minutes before Lori was speeding JJ to get off of the call and the last time that they ever spoke to little JJ was a FaceTime call that lasted only 35 seconds for months they tried to get a hold of JJ but they were constantly met with excuses from Lori why JJ couldn't come to the phone absolutely absolutely absolutely absolutely fed up they reached out to police to perform a welfare check in November of 2019 over two months since anyone had last seen or heard from JJ but also from his sister Tylee turns out the very last time that anyone saw or heard from Tylee 16 years old was on September 8th and the last time that anyone saw or heard from little seven-year-old JJ was on September 22nd their mother Lori never reported them missing she didn't even tell anyone that they were missing she was lying to everyone in her life about where her kids were and when police arrived at Lori's home to perform the welfare check neither of her missing children were there Lori told them that Tylee was attending BYU and seven-year-old JJ was visiting with her friend her very close friend Melanie Gibbs in Arizona well police were very easily able to confirm that Tylee was not at BYU and when they reached out to Melanie to see if JJ was there Melanie confirmed that JJ was living with her so authorities decide to go actually pay her a visit in Arizona and guess what of course JJ was not there and Melanie Gibb would later confirm that this was a lie that her friend Lori asked her to tell police if anyone came looking for JJ and Melanie would later secretly record a phone call that she had with Lori and Chad where she would ask them why did you tell police that JJ is with me when he is not there and she replied quote so they won't find out where he really is unquote. And amongst all of this, police in Idaho started to get really skeptical that Chad Daybell's wife, Tammy Daybell, actually did die from natural causes. Imagine that. So they ordered Tammy's body to be exhumed on December 11th so they could actually conduct an autopsy this time to determine her exact cause and manner of death, which was later ruled a homicide. And she was killed from homicidal asphyxiation. And after hearing the news that Tammy's body was exhumed, Chad and Lori called Lori's brother, Alex Cox, and they were absolutely panicking on this phone call, according to Alex Cox's brand new wife. And when Alex got off of that phone call with his sister and brother-in-law, he told his wife that he had actually just married 10 days earlier, that he thought his sister and new brother-in-law were actually going to try and make him the fall. Well, the very next day after that, Alex Cox was also dead. He had collapsed in his bathroom and just died from apparent natural causes, a mixture of blood clots in his lungs and high blood pressure at the age of, I believe he was 51 years old, which is absolutely not uncommon, but his family have also confirmed that he did not have a history of high blood pressure or blood clots, and none of the men in their family did either. And only a few days before his death, Alex Cox told his new wife where he had some money hidden away in case, quote, anything happened to him, unquote. Seems like maybe Alex Cox could also see the future. And after growing pressure from the family on December 20th, 2019, it was finally released to the public that Tylee and JJ were missing, that they had been missing for over three months, going on four months, and they were likely in danger. And these two absolutely beautiful children's disappearances started making headlines across the entire state, and then the entire country, and then the entire world. This case was absolutely being discussed everywhere. I remember it like it was just yesterday. It was on the news. It was all over the papers. It was all over social media, and everyone was asking the exact same question, where is Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow? Well, everyone was asking that, except their own mother and new stepfather, who conveniently had fled. They ran off to Hawaii, where they were living it up in paradise, while everyone else was heartbroken, wondering where these two beautiful children were and if they were okay. As this case started making more and more headlines and spreading across social media, internet sleuths began diving into Lori and Chad's entire digital footprints and beyond. All of his books, all the conferences that he would speak at, and all of their many podcasts, episodes, and appearances, covering all of their bizarre, extreme beliefs and ideologies that the world was ending on July 22nd, 2020. And just a little note on the fact that they believed that the world was going to end in July of 2020. They had believed this for multiple years at this point, but it actually really annoys me that for probably five months, they probably think that they were right, and that the world was actually about to end, considering everything that was going on in 2020. And as time kept passing with no answers, people took it upon themselves to track down Chad and Lori in Hawaii to demand answers straight from the source. Idaho news reporters actually found them in a random parking lot in Hawaii and asked them where the kids were and if the kids were alive. And both of them obviously refused to say anything really, but they just seemed completely unaffected. Like they didn't care at all. And that clip would actually go really, really viral online. - Where are your kids? - No comment. - No comment? You're over here in Hawaii? Where are your children? Yeah, why don't you just give us a comment. Just tell us where they are. Chad, where are Lori's kids? What happened to Tammy, Chad? Can you tell us what happened to Tammy? Why have you guys been in Hawaii for so long? Listen, just tell people what's happening. There's people around the country praying for your children, praying for you guys. Why don't you give us answers? - That's great. - That's great. That's great that they're praying for you, praying for your kids. What? That's a simple question. I've got three kids of my own. I can tell you every minute where my kids are at. What do you guys plan to do now? You have five days to get your children in front of a judge in Rexburg, then what? Are you guys innocent of any crimes? Have you committed any crimes? Chad, you guys have a lot to say on your podcast. You don't have anything to say now? Lori? Do you believe that you were instructed by God or others to do something for your children? If you could give a message to them, what would you say? Listen, if you just talk to us, we'll leave you alone. - The family's worried. Tammy's family's very worried. - Tammy's family's very worried. Lori, your mother, Kay, came out. Kay and Larry, they're offering a $20,000 reward for your children, and you're over here on the beach? This is your chance to tell your story. Nothing you want to say? One last chance right here? Anything you want to say to the people in Idaho? Lori, you have a lot of cash there in your baggie. Were you guys planning to leave Hawaii? Were you planning to take off? - So on January 25th, without answers, no one can find out anything about where these children are, Lori receives an ultimatum. She has five days to produce her children, Tylee and JJ, and confirm that they are alive, or she will go to prison. Well, five days would pass. January 30th, 2020, would come and go without Tylee and JJ, so police in Hawaii that were acting on a warrant from Idaho arrested her on February 20th, 2020. She was extradited back to Idaho by early March, and she still refused to answer any questions. She refused to tell anyone where her children were. And at this point, because of all of the due diligence, she's not going to go back to Idaho. She's not going to go doomsday rhetoric surrounding Chad and Lori's entire personality at this point. A lot of people were very hopeful since they believed that the world was going to be ending in just a few months that Lori was either hiding her children with some cult or maybe even hiding her children in some kind of like doomsday underground bunker trying to protect her children from the upcoming apocalypse. And you know having that kind of hope definitely makes sense knowing everything that we know at least at this point. According to everyone that knew Lori they all said that she was a great mother and no one wanted to believe that she would do anything to hurt her children. They thought that she was delusional suffering from mental illness and religious psychosis and she thought the world was ending in just a few months but they didn't think she would do anything to hurt her children and everyone still needed answers about where Tylee and JJ were and answers would come. Then nobody wanted to hear. After going through evidence that were seized from a search of Chad Daybell's property investigators returned to his property on June 9th 2020 with a search warrant with extra attention to be given to Chad's backyard. Turns out a lot of the evidence that was uncovered on Chad Daybell's devices as well as the phone from the now deceased Alex Cox put them both together on both of the days that Tylee and JJ were in the house. And on Chad's property exactly where their phones were pinging on the days that JJ and Tylee were likely killed Chad had a pet cemetery in his backyard and on the same day that him and Alex were spending a lot of time in his property the day after Tylee Ryan was ever last seen Chad texted his wife Tammy to let her know that he shot a raccoon and would be burying it in their backyard. So on June 9th the backyard was extended. And on June 8th the backyard was expanded to the extent that it was possible to find the remains of Tylee Ryan and her brother JJ who were in the house in his backyard. And on June 9th the backyard was extended to the extent that it was possible to find the remains of Tylee Ryan and her brother JJ who were in the house in his backyard. And then her uncle Alex and Chad Daybell took her remains to Chad's property burned them and then buried them on his property. And only 50 feet away from Tylee were the remains of her seven-year-old baby brother JJ buried in a shallow grave. And as digging started on Chad Daybell's property Chad's backyard Chad attempted to flee. He got into his car and started speeding down the road but luckily there were unmarked police vehicles parked nearby and they were able to quickly catch up to him and they brought him into custody. And the heartbreaking news that Tylee and JJ had been dead the entire time that they were missing was released to the public on June 13th. And as you can imagine this not only broke the hearts of everyone in the nation and the world but especially those closest. Now both Chad and Lori were being held in prison. The case was gaining more and more attention. every single day and has truly been one of the most perplexing true crime cases that have come out of recent history and everyone just wanted to know the exact same thing. Why? Well, it would be uncovered in both of Chad and Lori's trials, mountains of evidence against them, evidence of multiple murders. Not only did they have Chad and Lori's brother's phone pinging in the exact same place where Tylee and JJ would be buried and would be found, they had text messages between Chad, Lori, her brother Alex, and all of their other loyal followers about how her husband Charles, both of her children, Tylee and JJ, and Chad's wife Tammy were actually all dead. Their souls were dead and they were zombies and evil spirits were in their bodies and had to be eliminated. There was even text between Lori and her brother Alex where Alex is joking seemingly about how many children she has and Lori responds, not really in a joking tone, that they will be eliminated shortly. And only a few days before Lori's husband was killed by her brother, she texted her brother to be like Neffy. Neffy was a man that is talked about in the Book of Mormon and Neffy actually kills a man righteously. He kills an evil man. So it seems like a few days before Alex kills Charles, who Lori thinks is an evil demon in Charles's body, she texts her brother Alex to be like Neffy and kill an evil man. So evidence is really starting to build up here. The fact that Lori was buying wedding rings before Chad's wife was even dead and then they got married within days of Chad's wife dying. And then in the months leading up to Tammy's murder, Lori was telling people in her life that Tammy would be dead soon and out of the picture. And Chad had a vision of his wife's passing. And even before Tammy was killed, right after someone attempted to kill her, Lori was telling people that she was dead soon and out of the picture. Lori was telling her friends that her brother Alex couldn't get anything right. So it really does seem that that man that was wearing a mask that came up to Tammy in her driveway and tried to kill her like 10 days before she was killed was likely Alex Cox, Lori Vallow's brother. There was also evidence uncovered that right before Chad's wife Tammy died, Chad tried to increase her life insurance policy to the maximum amount allowed. And we already know that Lori was trying to receive her husband's $1 million life insurance policy, but she was also receiving money from both of her children that were also now deceased. So all of these people have been killed because they're evil demons, but there's also a possible motive because they're getting money from all these people, or at least attempting to get money from all of these people passing away. Lori's children, Tylee and JJ, both received social security benefits because both of their fathers had passed away. Well, even after Tylee and JJ died and Lori knew that they were dead, she was still inheriting and receiving and pocketing this money that was meant to go to her children. So it is possible that all of these people were murdered for financial gain, or maybe it was a mixture of financial gain and also they were eliminating obstacles so Chad and Lori could be together and that they were just using this money to get money for their children. So it's possible that all of these people were murdered for financial gain, or maybe it was a mixture of financial gain and also they were eliminating obstacles so Chad and Lori could be together and that they were just using this excuse of these people being zombies and dark spirits as a way to justify the fact that they actually just wanted these people dead. There's a lot of evidence that Alex had a very large role in all these people being murdered, but he is also now dead. So he will never be held responsible in a court of law for his role in all of these people being murdered. And after uncovering that four people were murdered by this couple, Lori's third husband and Tylee's father, Joe Ryan, his death also started to be re-investigated. He died just a year before Charles died. And we know she was collecting money from his death and his death and all of these other passings. So they decided to re-investigate his death and they also reopened and re-investigated Alex Cox's death following all of this. But as far as I know, there has not been any concrete evidence that Joe Ryan or Alex Cox were murdered. But I know that there's certainly a lot of people that do theorize and speculate that they both were also murdered by this couple, or a lot of people that just believe it completely outright. But as of right now, there is no concrete information. I do think that it is absolutely crazy that within like a year, six people in this couple's lives just all died. And how much of that is actually a coincidence? On May 24th, 2021, a grand jury indicted Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell on multiple counts of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were also facing a bunch of other charges for the roles that they played in a bunch of different crimes. Lori was facing grand theft charges for pocketing money that was supposed to go to her children. Chad was also facing insurance fraud charges for receiving money from his wife's passing. Lori was also facing charges for child desertion and obstruction of justice. And then Chad was also facing multiple felony counts of misdemeanors and charges for misdemeanors. A press conference was held on May 25th, where investigators finally opened up to the public after months and months of public speculation that they believed that Alex Cox, Lori Vallow, and Chad Daybell all conspired to kill all of these people, and that they believed that they were justified in these murders because of everything I've already said to you. The false prophecies, their cult teachings that they believed were reality, and these dark spirits. And it was very likely that Alex Cox truly did believe all of these things that Lori and Chad told them, but they also theorized that Lori and Chad were just in it for the money and to be together, like I have already said. And don't forget that Lori also had a third child. She had an older son, Colby, who is now an adult and was out of the house while all of this was going on. Well, he remembers that his mother was just like super mom. She was the best mom growing up for him and also his younger siblings, and he loved his sister and his little brother so much. So he had a really hard time believing that his mother, who he remembered being this great mom, could do all these evil things like murder his two little siblings. So while Lori is being held in prison, Colby goes, visits her, and confronts her. And Lori just laughs in his face. It's absolutely so sick. No remorse or emotion for the things that she has done. Not then, not now, and maybe not ever. She has never shown emotion or remorse. Both Chad and Lori would plead not guilty to all of their charges. And in Idaho, the death penalty was very much on the table and the prosecution let everyone know that they were seeking the death penalty. They were pursuing it. The original plan was to try Chad and Lori together in a joint trial, but eventually, because of this reason and that reason, his trial was delayed and then her trial was delayed, they decided that they would be tried in separate trials. In June of 2021, Lori Vallow had a sickle logical evaluation that deemed her incompetent to stand trial. So she was committed to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare for treatment. And then she was held there for about 10 months before it was deemed that she was now competent to stand trial. And her trial began in April of 2023. The prosecution had a pretty difficult time with Lori's trial because unlike with her late brother and her fifth husband, Chad, there really wasn't any physical or digital evidence that placed Lori at any of these murders. But the prosecution, was actually able to call over 60 witnesses to testify against Lori and the defense couldn't even find one single witness to testify for Lori and in her defense, which is absolutely insane to even think about because I have covered so many cases. I've researched so many cases and even like the most evil, sick and twisted killers will have at least one person that will testify in their defense, but Lori Vallow had none. Lori's defense wasn't even necessarily to deny that any of these things that she was being accused of happened, but the claim that she was also a victim of Chad Daybell and that he had just completely brainwashed her essentially, but she would ultimately throw that entire defense out the window after May 12th, 2023, when she was found guilty on all charges and was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole. Because immediately after this, Lori was given the chance to speak and address the court and victim's families. And she took this time to not only continue to proclaim her innocence, but she also took this opportunity to continue to proclaim all of her beliefs that these people in this case that they are claiming she murdered. She did not murder because they were already dead. They were in heaven or they were in limbo and the bodies that were killed were these evil spirits and the bodies were just vessels for evil spirits. And Lori would even say in the court, right in front of the judge and all of these victims' families, that Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. - Jesus knows me and Jesus understands me. I mourn with all of you who mourn, my children and Tammy. Jesus Christ knows the truth of what happened here. - Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. - She even had the nerve to say that, after JJ died she spoke with JJ's spirit and JJ little seven-year-old JJ Vallow told her that she did nothing wrong. Well after this she was extradited to Arizona to face charges for the murder of her husband Charles and the attempted murder of her niece's ex-husband Brandon where she was again found guilty in all charges and she received an additional two life sentences. In April of 2024 it was now Chad's turn to stand trial. His defense was pretty much the exact same thing as Lori's that Chad was a victim of Lori Vallow and he was just a naive religious man that was only guilty of falling in love with this seductive evil woman who convinced him all of these terrible terrible things. Well on May 30th 2024 Chad Daybell was also found guilty of all charges and on June 1st 2024 he was sentenced to death. He's currently being held in a maximum security prison. This honestly has been one of the most insane cases I've ever looked into. I have been loosely following this case since it ever started happening in 2019 2020 and just sitting down this week and really diving into these evil people and all of these insane beliefs and delusions and who's the mastermind who's the victim it has really taken a toll on me. I do not believe that Lori and Chad I don't believe that either of them is the mastermind and the other one was an unwilling participant. I think both of them were extremely willing participants in these evil evil things that they conspired to do together with Lori's brother Alex. I truly do believe that. I am extremely interested to hear what your thoughts are. Because it is up in the air what the motive was. I'm extremely interested to hear what you think. Do you think that this is a case of religious psychosis or just an excuse that they told themselves to justify killing their spouses and Lori's children because they saw them as just obstacles in the way of them being together and if they were all gone that they would gain lots and lots of money. So I'm so interested to hear what your thoughts are. I'm extremely interested to hear what your thoughts are. While you're in the comments please also let me know what case you'd want to see covered in a future hot in the case episode. I'm always grabbing case suggestions from your comments directly. While you're also in the comments please always remember to be respectful to all the victims in today's case. Tammy Daybell, Charles Vallow, Tylee Ryan, and JJ Vallow. And please always remember to be very respectful not only for the victims but the loved ones and the family members of these victims that I know are suffering. I'm so excited to hear what your thoughts are. are still struggling and heartbroken to this very very day. And that is all I have for this week's episode of Hot in the Case and I will see you guys all next Friday when we are hot in the case once again.