Despicable: The Painful Story of Tylee Ryan and J. J. Vallow

Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell face trial for the alleged killing of two children, Joseph and Tylee, and equally burying them on their property in Idaho, US.

Chad, who was a doomsday author, was suspected of having equally killed his wife Tammy due to his religious beliefs and delusions.

Background

Lori Vallow Daybell was born on June 26, 1973, in San Bernardino, California. At the age of 19, Lori married her high school boyfriend Nelson Yanes, but the marriage was short-lived and ended in divorce.

In 1995, at the age of 22, Lori married William Lagioia in Travis County and she had her first child, Colby Ryan. The marriage only lasted for three years as both separated on February 25, 1998.

In 2001, Lori married Joseph Anthony Ryan Jr. who adopted Colby into the new home. Lori had her second child with Ryan, Tylee Ryan (female) in 2022. In 2007, Ryan was attacked by Lori's brother, Alexander Lamar, who claimed Ryan had sexually abused Lori and Colby.

Lori married her fourth husband, Charles Vallow on February 24, 2006. Vallow who was a lifelong devoted Catholic was converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also had two sons from his previous marriage. Seven years into their marriage, the couple adopted Joshua Jaxon "J.J." Vallow who was the grandson of Charles' sister. He suffered from autism but lived peacefully with his new siblings, Tylee and Colby.

Around 2015, Lori read Chad Daybell's "Standing in Holy Places" series of books, reportedly becoming "obsessed" with them. In 2016, the Vallow family moved back to Arizona.

In the fall of 2018, Lori and her friend Melanie Gibb attended a "Preparing a People" event, where Lori was introduced to Chad for the first time. The duo soon started to get along with each. Lori invited Chad to her home a few days later after her husband, Charles, had gone to a Business meeting.

Chad claims that he had lived 31 different lives on various Earth-like planets. He referred to others as “light” or "dark" and various gradations in between. Chad believed the "Dark" individuals were from this earth but were followers of Satan. Those who were "light" were "followers of Jesus Christ".

Chad Daybell referred to Lori as an "eternal being" of 21 separate lives, only five of which had occurred on this planet; the same five he had lived on this planet. Lori was both thrilled and attracted to this belief system by Chad.

On July 11, 2019, Charles Vallow was shot and killed in Chandler, Arizona by Lori's brother, Alexander Lamar. He shot Charles four times in the chest after accusing him of "abusing his sister." He later told law enforcement that Charles had attacked him first by hitting him in the head with a baseball bat and, thus, he had used the gun in self-defense. The case was later dropped by the police.

In September 2019, Lori and her children left their Arizona residence to live closer to Chad. Chad and Lori were married in Hawaii on November 5, 2019

Disappearance

Before Lori’s marriage to Chad, J.J and Tylee had been missing for days. On September 24, 2019, Lori contacted the school to tell them that she was withdrawing J.J. from classes, claiming that he would be schooling from home. Tylee was seen last on September 8, 2019, at Yellowstone National Park with her brother J.J., her mother Lori, and her uncle Alexander.

On October 10 and 16 respectively, Colby received two payments from Tylee’s Venmo account (a US mobile payment platform owned by Paypal). Colby requested to know her whereabouts but got a response claiming that Tylee was safe.

Melanie Gibb, Lori's friend called the police saying that both Lori and Chad had asked her to lie to the police about J.J.'s whereabouts but she refused. The Police efforts to locate J.J. led to the discovery that Tylee was also missing. From December 2019 to January 2020, Rexburg police, the Fremont County sheriff's office, and the FBI intensified the investigation into the disappearances of the two children, and the flight of Lori and Chad from Idaho.

Arrest

On February 20, 2020, Lori was arrested by the Kauai Police Department in Princeville, Hawaii, and charged by prosecutors in Madison County, Idaho with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children. Two weeks later, she was extradited to Idaho.

Despite the arrest, Tylee and JJ's whereabouts and safety were still a mystery. On June 9, 2020, local authorities searched Chad's property and found the bodies of both children — JJ had been buried under a tree while Tylee had been buried in the Daybell's pet cemetery.

Charges and Trial

On May 25, 2021, Chad and Lori were formally charged with first-degree murder for the deaths of J.J. and Tylee. Chad was also charged with the death of Tammy (his wife). He pleaded not guilty to all the charges. A month later, Lori was also accused of conspiracy in the death of Charles.

However, Lori was considered mentally ill to appear for treatment. On April 11, 2022, Judge Steven Boyce declared that Lori is mentally competent to stand trial.

In March 2023, an Idaho judge ruled that Vallow and Chad will be tried separately for the murders – prompting Chad’s case to be pushed back to an unconfirmed date while jury selection began on 3 April in Vallow’s trial.

The death penalty has now been taken off the table for Vallow but not for Chad. If found guilty, Vallow faces life in prison.