Where Are Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell Now? Inside Their Lives 5 Years After Horrific Doomsday Murders

Mar. 15, 2025

Lori Vallow poses for a mugshot on February 21, 2020 ; Chad Daybell sits during his murder trial at the Ada County Courthouse on May 30, 2024 in Boise, Idaho.Photo:Hawaii Department of Public Safety via AP ; AP Photo/Kyle Green

Hawaii Department of Public Safety via AP ; AP Photo/Kyle Green

Lori VallowandChad Daybellalleged that they were eradicating zombies and demons — when in actuality, they killed her children and his ex-wife in atrio of slayingsdubbed “The Doomsday Murders.”

After meeting in October 2018, Lori and Chad believed they were chosen to survive armageddon and do missionary work on Earth after Jesus Christ’s second coming. He allegedly convinced her that her kids had"dark" spiritsand needed to die.

Less than a year later, Lori’s 16-year-old daughter, Tylee, was last seen on Sept. 8, 2019, while her 7-year-old son, Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, disappeared shortly after on Sept. 22. The following month, Chad’s first wife of 30 years, Tammy Daybell, suddenly died under suspicious circumstances that same October.

When family members alerted the authorities that Tylee and J.J. had gone missing, Lori and Chad took off to Hawaii, where they were eventually arrested on Feb. 20, 2020. Ultimately, the children’s bodies were found on Chad’s property on June 9, and despite the mounting evidence, Lori and Chadmaintained their innocencein the cases.

Three years later,Lori was convictedin May 2023 of killing her daughter Tylee and son J.J. and conspiring to kill Tammy. She receivedthree consecutive life sentences. At the same time, Chad was charged with first-degree murder for Tylee, J.J. and Tammy, in addition to fraud charges. A jury in Idaho found him guilty on all charges, and he’scurrently on death rowin the state.

Today, Lori is preparing to represent herself in court for separate charges in Arizona, and she spoke toDatelineabout why she believes she and Chad will be exonerated. “I have seen thingsin the future that Jesus showed me when I was in heaven,” Lori said on the show.

So where are Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell now? Here’s everything to know about their crimes and lives today.

Who are Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell?

Chad Daybell ; Lori Vallow.Rexburg Police Department ; Madison County Sheriff’s Office/AP/Shutterstock

Lori Vallow was born Lori Norene Cox on June 26, 1973, in San Bernardino, Calif. She has been married five times.

Lori married her third husband, Joseph Ryan, and they welcomed a daughter, Tylee, in 2001. They divorced in 2004, and Ryandied of a heart attack in 2018.

In 2005, Lori married her fourth husband, Charles Vallow. Together, they adopted his grandnephew J.J. Vallow, who was diagnosed with autism, per theAssociated Press. Charles also had two children from his previous marriage to Cheryl Wheeler.

Chad was married to Tammy Daybell when he and Lori first met at an October 2018 conference in Utah. Still, Chad and Lori hadan immediate attractionto each other and began having an affair.

Melanie Gibb, a former friend of Lori’s, later said in court, “She shared with me that he told her that they had been married in another time period. She did believe that.”

What did Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell do?

In this aerial photo, investigators search for human remains at Chad Daybell’s residence on June 9, 2020, in Salem, Idaho.John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP

John Roark/The Idaho Post-Register via AP

Charlesfiled to divorce Lori in February 2019after she abandoned him and J.J. for 58 days, according toThe Post Register. Charles claimed her religious beliefs were a cause of conflict in their marriage, and he also alleged that she stole $35,000 from a joint bank account they shared.

That July, Lori’s brother,Alex Cox, shot and killed Charlesin Lori’s Arizona house, claiming self-defense. Cox was never charged with a crime related to the incident. (He later died from blood clots in his lungs and high blood pressure that same December, according to theEast Idaho News.)

In August 2019, Lori and Chad moved to Rexburg, Idaho, and their relationship only intensified. Shortly after their move, Tylee was last seen on Sept. 8, 2019, in Yellowstone National Park, and J.J. was spotted for the last time on Sept. 22, 2019.

Around this time, J.J.’s grandparents, Larry and Kay Woodcock, called for a welfare check on J.J. and Tylee, and police came to her home in Idaho on Nov. 26, 2019.

According toThe Post-Register, when authorities spoke with Lori, she told different stories about where her children were. After they couldn’t confirm Lori’s statements, the police returned to the residence the next day with a search warrant but found the home had been “abruptly vacated.”

Police found Lori and Chad in Kauai, Hawaii, on Jan. 25, 2020. They served Lori with a legal document ordering her to produce the kids, perABC.

What were Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s criminal charges?

Lori Vallow, JJ Vallow, Tylee Ryan, Tammy Daybell, Chad Daybell.

In early February 2020, police tracked down a storage unit in Rexburg, Idaho, full of Tylee and J.J.’s belongings, with video footage showing Lori and Cox filling it up before she left for Hawaii, theEast Idaho Newsreported.

A few weeks later, she was arrested in Kauai on Feb. 20 and extradited to Idaho, where she was charged with nonsupport of dependent children and several other offenses, per apress release. Her bail was initially set at $5 million and laterreduced to $1 millionbut she remained in police custody.

Lori was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Arizona for Charles Vallow’s death, plus grand theft for collecting Tylee and J.J.’s Social Security Survivor benefits after their deaths.

Chad faced an additional first-degree murder charge for killing Tammy, in addition to two counts of insurance fraud in relation to a life insurance policy he’d taken out on Tammy before her murder. They each pleaded not guilty to all charges.

What was Lori Vallow’s verdict?

Lori Vallow Daybell listens as the jury’s verdict is read at the Ada County Courthouse on May 12, 2023 in Boise, Idaho.Kyle Green/AP

Kyle Green/AP

In May 2023, a jury found Lori guilty of murdering Tylee and J.J. and of conspiring to murder Tammy, as well as of grand theft.

According to reports, Lori, who wore all black for the proceeding, appeared emotionless in court and didn’t speak to her attorneys before exiting the courtroom with them.

The trial lasted about seven weeks, during which J.J.’s cause of death was revealed to be asphyxiation. A coroner testified that they were unable to determine Tylee’s cause of death beyond it being a homicide because her remains were burnt and partially dismembered.

“My mom has spent her whole life protecting us kids. After she met Chad Daybell, she changed,” he said.

What was Lori Vallow’s sentence?

Lori Vallow appears in court in Lihue, Hawaii.Dennis Fujimoto/AP/Shutterstock

At her sentencing on July 31, 2023, Lori told the court that Tylee, J.J. and Tammy visited her after their deaths and thatJ.J. told her she did nothing wrong.

What was Chad Daybell’s sentence?

Chad Daybell listens as the jury’s verdict in his murder trial is read at the Ada County Courthouse on May 30, 2024 in Boise, Idaho.AP Photo/Kyle Green

AP Photo/Kyle Green

On May 30, 2024, after a nearly two-month-long trial, it took an Ada County, Idaho, jury less than six hours of deliberations to find Chadguilty of all charges against him.

During the trial, Chad’s adult children, Emma Murray and Garth Daybell, testified in defense of their father, with Murray noting on the stand that Tammy’s health had been declining in the weeks leading to her death.

“I’d never seen him more upset than in that moment. I know the grief was real,” she said, per12 News. “He may not have had the same romantic relationship that he had with my mother in the past, but I know he valued her as a person and seeing her die was very traumatic.”

After a recess, Judge Boyce announced that the jury agreed to sentence Chad to death for his crimes, telling the court (via CNN) that the panel “found beyond a reasonable doubt … that the aggravating circumstances when weighed against the mitigating circumstances do not make the imposition of the death penalty unjust.”

Are Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell still married?

Lori and Chad are still legally married despite being incarcerated in different states.

Where is Lori Vallow now?

Lori Vallow Daybell mugshot.Madison County Jail

Days after her conviction for murdering her children and conspiring to murder Tammy, Lori was indicted on charges ofconspiring to kill her niece’s ex-husband,Brandon Boudreaux, stemming from an incident on Feb. 24, 2022. Police in Gilbert, Ariz., alleged that Cox (now deceased) conspired with Lori in October 2019 to kill Boudreaux while he was married to Lori’s niece Melanie Pawlowski.

It’s not the only conspiracy to commit murder charge she faces in the state. Lori was also indicted in the shooting death of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow, at the home they shared in Chandler, Ariz. Lori has pleaded not guilty to all charges andappealed her convictionsin the murders of Tylee and J.J. and the conspiracy to murder Tammy.

Lori began serving her life sentences at Pocatello Women’s Correctional Center in Pocatello, Idaho, but was extradited to a Maricopa County, Ariz., jail while she awaits trial for the conspiracy charges in the Boudreaux and Charles Vallow cases.

Initially slated to begin Aug. 1, 2024, Lori’s attorneys weregranted a delayuntil Feb. 24, 2025, with her lawyers citing an overwhelming amount of evidence to sort through before proceedings begin.

That same December, Lori was ruled competent to stand trial and waived her right to an attorney, per12 News. She’s set to represent herself at her Arizona trial onMarch 31, 2025.

Where is Chad Daybell now?

Chad Daybell listens during his preliminary hearing on August 3, 2020 in St. Anthony, Idaho.John Roark/Post Register/Pool/AP

John Roark/Post Register/Pool/AP

Chad entered a maximum security prison in Kuna, Idaho, on June 3, 2024, according toIdaho News 6. He is the ninth inmate on death row in the state,The East Idaho Newsreported.

Two days later, Chad filed to appeal both his conviction and his death sentence, which theEast Idaho Newsreported can take several years. His legal team also filed a separate motion requesting a public defender be assigned to his case, citing indigence.

On June 27, 2024, it wasreportedthat the home where Chad killed Tammy — and where Tylee and J.J.’s remains were found in the yard — was up for sale. Chad’s daughter and her family had been residing at the property since Chad’s arrest.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

source: people.com