Happy True Crime Thursday!
And Happy New Year!
I think it's safe to say we were all happy to say goodbye to 2020 and hello to hopefully a better 2021.
The case I'm talking about was a big one for 2020, but the trial will actually begin this month. That being said those I speak of have not been found guilty of any crimes and the cases are still ongoing at the moment. This is a case that involves murder, life insurance policies, doomsday prepping, the end of the world coming, zombies and missing children. This is the case against Lori Vallow Daybell.
One of the challenges when writing about Lori is trying to figure out a good starting point. So this is where I decided to begin. Lets talk about Lori's 4th husband Charles Vallow. Lori and Charles got married in 2006, she came into the marriage with her daughter Tylee (from a previous marriage,) Charles himself had 2 sons from his previous marriage. In 2012, Charles adopted his sister Kay's grandchild J.J, they loved him, but thought he would have a better life with Charles and Lori. For many years they appeared to be a happy adventurous family. They were apart of the Mormon church of Latter Day Saints. They lived in Hawaii for a bit before ending up in Phoenix, Arizona for Charles' business. Lori decided to go to a Doomsday Prepper convention and this is where she met Chad Daybell and where this all pretty much begins. Seemed harmless at first, Lori wanted to be on his Podcast about the end of the world and how to prepare. Well just a few months after Lori and Chad met Charles filed for divorce. Why you might ask?
Let me tell you...Lori had been telling people that she was having visions, that she was the 2nd coming of Christ, that only 144,000 were going to heaven and she was one of them and that the world was ending July 22, 2020. Charles confided in his sister Kay that Lori had threatened to kill him if he stood in the way of her mission. On one occasion she was speaking with her friend April saying that Charles was actually already dead and that a demon was in his body. Then she changed it so that he was alive, but would be dead soon. Charles told loved ones that when Lori threatened to murder him she said she would have angels dispose of his body. Lori started to accuse Charles of being abusive. Those that knew him said no way that was possible, he wasn't that kind of person. If anyone tried to challenge what Lori was saying she would become combative. Despite her erratic behavior the kids remained in her care.
February 2019 Charles filed officially for divorce and Lori skipped town for 58 days and left her children with others, she also withdrew $35,000 from the family bank account. Many believe that she was spending time with some of her like minded doomsday prepper friends, that many have referred to as a "cult" and Chad being the leader. .
The day of July 11th, 2019 Lori dropped J.J off at school and came back home with daughter Tylee, at this point Lori and Charles were separated, but still married. Lori's brother Alex was also at the home. Charles comes over and according to Alex, Lori and Tylee a fight breaks out between Charles and Lori. Alex steps in and it became a physical fight between the 2 of them, to the point where Alex gets a gun and shoots Charles twice in the chest. Now I want you guys to click on the link below and listen to the 911 call placed by Alex.
How chilling is it that he is that calm after shooting someone? That he wasn't wanting to do CPR. At first Alex said he was alone and that Lori and Tylee werent there, but then according to Tylee and Lori they were there when it all happened. According to them Charles had picked up a baseball bat and took a swing and hit Alex with it, Alex ran to another room and grabbed a gun and shot Charles. When police arrived they noted a small cut on Alex's head. They ruled it a case of self defense, but police definitely saw holes in the story. As for Lori... how was she coping? Well witnesses stated that she was making small talk and giggling with officers when they were on scene. Neighbors said that later that same day they heard loud music coming from her backyard, Lori was having a friggin pool party! She also told Charles' sons that their father had died through text! Of course they called her to try to find out what happened and it took her hours before she got back to them, but she wasn't upfront with how he died and she didn't act at all upset. Looks like Lori's prediction of Charles dying soon came true after all...oh also I should mention that days after Charles' death she checks on her late husbands insurance policy, his million dollar insurance policy. Its then that she learns that Charles had changed the beneficiary to his sister Kay. Lori was livid.
Lets fast forward to about 2 months later, Lori packed up the kids and moved to Rexburg, Idaho. Why Idaho? Well that was where Chad Daybell lived. Lori was in absolute awe of Chad. He did missionary work for the Mormon church. He told many that he had the ability to have one foot on earth and the other in Heaven, that he had near death experiences that caused him to become enlightened. He also worked for a cemetery when he was younger and he says that is when he discovered that he could communicate with spirts. She beamed when she spoke about Chad to others, he was a prophet who held humanity's salvation in the worlds collapse. Did I forget to mention that Chad was married with 5 kids at the time she made this move to be closer to him? Him and his wife Tammy were college sweetheart's.
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| Chad and Tammy |
On October 19, 2019, Chad Daybell would wake up to find that his wife Tammy had died in her sleep. Chad recalled that she looked like she had gone peacefully with the look on her face. A funeral and burial were completed in less than 5 days. Her death was ruled natural causes. Let me just say this...Tammy had no pre existing conditions for one...and for two no autopsy was preformed. In the state of Idaho it is up to the family if they would like one to happen, Chad said no and the rest of the family went with it. I'm sorry but if my spouse up and died like that I would personally want to know what happened. That just might be me though.
So the poor grieving Chad did what any new widow would do, in an article he stated that it just must have been her time to go and he was moving into the second half of his life. Tammy had a total of $430,000 in life insurance money, records show that Chad had made significant increases to at least one of those policies before she died. Oh wait...it gets better. Less than a month after Tammy died, Chad got remarried...to Lori in Hawaii.
So what did the kids think about all this?
Well by end of November J.J's grandparents had grown worried about him. They hadn't spoke with him since August and that was very unusual. They actually weren't even told about the move, they found out because they had received a notification on Charles' email that a package had been delivered to an address in Idaho. They were actually concerned about the children even before they had made that move. The last time that they had facetimed J.J he was acting weird. He was acting like he was being coached or that what he was saying was scripted. He was looking all around, wasn't his normal happy self and the conversation was quick. Tylee's older brother Colby (from another one of Lori's marriages) would text with Tylee often, he said that Tylee's text in late September and on didn't seem like they were from her. Being a teenage girl she would always use emoji's, these texts...no emoji's. They were always short and when he tried to say he was worried and to call him she would always make up an excuse as to why she didn't call. When it had been months of Lori not returning the texts or calls of J.J's grandparents it heightened their concerns, they reached out to the Rexburg police department and asked them to do a welfare check.
So police did just that, they went to the home and Chad and Lori were there, but no children. Lori told police that they were in Arizona visiting a friend, she gave them all the information about who they were staying with. Well of course police followed up on this and found that the story wasn't true, no sign the kids had even been in Arizona. So they go back to the home with a search warrant, what do they find? They find that Lori and Chad have left and taken some of their belongings with them. They find out that nobody had physically seen 17 year old Tylee and 7 year old J.J since September. Where were they and where were Lori and Chad?
On December 1st, Lori and Chad boarded an American Airlines flight to Hawaii. Camera's show they were alone, no Tylee and no J.J. They were found because police were able to ping their cell phones. Once found they still refused to answer any questions. It didn't seem to be a random trip, but rather a planned one.
By December 20th, the police put out a press release asking for the publics help in finding the missing children, also making it known that Lori was not helpful in the search and that she wasn't cooperating. By the 30th they stating that they had strong information that made them believe that Lori knew the whereabouts of her children. Colby tried calling his mother and asking where the kids were and she would tell him "Don't worry about it."
On January 25th, 2020 Hawaiian police served Lori a notice stating she was to present her children within the next 5 days or she was to be arrested. 5 days came and went and no children. She was officially arrested on February 20th on numerous charges. She was sent back to Idaho and her bail was set at 5 million dollars.
For now I'll leave you with this...if you thought part 1 was crazy part 2 will leave you speechless. See you next week for part 2! .
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