Checkmite
Skepticifimisticalationist
This is an extremely complicated case. It is a tangled spiderweb the likes of which I can't recall having ever read before. It will take more than one link and a couple of paragraphs of article quotes. So bear with me as I try to put things in a coherent order, but be aware that it will be difficult and despite my best efforts you may have to do some of your own research to make ultimately make sense of the details. There are lots of names to retain and tangential incidents that enter the story in random-seeming ways that can be confusing. With that in mind, let's begin.
The story begins in what ultimately turns out to be the middle of things, on November 26th of 2019 when extended relatives of a seven-year-old boy named JJ Vallow called police in Rexburg, Idaho to ask them to conduct a welfare check on JJ, saying they hadn't heard from him in "several months". At that time, JJ lived in Rexburg with parents Chad and Lori Daybell and older stepsister Tylee Ryan. The welfare check request, however, was specifically for JJ, not the family generally or anyone else at the home.
When police arrived at the home that day, only the parent Daybells were present, and they told the police that JJ was visiting a family friend in Arizona. The police followed up on this statement with authorities in Arizona and learned that it was not true. The next day, Rexburg police returned to the home with a search warrant only to find the house vacant, and phone evidence suggests the Daybells had left "abruptly" and only a short time before police arrived. To date, the locations of Chad and Lori Daybell and of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan are unknown.
Then it gets complicated.
Relating the developments in the order in which they came to light is too unhelpful and confusing in this case; it is probably better to relate the facts in a more objectively chronological order. But even that would be confusing without some context, so first the cast of characters:
Firstly, neither Chad nor Lori is JJ's biological parent. JJ is Lori's adopted son through her previous marriage to a man named Charles Vallow. Tylee Ryan is Lori's 17-year-old biological daughter, from the marriage prior to that one. Chad Daybell is Lori's latest husband; they married earlier in November, just days before JJ Vallow's relatives called the Rexburg police to check on JJ's welfare.
Lori married her previous husband, Charles Vallow, in 2006. In 2014, the couple adopted JJ, who was the son of one of Charles Vallow's relatives who was unable to take care of him. In 2018, the Vallows lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and it was in December of that year that Lori first became (known to be) associated with Chad Daybell, when they appeared together on a religious podcast talking about the end of the world. Chad Daybell was an author of religious-doomsday novels and was at that time married to a woman named Tammy Daybell; they lived in Salem, Idaho.
In February of 2019, two months after the podcast debuted, Charles Vallow filed for divorce. He complained to the court that Lori viewed herself as "a god" and a "translated being" and was "preparing for the Second Coming", and that she had uttered threats to kill anyone who interfered with those preparations, including Charles himself if things came to that. He also suspected she was having an affair with Chad Daybell. Charles later withdrew the divorce petition saying he wanted to try to work things out with Lori.
A few months later in June, Lori Vallow's niece Melani Boudreaux filed for divorce from her husband Brandon. This will become pertinent. At the time, Brandon Boudreaux says he was surprised by the development because he had been under the impression the marriage was solid and happy, and noted that the bomb dropped after Melani seemed to have joined a "cult" that her aunt belonged to.
One month afterwards on July 11, 2019, Charles Vallow was killed at Lori Vallow's home by Lori's brother, Alex Cox. The couple was still separated at this time, and Charles had come to the house as prearranged to take JJ to school when, according to Cox, he spontaneously began to attack Lori with a baseball bat, whereupon Cox intervened by shooting Charles. At the time, police did not file charges against Alex Cox.
In August, Vallow and her two children, along with her brother Alex and her niece Melani, moved from Arizona to Rexburg, ID, which is adjacent to Salem (where Chad Daybell and his wife lived). JJ attended school there briefly in September, but was withdrawn by Lori a few days after the school year began. That appears to have been the last time JJ was seen by anyone outside the family.
On October 2, Brandon Boudreaux was driving home from his gym in Gilbert, AZ, when he was shot at by an unknown assailant in a Jeep. The bullet struck the edge of the door above Boudreaux's head. The assailant fled, but police confirmed the assailant's vehicle was registered to Charles Vallow, who by this time had been dead for three months.
Two weeks later, on October 19, Chad's wife Tammy Daybell was found dead in her bed at home. The death at that time was not ruled suspicious, though a few days earlier Tammy had reported to police that a masked man had shot at her with a paintball gun for unknown reasons.
Less than a month after his wife's death, Chad married Lori. Police say they went to Hawaii to conduct the marriage, and purported witness statements said that at that time Chad and Lori had claimed to be childless. Within days of their returning to Rexburg, JJ was reported missing by his extended relatives.
So that is where things stand. Development-wise, first it was simply JJ's and Tylee's disappearance and their parents refusal to cooperate with police, and while investigating this police found out about and began looking into Tammy Daybell's death, and in turn looking into Charles Vallow's killing and the divorce situation, and rumors of the "religious cult" connection began to surface. Later the drive-by shooting in Arizona came to be connected. A more concise timeline of relevant events can be found here.
Chad and Lori Daybell released a statement through their lawyer after the first news reports about their missing children, essentially saying that they had no comment, but there has been no communication since then. Tammy Daybell's body was exhumed for a second autopsy in December, but the results have not been released.
The story begins in what ultimately turns out to be the middle of things, on November 26th of 2019 when extended relatives of a seven-year-old boy named JJ Vallow called police in Rexburg, Idaho to ask them to conduct a welfare check on JJ, saying they hadn't heard from him in "several months". At that time, JJ lived in Rexburg with parents Chad and Lori Daybell and older stepsister Tylee Ryan. The welfare check request, however, was specifically for JJ, not the family generally or anyone else at the home.
When police arrived at the home that day, only the parent Daybells were present, and they told the police that JJ was visiting a family friend in Arizona. The police followed up on this statement with authorities in Arizona and learned that it was not true. The next day, Rexburg police returned to the home with a search warrant only to find the house vacant, and phone evidence suggests the Daybells had left "abruptly" and only a short time before police arrived. To date, the locations of Chad and Lori Daybell and of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan are unknown.
Then it gets complicated.
Relating the developments in the order in which they came to light is too unhelpful and confusing in this case; it is probably better to relate the facts in a more objectively chronological order. But even that would be confusing without some context, so first the cast of characters:
Firstly, neither Chad nor Lori is JJ's biological parent. JJ is Lori's adopted son through her previous marriage to a man named Charles Vallow. Tylee Ryan is Lori's 17-year-old biological daughter, from the marriage prior to that one. Chad Daybell is Lori's latest husband; they married earlier in November, just days before JJ Vallow's relatives called the Rexburg police to check on JJ's welfare.
Lori married her previous husband, Charles Vallow, in 2006. In 2014, the couple adopted JJ, who was the son of one of Charles Vallow's relatives who was unable to take care of him. In 2018, the Vallows lived in Phoenix, Arizona, and it was in December of that year that Lori first became (known to be) associated with Chad Daybell, when they appeared together on a religious podcast talking about the end of the world. Chad Daybell was an author of religious-doomsday novels and was at that time married to a woman named Tammy Daybell; they lived in Salem, Idaho.
In February of 2019, two months after the podcast debuted, Charles Vallow filed for divorce. He complained to the court that Lori viewed herself as "a god" and a "translated being" and was "preparing for the Second Coming", and that she had uttered threats to kill anyone who interfered with those preparations, including Charles himself if things came to that. He also suspected she was having an affair with Chad Daybell. Charles later withdrew the divorce petition saying he wanted to try to work things out with Lori.
A few months later in June, Lori Vallow's niece Melani Boudreaux filed for divorce from her husband Brandon. This will become pertinent. At the time, Brandon Boudreaux says he was surprised by the development because he had been under the impression the marriage was solid and happy, and noted that the bomb dropped after Melani seemed to have joined a "cult" that her aunt belonged to.
One month afterwards on July 11, 2019, Charles Vallow was killed at Lori Vallow's home by Lori's brother, Alex Cox. The couple was still separated at this time, and Charles had come to the house as prearranged to take JJ to school when, according to Cox, he spontaneously began to attack Lori with a baseball bat, whereupon Cox intervened by shooting Charles. At the time, police did not file charges against Alex Cox.
In August, Vallow and her two children, along with her brother Alex and her niece Melani, moved from Arizona to Rexburg, ID, which is adjacent to Salem (where Chad Daybell and his wife lived). JJ attended school there briefly in September, but was withdrawn by Lori a few days after the school year began. That appears to have been the last time JJ was seen by anyone outside the family.
On October 2, Brandon Boudreaux was driving home from his gym in Gilbert, AZ, when he was shot at by an unknown assailant in a Jeep. The bullet struck the edge of the door above Boudreaux's head. The assailant fled, but police confirmed the assailant's vehicle was registered to Charles Vallow, who by this time had been dead for three months.
Two weeks later, on October 19, Chad's wife Tammy Daybell was found dead in her bed at home. The death at that time was not ruled suspicious, though a few days earlier Tammy had reported to police that a masked man had shot at her with a paintball gun for unknown reasons.
Less than a month after his wife's death, Chad married Lori. Police say they went to Hawaii to conduct the marriage, and purported witness statements said that at that time Chad and Lori had claimed to be childless. Within days of their returning to Rexburg, JJ was reported missing by his extended relatives.
So that is where things stand. Development-wise, first it was simply JJ's and Tylee's disappearance and their parents refusal to cooperate with police, and while investigating this police found out about and began looking into Tammy Daybell's death, and in turn looking into Charles Vallow's killing and the divorce situation, and rumors of the "religious cult" connection began to surface. Later the drive-by shooting in Arizona came to be connected. A more concise timeline of relevant events can be found here.
Chad and Lori Daybell released a statement through their lawyer after the first news reports about their missing children, essentially saying that they had no comment, but there has been no communication since then. Tammy Daybell's body was exhumed for a second autopsy in December, but the results have not been released.
