PHOENIX — It's an indictment that comes after more than a year and a half of investigating: first-degree murder charges, among many others, connected to three deaths in a twisted case that started to unfold in Arizona.
On Tuesday, Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell were each served warrants for a slew of new charges connected to the 2019 deaths of Lori's kids, 7-year-old JJ Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, along with the death of Tammy Daybell, Chad's first wife.
Chad is also charged with first-degree murder in the death of his first wife, Tammy Daybell.
Both Chad and Lori are also facing a number of conspiracy and fraud-related charges.
On Wednesday, Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell both appeared separately in court over Zoom to face the new charges.
During Chad's initial appearance, Chad chuckled as the judge asked if he could hear him. Chad's attorney, John Prior, said he would remain Chad's attorney on this new case.
In Lori's case, the judge said Lori's initial appearance would be continued after her attorney, Mark Means, asked for the hearing to be rescheduled. The state objected to his motion, but the judge ultimately ruled to reschedule her initial appearance. Means stated he would stay on as Lori's attorney.
This case first gained national attention at the end of 2019 when the FBI and other authorities posted about the two missing kids, Tylee and JJ.
But a lot of this story started to unfold in the months before that investigation started.
Death of Charles Vallow
The Chandler Police Department submitted its investigation involving Lori
Vallow and the death of Charles Vallow to the Maricopa County Attorney's
Office on April 1, 2021.
The submitted charge is conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The case is currently under review by the county attorney.
Lori moved the children from Arizona to Idaho in September 2019. Both children would disappear before the end of the month and would remain missing until investigators found their bodies brutally buried in Chad Daybell's backyard in June 2020.
The move to Idaho came just a few months after her brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed her fourth husband, Charles Vallow at their home in Chandler. Alex told police he shot Charles in self-defense after Charles hit him with a baseball bat during an argument. Almost 2 years later, Chandler police say the investigation is still open.
In early 2019, court records show Charles and Lori's relationship was rocky.
At the end of January 2019, Charles called Gilbert Police after he returned home from a business trip, claiming Lori took his truck from the airport parking lot.
Charles explained he thought that Lori's religious beliefs turned radical and that he feared for his own life and his children. Court records show by this point she had already connected with doomsday author Chad Daybell and was part of a group that followed Daybell's alleged "end of times" teachings.
Charles was trying to locate Lori so police could serve her with a mental health petition he filed.
"She needs help," he said to officers. "She needs some serious help. I want her to get help. I’m worried about her."
He also expressed concern over what Lori might do to the children.
Records show Lori gave Gilbert Police her side of the story hours later, claiming she wanted Charles out of their home because she allegedly caught him cheating.
Police say she did get the mental health evaluation and was released.
Charles filed for divorce, but in the months that followed, the couple reportedly reconciled. They were estranged but still married when Chandler Police say Alex Cox shot and killed Charles.
Lori moves to Idaho and marries Chad
Court records show Lori Vallow moved with Tylee and JJ to Idaho in early September 2019. Tylee was last seen on September 8th, 2019 and JJ was last seen on September 23, 2019. Investigators believe those dates coincide with the days that they died.
In October 2019, Tammy Daybell died in the Rexburg home she shared with Chad. Her death was originally ruled natural causes, but she was later exhumed. Tuesday's indictment was the first time anyone was charged with her death.
Less than two weeks after her death in November, Lori and Chad would marry in Hawaii. It was around this time that JJ's grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, were starting to worry. They contacted Gilbert Police to see if they could do a welfare check on the kids, not realizing Lori took them to Idaho.
Eventually, investigators tracked Lori down in Rexburg. When they asked about JJ, she told them he was with a friend, Melanie Gibb, in Arizona.
Gibb was also part of Lori and Chad's religious group. Court records show she even spent time with the couple in Rexburg on the day JJ was last seen alive. She's since testified for the state and told a court over the summer that Lori and Chad asked her to lie to police about JJ's whereabouts in late November when police started asking questions.
Gibb even confronted the couple in a phone call, asking them about Tylee and JJ. She turned that recording over to police.
When police in Idaho went to circle back with Lori, she was nowhere to be found. Investigators eventually tracked her and Chad down in Hawaii, where she was arrested in February for failing to produce her kids. She was extradited back to Idaho in March and put in the Madison County Jail, where she's been ever since.
Where Lori's brother fits in
Alex Cox is a name that comes up again and again in court paperwork. He's listed as a co-conspirator in many of the charges Lori and Chad are facing, but Cox will never see a day in court for this case.
In December 2019, Alex Cox was found dead inside his home in Gilbert. Months later, an autopsy revealed he died of natural causes, but Gilbert Police continued to investigate. Gilbert Police eventually concluded to uphold the medical examiner's findings.
His death raised questions because Alex Cox also moved to Idaho around the same time Lori did and court records show he rented a place in the same complex as Lori. The FBI released a photo of him with Lori, JJ and Tylee in Yellowstone National Park, about an hour away from Rexburg, on the day Tylee was last seen alive.
He's also accused of shooting at Lori's niece's ex-husband in Gilbert and attempting to shoot Tammy Daybell in the days leading up to her death. He's not been charged in either of those cases.
On June 9, 2020, investigators went to Chad Daybell's property in Fremont County, Idaho, just outside of Rexburg.
Investigators say it was pings from Alex Cox's cell phone that ultimately led them to discover JJ and Tylee's bodies. The records show his phone was in the yard for several hours during the time each child was believed to have been buried.
Chad was arrested that day and put in Fremont County Jail in Idaho, where he's been ever since.
The indictment
The indictment paperwork gives some new clues as to the evidence investigators have been compiling over the past year and a half.
Both Lori and Chad are accused of using their religious beliefs to "encourage and/or justify" the murders on or between October 26, 2018 and June 9, 2020. Those dates coincide with when the pair reportedly met to when Tylee and JJ's bodies were recovered from Chad's backyard.
It also says that Lori and Chad texted about Tammy being possessed by a spirit and also texted about "death percentages" for Tammy and JJ.
In the indictment, Lori is accused of collecting Social Security benefits for Tylee and JJ four to five months after investigators believe they were killed.
Chad's court paperwork claims he increased Tammy’s life insurance policy in the days before her death.
The indictment also lists Alex Cox as a co-conspirator in many of the conspiracy charges. It claims Cox went to a gun range in the months leading up to Tammy's attempted shooting. It also claims that Cox was near the Daybell residence the night of Tammy's attempted shooting and the night she was first believed to have died in her sleep.
The charges
The new charges from the grand jury indictment include the following:
- Count 1 - Lori and Chad Daybell were indicted on the charge of Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder and Grand Theft by Deception for the death of Tylee Ryan.
- Count 2 - Lori and Chad Daybell were indicted on the charge of First Degre Murder for the death of Tylee Ryan.
- Count 3 - Lori and Chad Daybell were indicted on the charge of Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder and Grand Theft by Deception for the death of JJ Vallow.
- Count 4 - Lori and Chad Daybell were indicted on the charge of First Degre Murder for the death of JJ Vallow.
- Count 5 - Lori and Chad Daybell were indicted on the charge of Conpiracy to Commit First Degree Murder in the death of Tammy Daybell.
- Count 6 - Chad Daybell was indicted on the charge of First Degree Murder in the death of his wife Tammy Daybell.
- Count 7 - Lori Daybell was indicted on the charge of Grand Theft related to Social Security Survivor benefits over $1,000 allocated for the care of minors Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow that were appropriated after the children were missing and ultimately found deceased.
- Count 8 - Chad Daybell was indicted on the charge of Insurance Fraud related to a life insurance policy he had on Tammy Daybell for which he was the beneficiary and received funds after her death.
- Count 9 - Chad Daybell was indicted on the charge of Insurance Fraud related to another life insurance policy he had on Tammy Daybell for which he was the beneficiary and received funds after her death.
What's next
Prior to this week's indictments, Chad and Lori were both facing other conspiracy charges connected to the deaths of JJ and Tylee. They were set for a combined trial in 2021, but a new date hasn't been set yet.
Chad's arraignment is set for June 9, 2021, which is one year to the day that investigators found JJ and Tylee's bodies buried on his property.
A new date for Lori's first appearance has not been set yet.