May 28 2021- 9:00 p.m.
‘Cult mom’ Lori Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell have been charged with murder, a year after the remains of her two children were found on their property.
A grand jury in Fremont County, Idaho on Tuesday returned a true bill indicting Lori and Chad on several counts, including first-degree murder, in connection with the deaths of Lori’s kids, Joshua ‘JJ’ Vallow, seven, and Tylee Ryan, 16.
Chad was also charged with the murder of his first wife, Tammy Daybell.
Lori and Chad, who were allegedly leaders of a dangerous doomsday cult, were already behind bars awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to hide the kids’ remains.
It is unclear what led to prosecutors filing the latest indictment now – more than a year and a half after the murders they are accused of committing.
The charges come after Lori was declared ‘indigent’ by a district judge last Friday, meaning she cannot afford to pay for an attorney.Â
JJ and Tylee were last seen alive in September 2019, soon after Lori moved from Arizona to Idaho to live with Chad.
According to the indictment, Lori switched Social Security payments from her daughter’s account to her own account in mid-August.
She allegedly continued to collect Social Security assistance checks worth $1,000 on behalf of the children for five months after their deaths.
JJ and Tylee were receiving ‘survivor’ Social Security benefits, which entitle children of a deceased parent to up to half of the parent’s full retirement benefits. JJ’s adoptive father – and Lori’s fourth husband – Charles Vallow died in July 2019 and Tylee’s father – Lori’s third husband – Joseph Ryan died in April 2018.
Lori is charged with grand theft and insurance fraud for failing to alert the government of the kids’ deaths while she continued collecting their benefits.
Lori and Chad – the prolific Doomsday author, alleged cult leader and former grave digger whom she married less than two months after her kids vanished – had repeatedly refused to say where the children were but insisted that they were safe.
Tammy purportedly died in her sleep aged 49 on October 19, 2019, at the home she shared with Chad in Salem, Idaho.
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Chad refused an autopsy at the time, despite the fact that his wife of nearly three decades was said to be in excellent health.
According to the indictment, Chad increased the life insurance benefits to the maximum allowed under Tammy’s policy just a month before her death. He reportedly ended up receiving a $430,000 payout.Â
He also espoused ‘religious beliefs for the purpose of justifying and/or encouraging the homicide’ the indictment states, noting that Chad wrote in text messages to Lori that Tammy was ‘in limbo’ and possessed by a spirit named Viola.
Two weeks after the death of the mother-of-five Tammy, Chad married cult mom Lori, whose own husband, Charles, had died a few months earlier.
Police launched an investigation into Tammy’s death – and the death of Lori’s fourth husband Charles – after a search was mounted for Lori’s children JJ and Tylee in late 2019.
Fremont County Coroner Brenda Dye asked a judge in Utah to have Tammy’s body exhumed from its grave in Evergreen Cemetery in Springville, Utah – where Chad had once worked – after suspicions were raised.
Tammy’s body was exhumed on December 11, 2019, one day before the death of Lori’s brother Alex Cox, who is named in the new indictment as a co-conspirator in Tammy’s death.
Chad and Lori are both charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder and grand theft by deception and first degree murder.
Chad is additionally charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, grand theft and insurance fraud in Tammy’s death.
They are both are scheduled to appear in Idaho court on Wednesday morning.
Tylee vanished on September 8, 2019, just days before her 17th birthday. Investigators said her body was burned and dismembered before being buried sometime the following day.
JJ was last seen two weeks later on September 23. His body was wrapped in duct tape and plastic and buried the same day, investigators said.
Authorities believe Lori’s brother, Cox, brought the children’s bodies to Chad’s home to dispose of them.
Police began searching for the children in late November 2019 after performing a welfare check ordered by concerned relatives who said they hadn’t spoken to seven-year-old JJ, who was autistic, in months.
When officers first went to Lori’s home in Idaho on November 26, she told them that JJ was visiting relatives in Arizona – which investigators say was a lie.
Officers returned the following day and found that Lori and the man she married weeks earlier, Chad, had fled from the home.
Authorities said the couple repeatedly lied about where JJ and Tylee were and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Lori and Chad were named persons of interest in the children’s disappearance after investigators said they believe the mother knew where her children were or what happened to them.
The case captured nationwide attention with the revelations that police were also investigating at least three mysterious deaths linked to Lori and Chad, as well as family members’ claims that the couple are members of a dangerous doomsday cult.
The first death is that of Lori’s estranged husband Charles Vallow, who was shot dead by her brother Alex Cox in Arizona on July 10, 2019.
Charles and Lori had gotten into an argument when the father came to pick up JJ at the mother’s home in Chandler.
Lori’s brother intervened and fatally shot Charles.
Police initially determined that he acted in self defense – but the case was reopened amid the multi-state search for JJ and Tylee, who had moved to Idaho, where Chad lived, with their mother weeks later.
The second mysterious death was Tammy, who was found dead at the home she shared with Chad on October 19.
An obituary stated that Tammy passed away in her sleep and her cause of death was ruled as natural after Chad reportedly declined an autopsy.
Investigators reopened the case after learning that JJ and Tylee were missing, as their mother had married Chad just two weeks after Tammy died.
On December 12, Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, was found dead in Gilbert, Arizona.
An autopsy determined that the 51-year-old’s died of natural causes but noted that he had the overdose drug Narcan in his system at the time.
Police tracked Lori and Chad down in Princeville, Hawaii, in late January 2020 and served the mother with a court order requiring her to physically produce the children to authorities in Idaho within five days.
Lori failed to meet the deadline, prompting her arrest and extradition to Idaho, where she is currently being held at Madison County Jail in lieu of $1million bond.
Chad was arrested three months later after the children’s bodies were found.
Prior to Tuesday’s indictment, Lori was facing two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence, as well as three misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing officers, solicitation to commit a crime and contempt of court.
Chad was facing two felony counts of conspiracy to destroy or conceal evidence, along with two other felony counts for destruction or concealment of evidence.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the initial charges and maintained their innocence.
The couple were previously slated to face trial together this fall. It’s unclear whether the trial will be moved in light of the new charges. Â
