It looked like a step by step from the fairy tale wedding.
Dressed in white with garlands of pink flowers around their necks, the bride and groom couldn’t have looked happier as they said their vows on a paradise beach in Hawaii.
But, beneath the surface of the celebrations, her two sons had not been seen alive for two months.
The groom’s wife had died just two weeks earlier.
Now, in the two years since Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s November 2019 nuptials, what has emerged is a deeply disturbing pattern of alleged murders, unexplained deaths of those close to the couple, and bizarre cult beliefs about killing zombies. .
They are each charged with the murder of Vallow’s two children, Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, after their remains were found in a shallow grave on the grounds of the Daybell property in Idaho in June 2020: nine months after the last sign of life.
Vallow had told friends that her children were “zombies” and that the only way to free a person’s soul from zombies was to kill them, according to prosecutors.
The couple is also charged with the murder of Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. Her death in October 2019 was initially deemed “natural causes” at the age of 49 and it was only after the missing children case accelerated that investigators became suspicious and exhumed her body.
The couple met while he was married to Tammy and she was married to her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.
Vallow is also now charged with conspiring to murder Charles Vallow after her brother, Alex Cox, shot him to death in July 2019 in what was considered self-defense at the time.
In another twist, when the case was reopened following the disappearance of JJ and Tylee, Cox was killed.
Once again, this death was ruled “natural causes”, even though the overdose drug Narcan was found in his system.
Now the latest chapter of the odyssey is about to begin, as Vallow, dubbed the “mother of the doomsday cult”, will appear in court for her indictment in the murder of her two sons on Tuesday.
This will come after her case was suspended last year when she was found to be mentally unfit to stand trial.
After nearly a year in a mental health facility, he was back behind bars last week, paving the way for prosecutors to move forward with the case and try the couple together.
Here’s what we know about the case so far:
THE CHARGES
Vallow and Daybell were charged with the May 2021 murders of Tylee and JJ, nearly a year after their bodies were discovered on Daybell’s property in June 2020.
The children had not been seen since September 2019, just a month after Vallow moved with them from Arizona to Idaho to be with Daybell.
That November, other members of JJ’s family asked the police to carry out a welfare check, as they had not seen or heard from him in two months.
The couple insisted they knew where the children were, but refused to present them to authorities.
Vallow was first arrested in Hawaii in January 2020 on charges of desertion. Since then, she has been behind bars until the remains of her children were discovered and Daybell was also arrested.
Meanwhile, Tammy Daybell was found dead on October 19, 2019.
Prosecutors alleged in a notice of charges that the three homicides and related financial crimes “were committed as part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy.”
The couple is charged in Idaho with conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of the two children, and separately in connection with the death of Tammy.
Vallow is also charged in Arizona with conspiring to kill Charles Vallow, with the help of his late brother, Alex Cox.
She is also charged with grand theft and insurance fraud in connection with Tylee and JJ’s Social Security benefits.
CHAD AND LORI VALLOW DAYBELL: A LOVE STORY
Daybell ran a publishing house that published books on doomsday scenarios loosely based on the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He met Vallow at a religious conference in 2018 and the two quickly developed a close relationship, according to the investigation.
Soon they traveled to meet and share exciting short stories. Daybell wrote a fictional piece about two characters who also met at a religious conference.
They communicated using a code or pet names like Lili, Bubby and Raphael and through disposable phones and direct messages on popular phone apps, according to computer and phone files investigators found.
As the intensity of their relationship increased, the researchers said their belief system centered on the end of the world began to grow.
BEYOND THE SPIRITUAL VEIL
Up to 10 friends were drawn to the group as they gathered to pray, cast out evil spirits, and seek revelations from “beyond the spiritual veil.”
His “apocalyptic religious belief system” began in 2018.
At the time, Charles Vallow wanted a divorce because his wife believed that he had become a divine figure responsible for heralding the end of Biblical times.
Friends told investigators that Lori and Daybell believed that people could be possessed by evil spirits and become “zombies,” where their souls were trapped in limbo. According to police reports, the only way to rid a person of a zombie was with the death of her body.
Melanie Gibb, a friend of the couple, told investigators that Vallow referred to her children as “zombies.” Investigators in Arizona found text messages saying that Daybell’s previous wife, Tammy Daybell, was possessed by a dark spirit.
Drawing loosely on the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the friends said they had gone to extremes, according to a police report.
The report said they believed in reincarnation and that Vallow was a “goddess” sent to bring about the second coming of Christ.
Vallow also told friends that he had special powers such as teleporting between Arizona and Hawaii, police allege. Daybell reportedly added that she had a “portal” to travel to other realms and receive revelations.
The group also believed that once a person became “exalted”, they could not be responsible for their actions on earth. Prosecutors say Vallow has espoused religious beliefs to justify the alleged killings.
WHAT INVESTIGATORS ALLEGE HAPPENED
Police say the investigation revealed documents indicating that Charles Vallow discovered his wife’s affair with Daybell only weeks before her death.
He confronted her in a text message and then emailed Chad’s then-wife Tammy to inform her of their respective spouses’ infidelity.
Charles was shot to death 11 days after sending that email.
In the main investigation report, investigators wrote that they suspected the killers were motivated by greed over Charles Vallow’s life insurance money, mutual lust and their bizarre religious beliefs.
“All of these overt acts were done so that Lori could eventually be with Chad Daybell and reportedly complete his mission here on earth,” the report said.
“This belief system, lust and greed would also cause the deaths of Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow and Tammy Daybell.”
JULY 2019: CHARLES VALLOW IS SHOT AND KILLED
Charles Vallow was killed when he went to pick up his son at his ex-wife’s home in Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix, on July 11, 2019.
He wanted to carry out a mental health intervention, but she was informed of the plan, investigators said.
His brother, Alex Cox, shot Charles Vallow in the driveway, claiming self-defense. He told investigators that Charles attacked him with a baseball bat.
Investigators disputed his account, noting that he waited about 43 minutes to call 911 after shooting Charles Vallow.
Meanwhile, the records show that he called his sister. He also claimed to have tried to resuscitate him, but investigators said they found no evidence of that attempt.
Cox also claimed that he fired twice while Charles was standing, but police claimed that forensic evidence showed that he was already on the ground when he was shot second.
SEPTEMBER: TYLEE RYAN AND JJ VALLOW DISAPPEAR
The two children disappeared in September 2019, a few weeks before Vallow and Daybell were to marry.
JJ, who was autistic, was adopted by Lori Vallow and was last seen alive Sept. 23 at his Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg, Idaho, according to an affidavit.
Investigators later found the bodies of JJ and Tylee buried in Daybell’s backyard in Idaho in 2020.
Police have not released a cause of death, but court documents say Tylee’s body was partially burned.
Rexburg Police Detective Ray Hermosillo told the court that JJ had been found wrapped in plastic bags with duct tape.
OCTOBER 2019: TAMMY DAYBELL DIES FROM “NATURAL CAUSES”
Tammy Daybell’s obituary stated that she died in October 2019 of natural causes.
But authorities became suspicious when her husband remarried just two weeks later and the mystery surrounding the missing children’s case grew.
Investigators exhumed her body for an autopsy and reclassified her death as suspicious.
They linked the death to the disappearance of the two children, but did not release a cause of death.
Both Daybell and Vallow now stand accused of her death. It is not yet clear how he is believed to have died or what evidence investigators have.
DECEMBER 2019: ALEX COX DIES OF A “BLOOD CLOT”
Cox, who shot Charles Vallow five months earlier in an event he said was in self-defense, was found dead by his stepson in December 2019.
The 51-year-old man was found lying on the bathroom floor gasping for breath and vomiting, according to a police report cited by the East Idaho News.
A medical examiner found that he died of natural causes, with indications of a blood clot embedded in the arteries of his lungs.
High blood pressure also contributed to his death, according to the report.
Narcan overdose medication was found in his system.
On the day of her death, she called Daybell to receive a “blessing” over the phone, according to sources.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT
Lori Daybell’s case was originally suspended last May when mental health evaluators ruled that she was not competent to stand trial.
Her case remained on hold while a mental health facility treated her to help her defense. Judge Steven Boyce’s order says she was “treated to restore her capacity and she is fit to proceed.”
Lori Vallow will be transferred to jail and will be arraigned on the murder and conspiracy charges on April 19.
Chad Daybell has pleaded not guilty to the charges and Lori Daybell has not yet had a chance to enter a plea.
The couple is scheduled to appear in trial together in early 2023.
If convicted, they face sentences ranging from life in prison without parole to the death penalty.
Fuente (independentespanol.com)
