Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell — Idaho Doomsday Murders

The Case

The Vallow–Daybell case is an American multi-state murder conspiracy in which Lori Norene Vallow Daybell and her husband Chad Guy Daybell killed Lori's two youngest children, Chad's first wife Tammy, and Lori's estranged husband Charles Vallow between July and October 2019. The killings were tied to a fringe doomsday belief system promoted by Chad Daybell, a self-published religious author, and unfolded across Arizona and Idaho before the children's remains were discovered on Daybell's rural property in June 2020. The case has since been described as one of the most disturbing American family-murder investigations of the past decade, drawing extensive national news coverage and multiple documentaries.

The Crime

The killings began on July 11, 2019, when Charles Vallow — who was in the middle of divorcing Lori — was shot dead at a home in Chandler, Arizona. The shooter was Lori's brother Alex Cox, who told police he had acted in self-defense. Cox died of natural causes in December 2019, before any charges could be filed, but Arizona prosecutors later concluded that Lori had conspired in the killing and had also helped orchestrate a failed drive-by shooting targeting her former nephew-in-law Brandon Boudreaux.

Weeks later, in September 2019, Lori's two children — 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and 7-year-old Joshua 'JJ' Vallow — vanished from Rexburg, Idaho. Tylee was last seen during a family trip to Yellowstone on September 8, 2019, and JJ was last seen alive on September 23. On October 19, 2019, Chad Daybell's wife Tammy died suddenly at their Idaho home. Her death was initially attributed to natural causes, but investigators later exhumed her body and ruled it a homicide. Just over two weeks after Tammy's death, Chad and Lori married in Hawaii.

The Victims

Four confirmed victims were tied to the conspiracy. Charles Vallow was Lori's estranged husband and JJ's adoptive father. Tammy Daybell was Chad's first wife and the mother of his children. Tylee Ryan was Lori's biological 16-year-old daughter from a previous marriage. JJ Vallow was a 7-year-old boy with autism whom Lori and Charles had adopted. A fifth intended victim, Brandon Boudreaux, survived an alleged drive-by shooting in Arizona and later testified against Lori.

Investigation

The investigation accelerated in late November 2019 when relatives of JJ asked Rexburg police to conduct a welfare check. When officers arrived, Lori and Chad gave conflicting accounts of the children's whereabouts and fled to Hawaii within days. Lori was arrested in Kauai on February 20, 2020, on charges of desertion and non-support of her children. Months later, on June 9, 2020, investigators executed a search warrant at Chad Daybell's property in Salem, Idaho, and uncovered the buried remains of both children. Tylee's body had been dismembered and burned, while JJ had been bound with duct tape and suffocated in a plastic bag.

Forensic evidence proved central. According to trial coverage, DNA tied Lori to material recovered around the plastic bag used to suffocate JJ. Investigators also documented financial motives — including Social Security survivor benefits for the adopted children and a life-insurance policy on Tammy Daybell — along with text messages indicating that Chad and Lori had labeled their victims as 'zombies' possessed by dark spirits.

Trial and Verdict

Lori Vallow Daybell stood trial first. In May 2023, an Idaho jury convicted her of the first-degree murders of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, conspiracy in the killing of Tammy Daybell, and grand theft. She received three consecutive life sentences without parole. Chad Daybell was tried separately in 2024 and convicted of all three Idaho murders; in May 2024 a jury recommended the death penalty, and the judge formally imposed a capital sentence.

Lori was later extradited to Arizona, where she chose to represent herself. In April 2025 she was convicted of conspiring to murder Charles Vallow and of the conspiracy to murder Brandon Boudreaux, drawing additional consecutive prison terms.

Today

The case remains one of the most extensively documented American crime stories of the 2020s. It has been the subject of numerous network specials, streaming documentaries, and long-running podcasts examining the role of religious extremism, blended-family dynamics, and financial motive. Chad Daybell remains on death row in Idaho while his appeals proceed, and Lori Vallow Daybell is serving life without parole. Continuing trial and sentencing coverage has kept attention on the surviving family members, particularly Lori's eldest son Colby Ryan, who has spoken publicly about losing his siblings.