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."
This article delves into the backgrounds of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, the timeline of the murders, and the events that led to their eventual arrest and conviction.
The Key Players
Chad Daybell
Chad Guy Daybell was born on August 11, 1968, in Provo, Utah, to a Mormon family and grew up in the neighboring city of Springville. He was accepted and enrolled at Brigham Young University (BYU) after high school. One year into college, he applied to be a missionary, for which he spent two years in New Jersey. He then resumed his studies and graduated from BYU with a B.A.
At the time of the murders, Chad and Lori were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). However, their beliefs had deviated significantly from mainstream Mormonism.
Chad was an apocalyptic author and publisher who claimed to have visions of the future and to have lived through multiple past lives and prophesied the world would end in July 2020. In a memoir called Living on the Edge of Heaven, he claimed to have had two near-death experiences that allowed him to receive supernatural visions from "beyond the veil." A recurring theme in Chad's writings was a supernatural voice giving instructions and advice to him or to his characters. He commented: "I don't fictionalize any of the events portrayed [in my books]. I'm really not that creative... My torn veil allows information to be downloaded into my brain from the other side." Over time, Chad's religious beliefs became increasingly extreme.
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Jason Gwilliam, the husband of Tammy's sister, later recalled that Chad's views had started changing around 2006 and 2007, as he became "hyper-focused on preparing for end of times." In 2010 or 2011, Chad started claiming he had visions about how the end of the world would occur. During the 2010s, Chad became the publisher of apocalyptic author and self-proclaimed clairvoyant Julie Rowe. In 2015, Chad claimed he heard the "voice" telling him to relocate to Rexburg, Idaho.
Lori Vallow Daybell
Lori Norene Ryan Daybell, also referred to as Lori Vallow Daybell, was born Lori Norene Cox on June 26, 1973, in Loma Linda, California. She grew up in a Mormon family. Her parents were tax protesters who adhered to sovereign citizen ideology and were in a conflict with the IRS for about two decades. In 1992, at the age of 19, Lori married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended in divorce shortly afterwards. In 2001, Lori married Joseph Anthony Ryan Jr., who gave his name to Colby. The couple's daughter, Tylee, was born in 2002. In 2018, Ryan was found dead in his apartment from what was determined to be arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. After Lori's arrest in 2020, and after a recording surfaced in which she mentioned wanting to kill Ryan "like Nephi killed," police reviewed Ryan's death.
In February 2006, Lori married Leland Charles Anthony Vallow, who commonly went by the name Charles. In 2013 the couple adopted Charles' grandnephew, Joshua Jaxon "J.J." Vallow, as the boy's birth parents were unable to care for him. Because of his biological parents' substance abuse, J.J. was born with drugs in his system and spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit. As a baby, he was taken care of for nearly a year by his grandparents, Kay (Charles' sister) and Larry Woodcock, before being adopted by Charles.
In October 2018, together with Melanie Gibb and Zulema Pastenes whom she had recently befriended, Lori attended a "Preparing a People" event where she met Chad for the first time. Gibb and Pastenes both said that Lori had behaved in a very flirtatious manner with Chad at the conference. Chad claimed to Lori that they had been married in multiple previous lifetimes. After their initial meeting, Lori's husband went on a business trip, giving her the opportunity to hold a small overnight gathering at her home. Chad and Gibb were among the attendees, with Chad captivating Lori and the group by sharing his Mormon-influenced, but unique, beliefs. Lori developed a strong attachment to Chad and his teachings.
Reincarnation - a concept which is not accepted by the LDS Church - played a key part in Chad's religious views. He claimed to have lived thirty-one previous lives on different planets and that Lori had lived twenty-one separate lives, five of which coincided with his own experiences on Earth. Lori eventually told Gibb that she and Chad were sealed due to their previous marriages in their past lives, despite their respective spouses still being alive. Chad also claimed to be a reincarnation of James the Less, that Lori had been James' wife under the name "Elena" and that in other past lives Lori had been Mary French, the great-grandmother of Joseph Smith, as well as the wife of the prophet Moroni. According to Chad, past lives were "multiple probations" on Earth.
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By February 2019, Lori reportedly informed Charles that "she no longer cared about him or J.J.". Charles sought a protective order against Lori at the advice of his attorney. He withdrew the petition one month later, saying he wanted to "try to make the marriage work." Nevertheless, Charles had become so worried by Lori's actions that in February 2019, he changed his $1 million life insurance policy so the beneficiary would be his sister Kay rather than his wife.
Arizona police detectives later retrieved text messages between Chad, Lori and her brother Alex Cox which referred to Charles as "Ned" or "Hiplos", the names of the "spirit" said to possess him. Lori told members of her religious group that her husband had become a "zombie".
Timeline of Murders
The murders started when Lori's estranged husband, Charles Vallow, was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox on July 11, 2019, in Chandler, Arizona. Next, Lori's daughter, Tylee Ryan (16), and adopted son, Joshua Jaxon "J. J." Vallow (7), disappeared from their home in Rexburg, Idaho on September 9 and 23, 2019, respectively. On October 2, 2019, Lori's nephew-in-law Brandon Boudreaux survived a murder attempt in Gilbert, Arizona.
Investigations revealed that Tylee and J.J.'s disappearances had been preceded and followed by the suspicious deaths of Lori and Chad's respective spouses and by the attempt on Brandon Boudreaux's life.
Here's a detailed breakdown of the timeline:
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Map of Chad Daybell's property where remains were found
Charles Vallow's Murder
Having discovered his wife's affair with Chad Daybell, Charles Vallow confronted Lori about it. On 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. Tylee told police that she had grabbed a baseball bat after she heard from her room Charles, Lori and Cox arguing, that Charles had taken the bat away from her, and that she had then run away from the house with J.J. before the shooting. Cox claimed self-defense, alleging that he had retrieved his gun after Charles struck him on the head with the bat. Lori did not call 911; it was later determined that Alex Cox had called it about 45 minutes after Charles was killed. Moments after the shooting, Lori took J.J. Lori texted Charles' sons from a previous marriage that their father had "passed away", then left them without any further information for three days. Charles' sons had to find on their own the mortuary where their father's body was. Days after Charles was killed, Chad sent Lori a love story in the form of a series of text messages.
Disappearance of Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow
Tylee Ryan disappeared September 9, 2019 (aged 16). Joshua Jaxon "J.J." Vallow disappeared September 23, 2019 (aged 7).
By the end of August, Lori relocated to Rexburg, Idaho with her children. While Lori and her children resided in Rexburg, neighbors noticed J.J.'s erratic behavior as Lori often left him outside without adult supervision for long periods of time. When confronted about this, Lori did not mention that J.J. J.J. last attended Rexburg's Kennedy Elementary School on September 20. On September 22, Melanie Gibb and her boyfriend, David Warwick, were staying at Lori's home. This was J.J.'s last confirmed sighting. On the next morning, J.J. was absent: Lori told Gibb and Warwick that J.J. On September 23, J.J. In October 2019, two Venmo payments were made from Tylee's account to her older half-brother, Colby Ryan, with love-expressing messages attached.
Brandon Boudreaux and Melanie Gibb later said that Lori and Chad were convinced Tylee and J.J. were "possessed" and had become "zombies". Zulema Pastenes testified that Chad had told his followers that J.J. The FBI uncovered text messages in which Lori and Chad discussed Tylee and J.J.'s "possession" and mentioned "a perfectly orchestrated plan to take the children".
Attempted Murder of Brandon Boudreaux
On 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. Boudreaux, who had been close to Charles and Lori Vallow's family, recognized the Jeep as a vehicle used by Tylee Ryan. Boudreaux, who suspected Lori and her brother Alex of Charles' killing, hired a private investigator. After it became known that Tylee and J.J. By tracking Alex Cox's cell phone data, investigators later found that Cox had searched on the Internet for directions to Boudreaux's address and had been present near Boudreaux's home during the hours before the shooting. He had also searched "how to load ammunition", "ballistic trajectory calculators" and, after the shooting, "man shot in Gilbert". On the day of the shooting, Cox and Lori had communicated several times.
Tammy Daybell's Death
On October 9, 2019, Tammy reported being shot at in her driveway by a masked man with what she thought was a paintball gun. The man pulled the trigger several times, but the gun was apparently unloaded. Ten days later, Tammy was found dead in her home, apparently from natural causes. Tammy's funeral was organized in Utah three days after her death. Alice Gilbert later said she had been surprised that the funeral came so soon, and felt like it had been "planned".
Tammy's body was not autopsied initially due to Chad's refusal and the coroner's acceptance of his decision. However, after Tammy's body was exhumed and autopsied, it was determined that she had been asphyxiated by someone else. Alex Cox's phone was located near the Daybells' residence on October 9, four hours before Tammy was shot at. It pinged again in the same area ten days later, on the night Tammy died. Police found at Cox's home an AR-15 that resembled the description Tammy had made of the supposed paintball gun. Cox had made several Internet searches about the use of an AR-15 and on how a Grendel round would impact a Dodge Dakota, which was the car the Daybells owned. Prosecutors later said the "paintball gun" spotted by Tammy on October 9 was a real gun, that may have jammed or misfired, and that the shooter was probably Alex Cox.
Zulema Pastenes testified that she had been with Lori and her niece Melani to do a "casting" on the night Tammy was attacked in her driveway. At some point during that night, Lori talked with someone on the phone and became very angry, calling the other person "idiot, moron, stupid".
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.
The Wedding in Hawaii
Amazon order shows Lori Daybell bought wedding ring before her new husband’s last wife died
Chad and Lori were married in Hawaii on November 5, 2019, two weeks after the death of Tammy, and two months after Tylee and J.J. (not yet known to be missing) were murdered. Apart from his children, Chad did not inform his family beforehand.
Wedding photos, text messages served as new clues for missing Idaho siblings. New pictures were released of the missing children's mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, and her new husband in Hawaii. The wedding photos were taken a month after her children, J.J. and Tylee were last seen. They show a seemingly happy couple in early November.
Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell wedding photo
Shortly after Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow’s wedding, the country learned that Vallow’s two minor children, 7-year-old J.J. Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, had not been seen for weeks.
The newlyweds posed for photos with flower leis across their necks for the celebration on Kauai’s picturesque shores. It all seemed perfect -- except neither of their families or friends were there for the occasion.
Discovery of the Bodies and Arrests
On November 26, police visited Lori's townhouse in Rexburg for a welfare check on J.J. at the request of his grandmother, Kay 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. 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.
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.
On February 20, 2020, Lori was arrested for desertion and non-support of her children. On June 9, police discovered the remains of Tylee and J. J.
Authorities dug in areas of the backyard where Alex Cox's cellphone had pinged in September 2019. Tragically, they uncovered human remains buried in shallow graves. JJ Vallow had been buried under a tree and about 50 yards away; investigators found Tylee's grave in the Daybell's pet cemetery. Prosecutors believe she was buried in the same location Chad Daybell referenced when he texted Tammy Daybell nine months earlier, saying he was burying a raccoon. Investigators dug up part of the pet cemetery and found no raccoon.
Legal Proceedings and Convictions
Lori and Chad were tried separately. In April 2025, Vallow Daybell was found guilty of conspiring to murder her estranged husband Charles Vallow in 2019.
An Idaho jury found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty on all charges for her role in the deaths of her 16-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan; her 7-year-old adopted son, Joshua "JJ" Vallow; and her husband's first wife, Tammy Daybell. She had pleaded not guilty. Vallow Daybell, accused along with her husband Chad Daybell, was sentenced to life without parole.
Chad Daybell was sentenced to death on June 1, 2024, nearly a year after his second wife, Lori Vallow Daybell, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. On May 30, Daybell was convicted of first-degree murder of his first wife, Tammy Daybell, and two of his then-girlfriend Lori Vallow's children, Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan, as well as for conspiracy in the murders and of insurance fraud.
| Victim | Date of Death/Disappearance | Perpetrator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Vallow | July 11, 2019 | Alex Cox |
| Tylee Ryan | September 9, 2019 | Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell |
| J.J. Vallow | September 23, 2019 | Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell |
| Tammy Daybell | October 19, 2019 | Chad Daybell, Alex Cox |
The Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell case remains a chilling example of how dangerous religious extremism can be, leading to the tragic loss of innocent lives.
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