Zombies, spirits, limbo and killings: Documents detail Daybells’ alleged Idaho crimes
ST. ANTHONY — Charging documents for Chad and Lori Daybell give insight into how the couple allegedly conspired to kill three people.
Announcement of murder and other charges in Idaho against the Daybells came Tuesday afternoon during a news conference with Special Prosecutor Rob Wood and Fremont County Prosecutor Lindsey Blake. The nine-page indictment sheds new light on the events surrounding the deaths of Tammy Daybell, Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow — Chad’s former wife, and Lori’s two children.
The indictment alleges that starting on Oct. 26, 2018, Chad Daybell, Lori Daybell and Alex Cox, Lori’s now-deceased brother, used religious beliefs to justify the killings. The three expressed fringe beliefs about people becoming zombies and preparing for the end of the world, documents state.
While court documents do not go into the specifics of how Tylee died, it’s known that she was last seen alive on Sept. 8, 2019, at Yellowstone National Park. Investigators believe Tylee was killed the next day before being burned and buried in the backyard of Chad’s Salem home. Internet search records show Chad looked up “sww wind,” referring to a wind direction.
Phone records place Cox on Daybell’s property in the general area where investigators would eventually find Tylee’s body.
A few weeks later, on Sept. 23, 2019, JJ was last seen alive with Cox ,who “did take possession” of the 7-year-old boy, according to documents. JJ’s body was also found by investigators when searching Chad’s property on June 9, 2020.
After the kids are believed to have been killed, Lori is alleged to have continued to collect on the children’s Social Security benefits, moving their deposit into her personal account, according to the indictment.
An investigation into the children’s disappearances did not begin until November 2019, when JJ’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, reported that their grandson was missing. Investigators and charging documents indicate how Lori allegedly lied about the kid’s well-being and whereabouts before she and Chad fled to Hawaii.
The kids were not the only ones Chad, Lori and Alex allegedly conspired to kill. When Chad and Lori met, the two were still married – Chad to Tammy Daybell and Lori to Charles Vallow.
Police have said that Cox shot and killed Vallow in an Arizona home on July 11, 2019. Cox told investigators that the shooting of Vallow was in self-defense, but the case in Arizona remains an open investigation.
Text messages from July 30, 2019, between Chad and Lori talk about “death percentages” of Tammy and the kids, according to the indictment. Text messages between Chad and Lori also mentioned Tammy being in limbo, possessed by a spirit named “Viola.”
Nearly seven months before Cox shot and killed Charles Vallow, Arizona police body camera footage shows Vallow talking to authorities about Lori, saying he had been taken over by a spirit named “Nick Schneider.”
On Sept. 8, the same day Tylee was last seen alive at Yellowstone, Chad signed an application to increase Tammy’s LifeMap insurance to the maximum allowed under the policy, according to the indictment. Previous court documents indicate that policy was around $430,000.
With the life insurance increased, Cox allegedly tried to shoot Tammy outside of the Salem home on Oct. 9, 2019. That evening, Tammy called 911, saying a masked man shot at her in her driveway with a paintball gun. Tammy went to Facebook afterward, saying she has no idea who the person was or why they would shoot at her.
Cox visited Sportsman’s Warehouse – an outdoors and hunting store in Idaho Falls — before the shooting, but court records do not indicate what he did or bought.
Before Oct. 9, 2019, investigators determined that Cox went to a gun range to practice his shooting skills. According to court documents, Cox also searched the internet between Oct 8, 2019, and Oct. 12, 2019, about “Grendel drop,” and shooting through a “Dodge Dakota.” The Grendel drop search is likely in reference to the ballistics of a 6.5 Grendel round for a rifle.
Tammy Daybell died on Oct. 18, 2019. Chad is reported to have told investigators that she died in her sleep; however, charges indicate otherwise. Court documents do not go into detail about how she died, but records show Cox was in the parking lot of a church 2.5 miles down the road from Chad’s home that day.
With Tammy, Charles, Tylee and JJ dead, Chad and Lori were married in Hawaii on Nov. 5, 2019. They returned to Idaho before going back to the island in December 2019, after police came looking for JJ and Tylee.
Lori was arrested in February 2020 in Hawaii and brought back to Idaho on charges related to the disappearance of her kids. The charges all changed after investigators found the children’s bodies, also leading to the arrest of Chad. They were charged with felonies related to destruction, alteration or concealment of evidence, namely the bodies of Tylee and JJ.
Investigators spent months collecting evidence, allowing prosecutors to build a case. With COVID-19 slowing things down, a grand jury finally met over the past week in Freemont County. The grand jury decided to indict the couple on Monday.
The penalty for the murder charges range from life in prison without the possibility of parole to the death penalty, Blake said. If prosecutors decide on the death penalty, they have to notify Lori and Chad within 60 days of their plea.
Cox died in December 2019 at his Arizona home of what a medical examiner called natural causes.
Chad Daybell will have his initial court appearance on the new charges Wednesday at 11 a.m. Lori will appear at 11:30. The hearings will be held via Zoom, and EastIdahoNews.com will carry them live.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 6:35 PM.