Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell: Inside the Doomsday Cult That Shocked the World

Lori’s Early Life and Tumultuous Marriages

In 1973, Lori Cox was born to Mormon parents in San Bernardino County, California. She got married for the first time at 19 years old but swiftly divorced her new husband, marrying another man three years later. The next marriage resulted in a son, who the couple named Colby, but three years later, Lori was divorced for the second time.

Lori married again in 2001 and had another child - a daughter called Tylee. This time, during her next divorce, she and her third husband had a vicious custody battle over Colby and Tylee, and Lori claimed that her husband Ryan had molested both children. Finally, in 2006, Lori met her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, and they adopted a third child, JJ.

The Beginnings of a Dark Belief System

This marriage seemed more stable than any of Lori’s previous relationships, and in 2015, she and Charles were still together. It was during this time that Lori became increasingly interested in a particular book series - a series called “Standing in Holy Places” by author Chad Daybell.

Chad’s novels followed a religious theme, which made sense - like Lori, he also had a Mormon upbringing, and had spent two years as a missionary. His first novels were more mainstream, but after a while, he found a real niche with radical Mormons who were interested in reading about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

A Disturbing Spiritual Transformation

According to Chad, his books weren’t actually non-fiction. Instead, he gave credit to near-death experiences which caused him to be able to “see beyond the veil.” He stated that the plot of his books, depicting dystopian post-apocalyptic events, accurately predicted the future. By 2014, Chad claimed to be receiving prophetic visions about how the world would soon end because of war and massive earthquakes - and, in his personal life, he became less focused on his wife and five kids, and more focused on preparing himself for the end of days.

Meeting Chad Daybell and Forming a Dangerous Bond

At the end of 2018, Lori went to an event where she was able to meet her favorite author in person. Despite both of them being married with children, Lori flirted with Chad, and he reciprocated, telling her that they had definitely been married in a past life. Before long, Chad had created a religious group which he called, “The Church of the Firstborn,” and Lori was one of his loyal followers.

In early 2019, Lori disappeared for almost two months after telling her husband Charles that she believed he was “possessed by a dark spirit named Ned Schneider.” Lori also told Charles that she’d kill him if he interfered with her spiritual mission. In response, he filed for divorce and applied for a protective order - but, only a month later, he changed his mind and decided that he wanted to give their marriage another shot.

When Charles discovered that Lori was cheating on him with Chad, he emailed Chad’s wife, Tammy, hoping to expose the affair. However, Tammy never responded - instead, she blocked Charles and deleted his email. A few days later, Charles went to Lori’s house to pick up their adopted son JJ. Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, was there. The two men got into an argument, resulting in Alex fatally shooting Charles. Alex later claimed that Charles had started hitting him with a baseball bat, so he’d pulled out his gun in self-defense. Ultimately, Alex never faced charges for Charles’ death.

The Unraveling: Strange Beliefs and Mysterious Deaths

In August 2019, Lori moved herself and her children to Rexburg, Idaho. During this time, her neglect of her youngest son, 7-year-old JJ, began to show. JJ required a service dog for his autism, and Lori sold the dog during the move. She would leave him unsupervised for hours at a time, and when others tried to confront her about it, she was dismissive. Meanwhile, 16-year-old Tylee was never enrolled at any schools after the move to Idaho.

The last time anyone else saw Tylee was on the 8th of September, when she visited Yellowstone National Park with her family. JJ was last seen on the 20th of September - and the following day, he was absent from school. Three days later, Lori contacted the school and told them that she was going to start homeschooling JJ. Although Tylee’s half-brother Colby received several Venmo payments and texts from her, she never answered his calls, and Colby became worried about his younger sister’s wellbeing. Several other members of the family also became concerned about the children, but never received a convincing answer about where they were.

Throughout 2018, Lori’s niece, Melanie, had fallen for her aunt’s preachings about the end of the world, and she’d started trying to prepare for the apocalypse. Her husband, Brandon Boudreaux, wasn’t so convinced - in fact, he believed that Lori was a cult leader, and he thought that Tylee and JJ’s disappearance may be due to foul play. In October 2019, Brandon was driving his car home when somebody shot at him from inside a Jeep. Luckily, the bullet missed, and Brandon was able to identify the vehicle - it was Tylee’s car. He believed that the driver was Lori’s brother, Alex Cox.

That same month, Chad’s wife, Tammy Daybell, passed away. According to Chad, his wife had tragically suffered from seizures and issues with her blood pressure, causing her to die in her sleep - but none of this was documented in Tammy’s medical records. Chad didn’t seem at all surprised by his wife’s death. In fact, earlier that year, he’d spoken about a prophetic vision that Tammy would soon die. Chad’s neighbors noticed his unusual behavior after Tammy’s sudden death - her funeral was so quick and so well organized that they got the impression it had been thoroughly planned. Chad’s friends and relatives reported that, at the funeral, it seemed like Chad wasn’t sad, but that he was trying to convince everyone that he was.

The Final Investigation and Heartbreaking Discovery

Less than 24 hours after Tammy’s perfectly planned funeral, Chad Daybell took Lori to meet his five grieving kids, and told his neighbors, “I’ve met the woman I’m going to marry.” He didn’t waste any time following through - they got married two weeks later. Chad justified his decision by explaining that, while he’d been at the cemetery where Tammy had been buried, he had a vision of his dead wife’s spirit urging him to move on.

In December 2019, Lori’s niece Melanie reported that her aunt and Chad had both asked her to lie to the cops and say that she had been taking care of JJ. While police in Idaho and Arizona started searching for the missing boy, they discovered that he wasn’t alone - his teenage sister Tylee had also vanished. The investigation into Lori and Chad started to heat up, resulting in Tammy’s body being exhumed, and an autopsy finally being performed. Chad had been lying when he said his wife had died of natural causes - in fact, the autopsy found that she’d been asphyxiated.

The authorities made an official announcement: Tylee and JJ were missing, and a public plea was issued for anyone who knew information about the case to come forward. Lori and Chad continued their bizarre behavior, not showing any concern for the missing children and making things incredibly difficult for authorities. The day after the initial announcement, there was a follow up: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell were named as persons of interest, and the police believed that the disappearances might be connected to Tammy Daybell’s death.

Aftermath: Lori’s Conviction and Unusual Statements

Before long, Lori and Chad’s friends and family were coming forward to the media with stories about the couple’s strange religious beliefs. In early 2020, Lori was arrested and charged with two felonies and three misdemeanors relating to Tylee and JJ’s disappearance. Chad, meanwhile, traveled back to Idaho. People who talked to him about the missing children noticed that he always referred to Tylee using the past tense, as if he knew that she was no longer alive.

Investigators searched Chad Daybell’s property, finding human remains buried in the garden in an area nicknamed “the pet cemetery,” where Chad would bury deceased dogs and cats. As well as the skeletal remains of family pets, two human bodies were found: a teenage girl, and a young boy. While the search was being carried out, Chad tried to call Lori in prison to give her a warning, and then he attempted to flee the scene, but was caught and arrested for attempting to conceal evidence.

Tylee had been burned and somebody had tried to dismember her, fracturing her bones and removing her hands. Although Tylee’s cause of death couldn’t be determined, her brother JJ had been asphyxiated, and then carefully wrapped in plastic.

After being found guilty of the deaths of her children, Lori gave a public statement, saying, “Jesus Christ knows that no one was murdered in this case. Accidental deaths happen, suicides happen, fatal effects from medication happen.” She also claimed to have spoken to her dead children, informing the court that JJ and Tylee were “happy and extremely busy in heaven.”