Using Data to Tell the Story
When the Cox family engaged in a pretty aggressive media campaign in May 2020 with what appeared to be a goal of presenting Lori Vallow as a caring mother who would never hurt her children and my brother as a real villain, there were so many conflicting statements, what was already a confusing case, with lots of twists and turns, that much more difficult to follow. I worried that their sudden blitzkrieg of information, after months of baffling silence, could have been a strategic attempt at going for a hung jury, especially since Tylee and JJ’s remains hadn’t been found yet. So I organized a GoFundMe to finance an ambitious campaign to start transcribing all these videos so that I could do my analyst thing and transform it into something called structured data. Once I had the first seven videos transcribed and massaged into a database format, I built a dashboard using a tool called Tableau and made it publicly available. And then I started adding various legal and personal documents into a Documents dashboard to cross-check information from the videos against. The video dashboard currently has 19 videos and the documents dashboard has 10 documents, with more in the works, as funds become available. I also have a publicly available spreadsheet where I keep track of the money that’s raised and how every dollar is spent.
Links
- Dashboard
- GoFundMe (closed)
- Tracking Doc
- How to Use It
How I’m Using the Dashboard
Originally I built the dashboard for the benefit of reporters, documentary producers, and law enforcement. But then I decided to use it to tell the story from nuts to bolts using the data.
Because the dashboard includes specific minute marks in videos and page numbers and line items in documents, I can quickly research any topic, such as any time someone from the Cox family talked about my brother or cheating. Or any time a member of the group talked about zombies.
I tried to use Twitter to tell the stories, but a lot of people following the case didn’t have Twitter; those who did got tangled up in the threaded tweets; and Twitter is pathetic at protecting users against trolls. People who were opposed to what I was doing (usually because they had something to hide) were throwing all kinds of flying monkeys at me, and it turned into a ? storm.
Moved to YouTube
I originally repurposed my Annielytics YouTube channel for this purpose, but then I started the channel A Murderous Heart, which is dedicated to digging into this case. I will continue there until I feel like I’ve told the story I need to tell, which hasn’t been told in the media.
When I’m finished, I’ll go back to blogging and blogging about marketing data.
The Search is Over
The remains of my niece, Tylee Ryan, and her little brother, JJ Vallow, were recovered from the property of Chad Daybell Wed, June 10th. They were positively identified by the Ada County Medical Examiner June 13th. You can read my statement here.
Background
I don’t normally post personal stuff on my site, but I’ve had a difficult time finding a place I can post a curated timeline around the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, so I decided to keep it on my site. You may be wondering why I am following this case so closely. It’s because Tylee Ryan is my niece. Her father, Joe Ryan, was my brother. He was found dead in his home April 3, 2018.
Why?
Good question. I am a former reporter, and I’m really tired of watching Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell walk free while the rest of us agonize over where Tylee and JJ are. One of the toughest aspects to this case is the many moving pieces and twisted storylines. So I thought maybe if I could detangle it a bit, some brilliant reporter, real crime blogger, private investigator, or detective will find a clue that helps to crack this case.
I’ve also seen a number of inaccuracies, and I hope that this timeline will help people grasp the order of events. That said, when I cite a source, it’s not necessarily the original source. It’s just where I found that particular puzzle piece. And when I started curating this timeline, I wasn’t keeping track of any citations, so some elements are missing citations. Use at your own risk. I’ve done my best to track everything down. If you see an error or can pass on a missing citation, feel free to email me at annie@annielytics.com.
Cast of Characters
Tylee Ryan
- Who is she: Biological daughter of Lori Vallow and Joseph Ryan
- Current location: Unknown
- Age: 17
- Date last seen: 9/8/19
- Location last seen: Yellowstone National Park
- COD: Homicide by unknown means but the State believes she was stabbed to death
JJ Vallow
- Who is he: Adopted son of Charles and Lori Vallow
- Current location: Unknown
- Age: 7
- Date last seen: 9/22/19
- Location last seen: Lori Vallow’s home (pic on iCloud)
- COD: Homicide by asphyxiation
Lori Vallow (AKA Lori Daybell)
- Who is she: Biological mother of Colby Ryan and Tylee Ryan, adopted mother of JJ Vallow, and person of interest in the disappearance of Tylee and JJ
- Current location: Madison County Jail in Rexburg, ID
- Married to: Chad Daybell (husband #5)
- Notable: Married Chad Daybell less than two weeks after his wife, Tammy, died of asphyxiation
Chad Daybell
- Who is he: Influencer with the doomsday prepper group Preparing a People
- Current location: Fremont County Jail in St Anthony, ID
- Married to: Lori Vallow
- Notable: Chad was a cemetery sexton (grave digger) and wrote a book, One Foot in the Grave, about his experiences and interactions with departed spirits.
Charles Vallow
- Who is he: Lori Vallow’s fourth husband and father to a biological son and two adopted sons, one of which is JJ
- Date of marriage: 2/24/06
- Date of death. 7/11/19
- COD: Shot and killed by Lori Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox
- Notable: Lori Vallow, Tylee Ryan, and JJ Vallow were home at the time of the shooting.
Tammy Daybell
- Who is she: Wife of Chad Daybell who died in her sleep of suspicious causes
- Date of death: 10/19/19
- COD: Homicide by asphyxiation
- Date of marriage: 3/9/90
- Notable: Tammy was approached by a masked man thought to be Alex Cox carrying what she thought was a paintball gun 10 days before her death.
Alex Cox (AKA Alex Pastenes)
- Who is he: Lori Vallow’s brother
- Date of death: 12/12/19
- COD: Unknown (but suspicious)
- Married to: Zulema Pastenes
- Date of marriage: 11/29/19
- Notable: Alex took Zulema’s last name.
Melani Pawlowski (AKA Melani Boudreaux)
- Who is she: Lori Vallow’s niece who followed her into the cult Lori joined
- Married to: Ian Pawlowski
- Date of marriage: 11/30/19
- Former spouses: Brandon Boudreaux
- Notable: Melani married Ian Pawlowski 4.5 months after Ian Pawlowski was divorced and less than two weeks after she and Brandon Boudreaux were divorced.
Brandon Boudreaux
- Who is he: Former husband of Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and father of four children who was shot at
- Married to: N/A
- Former spouse: Melani Boudreaux
- Notable: Brandon was shot at 10/2/19.
Zulema Pastenes
- Who is she: An LDS member and self-professed emotion code practitioner (she listed cuddling services in one of her profiles)
- Married to: Alex Cox
- Date of marriage: 11/29/19
- According to her daughter, Zulema had also planned to move to Rexburg with Lori Vallow, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and Alex Cox (source).
- Notables: Zulema married Alex Cox less than two weeks before his death; Cox took Zulema’s last name; and her 25-year-old son, Joseph Lopez, found Cox unresponsive in the bathroom, didn’t know his last name, and referred to Cox as his mom’s boyfriend, not husband.
Colby Ryan
- Who is he: Lori Vallow’s adult biological son, Tylee and JJ’s half brother
- Married to: Kelsee Ryan
- Notable: Colby was arrested 9/6/22 for sexually assaulting his estranged wife, Kelsee Ryan (source). Colby confessed to the rape, but charges were dropped a week later and he was released from jail (source).
Larry and Kay Woodcock
- Who are they: JJ’s biological grandparents, Kay is Charles Vallow’s sister**
- Notable: Larry and Kay have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of JJ and Tylee (source).
Note: Because Charles Vallow is JJ Vallow’s adopted father, Kay Woodcock is technically both JJ’s aunt and grandmother, but she identifies as JJ’s grandmother.
Joseph Ryan
- Who is he: Lori Vallow’s third husband and biological father of Tylee Ryan and adopted father of Colby Ryan
- Date of death: 4/3/18
- Notable: Alex Cox went to jail for assaulting Ryan with a stun gun and allegedly threatened to kill Ryan (source). Also, Lori Vallow was the only next of kin the ME’s office had at the time of Ryan’s death. She never returned any of their calls or notified me of my brother’s passing, even though we had been friends since 2002 and she had my contact info. There was also no funeral for him. Another family member was contacted by a funeral home more than a month after he had died.
Melanie Gibb
- Who is she: friend of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell and the one Lori said Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow were with
- Notable:
- Early on someone said Chad was a guest in this kickoff episode, but I can’t confirm since the recordings have been taken down.
- In Feb 2019 Chad wrote the foreword of her book, Feel the Fire.
- She is unresponsive to Rexburg Police Department’s attempt(s) to get ahold of her Nov 26th (the day they question Lori and Chad about the whereabouts of JJ Vallow), forcing RPD to reach out to the Gilbert Police Department. She doesn’t speak to them until the next day, giving Chad and Lori significant lead time to flee the state.
- She waits 10 days to inform LE in Rexburg that both Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had contacted her separately on Nov 26th and asked her to lie to detectives and tell them JJ was with her.
- She initially lied to police and said that JJ Vallow had been with her. Her autistic son also told police he had seen JJ. Gibb didn’t come clean about lying for 10 days.
- A source close to Gibb originally said she has retained an attorney is cooperating with authorities. She later told Nate Eaton from East Idaho News that she didn’t need a lawyer because God was on her side.
- I have a number of issues with Melanie Gibb’s claims and what I believe to be her role in this tragedy. I addressed them in a YouTube Live. (It’s long, but there are links to each section in the descrip.)
Timeline
Disclaimers: I sometimes cite confidential sources. Interpret these claims as allegations just as you would most items in the timeline. I also sometimes fill in redactions from the FOIA docs (documents released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request) with names that fit. Unless otherwise indicated, these are approximations and shouldn’t be treated as fact unless they are confirmed through another source. This does sometimes happen. To wit, one agency will redact a detail and another will leave it unredacted, or one document will redact something and another will leave it unredacted.
2001: Joe and Lori Ryan (now Vallow) marry (source).
5/18/05: Joe and Lori Ryan (now Vallow) divorce (source).
2/24/06: Lori and Charles Vallow marry (source).
8/5/07: Alex Cox is arrested in Austin, TX for aggravated assault – second degree against Lori Vallow’s third husband, Joseph Ryan. Cox assaulted Ryan with a stun gun and threatened to kill him. Ryan had just finished a supervised visit with his four-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan. Ryan injured his back and sprained his wrist in the fall. Cox spent 90 days in jail (source 1 // source 2).
Aug – Oct 2007: Alex Cox sends a friend a letter asking her to send him Joseph Ryan’s picture, address, and license plate number in jail, stating once that “it would be popular in here” and “some of the guys would like to hangout [sic] with him” (source 1 // source 2).
2008: Melani and Brandon Boudreaux marry (source).
5/25/12: Joshua Jaxon “JJ” Vallow is born in Louisiana to Charles Vallow’s grand-nephew (source).
2013: Charles and Lori Vallow adopt JJ (source).
May 2014: Tylee joins Twitter Tylee Ryan (@tyleearyan).
Late 2014: Charles and Lori Vallow move to Hawaii with JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan (source).
12/8/14: Charles and Lori register business called “Juice Island Hawaii LLC” in Princeville, HI (source).
1/12/15: Charles and Loris register business called “JUICE ISLAND – PRINCEVILLE LLC” in Princeville, HI (source).
Sep 2015: The Daybells move to Salem, Idaho (source).
6/18/16: Tylee Ryan starts an Instagram account for her photography (source).
Early 2017: Approximate time Lori Vallow and Alex Cox start listening to podcasts (source).
Note: I surmised this date from Janis’ recollection that Lori and Alex started listening to podcasts together when Lori and the fam returned from Hawaii. According to one confidential source they returned in early 2017. They said Tylee had just wrapped up the fall semester.
11/5/17: Lori Vallow records a disturbing rendition of the song “Hallelujah” where she describes her indoctrination of Alex into her belief system (source).
Note: I’ll highlight some of the more significant lines from the verses, but it’s incredibly insightful into her manipulation of her low-IQ, psychopathic brother.
I heard there was a new podcastAlex played and it pleased the LordHe had no idea how it would change himIt started out with Julie RoweAnd it turned on the light you knowAnd he was changed forever in an instant
He started small to build the lightDarkness went away at nightThe Lord began to fill him HallelujahHe read a book on paradiseHe cried out all his tears at nightAnd fell upon his knees now Hallelujah
He knows there is a God aboveHe surely taught him how to loveAnd that confirms his end times every day nowThe darkness now has left his heartAnd he knows how to play his partAnd Jesus smiles down on him forever
Jan 2018: According to the Chandler Police Report, released in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, Colby Ryan says that his mom, Lori Vallow, and his uncle, Alex Cox, “got close really fast” at this time. The assumption here is that they weren’t close before this—or perhaps had a falling out that led to some level of estrangement—but then just months before Joe Ryan is found dead they reconnect (source).
1/6/18: Colby and Kelsee Ryan marry (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
Notes:
- Although Colby’s cousin, Zac Cox, was his best man and his step-brothers, Cole and Zach Vallow were groomsmen (source), Colby’s sister, Tylee Ryan, was not only not in the wedding, she wasn’t even at the wedding.
- Colby told Justin Lum that Tylee came a little late (source), but Kelsee said they had family pics taken after the wedding and that’s when they found out Tylee was on a ski trip (source).
- Lori told me when I was there in May 2018 that Tylee wasn’t there because she had to work. I’ve also noted in my lives that there were two times Tylee went to her room in what seemed to be a response to something that transpired in the room: when Barry and Janis Cox came over and when Lori asked me if I wanted to see the pics from Colby’s wedding. Also, Tylee was 15 at that time. What 15 year old’s job is so important she can’t take the day off to, at minimum, attend her brother’s wedding?
- Colby also said in his interview with Justin that he was preparing to move out (source), but Lori told me that he and Kelsee had just moved out right before I got there in May. She said Charles told them they needed to move out and start their own lives and that there was friction between her and Kelsee.
- You can’t say someone came to your wedding “a little late” if they weren’t in the family pictures that were taken after the wedding.
- Lori told me that when Tylee got there the photographer had already left, and that’s why Tylee wasn’t in any of the pictures. But clearly money wasn’t an issue for them. Even if we suspend reality for a moment and assume it’s plausible that Tylee wasn’t going to get there until after the ceremony, they could have paid the photographer to stay until she arrived. Photographers typically stick around for the reception anyway.
- Early in the case many of the family members were in a Facebook group together (which has since been archived). One family member had said that Tylee was at a girls’ camp that week and said that there was “no story here,” but neither Colby nor Kelsee contended that story at the time. It didn’t make sense that Tylee would be at camp in January, and even if she had been, she could have taken the day off for her brother’s wedding. But there was no mention at that time of a ski trip. The first time that has ever been mentioned that I’m aware of was in the Netflix documentary (source).
- Most recently, Colby and Kelsee claimed in a live they did on 6/2/24, that they took their pics in the morning, and Tylee just hadn’t arrived yet (source) . But 1) who takes wedding pics before the wedding? Kelsee’s veil is behind her in the pic. 2) How would Tylee have gotten home after pics were taken but before the wedding if she was skiing? The closest ski resort is Flagstaff, which is 3.5 hours away. Colby said they had other pics of her there…so why hasn’t he ever produced one? 3) Why isn’t Tylee on the front row with her mom, Charles, and JJ (pic 1 // pic 2 // video 1 of pics // video 2 of pics).
2/25/18: Melanie Gibb becomes Zulema Pastenes’ visiting teacher (source).
3/17/18: Charles Vallow’s mother, Tilda Doolan, dies (source).
3/21/18: Charles Vallow’s mother, Tilda Doolan, is buried. It’s reported that Lori Vallow didn’t travel to Louisiana for the funeral with her then-husband (source).
Note: Lori’s third husband, Joseph Ryan, was estimated to have died one to two weeks before he was found, providing a possible overlap with the time Charles was out of town for his mother’s funeral. Just noting the overlap, not accusing Lori of playing a role in Joe’s death.
4/3/18: Joseph Ryan is found dead in his apartment in Phoenix, AZ. Autopsy lists arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease as cause of death (source).
Note: Joe was estimated to have died one to two weeks before he was found, although Dr. Amy Salerno—who was interviewed twice by the ‘Profiling Evil’ podcast—noted that he wasn’t moderately decomposed, as the autopsy stated; he was profoundly decomposed (source). This would indicate he was probably deceased closer to two weeks, which is what the police report stated. I know from looking at the pics from the 4/3 welfare check that it’s evident Joe’s body imploded when first responders tried to move it by the extreme amount of blood on the mattress after they moved him. This would provide a possible overlap with the time Charles was out of town for his mother’s funeral. Just noting the overlap, not accusing Lori of playing a role in Joe’s death. That said, I did a live about possible signs of foul play on my Annielytics YouTube channel (source) before starting A Murderous Heart (source).
4/18/18: JJ Vallow is last seen by a dentist (source). These were the records that were used to help identify his remains.
Note: Tylee Ryan hadn’t been seen by a dentist since 2017. Chandler Police had to get her records from Princeville, HI. It may be nothing, or it could be an indicator that Lori was distancing herself from Tylee as early as around the time of her father’s death.
May 2018: Lori Vallow expresses fear about the end times during my visit to their home, saying that sometimes she thinks it would be better to put her kids in the car and go over the side of a cliff (source: me).
Note: Another friend of Lori told Justin Lum on 12/27/19 that Lori made a similar comment to her (source // full interview). She spoke under the condition of anonymity.
9/21/18: Lori meets Jason Mow in the Celestial Room of the temple. He seems quite starstruck when he recounts the story (source).
9/22/18: Lori Vallow claims to have had a visitation (source).
Note: It doesn’t say if this was her visitation with Jesus or Moroni, but from the context this one appears to have been with Moroni.
9/23/18: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell supposedly meet, according to an anonymous email that was allegedly from a close friend of Chad (source). According to an email in the FOIA docs, Melanie Gibb was the source of this email (source).
Oct 2018: Chad Daybell starts emailing Lori Vallow (source, full interview).
Oct 2018: According to Brandon Boudreaux, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) starts spending time with Lori Vallow (source 1 // source 2).
Note: Gilbert Police tied this to Chad Daybell rating Brandon as a dark spirit in an email he sent her 10/30/18 (source). Relaying this rating may have been the wedge Lori used to start to isolate Melani and draw her in to her schemes.
10/1/18: Lori Vallow reaches out to Jason Mow via email after meeting him at the temple (source).
10/1/18: LE’s first record of Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, Alex Cox, and other co-conspirators conspiring to murder Tammy Daybell (source // p 5-6).
Note: It’s notable that, according to the indictment, the conspiracy to murder Tammy started before Lori and Chad met in person for the first time (Oct 26), but the conspiracy to murder Tylee and JJ started the day they met. I wonder if it had to do with the alleged sealing of Lori and Chad in the temple by Jason Mow.
10/4/18: Melanie Gibb claims in an interview with Chandler PD that this was the date she met Lori Vallow (source).
10/12/18: Approximate date Charles Vallow reaches out to a friend in the insurance business to ask for help getting the payout from Joseph Ryan’s life insurance policy (source: confidential). This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.
10/19/18: Lori Vallow shares in a testimony at a group gathering in Melanie Gibb’s home that she wanted to murder her third husband, Joseph Ryan. She stated that she told her bishop at the time he needed to either give her a temple recommend or she would murder Ryan. She also provided justification for her murderous desire from the Book of Mormon (source, 2:12:26 minute mark).
10/23/18: Lori Vallow sets up a BBVA account, ostensibly in preparation for the life insurance payout she was about to receive from Joe Ryan’s life insurance (source).
10/26/18: Lori Vallow receives a payout of $64,964.52 from Joe Ryan’s life insurance policy (source).
Note: Kay Woodcock had told Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat that Tylee Ryan was the sole beneficiary of this policy (source). I know from a confidential source there was an issue with the life insurance payout, which was causing an unusual delay. Charles reached out to this person to ask for help getting the payout, which this source did. As Charles’ primary confidant I find it highly unlikely Charles wouldn’t have told Kay about receiving this payout. Also, the confidential source told me Charles and Lori were in financial duress at that time but were fine afterwards. Given Kay’s pattern of maligning Tylee to LE, I strongly suspect Kay added this detail to make it look like Tylee benefitted financially from his death. According to Adam Cox, Tylee was only given $2,000 from the policy (source). Charles even bought an expensive Jeep but then left Tylee to make the roughly $400/mo payment on it, which she started doing in March 2019.
10/26/18: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell meet at a Preparing a People event in St. George, UT (source, 4:39 minute mark). Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) was there too (source).
10/26/18: LE’s first record of Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, Alex Cox, and other co-conspirators conspiring to murder Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source // pp 2-4).
10/27/18: Chad Daybell starts performing Google searches for members of Lori Vallow’s family and “many obituaries” (source).
Note: Color me jaded, but I’m suspicious of LE’s clumping of obituary searches with searches for family member names. Lori Vallow had just shared her “testimony” about how she wanted to murder Joseph Ryan at Melanie Gibb’s house the week before. They could be doing Phoenix Police a solid by clumping this heterogeneous information together.
10/28/18: Lori Vallow enters Chad Daybell’s cell phone number as ‘Melani 2’ and ‘Bishop Shumway’ in her cell phone (source 1 // source 2).
Note: There’s an interesting reference to a text exchange with Chad Daybell’s daughter, Leah, in the second screenshot. The reference is vague and poorly written, but either Lori had a text exchange with Leah or Chad had a text exchange with her from his burner phone. Personally, I think the former (Lori and Leah texted) is more likely. I would think being open about having a burner phone would risk igniting suspicion among his family members.
10/30/18: According to the Gilbert Police Report, Chad Daybell emailed Lori Vallow about the ‘Church of the First Born’ and sent ratings for her family members (source 1 // source 2 // source 3). FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum doesn’t cite a FOIA doc request for these documents; he just cites “sources” but the subject line of the email was “Family history documents” (source // snippet). According to Justin, Chad’s email to Lori documents that she requested these ratings (source):
Here are the family history documents you requested.
Notes:
- There’s a lot of confusion over these documents that were exchanged between Lori and Chad. An important distinction is the documents sent in October were written by Chad, and they were at Lori’s request. The documents sent in January (1/22/19 to be exact) were written by Lori (source 1 // source 2).
- An important distinction is the email exchange between Chad and Lori in October had a subject line of “Family history documents,” and the exchange from January (with Lori’s documents) was titled “Family history records.”
- It appears Charles found this email on 1/23/19 (source).
- According to Justin Lum, the documents Chad sent Lori on this day were split into two different documents.
- These documents are not included in the Chandler Police report—or any of the FOIA docs—as it appears they were never passed on to LE by any family members. Only the documents written by Lori and sent 1/22/19 were sent on to LE. On 8/22/19 Kay sent them to Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat, and on 1/4/20 she sent them to Jamey Windt, a victim’s advocate with the FBI (source). It’s in this email you can actually see the attachments. What you don’t see is Lori’s email to Chad; that’s why I think people believed (myself included) these documents came from Chad.
- Melanie Gibb explained to Chandler Police in her Aug 2020 interview how someone’s light/dark rating correlated with the number of lives they lived (source).
10/31/18: Chad Daybell activates a Cricket Wireless phone under the name ‘Boyd Dial’. Lori Vallow saves this number under the name ‘Bubby’ in her phone, which synched to her lori4style iCloud account. She later added it to her second phone (on 7/2/19, a week before Charles was murdered), which synched to her Lollytime iCloud account (source 1 // source 2). This was also the number Chad used when he called Valley of the Sun Mortuary on 7/11/19 under the clever pseudonym of “Chad Dabal” (source 1 // source 2). FBI agent Ricky Wright says this number was only used to call a few people, including Lori, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and Alex Cox (source).
Notes:
- It’s interesting that the MSISDN was only active from 07/01/2019 until 10/08/2019. And looking at Lori’s iCloud account, she entered this number in her contact listed on 07/02/2019. And Chad first used the phone on 07/13/2019. Which begs the question, “How many burner phones did Chad activate immediately after meeting Lori?” 🤔 We know from the Dateline Producer Twitter account that police found as many as 60 burner phones and 30 email addresses that this group used (source).
- Also, there was a Hal Boyd Dial who was a bishop and stake president, and he lived in Taylorsville, UT, at the time of his death (source). Taylorsville isn’t very far from Provo, where Chad grew up, or Springville, where he and his family lived before moving to Idaho (source).
Disclaimer: The only confirmed unredaction in the redactions above is ‘Dial’ (Boyd’s last name).
11/1/18: Approximate date Lori Vallow receives life insurance payout (source: confidential).
Note: Lori was the primary beneficiary of the policy; Tylee was not listed as a beneficiary.
11/3/18: Zulema Pastenes tells Lori Vallow that she was told by God that she is to protect Lori Vallow (source).
11/16/18 – 11/17/18: Chad Daybell speaks at Preparing a People event in Mesa, AZ, and stays with Lori Vallow and some of her friends at her and Charles’ home in Queen Creek (source 1 // source 2). Janis and other family members also attended this conference (source). Charles didn’t know Chad would be staying there, only “a bunch of really weird ladies” (source 1 // source 2). Someone captured this gem of Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb sitting together reportedly at that conference (source).
Note: According to the infamous Reddit email, which named Melanie Gibb as its source, and Chad’s James and Elena story, Chad and Lori performed their own sealing in what was most likely the Mesa temple (source 1 // source 2).
11/17/18: Lori Vallow’s audio files in her iCloud account show a recorded speech given by Chad Daybell in Arizona (source).
12/4/18: Zulema Pastenes tells Chad Daybell that she has started seeing visions and can now control the elements since he gave her a blessing (source).
12/5/18: Melanie Gibb and Lori Vallow introduce their new podcast, Time to Warrior Up. (source 1 // source 2 // recovered recording of podcast). Description of the podcast:
Jason Mow of the very popular www.TheWarChapters.com has been speaking to Youth and their Parents from all over the U.S. about what it means to be a True Modern-Day Warrior for good. “Time to Warrior Up” is a nationwide movement to become all that we were destined to become in a shifting world that needs great leaders. Of course, what would Warriors be without great WOMEN of FAITH and COURAGE? That is why Melanie Gibb and Lori Vallow had the idea to do this podcast, featuring powerful women, mothers, youth and mentors to encourage others along the pathway toward a hopeful future! They will include many unique guests who will inspire all of us to Aspire to the HIGHER within! EACH OF US were born for greatness. NOW, we have the “HOW’s” of implementing the Creeds, Tools, Steps, and Processes of The Warrior Ethos! We are marching toward victory…together! To buy Jason’s Books “A Hero Rises,” and “Teancum: The Ghost Soldier 1 & 2” go to his website: www.TheWarChapters.com These Books are also available at Deseret Book & Amazon. For more free Educational & Inspiring Videos, visit us at: www.PreparingAPeople.com
Note: Charles Vallow’s ex-wife, Cheryl Wheeler, has listened to these podcasts and has notes about them (source).
12/8/18: Chad Daybell first mentions that he sealed away evil spirits in a text message to Zulema Pastenes. He makes another reference to doing this on 12/27/18 (source).
Note: I believe this is significant because he noted Lori Vallow’s third husband, Joseph Ryan, as sealed away in his email where he gave Lori’s relatives light and dark ratings (source). It seems that Chad believed he had the power to seal evil spirits away—possibly sending them to hell where they can’t escape to torment anyone anymore—and perceived Joe to be a dark, evil spirit based on Lori Vallow’s claims of abuse. It’s notable that Lori told Phoenix Police on 4/13/19 that she hadn’t heard from Joe in about two years (source). And a confidential source told me Tylee had told Joe in June of 2014 that she didn’t want to see him anymore (source). But when I asked Tylee when she had last seen her dad in May of 2018, she glanced at Lori and said it had been about a year. He even said on a public Facebook post on 10/7/15 that he was moving back to Austin in two weeks, so it was clear he had given up on connecting with Tylee (source). So, even with the contradictions, it’s clear Joe wasn’t a part of Tylee’s life and was, therefore, no threat to Lori.
Jan 2019: According to the Gilbert Police Report, released in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, Lori Vallow starts sending Chad Daybell videos of her dancing per Chad’s request (source).
Jan 2019: JJ Vallow’s autism medication, Risperidone, is filled for the last time (source). The affidavit of probable cause also states that the bottle still had 17 pills in it and that his prescription had not been filled in Idaho:
During the search of Lori’s apartment, police found an autism medication prescribed to JJ. It was filled in January 2019 and still had 17 pills in the bottle, according to documents. Police verified that the prescription has not been filled in Idaho (source).
Other notables during this same time:
- Vallow’s former neighbors in Rexburg reported that JJ was easily angered, out of control, and playing outside unsupervised. You can hear him in a neighbor’s Ring camera video telling another boy to “get the hell out of here” (source, 1:14 minute mark).
- Vallow’s former neighbors said Lori never told them JJ was autistic. And when confronted about JJ’s behavior and lack of supervision, she told two different neighbors that JJ was her niece’s “drug baby” (source).
- According to divorce documents Charles Vallow filed, Lori also took JJ’s medication when she disappeared for 58 days. (It would be 72 days total before Lori returned to see JJ.) It’s possible that she kept that bottle that she took, and Charles had JJ’s script refilled when he got him back. RPD may have found this partially used bottle she had been holding onto since January.
- If these claims are accurate, Lori Vallow may have stopped giving her autistic son his required medication up to eight months before he was murdered.
1/1/19: Lori and Charles Vallow move to Gilbert (source).
1/5/19: Zulema Pastenes first mentions Julie Clement to Lori Vallow and says she receives “visions, revelations, and messages” (source).
1/6/19: Approximate date Lori Vallow, Zulema Pastenes, and other group members have a meeting. Zulema takes the day off and asks Lori if she can bring Julie Clement (source).
1/11/19: Zulema Pastenes claims to have a vision that she could create storms and fire and will “have the eye of the Lord” (source).
1/22/19: Lori Vallow documents her beliefs in a series of five documents and sends them to Chad (source 1 // source 2):
- Lili connections.doc
- Modern LDS Apostles.doc
- Seven missions.doc
- The Seven eras of influence.doc
- Dispensation presidencies.doc
Notes:
- We’ve been under the impression that Chad wrote these documents, but, according to the Chandler Police report, Lori was the author of these documents, not Chad (source). Repeatedly throughout the document it’s stated that these are Lori’s beliefs, light/dark rating assignments, etc.
- According to Charles, Lori sent Chad multiple emails this day: at least two with family history information and three with videos of her dancing (source). Only one email was included in the FOIA docs, and it contained the above-listed documents written by Lori. And he said that Lori sent the emails to Chad, not the other way around (source).
- I include the screenshot from Kay’s email to the victim’s advocate from 1/4/20 (see ‘source 1’) because it shows the attachments that were included in the one email Kay forwarded to Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat original email.
1/22/19: According to Kay Woodcock, Chad Daybell emails Lori Vallow to tell her Charles Vallow was overtaken by an evil spirit (source).
Notes:
- There is no support for this claim in the police reports or other FOIA docs.
- Melanie Gibb may have told her husband the same thing because her ex-husband, Brendan Gibb, told investigators Melanie told him in January 2019 that he had [redacted] in him and soon after she wanted a divorce (source).
1/23/19: It appears this was the day Charles Vallow discovered the “Family history documents” email sent by Chad Daybell to Lori Vallow (source).
Notes:
- This was the email Chad sent Lori on 10/30/18, which contained light and dark ratings for her family members (source 1 // source 2).
- Charles would pass this email on to Colby on 2/6/19 (source).
- There’s no record in the FOIA docs of him passing these documents on to any other family members, but a confidential source told me Kay and Larry told them that they were talking with Charles just about every night throughout this tumultuous time. He would also bring JJ Vallow over and stay with them. So I imagine he also shared these documents with them, especially because his own son, Cole, was identified as a dark spirit.
- So Charles knew about family members being rated dark spirits a week before the blowup on 1/30/19, when Lori canceled his flight, threatened to kill him, etc (see relevant entry for that day).
- There’s no record of Charles ever mentioning this email to Gilbert Police when he talked to them or in his divorce documents. I suspect that may have been because he was rated a light spirit in the document.
1/24/19: It appears this was the day Charles Vallow discovered the “Family history records” email sent by Lori Vallow to Chad Daybell (source 1 // source 2).
Notes:
- The documents in this email, written by Lori, included:
- Lili connections.doc
- Modern LDS Apostles.doc
- Seven missions.doc
- The Seven eras of influence.doc
- Dispensation presidencies.doc
- So Charles knew about Lori’s marriages from prior probations just less than a week before the blowup on 1/30/19.
- There’s no record of Charles ever mentioning this email to Gilbert Police when he talked to them or in his divorce documents, but it explains why he mentioned the fact that she had been married to Moroni and James the Just (source). It never made sense to me why Lori would disclose these details to him. She didn’t—at least not intentionally.
- Charles also says in the above video snippet that Lori told him, “I’m gonna kill you too” (source). I believe this may indicate Charles knew she murdered before. I’d put my money on that someone being Joe Ryan. Lori had even called him “joe Ryan” just days before his murder (source).
1/28/19: Lori Vallow allegedly transfers $10,000 from her and Charles Vallow’s business account into their personal account before moving the money into an unknown account (source). Lori also transfers 2,000 of Charles Vallow’s Enterprise points to a personal account, although Charles wouldn’t discover the transfer until approximately Feb 6, 2019 (source).
1/28/19: Chad Daybell searches three Google searches to research “Ned Snider” who he believes was born in 1951 and died in 1996 (source):
- “ned snider 1996 death louisiana
- “ned snider louisiana born 1951 died 1996”
- “bodies possessed after original occupant dies”
Note: It’s quite clear from these searches, as well as his updated searches on 1/30 with a correction of Ned’s last name, that he would have gotten this name from Lori Vallow, in sharp contradiction to Melanie Gibb’s claim that Chad came up with these demons’ names (source). Lori also named “Hiplos” as Chad was searching that name on Google two days after Lori announced that a new spirit had overtaken Charles.
1/29/19: According to a petition for an Order of Protection filed by Charles Vallow against Lori Vallow, Lori made several disturbing statements and threats against him (source). These include:
- She was a god.
- She was assigned to “carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020.”
- She would have to murder him if he got in her way and tried to stop her.
1/30/19: According to the Chandler Police Report, released in response to the Freedom of Information Act, Chad Daybell conducts a Google search for “Ned Schneider Louisiana obituary 1997.” This was reportedly the first mention of “Ned Schneider” (source).
Note: According to Melanie Gibb, Ned Schneider was a childhood friend of Charles who had died (source 1 // source 2).
1/30/19: According to Melanie Gibb, Chad Daybell calls Lori Vallow while she was at Lori’s home and tells her Charles Vallow had been overtaken by an evil spirit by the name of Ned Schneider (source). She was with Lori when she packed up Charles’ clothes, stole his belongings, and moved his truck from the house to a hotel (source).
Note: She only says it was “in January sometime,” but you can tell from Chad’s search history on 1/28 and 1/30 (see entries above) that he was conducting Google searches about someone whose name he would have gotten from Lori because on 1/28 he had the wrong spelling of Ned’s last name and the year of his death. I believe this was just one example of Lori leading from behind by feeding Chad information that he then spiritualized and regurgitated back to her to help them justify murder. I also believe Melanie Gibb has been intentionally vague about when in January she heard this conversation, but clearly she was with Lori when she initiated the campaign of terror against Charles because it couldn’t have been sooner than January 30th.
1/30/19: According to a petition for an Order of Protection filed by Charles Vallow against Lori Vallow, Lori made several more disturbing statements and threats in a phone call (source 1 // source 2):
- She didn’t trust him.
- She would need to kill him when he got home.
- She would have an “angel” there to help dispose of his body.
- She knew his real name was Nick Schneider. Allegedly, when Charles asked Lori who Nick Schneider was, she replied, “Nick is your real name,” Lori said, according to the documents, “Nick killed Charles and has taken his identity.”
- He’d “have to go and painfully.”
- She also threatened to destroy him financially, according to court documents filed by Charles.
Note: Lori Vallow’s friend, April Raymond—who Vallow stayed with during part of the 72 days she went missing—also claimed in an interview on Dateline‘s “Where Are the Children?” episode that Lori said Charles was dead and had a demon living inside of him. According to Raymond, she later changed her story and said he was alive but that any day she (Vallow) was going to get a call that he was dead (source).
1/30/19: Lori Vallow allegedly transfers an additional $25,000 from the business account to the joint account, and then from the joint account to the same unknown account at Compass Bank, leaving the account at less than $1,000 (source). Then she cancels Charles Vallow’s flight home, which he finds out when he arrives at the airport in Houston, TX. Charles buys a $600 last-minute ticket to Phoenix. After his plane lands, Charles finds out his truck was stolen from the airport parking lot.** He then comes home to a house that had been emptied. Charles also claimed that it took Lori three days to disclose where she’d left the truck. Charles was forced to rent a vehicle during that time (source 1 // source 2 // source 3 // order for temporary custody, p 3, para ).
Let’s first take a look at some of the OTHER acts of cruelty Charles reportedly came home to:
- She wiped out his business account, withdrawing $35,000. That’s been reported on quite a bit. But one thing I haven’t seen reported on at all is the smaller withdrawals made after the $25,000 the day before. According to the ledger, after the $35,000 in withdrawals, the account had $911.53 remaining. But then there are two more withdrawals made on the 30th: one for $500 and then another for $250, leaving the account with $161.53. And THEN $100 was put toward a credit card payment, leaving the account with $61.53. I don’t know if these were made by Lori. If they were, it demonstrates a chilling level of cruelty.
- She hid his clothes and computer in what appears to be an attempt to cripple him in his business. Even his underwear.
- She did this right before payroll was due, leaving him vulnerable to lawsuits. She victimized every employee in Charles’ company with this theft.
- She took their disabled son’s meds, iPad, clothes, and service dog’s collar.
- She and Melanie Gibb moved Charles’ truck to the Hyatt Place Phoenix/Gilbert (source 1 // source 2).
- Then she went MIA for 58 days and didn’t tell Charles where she was.
**There are three people who have been accused of moving Charles’ truck:
- Zac Cox: Both Summer Shiflet and Colby Ryan fingered Zac as the culprit (source).
- Melanie Gibb: April Raymond fingered Melanie Gibb as the culprit (source).
- Lori Vallow and Alex Cox: Melanie Gibb said Alex took Lori to the airport to move Charles’ truck (source).
Note: Fwiw, my money is on Zac Cox because two people pointed to him and because Lori said that he didn’t turn dark until February (source), indicating that he was loyal to her until then. Also, Charles said he had texted and called Zac repeatedly from Jan 20th to the 30th, and he didn’t answer any of his calls or texts (source).
1/30/19: Lori sent Janis Cox, Summer Shiflet, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and Alex Cox a text message asking them to not to answer Charles Vallow if he called (source):
Please do not answer the phone if Charles calls you. We r in a big argument and he is looking for people to be on his side. Thank you. I love you all !
1/30/19: Lori Vallow disappears to an unknown location, according to then-husband, Charles Vallow (source 1 // source 2, 1:02 minute mark // source 3, para 3). She was allegedly gone for 72 days.
Notable: At least part of that time was spent in Hawaii with daughter Tylee Ryan, as well as with her brother, Alex Cox who lived nearby in Gilbert, AZ (source). It also later came out in the Chandler Police Report, which was released under the Freedom of Information Act, that Lori was staying at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Mesa, next to the airport (source 1 // source 2).
1/30/19: Lori sent a text to Kay Woodcock that caused Charles Vallow to be “shocked beyond belief” when he read it. He said Kay sent it to him 2/1/19. By his response, it sounds like it was her allegation that he had cheated on her (source):
Lori if it somehow makes you feel better to make these kind of accusations then I certainly can’t stop you. BUT for the record you and I BOTH know it’s ridiculous. You are my one and only for 14 years. Period.
1/31/19: Charles Vallow tells Lori Vallow not to go to the temple because her temple recommend had been suspended (source).
1/31/19: Jason Mow claims he was in Lori’s neighborhood visiting Gabe Bonilla and pulled off to the side of the road to send a text (source 1 // source 2), and while he was pulled over Melanie Gibb was driving through Lori’s neighborhood and just happened to see him and stopped to tell him about Lori and Charles Vallow’s big fight (source). Then he tells her to go to the police station with Lori.
1/31/19: Lori Vallow’s sister, Summer Shiflet, texts Lori at 8:55 am to give her a heads-up that Charles Vallow had arranged for a psych eval because Gabe Bonilla was on the phone when she threatened him and said she had been married to Moroni. Summer also tells Lori that she knows she has “help from the other side” and that she knew Lori was “prepared to do [her] mission” (source):
He talked to jeff and mimi this morning and told them that you left him and that he called the police and if they track you down you they are taking you in for a psych eval… he told mimi that he had someone from bishopric or stake presidency listening in on a conversation you had with him where you told him you would kill him and that you are married to moroni and that whoever was listening was going to have your recommend suspended until they talked to you.
I just want you to know what we are hearing on our end.
I want you to know…that I 100% support you. I am here if there is anything I can do for you to help. The fact he would try to get your recommend suspended shows extreme evil and malicious intent.
I know you have help from the other side, I know you are being inspired to know what to do and you are prepared to do your mission. I support you. I love you. I am here for you.I am so sorry you have to go through all of this crap.
1/31/19: Lori Vallow is compelled to report to the Gilbert Police Department in regard to a harassment call for service submitted by Charles Vallow (source). Police are also informed about a petition for an involuntary hold at Community Bridges. Police say Lori would be allowed to go to the facility willingly to talk to staff. If she did not, she would be taken involuntarily.
Note: One of the Gilbert PD officers gave Lori tips on how to evade a pickup for the psych eval on nine different occasions during the interview, going so far as to say he didn’t know how they were going to “get that to go away” and even diagnosed her on the fly: “But just talking to you, I mean, I don’t see you being a danger to yourself or anybody else. You get your kids to school.” This section of the interview starts at the 13:47 minute mark of the bodycam video (source).
1/31/19: Charles Vallow is blocked on Brandon Boudreaux’s phone (source).
Note: Gilbert Police did an investigation into Brandon’s claim that Melani must’ve blocked Charles (source). From 1/31/19 to 7/11/19 (the day Charles was murdered), Brandon had only made one call to Charles. It was on 3/26/19 and lasted 10 min and 12 sec (source). The next day, when Charles called him back, the call was blocked. They also noted Charles’ contact information showed the option “Unblock contact” and noted that contacts who weren’t blocked had the option to “Block contact.” It also stands to reason that if Brandon had been in contact with Charles, Charles would have said something about the 24 text messages he hadn’t replied to or the calls that weren’t returned. I’m not judging, just digging. I can imagine at that time Brandon was trying to save his own marriage, and Charles’ decision to steal Lori’s purse from her car that day may have lost him support.
Feb 2019: Chad Daybell writes foreword for colleague and friend Melanie Gibb’s book Feel the Fire (source).
2/1/19: Charles Vallow tells Adam Cox on 6/28/19 that he sent the following text to Lori Vallow on 2/2 in an attempt to make arrangements to pick up their son, JJ Vallow, from school (source):
I will take JJ to school today. If you want to pick him up please let me know. Otherwise he can stay with me. If he goes with you I’d still like to take him on our Saturday errands. The fewer changes he sees the better. If you need anything at the house I will also leave so you can come by. Just let me know otherwise it’s locked.
2/1/19: Lori Vallow sends Charles Vallow a text letting him know where to find his truck that she stole (source):
The truck is in the back of parking lot of the Hyatt place hotel at San tan. Your clothes are all In boxes at the house in the closet by the garage.
Please drop of my drivers license with Ang when u pick up jj today. Then I will be able to pay the rent.
Charles replies:
1/2 the money today or no house. Sorry. It’s just wrong what you did. I’ll pick up JJ but nothing else changes til we get square. I will pay all the bills going forward plus whatever spending money you need. If you want a divorce let me know. I don’t have an attorney but we could do most of it ourselves.
2/4/19: Charles Vallow files a petition for an Order of Protection against Lori Vallow, citing incidences listed in the entries for 1/29 and 1/30 (source).
Someone from Gilbert Police told someone from Chandler Police that they didn’t keep the order and that he was suspicious because Charles only cared about the money Lori took from their business account. The writer of that portion of the police report noted that the money issue was only one of the issues raised by Charles.
Note: Lori was never served the document because process servers were unsuccessful in locating her.
2/4/19: Lori Vallow secures a new phone and texts the number to Zulema Pastenes (source 1 // source 2).
2/5/19: Lori Vallow secures another new phone number and texts it to Zulema Pastenes (source 1 // source 2).
2/5/19: Charles Vallow is threatened with legal action because of not being able to meet payroll due to the $35,000 Lori Vallow withdrew from the business account (source). According to the divorce petition, Charles owes $22,500 in commission to a few contracted representatives (source).
2/5/19 – 2/6/19: Lori Vallow flies alone into Salt Lake City and flies back out the next day (source: confidential).
2/5/19 – 2/20/19: JJ Vallow is absent from school at L.I.F.E. Academy in Gilbert, AZ. Charles Vallow withdrew him and took him to Houston 2/11/19 until he felt safe (source 1 // source 2).
Note: JJ was in and out of L.I.F.E. and back and forth between Phoenix and Houston over the next few months. I’m collecting these dates in one place because I think they tell a story of just chaotic this time period was:
-
2/4/29: Charles files a petition for an Order of Protection against Lori.
-
2/5/19 – 2/20/19: JJ is absent from school at L.I.F.E. Academy in Gilbert.
- 2/11/19: Charles officially withdraws JJ and tells L.I.F.E. officials he’s taking him to Houston until he felt safe.
-
2/21/19: JJ returns to L.I.F.E. Lori Kleinman from L.I.F.E. files a report with Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) because Charles tells officials Lori’s still missing.
-
3/1/19: Charles files to dismiss divorce proceedings but takes JJ out of school and moves back to Texas again.
- 3/7/19: Charles formally withdraws JJ and moves to Houston again.
- 3/29/19: Lori Vallow and Tylee join Charles and JJ in Houston.
- Late Jun: Lori calls L.I.F.E. and says that JJ and Charles were back in Phoenix, and they wanted to enroll JJ in their summer program. (Charles hadn’t moved back yet.)
- 7/11/19: Charles Vallow is shot and killed by Lori’s brother, Alex Cox. He had an appointment to look at apartments that morning to move back to Phoenix.
- Sometime between 7/22/19 and 7/26/19: Lori meets with L.I.F.E. officials and claims Charles committed suicide the week before and tells them JJ didn’t know. They search Charles’ name on Google and find out he was actually shot and then file another report with CPS.
- 8/5/19: Fall semester begins.
- Late Aug: JJ tells his teacher, “My dad is not in heaven; he is traveling.”
- 8/30/19: Lori has JJ Vallow’s service dog, Bailey, picked up by Dog Training Elite in Arizona.
- 8/31/19: Lori moves with JJ and Tylee to Rexburg, ID.
- 9/5/19: Lori Vallow emails L.I.F.E Academy, JJ’s school in Chandler, AZ, to say she needed to withdraw him. She allegedly tells staff over the phone that she accepted a position out of state.
2/6/19: Colby Ryan announces the birth of his daughter, Ryley (screenshot // Instagram post).
Note: Colby told Justin Lum that, although Charles Vallow was excited about the birth of his first (and only) grandchild, he never met her because Colby believed he cheated on his mom (source).
2/6/19: Charles Vallow forwards Chad Daybell’s email titled “Family history documents” to Colby Ryan (source). This was the email Chad sent Lori on 10/30/18, which contained light and dark ratings for her family members (source 1 // source 2). He pleads with him to help Tylee who was at risk:
He calls her own daughter a dark spirit
Please help her
Notes:
- Kelsee claimed in the Netflix “Sins of Our Mother” documentary that they didn’t open any of Charles’ emails until after they found out the kids were missing (source). Although I’m very hesitant to call out something I can’t prove is untruthful, I find this claim dubious. They may not have read all of Charles’ emails at this time, as they had just had Ryley, to say you suffered from a deplorable lack of curiosity—even after Charles was murdered, Lori supposedly gave you less than 24 hours’ notice she was moving, and then you couldn’t get ahold of Tylee for more than two months—smacks of a revisionist stab at history.
- Kelsee was also rated dark (3D), as was Brandon Boudreaux (3D), Cole Vallow (3D), and Lori’s second and third husbands. But Joe and Tylee Ryan had the darkest ratings (4.3D and 4.1D, respectively), and Joe was marked as “sealed away.” Chad had also noted that people rated 4+ rarely switch sides because they have made covenants with that side, which implied Joe and Tylee made covenants with Satan. Also, JJ was a 4.2L and still switched sides, so Chad’s teachings were malleable to accommodate the evil machinations of their hearts.
- Colby expressed derision toward Charles sending out these emails. He just saw them as an attempt to bring everyone into his drama (source). It’s interesting that he confirms Charles had been sending these emails to “everyone in the family.” I believe many members of both the Cox and Vallow families knew that Tylee had been rated a dark spirit—and did nothing.
- Whoever passed these documents on to Justin Lum also apparently didn’t pass it on to LE as these documents are not included in the FOIA docs. It wouldn’t make sense that these documents, the email exchange between Chad and Lori, and the email exchange between Charles and the recipient would have all been redacted since the documents had been published in April 2020, but anything is possible.
2/6/19: Approximate date Charles Vallow realizes Lori Vallow transferred 2,000 Rent-A-Car points out of their joint account. Charles also finds out Lori had called JJ’s school to ask if he was in class. He was worried she may have been planning to use the rental car points to potentially leave the state and take JJ with her (source).
2/6/19: Lori Vallow texts Zulema Pastenes and says Charles is blocking her gifts. From this point forward, there is specific conversation to cause harm to Charles Vallow. He is referred to in these texts as a dark spirit called “Hiplos” or “Ned” (redacted affidavit // unredacted affidavit).
2/8/19: Charles Vallow files for divorce from Lori Vallow (source).
2/10/19: Lori Vallow disappears to an unknown location, according to then-husband, Charles Vallow (source). She was allegedly gone for 72 days.
Note: This is most likely when she and Tylee Ryan flew to Hawaii to stay with Lori’s friend April Raymond (source). April told Keith Morrison that Lori told her that Charles had a demon in him, and she expected to hear he was dead “any day now” (source). April had told me that Lori and Tylee were there on Valentine’s Day.
2/10/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars. In this particular chat, he told the scammer that Lori was gone and that he had to hire a nanny. He also referred to her as “absolutely nuts” (source).
2/11/19: Charles Vallow visits L.I.F.E. Academy to officially withdraw JJ Vallow from the school. He tells L.I.F.E. officials he’s taking him to Houston until he felt safe.making and shared a handful of disturbing claims (source):
- Lori had “gone crazy.”
- Lori was “hearing religious voices.”
- Lori had “disappeared to an unknown location.”
2/14/19: Preparing a People speaker Mike Stroud announces he was excommunicated from the LDS church for apostasy (source).
2/15/19: Charles Vallow files a document asking for temporary custody of JJ exclusive use of the house and vehicle, return of the stolen money and return of his and JJ’s personal items. Several attempts were made to serve Lori, but process servers were unsuccessful, even though Lori’s car was seen in Alex Cox’s driveway when a server tried to serve her there. She was reportedly living with Alex at that time (source). Tylee Ryan continued to live with Alex off and on between this time and when they moved to Houston to live with Charles Vallow.
Note: One friend reported that while Tylee was living with Alex, Lori didn’t reply to one of her text messages for four days (source). Lori basically abandoned Tylee during this time. When Lori’s own mother, Janis Cox, on the show 2020, she only said that Lori was taking care of JJ, not Tylee (source). The entire Cox family knew that Tylee was being neglected, but there’s no evidence they did anything to intervene.
2/15/19: Earliest reference LE could find to Charles Vallow as ‘Ned’ was a text from Alex Cox to Lori Vallow (source):
Ned was at the temple yesterday looking for you. He thinks you are staying with me.
There’s no response from Lori.
2/15/19: Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb travel to Boise, ID (source: confidential).
Note: I suspect Lori may have stayed in Idaho until 2/22 because Chad Daybell told Zulema Pastenes in a text message, “Lori came back this morning and is driving her son Colby to Reno through Las Vegas” (source).
Mid Feb: According to Colby Ryan, this was the last time he and Charles Vallow had any contact. He said Charles called him and was trying to convince him he didn’t cheat on his mom, but Colby was angry and didn’t want to talk to him. He also said Charles didn’t get to see his daughter who was a newborn at this time (source).
2/16/19: Preparing a People holds a one-day conference in Boise, ID. Chad Daybell is one of the speakers (conference flyer // PAP statement that includes location of Chad’s last speaking engagement).
Notes:
- It appears Charles Vallow believed Lori Vallow was planning to attend this event, he reportedly “made attempts to serve (her) at the airport, a hotel, and a public event.” All attempts were unsuccessful, and Charles came to believe that Lori had changed her travel plans at the last minute (source).
- Zulema Pastenes, Sarena Sharp, Melanie Gibb, and Audrey Barattiero also attended and shared a hotel room (source).
- According to Sarena, Chad told them at that time that he had been Methuselah (Noah’s grandfather) in a previous probation (source). In that probation, Lori—whose name was Lania—was his daughter. And Lori’s daughters were Christina Atwood and Sarena, making them Chad’s granddaughters (source).
Mid Feb: The Daily Mail reported in January 2020 that Lori Vallow and Alex Cox had a “knock-down, drag-out fight” in the middle of the street fight while she was living with him “around a year ago.” The fight between Vallow and Cox was reportedly so bad that neighbors were close to calling the police on the “warring siblings.” Neighbor Donny Self told the Daily Mail, “She was screaming at him accusing him of bringing disgrace on their family.” After it was over, Vallow left the house she had been sharing with her brother and never came back, Self said (source).
Note: Until I get further clarification on the timing of this fight, I’m going to drop it here in the timeline because over the overlap in neighbors reporting that the fight had happened about a year prior to January 2020, and the process servers note that both Lori and Alex’s cars were in the driveway. Process servers also tried to meet her at the airport because Charles believed she was traveling to Boise, ID, with a friend, and we know from a flyer that Chad Daybell (the man Lori would marry before the year was over) was speaking at a Preparing a People conference in Boise Feb 16. (See entry for 2/16/19.)
2/20/19: Charles Vallow requests a Change of Beneficiary form to from his life insurance company, Banner Life, and adds pin code to account (source).
2/21/19: JJ Vallow returns to L.I.F.E. Academy in Gilbert, AZ. Lori is reported to still be MIA (source).
2/21/19: Approximate date staff at L.I.F.E. Academy in Gilbert, AZ, make a report to Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) regarding JJ because Lori Vallow had still not been located (source).
2/22/19: Lori Vallow returns to Phoenix (most likely from Boise) and she and her son, Colby Ryan, drive to Reno, NV, through Las Vegas (source). Chad Daybell asks Zulema Pastenes to use her powers over the elements to “clear a path for her.”
2/23/19: Charles Vallow sends Lori Vallow an email saying he hadn’t been unfaithful and offered to take a polygraph and hire a private investigator to clear his name (source).
2/26/19: Approximate date Charles Vallow makes his sister Kay Woodcock the beneficiary of his $1 million life insurance policy (source). He also complains that someone added a password to the account, but he was the one who added a pin code to the account the prior week (source 1 // source 2 // source 3). Companies don’t ask for passwords to verify an account, but they do ask for pin codes, if it’s protected by one. The change was made official sometime in March, according to a rep from the insurance company (source).
Mar 2019: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars. He began sending the scammers money online via Western Union in March. They also messaged about spending the rest of their lives together (source).
Mar 2019: Lori Vallow’s friend, Sarena, claims Lori and Chad Daybell kicked her out of their group and that no one from the group would talk to her after this point (source 1 // source 2).
Note: There are quite a few references to Sarena’s involvement with this group—including ongoing communication with Zulema—that extend as far as November:
- 4/14: She participated in a group call (source).
- 5/4: She participated in a group call (source).
- 5/5: She may have participated in a group call (source).
- 5/6: Zulema told Lori she was doing a study during this same timeframe on how to “clear and clean” Lori’s home (that she was sharing with Charles at that time) and “get rid of the servants [Garrett] has” (source).
- 5/7: She participated in a group call (source).
- 5/21: She participated in a group call (source).
- 5/25: Zulema told Chad that Sarena has “stopped all her deep studies” and “is working on the cord Julie [Rowe] placed.” Chad verified that Sarena had indeed cut Julie’s cord and said that should “help put an end to the night attacks” (source).
- 5/28: Zulema asked Lori to check in on Sarena because another woman told her that “Satan was upset about the knowledge she was getting” (source).
- 5/30: Zulema told Lori that Sarena’s fever is back and asks if she’s being attacked. Lori said she’ll work on her (source).
- 6/27: Lori and Zulema had a text interaction about her where they’re monitoring her behavior, something that wouldn’t make sense for them to do if she had already been booted from the group (source).
- 7/19: Chad rated her trustworthiness at 18 out of 100 (source). They clearly don’t trust her, but there’s no indication that she was shunned/booted.
- 8/6: She moved to the Phoenix area (source).
- 8/13: Zulema shared a dream she had about Sarena with Lori where she put her hands on her and “started sobbing and blessing her with humbleness” (source).
- 8/?: She had a lunch with Lori Vallow, Zulema Pastenes, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), Alex Cox, and Nicole (source).
- 9/21: While Melanie Gibb and David Warwick were visiting, Lori told Zulema that Sarena and Christina were among those who sought her destruction (source).
- 11/7: She was at the temple with Zulema and claimed to see “Porsius” who Zulema claimed had appeared to her. Lori wanted to know if she asked about her and Chad or heard about his wife dying, and Zulema said she didn’t (source).
3/1/19: Charles Vallow files to dismiss divorce proceedings (source).
3/1/19: Charles removes JJ Vallow from L.I.F.E. Academy again and takes him back to Houston (source).
Note: This is not indicative of someone who is trying to save the marriage in the name of “love always wins”; these are the actions of a man who has been spooked by something.
3/1/19: Tylee Ryan posts on Instagram a pic of Lori Vallow kissing her cheek with the caption, “Who needs words when parks & rec has you covered?” (pic // source)
3/2/19: According to an email from Charles Vallow to Lori Vallow, Alex Cox accuses him of taking JJ (i.e., kidnapping him) and trying to put Lori in jail (source).
3/2/19: Alex Cox forwards a text to Lori Vallow that appears to be from their mother, Janis Cox, who adamantly defends Charles, expresses gratitude that he turned their phones back on, and says she and Barry can’t judge him even if he’s been cheating with “hookers” (source):
Love you to al. I do realize all of that. Realize this .. lori canceled his trip home, his his truck, took all of his clothes and drained the bank account. If I was Charles I would be upset and do hurtful things, so would you. Also, even if Charles cheated with hookers, you dad and I can not ever judge… Charles has never done anything but support me, and love me. I love lori with all my heart. I will help her in anyway a I can. But, because I have been talking to Charles with the spirit guiding me, even is he doesnt have the spirit, it has lead him not to go through with a divorce, and decided to turn on all the cell phones and put them back in Lori’s name and move out of the house and is going to pay for lori to move back in, no strings attached. So if that happens, just know the lord works in mysterious ways, sometimes things that look black and white are actually grey. I love you, I would love to talk to lori, but I haven’t heard from her. I know I’m lead by the spirit in my actions.
3/2/19: Charles Vallow goes to Summer Shiflet and Alex Cox’s houses looking for Lori Vallow (source).
3/3/19 – 3/19/19: Lori Vallow’s earliest known flight to Idaho via Allegiant Airline (source 1 // source 2).
Note: According to a text from Charles Vallow, Lori traveled back to Arizona on 3/5/19. This return flight isn’t confirmed in the FOIA docs. I suspect she changed that flight and flew back to Arizona with Chad on the 3/19 flight from Idaho Falls to Mesa.
3/6/19: Court approves Charles Vallow’s dismissal of divorce proceedings (source).
3/7/19: Charles Vallow formally withdraws son, JJ Vallow, from school in AZ and moves to Houston, TX (source).
3/8/19: Lori Vallow suggests to Zulema she was supposed to marry David (source) and had even told her their names in a previous life (source).
3/9/19: Charles Vallow emails Lori an appeal to come home, reestablish contact with them, and see their son, JJ (source).
Note: I found the paragraph that was redacted in the original document that was released to the public. It was Lori’s text to Kay. Highlight reel:
- Lori called Kay “KK,” which would become part of her fake email address she’d create in a month’s time (kkwalker75@yahoo.com). Could be coincidental; could be evidence of her pettiness.
- JJ was fine—having fun even.
- She found out from her credit card that Charles was “entertaining prostitutes” while in California.
- She was sorry to include her in the drama.
- Charles turned off her phone from Verizon so she could only text.
3/9/19: Charles Vallow forwards one of the multiple emails Lori Vallow sent Chad Daybell on 1/22/19 to Kay Woodcock (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
Notes:
- This was the email with Lori’s documents, not the email Chad sent Lori with ratings of her family members (see related entry for 10/30/18).
- According to the email Kay forwarded to the FBI in Jan 2020, this email included five of Lori’s writings:
- Lili connections.doc
- Modern LDS Apostles.doc
- Seven missions.doc
- The Seven eras of influence.doc
- Dispensation presidencies.doc
3/9/19: Lori Vallow sends a text to Alex Cox about Charles Vallow, who they referred to as “Ned” after the demon that had supposedly possessed him (source):
Apparently it is tied to Ned being gone ?? hopefully today or tomorrow?
3/9/19: Alex Cox tells Lori Vallow that Charles Vallow (“Ned”) is still alive and says hopefully he’s gone “today or tomorrow” (source).
3/10/19: Alex Cox tells Lori Vallow to “get rid of Ned already.” He also asked if their mom or “shish” (who appears to be Summer Shiflet) knows about Ned (source):
Love you too. Have fun and get rid of ned already
Do mom and shish know about ned?
Note: Lori doesn’t reply to Alex’s texts.
3/11/19: Deadline Charles Vallow gives Lori Vallow to let him know if the terms he laid out in his 3/9/19 email were acceptable to her (source).
3/15/19: Date Charles Vallow told Lori he would move his stuff from the house they shared in Gilbert and move to Houston (source).
Note: Charles had already moved to Houston 3/7, but then he came back to Gilbert with his sister, Kay Woodcock, at the end of March. Lori came into the home they had rented in Gilbert on 3/26 while Charles and Kay were packing up his and JJ’s things to move out.
3/22/19 – 3/25/19: Lori Vallow, Zulema Pastenes, both Melanies, and friends Sarena, Christina, and Nicole meet up for a girls’ weekend (source).
3/25/19: Lori Vallow begrudgingly sees Tylee Ryan for what appears to be the only time that month (source).
Note: Tylee was staying with Alex Cox at this time. Lori placed a much higher premium on spending time with Chad than Tylee or JJ. She wouldn’t see JJ until 4/11/19. Lori also mentions attending a birthday party for her “grandbaby” who had just turned two. Since her only grandchild was only one at this time and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) had a toddler at that time, it appears she was referring to Melani’s child as her own grandchild, making Melani her daughter by extension, but she was clearly abandoning her actual daughter during this time and expressed no enthusiasm about seeing her while she was in town.
3/26/19: Approximate date Lori Vallow informs Alex Cox that Charles was no longer being inhabited by “Ned Schneider” (source):
Alex: Ned is still alive. Just confirmed.
Lori: It’s not Ned.
Lori: It’s a new one.
Note: Since Lori didn’t rename Charles “Hiplos” until May and Melanie Gibb told investigators Charles was also called “Garrett” (source), it’s reasonable to assume he was renamed “Garrett” at this time. Also, one of Lori’s friends said that each successive evil spirit was more powerful than the previous one, and Melanie said “Hiplos” (Charles’ final evil spirit) was a combination of dark spirits (see previous source).
3/26/19: Brandon Boudreaux calls Charles Vallow, and the call lasts 10 minutes (source).
Note: Given the timing of Charles escalating from “Ned Schneider” to a new evil spirit (presumably “Garrett”), I suspect Brandon may have been calling Charles to give him a heads-up.
3/26/19: Charles exchanges text messages with a friend. The friend passed them on to a producer with Dateline (source).
Charles: I truly feel there is no good ending for her. Emotionally JJ is about 4. He will remember bits and pieces. But thankfully not the pain she’s put a lot of people thru for her “mission from God”.
Friend: Charles I appreciate you and trusting me with your hearts issue you are safe here. I will continue to pray, for you and your family. You have a friend here that you can truly trust. I have to go now and will keep you updated sleep well my friend. Go with God
C: ❤?❤—
F: I still can’t believe it!
C: 58 days. Believe it. The beautiful sweet Lori you and I knew is gone. She actually believes I’m not Charles. She says an evil spirit named Nick Schneider murdered me and is using me to “violate” her and her family. Not kidding. Gotta get out of here.
F: Holy camel I can’t even relate.
F: Who the fake is Nick Shhneider [sic]
F: The last time I saw Lori she couldn’t say enough wonderful things about…—
C: Things have changed so dramatically in the past 6 months. Something snapped. It is so unbelievable and scary. I’m thankful she doesn’t see JJ…She wants him and for me to disappear. Seriously…..It’s the freakiest thing I’ve ever experienced…she’s with a group of people called “woke” and “preparing a people”. She actually believes I’m not Charles. She says an evil spirit named Nick Schneider murdered me and is using me to “violate” her….
3/27/19: Charles Vallow attempts to call Brandon Boudreaux, but the call doesn’t go through because his number was blocked (source).
3/27/19: Lori Vallow tells Zulema Pastenes that her and David’s (presumably Warwick) names were Porsius and Milhana in a previous life/probation (source).
Note: Zulema would claim on 11/7 that Porsius appeared to her and Sarena at the temple (source). 👻
3/28/19: Lori Vallow returns to their home in Gilbert, and Charles Vallow and his sister, Kay Woodcock were packing him up. She did not return home at this time. Charles offers to fly her to Houston to see their son, JJ Vallow, but she said she had a commitment with a friend and would come to see JJ in about two weeks (source 1 // source 2). Kay Woodcock reportedly makes one or two voice recordings of this interaction between Lori and Charles (source).
Note: There’s no confirmation in the FOIA docs that these recordings were ever passed on to LE by Kay. See notes about her references to Dropbox in the 7/19/19 and 7/29/19 related entries.
3/31/19: Date Charles Vallow offers to fly Lori Vallow to Houston to see JJ, according to Kay Woodcock. Lori says she has to help a friend in Hawaii for two weeks first (source).
Spring 2019: Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) father, Steve Cope, observes a significant change in Melani’s behavior, including flat mood, filthy house, holes in the walls in the home, constantly on her phone, frequent trips to the temple, and references to light and dark spirits, warriors, and the end times (source).
Apr 2019: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). By April Charles becomes convinced that this person is a scammer but then later becomes convinced “she” isn’t:
In April, 2019, [there] were messages indicating Charles had realized this account was a scammer. Shortly thereafter, it appeared he was convinced this person was not a scammer. Shortly after that, [redacted Gmail address] claimed to have been left 3 million by a wealthy relative, and provided him credentials for intercontinentalbankinternational.com. He questioned this, asking why she was using a Nigerian bank, and noting many of those were scammers. There was a lot of more discussion where it was apparently[redacted Gmail address] was a scammer, and Charles had not entirely caught on to this.
4/2/19: Charles Vallow emails his attorney to say he was settled in his and Lori’s new home in Houston and that she would be moving in. He ends the email with “Love always wins” (source).
Note: I have not found this email in the FOIA docs, so I’m treating this more as a claim than a fact, at least until it’s substantiated.
4/5/19: Lori Vallow is in Phoenix and meets up with Zulema at the temple (source).
4/9/19: Chad Daybell’s friend and doomsday podcaster, Julie Rowe, is told she would be excommunicated from the Church of Latter Day Saints “based on the charges of (1) apostasy, (2) teaching false doctrine, (3) priestcraft, and (4) defaming the good name of the Church.” She and her husband appealed the decision but expect it to be denied (source).
4/9/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
4/12/19: Approximate date Lori Vallow flies to Houston to visit JJ (source). This also aligns with Charles’ statement that Lori was gone 72 days (source).
Note: I derived this date by adding 72 days to 1/30/19. Also, it appears Lori may have actually moved in with Charles at this time. There are a few indicators of this:
- Charles reportedly told his attorney he got a home for him and Lori (source).
- Lori invited Chad Daybell to visit her in Houston on 4/21, which indicates she was actually living there and not just visiting (source).
- The Chandler Police report said that Lori was living with Charles on 4/21 (source).
Note: So it appears Charles let Lori move in without any other meetups with her first. I suspect this was most likely because he was desperate for her help with JJ because he was still pursuing other women online during this time, and Lori was still meeting up with Chad, even in Houston (see 4/30/19).
4/14/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
4/14/19: Lori Vallow’s group of friends have a conference call. The only ones we know were on the call from a text from Zulema Pastenes to Lori is their friend Sarena (source).
4/16/19: Charles Vallow changes the beneficiary of his life insurance from Kay Woodcock back to Lori Vallow, who had just moved back in four days prior (source).
4/16/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
4/18/19: Charles Vallow plans to meet Lori Vallow at the temple to do sealings (source).
4/19/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
4/20/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
4/21/19: Lori Vallow creates an alternate email address, kkwalker75@yahoo.com, and sends Chad an invitation to speak to a fictitious event in Houston on 4/27/19 (source 1 // source 2).
Note: It’s apparent Chad made this trip because Lori sent him an email thanking him for coming on 4/30/19. This fake account was active from 4/21/19 to 6/26/19 and was logged into a total of 25 times (source).
4/23/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
4/26/19 – 4/29/19: Approximate dates Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell spend together in Houston, TX (source).
Note: We know it was the weekend for a supposed youth event, and “Karen” proposed flying him in on Friday and back out on Monday.
4/30/19: An email was sent from Lori Vallow [allegedly] to Chad Daybell thanking him for coming to Houston (source).
Note: This email was most likely sent from the email address Lori Vallow [allegedly] set up, kkwalker75@yahoo.com.
May 2019: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). Charles and the scammer started discussing “her” flying out to Texas for a visit:
In May of 2019, Charles commented that [redacted Gmail address] would have to book a flight, as he had ‘no way of doing it without Lori seeing it’ and ‘I’m not ready to tell her yet but she knows we’re done. She wants to be done too’. He commented he had not ‘been with’ Lori for over 3 months, commenting they [redacted].
May 2019: Christie Cope, Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) stepmother, visits Melani and Brandon and says the home was “filthy and unkempt” with holes in the wall. She also reported that everyone was on an electronic device, and Melani would announce she was leaving for a couple hours to go to the temple (source).
Note: According to Melanie Gibb, going to the temple increased a person’s vibration level and thinned their veil, so this may have been part of Melani’s incentive to go to the temple so much, even when she had guests (source).
5/1/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this chat he commented that Lori didn’t want a divorce and instead wanted to live together but not as husband and wife. He also sends the scammer $1,000:
On May 1st, he commented that Lori did not want a divorce. She wanted “to live under the same room and not be my wife. She doesn’t want to be with me anymore. I’m not sure I can do that.”
There was an image where he sent $1,000.00 via Western Union.
5/2/19: After being ghosted by Lori Vallow repeatedly, Zulema predicts in a text to Lori that “something may happen to one of [her] family members.” This gets Lori’s attention and she replied enthusiastically, “Call me !!” (source)
Note: I think this speaks to how disposable people were to these group members. They had no issue with using human lives as pawns to secure the validation and camaraderie they needed.
5/3/19: Zulema Pastenes tells Chad Daybell she heard a voice telling her, “Someone in Lori’s family is going to die” (source).
Note: Chad doesn’t respond, but the day before she told Lori the same thing Chad told Zulema that she was above a 1000 vibration, which appears to have empowered her to feel like she could get more revelation from God. According to Melanie Gibb, going to the temple increased a person’s vibration level and thinned their veil (source).
5/3/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
5/4/19: Lori Vallow, Zulema Pastenes, and Sarena Sharp have a conference call that appears to be a casting (source).
Note: Sarena’s inclusion in this group appears to contradict her claim that Lori kicked her out of the group in March (source).
5/5/19: Lori Vallow, Zulema Pastenes, and others have a conference call that appears to be a casting (source). Lori asks Zulema what powers they’ll use, and this is the first reference I’ve found to the powers these group members used in these castings.
Lori: “Hi. Can you text me a list of the powers we are going to use ??”
Zulema: “Crystals, vibrating fire, ice, water, lightning, wind, stormy sky, fiery cherubim”
Zulema: “I feel the ice is going to be the most critical because as Mel said, it paralyzes them”
Lori: “I love it that’s so good ! Looking forward to talking in the morning !!”
5/5/19: Lori Vallow saves a screenshot of a malachite stone similar to the stones in her and Chad Daybell’s wedding rings, indicating plans to marry Chad five months before his wife, Tammy Daybell, died and two months before her husband, Charles, was shot and killed (source). It also demonstrates her obsessions with malachite. Kay Woodcock says in a Facebook post on 6/23/21 that she found evidence that Lori searched specifically for ‘malachite wedding rings’ (source). She didn’t pass this piece of information on to Chandler Police Det Moffat when she emailed him about finding Lori’s search history though (source).
5/5/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
5/5/19: Lori Vallow’s girl group has a Zoom call that appears to be a casting (source).
5/6/19: Zulema Pastenes tells Lori Vallow Sarena is doing a study on how to “clear and clean” Lori’s home (that she was sharing with Charles at that time) and “get rid of the servants [Garrett] has” (source).
5/7/19: Lori Vallow’s girl group has a Zoom call that appears to be a casting (source).
Note: Sarena’s inclusion in this group appears to contradict her claim that Lori kicked her out of the group in March (source).
5/7/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
5/8/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication he said he agreed to move out soon, sent the scammer a phone, and was in talks to send $3,800 to someone the scammer said was an attorney:
On May 8th, he talked about having agreed with Lori that he would move out soon.
Messages indicated he sent her a phone, and was in talks to send $3,800.00 to someone she put him in contact with, someone who purported to be an attorney.
5/11/19: Charles Vallow searches for how to file for divorce without a lawyer and visits nationallife.com where appears he had an account. There were also artifacts for Fidelity and Guaranty Life (source).
5/11/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
5/13/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
5/15/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
5/17/19 – 5/19/19: The last time Kay and Larry Woodcock saw JJ Vallow (source). He and his dad, Charles Vallow, spent the weekend with Kay and Larry. Kay added that she only spoke with JJ one or twice after that while he was living with Charles (so between May 20th to June 20th, when JJ moved to AZ with Lori).
5/19/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
5/21/19: Lori Vallow tells her prayer circle/casting group she can’t participate in their planned conference call because she was being monitored and it wasn’t safe for her (source). The group included:
- Zulema
- Melanie Gibb
- Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski)
- Sarena**
- Christina
- Nicole
**Sarena’s inclusion in this group appears to contradict her claim that Lori kicked her out of the group in March (source).
5/21/19: Approximate date Brendan Gibb files for a divorce from Melanie Gibb (source).
5/25/19: Zulema Pastenes tells Chad Daybell that Sarena has “stopped all her deep studies” and “is working on the cord Julie [Rowe] placed.” Chad verifies that Sarena had indeed cut Julie’s cord and said that should “help put an end to the night attacks” (source).
5/27/19: Lori Vallow is in Phoenix visiting friends. She does a podcast with Melanie Gibb and then meets up with Zulema Pastenes (source).
5/28/19: Zulema Pastenes asks Lori Vallow to check in on their friend Sarena because another woman, Stacy, told her that “Satan was upset about the knowledge she was getting” and Lori agrees (source). Then Lori tells her that “Garret was out [of Charles] for almost 2 min and crawled back in,” which, of course, necessitated that they meet up the next day in the temple (source).
Note: Once again, this interaction provides further proof Sarena had not been kicked out of the group in March (source) and that her beliefs very much aligned with those of Lori, Zulema, Melanie Gibb, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), etc.
5/28/19: Lori Vallow books a flight from Phoenix to Salt Lake City on Delta using a fake account that she then tied to her phone number and (source 1 // source 2).
Note: I believe she used the kkwalker75@yahoo.com account she used to invite Chad Daybell to speak to a youth group in Houston. In source 1, the note about her booking this flight follows on the heels of his trip to Houston.
5/29/19: Lori Vallow tells Zulema Pastenes Charles Vallow’s new name, “Hiplos” and explains the ‘h’ is silent (source 1 // source 2). Melanie Gibb told investigators that “Hiplos” was a combination of evil spirits and had the strength of 1,000 men (source).
5/29/19: Zulema Pastenes reassures Lori Vallow that she will personally escort JJ to heaven in an alarmingly strange text exchange (source):
Zulema: I will go in spirit when the bomb goes off and I’ll be there to see JJ’s spirit to go to the presence of the Lord. Then I and the angels will protect the bodies and not allow for them to be possessed by evil.
Lori: Perfect. I found out there are 4. One is a level for entity. His name is Hiplos. The h is silent . The other 3 are level 3s. Let’s do this
Zulema: I encapsulated them with invisible, hidden capsules that will close and capture them as soon as the bomb goes off and they leave the body. I also created a safe path guarded by warrior angels for Jonas to come and bind them and take them away as soon as they exit the body. I have a good feeling of this. I saw myself protecting the bodies…
Lori: I could not love you more right now !!! U r an amazing Goddess!!!!!!
Note: I believe this suggests these group members knew JJ was slated to be murdered long before Melanie Gibb’s claim that he had just turned into a zombie the day before she visited Lori in Rexburg (9/18/19). I also believe this exchange was what put all these crimes in motion.
5/29/19: Sarena texts Chad Daybell with more questions. Chad tells Zulema Pastenes he doesn’t feel good about it, especially with his ongoing dispute with Julie (source).
Note: It’s probably pretty safe to assume the Julie Chad is referencing here is Julie Rowe because they were reportedly in an arms race with their doomsday teachings. It appears Chad Daybell and Julie Rowe were at war right up until the end because Melanie Gibb told Chandler Police in August 2020 that Zulema Pastenes and Alex Cox saw a dragon attacking Chad and Lori Vallow when they were in Hawaii, and Alex prayed for a blessing to fight it (source). And if you search the timeline for the word “dragon” you’ll see this was a theme for this group.
5/30/19: Zulema Pastenes tells Lori Vallow that Sarena’s fever is back and asks if she’s being attacked. Lori replies that she’ll “work on her” (source).
Note: Once again, this interaction provides further proof Sarena had not been kicked out of the group in March (source).
5/30/19: Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb are in Utah together. It appears Zulema Pastenes didn’t know about this conference because she asks Lori if she wanted to meet up for lunch, but Lori tells her she went to Utah “to support my friendship with Melanie” (source).
5/31/19 – 6/1/19: Preparing a People host a conference in Sandy, UT, just outside of Salt Lake City (source).
Note: Chad Daybell was supposed to speak at the event but had canceled due to a “family emergency” (source). The announcement reads:
David Warwick and Shawn Littlebear will be filling in for Chad Daybell, who had a Family Emergency. We regret he won’t be able to attend this PAP Event.
I suspect that Chad was in Utah and met up with Lori at this time since she said that she told Zulema Pastenes the day before that she was in Utah but wasn’t attending the conference. There’s also a reference to Lori returning to Houston on 6/3 and going home to a “literal demon” (source).
6/1/19: Chad Daybell performed two Google searches for “hiplos” (source).
Note: This is in contradiction to Melanie Gibb’s claim that Chad was the one who came up with Charles’ other names (source). The name Ned Schneider obviously came from Lori as well since Ned was a childhood friend of Charles.
6/1/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account with a description of “🧡🧡!!” (source 1 // source 2).
6/2/19: Lori Vallow texts Zulema a pic of the mountain she said she was standing on (source).
Note: I suspect she was with Chad Daybell in Utah at this time because of the mountain reference and her telling Zulema the next day that she was flying home to a “literal demon” (source).
6/2/19: The day Lori Vallow thinks Charles Vallow is going to die in a car accident and asks Zulema to use her powers to ensure his destruction (source 1 // source 2).
6/3/19: Lori Vallow flies back to Houston to be with Charles Vallow and refers to him as a “literal demon” (source). According to the indictment against Lori Vallow in Chandler, AZ, she had just taken a trip out of state (redacted affidavit // unredacted affidavit):
Through text messages between Lori and Charles that were seen on Charles’ phone, Lori would return to Texas on 06/03/2019.
Note: Although we don’t know the date of this text message, at some point Lori complained to Zulema Pastenes that she had slept with a zombie twice (source).
6/3/19: Lori Vallow texts Zulema Pastenes a call to war at 9:32 pm (redacted affidavit // unredacted affidavit):
Just got home and got jj to sleep. Let’s go spiritually tonight and work on him. We give the timing to the Lord but we don’t need to relent. This is war
6/4/19: Lori Vallow tells Zulema Pastenes that Raphael is always with her (source).
6/4/19: Charles Vallow searches for how to delete messages from a Mac and disable iMessage. After that artifacts could be found about using WhatsApp (source).
Note: It’s interesting that Charles didn’t become concerned about locking down his computer when Lori moved in with him in April. It appears from her bellicose language on 6/3 and his heightened concern for his privacy, tensions may have escalated when she returned to Houston this time. She would also move back to the Phoenix area just two weeks later.
6/9/19: Lori Vallow is back in Arizona and meets up with Zulema Pastenes, Julie Clement, Alex Cox (who she said is a multiple creation), Christina Atwood, and possibly others at Zulema’s house (source 1 // source 2). According to Christina, Alex said twice that he wished he could just kill Charles, and Lori said she had added 10 crushed valiums to Charles’ protein powder.
Note: According to Zulema, sometime in February (a couple weeks after Lori and Melanie Gibb told her Charles was a zombie), Lori said to be careful what they said around Alex because he was “only a first creation” and compared him to a “kindergartener” trying to absorb “doctorate information” (source). But now, just four months later, he was a multiple creation.
6/10/19: Christina Atwood told Lt Ball that she told Lori that if anything happened to Charles, she would go to police (source). She obviously didn’t do that.
6/12/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account with a description of “🧡!!” (source 1 // source 2).
6/13/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
6/14/19 – 6/16/19: Zulema Pastenes travels to Rocky Point, MX, to “work on the earth” and tell the oceans, “I give you power and a commandment to cleanse and clean the earth” (source). Her re-entry to the US is documented in a report collated by the FBI (source).
6/16/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
6/17/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication he said Lori still didn’t want a divorce but didn’t want him. He also mailed a $1,000 Visa gift card to the scammer.
On 06/17/19, Charles told [redacted Gmail account] that Lori still did not want a divorce, but “doesn’t want me”. Around that time he FedEx mailed $1,000.00 on a Visa gift card to a name [redacted Gmail account] provided as being a friend who would receive money on her behalf.
6/19/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication Charles confided in the scammer about issues with his relationship with Lori:
On 06/19/19 he commented to her that he was “Going thru some things with Lori. It’s just touchy”.
6/19/19: Zulema Pastenes texts Lori Vallow at 9:20 pm about meeting up in the temple to work on Hiplos, one of the names they called Charles Vallow (redacted affidavit // unredacted affidavit):
Oh and can you meet me at the temple in the morning? I have time tomorrow and we can work on Hiplos.
6/20/19: Lori Vallow leaves Charles Vallow again and moves into her rental home in Chandler, AZ (source: Facebook post by landlord that was subsequently deleted).
Note: The police report said she moved 6/24, so the 20th may have been the first day of the lease (source).
6/20/19: Approximate date Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) moved to her rental home in Chandler, AZ (source).
6/20/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication he said Lori didn’t understand him:
On 06/20/19, Charles made comments about how he and Lori were no longer friends, and that she would not speak ill of him, but she did not understand him.
6/21/19: Lori Vallow performs a web search to research Social Security disability. This led an investigator to a Social Security application for disability. The form allows you to enter the applicant’s information to get a free benefits evaluation. The indictment notes that this search is of importance as it would indicate an inquiry as to the benefits that Lori would be entitled to as a widow (source).
6/21/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication he said he was packing her things to take to Arizona:
On 06/21/19, he commented he was packing her things to take to Arizona on Sunday.
6/21/19: Lori Vallow performs a web search to research Social Security disability. This led an investigator to a Social Security application for disability. The form allows you to enter the applicant’s information to get a free benefits evaluation. The indictment notes that this search is of importance as it would indicate an inquiry as to the benefits that Lori would be entitled to as a widow (redacted affidavit // unredacted affidavit).
Note: The affidavit was left unredacted in the Chandler Police Report.
6/22/19: Alex Cox enters the conversation about Charles Vallow, aka “Hiplos” (redacted affidavit // unredacted affidavit).
6/22/19: Alex Cox texts Zulema Pastenes, ostensibly for the first time. He sent a text at 7:02 pm that said, “Hey Zulema. Its Alex” (source). The police report notes:
Zulema never saved the number under a name and just left it as a phone number.
6/22/19: Zulema Pastenes and Alex Cox make phone contact for the first time (source 1 // source 2).
Note: The unredactions in source 1 are verified as they were left unredacted in the police report.
6/23/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication he revealed he was driving to Arizona to bring Lori her belongings to the house he had leased there:
On 06/23/19, he commented he was driving to bring Lori items in Arizona, in a house he had leased there.
6/26/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication he expressed frustration about his fight with Lori and said he couldn’t wait to “get the hell out”:
On 06/26/19, [redacted Gmail address] asked what he was doing. Charles replied, “fighting a crazy train who I’m married to until I can get the hell out. It’s stunning what she’s trying to do to other people in our family. Driving back to Texas tomorrow and into your arms. Can’t wait”.
It was clear from communications recent to this, that they still had not met in person.
6/26/19: Charles Vallow texts Adam Cox to ask if they could talk. They have a phone conversation shortly after (source).
6/27/19: Zulema Pastenes texts Lori Vallow at 10:18 am and to ask if Charles could be redeemed (source):
Do you think there is a way to change Hiplos to the light?
6/27/19: According to Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) father, Steve Cope, Melani asks Brandon Boudreaux for a divorce while at his house (source). Brandon said, “I thought I had a happy marriage, so it was pretty overwhelming” (source).
6/27/19: The first sign that Lori Vallow’s friend Sarena is starting to fall out of favor with her and Zulema Pastenes (source).
6/27/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). He drove to the airport in Texas (presumably the Houston Airport) and found out “she” hadn’t boarded the plane:
Messages on 06/27/19, showed Charles went to the airport to meet [redacted Gmail address], and found she never boarded.
6/27/19: Charles Vallow sends Adam Cox a link with information about being a “translated being” (source).
6/28/19: Lori Vallow creates an alias email in Charles Vallow’s name and sends Chad an invitation to stay at their home (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
6/28/19: Charles Vallow and Adam Cox have a text exchange where Adam tells Charles he already told his mom they had to have a family meeting when Charles wanted them to include someone whose name was redacted** and Gabe Bonilla (source).
Charles: I think I have enough points in Southwest for you to fly round trip. To Phoenix if and when you feel the need to go.
Adam: I told my mom.. I want to have a family meeting.. have lori explain all the things she has said. She needs to be accountable
Charles: I will NOT be there. This is on her. I tried getting her help and the entire family, except for you, put a scarlet letter on my forehead. The truth is I put her back in AZ so she could do her evil somewhere else. The only thing she’s doing right is with JJ. He doesn’t understand why his mommy left him for 72 days but she did. And she blames it all on me. Good luck Adam and my prayers are with all of you. I don’t think it’ll work because she KNOWS shes ‘special’.
Charles: I’d get [redacted] and Gabe [Bonilla] there. She’s on a very dangerous path and think she’s not. She truly thinks she’s on a special mission, on her 5th probation, from Heavenly Father himself. Let me know if you want to use the points.**Elsewhere Charles repeatedly tells Adam they need to have Holmes, the stake president, in the meeting, but “Holmes” didn’t fit in this redaction unless I put it in all caps, which this particular writer wasn’t in the habit of doing. However, these FOIA docs are full of misspellings and grammatical errors.
6/28/19: In an argument with Charles Vallow, Lori Vallow refers to caring for their son, JJ Vallow, as babysitting (source).
Note: I believe this is an indicator that whatever bond she may have at one time had with JJ had been severed, most likely when she met Chad Daybell.
6/29/19: Charles Vallow discovers the email Lori Vallow sent to Chad Daybell using a fake email address with Charles’ name. At 8:39 am Charles Vallow emails Lori Vallow’s brother, Adam Cox, upon making this discovery (source):
Adam
Open this letter and see what she did. I’m not sure if [sic] the relationship with her and Chad Daybell but they are up to something. She created an email alias for me as I’ve never set this one up. She sent this yesterday and I guess she forgot all her emails are on the computer at my house. I asked her to explain it and she started blaming you, Brandon and me for perpetuating a scheme against her. Just more of her paranoia. She will not explain it. I am going to send it to Chad Daybells wife. Her name is Tammy and I found her email address on their website. I’ve got her cell number too. Sounds very suspicious to me. What do you think ? Whenever she gets caught doing this kind of stuff she starts blaming everybody else. Mostly me, you and Brandon. Brandon and I are the victims of her craziness. I wish you luck trying to help her. I was the only one brave enough to try to get her help in January and look what happened to me. The whole family put a scarlet letter on me. Maybe now they can see what they’re up against.
Thanks
Note: We know Charles emailed Tammy Daybell at her work email address (source), so was her work email address on Chad Daybell’s site? I looked at the historical snapshot of his contact page from 6/6/17 and didn’t see it (source).
6/29/19: Charles Vallow tells Lori in a text that he knows about the videos she sent Chad Daybell of her dancing and the songs she sent him (source).
6/29/19: Charles Vallow references an email he sent to Adam Cox with the family history documents and three videos of Lori Vallow dancing for Chad Daybell (source).
Note: I hope LE has these videos. Charles talked about these videos with even a woman he went on one date with, the night before he was murdered (source), so I strongly suspect he sent them to other family members, including his primary confidant, Kay Woodcock. But there is no record in the FOIA docs of these videos having been admitted into evidence.
6/29/19: Charles tells Adam he plans to reach out to Tammy about his concerns (source) and arranges to fly Adam out to Arizona using his Southwest frequent flyer miles (source).
6/29/19: Charles Vallow gives Lori Vallow an ultimatum: Come clean about her relationship with Chad Daybell by the end of the day or he would contact Tammy Daybell and inform her of their relationship (source 1 // source 2).
6/29/19: At 9:16 am, Charles Vallow emails Tammy Daybell to inform her of Lori and Chad’s affair (source). There’s no confirmation that Tammy saw the email from Charles. The email read:
Tammy
My name is Charles Vallow. I have some vital and disturbing information regarding your husband and my wife, Lori This is your work email so I’ll wait to send you the “evidence” that is very disturbing. You may call or email me from the address where you can receive the information. I apologize to be the one sending this but something has to be done. I feel it’s best if I shed some light on the “issue”.
Regards,
Charles Vallow
Note: Chandler Police suspect Lori may have also reached out to Tammy after Charles’ death (source). The report doesn’t offer why they thought that.
6/29/19: At 9:32 Charles Vallow emails Chad Daybell to confront him about his affair with his wife. The subject line was “Emails from Lori Vallow” (source). The email read:
Chad
I’m Lori’s husband but I gathered you already knew this. She sent an email yesterday supposedly written by me to KK inviting you to AZ next week and to ghost write a book I’m supposedly working on. It’s preposterous [sic] I happened to run across it as she left her computer at our Houston home. I am NOT paying anybody for anything and I’m not writing a book. Either you or Lori need to tell me what’s going on or this will be exposed for all to see.
Regards,
Charles Vallow
At 9:36 am, Charles sends Chad a followup email:
And does your wife know you have several of Lori’s dance videos ? Explain how that is in any way appropriate. She sent them to you at your request in January.
Charles
6/30/19: At 10:16 am, Charles Vallow sends Tammy Daybell a followup email with a subject line that read “Your husband and my wife” (source 1 // source 2):
Are having an affair. Her name is Lori Vallow. I’ve got definitive proof if you care to see it. Contact me and I’ll share it with you. It’s devastating I know but the truth needs to be shown.
Charles Vallow
6/30/19: Charles Vallow communicates with Zac [Cox] via text messages. They talk about Brandon and Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) relationship and how Lori had ruined their marriage (source).
6/30/19: Charles Vallow sends Lori a series of text messages, including some vague threats (source):
5:01 am:
Be sure to look over your shoulders today. This may be the day. It’s coming. That much I promise you.
5:04 am:
And your boyfriend too
6:22 am:
You will reap the destruction you have sown. I’ll be there for JJ. Don’t worry about that. Have a wonderful day being a hypocrite in church.
8:42 am:
Lori I know you don’t much care how I feel but just imagine this. How could my actions or breaking your heart result in what you’ve done? You accuse me of Infidelity [sic] but it’s you who has been having an affair. It just keeps killing me. Maybe that’s your goal. How can you live with yourself destroying our life, Mel and Brandon’s, probably Mel and Brenden too. Now add Chad Daybell family and you’ve got a home run. The fact that you continue to go to the temple after all you’ve done shocks even me. There really is something wrong with you. I really don’t want to do what I have to do but you have to be exposed for what you really are. You won’t even deny it or talk to me as to your reasons. That’s what’s amazing to me. You could allay some of what’s about to happen but I don’t think you will. Lying has become second nature to you. You have been impressive in blaming me for all that’s happened. You have destroyed me. I’ve never been lower in my life. It’s you that has done it. Please tell me why. Please. I will slow or minimize what’s about to happen. It’s you who has caused it. We have a son to raise but that’s all we have in common. I will work with you in his best interest and will be there Monday evening. You owe me an apology for all the false accusations you’ve made. You know I’ve been entirely faithful to you since the first day we met. I deserve an apology from you. Please respect that much.
Notes:
- Emphasis added to highlight what could have been perceived as the threats Summer Shiflet said Lori Vallow showed her (source).
- It’s interesting to see Charles was familiar with Melanie Gibb and her then-husband, Brendon.
- Summer Shiflet said she knew for a fact that there wasn’t a conspiracy to kill Charles. If that’s true, why did she say, “I will kill him myself if that is the case!!!!” mere hours before Charles was murdered (source)? Chandler Police note that there’s no indication who Summer was talking about killing. Unless they were planning a murder spree for 7/11 (which doesn’t appear to be the case), I’m going to go out on a limb here and posit that Summer was most likely talking about Charles. #jmo #ymmv
Late Jun 2019: Lori contacts L.I.F.E. Academy to let them know the family was back in Gilbert [sic], and she enrolled JJ in the school summer program (source).
Note: Lori was living in Chandler, not Gilbert.
Jul 2019: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) files for divorce from Brandon Boudreaux (source).
7/1/19: Lori Vallow creates a new iCloud account, which she named ‘Lollytime’** (source 1 // source 2 // source 3). 🕵️♀️
**I found the name of Lori’s alternative iCloud account unredacted elsewhere in the FOIA docs, and the search warrant ID matched an unredacted reference to the Lollytime account (see source 3 above).
7/1/19: The contact Lori Vallow’s phone saved as “Bubby” is created using the fictitious name “Boyd Dial” with a PO Box in Mesa, AZ. This phone is confirmed to belong to Chad Daybell (source).
Note: There was a Hal Boyd Dial who was a bishop and stake president, and he lived in Taylorsville, UT, at the time of his death (source). Taylorsville isn’t very far from Provo, where Chad grew up, or Springville, where he and his family lived before moving to Idaho (map). He also has a thing for masquerading as church leaders in these fake accounts (example).
7/1/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication the scammer asked for more money, but he said he had just spent $4.5 million on a business:
He communicated with her again on 07/01/19, where she asked for more money again. He said he had just spent 4.5 million on a business where he was, and had to wait for it to start generating positive cash flow. He said “I have to be very conservative or Lori will see what I’m doing. That would not be good.”
7/1/19: The day Charles Vallow plans to speak to Tammy Daybell about the affair between Lori and Chad (source).
7/1/19: Lori Vallow calls Charles Vallow “joe Ryan” in a heated text exchange (source). This was just 10 days before Charles was murdered.
Note: It makes you wonder about Charles’ claim to a Gilbert Police officer that Lori told him, “I’ll murder you too” (source).
7/1/19 – 7/9/19: According to a text message from Lori Vallow to Charles Vallow and a note about Charles checking in on JJ each day, JJ Vallow was sick and vomiting (source).
Note: I wonder if Lori was poisoning JJ.
7/2/19: Lori Vallow also saves “Bubby” number to her burner phone that used the Lollytime iCloud account (source 1 // source 2).
7/2/19: Charles Vallow tells Adam Cox he believes Chad and Tammy Daybell are ring leaders of the cult (source).
Note: According to a search warrant drafted by Chandler Police Det Nathan Duncan, they believed that Lori found out about the intervention from Chad (source). They surmised he found out from Tammy. Tammy deleted the emails from her account so they weren’t able to confirm she received the emails. I disagree with that conclusion and addressed who I thought was the mole in this YouTube live. (Spoiler alert: I believe it’s far more feasible that Chad monitored Tammy’s emails because Charles told Lori ahead of time that he had Tammy’s email and was going to reach out to her. It was summer break, so Tammy may not have been monitoring email as closely. Also, this might explain why the day after Charles was supposed to speak to Tammy, he told Adam she was a ring leader of the cult. I believe Chad may have replied harshly from Tammy’s email and then deleted everything.)
7/2/19: Zulema Pastenes tells Lori Vallow in a text that she was given instructions to “rip, tear or burn the aura of Hiplos” (source).
Also, I was given instructions today to rip, tear or burn the aura of Hiplos to let the body energy out so he can’t re-enter!
7/2/19: According to a text from Charles Vallow to Adam Cox, Lori Vallow purchased a new health insurance policy that included Charles, JJ, and Tylee but not herself because, as a translated being, she didn’t need it (source).
7/2/19: Charles Vallow warns Adam Cox to not talk to his family about their concerns about Lori and to instead include their stake president, Holmes (source).
Note: Adam disregarded Charles’ request, accepted the plane ticket Charles paid for with his frequent flyer miles, and met with his family alone. He told Det Moffat that he wasn’t able to record his conversation with Lori or meet with Holmes (source), so he basically did nothing he agreed to and instead took off the day Charles was shot with his son, Zac, and didn’t so much as reach out to Chandler Police when he couldn’t get ahold of Charles. He also told his then-wife, Nicole, “I think Lori and Alex did something to Charles” (source).
7/2/19: Lori Vallow and Zulema Pastenes meet at the temple (source).
7/4/19: Charles Vallow texts Lori Vallow to tell her that she could stay in a hotel if she didn’t want to be in the house with him (source).
If you want to get a hotel for next Thursday when I’m there you can take a break and go stay there. I’d like to stay and wake up with [JJ] on Thursday. I won’t get there til about 9. Let me know. You can book it.”
Note: Charles initially insisted on being able to stay in the house he was paying for.
7/6/19: April Raymond claims this was the date of her last communication with Lori Vallow (source).
7/8/19: Charles Vallow emails Adam Cox the forged email Lori Vallow [allegedly] sent Chad Daybell as Charles, as well as a heated text exchange between Lori and Charles where he said she was ruining families and she called him “Joe Ryan” (source).
Note: If Lori had a role in Joe’s death and Charles knew about it, I believe he would have interpreted this as a threat that he could suffer the same fate.
7/8/19: Charles Vallow asks Lori Vallow to book a hotel room for him, which she does using hotels.com (source). The reservation was made for the Tru by Hilton in Gilbert for 7/10 to 7/13 (source).
7/8/19: Lori Vallow texts Zulema Pastenes and asks her to call up an earthquake in Valencia, California. Lori tells her that “Hiplos” was traveling in Valencia at this time. Lori also said that sadly, Hiplos is okay but they were going to continue to work on him (source 1 // source 2).
Note: In source 1 above, their emphasis on spiritual fire is interesting: “In order to protect his mortal body from being possessed by another evil spirit, this spiritual fire had to be placed around him.” This could explain why this group was so obsessed with fire. Melanie Gibb’s book was titled Feel the Fire, as was her and Lori’s podcast. And the podcast episode they published the day before Tylee Ryan was last seen was titled “What is a Baptism of Fire”? And her corpse would be repeatedly burned in fires starting just hours after they published.
7/8/19: Zulema Pastenes sends Lori Vallow a bizarre text that suggests after Charles (i.e., “Hiplos”) is dead, there would be a domino effect and asks what they need to do to get ready for that (source):
I had to get home so I could go in my portal out there…I asked… if we do that, the ramifications of the things to come, we are not ready for at this time. For what I understand is, that when Hiplos goes, things are going to be a domino effect, one after another. What do we need to do to be ready for all that is coming?
7/8/19: Melani and Brandon Boudreaux begin divorce proceedings. Melani continues to pay for the life insurance on Brandon despite seeking a divorce (source).
7/9/19: There is a lot that transpires on this day, so I’ll break down a timeline of events for all the events with timestamps (source):
1:49 pm
Lori invites Alex over to her house and sends him the address of 5531 South Four Peaks Place, Chandler.
6:18 pm
Melanie Gibb texts Lori and asks, “Are you home? I want to come over.”
6:20 pm
Lori responds, “All my family and the kids are here so it’s chaos right now.”
Note: I strongly suspect these family members included Colby Ryan, Summer Shiflet, Melani Boudreaux, and Janis Cox, at minimum.
6:21 pm
Melanie replies, “Ok let me know when ?”
7:06 pm
Chad calls Lori. They talk until 8:14 pm. From the police report:
Prior to this phone call, There were numerous SMS messages between Lori and Chad. However, none of the messages appeared in the icloud records. Record of these messages are only seen in the phone records. Based on the messages reviewed, it was likely that the urgent news Lori received was from Chad.
Note: Fwiw, I take issue with the police report’s assumption that the urgent news came from Chad. Lori was on the phone with Chad when the urgent news came in. At 7:21 (so 15 mins into her call with Chad) Lori found out about the intervention from Janis Cox and Summer Shiflet, not Chad. And how did they find out? I believe this may have been from Adam Cox. Supporting my suspicion is Det Moffat’s warning to Kay’s brother to not trust Adam:
Just from text messages that I’ve seen of his or [garbled] of Lori and Al, I don’t know that Adam’s very trustworthy. That’s one of the reasons I called Kay three times last night because I want her to just be very guarded with what she tells him. [garbled] Because Adam and your brother were talking that morning and the day before and kind of how she’d fallen off the deep end [garbled] and stuff like that. And they were talking that day, but he might’ve called Lori afterwards so I don’t know— And Adam told Kay, “Yeah, well I’ve been trying to reach out to the detective, I’ve been trying to reach out to the detective. Well, I have not received a phone call, an email, a message to call him or anything. So I just don’t know that he’s very trustworthy or where he lies in this.
7:21 pm
Lori learns of Adam and Charles’ intervention plans. The indictment states she found this out from her mother, Janis Cox, and Summer Shiflet. She then reached out to Alex Cox, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and Summer Shiflet to warn them of Adam and Charles’ intervention (source 1 // source 2).
Note: All of the redactions in this document were left unredacted in the police report that was later released, and I added them to the above screenshot. Also, it seems odd the police report states that it was likely Lori was receiving urgent news from Chad but then states that she found out about the intervention 15 minutes into her call with Chad from Summer and her mother. But then why would she reach out to Summer to warn her about news she had found out from Janis and Summer?
7:21 pm
Lori texts Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), “Need to talk to you ASAP”
7:22 pm
Melani calls Lori.
7:22 pm
Lori texts Melani, “I’ll call u in 5. Finding out what to do.”
7:23 pm
Melanie Gibb texts Lori, “Are they there still?”
7:45 pm
Chad searches on Google for “when you surprise someone with accusations.”
7:50 pm
Charles texts Lori, “Did our boy do ok today?”
7:55 pm
Melanie Gibb texts Lori, “I’m waiting at your house so let me know when you are ready for me to come in.”
8:00 pm
Lori texts Melani, “U can’t go tomorrow. It’s a set up for both of us. Still on the phone finding out the details.”
8:01 pm
Lori texts Melani, “They have an elaborate plan I’ll call you soon.”
8:03 pm
Lori texts Melanie Gibb, “I’m in the backyard on an important call. U can come back here quietly ?”
Note: Lori was still on the phone with Chad. Also, Melanie spent the night at Lori’s that night.
8:05 pm
Melani sent Lori a text, “I could take all the babies with and drive? And take our stuff.”
8:06 pm
Lori replied to Melani, “U can’t go at all. We both need to stay here to defend ourselves.”
8:07 pm
Lori added, “It’s coming to a head ! This week will change everything”.
8:08 pm
Melani responded, “Probably why I’ve felt sick about going.. Even when told to plan to go.”
8:15 pm
Lori had just gotten off the phone with Chad and then texted Melani, “Call me.” They talk until 8:30 pm.
8:15 pm – 8:30 pm
“After this phone call Melani and Lori shared SMS messages talking about Brandon Boudreaux and his dark spirit. Lori encouraged Melani to keep [name redacted] (Melani and Brandon’s daughter) away from Brandon.”
9:03 pm
Lori advised Alex of the conflict. She sent him a text that read, “So the plot thickens. Call me when u can ?”
9:03 pm
Alex calls Lori and they talked for 3 minutes.
9:03 pm – 9:50 pm
“Between 9:03 PM and 9:50 PM, Lori exchanged individual SMS messages between Chad, Melani and Alex. The actual messages between Lori and Alex and Lori and Melani remained on the [Lollytime] icloud account. However, there is no visible message content between Lori and Chad on the [Lollytime] icloud account during this timeframe. SMS messages between Lori and Chad did not appear on the Lollytime account until 07/13/2019.”
Note: Anything in square brackets is an unredaction. These police reports only referenced two iCloud accounts for Lori: her Lori4style account, which was her original account, and her Lollytime account, which she created just two days after Charles Vallow discovered her email to Chad Daybell from him. Unredacting these documents is not an exact science, especially since they sometimes capitalize the account names and sometimes don’t.
9:16 pm
Lori sent Melani a text, “They are gathering witnesses. It’s just like twilight. They are the vulture.”
9:39 pm
Charles had not heard from Lori and sent another text “????”
9:50 pm
Lori texts Alex: “Getting sleepy. So I’m gong to need you to stay close to me the next couple days. Mel too. She can’t go to Utah. They are planking some kind of intervention but want Mel out of the way so I’m left alone. I need to come get the stuff at your house tomorrow and secure it. Lots to do. Thank you for standing by me. It’s all coming to a head this week. I will be like nephi I am told ! And so will you ❤️”
Note: The police report notes, “In reviewing the text messages between Alex and Lori, there was no mention of Alex spending the night at the house to be able to do things with the kids on 07/11/2019.”
9:56 pm – 10:52 pm
Alex called Lori again and the two talk until 10:52 pm.
10:27 pm
Charles texted Lori asking, “Did you spend 196 at wal mart grocery in Provo on UFCU card yesterday?”
7/9/19: Charles Vallow travels to Valencia, CA (source).
7/9/19: According to Summer Shiflet, Alex Cox texts her to ask if Adam could stay at her house because he didn’t have a bed for him (source).
7/9/19: Adam Cox texts Alex Cox and said he was coming into town the next day and asks if he could stay with him (source). The police report reads:
Adam said he wanted to back up and explained on Tuesday (07/09/19) he called Alex and told him he was coming to Arizona. Adam then explained that Alex was sucked into Lori’s ideas and whatever Lori tells him he believes. Adam said Alex is all about whatever Lori says. Adam said he asked Alex if he could stay with him instead of their parents house and Alex said he would go buy a mattress for him to sleep on in one of his bedrooms.
7/9/19: Charles and Adam have a text exchange about Adam’s visit. Adam insisted on meeting with Lori and record her (he didn’t do that), and Charles insisted they set up a meeting with Holmes, the stake president (source 1 // source 2):
Your flights are booked. You should have the emails. I’m really uneasy about how she will respond not only to you but to me. And . And Brandon. I’ll pick up JJ and take him to school at 8 am Thursday. She’ll be there. Friday the same. She will be highly suspicious about recording. If you can bring a second device and put your phone on the counter or turn it off it might help. Just s brother taking to his sister. I personally feel she’s too far gone. It is going to take us going to [ or she won’t ever stop. She’s hurting too many families. Mine is gone Adam. I just want to save others from the same fate. I still love her more than life. But the slots we knew is gone. I fear forever.
Note: Charles had been telling Adam since 7/2 that he thought it was a bad idea to meet with his family or with Lori alone. He flew him out so that they could go together to meet with the stake president, Holmes, to pressure Lori to repent or have her temple recommend revoked (source). Adam repeatedly disregarded Charles’ wishes but then told Det Moffat that he wasn’t able to record Lori or set up a meeting with Holmes (source).
7/10/19: There is a lot that transpires on this day, so I’ll break down a timeline of events for all the events with timestamps (source):
9:50 am – 12:19 pm
Chad calls Lori (source).
10:25 am
Lori: I think so. But I think they are moving their plans to tomorrow since they will still try to get rid of you.
Melani: I wish there was a way to somehow be at the wedding but I know this is more important.
Lori: I know baby. I’m so sorry. This is important to your mission even though I know it’s hard to just sit there.
Melani: I wish there was a way to somehow be at the wedding but I know this is more important. ❤️
Lori: I know baby. I’m so sorry. This is important to your mission even though I know it’s hard to just sit there. 💕💕
3:50 pm – 4:20 pm
Chad calls Lori (source).
3:58 pm
Lori texts her sister, Summer Shiflet that she was on her way to Alex Cox’s house.
7:18 pm
Lori Vallow and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) exchange text messages where Lori implores her to not go out of town for the wedding she was planning to attend (source): Lori sends Melani an SMS message informing her that Alex was there and that Charles said he would be coming over in the morning.
Note: Brandon Boudreaux’s friend, Jes, said in an interview that Melani was out of the town that Saturday, so I wonder if she did eventually go to her friend’s wedding (source).
7/10/19: According to Melanie Gibb, Lori tells her to leave in the morning because Charles is going to kill her (source).
Notes:
- According to Melanie, Adam Cox, Brandon Boudreaux, Zac Cox, and Barry Cox all wanted to kill Lori for her supposed $3 million life insurance policy.
- According to Colby Ryan, Adam, Brandon, and Summer Shiflet’s lover, Edgar, wanted to kill Lori (source).
- Melanie claimed that she didn’t find out that Charles was shot for four days, but if Lori told her that Charles was going to kill her, wouldn’t she have checked in on her friend? Rhetorical question. Of course she would have—and most likely did.
7/10/19 – 7/14/19: Adam Cox is in Phoenix (source).
Note: A confidential source told me Adam flew out 7/14. This is not confirmed in the police report.
7/10/19: Adam Cox reportedly calls Alex Cox about staying with him, but Alex doesn’t answer any of his calls or call him back. So he and Zac stay with his parents, Barry and Janis Cox, instead (source).
Note: Adam told Det Moffat that Summer was in New York, Zac was watching her dog, and they were in charge of her house (source). So then why would he have stayed with Barry and Janis?
7/10/19: Summer Shiflet texts Lori Vallow and says, “I will kill him myself if that’s the case!!!!” (source).
Note: Chandler Police couldn’t figure out who she might be referring to, but since this comment was made the day before Charles Vallow was murdered, I’m going to go out out on a limb and postulate she was most likely talking about Charles. 👀
7/10/19: According to Summer Shiflet, Adam and Zac Cox come to her house, and she and Adam play cards but she doesn’t share her concern for Lori’s safety (source).
7/10/19: Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) have lunch together, and then Lori and Alex go to their sister, Summer Shiflet’s house (source):
The following day, Lori would have lunch with Alex and Melani. Lori and Alex would then go over to Summer’s house (Lori’s sister). Text messages between Lori and Summer indicated that Summer knew of the intervention and was providing information to Lori about Adam once he arrived in Phoenix.
In reviewing Lori’s cellular phone records, she had contact with only Chad, Phebe, Melani, Charles, Summer and Alex during the hours leading up to and following the discovery of the intervention.
Notes:
- Emphasis is mine because I think this one sentence is key to understanding who was most involved in the planning of Charles’ murder.
- “Phebe” is Melanie Gibb. She was supposedly Lori and Chad’s daughter in a previous life. According to Det Ray Hermosillo, Melanie actually called Lori “Mom” (source).
7/10/19: According to Kay Woodcock, Alex Cox’s last day of work as a long-haul trucker (source).
7/10/19: Charles arranges to come to Arizona and also arranges travel for Adam using his frequent flyer miles (source). Lori Vallow reserved him a room at the Tru by Hilton in Gilbert he stayed in (source 1 // source 2).
Note: The detail about using his frequent flyer miles came from a confidential source last year.
7/10/19: Charles flies from Houston into Phoenix to pick up JJ Vallow the next day and look at apartments in Chandler (source: Charles Vallow’s landlord and Lori’s statement from 7/11/19).
7/10/19: In an elaborate catfish scheme, Charles begins confiding in what he thought were women he met online but were bilking him for thousands of dollars (source). In this particular communication Charles told the scammer he was moving on and would go back to the LDS Planet dating site:
On 07/10/19, Charles told [redacted Gmail address] he was moving on and going back to the LDS Planet dating site. He did not send another message. [redacted Gmail address] sent him messages on 07/13/19 and 07/17/19.
7/10/19: Charles Vallow goes on a date with Nancy Jo shortly after arriving in AZ (source).
7/10/19: Charles Vallow visits the National Life Group website at 6:49 pm. This would be the last browsing artifacts on his phone prior to his death (source).
Note: This is an interesting detail because Lori Vallow had a $2 million life insurance policy with National Life (source). And she didn’t change the beneficiary of it to her son, Colby Ryan, for a month after Charles’ murder (source). So there’s the possibility Charles may have been checking to see if he was still the beneficiary of the policy. It’s also of interest that LE found $2,000 cash in his suitcase following his murder (source). Although there may be plausible explanations for him carrying so much cash, I only knew him to pay for things with credit cards, to take advantage of points. I’m not accusing Charles of conspiring to murder Lori, but just 10 days prior he sent her some vague but menacing threats (source). I highlighted the concerning threats in the entry for 6/30. It’s possible that there was a Mr. and Mrs. Smith dynamic to their escalating tensions, and the $2,000 was a down payment for a hit.
7/11/19: Charles Vallow is shot and killed by Alex Cox.There is a lot that transpires on this day, so I’ll break down a timeline of events for all the events with timestamps (source 1 // source 2 // source 3):
6:06 am
Chad Daybell sends Lori Vallow a text message that is deleted.
6:12 am
Lori sends Chad a text message that is later deleted.
7:01 am
Lori sends Chad a text message that is later deleted.
7:33 am
Lori sends Chad a text message that is later deleted.
7:35 am
Charles arrives at Lori’s home and texts Lori’s brother, Adam Cox, to tell him Alex was there. Adam tells Charles Lori and Alex were planning something and Charles replies, “Absolutely.” Adam also tells Charles he was supposed to spend the night with Alex but Lori probably blocked that plan (source).
Charles and Adam Cox exchange text messages.
Charles: Al is here
Adam: At Loris
Adam: Really..I wonder why he never called me back
Adam: They are planning something
Charles: Absolutely
Adam: I was supposed to spend the night at his house last night..she probably blocked that
Charles: What you do is up to you
Note: Adam sent the messages below at 7:37 am, but they were not read until 12:13 pm when Charles was dead and Lori was in control of his phone:
Adam: I’m going to put the pressure to have him come get me right now..see what he says
Adam: Ok
7:49 am
Charles’ cell phone left the home. Chandler PD uses this timestamp as a proxy for the approximate time Charles was shot (source). From the indictment:
Based on this timeline, Charles would have laid [sic] dead or dying for approximately 43 minutes before Alex called 911.
7:49 am
Adam sends Charles a text message, but it was not read until 12:13 pm when Charles was dead and Lori was in control of his phone:
Me and [Zac] are going to the stake center tonight at 8 to play basketball. Holmes is always there either playing ball or interviewing people. I will try to catch him to have a conversation with my old friend.
7:49 am
Lori sends Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) a text message that was later deleted.
7:52 am
Alex calls Lori, and they speak on the phone for 49 seconds.
Note: Alex told Chandler PD Det Moffat that he didn’t call Lori (source).
7:52 am – 8:06 am
Lori and Melani exchange four text messages, which were later deleted.
7:55 am
Lori arrives at the Burger King with Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow at Gilbert Road and Ocotillo Road. She is captured on the drive-thru video (more details).
8:06 am
Alex calls Lori again, and they speak on the phone for 56 seconds.
Note: Alex told Chandler PD Det Moffat that he didn’t call Lori (source).
8:17 am
Lori arrives at Walgreens located at 785 South Cooper Road in Gilbert where she purchases two pairs of sandals with cash (more details). Tylee and JJ are not in the surveillance video.
Note: Lori must’ve been pretty desperate for new flip-flops since she prioritized this over returning to the scene, and the ones she purchased are noticeably too small (source).
8:17 am
Lori sends an SMS message to her friend Audrey, which is later deleted (source).
8:24 am
Lori drops JJ off at school.
8:32 am
Alex calls 911.
8:43 am
Alex is questioned by Chandler Police outside the home (source).
8:46 am
A Chandler PD detective dismisses a neighbor who came forward as a witness (source).
Note: There’s no record in the Chandler Police report that I could find of detectives interviewing any neighbors after the shooting.
8:48 am
Lori and Tylee arrive back to the home after stopping at Burger King, dropping JJ off at school, and stopping at Walgreens for new flip-flops (source).
8:58 am
A Chandler Police detective interviews Lori and Tylee at the scene (source).
7:34 pm
Chad Daybell calls Valley of the Sun Mortuary—where Charles Vallow’s body was being held—at 7:34 pm AZ time to get an estimate for a cremation (source 1 // source 2 // transcript).
Notes:
- This call was made from his “Boyd Dial” burner phone.
- Chad’s call was originally recorded as occurring on 7/12 because one of the detectives didn’t realize the timestamp was reported in UTC time. It translated to 8:34 pm on 7/11 AZ time (source).
- Chad told the rep his name was “Chad Dabal.”
- Chad told the rep that he lived in Iowa. That’s because the area code for his burner phone was 515, which is an Iowa area code.
- Chad was told the cremation of his “uncle John Myron Dabal” would cost $1,880.
- Chad said his uncle died in a hospital in Chandler.
- Chad didn’t know his phone number and had to look it up.
10:19 pm
Summer texts Alex to ask if anything has happened yet (source).
Note: She told investigators she also texted Alex before leaving for New York: “On the plane, anything yet?” She said Alex responded by telling her to have fun and no worries.
11:31 pm
Zulema Pastenes texts Lori Vallow a bizarre message at 11:31 pm about Charles Vallow (source):
As I was working on Hiplos today in the temple I was told “he will be taken as he is”, idk what that means. Then I was shown to only put light, the brightest light, from the top and the bottom at the same time. Meeting in the middle. So I’ve been doing that all day.
11:53 am: The search warrant drafted by CPD Det I. Kaminsky is granted and investigators, included Det Nathan Duncan, begin their investigation (source).
Notes:
- Alex was staying at the house where Charles Vallow was shot, despite living 23 miles away (source).
- Colby Ryan, Lori Vallow’s adult son, later claims that his mother called him the day Charles died and said he died of a heart attack. When he got to the house he discovers his stepdad had actually been shot by his uncle (source, 9:32 minute mark).
- Charles was scheduled to look at apartments with the landlord after dropping JJ off at school (source: landlord in a Facebook post that was subsequently deleted).
- Alex says Charles attacked him with a baseball bat but only had trace amounts of blood on a napkin he dabs the back of his head with (source). Also, Charles’ fingerprints were not found on the bat (source).
- Alex says Lori, Tylee, and JJ left before the shooting; Lori told police she had been at home when Charles was shot but needed to leave to take JJ to school (source).
- Lori was glib and playful when talking to the officer at the scene (source).
- Dateline’s Keith Morrison described Tylee’s demeanor as “somehow apologetic but overly composed.” Chandler detective Nathan Moffat described Tylee as “very well spoken.” He said Tylee told Detective Cassandra Ynclan, “In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have gotten the bat.” Moffat noted that as weird but then walked it back (source). Author’s note: Moffat’s tone seemed to suggest Tylee had possibly been coached in what to say.
- Moffat described the ride in the police with Lori, Alex, and Tylee as “straight-up bizarre.” He added, “It was the weirdest ride I’ve ever had with three strangers.” He described Lori as “happy go lucky” and said she was smiling and nonchalant. “You would have thought we just recovered their stolen vehicle” (source).
- Melanie Gibb said Alex told her that “Hiplos” had the power of 1,000 men (source). So then how did he end up with such a superficial scrape on his head? If Charles had hit him in the back of the head with the strength of one man (especially one as strong as Charles), Alex would have been killed, not nursing a scrape with a napkin. Also, Alex told Det Moffat he did not know if Charles had hit him with the bat or something, that he assumed it was the bat (source).
- Zulema’s reference to Charles being “taken as he is” indicates she knew the plan to murder him, imo. Also, she and Chad both express relief that Charles is dead.
- Chandler Police Det Ynclan and Moffat expressed surprise that Lori and Alex never called them to check in on the investigation (source). Criminals nowadays…so inconsiderate. 🙄
- I derived local AZ time from timestamps in bodycam videos by subtracting 7 hours from UTC time to convert it to MST. (Arizona doesn’t participate in Daylight Savings.)
- I addressed some of the more egregious contradictions in Lori, Alex, and Tylee’s interviews in a live I did on my Annielytics channel in Sep 2020 (source).
- CPD Det Nathan Moffat is assigned the case agent on the case, and Detective Coons is assigned the scene agent (source). In June 2020, Det Nathan Duncan replaced Det Moffat as the case agent (source).
Citations:
- Alex’s 911 call (source)
- Bodycam videos at the scene (source 1 // source 2 // source 3)
- Lori’s interview at CPD station (source 1 // source 2)
- Tylee’s interview at CPD station (source 1 // source 2)
- Alex’s interview at CPD station (source 1 // source 2)
7/11/19: Adam Cox and Charles Vallow plan to meet up after Charles drops JJ Vallow off at school, according to Charles’ date from the night before, Nancy Jo (source).
7/11/19: Summer Shiflet flies to New York and texts Alex twice during the day asking for updates (source):
Morning:
On the plane, anything yet?10:19 pm
Police report: She asked Alex if anything had happened yet as she was concerned that Adam and Charles were going to do something.
Notes:
- The fact that Summer told Lori in a text two days before Charles was murdered, “If that’s the case I will kill him myself!!!!” makes it highly unlikely that Summer was unaware of the plan to murder Charles, imo (source).
- If Summer was worried about Lori’s safety, why is there no record of her texting Lori to see if she was okay? Why text Alex to ask “anything yet?” as if she had prior knowledge of the plan to kill Charles?
7/11/19: Neighbors report that the family hosts a pool party at the house where Charles Vallow was shot the day of the shooting. They report there are lots of people and loud music (source 1 // source 2).
7/11/19: According to a woman Charles Vallow had gone on a date with the night before, Nancy Jo, Charles planned to meet up with Adam Cox after dropping JJ Vallow off at school to come up with their intervention plan for Lori (source).
7/11/19 – 7/13/19: Because of the number of contradictions between Nicole Cox, Adam Cox’s then wife, and Zac Cox, Adam and Nicole’s son re: their activities and travels between 7/11 and 7/13, I dropped the details into a table, instead of dispersing them in the timeline. I highlight the most glaring inconsistencies with italics (source 1 // source 2).
Date……… | Nicole | Zac |
---|---|---|
7/11 | Adam and Zac drive to Tucson. Adam reportedly tells Nicole, “I’m worried sick. I think Alex and Lori did something to Charles.” |
Zac goes to work. Adam goes out to eat with his parents. Adam and Zac play basketball. |
7/12 | Adam and Zac are still in Tucson.
|
Adam and Zac go to see Zac’s second cousins after Zac got off work. Zac texts Colby to see if he wanted to go play basketball and gets no response. Adam texts Alex to see if he wanted to go to the comedy club and gets no response. |
7/13 | Adam’s friend, Dr. Lane, finds out Charles is shot by doing a Google search. Adam tells Nicole he knows it was murder but never calls police. Adam and Zac return to Phoenix. |
Adam and Zac drive to Tucson. Adam’s friend finds out Charles is shot by doing a Google search. |
Notes:
- Some inconsistencies are expected. Memories aren’t exact. However, the discrepancies between their stories indicate deception on one or both of their parts, in my opinion.
- One thing I don’t understand is, if Adam told Nicole the day Charles was murdered that he thought Lori and Al did something to him, why wouldn’t he have been concerned when he couldn’t get ahold of Charles? Charles’ date from the night before, Nancy Jo, told investigators that Charles was supposed to meet up with Adam after dropping JJ off at school (source). Instead of them meeting up, Adam just carries on with his previous plans with his family and doesn’t even think to Google Charles’ name? His friend has to do it on Saturday? It makes no sense.
7/12/19: Summer Shiflet calls Alex Cox, and she claims he tells her Charles Vallow had been killed (source). The police report notes:
Summer stated that she felt that Alex and Lori were trying to protect her so she didn’t worry while she was on her trip.
Note: Summer later said in an interview with Morgan Loew that she found out Charles had been killed Friday evening, so she may have made this call in the evening, though I take everything Summer says with a grain of salt (source).
7/12/19: Chad Daybell performs searches Google for “Charles vallow death chandler” starting at 3:55 am MDT (source). Then he visits multiple news articles about the death:
- https://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Chandler- police-Man-fatally-shot-during-family-14088676.php
- https://chandlerazpd.gov/2019/07/man-shot-killed-by-family-member/
- https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/chandler-breaking/2019/07/11/police-chandler-man-called-911-say-he-shot-family-member-fight/1704107001/
7/12/19: Zulema Pastenes texts Julie Clement and describes Charles’ murder as a “Nephi and Laban ending” and expresses relief that Charles is dead (source 1 // source 2):
Oh ok
Hiplos is gone
It was a Nephi and Laban ending.
I will tell you more when I see you in person or when you see Lori in person. I’m leaving for Chile on Monday for 2 weeks
Note: These redaction fill-ins are verified as they were left unredacted in the Chandler Police Report.
7/12/19 – 7/20/19: Lori Vallow has a bizarre text exchange with one of her stepsons (source). She doesn’t even reach out to them until 4:36 pm CDT to tell them their father had died. Charles had been dead for more than 30 hours at that point.
7/12:
Lori: Hi boys. I have very sad news. Your dad passed away yesterday. I’m working on making arrangements and I’ll keep you informed with what’s going on. Im [sic] still not sure how to handle things. Just want you to know that I love you and did your dad !! ❤️
Note: Lori added “Lori” to the conversation and removed “Lolo” from the conversation after sending the initial text.
Stepson: Lori what happened
Lori: We are still waiting for the ME report. I’ll let you know more when I can.
Stepson: Where is he and what happened?
Lori: I’ll call you when I can bub. He is here in Arizona.
Stepson: Where in Arizona?
Stepson: When did all this happen?
Stepson: How’s JJ doing?
Stepson: What funeral home is he at?
Stepson: Lori what the [redacted] happened. You can’t just tell us our dad died and disappear. You’re not too busy to just let us know and disappear.
Stepson: Lori it’s been 3 hours. You’re not that busy. I don’t care what you’re doing
Lori: I’m sorry you are so upset. I’m so upset too. I’m trying to get jj ready for bed. I’m waiting to hear back from the Medical examiner to make sense out of all of this myself. Please be patient with me. It’s a crushing situation all around. I’m still trying to process it too and what it means for JJ.
Stepson: When and where is the funeral? How did all this happen?
Stepson: I want an explanation.
Note: Charles’ ex-wife, Cheryl Wheeler, found out sometime on the 12th that Charles’ had been shot by Alex Cox (source). She told EastIdahoNews.com:
I checked the medical examiner’s webpage and found Charles had been killed the day before, and they had it classified as a homicide. We further Googled and saw all of the news reports out of Chandler. We found out that Alex had shot him.
Charles’ autopsy wasn’t performed until the 13th, but several websites had reported Charles’ death as a homicide on 7/11, including the Chandler PD website, FOX 10, and AZCentral. Interestingly, Alex Cox wasn’t named as the shooter by Chandler Police; he was only referred to as Charles’ brother-in-law.
7/13:
Stepson: ?
Stepson: ?
Lori: I’m still working on arrangements and sorting things out the best I can. I’ll let you know when I know.
Stepson: Why aren’t you telling me what happened? I’ve asked numerous times. Just tell me.
Stepson: ?
Note: Charles’ autopsy was performed this day.
7/14:
Stepson: ?
Note: Sometime on the 14th Lori left a voicemail for one of her stepsons inviting him to talk (source).
It’s Lolo, I just wanted to talk to you and see how you’re doing. I just wanna talk to ya and see how you’re doing. And JJ wants to say “Hi” so just give me a call back and maybe we could talk for a few minutes. I love you. Bye.
The stepson said he called her back but she didn’t answer and noted this was the last time he received a call from Lori.
7/15:
Stepson: Okay Lori. It’s been 3 days. You let us know our father passed away over a text message. 3 days and we haven’t heard from anyone. The only information we have is that one text from you saying he passed away. You disappeared after that. We need any information you have. What happened, when did it happen, how did it happen. Where is he now. Are there any funeral plans and can [redacted] and I be a part of it. We talked to him all the time and now he’s gone. He was our dad and we loved him very much. We deserve answers. Also why have you been the only one to contact us? We haven’t heard from Colby or Tylee. I called Colby recently too and he didn’t answer. Is JJ safe and what does he know?
I need to be kept in the loop about this all. This isn’t a nonchalant topic you can just throw a text at and be done with it.
Lori: [Redacted] These are your dads wishes. He and I discussed this a lot over the years we have been together. My plan is to have him cremated as he wished and then take all 5 of you kids to Hawaii to spread his ashes. He did not want a funeral. He wants a celebration of his life. I’ve been overwhelmed but I Am [sic] going to try to start these arrangements today. Jj is doing good but he does not know his daddy is gone. It’s so tough because he really doesn’t understand. He says daddy is in California working. I know how much he loves you boys and always has. I have a lot of things to do with the business and contacting people and it’s still all so difficult. Today I’m trying to put up a memorial page on the funeral home website. I’ll send the link to you when I have it. I love you and so does your dad !
Note: This is the same day Lori and Colby flew to Houston and collected a bunch of Charles’ belongings (see 7/15 – 7/16 entry below).
7/16:
Stepson: I appreciate this information but I will ask these question [sic] again because I still haven’t been given an answer. What happened. When did it happen. How did it happen. Where is he now. Is there a funeral? When is it? Who have you told about his death? Give me all the information you have. Please. My brother and I deserve to know.
7/20:
Stepson: Well if you won’t answer those questions can we please have his watches and other stuff he always talked about and had around?
Lori: Of course [redacted]. Send me the address you want me to send you [sic] stuff to. Kay is supposed to clean out the Houston house. I told her to let you and [redacted] have whatever you want first, then she can give the have [sic] or give away the rest. I know that he wanted you to have all that you want.
Note: This last text was disingenuous since she and Colby had already pillaged Charles’ house. Also, one of the stepsons told EastIdahoNews.com that the only watches Lori sent them were cheap ones (source):
My dad had a collection of watches, very fancy watches. He wore nice watches for years and years so I thought she was going to send me some of the. The package arrived and inside were two cheap Timex watches you’d find at CVS. Anything that was worth money, we didn’t get. I’m assuming she sold everything else.
7/12/19: CPD Det Werther calls Lori Vallow to get personal information about JJ Vallow.
Note: From the police report:
During his interview with Lori, Detective Werther obtained JJ’s personal information and learned that Lori had stopped at Burger King on the way to taking JJ to school. Detective Werther also learned from Lori that Charles had stayed at the Tru by Hilton in Gilbert Arizona.
Detective Werther went to the Burger King at [redacted] where he observed the video. Detective Werther observed Lori in the drive through at 0754 hours in the red Kia SUV. Detective Werther contacted me via telephone and reported his findings. I noted the time that Lori was in the drive through was approximately 42 minutes prior to the 911 call from Alex Cox the day prior. Detective Werther confirmed the time stamp on the video to be accurate. Detective Werther responded to Lori’s residence and obtained the hotel room key from Lori.
[Det Nathan Moffat] then met Detective Werther at the Tru hotel located at [redacted]. Upon speaking with the clerk at the hotel, [Det Moffat] learned that Charles’ room number was room #127. Detective Werther and [Det Moffat] responded to room number 127 and collected Charles’ belongings as evidence. There were several items taken from the room including a back pack with miscellaneous contents, a suitcase with clothing, a lap top computer, an Ipad and an e-reader. There was also $2000 in US currency in the suit case that was impounded as its own item number. After collecting Charles’ belongings we contacted hotel staff and learned that no one had accessed the room since Charles left the day prior (source).
7/12/19: According to Zulema Pastenes, Lori Vallow and Alex Cox invite her over and tell her about how Charles died. Alex tells her that he was not affected by his death as he killed a zombie and not Charles (source).
7/12/19: A welfare check is performed on Charles Vallow in Houston (source).
7/12/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s friend, Jason Mow, publishes a bizarre Facebook post about wanting to buy a used Jeep that could be interpreted as a hat tip to Charles Vallow’s murder since he owned a 4-door Jeep Wrangler (source):
Looking to buy a used jeep 4door wrangler…anyone know a guy?
7/13/19: An autopsy is performed on Charles Vallow (source).
7/13/19: Chad Daybell first uses the burner phone he activated 10/31/18 under the pseudonym Boyd Dial (source).
7/13/19: SMS messages between Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell first appear on her Lollytime iCloud account (source).
7/13/19: Chad Daybell sends Lori Vallow a series of text messages where he says Brandon can’t get a restraining order against her because she and Al didn’t have charges filed. He also says he’d clear Melani’s home of bad spirits and told Lori where to find three “listening devices” in Melani’s home. Finally, he says he was heading to bed so he could snuggle with her and excitedly tells her he’ll see her in a minute (source).
7/13/19: Chad Daybell tells Zulema Pastenes Charles’ death was “such a relief” and she agrees (source 1 // source 2 // source 3):
9:57 am
Chad: Hi Zulema, yes I would be happy to give you a blessing! Possibly this evening or tomorrow.
It is crazy about Charles, but such a relief.1:37 pm
Zulema: Thank you Chad! I’m working until 8pm but let me know when you’re ready and I’ll take a break away that time.
Same thing if tomorrow is better, I’m going to a farewell talk at 9 am and then work at 12 PM but I can take a break whenever you’re ready.Yes, the Charles thing feels surreal still progressing [sic] that. Big relief that he’s gone!
7/13/19: Kay and Larry Woodcock travel to Phoenix and talk to Det Moffat with Chandler Police over the phone (source).
Notes:
- I believe this audio has been edited. The call started with Kay calling Det Moffat. She said that they didn’t find out Charles had died until 7/13 and it was through a Google search. Then there was a muffled sound and the call disconnected. Then Larry called back. That’s where the current recording picks up. I remember this because I always questioned why Cheryl Wheeler wouldn’t have let Kay and Larry know Charles had been murdered when she found out on the 12th. But I can’t find the unedited copy anywhere now. There was snippet in the Netflix documentary that included the beginning of their call, and you can see Det Moffat was returning Kay’s call (source).
- Det Moffat told them that Alex wasn’t a prohibited possessor and implied he didn’t really care about his actions from 2007 (source). He was wrong. An FBI analyst actually researched this issue and found out Alex’s carry rights had not been restored because in Travis County gun rights are only restored if the person’s record is expunged, and Alex’s wasn’t (source).
7/13/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) moves into her rental home in Chandler. Also, Adam Cox and Brandon Boudreaux confront Melani about her beliefs given Charles Vallow’s death, and Melani asks Lori if Tylee has a way to contact Brandon or Adam (source 1 // source 2).
10:25am
Melani: “Adam just called Brandon and told him Al murdered chalrels [sic] he put it on speaker for me to here”.Melani: “Can u talk please?”
Melani: “I think Brandon found out earlier. He seemed in shock a few hrs ago. And then Adam and Brandon tried to use this situation to their advantage. He cornered me and Adam put it on speaker to tell me. Then Brandon said, do you still believe everything you believe?”
Melani: “Brandon is with the moving truck at my new address moving things I’m at the house with the kids”
Lori: “Call me”
5:19pm:
Melani: “Does Tylee have a phone or a way to contact Brandon or Adam”Lori: “Nope, I still have it”
Notes:
- Brandon Boudreaux’s friend,Jes, said in an interview that Melani was out of the town at this time, so I wonder if she took off. It’s hard to say (source).
- It appears Lori took Tylee’s phone away for a couple of days, according to friends who went to visit her (source).
7/14/19: Kay and Larry Woodcock meet with Det Moffat at Chandler Police Department (source).
7/14/19: Chad Daybell sends Lori Vallow a puerile love story about a fictional couple, James and Elena, split up into many text messages (source). A few items of interest:
- Chad says, in the beginning of the story that “MG” introduced them, but Melanie Gibb couldn’t recall if she introduced them when she talked to Nate Eaton (source). I personally believe this was one of her many attempts to distance herself from Lori and Chad. And the Arizona police departments have been all too willing to help her toward that end. One Chandler PD detective said his impression was that she was on the “outskirts somewhere, teetering, ready to run” (source). They’ve gone as far as actually falsifying police reports. In the Gilbert police report it says that Melanie called the detective the evening of the welfare check and said she didn’t have JJ (source). That wasn’t true. We found out at Chad’s preliminary hearing in August 2020 that she lied to Gilbert PD Det Ryan Pillar and didn’t correct her line until 8 days later (source). (It was most likely 10 days later, the day she recorded Lori and Chad.) And the Chandler report didn’t include her in the list of group members who were pertinent to the investigation—but did include her sister, Summer Shiflet (source). She insisted on coming over to Lori’s house two days before Charles was murdered, when Lori was allegedly, making her big plans…and then spent the night. She also called Lori Mom.
- The character representing Chad in the story is James, but at one point, he seems to forget, and refers to himself as Raphael. Investigators identify Chad as Raphael in the police report. Zulema also hints at this in a text she sent Lori.
- Chad won Lori by feeding her extreme narcissism. He ended the story with a confirmation of her status is not just a “holy goddess” but also a “majestic archangel.”
- He accidentally burned himself: “He was completely smitten by her and even was nervous of what she would think of his talk as he spoke. But when he would glance at her, she was always attentive and watching him, unlike the rest of the crowd.” 😂
7/14/19 – 7/19/19: Alex Cox flies from Arizona to Colombia, South America (source). Cole Vallow tells Chandler Det Nathan Moffat there’s a picture of Alex in Colombia on social media from 2016, most likely to establish he has a history of visiting Colombia (source).
7/15/19: Lori Vallow calls Banner Life about Charles’ life insurance policy (source).
Note: She didn’t find out in this call that she wasn’t the beneficiary. It appears she found out on 7/18 (see entry below). She also didn’t change the password on Charles’ account; he added a passcode but forgot he had done that.
7/15/19: Robin [last name redacted] from Banner Life calls CPD Det Nathan Moffat to talk about Charles Vallow’s life insurance policy. He returned her call two days later (source).
7/15/19: Charles Vallow’s son Cole Vallow and his former wife Cheryl Wheeler fly to Phoenix to meet with Chandler Police (source).
Note: I think Charles’ other son, Zach, may have also been on this trip because one of Charles’ sons told EastIdahoNews.com that he and his brother went to talk to the funeral director at Valley of the Sun Mortuary (source):
He was very shaky and nervous. We asked him for information and he said something like, “I can’t tell you that. It was requested that I tell you nothing.”
Cole also told Det Moffat that the director seemed nervous talking to them and that the director didn’t want to talk to his mom (source).
7/15/19: Melanie Gibb claims this is the date she found out Charles Vallow had been shot (source).
Note: Lori told Melanie Gibb the day before Charles was shot that she needed to leave her house (Melanie had spent the night) because Charles was going to shoot her (source). So it’s just not believable that Melanie wouldn’t have checked in on her friend for four days.
7/15/19 – 7/16/19: Lori Vallow and Colby Ryan fly from Phoenix to Houston and return the next day (source 1 // source 2). They gathered many of Charles’ possessions, including his F-150 truck, clothes, computers, and sundry electronics, and left them at the airport for Alex Cox to retrieve. And then Alex flew out to Houston and drove Charles’ truck back (source).
Chandler Police also find various browsing and search artifacts during their stay at his house:
Browsing and search artifacts continued after Charles Vallow’s death, commencing on July 16th, 2019 at 11:02 hours UTC (04:02 hours, AZ time). The artifacts were for chase online.com [sic], then PFS checking, then for “transfer money”, then account summaries.
The next artifact was for google.com, using Chrome. The next artifact was “hollywood inn suites hotel gardens california phone number”, then an artifact for visiting “Hollywood Inn Suites hotel”. The artifacts returned to chase.com, then from there to nationalize.com, then southwest airlines.
The searches ended on July 16th, 2019 at 12:14 UTC (05:14 AZ time). No artifacts were in the activity history after that.
7/15/19 – 7/16/19: JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan stay with Lori’s friend and confidant, Angela (source).
Note: This is significant. I believe Angela was tasked with watching Tylee to make sure she didn’t betray Lori while she was in Houston with Colby because Lori had abandoned Tylee for months, leaving to her to stay by herself at Alex’s home. (He was reportedly a long-distance trucker and was on the road a lot.) Yet now she needs a babysitter?
7/15/19 – 8/1/19: Zulema Pastenes travels to Santiago, Chile (source).
7/16/19: Lori Vallow texts Chad Daybell asking him to clear her dog Bailey of evil spirits (source):
Lori: Got Bailey. He seems good. Please clear him. Going out on the paddle boat ??
Chad: Absolutely! But first I had to capture and seal away 500 level 2s that were in Bailey waiting to attack you when you fell asleep. They’re gone now. ????
Note: The ?s indicate emojis that weren’t translated by their reporting system.
7/16/19: Ian Pawlowski (future husband to Melani Boudreaux) divorces his wife, according to the date of divorce listed on his Facebook profile page (source).
7/16/19: Cole Vallow and Cheryl Wheeler meet with Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat (source).
7/16/19 – 7/19/19: Approximate dates Colby Ryan kept JJ Vallow’s service dog Bailey before giving him back to Lori, not because he belonged to JJ but because he was too big for their apartment (source).
Note: Colby participated in JJ’s torment by keeping Bailey away from him. He knew how essential Bailey was to JJ’s physical and emotional wellbeing. This also should’ve been a serious 🚩 for Colby.
7/17/19: Charles Vallow’s iPhone XR Max is downloaded by the Chandler Police Department’s Computer Forensics unit and its contents examined by CPD Det Duncan (source).
Note: Chandler police didn’t get a search warrant for Charles’ iCloud data until 3/30/20 (source).
7/17/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) texts Lori and asks, “Did they pick up Bailey?” It’s not clear who “they” are in this text (source).
7/17/19: CPD Det Nathan Moffat speaks with Robin [last name redacted] from Banner Life about Charles Vallow’s life insurance policy. She tells him she wasn’t sure who the beneficiary would be determined to be. She also tells him Lori Vallow called in to make a claim 7/15/19 (source).
7/17/19: CPD Det Nathan Moffat obtains a copy of the petition for the Order of Protection that Charles Vallow applied for.
From the police report:
The petition was dated 2/4/19 from the Superior Court of Arizona. The case number for the petition is FC2019-090521. In the petition, Charles states that on 01/29/19, Lori told him she was a God and was assigned to lead 144,000 people to the second coming of Christ second coming in July of 2020. Lori said Charles was in her way and she would have to murder him if he tried to stop her. Charles also said that while on a business trip on 01/30/19, Lori called him and said she did not trust him and would have to kill him when he got home. Lori added that an angel would be there to help her dispose of Charles’ body. Lori said she knew Charles was actually Nick Schneider and he would have to go painfully. The petition for the order of protection will be scanned in to this report for further reference (source).
7/18/19: The approximate date Kay Woodcock received the $1m life insurance payout (source).
7/18/19: Cole Vallow tells Chandler Det Nathan Moffat that Kay warned him and his family that Lori’s brother, Adam Cox, had contacted her to tell her that the family had disowned him a year ago, but she found pics of him with his family on social media since then (source).
Note: Why would Adam reach out to Kay to curry her favor and not reach out to Chandler Police?
7/18/19: Lori Vallow finds out she had been removed from Charles Vallow’s life insurance policy (source). She and Chad Daybell had a much longer text exchange about it on her Lori4style account (source):
Lori: I just got the letter from the insurance company saying that I am not the beneficiary. It’s a spear thru my heart. Who do you think he changed it to ?? Brandon?? Or probably Kay ?? He left nothing for jj !!
Chad: Wow. That’s terrible. There is no way to find out?
Lori: I might be able to see when I get his computer on Sunday. I could check I the emails sent to the insurance company. It will show change of beneficiary. He must have done it recently !
Chad: It seems you would have had to agree to the change. Maybe your name was forged. You should have a good paper trail to prove it.
Chad: I love you. This is terrible, but it is probably another step in bringing down the Gadiantons, especially Brandon.
Lori: Nope. He can change it anytime he wants. He’s the agent and anyone can change their beneficiary any time with their own signature. I’m thinking it must be Kay.
Chad: Hmmm. It will be interesting if it got changed after he had two bullets in his chest.
Lori: I don’t think it could have. U can’t change it after the death date. They would review that.
Chad: Yes, I’m thinking Kay as well. She is probably freaking out that you got those computers. I’m going to shower and give you a blessing. I’m eager to get home so we can talk. It really will be okay, my love. You are wonderful
Lori: So I talked to the insurance company. He changed it in March. So it was probably Ned before we got rid of him. They can’t tell me to who of course but it’s done. I’ll still get the 4000 a month from SS.
Notes:
- According to the Book of Mormon, the Gadianton robbers were a secret criminal organization in ancient America.
- “Ned” is the demon they claimed took over Charles’ body.
7/18/19:Kay Woodcock reportedly records a 25-minute phone call with Lori Vallow (source 1 // source 2).
Note: According to Cole Vallow, Lori called Kay, and this was the same day she found out Charles had removed her as beneficiary. I imagine that call was incendiary, but it’s curious it would have lasted 25 minutes. What would they have had to talk about for 25 minutes? Also, there’s no reference to any recordings ever being passed on to LE. (See related entries for 7/19/19 and 7/29/19 for more information.)
7/18/19: Melanie Gibb sends an email out to her followers with an invitation to meet in Lori Vallow’s home where Charles had just been shot and killed a week earlier to hear her then-boyfriend (now husband) David Warwick speak (source). It was disclosed at Chad Daybell’s hearing in August 2020 that Chad was also there for this event in Chandler, AZ (source).
7/19/19: Chad sends Lori a message providing trust levels of those she needed to be aware of (source):
- Mel G 97
- Zulema 96
- Al 94
- Thor 94
- Nicole 86
- Mel B 85
- Summer 40
- Jason 31
- Sarena 18
- Janie 15
- Christina 8
- Barry 8
- April 7
- Adam 0
- Stacie, Talia, Audrey, Raphael 100
7/19/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) texts Lori Vallow to tell her about her new burner phone to use for emergencies and to encourage Lori to take out a life insurance policy on JJ and Tylee (source).
It’s melani Leigh!!! My clear line;) I’ll use for emergencies. If u have something u want to send to this phone, text me a 🙈 and I’ll know to look in this one;)
You should get a life insurance policy on jj, tylee, and you. Cause after Charles we see that anything can always happen it’s in the Lord’s will.
7/19/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that she has recordings and needs to learn to use Dropbox (source).
Note: See related 7/18/19 entry for more information about the 25-minute call with Lori Vallow Cole Vallow said Kay captured.
7/20/19: Lori Vallow buys Chad Daybell a flight from Provo, UT, to AZ for $259.50 (source).
7/20/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that some Cox family members were anxious to talk to him and left messages for him (source).
Note: This is most likely Adam and Nicole Cox she’s referring to because Det Moffat told Bobby Vallow that Adam kept telling Kay that he was trying to get ahold of him and left messages but Det Moffat never received any messages (source).
7/20/19 – 7/21/19: Approximate dates Alex Cox flew to Houston to pick up Charles Vallow’s truck and returned with what Lori Vallow and Colby Ryan packed up (source).
Note: I estimate these dates because Alex returned from Colombia on 7/19, and Lori told Chad on 7/18 that she would check to see when Charles changed his life insurance policy when she got his computer on Sunday. Sunday was 7/21.
7/21/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) tells Lori Vallow she should take out life insurance policies on JJ, Tylee, and herself because “anything can happen [if] it’s in the Lord’s will” (source).
Note: This was only 10 days after Charles Vallow was shot and killed.
7/22/19: Approximate date Lori Vallow tells an official at L.I.F.E. Academy that Charles Vallow committed suicide (source).
Note: Lori told a rep with Banner Life that his death was an accident (source), and then she told the nanny in Rexburg in September that he died of a heart attack (source).
7/22/19: Lori Vallow emails the dog trainer for JJ’s service dog, Bailey, and tells him to pick Bailey up (source).
Note: According to Zulema Pastenes, Lori and Chad didn’t start talking about her moving to Idaho until the weekend Chad and David Warwick here in town, which was the weekend of 8/2/19 (source). So she didn’t start trying to get rid of him because she was moving. I personally believe she was depriving JJ of all sources of comfort in an effort to get Chad to rate him a dark spirit, to justify murdering him.
7/22/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that Adam Cox was supposed to call him that morning (source).
7/22/19 – 7/23/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell discuss via text two different evil spirits trying to attack JJ, Elroy and Blake. Chad also tells her about other evil spirits they needed to rid the world of (source).
Note: I wonder if Lori’s text to Chad asking about JJ claiming “weird stuff happened in the middle of the night” was her way of nudging him to justify his murder. Chad rated Tammy a 3 and JJ a 2, but he doesn’t explicitly state if that’s L (for light) or D (for dark). I suspect D since they had been [allegedly] planning Tammy’s death since October 2018, and it wouldn’t have made sense for him to rate his wife such a light spirit after Lori’s husband was murdered.
7/23/19:Lori Vallow tells Kay Woodcock JJ won’t be coming to Louisiana for his father’s funeral (source 1 // source 2). Det Moffat replies and tells Kay the only downside is Lori won’t be readily available to interview (source).
Notes:
- Lori had just found out five days prior she wasn’t the beneficiary of Charles Vallow’s life insurance policy, so I’m quite confident this was retaliatory.
- Lori was “readily available” to be interviewed by Chandler Police for 1.5 months before moving to Idaho; they didn’t take advantage of that availabilkity.
7/23/19: Kay Woodcock says they expect Lori will find her “next” in Hawaii (source).
Note: It’s mystifying why Kay would say this when she knew that Lori was having an affair with Chad Daybell. The earliest evidence we have is of Kay forwarding Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat one of at least five emails Lori sent Chad 3/9/19 (source 1 // source 2). But we know Charles found emails between Lori and Chad as early as 1/23/19 (source), and Kay was one of Charles’ primary confidants.
7/23/19: Chandler PD Det Moffat tells Charles Vallow’s son, Cole, that Alex Cox was legally carrying a gun (source).
Note: An FBI intelligence analyst proved Det Moffat wrong on this claim. Alex Cox was a prohibited possessor, meaning that his rights to own firearms had not been restored (source).
7/25/19: Chandler PD Det Moffat requests Alex Cox’s criminal file from Travis County, TX, for the assault on Joseph Ryan (source).
7/25/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat she hoped Adam Cox contacted him and was helpful (source). Det Moffat replies the same day and tells her that he hasn’t heard from Adam or Nicole and will be cautious, if they did reach out, because he was confused by Adam hadn’t called yet (source). Kay also says Charles found videos of Lori dancing that she sent to “the cult leader” who Charles suspected she was having an affair with but claims to not know the cult leader’s name (source).
Notes:
- On 8/2, Det Moffat asked Kay to call him to talk about Adam (source). I believe this call was most likely the impetus for Cheryl Cox (Adam’s then wife) reaching out.
- There’s no reference to these videos ever being passed on to Det Moffat or admitted into evidence. I searched all the FOIA docs released to date for references to ‘record’ (to capture variants like ‘recording’ and ‘recorded’), ‘dropbox’, ‘audio’, and ‘mp3’.
- Kay didn’t pass on Chad’s name, which would have been critical. In fact, she said she didn’t know his name, but she absolutely did. She told Dr. Phil that she first heard Chad Daybell’s name about a year ago (source), and that episode was recorded in Feb 2020. And she had at least five of his documents that she passed on to LE.
- Charles didn’t merely suspect Lori was having an affair. He had evidence she was having an affair. There’s a big difference. Evidence included:
- Lori traveled to Idaho Falls 3/3/19 (source).
- Chad revealed he stayed at Lori and Charles’ home. But all Charles knew about at the time was “a bunch of really weird ladies” (source 1 // source 2). 🎯
- Lori created a fictitious email account (kkwalker75@yahoo.com) to communicate with Chad and invite him to visit her in AZ under the guise of ghostwriting a book for Charles (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
- He confronted Chad about the affair he KNEW they were having, not suspected them of having (source).
- He exposed their affair to Tammy (source).
- Who knows what else since Charles had access to ALL of Lori’s emails and anything she saved in her Google Drive account: “She sent this yesterday and I guess she forgot all her emails are on the computer at my house” (source).
7/25/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that she didn’t know the cult leader’s name (source).
Notes:
- This wasn’t true. Not only did Kay know Chad’s name, Charles had passed on an email exchange between Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow as early as 3/9/19 (source 1 // source 2).
- Charles found the documents Chad sent to Lori, with ratings of her family members, on 1/23/19 (source).
- She also says that Charles found one of the videos Lori sent Chad, but we know from his text to Adam that he found three—plus songs she sang for him (source).
7/25/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that she’s hiring a private investigator to see if Lori has her “NEXT” husband lined up, and he asks her to keep him updated on the PI’s findings (source).
Notes:
- According to a Facebook post Kay published in May 2020, she didn’t hire a private investigator until October 2019 (source).
- His name was Rich Robertson, and he made it clear in an interview, when asked about the kids, that he was hired to look for adults–to wit, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and Alex Cox—not kids (source 1 // source 2). He was asked if he had seen JJ after he got back from Rexburg.
- Kay already knew about Chad and Lori’s affair—and that Charles even had evidence of videos Lori had been sending Chad as well as dalliances—so it’s baffling that she didn’t disclose this information to Det Moffat as it provided potential motive for murder.
7/26/19: Chad Daybell texts Lori Vallow and complains that he feels like a grownup version of Harry Potter (source):
Tonight I figured out who I feel like. I’m a grown-up version of Harry Potter, who has to live with the Dudleys in his little space under the stairs. Every few weeks I get to escape and have amazing adventures with my Goddess lover, but then I have to return to my place under the stairs, feeling trapped. But I sense permanent freedom is coming! ????”
7/28/19: Lori Vallow textsKay Woodcock about the change in beneficiary. Kay tells Det Moffat that Lori was angry and that she lied to Lori and said she didn’t know Charles made her beneficiary (source).
7/29/19: Kay Woodcock sends the beneficiary forms to Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat, and Larry Woodcock (the owner of the iPad) texts Lori at one point and says, “We love him as much as you do” (source).
7/29/19: Tammy Daybell’s phone data starts (source).
Note: This may indicate Tammy bought a new phone or her data was wiped.
7/29/19: Kay Woodcock makes another reference to Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat about needing to learn how to use Dropbox to send him recordings (source).
Notes:
- Kay’s first reference to Dropbox was on 7/19 (source). There are no further references to using Dropbox and no evidence in the FOIA docs that she ever sent any of the recordings of Lori Vallow she claimed to have. I searched all the FOIA docs released to date for references to ‘record’ (to capture variants like ‘recording’ and ‘recorded’), ‘dropbox’, ‘audio’, and ‘mp3’. It appears that she never downloaded the app or sent these recordings to Det Moffat. If there’s an update, I’ll note it the timeline.
- The references to recordings I’ve seen to date have been the following:
- 7/18/19: A 25-minute call between Kay and Lori
- Videos of Lori dancing Charles found from Jan 2019 (source 1 // source 2).
- Voice recording(s) Kay made of Charles’ and Lori’s interaction on 3/28/19 (source).
- Charles’ recordings of Lori’s outrageous claims (source). Kay claimed early on that some of Charles’ recordings had been deleted:
Charles told me he had recordings of her. He said, “Nobody will believe me,” and he recorded her one night. Even though it’s deleted, nothing is ever deleted electronically or whatever. However that is.
7/29/19 – 7/31/19: Lori Vallow travels to Oceanside, CA, with Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and Alex Cox (source).
7/30/19: Chad Daybell texts Lori Vallow and rates JJ Vallow as a 2 and Tammy Daybell as a 3, adding that they are both “heavily shielded to stop intruders” (source).
7/30/19: Chad Daybell texts Lori Vallow about Tammy Daybell’s “death percentages” (source):
I got the inspiration to go back to my original death percentages that helped us track Charles, Ned, etc. Tammy is very close. Her percentage has fallen steadily since Hiplos left. It is encouraging! 💓💋
Note: Although we don’t know which text message was sent first, I suspect the “death percentages” text was the followup text because Lori didn’t want to hear they were heavily shielded.
7/30/19: Chad Daybell texts Lori Vallow to say that his approach to measuring death percentages successfully predicted the death of a friend’s wife and a neighbor (source):
Yes, we might need to release a little steam when we talk. 🔥🔥
Anyway, this is the chart that checks what percentage mortals are still in their body. It worked for my friend’s wife who died, my neighbor, George Bush, Stan Lee, etc. I kind of forgot about it because we’ve been dealing with zombies and demonic entities. But this afternoon Tammy said she felt lightheaded, as as [sic] if her body and spirit weren’t connected.
Note: I wonder if Chad’s reference to a neighbor and friend’s wife indicate that he has possibly murdered before.
7/30/19: A text is sent from a burner phone believed to belong to Alex Cox to Lori Vallow. The message contained no content (source).
Note: Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) were all mentioned here in reference to this exchange, and they were all in Oceanside, CA, at this time (source).
7/30/19: Kay Woodcock finishes cleaning out Charles Vallow’s home in Houston (source).
**7/30/19: Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat asks Kay Woodcock if she recognizes what I’ve confirmed to be Chad Daybell’s burner phone numbers (source).
Note: It was left unredacted here and elsewhere in the FOIA docs, and I keep track of all contact info that’s left unredacted in these docs.
Late Jul 2019: Lori Vallow allegedly texts Charles Vallow’s sister, Kay Woodcock, having just discovered she had been removed as sole beneficiary from Charles Vallow’s $1 million life insurance policy. Kay alleges she wrote “something to the effect of”: “Five kids and no money and his sister gets everything” (source).
Notable: At this time Lori Vallow had two children living in the home, one adult son, and two adult stepsons.
Jul – Aug 2019: After learning Charles Vallow was shot—and not the victim of suicide as Lori Vallow had told them—L.I.F.E. Academy files a report with Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) (source).
Notes:
- This was the second time L.I.F.E. Academy made report with DCS. They also filed a report 2/21/19, after Charles told them Lori was MIA (source). Also, according to records that have been released so far, they were the only ones who filed a report with DCS/CPS before the kids were confirmed to be missing.
- Kay Woodcock filed a report with AZ DCS and ID CPS 12/9/19, two weeks after the welfare check, but it was for the purpose of getting custody of JJ Vallow if he was found (source).
- Although Larry Woodcock told Dr. Phil in Feb 2020 that they made multiple calls to CPS after finding out about Tammy Daybell’s death in October (source), this is the first reference I’ve found in the FOIA docs that mentions them actually reaching out to AZ DCS or ID CPS.
- Kay told Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that she planned to reach out to one of JJ’s old social workers in Louisiana in hopes that she would open the door to DCS in AZ on 9/25 (source), but there’s no confirmation she ever reached out to DCS in AZ or CPS in Idaho when she found out that Lori had moved there (which I believe was the next day, 9/26).
Aug 2019: Lori Vallow has a welcome lunch for Sarena sometime after she moved to Queen Creek, AZ. According to Sarena, other participants include Zulema Pastenes, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), Alex Cox, and Nicole (source).
Aug 2019: Tylee Ryan is disenrolled from Perry High School (source).
8/1/19: Chandler PD receives a copy of the police report from Alex Cox’s assault on Lori Vallow’s third husband, Joseph Ryan (source).
8/1/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
8/1/19: Zulema Pastenes arrives in Dallas, TX, from Santiago, Chile via American Airlines 940 (source).
Note: The screenshot of the travel record is redacted so there’s no name. But the indictment for Lori Vallow in the death of her third husband Charles Vallow included a conversation between Zulema and Julie Clement on 7/12 where she said she would be leaving for Chile that Monday (July 15th), which lines up with the departure date in the screenshot (source // p11).
8/2/19: Lori’s friend, Sarena, flies into Phoenix to look at houses in Queen Creek (source).
8/2/19: Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat talks to Charles Vallow’s brother, Bobby Vallow (source).
Notes:
- Bobby and Kay Woodcock’s emails indicates they spoke 9/24/19 (source 1 // source 2). I believe the dates are either wrong on these screenshots or Det Moffat spoke to Bobby on two occasions and we only have the recording of their first interview because Det Moffat hadn’t talked to Adam yet when he talked to Bobby. Since Det Moffat interviewed Adam on 8/9, I believe the 8/2 date is the accurate date or it was the first of two interviews.
- I also suspect Kay passed on Det Moffat’s concern about Adam’s trustworthiness to Adam and/or Nicole, and that was the impetus that motivated Nicole to reach out to Det Moffat (on 8/8). Then Det Moffat called Adam on 8/9. I suspect—in the same way Kelsee was the one who reached out to Chandler Police—it was important to members of the Cox family to not be the ones who reached out to LE. LEFT OFF
- Det Moffat told Bobby that Alex’s gun rights had been restored. An FBI intelligence analyst proved Det Moffat wrong on this claim. Alex Cox was a prohibited possessor, meaning that his rights to own firearms had not been restored (source).
8/2/19: Melanie Gibb has David Warwick speak at one of her meetings and share his testimony (source). Chad Daybell comes into town for it, and Zulema reports this was the first time she saw Lori Vallow and Chad be romantic with each other (source).
8/2/19: Lori Vallow stores a number LE believes belonged to Alex Cox on her main Lori4style account** (source).
**If my unredaction is correct.
8/2/19: Chandler PD Det Moffat asks Kay Woodcock to call him to talk about Adam Cox (source).
8/3/19: Charles Vallow is laid to rest in Louisiana (source).
8/3/19: Melanie Gibb speaks at conference in Northern AZ (source).
8/3/19 – 8/4/19: Jason Mow is in Rexburg, ID (source).
8/4/19: This is most likely the date of the infamous August “prayer circle” (aka “casting”). Those who were reported to be at this meeting include Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, Melanie Gibb, David Warwick, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), Alex Cox, Zulema Pastenes, and Julie Clement (source 1 // source 2 // source 3). Melanie couldn’t remember who they did castings for when she talked to Chandler Police in August 2020 and thought they may have just prayed for the earth in general (source), but then she told Rexburg Police the following year they did castings on Tammy Daybell and Brandon Boudreaux but was again vague on details (source).
Notes:
- I deduced this was the date because on 8/2 Lori told Zulema in a text message, “I need us all to get together on Sunday night.” Sunday was Aug 4th. The next day they have an exchange about getting ahold of Julie, and we know Julie Clement was at this casting by her interview with investigators (source).
- I’m suspicious of Melanie’s claim that they didn’t do castings on the children because Sarena specifically (though very cautiously) included Tylee Ryan as being one of the people who was “dark or possessed” (source).
- Melanie Gibb didn’t include Zulema in her list but Julie did.
8/4/19: Tylee Ryan’s last post on Snapchat that a friend saved (source).
Note: There’s no record of Chandler police getting a search warrant for Tylee’s Snapchat or Instagram accounts, only Facebook, which she wasn’t very active on.
8/5/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan with a description of “🧡!!” (source 1 // source 2).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
8/5/19: JJ Vallow starts the new school year at L.I.F.E. Academy (source).
8/6/19: The rest of Sarena’s family fly to Phoenix to move there (source).
8/7/19: Kelsee Ryan starts a GoFundMe for medical bills (source).
Note: This is notable because there were two Venmo payments to Colby this week (8/1 and 8/5). The FOIA docs obscure who made which payments; all we know is it was Tylee or Lori. We also don’t know if this was the original amount of the GFM. To wit, the GFM for Colby in Jan 2020 went from $15k to $10k to $7.5k (the last two on the same day) and then ended at $20k after the kids’ remains were found.
8/7/19: Zulema Pastenes asks Lori Vallow if she had said she was supposed to marry Alex Cox, thus proving their marriage was arranged by Lori and Chad (source).
8/7/19: Melanie Gibb’s divorce is finalized from her husband Brendan (source 1 // source 2).
8/8/19: Lori Vallow trades in her Infiniti for her Nissan Rogue (source).
8/8/19: A photo of JJ Vallow and his service dog Bailey is stored in Lori’s Lollytime iCloud account (source 1 // photo).
Note: “Lori4style” didn’t fit in the redaction, and Lollytime fit well, but unredacting documents isn’t an exact science. Also, the photo I include is the only photo I found in the FOIA docs of JJ and Bailey.
8/9/19: Lori Vallow puts JJ Vallow’s service dog Bailey up for sale (source). City: Chandler, AZ. Ad number: 20875. Description:
Bailey has such a sweet spirit- he has brought so much love to his home, but his owner recently died and he needs a new home. He is fully trained with certification as a service dog. Up to date on vaccinations. Has been trained with children in the home, non-smoking home. Bailey is sweet and friendly around other dogs. Looking for new owners who will appreciate and love him the way he has been loved! Spent 7,000 on service training, he is a full bred golden doodle, has experience on airplanes, has experience with people with autism.
Notable: Lori was later told by the organization they got the dog from that she couldn’t sell the dog; she would need to return him. Bailey has since been placed with a new family of a boy with autism. (This was shared in a private Facebook post.)
8/9/19: Kay Woodcock expresses grave concern about JJ Vallow’s safety and wellbeing and asks Det Moffat to check on him at school (source).
Note:
- Kay says Lori stopped replying to texts and calls after her text about five kids and no money.
- It’s notable that she says they’re “extremely worried” and “can’t lose [JJ] too” and “now that she doesn’t have $1mm, she really won’t want him now” because some say she just couldn’t have ever imagined that Lori would actually hurt JJ, but this is precisely the concern she expressed to Det Moffat (at reiterated this concern on 8/11 and 9/26).
- Kay mentions that Lori’s “screwed unless she has a new boyfriend with deep pockets. Who knows???” But she knew because she knew Lori’s boyfriend was Chad Daybell. Charles had forwarded her interactions between Chad and Lori, such as Lori’s five family history documents (see related entries for 1/22/19). He also discovered videos of her singing and dancing for Chad, which he sent to Adam Cox (see related entry for 6/29/19). I imagine he also sent these to Kay as she has mentioned them in interviews (source).
8/8/19: Adam Cox’s then-wife, Nicole Cox, emails Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat where she makes claims that contradict Adam and Zac’s stories of where they were on 7/11/19 – 7/13/19 and criticizes Tylee Ryan as a “terrible human being that kid,” claiming she “hated Charles [Vallow] for no reason (source).
8/9/19: Lori Vallow’s brother, Adam Cox, is interviewed by Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat (source).
Note: There are many concerns with Adam’s testimony, which caused even Det Moffat to lose faith in him before they spoke (source). I addressed some of these concerns in my first A Murderous Heart live (source). You can use the jump links in the description to hop around.
8/10/19: The last time Kay Vallow Woodcock hears from JJ Vallow via FaceTime. Call was reportedly 36 seconds long (source 1 // source 2). According to Kay, this was the last of three FaceTime calls they had with JJ since Charles had been murdered (source). They will be edged out of JJ Vallow’s life for a little more three months, with multiple attempts to get ahold of him (source).
Note: Kay and Larry apparently told Keith that in November they didn’t know that Lori had moved to Idaho, but Kay said in their 20/20 interview that they found out in September that Lori had moved to Idaho but just didn’t have an apartment number (source).
8/10/19: Kay Vallow Woodcock texts Lori Vallow to ask to see JJ. She says, “We’re not up to anything except to see our little boy.” Kay says she never received a response from Lori (source 1 // source 2).
8/10/19: Lori Vallow texts Chad Daybell to check on JJ Vallow (source):
On 08/10/2019 at 0018 hours, Lori sent a text to Chad asking him to check JJ. She indicated that he woke up saying crazy stuff and would not go back to sleep. Lori felt that he was talking to his evil spirit whom she identified as Blake. Chad responded and told Lori that JJ was still JJ and that he was being told that JJ’s spirit recognized that Blake was evil and was unsettled by him.
8/11/19: Lori Vallow sends Chad Daybell a text telling him to go back to his family (source):
U should give all of you [sic] love and your attention to your wife and family. I’m just a distraction. Go have fun with your family. I really do want you to. I just can’t be in the way anymore. If things change we can talk. But we have nothing until things change anyway.
Notes:
- This was Chad’s birthday, so I imagine Lori was green with jealousy that she wasn’t celebrating with him. And being the malignant narcissist that she is, she found a way to put the focus of the day solidly on herself.
- I believe this was most likely when Chad told Lori she was supposed to move to Idaho because she would take a screenshot of a rental home just three days later, and two weeks after that she would move to Rexburg.
- Two days later she sent a screenshot of malachite wedding rings to Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), so her threat was effective.
8/11/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat that she wishes Lori Vallow would ask her to exchange JJ Vallow for money (source):
I wish she would call and ask for money if she gives us JJ. I KNOW that’s on her mind…it would be stupid on her part (emphasis not mine).
8/12/19: Lori Vallow has an appointment with someone at Social Security in Apache Junction, AZ. She’s told the benefit amount she’s entitled to, which the indictment notes was close to the $4,000 she had reported to Chad Daybell in July (source).
Note: See entry for 7/18/19 to learn more about Lori’s text message to Chad Daybell about Charles’ life insurance policy.
8/12/19: Lori Vallow names her son Colby Ryan as the beneficiary of her $2 million life insurance policy (source).
8/13/19: Kay Vallow Woodcock tells Chandler Det Nathan Moffat that Lori Vallow told her Tylee was emancipated (source).
Note: This has since been proved false. Lori wouldn’t have been charged with desertion if Tylee had been an adult in the eyes of the state since she would have had all the rights and responsibilities of an adult. Kay thought Moffat would be able to be tougher with her because of her adult status.
8/13/19: Kay Woodcock asks Chandler Det Nathan Moffat for help finding Charles Vallow’s truck (source) and passed on a pic of his license plate (source). Moffat replied letting her know the license plate and VIN on the truck (source 1 // source 2).
8/13/19: Zulema Pastenes shares a dream she had about Sarena with Lori Vallow where she put her hands on her and “started sobbing and blessing her with humbleness” (source).
8/14/19: Lori Vallow takes a screenshot of SereniTi rings on Etsy that was similar to the rings in her wedding photos (source). She even sends a screenshot of them to her niece Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) (source).
Note: This strongly suggests Melani was aware that Tammy was predicted to die so Lori and Chad could marry. Lori also told Colby Ryan a month earlier that she planned to remarry (source), so Lori wasn’t hiding her plans from family.
8/14/19: A photo of 295 Ella Ln, Rexburg is created and stored in Lori Vallow’s iCloud account (source).
8/15/19: Lori Vallow purchases wedding rings for herself (size 4) and Chad (size 11.5) on Etsy for $129.99 (source 1 // source 2).
Notes:
- The artist later canceled the order and refunded her money because he didn’t have time to make the ring.
- They were glow in the dark. 😂
8/15/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that she can’t remember the cult leader’s name (source).
8/15/19: According to Colby Ryan’s 11/26/19 interview with Gilbert PD investigators, this is the approximate Lori Vallow stops by his work, alone, to tell him she was moving (source).
Note: See note below for issues with this claim.
8/16/19: Approximate date Colby Ryan says Lori Vallow stopped back by his work—this time with Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow—to say goodbye. He says they were traveling in her blue Nissan Rogue and that Lori wouldn’t tell him where they were moving for his own protection (source).
8/16/19: Lori Vallow moves Tylee Ryan’s Social Security benefit deposit from Tylee’s Chase account to her own (source).
Note: This occurred three weeks before Tylee was murdered and two weeks before they moved to Rexburg.
8/17/19: Lori Vallow reserves a moving van with Budget in preparation for her move (source).
8/18/19: Melanie Gibb (aka “Phebe” who was Lori’s daughter in a previous life) and other undisclosed women meet at Lori Vallow’s home (source).
Note: According to the call log between Zulema Pastenes and Lori Vallow, this was an inclusive list that included Sarena, who had just moved to Arizona (source). Sarena also confirmed she went to Lori’s home at this time (source). It probably wouldn’t have been July since she moved to Arizona in August.
8/20/19 – 8/25/19: Lori Vallow travels from Phoenix to Idaho and back under the name Lori Ryan. She takes pics of Kennedy Elementary School, JJ’s future elementary school, and BYU. It appears she stayed at Hampton Inn in Rexburg and planned to also check out homes at 44 2nd South and 295 Ella Lane (source 1 // source 2).
Note: Just nine days earlier Lori had told Chad to go back to his family (see related entry for 8/11). 🙄
8/21/19: Zulema Pastenes tells Lori Vallow she got her answer that she would move to Rexburg eventually but not at this time (source).
8/22/19: Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb begin a new podcast called Feel the Fire. They kick it off with an episode titled ‘Feel the Fire ~ Seeking & Finding Sweet Jesus’ (source 1 // source 2). Description:
Melanie Gibb & Lori Vallow team up sharing how some of the most extreme types of challenges helped them find miracles in the reality of our Best Friend and lover of our souls: Jesus Christ. How did they experience from one extreme to another? How did they surrender their old beliefs, stuck hearts and hurt? Matthew 18:20 ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ Come experience hope from hurt, and healing from help of spiritual rebirth.
Note: In just two weeks’ time, Tylee Ryan’s remains would [allegedly] be burned in a fire on Chad Daybell’s property.
8/22/19: Kay Woodcock forwards an email exchange between Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell that contained attachments of Lori’s writings to Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat (source 1 // source 2).
Notes:
- Charles had forwarded it to Kay on 3/9/19, but he found it on or before 1/24/19 (source). And the “Family history documents” email on or before 1/23/19 (source).
- I included the email Kay forwarded to the FBI on 1/4/20 (see “source 1” above) because it shows the attachments.
- Kay mentions Chad’s name in passing without any context of who he was. On 7/25 she said she didn’t know Chad’s name (source), and on 8/15 she said she couldn’t remember his name (source). She told Dr. Phil that she first heard Chad Daybell’s name about a year ago (source), and that episode was recorded in Feb 2020, so this would align with Charles finding this email from Chad to Lori—which had both his name and email address—and passing it on to Kay. Now she drops his name without circling back and identifying him as the cult leader. The first time she identifies Chad as the cult leader is 10/28 (source). By then Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell had all been murdered [allegedly] and Brandon Boudreaux had been shot at.
- Tylee Ryan received the darkest rating of any living person on the list—eclipsed only by her father, Joseph Ryan, who had been designated as “sealed away.” And they knew that Charles had been murdered for being a dark spirit. So I’ve always been mystified why family members didn’t advocate for Tylee—not even after Brandon Boudreaux was shot at, who had also been rated a dark spirit. I found an email Charles had sent this same week to a number of members of the Cox family. They included Colby Ryan, Adam Cox, Summer Shiflet, and Barry Cox (source). I redacted the email addresses and only included identifying information from the email address if Charles didn’t have the email address saved in his contacts. Colby even said Charles was sending out emails and tagging everyone in the family (source). We don’t know [yet] how many of these friends and family members knew Chad had identified Tylee as a dark spirit, but there’s no evidence in the FOIA docs that anyone advocated for her. If they had when they found out Charles had been murdered for being a dark spirit, it would have communicated to Chandler Police that Charles’ murder was premeditated and there were more people who were at risk.
- We know from the Netflix “Sins of our Mother” documentary (and I use that word very loosely) that Charles even appealed to Colby and Kelsee to help Tylee because she had been identified as a dark spirit (source).
- Even when Kay finds out that Tylee is missing too, it appears she still doesn’t pass on the documents where she was identified as a dark spirit, only the more esoteric email with Lori’s documents and comments that Lori and Chad “wouldn’t want this info for public viewing.” Her focus seemed to be more on Lori and Chad’s humiliation than advocating for potential victims.
8/24/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
8/25/19: Kay Vallow Woodcock sends Lori Vallow another email begging to FaceTime and visit JJ (source).
8/27/19: Lori sets up residency at 565 Pioneer Road, including internet and utilities (source). This is confirmed by her apartment being taken off the market (source)
8/28/19: Date Alex Cox’s apartment was taken off the market (source).
Notable: Alex’s apartment was listed for rent 12/2/19; the rent was reduced 1/3/20 (shortly after this case went public); and it was sold 2/10/20.
8/30/19: According to Colby Ryan, in his interview with FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum, Lori Vallow stops by his workplace to tell him in the parking lot that she, Tylee Ryan, and JJ Vallow were moving the next day (source). She also told him they’d be back every couple weeks (source).
Note: There are a contradictions between Colby’s testimony to Gilbert Police and his interview with Justin:
- The Rogue would’ve most likely stood out in his mind because she had just bought it the prior week (see relevant entry for 8/8/19).
- Since Lori didn’t move until 8/31, it wouldn’t have made sense for Lori to have said goodbye two weeks beforehand. Even if she had, they lived minutes apart. He could have stopped by the house to hang with them in those two weeks. According to this story, Tylee and JJ wouldn’t have even had the opportunity to see their infant niece one last time.
- Colby told FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum in Feb 2020 that Lori and the kids came by his work on 8/30 to tell him they were moving (source). In that interview, there was only one visit, and they were in Tylee’s Jeep, not the Rogue (source).
- There are also contradictions on where Tylee and JJ were for the 8/30 FaceTime. He told GPD investigators they were in Rexburg for it (source), but he told Justin that they hadn’t moved yet (source).
- Colby told Dr. Phil that their 8/30 FaceTime was normal. He said, “It didn’t seem like anything crazy. They were just trying to, you know, live their normal lives, and we were just talking like normal” (source). But this would have been the day before they moved, so there would have been nothing normal about that.
- Colby told Justin Tylee didn’t get out of the car but then said he hugged her goodbye in his Netflix documentary (source). It’s a small detail but it’s not the only account he changed to sound more favorable in a later interview.
8/30/19: Colby Ryan told Gilbert Police he last spoke with Tylee Ryan over FaceTime. According to court records, Colby said after that his mother gave him excuses as to why Tylee couldn’t talk to him (source).
Note: See the previous entry for a breakdown of contradictions between his interview with Justin Lum and Gilbert Police.
8/30/19: Lori Vallow has JJ Vallow’s service dog, Bailey, picked up by Dog Training Elite in Arizona. Vallow had asked the organization to find the Goldendoodle another family because she could no longer care for the pet due to a “change in life circumstances” (source).
Note: Bailey was an adorable and sweet-natured dog that stayed close by JJ’s side and ran more like a bear cub than a dog when I was there in 2018. I can’t imagine how distraught JJ was when Bailey was ripped away from him again, just to pick up and move to Rexburg the next day.
8/30/19: Zulema visits Lori to say good-bye (source).
Note: Zulema told Rexburg Police that this was the last time she saw Lori (source), but that was a lie. She visited her in Rexburg Sep 15-17 (source) and then met up with Lori and Chad again during a six-hour layover they had in Mesa on Nov 14, when they were returning from their honeymoon (source).
8/31/19: Lori Vallow moves with Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow to Rexburg, ID—what she refers to as “Zion” (source).
Notes:
- Colby Ryan said he was worried about the kids but couldn’t focus on them because Kelsee had gotten pregnant with Ryley, and it was a difficult pregnancy (source). But Ryley was six months old when Lori and the kids moved (source). And she didn’t get pregnant with Ava until spring 2021 (source). He also admits here that Tylee believed she was in danger, which makes his lack of intervention when he couldn’t get ahold of her in September that much more baffling. I believe the Venmo paper trail explains his and Kelsee’s silence best (source). #jmo
- Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) said in an interview with EIN reporter Nate Eaton that Alex’s name was on the lease of Lori’s apartment (source).
8/31/19: According to a friend of Tylee Ryan, Tylee called her as she was driving to Rexburg because she was driving by herself and didn’t want to drive alone (source).
Late August: JJ Vallow’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, call L.I.F.E. Academy to “asking if JJ was okay” (source).
Late August: JJ Vallow says to his teacher, “My dad is not in heaven; he is traveling” (source).
👉 Sep 2019: Kay and Larry Woodcock find out that Lori and the kids moved to Idaho. Kay says in their 20/20 interview that they just didn’t have an apartment number (video snippet // episode).
Sep 2019: Lori Vallow’s neighbor, Leah, says Lori asked if she could hear her and Alex Cox singing karaoke late the night before. Leah says she told Lori no but thought the inquiry was weird in looking back (source).
Note: I strongly suspect this happened the night Tylee Ryan was murdered, and they turned up music to drown out her protests.
9/2/19: Alex Cox and Zulema Pastenes have a disturbing text exchange about Tylee Ryan (source):
Z: How was the trip?
A: Pretty good considering the dark portal we brought with us
Z: ?
A: Tylee
A: can you call a tornado for a single person?
Z: Tornado? Hummmm Maybe an inner tornado
A: Inner is good
Z: I think you guys will be led to deal with the dark one when it`s time
A: Agreed
A: Es cierto. Spanish tranbslation “It`s true”.
Note in police report: “Alex sends Zulema a picture of a rifle with a scope and says he’s at the range.”
Notes:
- Tylee would be murdered in less than a week. Zulema carries responsibility for these murders because of how she helped incite Alex while feeding this notion that God was leading him to murder.
- Take note how Alex immediately replied by letting her know he was at the gun range. He would do the same thing the next day in reference to Lori’s text about zombies.
9/3/19: Lori Vallow enrolls JJ Vallow at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg, ID (source).
9/3/19: Lori Vallow and Alex Cox exchange a series of texts where she first tells him she’s “working on Z’s. He replies, “No more Z’s.” Then Lori identifies Adam and Zac Cox as zombies and calls for their destruction (source).
On 09/03/2019 at 1000 hours, Alex sent Lori a text asking what she was doing. Lori responded, “Working on Z’s. What did u decide on user name and password”. Alex would tell Lori that he was proud of her and state, “No more Z’s” Lori replied, “We r trying to get to the bottom of what we need to do to eliminate them completely. I’m sure you will be told also ❤️”. Alex then stated, “I am going to get lunch and probably go to the range to sight in my rifles”.
Note: Notice how Alex replies almost identically as he replied to Zulema the day before. You see the role Lori and Zulema played in pushing him to murder more in the name of God.
9/4/19: JJ Vallow’s first day at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg, ID (source).
9/5/19: Lori Vallow emails L.I.F.E Academy, JJ’s school in Chandler, AZ, to say she needed to withdraw him. She allegedly tells staff over the phone that she accepted a position out of state (source).
9/6/19: Neighbors take a pic of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow with an unidentified child through their blinds. When asked why they said it was because they thought it was strange that the children were using stuffed animals to play in a large puddle of water (source 1 // source 2).
Note: This is the second-to-last time Tylee is seen alive. The last time is two days later in Sep 8, two days later.
9/6/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings at Chad Daybell’s house. He’s there from 12:41 to 12:53 and stays in and around the house. His phone does not ping in the backyard where Tylee and JJ were later buried (source).
9/7/19: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from L.I.F.E. Academy, his old school (source).
Note: Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19, five days after moving to Rexburg, ID.
9/7/19: Less than 48 hours before Tylee Ryan was murdered and her remains incinerated, Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb publish a podcast titled “What Is a Baptism of Fire?” (source).
Description reads: Following up on their first Feel the Fire Podcast, Melanie and Lori share what their “Baptism of Fire” was like with insightful references that an ancient wiseman Nephi spoke about. How did it help Melanie in her own life with a Special Needs son, with feeling like she didn’t know how to naviagate her challenges, and what it took for her to experience that clean feeling in her heart. Lori is so descriptive with ways that “fire” can feel to all of us, and how that has manifest in her life. She speaks from great conviction and experience that we all can learn from.
9/7/19: Tylee Ryan’s last post on Instagram (source).
9/8/19: Tylee Ryan’s phone pings in Yellowstone National Park at 1:09pm. Also the FBI says there is footage of JJ at the park walking/running along the walkway in front of Old Faithful geyser (source).
9/8/19: Last day Tylee Ryan is seen alive. In a picture obtained from Lori Vallow’s iCloud account, Ryan is seen at the entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Ryan was at the park with Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, and JJ Vallow. “This is the last time we can find any record of [Tyle] being with Lori Vallow,” the affidavit of probable cause says. “We have found no witnesses who can verify they have seen [Tylee] since Sept. 8, 2019” (source).
9/8/19: The last date Tylee Ryan is mentioned in text messages (source).
Note: It’s unclear if the report means between Alex Cox and Zulema Pastenes since it follows on the heels of a text exchange between them or if it means among these group members.
9/8/19: Colby Ryan requests money from Tylee Ryan hours before her murder. She tells him their mom now has control of her money (source).
9/8/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
9/8/19: Chad Daybell searches Google to find out about the wind direction in the hours leading up to Tylee Ryan’s murder (source).
9/9/19: Approximate date Tylee Ryan is allegedly buried on Chad Daybell’s property (source).
9/9/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings for the day (source):
02:42am: His phone pings at Lori’s apartment.**
03:37am: He leaves Lori’s apartment.
04:37am: He arrives home. It hasn’t been disclosed where he was during this hour.
08:59am: He leaves his apartment.
09:21am: He arrives at Chad’s. (Note: There’s no mention of him stopping by Lori’s so it’s possible he already had Tylee’s corpse. It’s also possible that in the hour that’s unaccounted for, he was delivering Tylee’s corpse to Chad.)
10:47am: His phone pings in St. Anthony, a neighboring town. It’s unknown if it just pinged off a different tower or if he left Chad’s property and later returned.
10:57am: His phone pings at the Daybell property again.
11:39am: Final time his phone pings at the Daybell property.
11:52am: His phone pings at the Del Taco in Rexburg.
12:02pm: He leaves the Del Taco and spends most of the rest of the day in his apartment.
Note: The affidavit of probable cause for Chad Daybell noted that this was the only time in September Alex appears to go to Lori’s apartment between the hours of 12 am and 6 am.
9/9/19: Chad Daybell sends his then-wife Tammy Daybell a text about shooting a “large raccoon” and “burning limbs” on the property Tylee Ryan’s charred remains would later be found on (source).
CD (11:53): Well, I’ve had an interesting morning! I felt I should burn all of the limb debris by the fire pit before it got too soaked by the coming storms. While I did so, I spotted a big racoon [sic] along the fence. I hurried and got my gun, and he was still walking along. I got close enough that one shot did the trick. He is now in our pet cemetery. Fun times!
CD (11:56): Gonna shower now and then go write for a while at BYU. Love you!
TD (2:47): Good for you!
CD (2:48): I’m back home now
Note: Chad sent this text only 14 minutes after Alex Cox had left his property.
9/9/19: Reegen Price hears a gunshot coming from Chad Daybell’s property (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel OCR).
Note: It’s unknown at this time if Price is a neighbor or just happened to be in the area that day.
9/10/19: Tylee Ryan’s Venmo account shows a payment to her older half brother, Colby Ryan, with “❤️” in the description field (source).
Note: With the exception of the first payment in her Venmo, Tylee always used orange hearts with two exclamation marks, so having two transactions with a single red heart and no exclamation marks were most likely an indicator to Colby that these payments weren’t being sent by Tylee, especially since he told Dr. Phil that her texts didn’t sound like her as early as 9/28 (source).
9/10/19: Zulema Pastenes and Alex Cox start to refer to Chad as “James the Lesser” (Jesus’ younger brother) or JTL in text messages (source).
9/11/19: No more conversations between Chad Daybell’s “Bubby” burner phone and Lori Vallow (source).
9/11/19: Alex Cox visits Pawn 1 in Ammon, Idaho (source).
9/12/19: Lori Vallow searches for Charles Vallow’s tax return (source).
9/12/19: Lori Vallow emails Alex Cox’s landlord in Arizona to tell him/her that Alex had been in a car accident and wouldn’t be able to return (source).
9/13/19 – 9/16/19: There are emails between Lori Vallow and “AZDES” (source).
Note: This may stand for the Arizona Dept of Economic Security. This department handles child support services, among others (source). I wonder why Lori would’ve been emailing with them since she had moved from Arizona just two weeks earlier.
9/14/19: Lori Vallow texts Alex Cox to tell him she was going to Walgreeen’s to pick up JJ’s medicine. The Chandler Police Report notes no medicine was picked up for JJ that day (source).
Note: Alex wasn’t exactly a caring individual, and Lori wasn’t maternal at this point in their [alleged] murder spree, so I do wonder if this was code for something that would serve as a sedative.
9/14/19: Alex Cox tells Zulema Pastenes Lori Vallow fell asleep with him (source).
Note: It’s unclear what the relevance of this text was, if any, but it was included in one of the timelines in the Gilbert Police report.
9/14/19: A photo of JJ Vallow sitting on a ride at Yellowstone Bear World, just south of Rexburg, is stored in Lori Vallow’s iCloud account (source).
Mid Sep: According to Colby Ryan, Tylee’s texts to him started sounding different at this time (source).
9/15/19: Chandler PD interview Alex Cox’s first wife, Debbie, who tells them about Alex’s and Lori Vallow’s inappropriate behavior, such as Alex touching her breasts, and Alex and Lori simulating sex (source).
9/15/19 – 9/17/19: Zulema Pastenes visits Lori Vallow in Rexburg (source).
9/16/19: Chad Daybell is a guest on Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb’s third podcast, titled “Feel the Fire ~ Chad Daybell Sharing Jesus’ Love” (source 1 // source 2 // recording). Description:
Emerging from a Spring and Summer break, Chad Daybell joins Lori and Melanie to share things he has been shown about the Savior of the World with insights from 2 Near-Death Experiences and a visionary gift that was opened up to him because of his visits “Beyond the Veil.” You can see a 10 Episode Series with Chad called ‘Beyond the Veil’ here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/glimpses Chad is the publisher and Owner of Springcreek Books and has written 25 books of his own. https://www.springcreekbooks.com.
9/17/19: The Gilbert Police report notes this was the last time Lori Vallow mentions either Tylee Ryan or JJ Vallow in text messages with Zulema Pastenes. She said she was dropping off JJ at school and would then meet her at the temple (source).
Note: This was the last day of Zulema’s Rexburg visit.
9/17/19: Lori Vallow’s neighbor in Rexburg, ID, captures footage of JJ Vallow playing outside (source 1, 00:57 minute mark // source 2).
9/17/19: Brandon Boudreaux sees JJ Vallow and lets Kay Vallow Woodcock know he’s okay (source).
Notes:
- This is a new piece of information that came out in the Chandler FOIA document dump. This was only five days before JJ was last seen.
- I suspect Brandon was monitoring Melani via a tablet registered to him, according to a legend found in the FOIA docs (source).
- Zulema had just left this same day and both she and Melani appear to have been clued in that JJ wouldn’t be around long (source 1 // source 2 // source 3 // source 4), so I wonder if Melani was possibly FaceTiming with Lori and captured a screenshot with JJ in it and Brandon saw it when it synched to her iCloud account. I took a deep dive into this theory in this YouTube Live (24:50 min mark).
- Kay also notes that she found Charles’ truck at Colby Ryan’s apartment and passes on his address.
9/17/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) asks Brandon Boudreaux for his new address (source).
9/17/19: Melanie Gibb publishes a book titled Feel the Fire (source).
Product details:
Publisher: Gibb Publishing (September 17, 2019)
Language: English
Paperback: 100 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0578492629
9/18/19: A nanny Lori Vallow hires through care.com for what she thinks is long-term care comes to the house for the first time to babysit JJ. She tells the nanny her husband died of a heart attack in Arizona and that her daughter was going to school in Rexburg (source). The nanny describes Tylee’s presence in the home as intermittent visits:
Occasionally her daughter would come visit for dinner or to do laundry, but she never said that she lived there with them. It appeared that only Lori and JJ lived there, from the look of things and from what she told me.
Read the entire Twitter thread for 9/18 here.
9/18/19: Kay Vallow Woodcock sends Lori Vallow another email begging to be able to call, FaceTime, and visit with JJ (source).
9/19/19: The nanny Lori Vallow hires returns for a second day of caring for JJ. She notes several things from that day:
- Lori joked that sometimes she gives JJ his meds early so he’ll go to sleep earlier to give her a break.
- Lori told her that her brother, Alex Cox, is going to come over and they’re going to the Idaho Falls Airport.
- Alex came over, just said “hello,” and left with Lori.
- JJ went to play at a neighbor’s house and came home for dinner.
- After dinner he wanted to go back to the friend’s house, but the nanny said no.
- JJ had a meltdown and threw furniture and told the nanny he he hated her and didn’t want to be her friend.
- Nanny went upstairs to find JJ and found him under Lori’s bed.
- JJ’s room only had toys, no bed.
- JJ slept on a small mattress in the corner in Lori’s room.
- Lori, Alex, and Lori’s friend (who we now know was Melanie Gibb) came home.
- Lori “babied” JJ to comfort him.
- Lori told the nanny the woman did podcasts with her.
- Lori gave her $40 cash and then never had her back.
Read the entire Twitter thread for 9/19 here.
9/19/19: Rexburg woman claims to have been on flight with Chad Daybell on a flight from Idaho Falls to Mesa, AZ. The woman said Daybell planned to help a relative in the Valley who needed to remodel her home. “He said I hope we can get this work done in the time that I have before I have to be back,” said the woman who wished to remain anonymous (source, 35:05).
Note: This claim has never been verified, and one confidential source said this claim was false.
9/19/19 – 9/23/19: Melanie Gibb visits Lori Vallow in Rexburg (source 1 // source 2).
Notes:
- Tylee was already missing, and Melanie said Lori never so much as mentioned her, except to say she was at BYU.
- If Lori told Melanie that Tylee was at BYU, why would she need to additionally mention she was with friends? It seems like this may have been an attempt at coordination with Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) claims that Tylee was with friends (source).
- She said in this question that it could have been possible, but “it didn’t feel like it” and that there were “question marks” and “didn’t feel like the truth.”
- Melanie Gibb told a friend that when she asked Lori about Tylee being at BYU, Lori looked at her like, “Yeah, she’s dead” (source).
9/20/19 – 9/23/19: David Warwick joins Melanie Gibb in Rexburg and also stays in Lori Vallow’s home (source 1 // source 2). He claims that Lori told him Alex Cox came and took JJ away because he was acting like a zombie and climbing on top of the kitchen cabinets. He testified that he didn’t believe Lori’s story but left with Melanie Gibb afterwards and didn’t call in a welfare check.
Notes:
- David was still married at the time of this visit (source).
- Melanie told Rexburg Police Det Ray Hermosillo that they slept in the same room when he arrived (source). This is what Lori was probably referring to when she called out Melanie’s hypocrisy in their recorded call (source). Melanie: “Oh honey……………..I think that’s not what we’re talking about here.” 👀
9/21/19: Preparing a People host an event called “Book of Mormon Evidence and a Universal Model of Science” in Rexburg, ID (source).
Note: It’s not clear who from this group of followers attended this event or who stayed with JJ Vallow. All we know is it wasn’t the nanny Lori had hired a couple days before.
9/21/19: Lori Vallow and Zulema Pastenes have a bizarre text exchange where Lori tells her about people who are seeking her instruction and Zulema seems to indicate she knew something sinister was about to go down (source). Highlights include:
Lori: If anybody asks about me or where I moved. You can just say that I moved in with my brother in queen creek. Especially those who seek my destruction.
Zulema: I don’t talk to anyone about you at all…Wait… who’s seeking your destruction?
Lori: Lots of people. Sarena and Christina in particular. My family and such
Zulema: That makes sense…I think that’s best that you stay hidden. I’m staying quiet as if nothing is happening…
Lori: U r right ! R u doing good ?? Is the lord saying anything yet ?
Zulema: He gave me this today 2 Nephi 10:2** Just preparing me
Lori: I love it it’s so true!! We are all here to do our missions ! and we will !! You are a true Goddess of Light !! We will conquer the darkness !! You are powerful little girl !! I love it !!
For behold, the promises which we have obtained are promises unto us according to the flesh; wherefore, as it has been shown unto me that many of our children shall perish in the flesh because of unbelief, nevertheless, God will be merciful unto many; and our children shall be restored, that they may come to that which will give them the true knowledge of their Redeemer.
Note: I believe sharing this verse from the Book of Mormon was Zulema’s way of communicating to Lori that she condoned the murder of her children. This scripture echoed back to Lori the sentiments she shared in the testimony she shared at Melanie Gibb’s house when Zulema first met Lori.
9/22/19: A picture is taken of JJ Vallow sitting on a couch. It was found by law enforcement in Lori Vallow’s iCloud account (source). It was taken at 10:46 am MT, and he’s wearing red pajamas (source 1 // source 2).
Note: JJ was wearing red pajamas when he was found in a shallow grave on Chad Daybell’s property 6/9/20.
9/22/19: Lori Vallow and Alex Cox have a cryptic text exchange, which was deleted from Lori Vallow’s account but retrieved through the extraction process (source):
8:55 am
Lori: “Hey bub. Go to lds.org and watch the new Book of Mormon video. So good. Looks like you will appear in episode 2 ????”
8:56 am
Lori: “Ps do you have eggs ??”
9:48 am
Alex: “I’m open. How about you?”
9:49 am
Lori: “Me too. They are still on the bedroom so not sure what their plan is but they should be up soon ??”
10:21 am
Alex: “Ok. Let me know. Do you want me to get eggs and bring them to u?”
12:11 pm
Lori: “Come on over ”
12:14 pm
Lori: “Let’s meet chad at terrestrial temple in 20 min”
12:14 pm
Alex: “Ok”
12:18 pm
Lori: “R u ready to go ?”
12:31 pm
Lori: “Going now. Can u meet us there?”
12:31 pm
Lori: “How do I get there?”
1:47 pm
Lori: “Should we take th to bear world today ??”
Note: Curious what “th” is short for. I suspect it’s code for JJ. Maybe a moniker.
1:47 pm
Lori: “R u still there? ”
2:17 pm
Lori: “R y coming home?”
3:07 pm
Lori: “???”
6:28 pm
Lori: “R u ever coming back ?”
6:28 pm
Alex: “Yes just waiting on charisa for a fresh sealing.”
Below I’ll add details to this timeline from Det Ray Hermosillo’s interview of Melanie Gibb (source).
Dinnertime
Det: “Do you guys go to dinner or do you make dinner on Sunday night?”
Melanie: “Oh, we would make it because we don’t go to eat on dinner, so we would make it at home.”
Det: “So everybody’s at home.”
Melanie: “Mmhmm.”
Det: “Does Lori leave anywhere with JJ?”
Melanie: “I don’t have any memory of her leaving.”
Det: “Lori sent a text to you around 8:30 that evening saying something to the effect of, ‘Hey, I’ll be there shortly. JJ woke up’ and she’s getting him back to bed.”
Melanie: “Hmm.” *panicked expression*
Det: “You know where she was at or where you were at when she sent that text?”
Melanie: “Gosh.” *pregnant pause* “That doesn’t sound familiar.” *pregnant pause* “Maybe at Alex’s house. I mean that’s the only—” *shrug* “That’s the only other place that she could be.”
Lt Ball: “Do you have that conversation with her on your phone right now?”
Melanie: “Noo. I think I deleted everything. I was freaked out when it happened. Sorry.” *nervous laugh* “I wish I would have kept it. Sorry.”
Lt Ball: “That’s alright.”
Det: “So— And I can get that—”
Melanie: “Say it again! So who’s speaking? Say it again!” *closes eyes*
Det: “So Lori—”
Melanie: “She texts me and says—”
Det: “And says something to the effect of, “I’ll be there shortly—”
Melanie: “I’ll be there shortly—” *taps finger across table dramatically* 👇👇👇👇
Det: “JJ woke up and I’m trying to get him back to sleep.”
Melanie: “And that was at night—”
Det: “It was about 8:30 at night.”
Melanie: “Well— Okay cuz we didn’t do the podcast yet.”
Det: “Yeah.”
Melanie: “We started the podcast late cuz I remember thinking, ‘Man, I can’t stay up this late! I’m an early bird. Like c’monn. We started late— And she’s an early bird too. So, it must’ve been— My guess, my GUESS is that it must’ve been at Alex’s house, getting him to sleep over there. I’m guessing. So I’m just gonna make some guesses that— cuz she would’ve never gone to Chad’s house because Tammy was there, right? So where else in the world would she go?”
Det: “Right but—”
Melanie: “I have no idea.”
Det: “And that’s why I’m asking if you— Do you remember her— Do you remember being alone in her apartment and her not there? Cuz if she’s at Alex’s you’re alone in her apartment.”
Melanie: “I could’ve been upstairs or something. Maybe I was talking to David. Who knows?”
Det: “And that’s why I’m asking you, ‘Do you remember her leaving and JJ not being there around that time?”
Melanie: *shrugs* “Probably because he was no longer there when we did the podcast and so somehow— I think that was upstairs. That’s how I feel.” *pregnant pause* “But I just don’t remember that detail cuz I didn’t have any reason not to remember that, you know? I didn’t know anything was going on, so I didn’t have a way of associating it with anything. I just knew I was gonna do a podcast and that was it. And I didn’t prepare for it cuz I never prepare for podcasts. I just—” *makes vomiting motion* “Bluhhh. You know?”
Note: Fwiw, I believe this is when JJ was murdered. The combination of Melanie’s panic and inability to answer straightforward questions about Lori and JJ’s movement that day indicates significant guilt, shame, and deception. Also, if JJ had woken up at 8:30 pm, that would mean he had taken a very late nap or was drugged in Alex’s apartment most of the day. (According to David, all the adults were at the property Chad wanted them to see for their tent city, and JJ wasn’t listed as being with them. So who would have been with JJ at that time? Melanie Gibb claimed Lori wasn’t with them on the outing, but it’s outside the realm of possibility for Lori to sit out such an important outing. And it was obvious from her texts with Alex that he would be meeting them out there.) #imo
9/22/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Lori Vallow or Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
9/23/19: JJ Vallow is allegedly buried on Chad Daybell’s property (source).
9/23/19: Alex Cox’s phone pinged at Chad Daybell’s property at 9:55 am near the pond, where JJ Vallow’s remains were discovered nine months later. He was there until 10:12 am.
9/23/19: According to Melanie Gibb’s interview with Rexburg Police, which was passed on to Gilbert Police, this is the day she last sees JJ Vallow (source). She reiterated this claim to Gilbert Police on 12/17/19 (source). She also claimed in an interview with Gilbert Police on 2/11/20 she didn’t remember anything abnormal (source).
Notes:
- After Melanie claimed in multiple interviews that she last saw JJ on Mon, Sep 23rd, she said under oath at Chad Daybell’s preliminary hearing in August 2020 that she didn’t see JJ the morning of Sep 23rd and that Lori Vallow claimed he climbed up on her kitchen cabinet in a zombie moment (source).
- David Warwick also talked about this zombie moment in his interview with Dateline‘s Keith Morrison (source).
- Gilbert’s claim that Melanie refused to lie for Lori and Chad is patently false. She later admitted under oat that she did, in fact, lie—and didn’t correct that lie for 8-10 days (source 1 // source 2).
9/23/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
9/23/19: A child from the neighborhood is seen playing with JJ Vallow’s toys, but JJ wasn’t seen (source). The boy’s mother says she saw her son playing with unfamiliar toys and asked where he got them. He says he got them from JJ’s room. Lori was inside eating a salad and let him take JJ’s toys (source).
9/23/19: JJ Vallow was originally reported as having attended Kennedy Elementary (source). It was later determined to be a mistake. No requests are made for JJ’s transcripts (source).
9/23/19: Two photos of ammunition at The Gun Shop, an Idaho gun store, are saved to Lori Vallow’s iCloud account (source // pics of ammunition).
9/23/19: Approximate date Alex Cox went shopping for a coat for his sister, Lori Vallow. Chandler Det Nathan Duncan notes this in reference to how weird Lori and Alex’s relationship was (source).
9/23/19: Brandon Boudreaux’s lease begins (source).
9/24/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
9/24/19: Tylee Ryan’s 17th birthday passes with no social media posts.
9/24/19: Colby Ryan texts Tylee Ryan to wish her a happy birthday (source):
Colby: Hey ty!! Happy birthday I’m so proud of you! I know you have been through most people ever go through in their life. But you’re amazing and I know you can have an amazing life. You keep pushing. Trust god, it’s all gonna be not just okay but amazing. I love you and happy birthday 🎁
Tylee: thanks colbs. i love you ❤️
Note: Colby said the response didn’t sound like Tylee.
9/24/19: Lori Vallow disenrolls JJ Vallow from school, indicating she would homeschool him. JJ is not seen with her (source).
9/24/19: Lori Vallow tells her babysitter, Sidney, who she secured through care.com, JJ Vallow had gone to stay with his grandma for several weeks. Lori added that she was in Hawaii. According to the affidavit of probable cause obtained by East Idaho News, Police Detective Ron Ball reported, “We contacted this babysitter and she informed us that she watched (JJ) on the 19th of September…The babysitter understood that her employment was to be ongoing” (source 1 // source 2).
According to FOX 13 reporter Lauren Steinbrecher, Lori also told Sidney:
- Her husband died of a heart attack.
- Tylee was at BYU Idaho.
- She would be able to work again in about a month (but when Sidney texted Lori around Halloween, Lori didn’t reply).
- JJ “gets emotional easily, frustrated, distracted, has difficulty communicating with others, but can follow orders if you look at him right in the eyes.”
- She and her husband adopted JJ who was their nephew at the time.
- Although Tylee lives in Rexburg, she doesn’t like to babysit without getting paid.
- Tylee would visit for dinner or to do laundry, but Lori never said that she lived there with them. It appeared that only Lori and JJ lived there, from the look of things.
- On the 19th, Lori was waiting for her brother (who also lived in Rexburg) to come and leave with her to the airport. She said she was going to the Idaho Falls airport.
- Some days when JJ was extra tough for her to handle, she would give him his meds and have him go to bed early.
9/24/19: This is the day Charles Vallow’s brother, Bobby Vallow, is said to have interviewed with Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat, but I believe the accurate date is 8/2 (source 1 // source 2 // source 3). Det Moffat said in this interview that Adam had never reached out to him, but they spoke on 8/9.
9/25/19: Alex Cox takes the Jeep Wrangler to get the windows tinted [allegedly] in preparation for the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux (source 1 // source 2).
9/25/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings at Chad Daybell’s house. He’s only there for 17 minutes and stays in and around the house. His phone does not ping in the backyard where Tylee and JJ were buried (source 1 // source 2).
9/25/19: Brandon Boudreaux moves into his rental home in Gilbert, AZ (source).
9/25/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Moffat that Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) lives next door to Lori Vallow (source).
Note: This wasn’t true, but it would appear Kay was privy to information that Melani may have planned to move to Rexburg. She visited the next day. I suspect Kay was getting this information from Brandon who was monitoring Melani’s activity.
9/25/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler PD Det Moffat that her attorney was sending notice to Banner Life protesting them naming Lori Vallow was beneficiary after the life insurance company dispositioned her change of beneficiary as invalid (source).
Note: This is an interesting development that’s never been talked about in any interviews.
9/26/19 – 9/29/19: Melanie Boudreaux visits Rexburg (source). She flew Allegiant flight 608. She departed at 12:31 pm MST and arrived 3:25 pm MDT (source).
Note: The Gilbert Police report noted that “Between 09/25/2019 and 09/30/2019, ALEX, LORI and CHAD prepared for BRANDON`s murder.” It seems unusual they wouldn’t include Melani in this since her visit overlapped with these preparations. #jmo
9/26/19: Brandon Boudreaux tells Kay Vallow Woodcock Lori moved out of state. He found out from his son (source).
Note: I suspect Brandon found this out by monitoring a tablet that was registered to his name (see note in next entry below). This would also possibly explain why Kay Woodcock had said in an interview with 20/20 that they found out Lori and the kids had moved to Idaho but just didn’t have an apartment number (source). This was in contrast to her claim on Dateline that she didn’t find out Lori had moved Idaho until November, when she found her Amazon purchase (source). I took a deep dive into this theory in this YouTube Live (18:31 min mark).
9/26/19: FBI captures phone data from a Walmart in Rexburg, just minutes from Chad Daybell’s Salem home (source).
Note: I believe this was a device that used wifi only that was registered to Brandon Boudreaux because a legend found in the police report indicated blue was “BB” (source) and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) had just arrived in Rexburg. I strongly suspect she was using a tablet like an iPad that didn’t have a data plan. This device also shows back up in October in a “cluster of red and blue pins” on top of Alex Cox, Lori Vallow, and Melani’s apartments at this same time (source). Melani was in Rexburg at this time as well and had just signed a lease for apartment 107 the day before (see 10/28/19). I took a deep dive into this theory in this YouTube Live (18:31 min mark).
9/26/19: Alex Cox activates a burner phone [allegedly] in preparation for the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux (source).
9/28/19: Alex Cox visits the Unified Sportsmen’s Gun Range in Rexburg [allegedly] in preparation for the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux (source).
9/28/19: Colby Ryan has a text exchange with Tylee Ryan four days after her birthday and tells Dr. Phil that it didn’t sound like her. He asked her to call him that night, and she didn’t (video from Dr. Phil // video from Netflix // screenshot from Dr. Phil).
Transcript:
Note: There are discrepancies between the transcript from the Dr. Phil Show and the Netflix documentary, so I color coded them.
Notes:
- Colby said in his interview with Justin Lum that he didn’t feel like her texts started getting weird until “later in October” (source, 27:50), but in his interview with Dr. Phil and Netflix, he said Tylee’s texts didn’t sound like her.
- There are also discrepancies between reported exchanges:
- In the Netflix texts, Colby starts off with a leading question on 9/28 asking Tylee if she’s too busy to call him. When he was interviewed by Dr. Phil he expressed frustration that Tylee said she was just busy, like that wasn’t an excuse.
-
In the Netflix texts, where you actually see their exchange, Colby doesn’t ask Tylee if she was okay.
-
In the Dr. Phil texts, Colby doesn’t include that he hadn’t talked to her in so long or his confusion over why he hadn’t been able to get ahold of her all week.
-
In the Dr. Phil texts, Colby doesn’t include Tylee’s comment about the Brad Pitt movie being kind of boring. I think Lori was referencing ‘Ad Astra’, which was released in the US on 9/20, after Tylee had been murdered (source).
-
In the Netflix texts, Tylee’s texts were all lowercase and there was a gap between ‘what’ and the ‘?’. This is a signature Lori oddity. You see this all through the FOIA docs (examples from just one exchange).
-
Although Colby doesn’t show this exchange, he said in the Netflix documentary that he confronted Tylee saying, “Tylee, this does not sound like you. You don’t speak this way. You don’t use punctuation here. So why don’t you just call me and talk to me?” Then he said, “That’s when she stopped.” I assume he meant stopped replying. But he told Justin Lum that Tylee’s texts sounded normal in September and didn’t start to not sound like her until later in October (source).
9/30/19: Preparations are made for the Brandon Boudreaux shooting (source):
11:31 am – 1:16 pm
Alex Cox’s cellphone is at Lori’s apartment.
12:34 pm
Alex’s phone receives a call from Chad Daybell’s burner phone.
1:17 pm – 4:32 pm
Alex’s cellphone is at his apartment.
5:14 pm
Lori Vallow searched for something while logged in to her Gmail account. There are large redactions, but since this whole section of the report is about preparations leading to Brandon’s shooting, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess she searched for Brandon’s address.
6:01 pm
Alex’s cellphone returns to Lori’s apartment and remains there or with Lori’s cellphone until 10/3/19.
Note: I believe that Alex left his cellphone with Lori and took a burner phone to Arizona so that she could try to provide an alibi for him during the time of the murder. But at one point it appears she took it to the temple with her because the police report notes that Alex didn’t have a temple recommend. Intelligent criminals they were not. 🤦♀️ He would also keep his phone at or near his apartment for the attempted shooting of Tammy Daybell as well (source).
8:10 pm
Charles Vallow`s Jeep Wrangler (TX Plate LWD-0997) is seen driving southbound on Interstate-15 near Blackfoot, ID.
Note: The date of Alex’s departure seems unusual because Brandon Boudreaux wasn’t shot at until 10/2/19.
9/30/19: According to Kay Woodcock, in an email to Chandler PD Det Moffat, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) stopped their divorce proceeding because she believed she wouldn’t be able to collect his life insurance if a divorce was pending (source).
Late Sep 2019: Chad Daybell and friend and fellow doomsday author Julie Rowe speak by phone about Tammy’s imminent death. From a FOX 13 post (source):
Three weeks before Tammy’s death, Rowe and Daybell called each other.
“And I asked him, do you still see Tammy dying? And he said yes I do,” said Rowe.
Tammy was in charge of the finances and covers for Daybell’s books. Rowe said Daybell wanted to get out of the business, but Tammy wanted to keep going.
“He said I’m ready to get out now and Tammy doesn’t want to get out. When she passes, I’m done, I can’t keep doing this,” said Rowe.
Oct 2019: Kay Woodcock says in their Jan 2019 press conference that they found out JJ Vallow was missing “sometime in October” (source).
Notes:
- What’s mystifying about this claim is that Kay said she, Larry, and Brandon Boudreaux hired a private investigator in October (source), but Rich Robertson said that Brandon hired him (source).
- Brandon’s business partner’s wife, Jes, also said they knew the kids were missing in October (source).
- Yet Rich said he was hired to find adults and the Jeep, not kids (source 1 // source 2) and followed Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and Alex Cox up to Rexburg (source 1 // source 2). So, if Kay, Larry, Jes, Brandon et al knew JJ was missing at this time, why wouldn’t they have asked him to look for JJ as well?
- Rich also said that Kay and Larry asked if they saw the kids after they got back (source). Since he followed Alex and Melani up to Rexburg on 10/31, they certainly would have already known that JJ was missing and in danger. Again, it’s highly unlikely Kay and Larry would’ve been asking about Tylee since they themselves said they didn’t know Tylee was missing until after the welfare check on 11/26 (source).
Oct 2019: Chandler PD notices long calls from out of state to a number assumed to belong to Chad Daybell (source).
Oct 2019: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) asks friends from the cult, such as Alex Cox and Melanie Gibb, to talk to Brandon Boudreaux’s former neighbors to find out where he was after he went into hiding, according to Brandon Boudreaux’s business partner’s wife, Jes (source).
Note: On 12/17/19, Melanie Gibb denies knowledge of Brandon’s shooting (source). This is a glaring inconsistency, which I’ve come to expect with all things Melanie Gibb.
10/1/19: Preparations continue for the Brandon Boudreaux shooting (source)**:
6:52 am (MST)
The Jeep Wrangler (TX Plate LWD-0997) was [redacted] westbound on I-40 near Holbrook, AZ (source // map).
7:30 pm (MST)
Alex Cox arrives in Gilbert, AZ.
9:19 am (MST)
Alex’s burner phone calls Chad Daybell’s burner phone near Holbrook, AZ.
11:55 am (MST)
Alex’s burner phone receives a call from Chad’s burner phone near Phoenix.
2:08 pm (MDT)
Lori Vallow opens a 10×10′ storage unit at Self Storage Plus in Rexburg, ID (source). Surveillance footage shows Lori is alone.
Note: There s a redacted block of text that suggests Lori was carrying Alex’s verified cell phone that he left behind with her throughout the day because it notes that Alex doesn’t have a temple recommend. I personally believe she brought Alex’s phone to the temple with her.
Additionally, throughout the day; including at the “Rexburg Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” despite ALEX not having a temple recommend.
7:31 pm – 7:48 pm (MST)
Alex’s burner phone communicated with Chad’s burner phone. It also appears that Gilbert Police track Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) movements at the same time as Chad and Alex’s phone activity, which begins 1 minute after Alex Cox arrived in Gilbert (source).
Note: It said elsewhere in the Gilbert Police report that Melani’s cell activity is indicated in pink (source). So, if I understand this report correctly and have identified the redacted phone activity by matching it with another reference elsewhere in the FOIA docs with the exact same date and times, Gilbert Police suspected that Alex and Chad’s phone activity and Melani’s movement that night are somehow connected.
7:52 (MST)
Alex searches for Brandon Boudreaux’s new rental address.
**The police report uses MST for events that transpired in Arizona and MDT for events that transpired in Idaho because Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time.
10/1/19: Last time Janis Cox, Lori Vallow’s mother, speaks to JJ. She alleges that she spoke to him on the phone and provided a copy of their phone bill as proof (source).
Note: This turned out to be an unfounded claim as JJ Vallow was allegedly murdered sometime between Sep 22nd and 23rd.
10/1/19: Brandon and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) close on the home they owned together (source).
10/1/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
10/2/19: Events with timestamps that transpire the day of the Brandon Boudreaux shooting (source):
7:17 am (MST)
Alex Cox searches again for directions to Brandon Boudreaux’s from his current location, which was the LDS Temple (3301 S. Greenfield Rd., Gilbert AZ).
Note: Whose word was Alex waiting for to drive to Brandon’s house?
7:19 am (MST)
Alex starts traveling to Brandon’s house.
7:25 am (MST)
Approximate time Brandon leaves the house with his four children.
8:02 am (MST)
Alex’s personal cell phone (which Lori Vallow had in Idaho) texts Lori’s personal cell phone multiple times and had a 23-minute call. The police report notes that all of this correspondence occurred while Alex’s burner phone was at Brandon’s property.
Note: Again, I believe this was Lori’s attempt to provide Alex with an alibi.
9:14 am (MST)
Approximate time Brandon returns home and is shot at.
9:19 am – 9:25 am (MST)
Alex’s burner phone travels southbound away from Brandon’s home and makes two calls to Chad Daybell’s burner phone.
1:25 pm – 1:32 pm (MDT) // 12:25 pm – 12:32 pm (MST)
Chad and Lori are captured by surveillance cameras at Self-Storage Plus in Rexburg. They arrive in the same car and carry a wheel and back seat from the Jeep Wrangler into Lori’s storage unit.
Notes:
- Timestamps on the video show a blue Rogue arriving at 1:25 p.m. but the owner of the storage facility says clocks were off by one hour, so Lori actually pulled in at 2:25 p.m. She made her way to the door of the building where her unit was, and two minutes later, at 2:27 p.m., got out of the vehicle with the man we believe is Chad. At 2:29 p.m., he pulled a tire out of the back of the Rogue and rolled it into the storage unit. One minute later, he and Lori carried in what appears to be a removable rear car seat together. They put it in the locker, shut the door and left the facility at 2:32 p.m. The entire visit was seven minutes.
- Reporter Nate Eaton offers a plausible explanation for why Lori and [allegedly] Chad would have been moving a tire and removable back seat into the storage unit: Brandon Boudreaux said someone shot at him out of the back window of the Jeep. The back window of that model Jeep doesn’t open if the tire is attached. Ergo, it’s possible they removed the back seat and tire of the Jeep. Then Lori and Chad moved it into the storage unit (source, 2:31 minute mark).
- Chad Daybell—still married to Tammy Daybell at the time—acts in a manner you might find a bit salacious for a married man whose wife will conveniently die in one week to the day at the 1:41 minute mark.
1:22 pm (MST)
Alex’s burner phone travels northbound through the Apache Reservation in Eastern Arizona and receive a call from Chad’s burner phone.
8:46 pm – 8:53 pm (MDT) // 7:46 pm – 7:53 pm (MST)
Lori’s Gmail account performs multiple searches related to the attempted shooting:
- “man shot in gilbert az,”
- “man shot in gilbert az 10/2/2019”
- “avc news brandon budreaux”
7:53 pm (MDT)
Alex and Chad’s burner phones communicate as Alex’s burner phone continues northbound into Utah.
8:12 pm (MDT)
Alex and Chad’s burner phones communicate as Alex’s burner phone continues northbound into Utah.
8:42 pm (MDT)
Alex and Chad’s burner phones communicate for a final time near Green River, UT.
10/2/19: Lori Vallow orders the ring later shown in her wedding photos from Amazon using Charles Vallow’s account (source), as well as Chad’s wedding ring and her wedding dress (source).
Notable: This is 17 days before Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell, died.
10/2/19: Alex Cox calls a Hispanic female, as well as Lori Vallow, during the timeframe of the shooting attempt on Brandon Boudreaux (source 1 // source 2).
Note: The following month Alex married Zulema Pastenes, a Hispanic female. This doesn’t mean she was the female he was on the phone with; just noting what may be a coincidence. (I personally strongly suspect Zulema was the Hispanic female since there aren’t any other Hispanic females who were involved with this group that we know of at time of writing.)
10/2/19: Alex Cox makes financial transfers to the Hispanic female he was on the phone with around the time of the Brandon Boudreaux shooting attempt (source).
10/3/19: Events with timestamps that transpire the day after the Brandon Boudreaux shooting (source):
4:28 am (MDT)
The Jeep Wrangler is seen driving northbound on US Highway 20 near Rexburg.
10:30 am (MST) // 9:30 am (MDT)
**Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) is interviewed by Gilbert Police (source 1 // source 2) and denies knowledge of the shooting and is unable to explain the details of her day on 10/02/2019. She confirms her relationship with Lori and Alex but denies they are close. She also does not want to share their phone numbers because she believes their phones could be tracked and listened to (source).
2:11 pm – 2:14 pm (MDT)
Alex Cox and Lori Vallow are captured by surveillance cameras at the Self-Storage Plus in Rexburg. They remove a single vehicle wheel, with tire, and what appeared to be a back seat from Lori’s storage unit.
**Notes:
- When a GPD detective called her the day of the shooting, she didn’t ask what this was in reference to.
- She is allowed to bring her youngest daughter to the interview, who was two at the time. How are you going to effectively interview a woman about an attempted murder with a toddler in the room?
- Melani says she cannot remember what she did the day before, after Brandon dropped off one of their kids (most likely their youngest daughter). The police report states: “MELANI told me sometimes they went to the park, sometimes the gym and other times the mall. MELANI could not remember for certain what they did yesterday.”
- When asked if she communicated with anyone she referenced calls from Brandon that she didn’t answer but couldn’t remember if she spoke to anyone else that day.
- She said Brandon sent her a message merely saying he had a bad day. She said she told him she hoped he had a better day.
- When the detective told her someone tried to shoot her husband, she didn’t have a change of expression and stayed quiet.
10/3/19: Chandler PD learn about the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux (redacted affidavit // unredacted affidavit).
10/3/19: The buyers of Melani and Brandon Boudreaux’s home close (source).
10/4/19: Chad Daybell texts Lori Vallow an ominous message that implies he was doing something to expedite Tammy Daybell’s death (source):
Thank you for sending me that paragraph, beautiful Lili. I’m eager to see you soon. Trying to hasten her departure. I love you endlessly! 💋💓🔥
10/4/19: Tammy Daybell visits parents in Springville, UT, allegedly at Chad’s urging. Chad Daybell claims divine urging from ancestors (private Facebook post). Her father, Ron Douglas, said she was healthy and was doing Zumba with her daughter, Emma Murray, clogging, and dancing in the living room class (source).
Note: I strongly suspect Chad may have tampered with Tammy’s car to “hasten her departure” for several reasons:
- It was reported that Chad normally wouldn’t allow Tammy to drive long distances so this urging was unusual.
- Both Chad’s former friend Angela (source) and Melanie Gibb (source) claimed that Tammy was supposed to die in a car accident.
- Tammy’s LifeMap policy through work most likely had a seat belt rider, which stipulated that the beneficiary/ies would receive an additional $10,000 if the insured died in a car accident and was wearing a seat belt (screenshot // PDF of 2021 policy for the 2021 Sugar City School District).**
**The assumption being this rider wasn’t added to the district’s benefits after Tammy died.
10/4/19: Someone sent Lori Vallow a strange message about needing to go to Independence, MO, to become a “feminine sacrifice” (source):
I said it wrong- the lds woman who is an expert in all the feast days of the hebrews that the Lord sent me to find through a dream- didn’t tell me the bride had to be the first to be symbolically translated before the 144,000. She said that the marriage feast always represented to the hebrews the first resurrection. And the Lord had told her by the spirit it would be at Adam-ondi-Ahman. The place where it all began. The bride had to be the first one resurrected in the 1st resurrection, before the rest of her people the 144,000 could. Because she had to atone and cleanse for her ancestors sins, and their ancestors sins as feminine sacrifice in order for the church of the firstborn to be “born”.
10/5/19: Chad Daybell texts Lori Vallow more about his wife Tammy (source):
3:25 am
Hello, sweet angel. Big news about Tammy. Please let me know if you are awake and can talk. I love you! 💓💋
3:36 am
The short version is that she has been switched. Tammy is in Limbo, and a level 3 demonic entity named Viola is in her body. It happened at about 10 p.m. and was done by Tammy’s sister [redacted], who I always knew was 3D, but it turns out she is multiple creation.
3:44 am:
Viola has been attached for about a year to my niece [redacted], who is 12 year old daughter. I have connected with Tammy in Limbo, and she is very frustrated and upset. She wants Viola removed as soon as possible. Viola seems to be similar to Penelope. The personality differences from Tammy should be evident quickly. Please seek a confirmation on this, but I have now checked three times since I got home and get more affirmative answers each time”.
3:54 am
“Not fully sure of the timing for removal, but once her actions verify the differences, I don’t want to wait”.
10/6/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
10/6/19: Alex Cox visits the storage unit by himself (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
Note: The owner of the storage unit noted that the pickup was taking stuff out of the unit (source).
10/6/19: Someone takes a pic of Alex Cox at Mesa Falls in Idaho (source 1 // source 2 // picture).
10/7/19: Lori Vallow is a busy busy beaver (source):
Time unknown
Lori Googled maps of the United States as well as how long it would take to drive from Rexburg to Independence, Missouri. She then started to look at flights.
10:21 am
Alex Cox texts her to find out where she is and she says JJ’s school. This is suspicious because JJ had been dead at least two weeks by then. She also never formally withdrew him from L.I.F.E. Academy. (Lori deleted this message but it was retrieved.)
10:55 am
Lori performs an online search, but Chandler PD redacted the query.
11:59 am
Lori sends a text to an unknown person that was deleted and recovered.
12:03 pm
Lori sends a text to an unknown person that was deleted and recovered.
2:23 pm
Lori sends a text to an unknown person that was deleted and recovered.
2:31 pm
Lori sends a text to an unknown person that was deleted and recovered.
10/7/19: Lori Vallow’s wedding ring arrives at her Rexburg apartment (source 1 // source 2).
10/7/19: Summer Shiflet texts Lori Vallow to ask her about the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux. In this exchange Lori shoots back, asking Summer where her boyfriend, Edgar, was (pic of Summer and Edgar). Summer replies that he wouldn’t miss, leave witnesses, and makes deaths look like natural causes (source).
10/8/19: Lori Vallow flies to from Idaho to Arizona under the name Lori Ryan (Allegiant Confirmation code 9DQQ47) [allegedly] to meet up with niece Melani Boudreaux the day before Tammy Daybell is approached by a masked gunman (allegedly Alex Cox):
Lori Vallow flies from Idaho to Phoenix-Mesa as Lori Ryan (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
8:55 am
Lori sends a text to an unknown person that was deleted and recovered.
8:57 am:
Lori texts Audrey (presumably). [content of text redacted]
11:15 am
Lori texts Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski). [content of text redacted]
10/8/19: The browser history on the computer from which Lori Vallow’s wedding ring was ordered on 10/2 shows someone searching for wedding dresses (source 1 // source 2).
10/8/19: The approximate date Colby Ryan used Tylee Ryan’s credit card to buy himself a lightsaber for himself (source).
Note: Michael Douglas testified this was a birthday present for himself, but Colby’s birthday is in May. I think he just bought it for himself.
10/9/19: Approximate date Brandon Boudreaux hired private investigator Rich Robertson to look into his attempted shooting (source).
10/9/19: Photos and videos of Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) children recovered from Lori Vallow’s iCloud reveal Lori was at Melani’s home in AZ, including a photo of a young child at a splash pad (source). There was an additional note from LE:
I think that we also confirmed that Lori flew from Idaho to Arizona alone during this time so she probably just brought JJ’s iPad with her. Would be interesting to see if it connected in Missouri between the 10th and the 12th.
Note: So it appears LE was able to identify Lori was using an iPad that was registered to JJ Vallow.
10/9/19: Zulema also meets up with Lori and Melani at Melani’s home in Chandler (source).
10/9/19: Lori Vallow saves a contact as “Bishop Miller” and had numerous calls with this number and what was most likely her personal, “Lori4style” account between 10/9 and 10/16, which is when Lori and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) were together in Chandler, AZ (along with Zulema Pastenes) and Independence, Missouri (source). (“Lollytime”—her main burner phone account—didn’t fit in the redaction.)
Note: Zulema told Gilbert Police the day Alex Cox died that she hadn’t seen Lori since she moved to Rexburg. This was one of three times she saw her.
10/9/19: There are a handful of events with timestamps for this day:
1:20 pm
Chad Daybell’s 401 burner phone is at Alex Cox and Lori Vallow’s apartment complex and stays about an hour (source).
Note: I believe this could be the contact Lori Vallow saved as “Bishop Miller” because she first stored the Bishop Miller contact in her Lori4style account on 10/9 (source). Also, this burner phone traveled with Chad to Tammy’s funeral in Utah (source), and there were “numerous calls” between this phone and Lori’s verified phone between 10/16 and 10/23 (source).
9:16 pm
Alex texts Lori from his verified phone (source).
11:28 pm
Alex’s verified phone “shows up again” and texts [redacted name] (source).
Note: Alex Cox’s phone stays at or near his apartment at the time of the shooting (source). So I suspect the attempted shooting occurred between 9:26 pm and 11:18 pm (since LE said it was about a 10-minute drive from Alex’s apartment to Chad’s house). Also, Alex left his verified phone with Lori Vallow when he drove to Gilbert, AZ, on 9/30, for the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux as well (source). I believe he left it behind both times in the vain hope of establishing an alibi.
10/9/19: Tammy Daybell files a report with the Rexburg Police Department, claiming to be shot at by a masked man carrying a paintball gun (source 1 // source 2).
Note: According to the Gilbert Police Report, there is evidence that Chad Daybell was the “facilitator” and Alex Cox the “shooter” (source).
10/9/19: Last time Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) had seen her kids (source).
10/9/19: Gilbert Police note that the whereabouts of Alex Cox, Lori Vallow, and [what I believe to be] Tylee Ryan are unknown (source 1 // source 2).
Notes:
- Over the next two days they draft search warrants for their phone data (see the 10/10/19 – 10/11/19 entry).
- In source 2 Tylee’s name was left unredacted, thus confirming my unredaction in source 1.
10/9/19: The FBI reports that Tylee Ryan’s phone had no data for this day (source).
Note: This means the FBI and Gilbert Police would’ve seen this when they pulled Tylee’s cellphone data—and when the FBI analyzed it on 10/17/19 (source). Yet none of them found this suspicious or investigated further. Furthermore, when Gilbert Police asked Rexburg Police to impound Tylee’s Jeep, they didn’t request a welfare check, though they initially said they wanted to know the whereabouts of Tylee and the Jeep. Everyone suffered from a deplorable lack of curiosity about a teen who had gone radio silent and didn’t protest when her car was impounded.
10/10/19: Tylee Ryan’s Venmo account shows a payment to her older half brother, Colby Ryan, with “we love you” in the description field (source).
10/10/19 – 10/11/19: Gilbert Police draft search warrants for the known phone numbers for Alex Cox, Lori Vallow, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and [what appears to be] Tylee Ryan (source).
Note: If they pulled Tylee’s phone records, why weren’t they suspicious when her phone showed little/no data? We know that her phone had no data for 10/9 because the Special Agent Carey Cooper from the FBI asked an analyst to check the phone data of the “players” and included Tylee in that list (source). This is yet one more way Tylee was abandoned by police. A modicum of curiosity on their part could have saved Tammy Daybell’s life and led to the discovery of the kids’ remains before a pandemic slowed the investigation to a sludge.
10/10/19 – 10/12/19: Lori Vallow and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) fly to Missouri and return to Phoenix (source 1: confidential // source 2 // source 3). LE imply Lori is in Missouri because they say it would be interesting to know if JJ’s iPad connected out there since she brought it on her trip to AZ. Also, Lori Vallow deletes a text message that references flights between MO and AZ for these dates (source). Although there’s no screenshot of this flight, LE recover a deleted text message where Lori wrote to Melani about flights (source):
American has a nonstop flight PHX to Kansas City Thursday at 1pm. Then fly back on sat at 6:30pm. [Redacted] said we could stay with her but I told her we could get a hotel and she could stay with us. She will take us to all the amazing sights [sic]!
The purpose of this trip is suggested by a message that was sent to Lori from an unknown sender on 10/4/19 (source):
I said it wrong- the lds woman who is an expert in all the feast days of the hebrews that the Lord sent me to find through a dream- didn’t tell me the bride had to be the first to be symbolically translated before the 144,000. She said that the marriage feast always represented to the hebrews the first resurrection. And the Lord had told her by the spirit it would be at Adam-ondi- Ahman. The place where it all began. The bride had to be the first one resurrected in the 1st resurrection, before the rest of her people the 144,000 could. Because she had to atone and cleanse for her ancestors sins, and their ancestors sins as feminine sacrifice in order for the church of the firstborn to be “born”.
Police report interpretation:
An interpretation of this message would suggest that this was where Lori had to go to become translated and fulfill the beliefs of the Church of the First Born. Lori would travel to Adam Ondi Ahman on 10/11/2019.
Note: Although the name of her travel companion is redacted in these documents, a confidential source told me last year that Lori and Melani were in Independence, Missouri visiting the place LDS members believe Jesus will return. It also makes sense it would be Melani since Lori first traveled to Phoenix and was in Melani’s home the day before the flight.
10/11/19 – 10/12/19: Lori Vallow upload ‘numerous’ pics of herself with friends at the Adam-ondi-Ahman site in Missouri. It’s noted that there are no pics of JJ Vallow or Tylee Ryan (source 1 // source 2 // source 3 // reason for going).
10/12/19: Allegedly, Chad buys rope and a ski mask at Cabela’s in Idaho Falls (source).
Note: This has not been verified in any FOIA docs to date.
10/13/19: Lori Vallow travels from Phoenix to Idaho under the name Lori Ryan (source).
10/13/19: Last time JJ Vallow’s name is mentioned in emails between Lori Vallow and Kay Woodcock (source).
Note: I think this might have been a typo because Kay sent Lori a final email on 10/14.
10/14/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) texts Brandon Boudreaux to say she’s moving to Boise, ID, with or without their four children (source). Brandon, in turn, passes that information on to Gilbert Police (source).
Text reads:
The kids could remain with you in Arizona, you would have to arrange for daycare, and I could have the kids for school holidays and summers. Or I could take the kids to Idaho and enroll them in school there and you could have the kids for school holidays and summers. Please let me know what you’d like to do.
10/14/19: Alex Cox sends Lori Vallow two pics of Mesa Falls from his Yahoo email account. LE questions if these are significant (source).
Note: It’s a matter of public record that Alex Cox had two email addresses: homerjmaximus@yahoo.com and henri_hawk@hotmail.com.
10/14/19: Kay Woodcock sends a final email to Lori begging to see JJ. Her email went unanswered (source).
10/14/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
10/15/19: Brandon Boudreaux tells an investigator at Gilbert Police that he was surprised to find out he was still married and that he wasn’t going to return the kids to Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) the next day as scheduled (source).
10/15/19: Gilbert Police search for [what is believed to be] Tylee Ryan and the Jeep Wrangler. This search included going to her previous school, as well as following other leads (source).
Notes:
- They wanted to know Tylee’s whereabouts until they had the Jeep. Then they no longer cared about her whereabouts, even when they pulled Tylee’s cell phone records this very week and would’ve seen there was little data on her phone (source).
- Why weren’t they then suspicious when Rexburg Police took the Jeep on 11/4/19 and no teenager complained?
- They could’ve possibly thought she changed her number, but the phone still had some data on it because it was used in October, November, and December (source), but there would’ve most likely been a steep decline in her usage data after 9/8/19.
- No persons were contacted nor did anyone follow up about the Jeep’s status during or after the tow/impound (source). A welfare check at this time could have resulted in the kids being found before Rexburg went into its winter-long freeze—and before the pandemic.
- Again and again Tylee was treated as a perp and even named a suspect in order to get a search warrant, never a potential victim. I believe this was the result of months of campaigning against her by family members with an ax to grind. These comments are sprinkled all through this timeline (ex 1, ex 2. ex 3, ex 4)
10/16/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) tries to pick their four children up from school early and finds out Brandon Boudreaux didn’t take them to school. She reports this to Gilbert Police, and a detective asks about her plans to move to Idaho (source 1 // source 2).
10/16/19: Tylee Ryan’s Venmo account shows a payment to her older half brother, Colby Ryan, with just “❤️” in the description field (source).
Notes:
- This transaction was removed from Tylee’s feed sometime after March 1. You can see a screenshot of it here.
- Tylee used orange hearts in her Venmo transfers (see ss above), so a red heart was probably one of the indicators Colby talked about that he wasn’t interacting with Tylee.
10/16/19: Gilbert Police receive confirmation Alex Cox was the driver of the Jeep on 10/1 when surveillance cameras captured him in Holbrook, AZ (source).
Note: This discovery was the impetus to request assistance from the FBI in analyzing Alex, Lori, Melani, and Tylee’s cell data.
10/16/19: Chandler Police request the FBI’s assistance with the cellular data received from the Chandler and Gilbert investigations (source).
10/16/19: A man accesses Lori Vallow’s storage unit and spends what appears to be 6 minutes on premises (source).
Note: This was most likely Alex Cox because the owner noted that a male brought stuff into the unit in a pickup (source).
10/16/19 – 10/23/19: Numerous calls are placed between a number stored in Lori Vallow’s cell phone as ‘Bishop Miller’ and what appears to be her Lori4style account—as ‘Lollytime’ doesn’t fit the redaction and the police report notes that there was only one incoming call to Lori Vallow’s Lollytime account (source).
Note: The police report notes that the investigator couldn’t discern who this account belonged to. However, I believe three facts point to Chad Daybell as the most likely owner:
- All the calls placed and received by this burner phone were overlapped with Lori Vallow and Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) trip to Hawaii and Tammy’s death and funeral services.
- Furthermore, Bishop Miller was the second bishop in the LDS church, appointed by Joseph Smith himself (source), which further suggests (at least to me) this was Chad’s phone as Lori didn’t view anyone else in the group as a leader of this importance (e.g., her heretic brother).
- One of Chad’s other burner phones was stored in Lori’s Lori4style account as “Bishop Shumway,” which follows a theme (source).
- Lori first stored this number in her phone on 10/9, the day of the attempted shooting of Tammy Daybell (source).
10/17/19: The cell phone records pulled tipped Gilbert Police off that Lori Vallow might be living in Idaho. In the previous paragraph of the police report there is a mention of the FBI confirming receipt of phone records (source).
Note: Chandler Police had requested their help with cellular data the day before.
10/17 – 10/24: Lori Vallow and Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) travel to Hawaii (source 1: confidential // source 2 // source 3 // source 4).
10/18/19: Lori Vallow texts her friend Audrey at 11:43 am (UTC -7) from Hawaii and says, “Not sure how long we will be here. Until our work is done” (source).
10/19/19: Tammy Daybell dies in her sleep, according to husband Chad Daybell. He claims she went to bed with a cough and just didn’t wake up. Her death is believed to be natural and no autopsy is performed (source). An investigator told East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton that Chad “didn’t seem all that curious about how she died” (source).
10/19/19: Chad Daybell posts on Facebook and the AVOW forum hours after his wife Tammy’s death. He was reportedly responding to people about her death the entire day (source 1 // source 2).
10/19/19: Lori Vallow and her friend Nicole have a text exchange about Tammy Daybell’s death (source 1 // source 2):
9:18 am
Nicole: I’m not sure if you heard but Chad’s wife died last night. 😭🥴
9:33 am
Lori: Oh my gosh. I did not hear that. I’m in Hawaii and it’s 6 am. 😭😭
9:34 am
Lori: Do you know what happened?
9:37 am
Nicole: Yes, she woke up in the night coughing, threw up, collapsed and passed away.
10/19/19: Melanie Gibb also informs Lori Vallow that Tammy Daybell has died, and Lori acts surprised to hear the news from her as well. Melanie then calls Lori and they talk for 20 minutes (source).
Note: Lori also acted surprised when Nicole texted her about Tammy’s death. Obviously, Lori knew what had happened, but she was careless to act surprised with two different people. Also, Melanie’s call suggests she knows far more about Tammy’s murder than she’s suggested in interviews.
10/19/19: Zulema Pastenes excitedly asks Lori Vallow, “Did you know that was going to happen?” Lori doesn’t answer, but it’s quite clear that Zulema is referring to Tammy Daybell’s death because she also says, “Maybe it was you that I saw at the temple getting ready to get marries just yesterday!!” (source). She also texts Chad about her vision of helping a bride get ready and can hardly contain her delight in the news that Tammy was dead (source).
10/19/19: One of Chad Daybell’s daughters allegedly says to Chad Daybell friend and colleague Julie Rowe that she was most afraid of her dad getting remarried (source, 1:25 minute mark).
10/19/19: Approximate date Kay Woodcock feels heightened concern for JJ Vallow’s welfare (source). Larry Woodcock says that they made multiple calls to Child Protective Services (source).
Notes:
- To date, there’s no mention of these calls in the FOIA docs. The only calls to CPS I’ve seen have been from JJ’s school, L.I.F.E. Academy, and they made two: one in February and one in August.
- Kay told Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that she planned to reach out to one of JJ’s old social workers in Louisiana in hopes that she would open the door to DCS in AZ (source). There’s no confirmation she ever reached out to DCS in AZ or Idaho when Kay found out sometime in September that Lori had moved there.
- CPS is actually called Department of Child Safety in Arizona. So a search of this page for ‘DCS’ will bring up those entries.
- He said they were asking where JJ and Tylee were at this time, but I haven’t seen so much as a single reference to concern for Tylee Ryan in any of their communication with LE to date.
10/20/19: Lori Vallow books a flight from Phoenix to Idaho for travel on the 24th. Confirmation #: 9FBTBX (source 1 // source 2).
10/21/19: Chad Daybell has viewing for Tammy Daybell in Springville, UT, just two days after her death (source).
10/21/19: Colby and Kelsee Ryan post pics from Disneyland (source).
Note: I include this in the timeline because at this point Colby is receiving a steady stream of Venmo transfers from both his mom and Tylee Ryan (in fact, two in this week). Yet they’re enjoying an expensive vacation the week Tammy was [allegedly] murdered. This doesn’t mean they knew what was going down that week, but I do suspect this trip was an attempt by Lori Vallow to ensure Colby’s continued silence.
10/21/19: Zulema Pastenes texts Lori Vallow to tell her that she booked a flight to see her and Chad Daybell for Nov 7th (source).
Note: Either she was planning to fly to Hawaii or she didn’t know that Chad and Lori would be away at that time and booked it to Idaho. I suspect it was the latter because Lori had told Zulema on 10/10 that they would fly her out to Idaho (source).
10/22/19: Brandon and Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) divorce is finalized (source).
10/22/19: Brandon Boudreaux notifies Gilbert Police of Tammy Daybell’s death (source).
10/22/19: Approximate date Brandon Boudreaux calls Kay Woodcock to let her know Tammy Daybell died. Kay remarked in despair that they were “killing everybody along the way.” Kay expressed suspicion that Tammy was poisoned because she said that Lori had spoken of poisoning people over the years (source). She credits Brandon with connecting all the cases with LE in a draft of a Facebook post she sent Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat on 12/20/19, the day the case went public (source).
10/22/19: Approximate date Kay and Larry Woodcock find out JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan are missing, according to Brandon Boudreaux’s business partner’s wife, Jes (source).
Notes:
- Kay Woodcock also said they discovered JJ was missing in October at the press conference they did 1/7/20 (source).
- Kay and Larry Woodcock claimed in an interview with KSL TV reporter Garna Meija that they didn’t know Tylee was missing until after the welfare check on 11/26/19 (source). These are just more mystifying contradictions friends and family members have made regarding Tylee.
- Rich Robertson, the private investigator Brandon Boudreaux hired in Oct 2019, said in an interview with Chris Cuomo on 3/27/23 (the week before Lori Vallow’s trial started) that they knew the kids were missing but “no one was really that concerned at that point” (source).
10/22/19: Tammy Daybell is interred in Spring Creek, ID, just three days after her death (source 1 // source 2).
10/22/19: A man accesses Lori Vallow’s storage unit and spends 9 minutes on premises (source).
Note: This was most likely Alex Cox because the owner noted that a male brought stuff out of the unit in a pickup (source).
10/23/19: A memorial service is held for Tammy Daybell in Rexburg, ID (source 1 // source 2). Chad’s younger brother, Matt Daybell, later tells East Idaho News that he and Chad had not “directly spoken to each other” since the service in Rexburg on Oct. 23 (source). “Since that time, I have texted Chad twice. Once, when I heard from a neighbor of his quick marriage to Lori Vallow, expressing to him my shock and dismay at this news,” Matt Daybell says. “Second, just recently, pleading with Chad to cooperate with authorities and reveal the whereabouts of his new stepchildren.”
Note: Chad Daybell’s friend, Eric Smith, noted Chad’s unusual behavior at Tammy’s funeral (source), as did East Idaho News’ Nate Sunderland (source).
10/23/24: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell exchange texts about family hitman Alex Cox that suggest is time is up (source):
Lori (11:47am): I had a bad dream about Al. Make sure he is still him and protect him 💋
Lori (11:47am): He would be the one they use to get to us both. All this alone time is not good for him. ❤️
Chad (11:53am): I will reach out to him later today.
Chad (12:13pm): I just cleared all of Al’s weapons, curses and cords, and filled him with malachite healing balm. I also put angels around him.
Note: This group believed malachite had special healing properties (source 1 // source 2) when it is actually a poison that causes quick death (source).
10/23/19: Lori Vallow saves photos taken in Hawaii to her iCloud account (source).
10/24/19: Lori Vallow returns to Idaho from Hawaii (source).
10/24/19: Zulema Pastenes, Melanie Gibb, Lori Vallow, and [most likely] Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) meet up to do a podcast (source).
Note: Clearly these ladies weren’t too broken up about Tammy Daybell’s death.
10/24/19: Lori Vallow travels from Phoenix to Idaho (source).
10/25/19: A friend of Tylee receives a text from Tylee but says it didn’t sound like her (source):
hi. missing you guys too… luv ya.
10/25/19: A man accesses Lori Vallow’s storage unit and spends 10 minutes on premises (source).
Note: This was most likely Alex Cox because the owner noted that a male brought stuff out of the unit in a pickup (source).
10/25/19: Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) Rexburg apartment was taken off the market (source).
10/25/19: There are two Venmo transfers from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
10/26/19: A man accesses Lori Vallow’s storage unit and spends 11 minutes on premises (source).
Note: This was most likely Alex Cox because the owner noted that a male brought stuff into the unit in a pickup (source).
10/27/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
10/28/19: Kay Woodcock emails Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat to tell him about Tammy Daybell’s death (source).
Note: This is the first time she tells him Chad Daybell’s name, even though she knew it since at least 3/9 (source) and even forwarded the email from Chad on 8/22.
10/28/19: Two men who appear to be Alex Cox and Chad Daybell are seen moving bikes and other items into the storage unit Lori Vallow rented Oct 1 in Rexburg, ID (source 1 // source 2 // source 3 // source 4 // source 5). They allegedly spend 6 minutes on premises.
Note: The owner noted that two males brought stuff into and out of the unit (source).
10/28/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) signs a lease on her apartment in the same complex as Lori Vallow and Alex Cox (source).
10/28/19: Brandon Boudreaux contacts Gilbert Police to let them know he would be moving in with his parents in Utah for the foreseeable future (source).
10/29/19: Unidentified woman seen playfully running through the snow and then approaching Lori Vallow’s apartment (source).
Note: I suspect this woman may have been Lori Vallow’s sister, Summer Shiflet, for multiple reasons:
- The woman in the video was slim and appears to be brunette.
- Both women appear to have very similar laughs, and Summer and Lori have very similar voices (Summer’s interview).
- A legend found in the police report indicated yellow was “SS” (source).
- There was a “yellow dot” discussed among investigators in reference to Ring doorbell camera footage (source).
- There was also a “cluster of red and blue pins” noted on top of Alex Cox, Lori Vallow, and Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) apartments at this same time (source). Melani was in Rexburg at this time and had just signed a lease for apartment 107 the day before (see 10/28/19).
If Summer was indeed in Rexburg at this time, she would have known both Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow were missing, which would call into question the sincerity of many of her statements in her interview with AZ Family (source). It would also cast a shadow on Janis Cox’s “horrible, awful, terrible realization” about Lori hurting her children (source).
I took a deep dive into this theory in this YouTube live (32:56 min mark).
Update: It came out at Lori Vallow’s trial that her friend, Audrey Barattiero was also in Rexburg at this time.
10/29/19: Gilbert Police reach out to Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and the coroner, Brenda Dye, to learn more about Tammy Daybell’s death (source).
10/29/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
10/30/19: Melanie Gibb texts Lori Vallow to tell her to call her and follows up with, “It’s important” (source).
Note: Brandon Boudreaux’s friend, Jes, said in an interview that Melanie Gibb, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and Alex were running surveillance on Brandon’s friends and neighbors in October—and even knocked on their doors (source). She said one neighbor was so scared she almost packed up and left. She also said that Melani asked Melanie Gibb to knock on a neighbor’s door to ask where Brandon had gone, which she did (source). So she may have been calling in reference to that mission. Just a possibility since we don’t have visibility into what else was going on in that group at this time.
10/31/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
10/31/19: Law enforcement tracks down the Jeep Alex Cox allegedly drove when he shot at Brandon Boudreaux (source).
Note: In the same police Gilbert Police report, there was a note on 10/15/19 that they were also searching for Tylee along with the Jeep (if my redaction is accurate). But they clearly were no longer interested in Tylee’s whereabouts once they found the Jeep. If they had been, the kids could have been found before Rexburg fell into a deep freeze, which was followed by delays from Covid lockdowns, which were put in place in the spring of 2020 (source). They were looking for Brandon.
10/31/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and Alex Cox fly from Idaho Falls to Phoenix and then pack up Melani to move to Rexburg, ID (source). They stay with Zulema Pastenes for the night. Even though Alex and Zulema would be married in less than a month, according to Zulema, she said she would sleep in her daughter’s room, leaving her room for Alex and Melani (source). Lori also told her in that exchange that she forgot it was Halloween. This should have been a red flag to Zulema that she was disconnected as a mother as it wouldn’t make sense that the mother of a 7-year-old child would forget that it was Halloween. Given Zulema’s promise to personally guide JJ to heaven in May (source), I’m quite confident that Zulema knew JJ was dead.
Notes:
- It was confirmed through Zulema’s cell phone records that the marriage between her and Alex was arranged by Lori in August 2019 (source).
- According to Zulema, Lori originally told her, Sarena, and Melanie Gibb that Alex was on his first probation—aka a “first creation”—and cautioned them to be careful what they said around him, explaining that it would be like “giving doctorate information to a kindergartener” (source), but by August Lori was trying to convince Zulema to marry Alex (source). At some point he was upgraded to a multiple creation (source). Chad confirmed just days before Alex’s death, Chad said he was a fifth creation (source).
- Just a few months earlier, in March, it appears Lori was trying to convince Zulema that David Warwick was the one she was supposed to marry (source 1 // source 2). The backstory on the second source is Zulema had asked Lori weeks earlier who she was in a previous probation. Then out of the blue Lori responded with these names. Of course, this only accounted for one of her probations (which conveniently pushed Lori’s agenda for Zulema to marry David); it didn’t account for other other three or four probations (source). 🙄
10/31/19: Location of the Jeep Wrangler is confirmed to be in Idaho (source 1 // source 2).
10/31/19: Approximate date nanny texts Lori one last time about working for her. Lori never responds (source).
👉 10/31/19: Rich Robertson, a private investigator hired by Brandon Boudreaux, sees Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and Alex Cox outside her home taking her children’s clothes, toys, and beds to the curb (source 1 // source 2). Brandon Boudreaux alerts Gilbert Police of this development (source).
Notes:
- Brandon Boudreaux hired Rich in October, but Rich clarified he was hired to find Alex, Melani, and the Jeep; he wasn’t looking for missing kids (source 1 // source 2).
- This is despite the fact that Kay and Larry Woodcock knew Lori had moved to Rexburg in September but just didn’t have their apartment number (source), and Brandon’s business partner’s wife said their little cadre (which consisted of Brandon, Kay, Larry, and other family members) knew the kids were missing in October (source)—a fact Kay also confirmed in a press conference they held on 1/7/20 (source).
Mid Oct 2019: We don’t know exactly when Brandon Boudreaux hired private investigator Rich Robertson, but Rich told Chris Cuomo in his 3/27/23 interview that when he got involved, Charles Vallow had been shot and Brandon had been shot at. He commented that at that time, “the kids were missing, but no one was really that concerned at that point” (source).
Note: In what alternate universe is it acceptable to know kids are missing but not report it to police or be concerned? There are so many bizarre elements to this case that truly disturbing details like this get lost in the mix. I’m also continually disappointed that reporters don’t ask the tough questions.
Late Oct 2019: Colby Ryan says communication with Tylee Ryan started to change. He started calling and FaceTiming her, but she wouldn’t answer and always had a reason for why she couldn’t talk. And they didn’t sound like her, he told FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum.
Lum: “But did it sound like how she would text and how she would talk?”
Ryan: “It [sic] was bouncing back and they just didn’t seem normal…And all these things started piecing together (source, 27:50).
Update: Colby told Dr. Phil that his text exchange with Tylee on 9/28/19 didn’t sound like her (e.g., she would have used an emoji over saying that she loved him) and that he was worried (source).
Late Oct/Early Nov 2019: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell lie about the death and even existence of Lori’s children. Rexburg Police Department publish witness testimony is a press release alleging that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell both lied about the children’s existence:
We are aware that in the weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death, Lori Vallow/Daybell and Chad Daybell told witnesses that Lori’s daughter had died a year before the death of her father, which is untrue. Around that same time Chad told another witness that Lori had no minor children (source)
Late Oct/Early Nov 2019: Estimated time Chad Daybell receives $430,000 in life insurance proceeds following Tammy Daybell’s death (source).
Note: I will update this entry to a more exact date if it becomes available.
Fall 2019: Chad Daybell is allegedly excommunicated from the LDS church after he declared he was a prophet (source).
First week of Nov 2019: Rexburg PD is contacted by Gilbert and Chandler PDs after the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux for help in obtaining search warrants for the 2018 Jeep Wrangler Tylee Ryan drove but was registered to Charles Vallow and in Lori Vallow’s possession. It was believed to be “related to a possible attempted murder” of Brandon Boudreaux (source 1 // source 2). Police note:
It is significant that the vehicle (Tylee) regularly drove was still in Rexburg nearly two months after the last known sighting of (Tylee).
11/1/19: Approximate day Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are seen holding hands by Lt Powell from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office (source).
11/1/19: Detective Ray Hermosillo starts “intermittent surveillance” on Lori Vallow at the request of the Gilbert Police Department. Surveillance continued through Nov 4th, when they found the Jeep used in the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux. Hermosillo reports that he never saw JJ Vallow when he was performing surveillance during the month of November, 2019 (source).
11/1/19: Fremont County Sheriff’s Office Lt Powell locates Lori Vallow and reports her address in Rexburg and observes Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow holding hands in a romantic manner (source).
11/1/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and [allegedly] Alex Cox show up at Claudia and Brandon Ewell’s address sometime between 5:30 and 6pm to ask if they had her children. After they deny having her children, Melani tells her that the Holy Spirit told her they were there and that she was going to be reunited with her kids that night (Ewell interview // video snippet // screenshot 1 // screenshot 2).
Highlights from their interview:
- This interview took place four days after the incident with Melani. They didn’t call the police because they were afraid that Melani wouldn’t be arrested, which would put them in harm’s way if she found out they reported her to the police. Brandon told Gilbert Police about the incident, and they reached out to the Ewells.
- They let her in their house and she looked around for her kids, which sounds eerily like what she did when she visited her father, Steve Cope (source 1 // source 2).
- She said Brandon B “was involved in some really dark things.”
- She asked Brandon E to call Brandon B while she was there.
- Melani told them, “If you guys know what’s good for you and your family, just tell me where [Brandon B] is.”
- A man who matches the description of Alex Cox was sitting in Melani’s SUV while Melani was in the house.
- Alex and Melani stayed in front of their house for 15-20 minutes.
- Brandon E and Claudia were so freaked out, they were whispering inside their own home for fear they were surveilling them.
- Brandon and Claudia invited a neighbor to bring their kids outside to create an awkward situation in hopes Melani and [presumably] Alex would leave. They didn’t.
- They stayed for a total of 45 minutes before Claudia went up to the car and confronted them, telling Melani she was freaking them out.
- Melani had suitcases and a carseat in her car. This was the day of her move to Idaho, so it appears to me she may have been planning to take off with her kids in an act of custodial interference, a page she would’ve pulled from Lori Vallow’s book (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
- Claudia asked Melani who the man was, and Alex wouldn’t even look at her. He just kept looking at his phone.
- There was no license plate on the car. They said there was just a white paper where the plate would’ve been. Claudia and Brandon said they were driving Kia Sorrento, but Melani drove a Kia Telluride (source). So this point is a curious one for me. Did she buy a new car in between Brandon’s attempted murder and her move to Rexburg like Lori? Did she borrow someone’s car and remove the license plate? Did Claudia and Brandon misidentify the car since they are similar?
- Melani and Alex left and then came back 20 minutes later and parked across the street. Then they left and came back again.
- Afterwards, Claudia went on Facebook, and Melani wrote, “I am very sorry for your family,” which scared them even more.
- Brandon E stayed up all night guarding his house. 🥺
- Melani said the man in the driver’s seat was her friend, not her uncle.
- When Brandon B described Alex, Brandon E and Claudia said the driver matched his description.
- When Claudia asked why they didn’t go somewhere else to find Brandon, she said, “I have people all over right now.” This aligns with what Brandon’s friend Jes said in her interview (source).
- When Claudia asked how Melani got their address, she said she got their address off Google, but Claudia said it didn’t come up when she searched. Then Melani said Claudia had posted it on social media. 🤦♀️
- They had a Ring doorbell camera, but the battery was dead that night.
- They estimated Melani and Alex spent about two hours surveilling their home.
- Brandon E said Brandon’s B’s only weakness is that he’s too generous in his business dealings.
- Melani wrote a Facebook post accusing Brandon of kidnapping the kids and offered a $10k reward for information leading to their retrieval (see related entry for 11/2/19). There were approximately 180 comments on the post.
- Melani showed no emotion over her kids being missing, not even when Claudia told her how much her oldest son said he loved her.
- The Ewells and Boudreauxs had gone on trips together, and they said she was very different from the Melani they knew, who they described as sweet.
- Melani accused the Ewells of hiding her kids on Facebook.
👉 11/1/19: Brandon Boudreaux’s private investigator, Rich Robertson, use GPS to follow Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and Alex Cox to Rexburg (source 1 // source 2).
11/2/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) publishes a bizarre Facebook post accusing Brandon Boudreaux of kidnapping their children, persecuting her for her faith, and accusing her of “false things,” and offering a $10k for their location (source).
Note: Brandon’s cousin, Cierra Boudreaux, also accused Brandon of being “armed, mentally unstable, and dangerous.” She also said that he was “claiming someone is trying to kill him.”
11/2/19: Approximate date two detectives knock on Melani Boudreaux’s (now Pawlowski’s) door asking about Lori Vallow. Her account: “I’m foggy on this date but (Rexburg Police) Detective Hermosillo and another gentleman had come to my door while I was moving my stuff in so it had to have been early in November – I’d guess the second week in November” (source).
When I moved up that first week in November, Alex helped me move on Halloween night. We drove up that first week in November with a moving truck. I was very involved in setting up my home and getting everything for my kids. I did bring all the things they do need with them besides a mattress that had stains on it, broken toys and outgrown clothes that I left out front. It was not all of their belongings – I just took everything that was important to us to consolidate into a smaller apartment.
I was getting my home ready and was going to figure out what’s going on with my kids and get them back here. We were going to have a fresh start. And Lori is very independent, doing her own thing. She was next door, but I spent most of my time with Alex. Alex would come over and hang out with me. Those days were hard and teary missing my kids, and he would come over and lift me up.
So if I saw Lori, she was still moving in and getting situated, so I didn’t spend a lot of time over there. I did see some of their things, and she had a room set up perfectly for Tylee and JJ, and it didn’t seem strange to me. I knew the threats she was getting from Kay Woodcock and from others, and I guess I didn’t ask questions because I knew that history. I knew what was going on, and in my own head, I’m trying to find out where my own kids are.
Note: Since they came to Melani’s door while she was moving her stuff in, that would be Nov 1, not the second week in November.
👉 11/3/19: Kay Vallow Woodcock sends an email to Chandler Det Nathan Moffat letting him know Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) , and Tylee Ryan moved to Rexburg (source).
Notes:
- This is a conundrum because Kay told Keith Morrison from Dateline in 2020 that she found out Lori moved to Rexburg from her Amazon purchase, which Kay found on Nov 10th. Kay told Amy Robach from 20/20 that they found out Lori moved to Idaho in September but just didn’t have an apartment number, suggesting she knew Lori moved to Rexburg as early as September (source). (I suspect she found out 9/26/19. See the related entry for more information as to why/how.) So why wait until 11/3 to pass this info on? And why didn’t she pass it on when she first found out in September?
- If Kay didn’t have an apartment number because she was working with GPS data (which is what I suspect), the GPS data for what appears to have been Summer Shiflet’s device (signified by a yellow dot) was only one “unit” (or apartment) off from Alex Cox’s apartment (source). Why not pass on what she had and disclose how she came across this information?
11/3/19: Lori Vallow flies from from Salt Lake City to Kauai (source 1 // source 2). They return to Idaho 11/14/19 (see related entry below).
Note: It’s safe to assume Chad Daybell was also on this flight since they were going to Hawaii to get married. Also, it’s interesting that they drove a rental car from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City (source). So it appears Chad drove his car from Rexburg to Idaho Falls, rented a car to Salt Lake City, UT, when he had just come into more than $300,000 in life insurance proceeds.
11/3/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
11/3/19: Lori Vallow has a call with a number that’s saved in her main Lori4style account as “Spencer’s Wife” (source 1 // source 2).
11/3/19 – 11/6/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell stay at Kauai Beach Resort (source).
Note: I believe that Lori and Chad may have been in Hawaii through Nov 14th because there’s a text exchange between Lori and Zulema Pastenes about them arriving into Mesa on that day and meeting up during their brief, six-hour layover (source).
11/4/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell have a marriage license appointment (source).
11/4/19: Tylee Ryan’s gray Jeep Wrangler—which was seen in CCTV the day Brandon Boudreaux was reportedly shot at in front of his home in Gilbert, AZ—is seized and impounded in accordance with a search warrant in November 2019 in Rexburg, ID. The Jeep is registered to Charles Vallow (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
Note: Originally LE stated they wanted to know the whereabouts of Tylee Ryan and the Jeep, but when Rexburg Police found the Jeep and impounded it, no further inquiry was made into Tylee’s whereabouts. It’s also bizarre that these criminals wouldn’t have fled then. They’re down a car and don’t even follow up.
11/4/19: Lori Vallow has a second call with a number that’s saved in her main Lori4style account as “Spencer’s Wife” (source 1 // source 2).
11/4/19: Kay Woodcock asks Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat for a copy of the coroner’s report for her brother, Charles Vallow, as well as a copy of the 911 call (source).
11/4/19: Kay Woodcock asks Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat if they’ve looked at Lori’s “recording devices” like Amazon, Alexa, etc. She also asks if someone has life insurance, but none of the usual names fit in the redaction. The only thing I could fit is “Lori’s brother,” but take it with a grain of salt since there are nearly endless options once you rule out actual names (source).
Note: Her point 2 is completely redacted.
11/5/19: Brandon Boudreaux informs Gilbert PD that he had recently learned his estranged wife, Melani Boudreaux, had moved to Rexburg (source).
11/5/19: Gilbert Police interview Claudia and Brandon Ewell about Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and Alex’s visit/surveillance and Melani’s bizarre claim that the Holy Spirit told her that her children were at their house (Ewell interview // source 1 // source 2).
11/5/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell marry in Kauai, Hawaii (source, wedding pics start at the 1:08 minute mark).
Note: This is 17 days after his former wife, Tammy Daybell, died unexpectedly.
11/5/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
11/6/19: According to Brandon Boudreaux’s friends, Claudia and Brandon Ewell, Melani and Brandon Boudreaux have a court date scheduled for this date (source).
Notes:
- I deduced the date from the fact that Claudia said it was the next day, and their interview was 11/5/19.
- It’s unclear if Melani attended this hearing because she had just moved to Rexburg five days earlier. But judging by the fact that Ian said he was having a hard time convincing Melani to go to her custody hearing on 12/11/19 (source)—in part because Chad Daybell shared a prophecy that her children would return to her (source)—I suspect she did not attend this hearing.
11/7/19: Lori Vallow and Zulema Pastenes’ friend, Sarena, was at the temple with Zulema. Zulema said “Porsius” went with her to the temple and showed himself to Sarena, and Sarena confirmed she saw him. Lori wanted to know if she asked about her and Chad or heard about his wife dying, and Zulema said she didn’t (source).
Note: Although it’s apparent Lori didn’t trust Sarena, if she had been kicked out of the group, as she claimed happened in March, Zulema most likely wouldn’t have been hanging out with her. Also, “Porsius” was the name of Zulema’s former husband in a previous probation (source).
11/7/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell meet with Jeani Martin about renting a room from her home in Kauai, HI. According to Martin, after claiming to receive a “sign from God” about moving in to her home, she asks about former wife, Tammy Daybell’s recent death. He answers via text, claiming, “She helped me reconnect with Lori so quickly and it helped my children move forward” (source).
11/7/19: Approximate date Brandon Boudreaux’s business partner’s wife, Jes, talks with Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) about JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan. She, Brandon, and the Woodcocks knew they were missing at this point a couple weeks. Melani tells Jes she trusted Lori (source).
11/7/19 – 11/8/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell inquire about rental homes saying they have no children (source).
11/8/19: Chad Daybell sent an email to a Kauai realtor. Three days after he & Lori Vallow got married. Outside of authorities, this is second source to tell us that Daybell said he had no kids on the island (source).
11/9/19: Lori Vallow sends a text message to and Alex Cox and Zulema Pastenes urging them to come to Hawaii (source).
👉 11/10/19: Kay Woodcock logs in to Charles’ Amazon account and finds Lori’s purchases for wedding attire (source 1 // source 2 // source 3 // source 4 // source 5).
A few clarifications:
- Kay said she tried one of Charles’ passwords and it worked, but Rich Robertson said in a podcast he did in March 2023 that Charles gave Kay a list of his logins in case something happened to him (source). And in one interview she said she accessed his Amazon account by plugging her computer into his printer (source).
- Kay emailed Chandler Police Det Moffat; there’s no indication she called him, as was reported by Dateline (source).
- Kay also didn’t tell Det Moffat that Lori actually purchased wedding accoutrement, e.g., two wedding rings, a wedding dress, an all-white men’s outfit, size XL, etc. She only told him that Lori searched for wedding clothes and didn’t mention rings.
- Kay didn’t tell Det Moffat that she had Lori’s address from this find. In fact, when she requested the welfare check on Nov 25th, it appears she still hadn’t ever passed on Lori’s physical address because an analyst with the Phoenix FBI office had to run a skip trace to track down Lori’s address (source).
11/11/19: Lori Vallow uses Tylee Ryan’s AirPods (source).
11/12/19: Brandon Boudreaux told a Gilbert Police detective that Melani was still paying for a life insurance policy on him despite him asking her to remove herself from the policy (source).
11/12/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) trespasses onto Brandon’s parents’ property in America Fork, Utah. American Fork Police say Melani’s uncle, Alex Cox drove her to where her children were in a 2020 Kia Telluride (source 1 // source 2).
11/12/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are spotted in an LDS temple in Hawaii (source).
11/13/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler Det Nathan Moffat she and Larry met with the social worker who handled JJ’s adoption (in Louisiana) and asks for a contact at Rexburg Police to ask for a welfare check (source). She follows up again the next day with a reminder (source).
Note: It appears Moffat never sent the contact because the welfare check wouldn’t be requested from Rexburg Police for another 12 days.
11/14/19: Kay Woodcock follows up with Chandler Det Nathan Moffat about contact at Rexburg Police for a welfare check for JJ Vallow (source).
11/14/19: Zulema Pastenes meets up with Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell during their six-hour layover in Mesa. Lori and Chad got a room at her go-to hotel, the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Mesa, next to the airport (source). This return date lines up with the mid-November timeframe mentioned in the first Dateline episode (source)**.
Note: I wonder if this was when the plan was hatched to murder Alex Cox. His death was ruled natural, but I personally do not believe it was natural. Also, Zulema made a bizarre reference to a bag of cash in her house. This may have been when she actually came into that bag of cash as this is the last cited reference to them meeting up. Also, if Lori and Chad were so tired they needed to get a room for a few hours, why would they prioritize meeting up with their needy and clingy friend? Sus. 🧐
**Just noting that Keith Morrison says in this clip that “Kay and Larry Woodcock knew nothing of Lori’s new marriage.” He continued, “In fact, they didn’t even know she moved the kids to Idaho.” We now know that neither of those statements were true.
Kay Knew About Chad in March 2019
Kay knew about Chad Daybell as early as March 9, 2019 because Charles found and forwarded an email exchange between Chad and Lori with five of her documents (see related entry from 1/22/19).
Kay Knew About Chad and Lori’s Affair from Charles
Chad’s name and email address were in forwarded email. She also sent an email to Det Moffat on 10/28/19 letting him know about Lori and Chad’s suspected affair, even adding that Lori would send Chad long videos of her dancing—2-3 hours each (source). Charles found these on 6/29/19 and sent an email to Tammy, Chad, and Adam Cox about these videos (see related 6/29/19 entries), so it’s reasonable to assume he would have told his closest confidant, Kay, about them at that time as well.
Kay Knew Lori Moved to Rexburg in September
And then she says she discovered Lori’s Amazon purchases of wedding supplies on Nov 10, 2019. Finally, Kay said in a 20/20 interview that was recorded just weeks after we were all interviewed for this Dateline interview that she found out that Lori and the kids had moved to Idaho “sometime in September” and even had her address but were just missing their apartment number (source). (Because of delays caused by the pandemic, this episode didn’t air until Feb 2021, but our interviews were done the year prior.) However, she didn’t mention to Det Moffat that they had moved to Rexburg, ID, until Nov 3. Even then, she didn’t share the street address with him (source). So she knew sometime in September and told Det Moffat Nov 3rd, but it appears from the information publicly available at the time of writing (11/21/22) that she never passed on the address sans the apartment number.
11/14/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) trespasses onto Brandon’s parents’ property a second time, around 10:30pm, claiming to have a court order stating she could take the children. Police cite Melani for criminal trespassing and tell her to leave the property but then decide to take her into custody for criminal trespassing enhanced by domestic violence. Melani turns herself in to AFPD and is booked into Utah County Jail. Melani’s uncle, Alex Cox, posts her bail of $1,950. The day after the arrest, Cox bailed Melani out (source 1 // source 2).
11/18/19: Arizona Dept of Public Safety detective, a crime scene tech, and a Gilbert Police Department detective fly to Rexburg to process the Jeep Wrangler that was involved in the attempted murder of Brandon Boudreaux (source). According to RPD Det Hermosillo this was the first time they heard the names JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan because Kay and Larry Woodcock hadn’t heard from JJ in a while. The GPD detective said they were going to look for JJ in Arizona to see if he was with friends and if they needed them further they would get with them at a later date.
Note: They had impounded Tylee’s Jeep two weeks prior. How was no one suspicious that a teen would sit by idly as her car was taken? And why wouldn’t they just do a welfare check? Why would they think JJ was in AZ with friends when his family was in Idaho? It’s madness.
11/19/19: Melani and Brandon Boudreaux’s divorce is finalized. She doesn’t show up, and he is awarded full custody of their children.
11/21/19: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from L.I.F.E. Academy, his old school (source).
Note: Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19, five days after moving to Rexburg, ID.
11/21/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
ylee.
11/21/19: Lori Vallow saves numerous pics of Hawaii to her iCloud (source).
11/22/19: Lori Vallow texts Colby Ryan to tell him Tylee sent him a Venmo (source):
I text Ty to send it but I haven’t heard back yet. She will probably just do it before she tells me
Hope you got the Venmo. Ty said she sent it late. I’ll call you when I get a break. Hope you are having a great day. I love you so much !!!
Notes:
- Colby’s name fits into the redaction. I included the font I used over another sentence to demonstrate how well it fits.
- Tylee told Colby on 9/8 that she was no longer receiving the SSI payments; their mom was. So why would Colby believe that his mom was really texting Tylee to ask her to send the money?
11/23/19: Tammy Daybell’s family finds out Chad had remarried (source).
11/23/19 – 11/30/19: Ian Pawlowski travels to Mesa, AZ, with his two kids to visit his sister, Hannah, for Thanksgiving (source).
Note: Hannah noted to investigators that this visit had been planned months in advance. What wasn’t planned was the addition of his then-girlfriend, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), joining them. She and Alex Cox arrived in Arizona on 11/27, after fleeing Idaho following the welfare check.
11/24/19: Lori Vallow and a man who appears to be Chad Daybell visit her storage unit in Rexburg, ID, for the last time. They leave a box of memorabilia for Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, as well as a tote of clothing. They stay for 4 minutes (source 1 // source 2 // source 3 // source 4 // source 5).
Note: The owner noted that Lori and a male brought stuff out of the unit and put stuff into the unit (source).
11/24/19: Chad Daybell gives Alex Cox a patriarchal blessing (source 1 // source 2). According to Melanie Gibb, Alex said he cried like a baby (source).
11/25/19: Lori Vallow uses Tylee Ryan’s AirPods (source).
11/25/19: Investigation begins when Rexburg Police Department is contacted by the Gilbert, Arizona, Police Department in response to a welfare check for JJ requested by JJ’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock. (source).
Note: Tylee Ryan wasn’t included in the welfare check because Detective Nathan Moffat—one of the detectives who was on scene the day Charles Vallow was shot and described his ride with Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, and Tylee as “straight-up bizarre”—thought he didn’t need to include Tylee Ryan in the welfare check:
I got on the phone with Rexburg PD, and I requested they do a welfare check at the residence for JJ. More specifically JJ than Tylee because Tylee’s 16, 17 years old (source).
11/26/19: Rexburg PD and Fremont County Sheriff’s Office meet re: the welfare check for JJ Vallow (source).
11/26/19: LE performs welfare check on JJ Vallow at 565 Pioneer Rd, Rexburg, ID. Lori Vallow tells police JJ is staying with a family friend in AZ. Investigators learn later that day had not been staying with the friend (source).
Other suspicious activity later released in a 14-page affidavit of probable cause document obtained by East Idaho News (source):
- “Chad acted as if he didn’t know Lori very well and stated he didn’t know her phone number.” They had married three weeks prior. (See the 11/5/19 entry.)
- “Alex [Cox] told the detectives that [Joshua Vallow] was with his grandma, Kay Woodcock, in Louisiana, which was not likely to be true due to the fact that Kay was the individual who first called in a missing child report to the Gilbert Police Department.”
- Cox told officers Lori “might be” in apartment 107.
- Apartment 107 was vacant.
- Police found Lori “later that day” in apartment 175 (source).
- Chad Daybell tried to drive away while detectives were at the apartment complex, but a detective stopped him.
- Chad told an investigator that the last time he had seen JJ was in apartment 107 in October. He also admitted that he knew his wife’s phone number. Notable: This proves that Chad was aware that Lori had at least one minor child.
- Vallow told detectives JJ was with Melanie Gibb—a friend of Lori and Chad who had participated as a co-host with Chad and Lori on a Preparing a People podcast, co-hosted the Time to Warrior Up podcast with Lori, spoke at the Preparing a People conference, and wrote the book Feel the Fire (Chad wrote the foreword). Detective Ron Ball stated that this lie “delayed the investigation into the whereabouts and safety of [JJ] by requiring us to take time to investigate a lead that was verified as false.”
- Detectives called Gibb but were unable to reach her. Lori claimed that her friend and JJ were at Frozen 2. Officers told Lori to tell her friend to call them.
- After not hearing back from Gibb that night (‼️), LE in Rexburg called the Gilbert Police Department. Officers from GPD went to Gibb’s home. She was not there, but they reached her by phone. Gibb told them JJ had not been there for several months (source). Notable: Not getting back to LE in a timely manner gave Lori and Chad significant lead time to flee the jurisdiction.
- Gibb waited 10 days before telling RPD that both Lori and Chad asked her to tell them she had JJ (source).
- Gibb has reportedly retained a lawyer and is cooperating with authorities (source, 1:57 minute mark).
11/26/19: Gilbert Police interview Melanie and Brendan Gibb’s oldest son after Melanie wouldn’t return their calls. He says that his mom is with her boyfriend in Utah and that he didn’t believe JJ Vallow was with her (source).
11/26/19: After Rexburg Police are unable to get ahold of Melanie Gibb because she refused to return their calls (source // p 4), they reach out to Gilbert Police and ask them to go to Melanie’s home. Gilbert PD Det Ryan Pillar calls Melanie, and she doesn’t pick up. But then she returns his call later and tells him that she had JJ Vallow. For some reason GPD falsely reported that she said she didn’t have JJ (source). But then we found out at Chad Daybell’s preliminary hearing in August 2020 that she lied to Det Pillar and didn’t correct her line until eight days later (source).
Note: Melanie most likely didn’t correct her lie to Det Pillar for 12 days, when she talked to him by phone on 12/8, the same day she recorded her call with Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell.
11/26/19: Kay and Larry Woodcock reportedly tell KSL TV reporter Garna Meija that they didn’t know Tylee Ryan was missing until Rexburg Police did the welfare check (source).
Notes:
- This contradicts what Kay said in their 1/7/20 press conference they held (source).
- This also contradicts the claim of Brandon Boudreaux’s business partner’s wife, Jes, who also said their group, which included the Woodcocks, knew the kids were missing around the time of Tammy Daybell’s death (source).
- Kay told me in 2020 in a Facebook group we were in together that they “of course” included Tylee in the welfare check. That turned out to not be a truthful statement.
11/27/19: LE executes a search warrant for the townhouse Lori Vallow’s was renting and discovers that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell vacated the home. Witnesses say kids weren’t with them. LE also search the townhouses belonging to Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, and niece, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), who reportedly lived within a few doors of Vallow (source). They also find two backpacks with kids’ stuff in them and a prescription bottle for JJ Vallow dated Jan 2019 from Arizona Fry’s Pharmacy (source).
11/27/19: LE search Lori Vallow’s Self-Storage Plus storage unit, where they find kids’ bikes, toys, photo albums, winter clothes, a backpack with JJ’s initials, a jersey with Colby Ryan’s name on it, photo blankets made from pictures of Tylee and JJ from infancy on (source).
Notes:
- Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and/or Alex Cox visit the storage unit a total of 10 times between Oct 1 and Nov 24.
- The owner of the storage facility noted that Rexburg Police came to the storage facility 1:58 pm and stayed 2 minutes and then came back at 5:08 pm with a search warrant and stayed 13 minutes (source).
11/27/19: Approximate date Alex Cox moves back to Arizona, according to Ian Pawlowski’s sister, Hannah (source).
11/27/19: Detectives come to the house of Lori Vallow’s son, Colby Ryan, to inquire about the whereabouts of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source, 24:57 minute mark). Colby told FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum that he called his mom after they left and said, “Two detectives just came to my door. What is going on?’ She allegedly answered, “‘I got it, I’ll take care of it. Love you.” Colby added, when pressed by Lum, that she also asked what the detectives asked him but that was it (25:47 minute mark). Colby also agrees to contact police if his mom reached out (source).
Notes:
- Lori had already offered him her Nissan Rogue, which had multiple blood stains (one of which was described as large), in mid November (source). But Colby didn’t disclose this to investigators when they came to his home on 11/27 and didn’t tell them when he came into possession of it on 11/30, even though he told detectives he would let them know if he had any contact with his mom (source). He didn’t come clean about the car until the day after the case went public (12/21). By that time he had already gotten the car detailed (source).
- Colby told Justin that he found out about his mom and siblings moving to Idaho from the detectives who came to his door, but then he said in his Netflix interview that his wife, Kelsee, found out Lori had moved to Rexburg and married Chad Daybell (source).
11/27/19: Approximate date Rexburg Police Department requests the assistance of the FBI in finding Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source).
11/27/19: Police serve search warrants at Lori’s townhome and Alex’s apartment where they find large number of firearms (source).
11/27/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) joins Ian Pawlowski at his sister Hannah’s house. She arrives in Lori’s Nissan Rogue around 6:30 pm but then left and spent the night elsewhere around midnight (source).
11/27/19: Rexburg Police call Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) and Alex Cox to ask them to return to Rexburg on 12/3/19 to be interviewed by Rexburg Police detectives, and they agree. Alex was never interviewed by RPD, and Melani wasn’t interviewed until 12/23/19 and that was with the FBI (source).
11/28/19: Colby Ryan emails Lori Vallow after she shut her phone off to see what was going on and to ask for her to help them out through Venmo (source):
Mom, you changed your number? What is going on?
11/28/19: Colby and Kelsee Ryan post on social media for Thanksgiving with no mention of his missing siblings (source).
11/28/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) returns to Ian’s sister’s house for Thanksgiving dinner but then leaves again around midnight (source).
11/28 – 12/1/19: Chad Daybell spends Thanksgiving weekend on vacation with his family in Southern California, traveling there via the Salt Lake City airport. Photos posted to social media show Chad at the airport and later Knott’s Berry Farm, an amusement park in Buena Park, CA. Lori wasn’t in any of the photos (source). It’s later discovered they stay at the Residence Inn in La Miranda Buena Park (source).
11/29/19: Lori Vallow cancels her internet service in Rexburg (source).
11/29/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) returns to Ian’s sister’s house and this time spend the night (source).
11/29/19: Alex Cox marries Zulema Pastenes in Las Vegas (source). According to the owner of A Chapel of Love in Las Vegas—where the two were married—the minister reflected on the service, commenting that the thing that stuck out to him the most was their “lack of emotional response.” He continued, “They were very cold. It was business. They wanted to get in and get out.” The owner said their service only lasted 8 mins, and their only witness was the chapel security guard (source, 1:21 minute mark).
Note: Ian Pawlowski told investigators that “Al and Zulema had stayed in Las Vegas and were ‘preparing earthquakes’ at the time I spoke with the police. Since he spoke to police 12/5 and 12/6, this puts them in Vegas through at least 12/5/19. Also, Alex Cox took Zulema’s last name (source).
11/29/19: Lori’s friend, Melanie Gibb, receives email from Lori full of pictures of their wedding on the beach. Gibb claims she didn’t know they had gotten married (source).
11/29/19 – 12/1/19: Chad rented Nissan Altima from a location in Fullerton, CA (source).
11/30/19: Ian Pawlowski, Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and Ian’s two kids leave his sister Hannah’s home in his car (source).
Note: I believe Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) was using the Nissan Rogue to travel to and from Ian’s sister house, and they left it on the street for Colby to pick up when they left and no longer needed it.
11/30/19: Colby Ryan comes into possession of the Nissan Rogue registered to Lori Vallow and Alex Cox and he detailed it even though it had visible blood stains (source).
Note: Lori had already offered him her Nissan Rogue, which had multiple blood stains (one of which was described as large), in mid November (source). But Colby didn’t disclose this to investigators when they came to his home on 11/27 and didn’t tell them when he came into possession of it on 11/30, even though he told detectives he would let them know if he had any contact with his mom (source). He didn’t come clean about the car until the day after the case went public (12/21). By that time he had already gotten the car detailed (source).
11/30/19: Colby Ryan comes into possession of Lori Vallow’s Nissan Rogue (source).
11/30/19: Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski) marries Ian Pawlowski in Las Vegas (source).
Note: Alex Cox (AKA Alex Pastenes) is their witness.
Early Dec: Ian Pawlowski texts his ex-wife concerns about the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux: “She didn’t know beforehand what was gonna happen. They made the attempt, failed and told her about it after the fact (transcript).”
Dec 2019: Lori Vallow’s next-door neighbor in Rexburg is interviewed by Rexburg PD. He says he and his wife, Leah, had previously been interviewed by Rexburg PD Det David Stubbs (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
Dec 2019: Melanie Gibb allegedly says kids are most likely dead and that all were probably killed by Alex. Gibb also says (again, allegedly) that Lori and Chad were frustrated that Tammy had not died yet, and Chad allegedly told Lori, “It’s not that easy to get someone’s spirit out of their body” (source).
Note: I’m assuming “all” means everyone who died in this story: Charles, Tylee, JJ, and Tammy.
Dec 2019: Melanie Gibb is interviewed by the FBI (source).
1st Week of Dec: Chad Daybell, Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux), Ian Pawlowski, and Zulema Pastenes have multiple conference calls (source).
Note: I imagine Det Hermosillo mentioned that Ian was on the phone to let Zulema know they know the content of these calls because Ian started wearing a wire for the FBI on 12/5.
12/1/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell fly from LA to Kauai on American Airlines. RPD cannot find any information that confirms they’ve returned to the mainland since this date (source).
12/2/19: Ian Pawlowski’s mother calls him after talking to his ex-wife Natalie. She told him that Melani was in a cult, Chad is a cult leader, and her uncle had shot a man (source).
12/2/19: Alex Cox’s apartment goes back on the market (source 1 // source 2).
12/2/19: Colby Ryan’s wife, Kelsee, reaches out to Chandler Police by filling out their web form to ask a detective to get back to them, not realizing it was Gilbert Police who had come to their home on 11/26, not Chandler Police (source).
Note: It’s odd that she knew the location of Lori’s P.O. Box, which was in Sugar City, and that she didn’t have contact info for the detectives who came to their door as Colby told them he’d reach out if he heard from his mom.
12/2/19: Lori Vallow and Colby Ryan exchange emails in response to the email Colby sent on 11/28 (source):
“Hi Colby!
I need you to know that we are safe and happy. I know this sounds confusing to you but I need you to trust me….that although there are wicked people trying to cause harm that Jesus is on our side and taking care of us. Although we may be out of touch for a while, I will continue to help you. I love you all so much! The car and the car insurance will be paid for so u can drive it with no worries. The phones will also be good. You are precious to your momma !!! I love you so much !! Kisses to and you Ryley, and Kelsee. I hope to talk soon :). I will continue to pray blessings on your family constantly.
Colby: Okay mom. I love you. Please be smart and take care of the kids and yourself. I don’t know what’s going on but I’m praying for all of you. I’m mad, and sad. But I know I can’t control anything going on. Please be safe. All of you. We love you and if you can help us at all through Venmo too that would help. I’m gonna be getting a second job but until then we could use a little help. You have helped us so much with the car and phones so thank you for that. I love you all.
12/2/19: FBI Special Agent Carey Cooper tells Chandler and Gilbert Police detectives that the FBI and Rexburg Police are willing to look into “state or federal felon in possession charges” to arrest and hold Alex Cox on weapons charges (source).
Note: Although we don’t see a response from these detectives, an FBI intelligence analyst researched if Alex was legally permitted to own/carry a firearm and found out he was a prohibited possessor just two days later (see entry for 12/4). And Gilbert Police started surveillance on Zulema Pastenes’ home on 12/5/19 and had eyes on Alex that night (see entry for 12/5), yet he was never arrested. He died just one week later, ostensibly while still under surveillance. So what were they waiting for?
12/3/19: According to an email from Natalie Pawlowski (ex-wife of Ian Pawlowski) to an associate of Brandon Boudreaux, Melani Pawlowski (current wife of Ian Pawlowski and former wife of Brandon Boudreaux) is interviewed by LE for five hours (source). This is corroborated by an email FBI agent Carey Cooper (source).
12/3/19: Ian Pawlowski calls into Rexburg Police to check on Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux). He claims he’s only known her one month and that he does not know JJ or Lori Vallow (source). This claim contradicts the notes he wrote for his attorney after telling Melani that he had been cooperating with the investigation (source).
12/3/19: Tylee Ryan’s phone is used in Kauai, HI, almost three months after she was murdered (source).
12/3/19: Alex Cox activates a new burner phone (source).
12/3/19: According to an email exchange between Chandler PD Det Moffat and Kay Woodcock, Moffat, Gilbert PD Det Pillar, FBI agents, and detectives from Idaho have a conference call about the missing kids (source).
12/4/19: Zulema Pastenes tells Alex Cox that “Raphael” got a new phone number. Investigators discover that Chad Daybell was the registered owner phone (source).
12/4/19: An intelligence analyst with the FBI alerts detectives with Chandler and Gilbert Police Departments that, contrary to what Det Moffat told Cole Vallow in his email on 7/23/19 (source), Alex Cox was a prohibited possessor, meaning that his rights to own firearms had not been restored (source).
Note: The analyst was told that Alex’s rights would have only been restored if his record had been expunged, and the fact that they could see the assault on his record indicated it had not been been expunged.
12/4/19: FBI agents from Phoenix, AZ, look into Lori Vallow, Melanie Gibb, and Richard “Jason” Mow (source 1). Agent digs into Lori Vallow’s podcasts. FBI agent notes Jason Mow joined them in the podcast. Mow said they had a “special connection” and described her as a “gatherer.” Mow connected Vallow with Gibb (source 2). Vallow mentions how “suffering leads to salvation and that even thought she doesn’t want her kids to suffer she understands they have to so they can see the light.” Agent also describes podcasts as “not soothing by any means” (source 3).
12/4/19: FBI agent digs into Richard “Jason” Mow’s professional background. Agent notes that the Phoenix Police Department’s Homicide Sergeant recalls a time he was “sleeping in the front seat of his car while he was supposed to be doing security for them as they were executing a search warrant.” Agent asks another agent to look into him more (source).
12/4/19: Natalie Pawlowski contacts an associate of Brandon Boudreaux, trying to find him. It’s a pretty desperate cry for help and reveals how scared she and Ian both were (transcript).
12/4/19: Someone publishes part 1 of Lori and Melanie’s podcast they recorded with David Warwick on 9/22/19 (the last day JJ Vallow was seen alive): Part 1 Guest David Warwick ‘From Gangs to the Gospel’ (source 1 // source 2).
Note: I believe this someone was Lori and that she did this to implicate David Warwick in the murder of JJ Vallow.
12/5/19: Alex Cox texts Chad Daybell’s burner phone from a new burner phone, “Hey it’s Reh [sic] Romano” (source). Chad doesn’t respond.
12/5/19: Natalie and Ian Pawlowski are interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source 1 // source 2).
Notes:
- One of the items Lori Vallow’s defense attorney requested from Rexburg Police Department was recordings from Ian Pawlowski (source). Also, we found out from Rexburg Police’s interview with Zulema Pastenes that Ian informed LE that Lori, Chad, Alex, Zulema, and Melani had multiple conference calls.
- I believe Ian was the source of the tip to LE that the kids were dead (source). The screenshot is an amalgam of two screenshots. I just support why I think Ian was this source…in addition to the fact that he wrote something similar when typing out his notes for Melani’s attorney (source) and told his sister when he was in AZ in November 2019 (source).
12/5/19: Surveillance begins on Zulema Pastenes’ residence as a result of Ian and Natalie Pawlowski’s interview (source). A woman and man appearing to be Zulema Pastenes and Alex Cox are seen together by leaving his Silver Ford F-150 (source 1 // source 2).
12/6/19: Someone publishes part 2 of Lori and Melanie’s podcast they recorded with David Warwick the last day JJ Vallow was seen alive, Part 2 Guest David Warwick ‘Game Changer’ (source 1 // source 2).
12/6/19: Lori Vallow’s friend and one-time Preparing a People podcast co-host, Melanie Gibb reaches out to Rexburg Police to tell them she had lied about having JJ Vallow. She tells them that both Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had contacted her separately on 11/26, and asked her to lie to detectives and tell them JJ was with her, which she did (source 1 // source 2 // source 3):
On December 6, 2019, RPD was contacted by Melanie Gibb and informed that both Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow called Melanie on November 26, 201 9 at separate times and asked her to tell the police that she had [JJ Vallow] even though [JJ Vallow] was not with her. Melanie informed RPD that she declined Chad’s and Lori’s requests. This further establishes that the statement made to law enforcement by Lori Vallow on November 26, 201 9 was false and that Lori Vallow knew it was false.
The statement Lori made to RPD about [JJ Vallow] being with Melanie Gibb delayed the investigation into the whereabouts and safety of [JJ Vallow] by requiring us to take time to investigate a lead that was verified as false.
Note: This was 10 days after the welfare check, when she told Det Pillar that JJ was with her. It had been reported that Gibb refused to lie for Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell (source // 2:15 min mark), but this, too, was a lie. See note from the 12/8 entry that starts with “Melanie Gibb meets with Gilbert PD Detective Ryan Pillar” to view the recording of Gibb admitting under oath to lying to Det Pillar about having JJ.
12/6/19: Zulema Pastenes reported that Alex Cox started having shortness of breath (source).
12/6/19: Ian Pawlowski meets with LE again alone and restates what he knows for a few other detectives, Lieutenant Ball, and another FBI agent named Travis (source).
12/6/19: Chandler PD in AZ serve a search warrant for all JJ’s records at L.I.F.E. Academy, where he attended before Lori Vallow moved him to Rexburg, ID, following JJ’s father’s death (source).
12/6/19: Zulema Pastenes is seen driving to the Gilbert Temple, according to Gilbert PD (source).
12/6/19: Rexburg PD Det Dave Hope interviews Garth Daybell at Madison Jr. High, Rexburg (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
12/6/19: Zulema Pastenes tells Melanie Gibb she received her “witness” regarding Lori, meaning her confirmation that she was the religious leader she claimed to be (source).
12/6/19: Rexburg PD Det Ray Hermosillo interviews Melanie Gibb (source). This call was described as brief (source).
Note: I haven’t found a record of this call in the FOIA docs. John Prior introduced this call in his cross examination of Melanie Gibb on 4/19/24. If further confirmation is published one way or the other, I’ll update this entry.
12/7/19: Rexburg PD Det Ray Hermosillo interviews Melanie Gibb (Motion to Compel – raw // // Motion to Compel – OCR) // source 1 // source 2).
12/7/19: Rexburg PD Det Dave Hope interviews Principal Williams at JJ Vallow’s school, Kennedy Elementary (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
12/7/19: According to Zulema Pastenes, Alex Cox drove to Algodones, Mexico, to buy prescriptions because they were cheaper (source 1 // source 2). The Gilbert Police Report confirms he crossed the border into Mexico that morning and returned that afternoon (source).
12/8/19: Someone publishes part 3 of Lori and Melanie’s podcast they recorded with David Warwick the last day JJ Vallow was seen alive, “Part 3 – Confronting Persecutors, Refinement in Feeling the Fire” (source 1 // source 2).
12/8/19: At 3:43 pm MST Melanie Gibb records a call with Chad and Lori Vallow and asks for information about JJ’s whereabouts (source).
12/8/19: Melanie Gibb meets with Gilbert PD Detective Ryan Pillar, shares the recorded call, admits that she lied about having had JJ with her the previous week, and says she broke ties with Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell (source 1 // source 2).
Note: This was 12 days after Rexburg PD conducted the welfare check to check on JJ Vallow and found out he was missing.
12/8/19: Approximate date Ian Pawlowski texts his ex-wife Natalie with grave concerns about Melani’s court hearing, her uncles’ advice for her to move to Ammon, ID, his insistence on staying in Rexburg, and concern for Natalie’s safety (source):
Don’t respond.
I need you to encourage Brandon to keep info he gets on the down low until I can get this sorted out.
I want to help, but it will be tough if every[one] starts figuring out what I’m learning.
She didn’t know beforehand what was gonna happen (Note: He’s talking about the attempted murder of Melani’s first husband, Brandon Boudreaux.)
They made the attempt, failed and told her about it after the fact. I understand that he doesn’t want the kids around her because of all of this, but I believe if she can see them, it will put a huge dent in her trust with her uncles. She’s scared and had been told her middle children are dead. She has a family court date on 12/11. I’m trying to get her to go…
I don’t know if I can convince her to go to the family court hearing on Wednesday. I’m trying but she “got an answer” last night from God himself. Her uncles have her so wrapped up. They’re telling her she needs to move to Ammon. That’s not gonna happen because I’m not going to leave Rexburg. They think is [sic] has something to do with jurisdiction. Dumbest thing ever. Don’t respond. Just wanted to update you earlier because I had a quick second to call. Stay safe.
Note: Screenshot is from Brandon Boudreaux’s phone; thus the misspelling of “Pawlowski” and question as to the date the text was actually sent to Natalie.
12/9/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler Det Nathan Moffat that call Child Protection Services (CPS) in Idaho and Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) to get custody of JJ Vallow if he’s found (source).
Note: Although Larry Woodcock told Dr. Phil in Feb 2020 that they made multiple calls to CPS after finding out about Tammy Daybell’s death in October (source), this is the first reference I’ve found in the FOIA docs that mentions them actually reaching out to AZ DCS or ID CPS. Kay told Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat that she planned to reach out to one of JJ’s old social workers in Louisiana in hopes that she would open the door to DCS in AZ on 9/25 (source), but there’s no confirmation she ever reached out to DCS in AZ or CPS in Idaho when she found out that Lori had moved there (which I believe was the next day, 9/26). If I find any other references, I’ll update the timeline.
12/9/19: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from L.I.F.E. Academy, his old school (source).
Note: Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19, five days after moving to Rexburg, ID.
12/9/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
12/9/19: Gilbert Police collect mail addressed to Zulema Pastenes, Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, and [what appears to be] Chad Daybell (source).
12/10/19: Approximate date Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell move into a condo at the Villas on the Prince community in Princeville, HI (source).
Notable: The complex was across the street from the townhouse complex Charles and Lori used to live in.
12/10/19: Kay Woodcock passes on her IP address to Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat per his request (source).
12/11/19: Rexburg Police enter JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan into the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children database (source).
12/11/19: Alex Cox and Chad Daybell have a text exchange about Alex not feeling well and having a resting heart rate of 100 bpm. Alex expressed concern that “the poison from the spear in the heart has done some residual damage (source).
12/11/19: Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) has a family court hearing scheduled. Ian Pawlowski had told his ex-wife Natalie Pawlowski he was trying to get her to go. He said she “got an answer” last night from God himself (source). In another report, Ian Pawlowski tells investigators that Chad Daybell told Melani not to fight for custody of her kids because he had a prophecy that the children would return to her (source).
12/11/19: Tammy Daybell’s remains are exhumed by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner, and an autopsy is conducted (source). The warrant states, “There is probable cause to believe that the hereinafter described property or persons, presently located within the hereinafter described location, is connected with the commission of public offense(s), to wit: conspiracy to commit homicide first degree… which occurred on or about July 11, 2019.”
12/11/19: Approximate date Alex Cox tells Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) that he won’t be returning to Rexburg (source).
12/12/19: Tammy Daybell’s remains were reburied (source).
12/12/19: Alex Cox dies of suspicious causes at 4:19 pm in Gilbert, AZ (source). Zulema Pastenes’ 25-year-old son, Joseph Lopez, found him unresponsive in the bathroom and reports being unable to turn him over to administer CPR because he had lost control of his bowels. He refers to Cox as his mom’s boyfriend, revealing he seemed to be unaware she had married Cox 12 days prior. He also didn’t know Cox’s last name when the operator asks (source). As part of the autopsy, investigators request an expanded toxicology panel from the medical examiner’s office (source).
Note:
- Keith Morrison said detectives wanted to question Cox about the shooting of Charles Vallow (7/11/19), as well as the mysterious shooting attempts at Brandon Boudreax (10/2/19) and Tammy Daybell (10/9/19). But before they could question him, he too died. But more than two months passed. If he wasn’t questioned during those two months, why?
- I find it interesting that, even with the death of Lori’s estranged yet healthy husband, the suspicious disappearance of two kids who had both been identified as zombies, and then Tammy’s death, it was Alex’s death that really surprised Melanie Gibb (source).
12/12/19: Zulema told Gilbert PD several lies when they questioned her about Alex’s death (source):
- He had six siblings but does not have much communication with them.
- She had only met Lori a few times when she lived in AZ.
- She had not seen Lori since she moved a few months ago (so since she moved to Idaho in September),
- She did not think Lori was married.
12/12/19: Zulema Pastenes tells investigators that Alex Cox left her a bag of cash in the event something happened to him. She estimated the amount of cash to be between $5,000 and $7,000 (source).
Note: I personally suspect this cash was actually given to her by Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow, when she met them in Mesa during their layover as they were returning to Idaho following their honeymoon. (See 11/14/19 entry above.) And I suspect the payment was for helping Alex to the other side. #jmo
12/13/19: The day after Alex Cox died and two weeks after the welfare check for JJ, Chandler Police start tracking down the kids’ dental records (source).
Note: I believe they were doing their due diligence in the event the kids’ remains were found.
12/13/19: Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow call Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) to say Rexburg PD contacted two of Chad’s kids and threatened to exhume Tammy Daybell’s body. Per Ian, Chad and Lori seemed not to know the exhumation had already taken place already and thought the FBI’s involvement was a rumor and scare tactic (source).
12/13/19: Gilbert PD interview one of Tylee Ryan’s childhood friends who said she hadn’t communicated with Tylee since April or May of 2018 and had deleted all of her text messages with Tylee (source).
Note: The ending of their friendship correlates with when Tylee’s father, Joseph Ryan, was found. This isn’t necessarily of probative value, just sad that Tylee lost her best friend around the same time her father died suspiciously. Also, when I asked Tylee when she had last seen her father during my May 2018 visit, she said it was about a year before his death, but Lori told a detective from Phoenix PD that she hadn’t heard from Joe for about two years. Also, when I asked Tylee when she had last seen her dad, she looked at Lori in what appeared to be a nervous glance before answering.
12/13/19: Rexburg PD Det Dave Hope interviews Joseph and Emma Murray at Central Elementary, Sugar City (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
12/13/19: According to an email from Gilbert Det Ryan Pillar, Barry and Janis Cox hadn’t been contacted yet about their son, Alex Cox’s death (source).
Note: Janis Cox said in an interview that they found out from police Alex had died (source), so it’s safe to assume, if she’s being honest, that they didn’t know he had died yet at this point.
12/14/19: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat that she emailed Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and one other person who’s unidentified to tell them they want JJ (source).
12/16/19: Someone accepts two Facebook friends for Tylee Ryan’s account (source).
12/17/19: Rexburg PD Lt Ron Ball and Officer Rick Schmitt meet with Tammy Daybell’s brother-in-law, Jason Gwilliam, at Springville Police Department (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR). If this is also when Samantha, Tammy Daybell’s sister, was interviewed, she noted that Chad told them Lori had no juvenile children (source).
12/17/19: Gilbert PD Det Ryan Pillar and Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat interview Melanie Gibb (source 1 // source 2 // source 3). She claims she saw JJ on 9/23/19, the day she and David Warwick left** (source). She also claims to have no knowledge of the Brandon Boudreaux shooting. However, according to Brandon’s business partner’s wife, Jes, Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) asked Melanie Gibb to talk to Brandon’s former neighbors to find out where he was after he went into hiding (source). Kay Vallow offers to monitor it, but Det Moffat declines (source).
**Melanie would go on to reiterate to GPD detectives that she last saw JJ on 9/23 in an interview on 2/11/20. However, she then said under oath at Chad Daybell’s preliminary hearing in August 2020 that she didn’t see JJ the morning of Sep 23rd and that Lori Vallow claimed he climbed up on her kitchen cabinet in a zombie moment (source).
12/17/19: Summer Shiflet and Janis Cox are interviewed separately by Gilbert Police. Summer tells them she hadn’t seen the kids in months. And she and Janis tell them that they believed the kids were in Lori’s care (source).
12/17/19: Someone tries to log in to Tylee Ryan’s Facebook account from an IP address in California and Kansas (source).
12/18/19: Chad Daybell’s parents, Jack and Sheila Daybell, are interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source 1 // source 2). They tell investigators Chad and Lori Vallow told them that Lori was an “empty-nester” (source).
12/19/19: Rexburg Police enter Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow into NCIC as missing/endangered juveniles (source).
12/19/19: Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow are told to provide proof Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow are alive and instead retain legal counsel (source).
12/19/19: RPD executes a second search warrant on Alex Cox’s apartment. They went in with a forensics team and looked for any evidence of JJ having been there (source).
12/19/19: Ian Pawlowski tells Melani he had spoken with LE (source).
12/19/19: Approximate date Ian Pawlowski records his notes of everything he told the FBI (source).
12/19/19: Rexburg Police executes a second search warrant to bring in a forensics team to look for evidence of JJ in Alex Cox’s apartment (source).
12/19/19: There is a Venmo transfer from Tylee Ryan to Colby Ryan’s account (source).
Note: The FOIA doc redacted the donor and amount. It only states that the 49 transactions listed are from Lori or Tylee.
Update: At Lori’s trial forensic accountant Michael Douglas said there were 29 transactions from Tylee’s Venmo to Colby’s Venmo between 9/10 and 12/18 (source), and there are 29 transactions listed in the police report. I suspect the date may be off by a day because of time zone differences.
12/19/19: Kay Woodcock asks Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat in two emails if she and Larry could travel to Idaho and be part of the media release to announce the missing kids (source).
12/19/19: Colby Ryan announces his new YouTube channel, CJ’s Place in S1E1 (source). It has since been set to private. Description:
Welcome to CJs place, I’m super exited to be launching a channel that I can finally talk about more things in depth. I wanna be honest, real, and talk about things I’m interested In. You guys can come with your boy and see how everything shapes out but welcome all
12/19/19: Alex Cox’s autopsy is performed. Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat tells Kay Woodcock that Alex Cox died of natural causes, from blood clots and a pulmonary embolism (source).
12/20/19: Rexburg PD announces investigation into the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source), as well as their partnership with the FBI in the investigation into the disappearance (source).
12/20/19: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from L.I.F.E. Academy, his old school (source).
Note: Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19, five days after moving to Rexburg, ID.
Notable: The announcement of the investigation may have been the trigger for this login.
12/21/19: Colby Ryan calls Gilbert Police and tells them he talked to his mom on 11/27, and she gave him her car (source).
12/21/19: Rexburg PD calls Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell “persons of interest” in the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source).
12/21/19: Gilbert Police seize Alex Cox’s F-150 truck from Zulema Pastenes’ home (source).
12/21/19: The Kauai Police Department become involved with the investigation into the missing children and confirm Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are living on the island (source). They did that by contacting the property manager where they were staying (source). Some surveillance images are included in the FOIA docs (source).
12/22/19: Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) tells FBI agent Ricky Wright that she’s willing to make a written statement in an effort to “clear her name” because she was getting hateful texts from people. She asked also that some of her property be returned from Rexburg Police, such as a laptop, and that they help her get Christmas presents to her kids (source).
12/23/19: Sean Bartholick, of Rigby, Andrus & Rigby, issues statement on behalf of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell (source).
12/23/19: Melani and Ian Pawlowski are interviewed by the FBI in Idaho. It’s noted that Melani was being dishonest but wasn’t challenged on her lies because Ian was still cooperating with the FBI (source). That, however, is not true. He had stopped cooperating 12/19/19.
Note: On 11/27/19, Melani and Alex Cox had agreed to come back to Rexburg to be interviewed by Rexburg Police detectives, but Alex was never interviewed and Melani wasn’t interviewed until 12/23/19 (source). Also, the screenshot says she was interviewed again on the 23rd, but she had said through Ian the previous day that she wasn’t ready to interview (source), so I believe the 23rd was her first interview.
12/23/19: Alex Cox’s Ford F-150 is processed for evidence (source).
12/23/19: Colby Ryan is interviewed by Gilbert Police about how he came into possession of Lori Vallow’s Nissan Rogue (source 1 // source 2).
12/24/19: Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) shows up at her father’s house unannounced and asks if she can visit while sitting in her car outside his house. He believed she was looking for her children, who her ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux, had in hiding (source).
12/26/19: Kay Woodcock searches for JJ Vallow’s DNA (source).
12/27/19: Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow are caught on surveillance by Kauai Police outside the home they were staying in when they fled (source).
12/27/19: Chad Daybell’s friend, Julie Rowe, claims both she and Chad had a vision where angels told them Daybell’s wife, Tammy would die (source). Rowe also claims she knows the kids are safe from her visions: “I do know the kids are safe. I can see them. I can see their energy and that they’re in a bright house. I can see they’re in the living room where they are. I can see they’re comfortable [in their] bed at night.”
12/27/19: Gilbert Police perform a welfare check at Colby and Kelsee Ryan’s Mesa apartment to try to located Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, Lori Vallow’s son, is interviewed by Gilbert Police (source). Brandon Boudreaux had tipped police off that Tylee and JJ could be with him (source).
12/27/19: Gilbert Police interview Neal Mestas, who was the dog trainer for JJ Vallow’s service dog, Bailey (source).
12/30/19: Kay and Larry Woodcock send the FBI a text about how Lori Vallow and Alex Cox were shipping meth and money laundering through Chad Daybell’s business to raise money for their legal battle. It came to light because a reporter said s/he was sent the message from a family member, and it was passed around in a number of Facebook groups. Initially, family denied this was ever sent to the FBI, but later a family member confirmed sending this communication and said it was an attempt to get LE to take the case seriously, even though they knew it wasn’t true (source).
Notes:
- It is, again, mystifying why family members would [allegedly] make up this story and pass it on to the FBI to get them to take the case seriously while apparently withholding the document Chad Daybell sent Lori Vallow with the ratings of her family members (see relevant entry for 10/30/18, 1/23/19, 2/6/19, and 8/22/19)—even when they knew one person had been murdered for being a dark spirit (Charles Vallow), one was missing who had been identified as a dark spirit (Tylee Ryan), and one had been shot at (Brandon Boudreaux).
- In the true crime social media groups, this misstep became known as ‘#methgate’.
12/30/19: Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow’s friend, Julie Clement, claims to have spoken on the phone with Chad and Lori this day (source).
12/30/19: Rexburg PD issues press release stating that they know the children are not with Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell and that they have information indicating that Lori “knows either the location of the children or what has happened to them” (source).
12/31/19: Gilbert PD interview Lori and Chad Daybell’s friend, Julie Clement. She refuses to give them their phone numbers (source).
Jan 2020: Lori Vallow’s sister, Summer Shiflet, created a memorial video for Alex Cox’s small funeral (source). Although the video is no longer on YouTube, I retained a copy of it, and there are no pics of Tylee Ryan or JJ Vallow in the video. The other nieces and nephews seem to be represented, including Colby Ryan, Zac Cox, and Summer’s children but not Tylee or JJ. I personally find this highly suspicious for family members who supposedly had no idea Tylee and JJ were dead.
Early 2020: Melanie Gibb talks to FBI agents “two to three times” (Motion to Compel – raw // // Motion to Compel – OCR // source).
1/2/20: A search warrant was executed on Alex Cox’s truck and then [redacted] was taken for analysis by Dept of Public Safety (DPS) Detective Olszak (source).
1/3/20: Rexburg PD and the FBI search Chad Daybell’s home in Salem, ID. LE collects 43 items (source 1 // source 2).
1/3/20: In an act of defiance, Chad Daybell’s adult daughter, Emma Daybell Murray, makes faces at reporters, which was captured by a KIDK3 reporter (source, 1:50 minute mark)
1/4/20: Kay Woodcock reveals in an interview with FOX 13 that Charles Vallow made recordings of Lori. “Charles told me he had recordings of her,” Woodcock said. “He said, ‘Nobody will believe me,’ and he recorded her one night. Even though it’s deleted, nothing is ever deleted electronically or whatever” (source).
Note: From the context, it sounds like he may have made recordings of her bizarre statements and/or threats. I don’t know why he would have possibly deleted these recordings.
1/4/20: Fremont County and RPD publish press release about issuing search warrant on Chad Daybell’s house. The elease mentions 43 items were removed, including electronic devices, journals, documents and medications (source).
1/4/20: Kay Woodcock passes on the email Charles Vallow sent her of Lori’s writings to the FBI victim’s advocate (source). They include:
- Lili connections.doc
- Modern LDS Apostles.doc
- Seven missions.doc
- The Seven eras of influence.doc
- Dispensation presidencies.doc
Notes:
- Even though Tylee Ryan was missing at this time and Brandon Boudreaux had been shot at for being a dark spirit, there’s no record of Kay passing on the Oct 30, 2018 documents from Chad Daybell, which rated Lori’s family members. The documents Lori wrote were more esoteric in nature (source).
- There’s also no record in the police report (that I can find) that she passed Chad’s documents on to Chandler PD Det Moffat on 8/22/19 or to the FBI. You can even see Kay’s reference to the “Lili connections.doc” document in her email to Det Moffat:
Plz review: lili connections.doc.
- This means there is no record (again that I can find) of anyone flagging the fact that Chad rated Tylee a dark spirit—again, that I can find. I’ll update the timeline if one ever emerges, but I would think, if she passed on the rating documents, it would have been around the same time as these two emails.
1/6/20: Kay and Larry Woodcock are interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source).
1/7/20: Chandler PD interview April Raymond (source).
1/7/20: Melani Pawlowski’s (formerly Boudreaux’s) court date for the trespassing charge.
1/7/20: According to FBI agent Ricky Wright, Melani is a no show for a scheduled interview (source).
1/7/20: Larry and Kay Woodcock, JJ Vallow’s grandparents, travel to Idaho, meet with LE, and announce a $20,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of JJ and Tylee Ryan (press conference // screenshot // award site).
1/8/20: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from L.I.F.E. Academy, his old school (source).
Note: Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19, five days after moving to Rexburg, ID.
1/8/20: Rexburg PD Det Randy Reese interviews April Raymond (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
1/8/20: Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) was scheduled to meet with the FBI in Idaho with her attorney but was a no show (source).
1/8/20: Gilbert Police request a cold case detective from Phoenix Police review Joe Ryan’s death (source).
Note: I seriously doubt this happened, at least not with any kind of rigor. The pictures from the day of his welfare check are teeming with contradictions.
1/9/20: Rexburg PD Det Randy Reese interviews yours truly 🙋♀️ (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
1/9/20: Chandler PD Det Nathan Moffat interviews Charles Vallow’s landlord, Joe Pongratz (source).
1/10/20: Chad Daybell’s younger brother, Matt Daybell releases a statement expressing dismay at Chad’s sudden marriage to Lori Vallow and urging him to cooperate with authorities regarding Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow’s disappearance (source).
Notable: Matt adds that his statement represents the views of him, his wife and children, not his extended family or parents.
1/13/20: Bodycam footage, 911 call, and police report from the day Charles Vallow was shot is obtained by FOX 10 (source).
1/14/20: Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) is interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source).
1/14/20: Surveillance video from Yellowstone National Park is received by Rexburg Police Department (source).
1/16/20: DNA results from the blood samples collected from the Nissan Rogue and Ford F150 were received and it was confirmed the blood came from two unidentified females (source).
1/24/20: Kay Woodcock tells Chandler Police Det Moffat that she found JJ’s service dog, Bailey. He was re-homed with a special needs boy (source).
1/25/20: LE in Kauai, HI, serves Lori Vallow with a child protection order from Madison County’s prosecutor’s office in Rexburg, ID, requiring her to produce Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare or Rexburg Police Department in Rexburg by Jan 30 (source).
1/26/20: LE in Kauai, HI, “serve search warrants on the persons of Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow and on a black Ford Explorer they had rented” in the parking lot of the Kauai Beach Resort (source). LE found the following items in their possession:
- birth certificates for both Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow
- Tylee’s financial transaction card by BBVA
- JJ’s iPad
- another iPad logged into JJ’s Apple account
- JJ’s school registration receipts from Kennedy Elementary in Rexburg, ID
Notable:
- Tylee’s card was still active at that time and had been used since she was last seen.
- It would be very difficult to prove plausible deniability re: the theory that Chad didn’t know Lori had minor children, when she had their birth certificates and an iPad with JJ’s name on it in her possession.
- Between having JJ’s iPad she had in the car, another iPad that was still logged in to JJ’s Apple account, and her login activity with JJ’s previous school’s app, it’s possible she missed JJ. She had logged in five times since withdrawing him from L.I.F.E. Academy.
1/26/20: LE in Kauai, HI, serve a search warrant for the condo Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell rent. Officers observe there are no signs children Evidence they cited:
- There were two beach/lawn chairs in the garage.
- There were two exercise mats in the garage.
- There were only two beach towels in the garage.
- There were no items in the garage or condo that appeared to belong to a minor child.
- There was no evidence of a 7 year old boy—e.g., clothing, toys, books, medication, etc.
- There was a second room in the condo that had no signs of being lived in.
Note: Nate Easton from East Idaho News pursues the couple to question them about the whereabouts of the children who have been missing four months at this point (source).
1/26/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are detained and questioned in separate police cars in Kauai, Hawaii (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
1/29/20: Kay and Larry Woodcock file for emergency guardianship of JJ Vallow in Rexburg, ID (source).
1/29/20: Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow reportedly clear out of the condo they were renting in the Villas on the Prince community (source). They allegedly move to the Kauai Beach Resort (source).
1/30/20: Sidney Woodbury Shenk is interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source).
1/30/20: Lori Vallow defies the court order and does not produce the kids to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare or Rexburg Police Department, risking potential civil and criminal consequences (source).
1/30/20: Lori Vallow retains Daniel Hempey, an attorney in Kuau’i, HI (source).
1/30/20: Chandler Police turn over Lori Vallow’s iCloud records to the FBI (source).
1/30/19: Gilbert Police receive DNA samples from Brandon Boudreaux and his children, as well as a bag of clothing suspected to belong to Tylee, if my redaction is correct (source).
1/31/20: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from L.I.F.E. Academyy, his old school (source).
Note: Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19, five days after moving to Rexburg, ID.
Early Feb: Lori Vallow has her church records transferred to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kauai, HI. Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow’s names were not included in the record. Chad Daybell hadn’t transferred his records to the new ward yet (source, 00:05 minute mark).
2/1/20: Colby Ryan’s mother-in-law, Carrie O’Neal Benson, launches a GoFundMe to raise $15,000 for Colby and his wife, citing financial burdens resulting from the family crisis (source).
Note: This GFM went from $15k to $10k to $7.5k (the last two on the same day) and then ended at $20k after the kids’ remains were found.
2/2/20: Lori Vallow and new husband Chad Daybell start attending church at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kauai (source).
Related: As of Jan 2, 2020, a spokesperson for the church has not confirmed or denied whether Chad Daybell has been excommunicated or is still a member (source).
2/4/20: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from L.I.F.E. Academy, his old school. (Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19.)
2/4/20: Approximate date officials at L.I.F.E. Academy—JJ’s former school school in Chandler, AZ, that Lori Vallow withdrew JJ from 9/5/19—removes Lori’s access to the app after discovering she had continued to access the app to get updates. Dates accessed: 9/7, 11/21, 12/9, 12/20, 1/8, 1/31, 2/4 (source, 00:21 minute mark).
Notable: 12/20 coincides with the date Rexburg PD announced the investigation into the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow.
2/5/20: Rexburg PD Lt Ron Ball and Det Ray Hermosillo interview Chad’s brother and sister-in-law, Matt and Heather Daybell, at Rexburg Police Station (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
2/5/20: Rich Robertson, a private investigator hired by Brandon Boudreaux, comes forward to say Boudreaux identifies Alex Cox was the shooter (source). “The vehicle that was involved in the shooting belonged to Charles Vallow,” Robertson said. “It was a green Jeep Cherokee** with Texas license plates. He recognized that as his former in-law and he suspected Charles Vallow’s killer, Alex Cox, was the one driving that jeep.”
Note: Alex Cox was actually driving a gray 2008 Jeep Wrangler with Texas license plate LWD0997 (source, pg 3, para 8). This Jeep is also sometimes described as green in court documents because of its hue.
2/6/20: James Waterman sends what would become known as the infamous Reddit email to the Chandler Police Facebook page (source).
Note: It was only through this email in the FOIA docs that we found out Melanie Gibb is the source of this information.
2/10/20: Law enforcement report that they found Tylee Ryan’s cell phone with Lori Vallow in Hawaii (source).
2/11/20: Fremont County’s Office of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office denies FOX 10’s public records request for the “911 call and report taken in the death of Tammy Daybell” and “any 911 calls from the Daybell home…on 10/9/19” (source). The letter cites two justifications for its denial:
- Idaho Code 124(1)(a): (1) Notwithstanding any statute or rule of court to the contrary, nothing in this chapter nor chapter 10, title 59, Idaho Code, shall be construed to require disclosure of investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes by a law enforcement agency, but such exemption from disclosure applies only to the extent that the production of such records would: (a) Interfere with enforcement proceedings;
- Wade v Taylor 156 Idaho 91, 98, 320 P.3d 1250, 1257 (2014): The legislative intent underlying the section is to prevent the premature disclosure of information that may compromise an investigation, the state’s case in court, or the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
Note: 10/9/19 was the date Tammy Daybell filed a report with the Rexburg Police Department, claiming to be shot at by a masked man carrying a paintball gun.
2/11/20: Gilbert Police interview Melanie Gibb. She claims that she saw JJ on 9/23/19 and that she didn’t remember anything abnormal (source).
Note: Melanie made the same claim when she was interviewed by Gilbert Police on 12/17/19 (source). But then she said under oath at Chad Daybell’s preliminary hearing in August 2020 that she didn’t see JJ the morning of Sep 23rd and that Lori Vallow claimed he climbed up on her kitchen cabinet in a zombie moment (source).
2/12/20: Keith Morrison of Dateline is tipped off that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had packed their bags and were heading to Mexico (source, 00:22 minute mark).
2/12/20: Brandon Boudreaux reaches out to Gilbert Police Det Pillar to tell him Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) wouldn’t sign the papers to cancel the life insurance policy they had on him. Because they were both owners of the policy (something the broker noted as ‘unusual’), both of them had to sign the paper to remove her as a beneficiary of the policy. She also paid for the policy out of her personal account, so he couldn’t even stop payment on the policy (source).
2/13/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are spotted at a Costco in Lihue, HI (source).
2/13/20: Rexburg Police Det Chuck Kunsaitis requests that Chandler Police run a Prescription Monitoring Program Inquiry for Lori Vallow, Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Melanl Boudreaux (source).
2/14/20: Dateline airs a two-hour special on the case, “Where Are the Children?” (source).
2/15/20: LE comes to the door of Tammy Daybell’s family members’ house around this date looking for Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow after someone called in an anonymous tip that s/he saw them in their yard (source):
Local LE showed up to my house recently after a (anonymous? I don’t know) tip was called in saying JJ and Tylee were seen on my yard and might be living in my house. The household was cooperative with them and showed them the tip was false. I’m a little nervous of the implications this event might have, but there’s no reason to suspect anyone is at risk right now.
2/16/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell check out of the Kauai Marriot Resort where they had been staying (source).
2/16/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are seen in Kauai boarding a plane to Maui (source).
2/16/20: Ian Pawlowski brings his ex-wife his laptop where she found a bizarre note about Melani and the group she was involved with (transcript).
2/17/20: The FBI receive tips from reporters that Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow move from Kauai to Maui, HI (source).
2/18/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell return to Kauai (source).
2/18/20: A search warrant was served at Self-Storage Plus where Lori Vallow rented a storage unit. Police removed all of the items in the unit (source).
2/18/20: The Madison County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office submits a criminal complaint against Lori Vallow (source). The complaint alleges five crimes:
- two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children
- resisting or obstructing officers (misdemeanor)
- criminal solicitation to commit a crime (misdemeanor)
- contempt of court (misdemeanor)
2/20/20: Lori Vallow is arrested at and taken into custody at 2:30 pm HST by Kauai Police Department. She is held on $5 million bond pending extradition to Idaho.
2/20/20: Rexburg PD Lt Ron Ball and Special Prosecutor Rob Wood confront Chad Daybell after Lori Vallow’s arrest (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
2/21/20: Lori Vallow’s first court hearing in Kauai, HI (recording of hearing). Highlights:
- Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney, Daniel Hempey, requested her bail be reduced from $5 million to $10,000. Justification for the reduction by Hempey was, “We are sitting here with a couple felonies and misdemeanors and a half a million dollar bail” (source).
- Judge Kathleen Watanabe kept Vallow Daybell’s bail at $5 million.
- Vallow Daybell asserts her right to an extradition hearing to fight extradition to Idaho. That hearing is scheduled for March 2.
- Prosecuting attorney Justin Kollar requested Vallow Daybell be remanded without bail.
- Kollar requested an identification hearing be set for March 5, 2020.
- Vallow Daybell exercised her right to demand a governor’s warrant.
- Hempey alleged that the police officers from Idaho questioned Vallow Daybell with Kuau’i police while she was in custody even though “they knew she was represented by counsel” (source). Note: Kelly Vaughan from 2KUTV reported on February 21st that the police chief and assistant chief were not in Hawaii (source, 2:09 minute mark). It’s unclear—at least at time of writing—who was there from RPD.
- Kollar requested that, if Vallow Daybell posts bail and has a passport, she surrender it to the Kuau’i Police Department.
- Vallow Daybell focused her transformation efforts on new husband Chad Daybell’s hair and overlooked training him how to pick a tie (source). I gotchu, Chad. You have a week to shop and practice. We’ll check back on your progress.
2/21/20: Lori Vallow is booked into Kauai Community Correctional Center (source).
2/23/20: Child custody papers reveal Ian Pawlowski provided statements to LE that Melani Pawlowski—Brandon Boudreaux’s ex-wife—told him shortly after they married that she conspired with her uncle, Alex Cox, to kill Brandon. Brandon alleges that Melani was motivated by a $1 million life insurance policy. Melani’s new husband, Ian Pawlowski, told LE Melani once said “something to the effect of ‘sometimes children are full of light and then just like that they go dark.'”
Note: I modified this entry after Melani Pawlowski’s attorney issued a statement refuting that Melani accepted any responsibility (source). And it appears all news stories covering this release have been taken down.
2/24/20: Chad Daybell cancels lease on condo in Kauai, HI (source).
2/25/20: Madison County Prosecutor’s Office subpoenas Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s Princeville landlord, the Kauai Beach Resort, and JJ Vallow’s school in Rexburg, ID, Kennedy Elementary School.
For all parties, they have until 3/9/20 and have to produce all documents from 8/1/19 to the present.
2/25/20: Rexburg PD Det Kunsaitis and Schmitt interview Christopher Parrett (source).
2/26/20: Judge denies Lori Vallow’s second request to lower bond. Vallow Daybell waives right to an extradition hearing. She will return to Idaho to face charges (source).
2/26/20: The attorney for Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) issues a press release denying Melani admitted to any wrongdoing with the kids and denies knowing where they are. He also denies she had anything to do with the alleged shooting of former husband Brandon Boudreaux (source).
2/27/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s friend, Jason Mow, published a Facebook post that could be interpreted as a hat tip to Lori Vallow’s second request for a reduction in her bond (source):
And the angel said unto him: “the petition didn’t work, you’re going to have to shoot them.” – 1 Americas 17:76
2/29/20: Chad Daybell returns to Rexburg, ID (source).
3/3/20: Rexburg PD Officer Rick Schmitt interviews Matt Daybell about storage unit footage (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
3/4/20: Lori Vallow has a status hearing in Kauai, HI, before being extradited to Idaho (source).
3/5/20: Lori Vallow arrives in Rexburg, ID (source).
3/5/20: Lori Vallow’s attorneys request a number of documents from the prosecuting attorney’s office (source):
- Warrants and related documents
- Communications between LE and media
- Court orders
- Un-redacted police records
- Handwritten notes
- Dispatch tapes (and a full paragraph of someone riding the caps lock)
3/6/20: Lori Vallow is scheduled for an arraignment hearing in Rexburg, ID (source // watch live).
3/6/20: Lori Vallow’s bond is reduced from $5 million to $1 million by Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins (source).
3/6/20: Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood reveals in Lori Vallow’s first court hearing in Idaho that Daybell continued to receive social security benefits for both kids after she left Idaho without them (source).
3/9/20: Rexburg PD Lt Foster interviews Jay Johnson (source).
3/9/20: Deadline Madison County Prosecutor’s Office assigns for all parties to comply with subpoenas served Feb 25 (source).
3/9/20: Chad Daybell gives his daughters Emma and Leah a car each (source).
Notes:
- Given the fact that this was the day Lori didn’t meet the deadline to appear in court with her kids, these ‘gifts’ look like hush money.
- Elsewhere in testimony from Chad’s 2024 criminal trial it’s said that they paid $200 each. When I find that reference I’ll add it here.
3/11/20: The FBI, Rexburg Police Department and numerous law enforcement agencies investigating cases related to Lori Vallow and her missing children meet in Salt Lake City, UT, to “coordinate, review, and share information” (source).
3/11/20: Chandler PD Det Jason McClimans tells FOX10 reporter Justin Lum that Alex Cox was not a prohibited possessor, despite an FBI intelligence alerting detectives from both Chandler and Gilbert Police Departments on 12/4/19 that Alex Cox was a prohibited possessor, meaning that his rights to own firearms had not been restored (source).
Note: The analyst was told that Alex’s rights would have only been restored if his record had been expunged, and the fact that they could see the assault on his record indicated it had not been been expunged. I personally suspect (but can’t prove) that Det McClimans passed on what Det Moffat told Cole Vallow on 7/23/19 (source) to avoid additional scrutiny as to why CPD didn’t do their due diligence re: Alex Cox’s possessor rights—or why he wasn’t arrested in the [alleged] murder of Charles Vallow.
3/11/20: Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood and Lori Vallow’s attorneys request to move preliminary hearing from Mar 18–19 to May 7–8 to allow for more time to exchange and review discovery (source).
3/11/20: Approximate date Colby Ryan talked with his mother, Lori Vallow, while she was in jail (source).
3/11/20: Attorney for Lori Vallow Mark Means files a motion to disqualify Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins without cause (source 1 // source 2).
3/12/20: Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood objects to Lori Vallow’s motion to disqualify Magistrate Judge Eddins from the case (source).
3/12/20: Lori Vallow’s attorney, Mark Means, responds to Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood’s objection, stating that a child protection action he’s presiding over could potentially prejudice him against Vallow Daybell (source).
3/13/20: Lori Vallow has telephonic hearing where three decisions are made (source 1 // source 2):
- Magistrate Judge Farren Eddins agrees to reschedule Vallow Daybell’s preliminary hearing for May 7 and May 8.
- Eddins approves Mark Means’ request to disqualify himself and withdraws from the case against Lori Vallow (source).
- Vallow Daybell’s attorney, Brian Webb, announces he plans to file a motion to withdraw from the case. Edwina Elcox, who works with Webb’s law firm, will also withdraw from the case.
3/13/20: Michelle Radford Mallard is made judge over preliminary hearing for May 7–8, 2020 (source).
3/16/20: Two of Lori Vallow’s attorneys, Brian Webb and Edwina Elcox, withdraw from her case (source).
3/16/20: Prosecution turned over approximately 1,600 pages of documents and 14.6gb of videos, photos, and other electronic media to the defense (source, line item 3).
3/24/20: Detective Nathan Moffat with Chandler PD writes in an email to FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum that he is confident CPD is getting closer to indicting Lori Vallow for her involvement in the shooting death of Charles Vallow (source).
Author’s Note: I don’t care how premature this is…HELL YEAH!!!
3/27/20: Chad applied for a permit to put a trailer on his property (source).
3/28/20: Melani Pawlowski’s (formerly Boudreaux’s) father, Steven Cope, is interviewed by Gilbert PD (source 1 // source 2).
3/30/20: Lori Vallow’s attorney, Mark Means, visits with Lori and is forced to sit in a public area, speak on a recorded phone line, and pass confidential paperwork through employees due to Corona Virus constraints (source).
3/30/20: Lori Vallow’s apartment went back on the market for rent (source // screenshot 1 // screenshot 2).
Note: On 4/5/20 the property was listed as pending.
Notable: As of 4/5/20, the Zillow page for this property wasn’t updated to show it as available. It appears from the date of the Facebook post, it went back on the market 3/30/20. This is interesting to me because Alex’s went back on the market the week after Lori, Chad, and Alex fled Rexburg, while Lori’s apartment was in limbo for four months following their sudden move out.
3/30/20: Chandler PD drafts a search warrant for Charles Vallow’s iCloud account, an extension of Lori Vallow’s Lori4style iCloud account, and the kkwalker75@yahoo.com account** (source 1 // source 2 // source 3).
Note: Why did it take Chandler PD a staggering eight months to request Charles’ iCloud data?
**If my unredaction is correct.
4/2/20: Lori Vallow’s attorney, Mark Means, requests all evidence pertaining to the deaths of Charles Vallow, Joe Ryan, Tammy Daybell, and Alex Cox (source).
4/2/20: Lori Vallow’s attorney, Mark Means, requests all records pertaining to the following witnesses (source):
- Adam Cox
- Charles Vallow
- Alex Cox
- Ethel “Kay” Vallow
- Larry Woodcock
- Brandon Boudreaux
- Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux)
- Melanie Gibb
- Christina Atwood
- Jack Daybell (Chad Daybell’s father)
- Sheila Daybell (Chad Daybell’s mother)
- Jason Gwilliam (Tammy Daybell’s brother-in-law)
- Samantha Gwilliam (Tammy Daybell’s sister)
- Summer Shiflet (Lori’s sister)
- Ruth Mortensen
- Detective Hope (RPD)
- Matt Daybell (Chad’s brother)
- Heather Daybell (Chad’s sister-in-law)
4/4/20: FOX 10 reporter Justin Lum tries to set up a meeting with Lori Vallow in jail via the Telmate app. She accepts him as a contact but denies his call (source).
Note: Truth be told, I just included this “event” to point out homegirl is looking rough.
4/6/20: Melani Pawlowski’s (formerly Boudreaux) father, Steven Cope, is interviewed by Gilbert PD a second time (source 1 // source 2).
4/7/20: Madison Co. Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood argues Lori Vallow shouldn’t be permitted a bond reduction because she hasn’t complied with the standing court order to produce her children (source).
4/10/20: Idaho Attorney General’s Office assumes full responsibility and authority in the investigation of Chad and Lori Vallow’s roles in the death of Chad’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. The pair is being investigated for conspiracy, attempted murder, and murder (source).
4/15/20: Chandler PD interview Lori Vallow’s friend Christina (source).
4/15/20: Chandler PD interview Lori Vallow’s friend Nicole (source).
4/15/20: Chandler PD interview Lori Vallow’s friend Sarena (source).
4/16/20: The FBI and Gilbert PD interview Thor Furuseth. He denies having a close relationship with Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell “despite evidence showing otherwise” (source).
4/16/20: The FBI and Gilbert PD interview Julie Clement a second time. She denies having being a part of the “Church of the First Born” and walks back her comment about seeing “Hiplos” like a dragon. I’ve attached Lori’s reference to her comment in the screenshot for comparison (source). Also, Julie explains that “Hiplos” was just a term for dark energy in general and wasn’t aware of anyone being called by that name (source). This is, of course, a lie. Zulema Pastenes referred to Charles Vallow as “Hiplos” when she texted Julie to let her know he was dead (source**).
**The redactions were all confirmed in the Chandler Police Report, which was released after the affidavit of probable cause.
4/17/20: Tentative date Lori Vallow’s fourth hearing to request a reduction in her bond is scheduled for, provided COVID-19’s restrictions are lifted Apr 15, as scheduled (source).
Note: This was postponed a third time to May 1.
4/17/20: Gilbert PD interview Melanie Gibb’s ex-husband, Brendan Gibb. He says Melanie told him in January 2019 that he had [redacted] in him and soon after she wanted a divorce (source). This was the same month Chad Daybell [allegedly] told Lori Vallow her husband, Charles, had a dark spirit in him, and she told him she wanted a divorce (source).
Note: I strongly suspect this redaction has something to do with a dark/evil spirit.
4/22/20: Chandler PD interviews Charles’ date, Nancy Jo (source).
4/23/20: Chandler PD interviews Lori Vallow’s friend Christina again (source).
4/24/20: Melani Pawlowski (formerly Boudreaux) publishes a Facebook post for her 31st birthday where she talks about the case and how she’s suffering because she can’t see her children (source). She claims:
- She wrongly spent time in jail in Utah (after trespassing on her in-laws’ property twice).
- She hasn’t seen her children since Oct 9, 2019.
- She was unjustly taken from her mother and “told all manner of lies.”
- Her mother died when she was 9.
- She has nothing but love and gratitude toward her father and others who betrayed her.
Note: At some point Melani had offered a $10,000 reward for the location of her children (source).
4/29/20: Attorney Sean Bartholick tells Fox reporter Justin Lum that he no longer represents Chad Daybell. Daybell is now represented by his wife, Lori Vallow’s attorney, Mark Means (source).
4/30/20: A motion is filed to move the preliminary hearing from 5/7/20 – 5/8/20 to 7/9/20 – 7/10/20 (source).
5/1/20: Tentative date Lori Vallow’s fourth hearing to request a reduction in her bond is scheduled for (source).
5/2/20: Tammy Daybell’s manner of death is changed from “Natural” to “Undetermined” (source).
Note: Dr. Wallis with the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner told a Gilbert Police detective that no additional tests were viable for Tammy Daybell or Alex Cox without knowing which poison to test for (source).
5/7/20: Morgan Loew’s interview of Janis Cox and Summer Shiflet publishes (source).
Highlights:
- Janis and Summer defend Lori and say she wouldn’t hurt her kids.
Note: Janis later said she believed Lori did hurt her kids (source).
- Summer says she never asked Lori where the kids were (source).
- Summer lies and says she was the one who asked Alex to come over (source). Lori was the one who asked Alex to come over, in a text message she sent 7/9/19 @ 9:50pm (source).
- Summer says she met Chad Daybell one time (source).
- Summer says she knew for a fact Lori didn’t conspire to kill Charles (source).
Note: Not only did Summer text Lori the day before Charles was murdered saying she’d kill him herself, Lori told Melanie Gibb in a text on 7/9, saying, “All my family and the kids are here so it’s chaos right now” (source). I strongly suspect this was a family event.
- Janis says they didn’t know Alex had gotten married or that he had moved back to Arizona (source).
- Summer dismissed Lori’s trip to Hawaii, saying it’s not like she thought, “Oh my kids are missing; I’m going to go on a vacation to Hawaii” (source).
Note: We don’t know the date Janis was interviewed by 20/20, just that it was sometime in May 2020, but in defense of Lori Janis said that she was taking care of JJ and living a normal life (source). It seemed inconsequential to both Summer and Janis that Lori had completely abandoned her 16-year-old daughter.
5/7/20: Larry and Kay Vallow Woodcock appeal to members of the Cox family to have a meeting to try to work together to find Tylee and JJ (source).
5/8/20: Results of Alex Cox’s autopsy indicate he died of natural causes (source).
Note: Dr. Wallis with the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner told a Gilbert Police detective that no additional tests were viable for Tammy Daybell or Alex Cox without knowing which poison to test for (source). Also, the autopsy was performed on 12/19/19, and Chandler Police Det Nathan Moffat passed on the results to Kay Woodcock that day (source), so LE just waited to announce the results publicly.
5/25/20: JJ Vallow turns eight years old.
5/26/20: Rexburg PD Det Reese interviews April Raymond (source).
5/29/20: Rexburg PD Det Ray Hermosillo follows up on a tip about a crawl space (source).
June 2020: CPD Det Nathan Duncan replaces Det Moffat as the case agent for the investigation in Charles Vallow’s murder (source).
6/3/20: Someone from LE or the prosecutor’s office interviews Melanie Gibb (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
Note: There is a note in a later filing that Rexburg PD Det Ray Hermosillo interviewed her (source).
6/9/20: The Rexburg Police Department, assisted by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI, executes a search warrant on the property of Chad Daybell and discover two sets of human remains. Chad Daybell is arrested, charged with the destruction or concealment of evidence, and booked into the Fremont County Jail (source).
6/9/20: Rexburg PD Det Dave Hope reportedly captures bodycam video of Chad Daybell and his daughter, Emma Murray, as they talked while Chad was handcuffed in a police car following his arrest (source).
6/9/20: Rexburg PD interview Reegen Price, who claimed she heard a gunshot come from Chad Daybell’s property on the day Tylee Ryan was buried on his property (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
Note: By way of reminder, Chad texted his wife, Tammy, the morning of Sep 9th to tell her he had shot a large raccoon.
6/10/20: An affidavit of probable cause is filed for Chad Daybell following the discovery of human remains on his property, which were later identified to be those of missing children Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source).
6/10/20: Chad Daybell appears in court for his initial hearing. Judge Faren Eddins agreed with Prosecutor Rob Wood’s recommendation for a $1 million bond. In arguing for the bond amount, Wood confirms that the remains found on Daybell’s property belong to children and that the “concealment of one of the bodies is particularly egregious” (source).
6/10/20: Rexburg PD interview Deputy Colter Cannon with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office regarding the attempted shooting of Tammy Daybell on 10/9/19. He was a reporting officer on the scene that day (Motion to Compel – raw).
6/10/20: Rexburg PD interview Kathy Brown regarding “ERT” and “paintball” activity in the area the day of the attempted shooting of Tammy Daybell on 10/9/19 (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
6/10/20: Rexburg PD Det Dave Hope flies a drone and captures images of Daybell property (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
Note: There are AI and machine learning algorithms farmers use to perform soil analysis using drones. The FBI may have armed RPD with one of those smart drones.
6/11/20: Rexburg PD interview Chad Daybell’s brother and sister-in-law, Matt and Heather Daybell by Rexburg Detective Hope. Emails between Matt and Chad are also provided by Matt to LE (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
6/11/20: Rexburg PD interview “Ryan Bradshaw, Jodie, Whitney, Aspen” (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
6/13/20: The remains found on Chad Daybell’s property are positively identified as belonging to Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow by the Ada County Medical Examiner. Rexburg Police Department issues press release (source).
6/16/20: Rexburg PD interview Chad Daybell’s parents, Jack and Sheila Daybell (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
6/19/20: Judge Faren Eddins unseals the probable cause affidavit for Chad Daybell (source).
6/29/20: Rexburg Police Department returned to Chad Daybell’s property with a search warrant to conduct a search of the shed and red barn close to where Tylee Ryan’s remains were found (source).
Note: Tylee’s remains were found charred, and she had been dismembered post-mortem. It’s feasible that RPD investigators were searching the barn and shed(s) for evidence that Chad Daybell and/or Alex Cox had used these structures to dismember Tylee and then carry her remains over the fire pit to be burned. Also, remember: Alex Cox has one hour where his whereabouts were not accounted for the murder Tylee was murdered (3:37 am to 4:37 am). And Alex didn’t return to Lori’s apartment before heading over to Chad’s house, so they could have met up in the early morning hours to work under the cloak of night.
7/1/20: Chad Daybell is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing (source).
7/10/20: Fremont County District Court orders some of the records in the Lori Vallow case to be sealed temporarily or permanently to “preserve a right to a fair trial” (source).
7/21/20: Rexburg PD Det Kunsaitis and Schmitt interview Christopher Parrett for a second time (source).
7/22/20: The anticipated end of the world in Lori Vallow’s mind (source). Vallow Daybell believed she was a god and allegedly warned her late husband, Charles Vallow, not to get in the way:
As a god, her mission was to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming. That second coming was imminent. According to Lori, Jesus was headed to Earth in July 2020. And if Charles got in the way of that mission, Lori would murder him.
7/28/20: Someone from LE interviews Matt and Reagen Price about fires on Chad Daybell’s property (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
7/29/20: Someone from LE interviews a number of people while investigating Tammy Daybell’s death (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR):
- Margaret Brown regarding “a spiritual visitation” from Tammy Daybell
- John Ochts regarding an email exchange between him and Tammy Daybell the night before she was found dead
- Melanie Gordon regarding four “odd” gentleman attending Tammy Daybell’s memorial
- Fay Harris
- Stephanie Peralta
- Angela Johansen
- Shanna Miller at Central Elementary
8/1/20: Special Prosecutor Rob Wood and RPD detectives meet with Melanie Gibb prior to Chad Daybell’s preliminary trial (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
8/3/20 – 8/4/20: Preliminary hearing for Chad Daybell. After two days of testimony, Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins announces Chad Daybell’s case will be bound over to District Court (source).
8/13/20: Rexburg PD Det David Stubbs interviews Heather Daybell and Maggy Daybell Hope (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
8/19/20: Chandler PD interviews Lori Vallow’s friend, Melanie Gibb (source 1 // Motion to Compel – raw // // Motion to Compel – OCR // recording).
9/9/20: Rexburg PD Lt Ron Ball and Special Prosecutor Rob Wood interview Craig Huff (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
9/9/20: Rexburg PD Det Ray Hermosillo interviews April Raymond (source).
9/15/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s friend, Angeline Law, is interviewed (Motiion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
9/15/20: Alex Cox’s ex-wife, Debbie, is interviewed by Chandler Police (source). Some highlights include:
- The marriage only lasted about a year (1992-1993), but they only lived together for 4-5 months.
- Sometime before Alex and Debbie married, Lori married someone quickly in Las Vegas.
- Debbie last talked to him after he got out of jail for assaulting Joseph Ryan.
- Alex told her then that he wanted to bait Joseph into a fight so that he could kill him in self-defense.
- It had been about a year since they had contact before that conversation.
- She was afraid of the Cox family.
- Alex and Lori simulated sex acts where she’d wrap her legs around his waist and he’d bounce her on himself, causing both of them to moan.
- Alex also touched Lori’s breasts.
- These simulated sex acts took place in her parents’ home in front of other family members who didn’t express any concern about it.
- Janis and Barry Cox “constantly” talked openly about their sex life in front of the rest of the family.
- Alex talked about Lori as “hot” and “sexualized her” quite a bit.
- Alex and Debbie lived in the same apartment complex as Lori for a while, and it seemed like Alex “chased after her” a lot.
- While they were married, Alex had been ex-communicated from the LDS Church.
- Sometime after their divorce he was baptized into the LDS Church but was then ex-communicated again.
- Debbie wanted to move to Utah after they were married, but Alex wanted to stay in Texas. But then one day he came home from work and told her they were moving. The move happened very quickly.
- When they arrived in Utah, Debbie learned Alex had slept with a 15-year-old girl. The father had started to look for Alex to fix the problem.
- Debbie said the incident with the teenager and his sexualization with Lori were the causes of their divorce.
- Debbie didn’t see Alex simulate sex acts with his other sisters, Stacey and Summer.
- Debbie said she came forward because she struggled with the knowledge that Alex had indicated he wanted to get into a fight with Joseph and kill him in self-defense. To her, it sounded too much like what had happened to Charles, and she couldn’t remain silent.
Note: Kudos to Debbie for coming forward. If only more people with information had demonstrated this kind of courage, there most likely would have been an investigation into Joe’s death, and everyone after him could have been saved.
9/28/20: Rexburg PD Det Chuck Kunsaitis interviews Craig Huff (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
Note: I initially reported this date as 9/28/19 but corrected the date 1/6/22.
9/30/20: Gilbert PD take possession of Brandon Boudreaux’s Samsung Note 8 to view correspondence between him and Charles Vallow (source // GPD’s analysis).
9/30/20: Rexburg PD Det Ray Hermosillo interviews Gillian Kennedy (source).
10/1/20: Rexburg PD interview Summer Shiflet (source).
10/2/20: Rexburg PD interview Zulema Pastenes (source).
10/20/20: Rexburg PD interview Melanie Gibb (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
10/21/20: Rexburg PD interview Colby Ryan (source).
10/22/20: Fremont County interview Zulema Pastenes (source).
Note: I believe the year in this screenshot is a typo as no one was investigating Tammy Daybell’s death in October 2019.
10/23/20: Fremont County interview Zulema Pastenes (source).
11/20/20: Rexburg PD Det Chuck Kunsaitis interviews Craig Huff (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
12/7/20: Rexburg PD Det Chuck Kunsaitis interviews Mike and Nancy Jones, founders of “Preparing A People” (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
12/12/20: Group members Melanie Gibb and David Warwick marry (source).
Note: Melanie pointed out to investigators that someone told them the date was significant because 12×12=144 (a reference to the 144,000).
2/3/21: Rexburg PD Det Ray Hermosillo interviews Melanie Gibb and she talks about “casting out spirits” (Motion to Compel – raw // // Motion to Compel – OCR // source).
2/4/21: The investigation into Tammy Daybell’s death is transferred from the Idaho Attorney General’s Office to the Fremont County Prosecutor’s Office (source).
2/18/21: Garth Daybell is questioned for 30 minutes in his classroom at Madison Junior High by Fremont County Patrol Sergeant Vince Kaaiakamanu and FBI agent Ricky Wright (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
3/8/21: Fremont County District Court enters an Order for Competency Evaluation for Lori Vallow (source).
3/16/21: Madison County Special Prosecutor Rob Wood informs the Madison County Board of Commissioners that Missouri homicide prosecutor Rachel Smith has joined his team to aid in the case against Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell (source).
Note: There’s a typo in the date. The year should read ‘2021’ not ‘2012’. It was 5:00 somewhere. 🍺
3/17/21: A detective with Chandler Police follows up with Zulema Pastenes to ask her if Lori Vallow was present when Alex Cox told her he had no issue with killing Charles Vallow because he was a zombie and if she offered any objection (source).
3/17/21: The general manager of the Tru Hilton in Gilbert where Charles Vallow stayed when he was shot, is interviewed by Chandler Police (source).
4/28/21: Rexburg PD Lt Ron Ball interviews Jason Mow (source).
4/29/21: Zulema Pastenes is interviewed by Rexburg Police and Fremont County (source).
4/29/21 Christina Atwood is interviewed by Rexburg Police Lt Ball (source).
4/30/21: Melanie Gibb is interviewed by Lt Ball and Detective Hermosillo from the Rexburg Police Department at the Chandler Police Department (source 1 // source 2).
5/1/21: Colby and Kelsee Ryan announce Kelsee was pregnant with their second child (source).
5/17/21: Chad Daybell’s son, Garth Daybell, and his wife, Kaira, are detained and questioned by investigators from the Rexburg PD and Fremont Sheriff’s Office for six hours (Motion to Compel – raw // Motion to Compel – OCR).
5/17/21 – 5/24/21: Fremont County convenes a grand jury to investigate the deaths of Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell (source).
5/24/21: Prosecutors for Fremont County and Rexburg, ID, announce indictments against Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow for first-degree murder for the deaths of Tammy Daybell, Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, as well as other charges, including conspiracy, theft, and insurance fraud (source).
5/25/21: Prosecutors for Fremont County and Rexburg, ID, file an amended witness list (source).
5/27/21: Fremont County District Court orders a stay on Lori Vallow’s case from further proceedings until Lori’s competency is restored (source).
6/2/21: Fremont County District Court orders protocols to govern courtroom conduct (source).
6/8/21: Lori Vallow is found incompetent to stand trial, and her case is stayed (source).
6/9/21: Chad Daybell is arraigned on charges of first-degree murder for the deaths of Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell, as well as other charges, including conspiracy, theft, and insurance fraud. He pleads not guilty (source).
6/24/21: A grand jury in Maricopa County, AZ, indicts Lori Vallow on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Charles Vallow (source 1 // source 2 // source 3**).
**The redactions from the affidavit of probable cause that was released to the public were left unredacted in the police report that was later released, so I filled them in.
7/21/21: Attorney for Chad Daybell John Prior files a motion requesting a change of venue (source).
7/27/21: Prosecutors for Fremont County and Rexburg, ID, file a petition for Missouri homicide prosecutor Rachel Smith to be admitted as pro hac vice in the case against Chad Daybell (CR22-20-0755), as well as the Grand Jury proceedings (source).
8/5/21: The State of Idaho, by and through the Fremont County Prosecutor’s Office announces its intent to see the death penalty against Chad Daybell because the murders of Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell were for financial benefit, were especially heinous, exhibited utter disregard for human life, and pose a continued threat to society (source).
Note: Although Lori Vallow was not named—because her case is on hold until her competency is restored—her name and case number (CR22-21-1624) were included in the filing.
8/6/21: Fremont County appoints James Archibald as court-appointed co-counsel for Lori Vallow in case number CR22-21-1624 (source).
8/11/21: Attorney for Lori Vallow Mark Means files a motion to dismiss the findings of the Fremont County Grand Jury on the basis that the case against her was stayed pending the results of a psychiatric evaluation (source).
10/22/21: The transcript from the second grand jury in Fremont County was provided to Chad Daybell’s attorney, John Prior (source).
12/28/21: Mark Means is disqualified as Lori Vallow’s attorney because he previously represented Chad Daybell, which presented a conflict of interest (source).
4/11/22: Lori Vallow’s competency is restored—along with her highlights 🙆♀️ (source).
4/14/22: John Thomas joins Lori Vallow’s defense team as co-counsel with Jim Archibald (source).
4/19/22: Lori Vallow is arraigned on charges of first-degree murder for the deaths of Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell, as well as other charges, including conspiracy, theft, and insurance fraud. Lori was silent during an arraignment Tuesday, and her attorney asked a judge to enter a not guilty plea on her behalf to murder and other charges (source).
5/2/22: The State of Idaho, by and through the Fremont County Prosecutor’s Office announces its intent to see the death penalty against Lori Vallow because the murders of Tylee Ryan, JJ Vallow, and Tammy Daybell were for financial benefit, were especially heinous, exhibited utter disregard for human life, and pose a continued threat to society (source).
10/6/22: Motion is filed to stay Lori Vallow’s case until her competency could be assessed (source 1 // source 2).
10/18/22: The trial for Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell is vacated (source).
8/17/23: David Warwick files for divorce from Melanie Gibb (source).
8/25/23: David Warwick filed a stipulation motion for dismissal one week after filing for divorce from Melanie Gibb (source).
Note: I suspect someone may have encouraged him to hold off until after Chad’s trial. According to a confidential source, as of July 2024, Melanie is still living in the Phoenix area and David hasn’t filed for divorce again [yet].
What About Data?
Great question! I took 2018 and 2019 off to write my Making Data Sexy books and planned to hit 2020 hard with new content for the blog. And then tragedy struck and followed me into 2020. As you can see from the timeline, the pace of the investigation has been dizzying because of the sheer number of deaths, sudden divorces, shotgun weddings, attempted murders, and disappearances. Hopefully Tylee and JJ will be found super soon (???) and I can get some semblance of normalcy back again. Or, at minimum, this timeline will slow down. I’ve been watching real crime TV for enough years to know that sometimes the wheels of justice move very slowly.
Whichever the case may be, I have a list of topics and guides I plan to start hitting as soon as I can come up for air.** Thank you for your patience and understanding.
**Update: I flew out of the gate with a monster guide to regular expressions for marketers, analysts, and anyone else who’s not a code monkey already rocking them.
Pam Lancaster says
This is such a sad situation involving two missing children. Did the police ever take cadaver dogs to the storage unit? It appeared that a heavy tote was stored there.
Annie Cushing says
I would imagine they did, but they’re playing their hands very close to the vest in the investigation—and rightly so.
JezMyOpinion says
So sorry for what your family is going through. I’ve posted the link to this blog all over the www so that people can get “just the facts, ma’am” as there is no much gossip distracting from Tylee & JJs case. I agree with you that the police are keeping mum so as not to make any mistakes and that they only have one shot at this. Praying for a good outcome, but not naive enough to believe the kids will be coming home. But I do believe justice will be served eventually. Sending hugs from the south.
Annie Cushing says
Without bodies, it’s tougher to convict but not impossible. I would wager that’s what LE is preparing for. I saw an episode of Forensic Files once where the killer was caught because of the leaves that fell into the bed of his truck.
nyx says
Yes law enforcement is preparing to build a circumstantial case and they probably have more evidence then they released to the public so far. The maximum sentence for felony desertion of a child is up to 14 years in prison for each child so they have leverage with just the felony charges.
Also for your timeline Chad can’t claim he didn’t know Lori had children because he helped her obstruct law enforcement by calling Melanie Gibb and asking her to lie to them about the whereabouts of the children. So at best he is complicit after the fact by willingly helping Lori with obstructing law enforcement in searching for the missing children.
cinsbythesea says
This is a great comprehensive timeline- thank you for sharing it. I just wish you never had to! I hope you and your family finally get some real answers soon. Hugs to you all.
Annie Cushing says
Thank you.
Haley says
Do they have any search parties or dogs out looking for the kids? Or do they need more to believe they are deceased before they do that?
Annie Cushing says
They’ve never conducted a search party, to my knowledge.
Christina says
Absolutely astonished that they think they’ll get away with all of this. That they can just say Lori never had two small children and poof we’ll all believe them, that your family won’t miss them. They have to be psychopaths by their behavior. Only a matter of time before one of them realizes the other may turn them in and there is another body or missing person.
Praying for all of your family and that all the pieces of this crazy puzzle will be found out and put together.
Annie Cushing says
I couldn’t agree more. You have to be a sociopath to just walk away from so much death and destruction seemingly unaffected.
Lori Hart says
This is probably the most in-depth information of red anywhere. So sorry this is happening to your family. I’m praying for you guys every night. I’m praying those kids are found.
Annie Cushing says
Thank you.
Donna Cavalier says
I just saw this: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/indiana-woman-believes-she-saw-missing-rexburg-teen-tylee-ryan/article_fdb86c78-8d82-5dc9-93ab-278ba05bee8e.html and while I have mixed emotions about it, the end result is that it gives some hope. I would be putting out a call to anyone at the concert to submit photos they may have taken of the people sitting at tables that night.
Annie Cushing says
This is not credible. She messaged me about it, and I was confident from her descriptions the girl wasn’t Tylee. I also asked if she took a pic of the girl. She said the couple with said no to pics. If you suspect a child is being trafficked you take the shot. You don’t get consent.
I gave her the FBI’s tip line. She said she called Jan 31 and spoke to someone. And then she goes public two weeks later, after the Dateline episode? Get out here.
Randi says
Annie, have you seen this yet? Regardless of whether it was Tylee I sure hope FBI is thoroughly following up on it. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/indiana-woman-believes-she-saw-missing-rexburg-teen-tylee-ryan/article_fdb86c78-8d82-5dc9-93ab-278ba05bee8e.amp.html
Annie Cushing says
She did this media play BECAUSE the FBI dismissed it. She was already angry when she reached out to me last month that local LE deemed it not credible (because it wasn’t).
For the rest see ☝️.
Nic says
Have you seen this article yet? Hoping it leads to good news ….. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/indiana-woman-believes-she-saw-missing-rexburg-teen-tylee-ryan/article_fdb86c78-8d82-5dc9-93ab-278ba05bee8e.html
Annie Cushing says
See ☝️.
K says
So news out here in Kauai, Hawaii is that they are no longer on Kauai and are possibly on Maui, Hawaii now. but with Maui having more flights, they could be anywhere.
Annie Cushing says
That is disheartening.
Julie says
Lori Vallow Daybell has been arrested. “…charged with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children.” Source: https://mauinow.com/2020/02/20/kauai-police-arrest-lori-vallow-daybell-on-5-million-warrant-from-idaho/
Pickles says
Could Alex and Lori’s brother be involved in the attempted shooting of Brandon? Public records show he had lived in the general area here in AZ; do you know if he resembles Alex? That could explain why Brandon thought the man in Tylee’s jeep looked like Alex, who was also seen on the storage unit footage that same day. Just thinking out loud…
Annie Cushing says
Brandon Boudreaux identified Alex Cox as the person who shot at him. But there’s surveillance footage of a man who reporter Nate Eaton said appears to be Cox at Lori’s storage unit in Rexburg the same day and the following day.
Natalie says
Annie,
I’ve been doing so much research since I’ve been keeping up with this blog. Again I’m so sorry that you are going through this craziness. On Loris Instagram page, I found a realtor from Kaua’i that liked a lot of her old posts. I was wondering if you reached out to her to try to gather any info? There are pictures of her and Lori in Kaua’i under her friends album.
Natalie says
And a picture of Tylee. They are old pictures.
Natalie says
Also – The realtor I’m referring to above that currently lives in Kaua’i has a picture of her, Lori and Loris mom from Christmas 2016 in Hawaii on her personal Facebook so they have been friends for a few years (if not longer). According to comments on the realtors old Facebook posts – she lived in Arizona prior to moving to Hawaii.
Diana says
This story is disturbing is so many ways. I’m so sorry you and your family are going thru this, I can even begin to imagine.
I’m from Hawaii (live on a different island), but hope these people get what’s coming to them. They either know (or are directly involved) with what happened to these children. The people of Hawaii are definitely on the lookout for Lori and Chad and hopefully they’ll be caught doing something that will eventually lead to the children.
Please know that you do have others who want justice and are keeping a lookout for one wrong step.
Prayers to you again ??.
Aloha ❤️
Annie Cushing says
Thank you. The residents of Hawaii have been amazing.
Tiffany says
Justin.lum@foxnews.com
He has been amazing at keeping this story in the news while being very responsible to ONLY post updates and pictures that he has received through his various verified informants. He is at FoxNew through Arizona. If you haven’t spoke to him before, I think you would really like him and appreciate it how hard he is working and how respectful he has been with not causing speculation. Hopefully this will come to an end soon with a happy ending and you and your family can get things back to normal. Safe travels. You and yours are in my thoughts and prayers.
Annie Cushing says
Justin has done a great job with this case. I monitor his Facebook for updates almost daily.
Michell says
I am working on a video can you tell me who is Lori’s first 2 husbands? Chad is the 5th right? Who is Colbys biological father?
Jo Jake says
There is a facebook post on Missing Persons Network page of Chad and Lori waiting to rent a car. It looks like there is trouble in Paradise and perhaps one might crack- Chad. This is what the posting was. I cannot post the picture here, but you should take a look at it.
Chad Daybell & Lori Vallow – Parents of Missing JJ and Tylee from Idaho
Thanks to the kind woman in Maui who just sent me these photos and an email. Part of it reads:
“We were on the same shuttle from the Maui airport to the rental car annex as Chad & Lori. They rented a car from Hertz around 1:30pm and had several large bags of luggage with them. I was surprised at how different Lori looks now from recent photos in the news. She had smudged black eyeliner, layers of face makeup and bags under her eyes. Her hair was snarled and it looked like she hadn’t slept in a while. There was obvious tension between Chad and Lori, who didn’t speak to each other either in line for the shuttle or on the way to the car rental.”
Paige says
It looks like Julie Rowe is starting to sour on Daybell. In this new interview I just found, she claims Daybell “predicted” his wife would die between October and December, and that Daybell has brainwashed his own children.
https://www.ktvb.com/mobile/article/news/crime/missing-rexburg-kids/chad-daybells-former-friend-says-he-predicted-his-late-wifes-death-and-brainwashed-his-kids/277-5966d4bc-da11-45ad-b011-2a399ada7b94
Annie Cushing says
Look who decided to start growing a conscience.
Deanne Rapp says
I’m not sure. About conscience I was thinking. Media attention
Annie Cushing says
Oh, I was being ?sarcastic. Her newfound distance is totally self-serving.
KATHLEEN HERMAN says
Does anyone know where Tammy and Chad’s 5 kids are?
Lindsay says
From the timeline, I know Tylee and JJ are reported as missing as of the date Sept. 23, 2020 (I’m not exact on that date and am too lazy right now to confirm), However, I am wondering if there are specific dates for last confirmed sightings or confirmed communications with either?
I am also wondering if there’s anything currently in place to keep Lori and Chad from running to another country and being lost for as long as they wish to be lost for??
I extend all my empathy to you and your family as you’re all dealing with the past tragic circumstances and dealing with current and future tragic circumstances. I can not imagine what you’re all going through.
Thank you for this well detailed timeline and all of this information. I am just now becoming aware of this story, and I am hoping against all hope for as much positive resolution as possible, and that all of yours, and everyone directly affected, questions are soon answered.
Annie Cushing says
Your first question is at the forefront of my thoughts every day. We have a timestamp for when JJ was last seen. No one can say when they last saw Tylee. Someone told me a neighbor in Rexburg (the one whose son used to play with JJ) said in one of the Facebook groups that he saw Tylee in Rexburg and that she was quiet. But I haven’t seen that. I tried to find him on Facebook to ask him about it, but I couldn’t find him.
Her brother Colby also said they FaceTimed after she moved, but he hasn’t provided dates for any of these FaceTime conversations.
Authorities can’t stop them from leaving the country. My worry is that they’ll bounce on down to Mexico and live off the grid. As a prepper, I imagine Chad would know how to do that. I hope and pray he comes to his senses and tries to right all these wrongs. I hope he sees the role his ideologies played in the unraveling of these lives.
Lee says
I was going to wait till reading all comments and may add at the end also. I am just giving info I remember from something else in the news recently. The LDS church has a commune? church group in Mexico (probably more than one) I hope they have checked for the children there.
The phone can be checked against other family member phones and patterns checked. There had been some questions about whether messages were from her or not. The police will be able to figure that out.
It doesn’t matter, but was curious if Alex was her brother, half brother, stepbrother?
Also as mentioned above, very curious to know if there was diabetic sibling? Would be something for the police to check the brother and the wife for (don’t know if it’s standard to check for insulin or blood sugar levels)
Annie Cushing says
Alex was Lori’s biological brother, and yes, there was a diabetic sibling who died years ago. She was Melani Boudreaux’s mother.
Stephanie Trillo says
25 May 1998 – Stacey Cox Cope, the sister of Lori and Alex Cox, dies supposedly of diabetic shock. Only Alex was at home with her and he had used her credit card while she was dead in the home; Stacey is survived by a young daughter named Melani (family interviews on Grey Hughes and Daily Mail).
From https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/id-joshua-vallow-7-tylee-ryan-17-rexburg-sept-2019-4.494009/
Is this true as well?
Annie Cushing says
I can’t confirm this. I didn’t meet Lori until 2002.
Amanda says
Is it true that You will be on Dr Phil regarding this case, if so do you have a date it will air?
Annie Cushing says
Yes. They don’t know the air date yet.
joan gordon says
I am so sorry you are going thru this. Thoughts and prayers for justice are with you.