Investigative reporter and CBS News consultant Morgan Loew has covered this story since the beginning. He reportedly believed he had numerous past lives and could talk to angels. But this time he was only there for 17 minutes. Their conversation was recorded on the officer's bodycam. A second suggested that her sudden death at the age of 46 was likely a direct cause of all the anguish and stress she endured losing JJ. Brandon witnessed the Jeep and observed a rifle with a silencer come out of the rear window of the Jeep and then Brandons vehicle was shot once in the front drivers doorframe, according to the probable cause affidavit. Lori and Chad Daybell were charged with the same crime: conspiracy to commit destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence. She told him that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell believed their children had been possessed and had become zombies," the documents said. A smiling Lori Vallow on police bodycam video after learning her husband was dead. Morgan Loew: Alex was Lori's protector. And that she was going to let the police know that JJ was with me.. April Raymond: She did everything for JJ, everything for Tylee. Colby Ryan in a jail recording accused his mother of killing his siblings. 'Cause he had so much possibility. investigative reporter Morgan Loew asks Lori Vallow Daybell on March 5, 2020, as she was extradited from Hawaii to Rexburg, Idaho, to face child abandonment charges. Vallow Daybells first marriage, to a high school sweetheart when she was just 19, ended quickly. It it was in every classroom, in every environment. Lori Vallow is currentlyon trialfor first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft charges in connection with the deaths of JJ and Tylee. On January 31, 2019, Charles Vallow is seen on police bodycam video tell officers his wife had become "unhinged," and had threatened to murder him. After Charles died, Woodcock feared Vallow Daybell no longer wanted the boy. An online comment under Vallow's obituary also mentioned two kids and that was the first time Gwilliam heard anything about Lori's son and daughter, she told the jury. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell were married roughly two weeks after Tammy Daybell's funeral. Here are some of the important names to know as prosecutors and defense attorneys make their cases. Four months ago, Charles sister and JJs grandmother, Kay Vallow Woodcock, wrote that JJ was autistic. Margaret Travillion: They say it takes a village to raise a child. At one stage, shefled to Hawaiiwith Daybell to get married and there was no sign of either of her children at the ceremony. That welfare check in November of 2019 revealed that both kids were missing. He adopted Colby Ryan and was the biological father of Tylee. But around 2017, friends say Lori's relationships with her kids began to shift about the time she started reading the books of Chad Daybell. At right is their mother's brother Alex Cox. Morgan Loew: He tapped into this "prepper" element out there, people who wanted to prepare for Armageddon. And so much potential. To his sister. A warning: what you are about to read may be disturbing. The discovery of the children in Chad Daybell's backyard was the result of a complicated six-month investigation that unraveled a sordid tale of murder, greed and religious fanaticism a story that began with their mother, Lori Vallow, who, to her friend April Raymond, was a woman who once seemed incapable of harming her own children. The body of Chad's wife, Tammy Daybell, has been exhumed and investigators are now calling her death suspicious. Vallow Daybell, and her husband, Chad Daybell, are charged with the first-degree murders of 7-year-old Joshua Jaxon JJ Vallow and 16-year-old Tylee Ryan. Kay Woodcock testified the first week of Loris trial that her son and his girlfriend gave JJ up But no one acted on it and Vallow let his guard down. ROB WOOD | Madison County/City of Rexburg Deputy Prosecuting Attorney: And what did you observe when they did that? MELANIE GIBB: I appreciate those words, but if you really love me, you wouldn't have told the police that I had JJ with me. The two were estranged but still married when Vallow Daybells brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles Vallow outside his Phoenix suburban home. So angry she was still talking about it when the Rexburg police first came to her door looking for JJ. He was the grandson of Charles Vallows sister, Kay Woodcock. Gwilliam is Tammy Daybells sister the only two girls in a family of five kids. She then recorded a call with the couple about Joshua's whereabouts and why they had lied to police about his being with her, which she later turned over to police, Gibb said. Wiped out in late September 2019 roughly two weeks after the big sister he adored disappeared. Tylee was really protective over JJ. You can listen to "Inside the Lori Vallow Daybell Trial" on the"48 Hours" YouTube Channel. If there is a picture book that captures the JJ Vallow educators at LIFE school came to love, Margaret Travillion says it's this one: "Wherever you are my love will find you. Tylee, who had gone outside with JJ, and Lori, who says she was in another room both said they heard the shooting but didn't see it. She was extradited to Idaho. Around 6:45 p.m. that evening, they left Yellowstone and drove back to the apartment complex in Rexburg. Morgan Loew: In 30 years, I've never covered a story quite like this. The occasional money transfers continued too, though through a different phone app under his mothers name, he said. Chad and Lori led a group of friends in trying to cast out the supposed evil spirits by praying and doing energy work, prosecutors said. I don't know who you are, what you did with Charles. 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But it was Tylee's bond with JJ that Vaisia will always remember. Charles Vallow had good reason to be scared. and she was kind of like another mama to him. The couple had been due to stand trial together but the two cases were severed by a judge last month. I was not OK with it, because she told something to the police that was not true that I had no knowledge of, Gibb told the court, adding that she "had a really bad feeling in my stomach.". Ryan later died in his home of a suspected heart attack. Born Canaan Trahan in May 2012, JJ was adopted by Lori andCharles Vallow- JJ's uncle - in 2013, shortly before his first birthday, and his name was later changed to Joshua Jaxton Vallow. Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow married in Hawaii two weeks later, on Nov. 5, 2019. After months of silence, they started speaking JJ's name and couldn't stop. 3. It just seems very unlikely. ROB WOOD: OK, what did she say about Kay? Morgan Loew: Chad had this belief that some people who were on this earth weren't really the people they were supposed to be. JJs biological grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock JJs father is their son, and Kay is Charles Vallows sister became concerned when they were unable to speak with the boy on the phone. Over time, the pair apparently became convinced that JJ, Tylee, and Tammy had all been possessed by dark spirits, and the only way to rid them of their "demons" was to kill them. Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell, have both been charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, murder, and grand theft in connection with the deaths of Vallow's two youngest children: 7-year-old Joshua Doha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. "I spoke to her the night before she died, and at that point, she just wanted to find out the truth of how [JJ] ended up being murdered - she wanted to know that more than anything - and how he ended up being put in that dysfunctional environment, to begin with. It was updated on May 29, 2021. Defense attorney John Archibald told jurors that people get to choose their religious beliefs, and that Vallow Daybell was with other people in her apartment when JJ and Tylee were murdered, and in Hawaii when Tammy Daybell died. As indicated in court records, Tylee Ryan, at age 5, also said that her father had sexually abused her and Colby. "Paint til you're blue." Vallow Daybell is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Tammy Daybell. Melani Boudreaux Pawlowski is Lori Vallows niece, and in 2019 she was divorced from Brandon Boudreaux. JJs biological father is Dennis Trahan, who is Kay Woodcocks son. He said in the 911 call that he "got in a fight with my brother-in-law and I shot him." Joshua Jaxon JJ Vallow a high-energy 7-year-old boy with a goofy smile died from asphyxiation because of a plastic bag over his head and duct tape over his She ignored it and was arrested on the island of Kauai on child abandonment charges. When the little boy who loved to dance first came to LIFE, a school for special needs students, he was a very different child than when he left, says Travillion. Joshua Vallow, sometimes referred to by the nickname JJ, was adopted in 2014 by Lori and her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Morgan Loew: What happened to those kids is is horrendous. OFFICER DORENBUSH: OK. Lori Vallow also has an adult son, Colby Ryan. I'm like, 'why are police coming my door?'" And we got nothing for me to raise JJ. April Raymond: There were people from all walks of life at that memorial And it didn't really matter our differences, but we were all there for Tylee and JJ. Everyone wanted to know what happened to them. to that big life insurance payout Kay Woodcock got from Charles Vallow. Lori Vallow Daybell, 49, had a daughter, Tylee Ryan, from a previous relationship when she married Charles Vallow, her fourth husband, in 2006. That includes JJ Vallows biological grandmother, Kay Woodcock Loris other son, Colby Ryan and Loris sister, Summer Shiflet. The trial had been delayed in part because Vallow Daybell had been committed, but a judge ruled last year she was mentally competent to stand trial. John Roark / The Idaho Post-Register via AP, Pool file. Investigators at Chad Daybell's preliminary hearing In August 2020 described in chilling detail finding the remains of the two children in Daybell's backyard. POLICE OFFICER [Bodycam video]: Hi, who are are you? Already a Cox Residential customer? LORI VALLOW: He's with one of my friends in Arizona. I I shot my brother-in-law in self-defense.". Margaret Travillion: And I literally remember coming into the classroom in the beginning and him just being very closed off To the later part of him being with us, just to "Miss Margaret" (chuckles). Documents in the investigation into Tammy Daybell's death included an interview with Adam Cox, Lori Vallow's other brother, who said he believed his sister persuaded their brother to kill her estranged husband. The couple had a baby girl named Tylee in 2002, but divorced just a few years later. This is Chad Daybell's backyard. Even while incarcerated, Lori refused to disclose where the children were, offering a series of excuses, including a claim they were staying with a "friend" in Arizona whom she failed to identify. 911 DISPATCHER: And is he hurt? And then Police tracked his cell phone to Lori's apartment at 2:45 in the morning on September 9th. At 9:55 a.m. on September 23, 2019, Cox returned to Chad Daybell's backyard. And she was like, "Margaret, you're not gonna believe this. There's no, "Oh, my gosh, my husband's dead.". That pet cemetery just behind a bush where investigators found the charred remains of Tylee Ryan. As part of that belief, she said people's bodies including, JJ, Tylee and Charles Vallow were possessed by evil spirits, turning them into "zombies," former friend April Raymond told "48 Hours.". Before she could complete the program, JJ's adoption to the Vallow family had already been finalized, they claimed. Beneath the rocks, they found thin pieces of wood paneling. CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti and "48 Hours" producers offer trial recaps and analysis in a weekly podcast. ALEX COX [bodycam video]: and he hit me in the back of the head with the bat So, I went to my room and got my gun, 'cause I always carry it. FILE - A boy looks at a memorial for Tylee Ryan and Joshua "JJ" Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, on June 11, 2020. Vallow Daybell joined the LDS church and the pair married in 2006. MELANIE GIBB: He carried him in, and he was asleep. May 29, 2021 / 10:42 PM The wedding also took place just weeks after Daybell'swife of 30 years Tammyhad died suddenly in her sleep - a death police first deemed natural but now believe to have been caused by asphyxiation. Leger was the biological mother ofJoshua "JJ" Vallow, 7, who was found buried in a shallow grave in Rexburg, Idaho, on June 9, 2020, near the dismembered remains of his older sisterTylee Ryan, 16. Because I think they are at the movies right now. Lori Vallow is accused of killing two of her children and a former husband and conspiring to kill the late wife of her current husband, Chad Daybell. Kay Woodcock asked police in Rexburg, Idaho, to check on JJ in November but Vallow Daybell told police he was in Arizona with a family friend. FILE - A boy looks at a memorial for Tylee Ryan and Joshua "JJ" Vallow in Rexburg, Idaho, on June 11, 2020. It takes a community to raise one of our children and JJ had a community. We started to uncover just burnt flesh, charred bone, the smell was again of a decomposing body," added the detective of Tylee's remains, which had been dismembered and dispersed around the ground. JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan at Yellowstone National Park on September 8, 2019. In a podcast interview, Adam Cox also said he believed his brother had been indoctrinated with the same end-of-times beliefs as Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. They were found dead in shallow graves on Chad Daybells property nine months later in June 2020. OFFICER DORENBUSH: She threatened to murder you? Produced by Liza Finley and Richard Fetzer. Despite all of Lori's talk about demons inhabiting Charles's body, Morgan Loew says her motive may have been more mundane: money. Tylee was born around 2002. The only thing we we can know for sure is that At one point, whoever did this, dismembered her body and burned it. Sometime between 9 p.m. and midnight on September 22, the last night of their visit, Lori, Melanie and David were in the kitchen doing a religious podcast when Alex Cox appeared. Joshua Jaxon JJ Vallow was the adopted son of Charles and Lori Daybell. Opening statements begin in trial of 'doomsday mom' Lori Vallow, accused of killing two children, Chad Daybell claimed to have had a vision, Lori Vallow's late husband seen on video telling police: 'She's threatened me, to murder me, kill me', learned that his wife was having an affair, probable cause affidavit filed against Lori Vallow, Melanie Gibb discusses her former friendship with Chad and Lori. But the little boy was nowhere to be seen the next morning. and I really love JJ. Shortly after Charles death, Vallow Daybell moved to eastern Idaho with JJ, Tylee and her brother Cox. Add users and update your contact preferences, View account-related messages including emails & texts, View current & past bills, make payments, and more, Discover features, tips and basic how-to's to maximize the enjoyment of your Cox services, Cart for home internet, TV, phone or home security services. They asked the Rexburg Police Department to perform a welfare check on JJ in November 2019. "We uncovered bits and pieces of Tylee - who we assumed was Tylee," he added. But an autopsy showed she was asphyxiated to death, Prosecutor Lindsey Blake told jurors earlier this month. She is the biological mother of Tylee Ryan, 16, and the adoptive mother of Joshua Vallow, 7, who were reported missing in November 2019. Kay Woodcock, the biological grandmother of slain 7-year-old Joshua "J.J." Vallow, detailed Lori Vallow's shift in priorities from her children to her "Doomsday cult" on Gibb told detectives Vallow and Daybell believed it was their mission to rid the world of zombies. Gibb testified that she later heard from Vallow, who repeated the story she had told police about Joshuas being with Gibb. He also said they were both empty nesters, with no young kids at home, Gwilliam told the jury. How are you guys? Police had followed Alex's Cox's cellphone data to the children's graves, and on June 9, 2020, Chad Daybell was arrested. Remember, Tylee was there the day Charles Vallow was killed. Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. LORI VALLOW: That's why the neighbors don't know us very well. Morgan Loew: Lori, at that point takes JJ to school. Morgan Loew: Why do you bind somebody's feet and hands and mouth in duct tape? Chad Daybell is also charged with the murders of JJ, Tylee, and Tammy. Tylee had last been seen alive a few weeks earlier, but at the time Ryan didnt know she was missing. Both Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. Vallow Daybell claimed the only way to get rid of a zombie was to destroy the persons body, prosecutors say, and one friend told police she heard Vallow Daybell call the children zombies before they disappeared. We could only dig for a couple of minutes. Margaret Travillion: I just get so angry. April 28, 2023, at 6:10 p.m. A Look at Who's Who in the Murder Trial of Slain Kids' Mom. Charles Vallow filed for divorce in February 2019 after Lori Vallow started seeing Daybell and after she accused him of having an affair. Charles Vallow, meanwhile, had been shot dead by Alex Cox in July 2019. CHARLES VALLOW [to police officer]: She's unhinged. However, both Leger and JJs biological father, Todd Trahan, suffered from substance abuse issues, resulting in their son being born addicted to drugs. Prosecutors in both Idaho and Arizona said he conspired to kill JJ, Tylee, Tammy Daybell and Charles Vallow. It was just to ask him to stop lying about what was going on.. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Lori Vallows estranged cousin has revealed one of her most haunting fears about the murders for which the so-called cult mom is currently on trial. July 8, 2020 5:27pm. Sign in, Looking for Business service? Chad Daybell was a grave digger for a profession when he was younger. JJs father, Charles Vallow, is actually Woodcocks brother: He adopted JJ as a baby because JJs biological parents including Woodcocks son were unable to care for the child. But by 2019, that marriage had also soured. Lori later told police that she walked past Vallow on the floor and went outside. Friends told police that in some cases they determined a person had become a zombie, fully controlled by the evil spirit. Morgan Loew: That taped phone conversation is when you can hear Chad and Lori go from, "Oh, yeah, everything's great," to that change where, "OK we've got a problem here.". The criminal trial against Lori Vallow Daybell a 49-year-old Rexburg, Idaho, mother accused of killing her two children involves several states, families and a monthslong search for her kids. He was last seen sleeping in the arms of his uncle, Lori's brotherAlex Cox, in Idaho on September 22. Chad's trialwas postponed as a result, and a new trial date has not yet been set. It is horrifying! Tammy Daybell was initially described as having died in her sleep of natural causes. "She beat herself up over it all so much, it really took a toll," another source said. "She threatened me, murder me, kill me," he told police in a conversation captured on video, "48 Hours" reported. That's when she realized Charles Vallow had been shot to death. Lori Vallows family has said that she had long been obsessed with death and the afterlife and that her marriage to Daybell pushed her deeper into her beliefs. JJ's adoptive mom,Lori Vallow, and her doomsday author fifth husband,Chad Daybell, are accused of killing the two children and others as part of a depraved plot fueled by their bizarre religious beliefs. Especially Tylee was a liability for what she knew. Chad Daybells jury trial Julia Allen | JJ's teacher: there was this feeling at LIFE when the remains were found. Meanwhile, Chad Daybells wife, Tammy Daybell, died suddenly in October, and he and Vallow Daybell married two weeks later. They saw him several times during their stay. She is also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Chad's first wife Tammy as well as related financial crimes. whose father is Ms Vallows uncle, Charles Vallows sister Kay Woodcock was JJs biological grandmother. Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens. Morgan Loew: What was striking about the footage that we saw was that There's no remorse. He is now in our pet cemetery. DET. Near a pet cemetery of property grounds, investigators found JJ's decomposed remains buried in a shallow grave. Police called that friend in Arizona, Melanie Gibb, to verify Lori's story, but she did not respond to their call. At the time, Lori was married to businessman Charles Vallow. They Googled Charles Vallow's name and learned the truth. They are investigating her for conspiracy to commit murder. According to the police documents obtained by KSL, Charles Vallow learned that his wife was having an affair with Chad Daybell in June 2019, days before he was shot. WebIn April that year, Lori Vallows third husband, Joseph Ryan, biological father to Tylee Ryan, died of an apparent heart attack. But shortly after what would have been Tylees 17th birthday in September of 2019, the tone and syntax of those texts changed. The court released an audio-only version of that conversation. Leger and JJ's biological father, Todd Trahan, suffered from substance abuse issues and JJ was born addicted to drugs. Prosecutors allege she and her current husband, Chad Daybell, killed the children and their spouses as part of an obsessive doomsday religious belief. Prosecutors allege that Vallow and Daybell became obsessed with doomsday-focused religious beliefs that led them to commit four murders. Brandon Boudreaux is the ex-husband of Vallow Daybells niece, Melani Pawlowski. The two also held gatherings of people who shared their increasingly fervent beliefs: "48 Hours" reported Vallow Daybell believed she was chosen to lead the 144,000 people who would survive the end times. He dropped dead six months before JJ and Tylee were found. His sister Tylee had also vanished without a trace days earlier, having last been seen during a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park on September 8. Hey Lori. JJ had autism and Lori seemed the ideal mother for him, says Raymond. After his siblings bodies were found, Ryan confronted his mother in an emotional recorded phone call that was played for jurors. I'm still not holding it together. RAY HERMOSILLO [in court]: They began pulling up the sod and topsoil which revealed three large white rocks, flat rocks. Chad Daybell whose trial date hasnt been set also faces a first-degree murder charge in Tammy Daybells death. A condition of the adoption was that the Woodcocks remain in JJs life. I don't know what your intention is on this phone call. One source described her as being "completely devastated" by the discovery. April Raymond JJ was very difficult to take care of So I really admired how patient she was with him and how much care she took of him. Police in Hawaii searched Lori's rental car looking for evidence of the kids. Police said its unclear whether she ever received the email before her death. Joshua "JJ" Vallow and Tylee Ryan were found dead on the property of their step-father's home this week, police say, a horrific discovery that brought a tragic end to And when she actually got to talk with him, it, yeah, just escalated from there. Im sorry you feel that way, she said. The police blurred Tylee's face, because she was a minor. But they got one thing wrong. Charles adopted JJ. Her father was Vallows third husband, Joseph Ryan, who died of a heart attack in 2018 and had been in a bitter custody battle with Vallow over Tylee. Witnesses have described finding the bodies of JJ and Tylee as well as Vallow Daybell's religious beliefs. Multiple witnesses have said in testimony or presented evidence that Vallow Daybell wasnt aware hed changed his policy before he died, but one witness Vallow Daybells former friend Melanie Gibb said Vallow Daybell knew. Chad Daybell and Lori' Vallow's hula dancing days were numbered. 2. Kay Woodcocks son was the biological father of JJ, but the Woodcocks had guardianship over JJ until the Vallows adopted him. MELANIE GIBB: I'm just worried for you guys because, you know, he's missing and, you know LORI VALLOW: I know exactly where he is. And she comes back later with Tylee. April Raymond: Tylee had a network of people that really did love her, and I don't know if she knew that. He said in the divorce filing that his wife had threatened to murder him. Not a good match. While JJ was missing, no one at his old school spoke his name as if that somehow made it less real. April Raymond: I feel like whatever story we were given about how Charles was killed was not the truth. Woodcock is JJs grandmother, and she convinced Idaho police to check up on JJ after her normally regular phone calls and visits with the boy dried up. IE 11 is not supported. Tylee's remains were found close by. In the end, Chad and Lori's belief in evil may prove to be true. Benjamin Hyde has known Chad Daybell since the two men were missionaries together when they were 19. Blake also argued that Vallow Daybell and her husband used their religious beliefs to try to persuade those around them not to question their actions and even to justify murder. ROB WOOD: What did she ask you to do with that, again?