John Glatt - The Doomsday Mother: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of an American Family

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For my wife and soul mate

Gail Freund

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Newlyweds Chad and Lori Daybell didnt appear to have a care in the world as they left their luxurious rented condo for an afternoon at the beach. They were honeymooning on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai and enjoying another perfect day in paradise.

Lori, a strikingly beautiful forty-six-year-old blonde, wore large sunglasses, a blue swimsuit, and a beige cover-up. Chad, five years older, sported a baggy blue T-shirt, beach shorts, and flip-flops. They were an odd-looking couple, with Lori appearing somewhat out of place with her dumpy new husband.

It was a twenty-five-mile drive to the ritzy Kauai Beach Resort, where they had spent most afternoons sunbathing and swimming. They were almost there when a Kauai police car with flashing lights pulled over their rented black Ford Explorer on Kuhio Highway. They were escorted into the resorts parking lot, where more than a dozen armed police and detectives were waiting.

Step out, ordered a Kauai police sergeant. We have a search warrant for you guys, your car, and your belongings.

Lori calmly stepped out of the car, unfazed, as the officer handed her two search warrants. Chad looked visibly nervous. He was ordered to sit in a police SUV while their vehicle was searched. Lori took her time, though, reading the search warrants for their rental car and condo, before being escorted into the back of a separate police car.

A few minutes later, as they sat across from each other in parallel police vehicles, Chad mournfully stared at his new wife, put his hand on the window, and mouthed, I love you.

That day in the parking lot was the culmination of a massive nationwide search for Lori and Chad Daybell. Two months earlier, they had gone on the run after lying to police in Rexburg, Idaho, about the whereabouts of Loris seven-year-old autistic son, J.J., and teenage daughter, Tylee. The children had literally disappeared off the face of the earth the previous September and police feared for their safety.

It is astonishing that rather than work with law enforcement to help us locate her own children, read a Rexburg police press release from December 30, 2019, Lori Vallow has chosen instead to leave the state with her new husband.

In the couples wake, theyd left behind a trail of highly suspicious deaths: their respective former spousesCharles Vallow and Tammy Daybellas well as Loris brother Alex and third husband, Joe Ryan.

The story of the missing children made global headlines, with J.J.s and Tylees faces appearing everywhere. No one could believe that a mother could possibly be so coldly indifferent about her childrens welfare.

Then came the strange revelations that Chad and Lori believed they were gods, leading an army of chosen ones to survive the end of the world. They were also on a divine mission to rid the world of evil zombies, constantly being revealed to Chad by his spirit guides on the other side.

A prodigious author of more than two dozen books on what he claimed was the fast-approaching doomsday, Chad was viewed as a gifted prophet by his legion of followers.

I dont fictionalize any of the events portrayed, he wrote in his 2017 autobiography, Living on the Edge of Heaven. My torn veil allows information to be downloaded into my brain from the other side. The scenes I am shown are real events that will happen.

Lori, a five-times married devout Mormon and mother of three, had been an avid fan of Chads books for years. When she finally met him at a 2018 Preppers (preparing for the end-times) conference, he informed her that they had been married many times before in previous lives. That they had been anointed by God to gather the 144,000 people who would survive the Armageddon that Chad forecast would happen on July 22, 2020.

The day before police pulled them over in Hawaii, Lori had been served with an order from an Idaho court, compelling her to produce J.J. and Tylee within five days or face arrest. Now, as police searched their SUV, half a dozen reporters, including a team from NBCs Dateline, were on the edge of the parking lot videoing the proceedings.

At around 3:30 P.M., police winched the couples rental SUV to a tow truck and informed them they were free to leave. Lori was allowed to take away some personal belongings, including a plastic Ziploc bag containing thousands of dollars in cash.

East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton, on assignment from Rexburg, Idaho, approached the couple, holding a large microphone as his colleague Eric Grossarth shot video.

Lori, shouted Eaton. Can you tell me where your kids are? Where are your kids?

No comment, replied Lori glibly as she grabbed Chads hand and led him away.

Theyve been missing for four months, Eaton continued. You have nothing to say? Youre over here in Hawaii.

Receiving no answer from Lori, Eaton turned his attention to Chad, who was anxiously clenching his jaw.

Chad, where are Loris kids? What happened to [your wife] Tammy? Why have you guys been in Hawaii so long? There are people around the country praying for your children, praying for you guys. Why dont you just give us answers?

Thats great, quipped Lori, nonchalantly flashing a cold smile as the couple headed into the resort.

Lori Norene Cox was born on June 26, 1973, in Rialto, California, the fifth child of Barry and Janis Cox. Their eldest, Stacey Lynn, had been born seven years earlier, followed by two sons, Alexander Lamar in 1968 and Adam Lane a year later. A daughter, Laura Lee, was born on August 7, 1971, but tragically died at the age of six weeks. Four years later, Janis gave birth to Summer Nouvelle, completing the family.

The Cox family had deep roots in Rialto, named after the bridge in Venice and just fifty-six miles east of Los Angeles. Barry was a successful life insurance underwriter with political aspirations. In March 1974 he actively campaigned for a vacant seat on the Rialto City Council.

I would like to see more long-range city planning, read his campaign statement. I support programs that benefit the needs of the youth and the elderly and want to reduce all unnecessary spending.

Prior to the election, Cox, then thirty-three, was profiled in the San Bernardino County Sun, which highlighted his Mormon credentials. A lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), he served as a missionary in England in the early 1960s.

Although he failed to win a seat on the city council, Barry was appointed the 1974 Beneficial Life Insurance man of the year for selling over a million dollars of insurance. He won the award again the following year, and his bosses took out an advertisement in the San Bernardino County Sun to publicly congratulate him.

In 1980, seven-year-old Lori, known by the family as Lolo, started at Trapp Elementary School. She was slightly overweight with blond hair and blue eyes, her natural charm and affability drawing people to her like a magnet.