The Chad Daybell Case: A Detailed Timeline of Events

Nov 06, 2025 0

The Chad Daybell case is a complicated story spanning multiple states and law enforcement agencies. In December 2019, the world learned that two children, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, and his sister, Tylee Ryan, were missing. Since then, a complicated story spanning multiple states and law enforcement agencies has unfolded. Today, people know Lori Vallow Daybell as the so-called "doomsday mom," stemming from coverage of her children's disappearance and deaths. She's been called a "monster" and a "cult mom."

The Vallow-Daybell doomsday murders consist of a series of killings-including child murder, filicide, and spousal murder-committed by an American couple, Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell. Chad and Lori led a Mormon religious sect described in the media as a "doomsday cult."

Here is a timeline of events in the case, updated as of June 19, 2025.

Pre-2019: Early Life and Relationships

March 9, 1990: Chad and Tammy Daybell marry in Manti, Utah. The couple raise their family in Springville, Utah, where they establish Spring Creek Book Company, through which Chad published many of his books. The couple have five children before moving to Salem, Idaho, in 2015. Tammy is employed as a school librarian.
2006: Marriage records show Lori Ryan marries her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Lori enters the marriage with her son, Colby, and Tylee, the daughter with her third husband, Joseph Ryan Jr.
2014: Charles and Lori adopt Joshua “JJ” Vallow. He is the biological grandson of Charles’ sister Kay Woodcock, who is married to Larry Woodcock. Social media posts indicate that sometime in 2014, the Vallows moved to Kauai in Hawaii. The couple operates a small business on the island.
2016-2017: The family then moves back to the mainland.
April 3, 2018: Joseph Ryan dies. According to the medical examiner’s report, the cause of death is ruled a heart attack. He is cremated and little other information is available about his death.
Fall 2018: Chad and Lori meet at a religious conference in St. George, Utah.
October 26, 2018: A felony indictment indicates that Lori and Chad begin discussing their religious beliefs to justify killing Tammy, JJ and Tylee. Around this time, Chad and Lori make their first recording together on the Preparing a People podcast “Time to Warrior Up.” The two record with others on several podcasts - many focused on the end of the world. Preparing a People has since removed the podcast and publicly dissociated itself from the couple.

2019: Escalating Events

January 31: Arizona police body camera footage shows Charles pleading for Lori to receive mental health help at Community Bridges. Officers determined she had a normal state of mind and she was medically cleared by Community Bridges.
February: Charles files for divorce from Lori. He claims she viewed herself as a god preparing for the second coming of Christ, according to court documents. Charles also says Lori told him she would kill him if he got in her way of performing her mission. Divorce proceedings are later paused after Charles says he wants to make the marriage work. Lori goes to Hawaii in February for nearly two months and leaves JJ and Tylee with others. She spends time with friends and is in communication with Chad nearly every day.
Around June: Lori’s niece, Melani Boudreaux, and her husband, Brandon Boudreaux, decide to divorce. Brandon claims Melani is affiliated with similar beliefs as her aunt and has joined “a cult.”
July 11, 2019: Charles went to pick up J.J. at Lori's home in Chandler, Arizona early in the morning. Alex Cox was present. An altercation occurred and Cox shot and killed Charles. Alex says the shooting was in self-defense. Lori's brother, Alex Cox, shoots and kills Charles. Alex says the shooting was in self-defense. Moments after the shooting, Lori took J.J.
August: By the end of August, Lori, Tylee, JJ and Alex move to Rexburg, Idaho.
Days after Charles is killed: Chad sends multiple texts to Lori in what investigators call a “romance novel.” Chad, who is still married to Tammy, describes in detail a sexual relationship between James and Elena, the names he uses to substitute for himself and Lori.
September 8: Tylee, JJ, Lori and Alex visit Yellowstone National Park. Officials say this is the last time anyone saw Tylee alive. The FBI later asks for help from anyone who may have photos of the family taken that day in the park. Chad signs an application with Tammy on Sept. 8 to increase her life insurance to the maximum amount allowed on the policy.
September 9: Phone records place Alex on Chad’s property in the general area where investigators would eventually find Tylee’s remains. That same day, Chad allegedly texts Tammy saying he shot a raccoon and buried it in their pet cemetery.
September 3: Lori enrolls JJ at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg. Less than three weeks later, JJ attends class for the last time and his mother tells the school she will now be homeschooling her child. Tylee was never enrolled in any school in Idaho even though Lori claims her daughter is attending BYU-Idaho.
October: Melani moves to a townhouse in the same housing complex of Lori and Alex. On Oct. 1, Lori rents a 10×10 storage unit from Self Storage Plus in Rexburg. Surveillance video at the facility, exclusively obtained by EastIdahoNews.com, shows Lori and a man visiting the unit nine times in October and once in November. Often the man, who appears to be Alex, comes alone. Another visit shows Alex and a man who appears to be Chad. During one visit, Chad and Lori visit the storage facility together.
October 2, 2019: Brandon Boudreaux, the estranged husband of Lori's niece Melani, was shot at from a Jeep while driving home in Gilbert, Arizona. The bullet missed Boudreaux's head by inches. That same day, Lori purchases a wedding ring on Amazon, later seen on her finger at her beach wedding with Chad.
October 9: Tammy calls 911 and says a masked man shot at her in her driveway with a paintball gun. Court documents later indicate Alex attempted to shoot and kill Tammy that day.
Ten days later: Chad calls 911 and says Tammy passed away in her sleep at their Salem home. Detectives visit the home and the coroner rules Tammy died of natural causes without performing an autopsy. Tammy is buried at the Evergreen Cemetary in Springville on Oct. 22.. The family holds a memorial service in Rexburg the following day.
November 5, 2019: Chad and Lori were married in Hawaii, two weeks after the death of Tammy, and two months after Tylee and J.J. were murdered.
Over the coming weeks: Chad told neighbors that Lori had no minor children. Police also say Lori told people Tylee died years earlier.
November 26: The Rexburg Police Department conducts a welfare check for JJ at the request of his grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock. They had not spoken with the boy in months. JJ is not at the townhome on Pioneer Road and Lori tells officers her son is with her friend, Melanie Gibb, in Arizona. Police soon determine that JJ was not with Melanie.
November 27: The Rexburg Police Department serves a search warrant at Lori’s townhouse. When officers arrive, Chad and Lori are gone. Court documents indicate that on Dec. 1, Chad and Lori catch an American Airlines flight to Lihue, Hawaii. The children are not with their parents.
December 6: Melanie Gibb contacts the Rexburg Police Department and tells officers Chad and Lori called her on Nov. 26. She says the couple asked her to lie about the location of JJ. The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office determines Tammy Daybell’s death is “suspicious” and her body is exhumed on Dec. 11. An autopsy is performed in Utah and the results are not released but the public later learns Tammy died due to asphyxiation.
December 12: Alex dies in Gilbert, Arizona at age 51. In a police interview months after his death, Alex’s wife Zulema Patenas speaks with officers. She says a few days before Alex died, he told her a bag of money was hidden in his closet in case anything happens to him.
December 20: The Rexburg Police Department announces JJ and Tylee are missing. Police say their disappearance is possibly linked to the suspicious death of Tammy. The following day, police call Chad and Lori “persons of interest.”
December 30: The Rexburg Police Department issues a news release saying they have information indicating Lori knows either the location of the children or what has happened to them. They call the parents’ lack of cooperation “astonishing.”

2020: Discovery of the Children's Remains

January 3: Local investigators and the FBI serve a search warrant on Chad’s home in Salem. They recover 43 items, including computers, cell phones, journals, documents and medications. These are sent to an FBI lab in Salt Lake City for further analysis.
January 7: Larry and Kay Woodcock travel to Rexburg from their home in Lake Charles, Louisiana and announce a $20,000 reward for information leading to the kids.
January 25: The Kauai Police Department serves Lori with a notice stating she must produce JJ and Tylee to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare or the Rexburg Police Department within five days. EastIdahoNews.com reporter Nate Eaton confronts Chad and Lori in Hawaii on Jan. 26 after police stop them at the Kauai Beach Resort. Law enforcement seizes the couple’s rental car and search their rental townhome in Princeville, Hawaii. The parents refuse to say where the children are.
February 20: police in Kauai arrest Lori on a $5 million warrant out of Madison County. She is charged with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children. She is also charged with arrests and seizures - resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime, and contempt of court - willful disobedience of court process or order.
March 5: Idaho authorities extradite Lori from Hawaii to Rexburg.
April 9: EastIdahoNews.com obtains a letter from the Idaho Attorney General stating Chad and Lori are under investigation for conspiracy, attempted murder and/or murder. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner releases Alex’s autopsy on May 8. It says he died of natural causes -due to blood clots in his lungs.
June 9: the Rexburg Police Department, FBI and Fremont County Sheriff’s Office serve a search warrant at Chad’s home. Within hours, investigators discover human remains buried on the property that are later identified as those of JJ and Tylee. Chad is taken into custody about a mile from his home. He’s booked into the Fremont County Jail on two felony charges of concealment, distribution or alteration of evidence.
June 10: Chad makes his first court appearance via video from the jail and bail is set at $1 million. Memorials are set up along the fence of the property where the children were found. Several candlelight vigils are held in their honor.
June 29: prosecutors file charges against Lori including two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence.
July 2: prosecutors dismiss two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of children against Lori.
July 15: she pleads not guilty to misdemeanor resisting or obstructing officers, criminal solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court.
August 3 and 4: Chad’s preliminary hearing is held in Fremont County. Friends, investigators and witnesses testify and Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins concludes the prosecution has enough probable cause to advance the case to District Court. Lori waives her preliminary hearing scheduled on Aug. 10 and 11 in Fremont County. The case advances to District Court.
August 21: Chad is arraigned before District Judge Steven Boyce. He pleads not guilty to the felony charges. Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood files a motion on Sept. 1 asking to combine the cases for Chad and Lori. He says having the cases together will be more efficient since he plans to present the same evidence and witnesses.
September 10: Lori is arraigned in District Court where she pleads not guilty to the two felony counts of conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence.
October 19: the anniversary of Tammy Daybell’s death, her parents and siblings announce the creation of the Tammy Douglas Daybell Foundation “to honor her legacy of service and love of literacy.”
November 5: EastIdahoNews.com obtains an audio recording of Lori saying she “was going to murder” her third husband, Joseph Ryan, while speaking at a meeting in Oct. 2018. She says she became closer to God and ultimately did not need to act against Joe.

2021-2023: Trials and Sentencing

February 4, 2021: The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office announces Tammy’s autopsy is complete but details are not released. That same day, newly elected Fremont County Prosecuting Attorney Lindsey Blake requests Tammy’s death investigation case be sent back to her office from the Idaho Attorney General. The AG transfers the case.
May 24, 2021: a grand jury indicts C... J. In chronological order: murder of Charles Vallow, murders of Tylee Ryan and J. J.
April 11, 2022: Judge Steven Boyce ruled Lori Vallow Daybell is now mentally competent to stand trial in the Idaho murder case.
April 19, 2022: Lori Vallow Daybell refused to enter a plea to murder and other charges, prompting Judge Steven Boyce to enter a not guilty plea on her behalf.
May 4, 2022: Lori Vallow Daybell could face death penalty.
September 23, 2022: Cameras to be banned from courtroom.
January 7, 2023: Judge: Lori Vallow Daybell, Chad Daybell not allowed to meet face-to-face.
March 2023: Two trials to be held.
March 21, 2023: Lori Vallow Daybell will not face death penalty in upcoming trial.
April 3, 2023: Lori Vallow Daybell's trial begins.
June 2, 2023: Trial date set for Chad Daybell.
July 31, 2023: Lori Vallow Daybell sentenced to life without parole.

2023-2025: Continued Legal Proceedings

Dec. 7, 2023: Lori Vallow Daybell arraigned in two separate cases. Lori Vallow Daybell was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the 2019 death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, who died after police say he was shot by her brother, Alexander Lamar Cox.
June 1, 2024: Chad Daybell was sentenced to death.
April 22, 2025: Jury finds Lori Vallow Daybell guilty of conspiracy in Charles Vallow's death.
July 25, 2025: Lori Vallow Daybell receives new life sentences.

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