It's a complex case that led investigators from Arizona to Idaho and Hawaii to unravel a twisted plot built on bizarre claims that the victims were possessed by evil spirits and that the defendant — Lori Vallow Daybell — was after money from a life insurance policy and chasing a marriage with a new lover.
Vallow Daybell is already serving three life sentences in Idaho for murdering her two youngest children and conspiring to kill her lover's wife. Now, she's on trial in Arizona — on charges she conspired to kill her estranged husband in 2019. Prosecutors contend she had help from her brother and that doomsday prophecies peddled by her boyfriend and soon-to-be husband Chad Daybell played a role in the death of Charles Vallow.
Here’s a look at some of the people connected to the case.
Lori Vallow Daybell, the defendant
Vallow Daybell, 51, was a beautician by trade, a mother of three, and has been married five times.
She married her high school sweetheart when she was 19. It ended quickly, but she married again in her early 20s and had a son. With her third husband, Joseph Ryan, she had a daughter. That ended after a few years, and Ryan later died in his home of a suspected heart attack.
In the summer of 2019, her fourth husband — Charles — was shot to death by her brother. That's when she moved with her daughter Tylee Ryan and youngest son Joshua “JJ” Vallow to southeastern Idaho, where she could be closer to Chad. That September, the children disappeared, and prosecutors said Chad and his wife at the time, Tammy Daybell, applied to increase Tammy’s life insurance benefit.
Tammy died the next month, and Chad Daybell and Vallow Daybell got married two weeks later. Authorities grew suspicious about Tammy's death and had her body exhumed for an autopsy, which determined she died of asphyxiation. The children’s bodies were found in 2020, buried in Chad Daybell’s yard.
During her sentencing, Vallow Daybell said, “accidental deaths happen.” She claimed the spirits of the three victims visited her regularly and were all happy in the “spirit world.”
Charles Vallow, husband and victim
Charles Vallow, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, entered the picture several months after Vallow Daybell and Joseph Ryan divorced. Vallow Daybell joined the faith — commonly known as the Mormon church — and the two married in 2006. They later adopted “JJ” Vallow.
The marriage soured by 2019. Charles filed for divorce, contending in court papers that Vallow Daybell believed herself to be a deity tasked with helping usher in the biblical apocalypse.
The two were estranged but still married when Vallow Daybell’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles outside his suburban Phoenix home. Cox told police the shooting was in self-defense and was never charged in the case. He died months later of a blood clot in his lungs.
Chad Daybell, husband convicted in triple-murder trial
Chad Daybell, 56, married Tammy Daybell in 1990. They had five kids and a home in rural southeastern Idaho. He was also a member of the Mormon church and loosely crafted his works of fiction on its teachings.
Prosecutors have said that Chad Daybell met Vallow Daybell at a conference in Utah in 2018. Chad insisted they had been married in several previous lives and that she was a “sexual goddess” who would help him save the world. The couple led a group of friends in trying to cast out evil spirits by praying and doing what they called “energy work," prosecutors said.
They believed a person could become a zombie in some cases, and the only way to banish a zombie was to kill the person, friends said. One friend told police she heard Vallow Daybell call the children zombies before they disappeared.
Idaho jurors convicted Chad in 2024 in the triple-murder plot. They deliberated just over a day before sentencing him to death.
Alex Cox, brother
Friends of Cox and Vallow Daybell testified in 2023 that the siblings were very close, and that Cox believed he was put on the Earth to serve as her protector.
During Vallow Daybell’s trial in Idaho, prosecutors presented witnesses and evidence that appeared to tie Cox to the deaths, including GPS data on his phone that was traced to where the children’s bodies were found.
Cox's wife, Zulema Pastenes, testified that her husband also believed people could be possessed and become zombies. She said Cox called himself the “fall guy” after learning that Tammy's body was being exhumed, but he didn't elaborate.
Kay Woodcock, witness
Kay Woodcock is Vallow's sister and JJ’s grandmother. She's on the prosecution’s witness list.
In 2019, she persuaded police in Idaho to check on JJ after her regular phone calls and visits with the boy stopped. A search for JJ and Tylee ensued, with police asking for the public's help and the Woodcock family creating a website where people could leave tips. A reward was also offered.
Charles Vallow adopted JJ as a baby because the boy's biological parents were unable to care for him.
In the Idaho proceedings, Woodcock told jurors that JJ was born with some disabilities and was diagnosed with autism. After Charles died, Woodcock feared Vallow Daybell no longer wanted the boy. She also worried that JJ may have witnessed his father’s death.
