Sins of Our Mother (2022) s01e01 Episode Script
The 144,000
1
[car door closing]
[officer] Why don't you come over here.
So what's going on tonight?
I can't get in touch with my kids.
[officer] How old are your kids?
Six and a half and sixteen.
[officer] Okay.
She
she's lost her mind.
I I I I don't
know how else to say it.
[officer] So what makes her
a danger to herself and to others?
She's threatened me.
To murder me, kill me.
- [officer] She threatened to murder you?
- Yes.
[officer] So how does she
pose a threat to your children?
I don't know
what she's gonna do with them.
I don't know if she's gonna
flee with them, hurt them.
[officer] This house
or with the flashing lights?
It's right there.
The cars are all gone.
- I don't know where my kids are.
- [officer] Well kick it in!
Oh my god.
[man] So I'm sitting there at home,
and two detectives
come and knock on the door.
[knocking on door]
"Are you Colby Ryan?" I'm like, "Yeah."
She said something like,
"Is Tylee or JJ here?"
And I was like, "Tylee, my sister?"
[Tylee] JJ!
[phone beeps, rings]
[Colby] I call my mom.
She's like, "I don't know
what to tell you right now."
"I'm gonna take care of it. Don't worry."
Like, "I'll deal with it."
And she's like, "I love you, bye."
And I called her one more time.
And her phone's dead.
And she sent an e-mail
that said something like,
"I love you. Just know
that we're safe, we're okay."
So, that's where it started.
[reporter 1] Did a
religious group's beliefs
lead to the disappearances
of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan?
[reporter 2] Their mother, Lori Vallow,
refuses to tell anyone where the kids are.
[reporter 3] It is a
very hard case to follow.
[reporter 4] The whole cult thing,
the end of the world, the New Jerusalem.
[reporter 5] All the trail of death leads
right back to
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow.
Only one question I want her to answer:
"Where are the children?"
[woman] Lori was a wonderful mother
until she met that Chad Daybell.
And she changed.
[reporter 6] Lori believed
that her and Chad were
destined to carry out this mission.
[reporter 7] Police are
serving a search warrant.
Rexburg Police,
Fremont County Sheriff's Office,
the FBI, they are all here.
[on recording]
[Colby, on recording]
You know that I love you,
and that's why this is
the hardest conversation I could have
with anybody in my whole life.
I would have never thought you
would have ever done something like this.
[Lori] What is it
that you think that I've done?
[opening theme music playing]
[Colby] Belief really will
take you to a different place.
If you believed so deeply,
you think you have to do these things.
And my mom, because
she's so deep in her belief,
I think that it just
makes her harder to reach.
She's still in fantasyland.
My grandma is
very defensive of her family.
I was mad at her for defending my mom.
But I also realize
she's defensive of the people she loves.
[woman] We're saving all of our pictures
with Lori, but we don't really
enjoy looking at them right now.
- No.
- It's hard.
Well, like, for me,
I think it's also, like,
I don't even know if I really
just care about having that stuff.
- Yeah
- I can't erase her out,
but at the same time, like
I don't I don't know
at what point I'm gonna be,
"Oh yeah, I really want to
have that memory of her."
- You know what I mean?
- You will someday.
- Yeah, we'll see.
- And I don't mind holding on till then.
I can't right now. I'm still so angry.
I can't put it in perspective.
I have to think about Lori like she was
- and then not think about her now.
- Yeah.
I've got it very divided in my head
- Mm-hmm. Right.
- to function.
[Janis] To look back at it,
everything seemed normal.
We had two boys a year apart,
Alex and Adam.
Adam is just a doll.
He's always been a doll.
He's always loved his family.
And, Alex was just super funny.
He wanted to be a stand-up comedian.
And then Lori was our next child.
Lori was just a darling little girl.
And then I had Summer.
She's my youngest.
It was just a big family,
and we did have a lot of fun.
I raised all our kids in the LDS church.
All of our kids love The Book of Mormon.
And Lori's always loved the scriptures.
She took to it right away.
[man] She was, like, eight,
and I was trying to teach her some things,
and she started crying.
And when she got home, she told
Janis and her brothers and sisters,
"Dad is a spiritual giant!" [chuckles]
But she was very sensitive to that.
I just know that Lori
is loved by her Heavenly Father,
as well as all other people who have been
influenced and taken captive by Satan.
[Colby] My mom had gotten
married right out of high school.
Her first marriage did not last.
And then she had me at 22.
My dad and my mom
were in a bad relationship.
And she didn't feel like
she wanted me to be in that,
and basically took me
and removed me from that situation.
My brother, Joe Ryan, and Lori,
their courtship happened pretty fast.
[Colby] They got married.
We moved in, and he was
really sweet and outgoing.
It sounded good to be a family.
That's what I wanted my whole life.
I think that's what my mom wanted.
We just wanted a
big family that was happy.
[Annie] Lori became the perfect sister.
She was delighted that
she was going to have a little girl.
They had already picked out her name,
and I thought it was just
such a beautiful, beautiful name.
[Janis] Lori was so excited to have Tylee.
She was a tiny little darling baby.
A little blue-eyed under-five-pounds.
And Colby adored her.
She was everything to him.
I was so excited to have a sister.
Like, all I wanted was a family.
[Annie] When Lori was married to Joe,
not too long after she had Tylee,
she entered the Mrs. Texas Pageant.
[announcer] Contestant number 13
is Lori Ryan.
[Annie] For her to be
on a stage being recognized,
I know had to be really important.
[applause]
Being a good mom is very important to me,
and a good wife, and a good worker,
and being all those
things together is not easy,
so I'm basically a ticking time bomb.
- [laughs]
- [applause]
[studio audience] Wheel of Fortune!
[Pat Sajak] Thanks! Thank you very much.
[crowd applause]
[Annie] And then going on
Wheel of Fortune,
I think that
she always had this inclination
to super-spiritualize everything.
- [Pat Sajak] Six hundred.
- S.
- [Pat Sajak] There are two S's, yeah.
- All right.
Her telling of the story was God told her
that she was going to be
on Wheel of Fortune.
She had to have that extra validation of,
like, no, she heard from God.
[Pat Sajak] Hi, how you doing, Lori?
Lori Ryan from Austin, Texas.
- That's right.
- A hairstylist in Austin, hey?
- That's right. The best!
- How's the hair in Austin?
- Good. Austin's a happening place.
- [Pat Sajak] Good.
- [Pat Sajak] Probably thanks to you.
- Pretty much.
[Pat Sajak] Talk about
your family a little bit.
I have a wonderful
husband, Joseph, at home
who is watching our
two beautiful children,
Colby, who's seven, and Tylee, who is one.
- [Pat Sajak] Thanks, Lori.
- [applause]
[Colby] I remember Joe
being this very sweet person
in the beginning, and then
I don't know if he started to be
annoyed by me as a little kid, but, like,
everything I did was,
like, annoying to him.
Like, smacking my lips while eating, like,
that I didn't have these proper manners,
but it wasn't like being taught.
It was like, always discipline.
It just got worse and worse and worse.
And it just got to the point
where he would just, like,
punch me in the back of the head.
I'm just a little kid, and I was scared.
I'm looking at her to save me from him.
[Annie] I was very worried.
I asked her if she had
ever experienced abuse,
and she said she did with him.
I wanted her to leave him.
[Colby] One day,
I'll never forget, we left.
We had this long driveway.
And we take off down the driveway.
And it felt like freedom.
I never wanted to see him again.
I remember telling my mom
about the sexual abuse.
I was like eight years old.
I didn't even know
how to explain what had happened,
but I told her how he abused me
and what he was doing.
And I remember her
just being kind of silent.
I just remember feeling
like I did something wrong.
I just felt like I ruined
her life.
Like, that's where it started.
That was like the breaking point for her.
[Lori, on recording]
[Colby] My mom told us all the time,
in front of us or was talking to
someone else, that she did want Joe dead.
Have you ever had something
that you know is the right thing to do
but it turns out that later on,
it was a a felony?
[audience laughing]
Looking at it now I feel like,
yeah, Alex was trying to go
and probably tase Joe
and put him in his car.
I mean, who knows? Alex was the oddball.
This is a true story.
I found out that my
ex brother-in-law was a, a pedophile.
So I took a stun gun,
and I discharged it right in his nut-sack.
And in I did!
- And in Texas, uh, that's a felony.
- [audience laughing]
I'm thinking, you know, maybe I'll get
a handshake, or parade, or something.
- [audience laughing]
- Uh I got probation.
[audience laughing, applauding]
[Colby] After Joe,
we moved place to place,
school to school, church to church.
Then my mom met Charles
through a client of hers from the salon.
[Janis] He was charming, he's Southern.
He was so fit.
And it was cute to see them together.
I really thought they were
well-matched for each other.
Charles joined the church,
and Charles did quit drinking.
[Colby] I think my mom married
Charles because she did love him,
but I think a part of it
was he was very financially secure.
That he can take care of us, and he
had already shown that he wanted to.
He wanted to take care of Tylee and I.
Plus, he had sons,
and when we integrated that,
it became a unit.
Everybody, I think,
felt better, more settled.
And then in 2013, they adopted JJ.
[vocalizing]
[man] What is that singing?
[laughing] Turn out the lights ♪
The party's over ♪
They say that all good things must end ♪
Hey, and say, "Your driver is Pawpaw,
Larry Woodcock."
Your driver is Pawpaw, Larry Woodcock.
- Say, "Thank you."
- Thank you!
[Colby] Kay is Charles's sister.
And her son had a baby
that he couldn't take care of.
Kay and Larry were getting older,
and so they felt better off with JJ
being with a couple that was younger,
so they asked my mom
and Charles to adopt him.
I was like,
"You're really gonna have a baby?"
I just thought
they were out of their minds.
You know, we knew that he had autism,
and we knew that
he was gonna struggle with things.
- [man] I'm not doing it.
- [laughing]
But then he was the one that made everyone
else feel like they need to be themselves.
And I just love him so much.
We just created such a deep relationship
and JJ loved Tylee,
and listened to what Tylee said.
Are you taking a video of my child?
- [Lori] Your child?
- My child.
[Colby] I think Tylee, at some point,
she just kind of formed
that natural place with JJ,
'cause she's very nurturing.
And as time went on,
the LDS church was
becoming a bigger topic in our house.
I think it started to become
a little bit more of idolatry.
There was just pictures everywhere.
Everything was getting replaced
slowly with pictures of temples and stuff.
All over the house, all over everything.
[Lori, on recording]
[Lori] Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii.
So we were in Kauai for three years.
I thought we were going there forever.
I loved those children.
We had so much fun doing that.
Well, hello.
My whole life is full circle.
I had to marry this husband
to adopt this child,
to get to this point,
to be in Kauai at this time.
I loved it there.
[Colby] It was paradise.
That was, like, the payoff
for all the stuff that had ever happened.
They get to move to Hawaii
and live their lives there.
I went there three or four times,
and I would stay for quite a while,
and we were just really cared for.
There were times where I just,
like, wanted to live at her house
because I just felt so comfortable there.
Name 10 things you
like about me, right now.
[laughs]
My name is April Raymond,
and I was a friend of
Lori Vallow's when she lived on Kauai
at the same time that I
I was living there.
And I met her at church.
We were both members
of the Hanalei branch.
She invited me to lunch,
and then we just kind of
developed a friendship from there.
And at the time, I was a single mother,
and there's a lot of stigma
attached to being divorced,
especially being LDS.
And I really thought
it was an answer to my prayers,
that I had finally found someone
with a similar background as myself.
Honestly, Lori and Charles, to me,
looked like they had the ideal marriage.
I really thought that they had it all.
And then, later, Lori and I, you know,
when we were kind of
alone in the evenings or whatever,
when, after dinner, and we would talk,
she would complain a lot about Charles.
She definitely did not see
Charles as her spiritual equal.
That was a big source
of contention in their marriage.
I felt like he was constantly trying
to, kind of, play catch-up with her
as far as, like, understand concepts that
maybe he just really didn't understand.
But I don't know how much
he knew of how frustrated she was.
Lori really wanted a
spiritual dynamo in a partner.
Being attached to Charles
she felt like was holding her back.
Her beliefs had become a lot more extreme.
She started telling me about
how she had a personal encounter
with the angel Moroni.
And that he was someone that
she was in communication with regularly.
[Lori, on recording]
[April] I thought that maybe
these beliefs were just something
that gave her life meaning,
or some kind of identity.
I really didn't think that, um
they were gonna lead to
to where where we are today.
And then she told me
she was going back to Arizona.
So we got till Tuesday night,
till the whole squad goes back home.
- A-hoo-hoo, Mama gonna cry.
- Then everybody's gonna have
their own thing going on, but
Their busy lives. You're men now.
Yeah, I got things going on, girls
- You gotta get back to your girls.
- Basketball.
Gotta get back to your sports
and your girls and your classes.
- My classes. Hate classes. Um
- [sighs]
Anyway, I think that was pretty good.
- Signing out. Right.
- The best one we had.
- Merry Christmas. Out.
- Catch you on the flippity.
[Colby] They moved back to Chandler,
and then they found this house.
I was at school.
The reason I moved here again and stayed
here is because me and Kelsee. [chuckles]
- Mine goes all the way down.
- Let me see the top.
[Colby] The first time I ever
saw Kelsee was in our school gym,
and she was this emo girl
with her, like, blond hair over one eye.
[Kelsee] Colby was
friends with my brother.
Technically, the first time
I met him was in middle school,
and I've known him since junior high,
but when he was in college
is when he finally asked me out.
And I swear, like,
right after that date, we both felt,
"Okay, this has, like, real potential."
I went to a Christian church with Kelsee.
My mom just was so upset with that.
She felt like I was
taking Colby away from the LDS church.
I think it was more about
control for Lori than anything.
She was just very passive-aggressive.
She would like, snake her way
into things and try to manipulate things
or make Colby feel bad.
She was always competing with me
for Colby's, like, love and attention and
I don't know, I just always
had a off feeling about her.
After we got engaged,
Lori was acting so bizarre.
She would say really
off-the-wall random things, like,
"Jesus loves you,
but he loves me the most."
And then the wedding.
The wedding was weird. [chuckles]
We did all my family pictures,
and then we were about to
do pictures with his family,
and Tylee was missing,
and me and Colby were like,
"Where's Tylee?"
And, they're like,
"Oh, she was on a ski trip."
And we're like, "What?"
[Colby] Literally, still to
this day it, like, breaks my heart
that we don't have a family picture
with Tylee from our wedding.
I think my mom had an issue with Kelsee
coming into my life
and being the woman in my life.
And from that point
everything started being a problem.
[Annie] After the wedding,
there was a shift in Lori.
She became so sad,
and I think there was a transition
in how she talked about her religion.
She was much more
focused on the end times,
talking about how scary it was.
[Colby] She started buying
huge supplies of rice,
beans, powdered milk, everything, tents,
all that stuff to be ready for
Like, it's going down.
Like, you're really gonna
have to survive, like, some Walking Dead.
Like, you're gonna have to survive it.
[Annie] She was genuinely frightened.
I mean, she actually
went so far as to say,
"It's going to be so scary."
"Sometimes, I think it would be
better to just go off the side of a cliff
in a car with my kids
than to live through the end times."
And I just said, "Lori, no."
[Lori, on recording]
[Janis] When they came back from Hawaii,
Alex and Lori started
listening to podcasts together,
and Alex would send me podcasts,
"You've got to hear this, Mom."
[Colby] Alex started
coming around way more often,
and she seemed to be a little bit
more happy when he was there.
I was still trying to understand
this new belief system that Lori had.
And that's when she started telling me
a little bit more about this podcast group
that she was in.
And she had mentioned another
member of the group, Melanie Gibb.
[Melanie, on recording]
[Lori, on recording]
[Melanie, on recording]
I can't tell you how many times
me and Tylee talked about it specifically
and we're like,
"Do you not feel off about this?"
Like, "Does this not just seem weird?"
Like, "The way Mom acts,
and the way that her and Melanie
would get, like, into a conversation,
then slip away and start talking?"
[Janis] She started
having a group of friends.
You know, we just thought, well,
she's being kind to some odd ducks.
[Annie] She mentioned Zulema.
Lori met her at church.
You know, I was excited for her
because she hadn't had friends in so long.
I even told her one time,
"I'm so proud of you."
Like, go have fun. Like, go out and find,
like, mom friends. Like, that's awesome.
I didn't know there was a group,
I didn't know she was leading something.
I had no idea she was
involved in any type of group.
But I remember when she
started going to these conferences.
[host] We are holding the
Rexburg Preparing A People conference,
with Chad Daybell,
one of our main speakers.
I'm just very honored
to be part of the conference.
I've recently released my autobiography,
entitled Living on the Edge of Heaven,
where I tell more about
my two near-death experiences
and how that
prompted me to write my novels.
It was called a Preparing A People.
It was just a meeting.
Lori had wanted us to go with her.
And Chad gave a talk at it.
I've been waiting for
20 years for something to happen.
I write all these
novels and people are like,
"When's it gonna start?" You know?
And here's one of my
new favorite characters,
because this is how people think I act.
That there's
Woody Harrelson in the movie 2012,
and that's how my relatives honestly think
that's how I've
acted the last five years. [laughs]
But he was right. [laughs]
We can prepare ourselves to survive
through these trials that are coming.
And that's the whole reason you're here.
I know that the spirit has guided you and
prompted you that you have a role to play.
Afterwards, he was selling his books.
Lori went up to the table.
That's when they got to meet.
She talked to him a lot.
Asked a lot of questions.
She was very interested
in what he thought,
and he was interested in what she knew.
And so, they started Kind of,
developed that connection right there.
He had shared with her when they met
that they had been
married multiple times before
not right now in this Earth life,
but in multiple lives
and things of that nature.
That was established when they first met.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
My name is Dr. John Mathias.
I'm a clinical and forensic psychologist.
All told in the last 25 years,
I've probably done between
five and six hundred evaluations.
To understand Chad Daybell,
I think you have to go back to 1985.
I served an LDS mission
with Chad Daybell 30
Wow, 30 years ago.
We served for two years in New Jersey.
As a missionary,
we serve in companionships of two.
We were in the same zone the entire time.
The whole point of missionaries
is to get converts to the church
and to baptize them.
And Chad set all sorts
of baptismal records.
He was very easily approachable.
Imagine Bob Ross, but not as verbose.
Now, he's not a recluse, he's just quiet,
gentle.
[John] So then he
returns from his mission,
and that's when Chad
was in Flaming Gorge, Utah,
and he went cliff diving,
and he had his first
near-death experience.
He's bumped against the cliffs,
and he claims he's knocked unconscious.
That's the moment
when Chad Daybell believes
that he can look beyond the veil
and bring back visions from the future.
In his mind's eye, it gives him
the power of being a prophet.
And then Chad and Tammy
met shortly after Chad's mission.
[Benjamin] Tammy was
definitely more vivacious.
And just just like, looked
like a nice mix, you know.
Like, lemon and sugar for making lemonade.
I mean, she was the, the more lively one.
[John] He basically married
the first woman that he really dated.
He's a loving husband and has five kids.
And he starts writing some books.
He's speaking at conferences.
It does seem like there were
a number of followers in Rexburg
that adhered to the beliefs.
Then I came to a point where I felt I
should start my own publishing company.
And that's when
Spring Creek Books was formed.
My name is Julie Row.
I'm the second of ten kids growing up,
and, um, was raised in the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Not only am I woman
who has prophetic gifts,
but I am being public about that,
which is shunned upon in the LDS church.
The truth of it is, is that we
Most of us on the planet
have had past lives.
There are some people that this is
their first life as a mortal being,
but most of us have had at least
one other life, and I've had several.
And I believe we are in
the final days before Christ comes.
Chad Daybell was the publisher
for my first five books.
I didn't meet he and his wife Tammy
and kids
until after my first book
was already published.
They seem like really good people.
Chad was dorky haircut, dad jeans,
cheap tennis shoes, a cheap plaid shirt.
He had spiritual gifts,
and people that we met,
he would say that he could, um, label
these people with a number system
on how many lives they'd had.
Chad was trying to box people in,
but it's not this ranking system.
The Lord doesn't rank people.
See, that's where Chad got it wrong.
Because it is like the angel
and the devil on your shoulder.
And the more spiritual gifts you're awake
to or open to, the trickier Satan gets.
[John] Chad's vision was
that there will be an apocalypse.
The people that are righteous survive.
And that there were 144,000
chosen ones who would be saved,
and that they would ride out the storm
until the New Jerusalem was established
and carry on the
work of God into eternity.
[Chad, on recording]
[John] Chad starts to proclaim that
Rexburg, Idaho, was the New Jerusalem.
It's supposed to be Christ that
comes in and leads post-apocalypse.
But in Chad's version,
he comes in and leads it.
Chad thought that
his books were scripture,
and that they should be taken
at the level of The Book of Mormon.
In other words, he's trying to create
a new religion on the back of Mormonism.
Lori was reading his books.
She too comes to believe
that these books are more than fiction.
Lori is smitten.
[April] The first time
I heard Lori mention Chad Daybell
was when she was talking
about the group that she was involved in.
She didn't elaborate
or give any indication
that she had any relationship
with him outside of professional.
[Janis] Lori and Chad.
I mean, I didn't even
That didn't even
Wasn't even on my radar.
I just know that
after she met Chad, she changed.
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[April] The last time she and I texted,
Lori had expressed to me
that her husband Charles was already dead,
and that there was a
demon living inside of him.
And that she was gonna get a call,
any day, that the demon,
who was now using
Charles's body as a host,
would be dead.
She basically said they were
just waiting for this demon to die,
and the name she gave me was Ned Snider.
"Ned." She told me Ned.
I think she's told other people "Nick,"
but she said "Ned" to me.
[Colby] I called my mom, and she's like,
"I found out Charles
has been cheating for years."
"Every time he goes to California,"
and, "He has these girls that
he's spending all this money on secretly."
And I called him, and he was freaking out,
and he was just saying that
she's, like, out of her mind now,
and, like, "This is not your mom, Colby."
And I didn't know what that meant at all.
I was like, "What are you talking about?"
I'm like, "You sound more
crazy than you're saying she is."
At that time, it looked like
a guilty person was freaking out
because they'd been caught.
So I just stopped talking to him.
So then he starts
emailing everyone in the family,
and saying she's crazy
and she thinks she's a god.
Everyone's tagged in our family and
it's like, that to me, was so annoying.
Like, this is between you and her.
Stop bringing everybody in your drama.
[Janis] What Charles was saying was that
Lori thought she was a superior being,
and that she knew things we didn't know.
But that's what everybody says
when they are trying to say you're crazy.
You know, you think you're God.
So I didn't I didn't buy Charles's story.
[phone dings]
[Adam] And I was the only one
that took Charles's phone calls,
and I live in Kansas.
[Annie] On January 30th, 2019,
Charles was in Houston on a business trip,
and Lori canceled
Charles' flight home to Arizona.
And she has Alex remove Charles' truck
from the airport parking lot.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Annie] And then Alex went into
the house and removed all of his stuff.
All of his clothes were gone,
his computer, everything.
[Janis] Charles called me and he said,
"Well, what I want, Janice,
is I want my stuff back."
"I need my clothes, I need my truck."
He was real upset.
[car door closing]
[officer] Why don't you come over here.
So what's going on tonight?
I can't get in touch with my kids.
[officer] How old are your kids?
Six and a half and sixteen.
[officer] Okay.
Um, but she
she's
lost her mind. I I
I don't know how
else to say it. We're LDS,
she thinks she's a
resurrected being and a, and a
A god and
member of the 144,000.
Jesus is coming next year.
She took all the money
out of her bank account today.
My truck is gone.
She went to the airport and got it.
[officer] So what makes her
a danger to herself and to others?
She threatened me. To murder me, kill me.
- [officer] She threatened to murder you?
- Yes. And she said
- [officer] How did she do that?
- She said, "I can murder you."
[officer] "I can murder you."
And she's talking in a spirit
- "I will kill you."
- [officer] Spiritual?
No, she talks in physically
"I will kill you
because you're not Charles."
"And nobody will care."
[officer] Okay. So she
she at this point
doesn't think you are her husband?
She thinks I'm "Nick Schneider"?
- [officer] Who's "Mick Schneider"?
- I have no idea.
It's the name she used.
I don't know where it came from.
- [officer] Okay.
- I just
[Annie] It's heart-wrenching
to even watch that video.
You saw in that body cam,
Charles Vallow crying out for help.
Charles is trying to serve her
with a mandatory pick-up
to see a psychiatrist.
[Charles] I went to
the CSI to file a report.
Which is the Community Bridges,
or something. Filed a report.
[officer] So, you did, you did
You did the petition?
- Yeah, they ordered a pickup.
- [officer] Okay.
[officer] Okay, but you don't
even know if she is here, right?
Today, on the phone
I can't all the cars are here,
the garage is closed now.
I don't know, she locked the garage door.
[officer] This house,
or the one with the flashing lights?
Right there.
[Charles] She's not in there.
[officer] Anybody in there?
The cars are all gone.
I don't know where my kids are.
[officer] Well kick it in.
[kicking the door]
[officer] Gilbert Police.
Anybody in the house?
[footsteps]
They've got computers?
[Charles] I don't know.
All clear.
- [Charles] Hey, guys, uh,
- [officer] Yeah.
what happens next?
[officer] As for tonight,
we don't have a crime.
Who knows where she's at?
We don't know where she's at.
She has the right to take the children.
You weren't home at the time.
So she's in her legal right to do so.
Okay?
So if she comes
home tomorrow, you can call us,
and we'll come out with this paperwork.
- Okay. Thank you so much.
- All right.
JJ had school the next day.
Charles knew that Lori
was going to drive him.
So Charles goes to
JJ's school in Chandler.
He takes her purse,
and he reached out
to Gilbert Police Department.
What's going on?
How did you get her phone?
'Cause it was in the car
this morning when she pulled up to school.
I took the keys out of
her purse so she couldn't leave.
- That's when I called you guys.
- Okay.
Somehow, she had a
spare set of keys, and left,
with my dog!
We are just gonna wait a second.
My sergeant, they're on their way.
[Annie] Later that day,
Lori and Tylee and Melanie Gibb
go down to Chandler Police Department.
[Lori] This is my daughter.
[officer] Okay. Yeah.
Yeah.
[Lori] Okay. Hi.
We got enough chairs for everybody?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, you want this one?
[officer] Why don't you
tell us what happened?
[Lori] So yesterday, I got in
an argument with my husband on the phone
and he was in Texas working and
I found some stuff that he'd been doing.
I caught him cheating and I had evidence.
I told him that,
I told him not to come home.
And that his stuff would be gone!
And that his car would be gone!
[chuckles] So he gets
a little mad. [chuckles]
So I took the kids,
we spend the night in a hotel
'cause I knew he was coming home.
And, um So this morning when I took my
son into school, he was waiting somewhere
and, like, stole my purse out of the car.
My whole purse. So
my phone, my wallet, my money,
my everything was in there.
[officer] So if we have him
bring the purse back
are we all good?
Like, I mean
[Lori] If you can get the
purse back that would be lovely.
'Cause all my stuff is in there.
I'm really mad about my lip gloss.
[officer chuckles]
What about the credit cards?
[Lori] He has all the cards and all
[Annie] I think, overall,
you just see these officers
captivated by Lori.
Just intoxicated by her siren song.
She took all of his stuff
right down to his underwear.
I mean, she even
admitted to taking his car.
She gave them plenty to be suspicious of.
That was a major stain in this case,
just seeing how irresponsibly
Chandler Police Department
handled the claims.
[officer] So he's
supposedly en route with your purse
and the order also
which needs to be verified by my sergeant.
So, if it is verified, then I have
to take you to Community Bridges. Uh,
it's a mental health behavior place,
to get looked at.
Because what it is,
is committal paperwork.
They can hold you for 24, 48.
However long they
deem it necessary to get you evaluated.
- [Lori] Right.
- Based off just what your husband
[Lori] Says.
[officer] I'm going to
[Lori] But they'll be looking for me?
That's the whole thing, like
We don't bust down doors to get you,
but we will knock.
So if you see police officers knocking,
talk to them through the door,
if you really don't want to go.
[Lori] Okay.
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.
And if you want a free medical evaluation,
psychological evaluation
[Lori] I haven't gotten
any sleep in about three days,
if they have good facilities. [laughs]
[officer] They do actually,
from what I understand.
[Lori] You'll be okay without your mama?
[Tylee] You are
going to get a padded room.
[all laughing]
[Janis] Charles wanted
her to have a psych eval.
The police told her
it'd be better to just go do it,
than to have to pick you up and take you.
So she went to a psych eval.
You know, we all thought,
well, she didn't get committed.
So, what are we gonna say?
They interviewed Lori
and they interviewed Charles,
and the cops at the time
thought Charles was nuttier than Lori.
[Colby] When they broke up,
my mom is living at the house.
Charles is gonna stay
in Houston and do his thing,
and then come and visit weekly,
or whatever it was,
to see JJ and to take care of him.
[Charles] A, B, C ♪
Sing your ABCs, JJ.
[JJ vocalizes]
[Colby] Tylee was very devastated
by the whole situation.
Charles is gone,
the house is completely broken now.
She doesn't know how to feel or think.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Annie] Charles was suspicious
of Lori and Chad's relationship.
Charles found this
fake letter that had been sent out.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Annie] Charles reached out
to Lori's brother, Adam Cox,
to say he was going to reach out to Tammy.
He had found Tammy's
email address on Chad's site.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Adam] I felt bad for Charles,
and so I said
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Adam] So, he wanted me to fly out there,
and I said,
"All right, I'll go out there and meet,
but don't tell Lori or tell your family
that I'm flying you out,
or Lori will run."
"She won't talk to you."
And I was like, "Okay."
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
So I flew out to Arizona,
and I stayed with my mom and dad.
And I called Alex, and he never answers
the phone or returns any of my calls.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
on Thursday morning.
Well, he texts me, like,
at 7:30 in the morning.
[phone dings]
[gun shot]
[gun shot]
[phone ringing]
- [operator] 911, Police or Paramedics?
- [Alex] Yes.
[tense music playing]
[car door closing]
[officer] Why don't you come over here.
So what's going on tonight?
I can't get in touch with my kids.
[officer] How old are your kids?
Six and a half and sixteen.
[officer] Okay.
She
she's lost her mind.
I I I I don't
know how else to say it.
[officer] So what makes her
a danger to herself and to others?
She's threatened me.
To murder me, kill me.
- [officer] She threatened to murder you?
- Yes.
[officer] So how does she
pose a threat to your children?
I don't know
what she's gonna do with them.
I don't know if she's gonna
flee with them, hurt them.
[officer] This house
or with the flashing lights?
It's right there.
The cars are all gone.
- I don't know where my kids are.
- [officer] Well kick it in!
Oh my god.
[man] So I'm sitting there at home,
and two detectives
come and knock on the door.
[knocking on door]
"Are you Colby Ryan?" I'm like, "Yeah."
She said something like,
"Is Tylee or JJ here?"
And I was like, "Tylee, my sister?"
[Tylee] JJ!
[phone beeps, rings]
[Colby] I call my mom.
She's like, "I don't know
what to tell you right now."
"I'm gonna take care of it. Don't worry."
Like, "I'll deal with it."
And she's like, "I love you, bye."
And I called her one more time.
And her phone's dead.
And she sent an e-mail
that said something like,
"I love you. Just know
that we're safe, we're okay."
So, that's where it started.
[reporter 1] Did a
religious group's beliefs
lead to the disappearances
of JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan?
[reporter 2] Their mother, Lori Vallow,
refuses to tell anyone where the kids are.
[reporter 3] It is a
very hard case to follow.
[reporter 4] The whole cult thing,
the end of the world, the New Jerusalem.
[reporter 5] All the trail of death leads
right back to
Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow.
Only one question I want her to answer:
"Where are the children?"
[woman] Lori was a wonderful mother
until she met that Chad Daybell.
And she changed.
[reporter 6] Lori believed
that her and Chad were
destined to carry out this mission.
[reporter 7] Police are
serving a search warrant.
Rexburg Police,
Fremont County Sheriff's Office,
the FBI, they are all here.
[on recording]
[Colby, on recording]
You know that I love you,
and that's why this is
the hardest conversation I could have
with anybody in my whole life.
I would have never thought you
would have ever done something like this.
[Lori] What is it
that you think that I've done?
[opening theme music playing]
[Colby] Belief really will
take you to a different place.
If you believed so deeply,
you think you have to do these things.
And my mom, because
she's so deep in her belief,
I think that it just
makes her harder to reach.
She's still in fantasyland.
My grandma is
very defensive of her family.
I was mad at her for defending my mom.
But I also realize
she's defensive of the people she loves.
[woman] We're saving all of our pictures
with Lori, but we don't really
enjoy looking at them right now.
- No.
- It's hard.
Well, like, for me,
I think it's also, like,
I don't even know if I really
just care about having that stuff.
- Yeah
- I can't erase her out,
but at the same time, like
I don't I don't know
at what point I'm gonna be,
"Oh yeah, I really want to
have that memory of her."
- You know what I mean?
- You will someday.
- Yeah, we'll see.
- And I don't mind holding on till then.
I can't right now. I'm still so angry.
I can't put it in perspective.
I have to think about Lori like she was
- and then not think about her now.
- Yeah.
I've got it very divided in my head
- Mm-hmm. Right.
- to function.
[Janis] To look back at it,
everything seemed normal.
We had two boys a year apart,
Alex and Adam.
Adam is just a doll.
He's always been a doll.
He's always loved his family.
And, Alex was just super funny.
He wanted to be a stand-up comedian.
And then Lori was our next child.
Lori was just a darling little girl.
And then I had Summer.
She's my youngest.
It was just a big family,
and we did have a lot of fun.
I raised all our kids in the LDS church.
All of our kids love The Book of Mormon.
And Lori's always loved the scriptures.
She took to it right away.
[man] She was, like, eight,
and I was trying to teach her some things,
and she started crying.
And when she got home, she told
Janis and her brothers and sisters,
"Dad is a spiritual giant!" [chuckles]
But she was very sensitive to that.
I just know that Lori
is loved by her Heavenly Father,
as well as all other people who have been
influenced and taken captive by Satan.
[Colby] My mom had gotten
married right out of high school.
Her first marriage did not last.
And then she had me at 22.
My dad and my mom
were in a bad relationship.
And she didn't feel like
she wanted me to be in that,
and basically took me
and removed me from that situation.
My brother, Joe Ryan, and Lori,
their courtship happened pretty fast.
[Colby] They got married.
We moved in, and he was
really sweet and outgoing.
It sounded good to be a family.
That's what I wanted my whole life.
I think that's what my mom wanted.
We just wanted a
big family that was happy.
[Annie] Lori became the perfect sister.
She was delighted that
she was going to have a little girl.
They had already picked out her name,
and I thought it was just
such a beautiful, beautiful name.
[Janis] Lori was so excited to have Tylee.
She was a tiny little darling baby.
A little blue-eyed under-five-pounds.
And Colby adored her.
She was everything to him.
I was so excited to have a sister.
Like, all I wanted was a family.
[Annie] When Lori was married to Joe,
not too long after she had Tylee,
she entered the Mrs. Texas Pageant.
[announcer] Contestant number 13
is Lori Ryan.
[Annie] For her to be
on a stage being recognized,
I know had to be really important.
[applause]
Being a good mom is very important to me,
and a good wife, and a good worker,
and being all those
things together is not easy,
so I'm basically a ticking time bomb.
- [laughs]
- [applause]
[studio audience] Wheel of Fortune!
[Pat Sajak] Thanks! Thank you very much.
[crowd applause]
[Annie] And then going on
Wheel of Fortune,
I think that
she always had this inclination
to super-spiritualize everything.
- [Pat Sajak] Six hundred.
- S.
- [Pat Sajak] There are two S's, yeah.
- All right.
Her telling of the story was God told her
that she was going to be
on Wheel of Fortune.
She had to have that extra validation of,
like, no, she heard from God.
[Pat Sajak] Hi, how you doing, Lori?
Lori Ryan from Austin, Texas.
- That's right.
- A hairstylist in Austin, hey?
- That's right. The best!
- How's the hair in Austin?
- Good. Austin's a happening place.
- [Pat Sajak] Good.
- [Pat Sajak] Probably thanks to you.
- Pretty much.
[Pat Sajak] Talk about
your family a little bit.
I have a wonderful
husband, Joseph, at home
who is watching our
two beautiful children,
Colby, who's seven, and Tylee, who is one.
- [Pat Sajak] Thanks, Lori.
- [applause]
[Colby] I remember Joe
being this very sweet person
in the beginning, and then
I don't know if he started to be
annoyed by me as a little kid, but, like,
everything I did was,
like, annoying to him.
Like, smacking my lips while eating, like,
that I didn't have these proper manners,
but it wasn't like being taught.
It was like, always discipline.
It just got worse and worse and worse.
And it just got to the point
where he would just, like,
punch me in the back of the head.
I'm just a little kid, and I was scared.
I'm looking at her to save me from him.
[Annie] I was very worried.
I asked her if she had
ever experienced abuse,
and she said she did with him.
I wanted her to leave him.
[Colby] One day,
I'll never forget, we left.
We had this long driveway.
And we take off down the driveway.
And it felt like freedom.
I never wanted to see him again.
I remember telling my mom
about the sexual abuse.
I was like eight years old.
I didn't even know
how to explain what had happened,
but I told her how he abused me
and what he was doing.
And I remember her
just being kind of silent.
I just remember feeling
like I did something wrong.
I just felt like I ruined
her life.
Like, that's where it started.
That was like the breaking point for her.
[Lori, on recording]
[Colby] My mom told us all the time,
in front of us or was talking to
someone else, that she did want Joe dead.
Have you ever had something
that you know is the right thing to do
but it turns out that later on,
it was a a felony?
[audience laughing]
Looking at it now I feel like,
yeah, Alex was trying to go
and probably tase Joe
and put him in his car.
I mean, who knows? Alex was the oddball.
This is a true story.
I found out that my
ex brother-in-law was a, a pedophile.
So I took a stun gun,
and I discharged it right in his nut-sack.
And in I did!
- And in Texas, uh, that's a felony.
- [audience laughing]
I'm thinking, you know, maybe I'll get
a handshake, or parade, or something.
- [audience laughing]
- Uh I got probation.
[audience laughing, applauding]
[Colby] After Joe,
we moved place to place,
school to school, church to church.
Then my mom met Charles
through a client of hers from the salon.
[Janis] He was charming, he's Southern.
He was so fit.
And it was cute to see them together.
I really thought they were
well-matched for each other.
Charles joined the church,
and Charles did quit drinking.
[Colby] I think my mom married
Charles because she did love him,
but I think a part of it
was he was very financially secure.
That he can take care of us, and he
had already shown that he wanted to.
He wanted to take care of Tylee and I.
Plus, he had sons,
and when we integrated that,
it became a unit.
Everybody, I think,
felt better, more settled.
And then in 2013, they adopted JJ.
[vocalizing]
[man] What is that singing?
[laughing] Turn out the lights ♪
The party's over ♪
They say that all good things must end ♪
Hey, and say, "Your driver is Pawpaw,
Larry Woodcock."
Your driver is Pawpaw, Larry Woodcock.
- Say, "Thank you."
- Thank you!
[Colby] Kay is Charles's sister.
And her son had a baby
that he couldn't take care of.
Kay and Larry were getting older,
and so they felt better off with JJ
being with a couple that was younger,
so they asked my mom
and Charles to adopt him.
I was like,
"You're really gonna have a baby?"
I just thought
they were out of their minds.
You know, we knew that he had autism,
and we knew that
he was gonna struggle with things.
- [man] I'm not doing it.
- [laughing]
But then he was the one that made everyone
else feel like they need to be themselves.
And I just love him so much.
We just created such a deep relationship
and JJ loved Tylee,
and listened to what Tylee said.
Are you taking a video of my child?
- [Lori] Your child?
- My child.
[Colby] I think Tylee, at some point,
she just kind of formed
that natural place with JJ,
'cause she's very nurturing.
And as time went on,
the LDS church was
becoming a bigger topic in our house.
I think it started to become
a little bit more of idolatry.
There was just pictures everywhere.
Everything was getting replaced
slowly with pictures of temples and stuff.
All over the house, all over everything.
[Lori, on recording]
[Lori] Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii.
So we were in Kauai for three years.
I thought we were going there forever.
I loved those children.
We had so much fun doing that.
Well, hello.
My whole life is full circle.
I had to marry this husband
to adopt this child,
to get to this point,
to be in Kauai at this time.
I loved it there.
[Colby] It was paradise.
That was, like, the payoff
for all the stuff that had ever happened.
They get to move to Hawaii
and live their lives there.
I went there three or four times,
and I would stay for quite a while,
and we were just really cared for.
There were times where I just,
like, wanted to live at her house
because I just felt so comfortable there.
Name 10 things you
like about me, right now.
[laughs]
My name is April Raymond,
and I was a friend of
Lori Vallow's when she lived on Kauai
at the same time that I
I was living there.
And I met her at church.
We were both members
of the Hanalei branch.
She invited me to lunch,
and then we just kind of
developed a friendship from there.
And at the time, I was a single mother,
and there's a lot of stigma
attached to being divorced,
especially being LDS.
And I really thought
it was an answer to my prayers,
that I had finally found someone
with a similar background as myself.
Honestly, Lori and Charles, to me,
looked like they had the ideal marriage.
I really thought that they had it all.
And then, later, Lori and I, you know,
when we were kind of
alone in the evenings or whatever,
when, after dinner, and we would talk,
she would complain a lot about Charles.
She definitely did not see
Charles as her spiritual equal.
That was a big source
of contention in their marriage.
I felt like he was constantly trying
to, kind of, play catch-up with her
as far as, like, understand concepts that
maybe he just really didn't understand.
But I don't know how much
he knew of how frustrated she was.
Lori really wanted a
spiritual dynamo in a partner.
Being attached to Charles
she felt like was holding her back.
Her beliefs had become a lot more extreme.
She started telling me about
how she had a personal encounter
with the angel Moroni.
And that he was someone that
she was in communication with regularly.
[Lori, on recording]
[April] I thought that maybe
these beliefs were just something
that gave her life meaning,
or some kind of identity.
I really didn't think that, um
they were gonna lead to
to where where we are today.
And then she told me
she was going back to Arizona.
So we got till Tuesday night,
till the whole squad goes back home.
- A-hoo-hoo, Mama gonna cry.
- Then everybody's gonna have
their own thing going on, but
Their busy lives. You're men now.
Yeah, I got things going on, girls
- You gotta get back to your girls.
- Basketball.
Gotta get back to your sports
and your girls and your classes.
- My classes. Hate classes. Um
- [sighs]
Anyway, I think that was pretty good.
- Signing out. Right.
- The best one we had.
- Merry Christmas. Out.
- Catch you on the flippity.
[Colby] They moved back to Chandler,
and then they found this house.
I was at school.
The reason I moved here again and stayed
here is because me and Kelsee. [chuckles]
- Mine goes all the way down.
- Let me see the top.
[Colby] The first time I ever
saw Kelsee was in our school gym,
and she was this emo girl
with her, like, blond hair over one eye.
[Kelsee] Colby was
friends with my brother.
Technically, the first time
I met him was in middle school,
and I've known him since junior high,
but when he was in college
is when he finally asked me out.
And I swear, like,
right after that date, we both felt,
"Okay, this has, like, real potential."
I went to a Christian church with Kelsee.
My mom just was so upset with that.
She felt like I was
taking Colby away from the LDS church.
I think it was more about
control for Lori than anything.
She was just very passive-aggressive.
She would like, snake her way
into things and try to manipulate things
or make Colby feel bad.
She was always competing with me
for Colby's, like, love and attention and
I don't know, I just always
had a off feeling about her.
After we got engaged,
Lori was acting so bizarre.
She would say really
off-the-wall random things, like,
"Jesus loves you,
but he loves me the most."
And then the wedding.
The wedding was weird. [chuckles]
We did all my family pictures,
and then we were about to
do pictures with his family,
and Tylee was missing,
and me and Colby were like,
"Where's Tylee?"
And, they're like,
"Oh, she was on a ski trip."
And we're like, "What?"
[Colby] Literally, still to
this day it, like, breaks my heart
that we don't have a family picture
with Tylee from our wedding.
I think my mom had an issue with Kelsee
coming into my life
and being the woman in my life.
And from that point
everything started being a problem.
[Annie] After the wedding,
there was a shift in Lori.
She became so sad,
and I think there was a transition
in how she talked about her religion.
She was much more
focused on the end times,
talking about how scary it was.
[Colby] She started buying
huge supplies of rice,
beans, powdered milk, everything, tents,
all that stuff to be ready for
Like, it's going down.
Like, you're really gonna
have to survive, like, some Walking Dead.
Like, you're gonna have to survive it.
[Annie] She was genuinely frightened.
I mean, she actually
went so far as to say,
"It's going to be so scary."
"Sometimes, I think it would be
better to just go off the side of a cliff
in a car with my kids
than to live through the end times."
And I just said, "Lori, no."
[Lori, on recording]
[Janis] When they came back from Hawaii,
Alex and Lori started
listening to podcasts together,
and Alex would send me podcasts,
"You've got to hear this, Mom."
[Colby] Alex started
coming around way more often,
and she seemed to be a little bit
more happy when he was there.
I was still trying to understand
this new belief system that Lori had.
And that's when she started telling me
a little bit more about this podcast group
that she was in.
And she had mentioned another
member of the group, Melanie Gibb.
[Melanie, on recording]
[Lori, on recording]
[Melanie, on recording]
I can't tell you how many times
me and Tylee talked about it specifically
and we're like,
"Do you not feel off about this?"
Like, "Does this not just seem weird?"
Like, "The way Mom acts,
and the way that her and Melanie
would get, like, into a conversation,
then slip away and start talking?"
[Janis] She started
having a group of friends.
You know, we just thought, well,
she's being kind to some odd ducks.
[Annie] She mentioned Zulema.
Lori met her at church.
You know, I was excited for her
because she hadn't had friends in so long.
I even told her one time,
"I'm so proud of you."
Like, go have fun. Like, go out and find,
like, mom friends. Like, that's awesome.
I didn't know there was a group,
I didn't know she was leading something.
I had no idea she was
involved in any type of group.
But I remember when she
started going to these conferences.
[host] We are holding the
Rexburg Preparing A People conference,
with Chad Daybell,
one of our main speakers.
I'm just very honored
to be part of the conference.
I've recently released my autobiography,
entitled Living on the Edge of Heaven,
where I tell more about
my two near-death experiences
and how that
prompted me to write my novels.
It was called a Preparing A People.
It was just a meeting.
Lori had wanted us to go with her.
And Chad gave a talk at it.
I've been waiting for
20 years for something to happen.
I write all these
novels and people are like,
"When's it gonna start?" You know?
And here's one of my
new favorite characters,
because this is how people think I act.
That there's
Woody Harrelson in the movie 2012,
and that's how my relatives honestly think
that's how I've
acted the last five years. [laughs]
But he was right. [laughs]
We can prepare ourselves to survive
through these trials that are coming.
And that's the whole reason you're here.
I know that the spirit has guided you and
prompted you that you have a role to play.
Afterwards, he was selling his books.
Lori went up to the table.
That's when they got to meet.
She talked to him a lot.
Asked a lot of questions.
She was very interested
in what he thought,
and he was interested in what she knew.
And so, they started Kind of,
developed that connection right there.
He had shared with her when they met
that they had been
married multiple times before
not right now in this Earth life,
but in multiple lives
and things of that nature.
That was established when they first met.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
My name is Dr. John Mathias.
I'm a clinical and forensic psychologist.
All told in the last 25 years,
I've probably done between
five and six hundred evaluations.
To understand Chad Daybell,
I think you have to go back to 1985.
I served an LDS mission
with Chad Daybell 30
Wow, 30 years ago.
We served for two years in New Jersey.
As a missionary,
we serve in companionships of two.
We were in the same zone the entire time.
The whole point of missionaries
is to get converts to the church
and to baptize them.
And Chad set all sorts
of baptismal records.
He was very easily approachable.
Imagine Bob Ross, but not as verbose.
Now, he's not a recluse, he's just quiet,
gentle.
[John] So then he
returns from his mission,
and that's when Chad
was in Flaming Gorge, Utah,
and he went cliff diving,
and he had his first
near-death experience.
He's bumped against the cliffs,
and he claims he's knocked unconscious.
That's the moment
when Chad Daybell believes
that he can look beyond the veil
and bring back visions from the future.
In his mind's eye, it gives him
the power of being a prophet.
And then Chad and Tammy
met shortly after Chad's mission.
[Benjamin] Tammy was
definitely more vivacious.
And just just like, looked
like a nice mix, you know.
Like, lemon and sugar for making lemonade.
I mean, she was the, the more lively one.
[John] He basically married
the first woman that he really dated.
He's a loving husband and has five kids.
And he starts writing some books.
He's speaking at conferences.
It does seem like there were
a number of followers in Rexburg
that adhered to the beliefs.
Then I came to a point where I felt I
should start my own publishing company.
And that's when
Spring Creek Books was formed.
My name is Julie Row.
I'm the second of ten kids growing up,
and, um, was raised in the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Not only am I woman
who has prophetic gifts,
but I am being public about that,
which is shunned upon in the LDS church.
The truth of it is, is that we
Most of us on the planet
have had past lives.
There are some people that this is
their first life as a mortal being,
but most of us have had at least
one other life, and I've had several.
And I believe we are in
the final days before Christ comes.
Chad Daybell was the publisher
for my first five books.
I didn't meet he and his wife Tammy
and kids
until after my first book
was already published.
They seem like really good people.
Chad was dorky haircut, dad jeans,
cheap tennis shoes, a cheap plaid shirt.
He had spiritual gifts,
and people that we met,
he would say that he could, um, label
these people with a number system
on how many lives they'd had.
Chad was trying to box people in,
but it's not this ranking system.
The Lord doesn't rank people.
See, that's where Chad got it wrong.
Because it is like the angel
and the devil on your shoulder.
And the more spiritual gifts you're awake
to or open to, the trickier Satan gets.
[John] Chad's vision was
that there will be an apocalypse.
The people that are righteous survive.
And that there were 144,000
chosen ones who would be saved,
and that they would ride out the storm
until the New Jerusalem was established
and carry on the
work of God into eternity.
[Chad, on recording]
[John] Chad starts to proclaim that
Rexburg, Idaho, was the New Jerusalem.
It's supposed to be Christ that
comes in and leads post-apocalypse.
But in Chad's version,
he comes in and leads it.
Chad thought that
his books were scripture,
and that they should be taken
at the level of The Book of Mormon.
In other words, he's trying to create
a new religion on the back of Mormonism.
Lori was reading his books.
She too comes to believe
that these books are more than fiction.
Lori is smitten.
[April] The first time
I heard Lori mention Chad Daybell
was when she was talking
about the group that she was involved in.
She didn't elaborate
or give any indication
that she had any relationship
with him outside of professional.
[Janis] Lori and Chad.
I mean, I didn't even
That didn't even
Wasn't even on my radar.
I just know that
after she met Chad, she changed.
[Lori speaking]
[Chad speaking]
[April] The last time she and I texted,
Lori had expressed to me
that her husband Charles was already dead,
and that there was a
demon living inside of him.
And that she was gonna get a call,
any day, that the demon,
who was now using
Charles's body as a host,
would be dead.
She basically said they were
just waiting for this demon to die,
and the name she gave me was Ned Snider.
"Ned." She told me Ned.
I think she's told other people "Nick,"
but she said "Ned" to me.
[Colby] I called my mom, and she's like,
"I found out Charles
has been cheating for years."
"Every time he goes to California,"
and, "He has these girls that
he's spending all this money on secretly."
And I called him, and he was freaking out,
and he was just saying that
she's, like, out of her mind now,
and, like, "This is not your mom, Colby."
And I didn't know what that meant at all.
I was like, "What are you talking about?"
I'm like, "You sound more
crazy than you're saying she is."
At that time, it looked like
a guilty person was freaking out
because they'd been caught.
So I just stopped talking to him.
So then he starts
emailing everyone in the family,
and saying she's crazy
and she thinks she's a god.
Everyone's tagged in our family and
it's like, that to me, was so annoying.
Like, this is between you and her.
Stop bringing everybody in your drama.
[Janis] What Charles was saying was that
Lori thought she was a superior being,
and that she knew things we didn't know.
But that's what everybody says
when they are trying to say you're crazy.
You know, you think you're God.
So I didn't I didn't buy Charles's story.
[phone dings]
[Adam] And I was the only one
that took Charles's phone calls,
and I live in Kansas.
[Annie] On January 30th, 2019,
Charles was in Houston on a business trip,
and Lori canceled
Charles' flight home to Arizona.
And she has Alex remove Charles' truck
from the airport parking lot.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Annie] And then Alex went into
the house and removed all of his stuff.
All of his clothes were gone,
his computer, everything.
[Janis] Charles called me and he said,
"Well, what I want, Janice,
is I want my stuff back."
"I need my clothes, I need my truck."
He was real upset.
[car door closing]
[officer] Why don't you come over here.
So what's going on tonight?
I can't get in touch with my kids.
[officer] How old are your kids?
Six and a half and sixteen.
[officer] Okay.
Um, but she
she's
lost her mind. I I
I don't know how
else to say it. We're LDS,
she thinks she's a
resurrected being and a, and a
A god and
member of the 144,000.
Jesus is coming next year.
She took all the money
out of her bank account today.
My truck is gone.
She went to the airport and got it.
[officer] So what makes her
a danger to herself and to others?
She threatened me. To murder me, kill me.
- [officer] She threatened to murder you?
- Yes. And she said
- [officer] How did she do that?
- She said, "I can murder you."
[officer] "I can murder you."
And she's talking in a spirit
- "I will kill you."
- [officer] Spiritual?
No, she talks in physically
"I will kill you
because you're not Charles."
"And nobody will care."
[officer] Okay. So she
she at this point
doesn't think you are her husband?
She thinks I'm "Nick Schneider"?
- [officer] Who's "Mick Schneider"?
- I have no idea.
It's the name she used.
I don't know where it came from.
- [officer] Okay.
- I just
[Annie] It's heart-wrenching
to even watch that video.
You saw in that body cam,
Charles Vallow crying out for help.
Charles is trying to serve her
with a mandatory pick-up
to see a psychiatrist.
[Charles] I went to
the CSI to file a report.
Which is the Community Bridges,
or something. Filed a report.
[officer] So, you did, you did
You did the petition?
- Yeah, they ordered a pickup.
- [officer] Okay.
[officer] Okay, but you don't
even know if she is here, right?
Today, on the phone
I can't all the cars are here,
the garage is closed now.
I don't know, she locked the garage door.
[officer] This house,
or the one with the flashing lights?
Right there.
[Charles] She's not in there.
[officer] Anybody in there?
The cars are all gone.
I don't know where my kids are.
[officer] Well kick it in.
[kicking the door]
[officer] Gilbert Police.
Anybody in the house?
[footsteps]
They've got computers?
[Charles] I don't know.
All clear.
- [Charles] Hey, guys, uh,
- [officer] Yeah.
what happens next?
[officer] As for tonight,
we don't have a crime.
Who knows where she's at?
We don't know where she's at.
She has the right to take the children.
You weren't home at the time.
So she's in her legal right to do so.
Okay?
So if she comes
home tomorrow, you can call us,
and we'll come out with this paperwork.
- Okay. Thank you so much.
- All right.
JJ had school the next day.
Charles knew that Lori
was going to drive him.
So Charles goes to
JJ's school in Chandler.
He takes her purse,
and he reached out
to Gilbert Police Department.
What's going on?
How did you get her phone?
'Cause it was in the car
this morning when she pulled up to school.
I took the keys out of
her purse so she couldn't leave.
- That's when I called you guys.
- Okay.
Somehow, she had a
spare set of keys, and left,
with my dog!
We are just gonna wait a second.
My sergeant, they're on their way.
[Annie] Later that day,
Lori and Tylee and Melanie Gibb
go down to Chandler Police Department.
[Lori] This is my daughter.
[officer] Okay. Yeah.
Yeah.
[Lori] Okay. Hi.
We got enough chairs for everybody?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, you want this one?
[officer] Why don't you
tell us what happened?
[Lori] So yesterday, I got in
an argument with my husband on the phone
and he was in Texas working and
I found some stuff that he'd been doing.
I caught him cheating and I had evidence.
I told him that,
I told him not to come home.
And that his stuff would be gone!
And that his car would be gone!
[chuckles] So he gets
a little mad. [chuckles]
So I took the kids,
we spend the night in a hotel
'cause I knew he was coming home.
And, um So this morning when I took my
son into school, he was waiting somewhere
and, like, stole my purse out of the car.
My whole purse. So
my phone, my wallet, my money,
my everything was in there.
[officer] So if we have him
bring the purse back
are we all good?
Like, I mean
[Lori] If you can get the
purse back that would be lovely.
'Cause all my stuff is in there.
I'm really mad about my lip gloss.
[officer chuckles]
What about the credit cards?
[Lori] He has all the cards and all
[Annie] I think, overall,
you just see these officers
captivated by Lori.
Just intoxicated by her siren song.
She took all of his stuff
right down to his underwear.
I mean, she even
admitted to taking his car.
She gave them plenty to be suspicious of.
That was a major stain in this case,
just seeing how irresponsibly
Chandler Police Department
handled the claims.
[officer] So he's
supposedly en route with your purse
and the order also
which needs to be verified by my sergeant.
So, if it is verified, then I have
to take you to Community Bridges. Uh,
it's a mental health behavior place,
to get looked at.
Because what it is,
is committal paperwork.
They can hold you for 24, 48.
However long they
deem it necessary to get you evaluated.
- [Lori] Right.
- Based off just what your husband
[Lori] Says.
[officer] I'm going to
[Lori] But they'll be looking for me?
That's the whole thing, like
We don't bust down doors to get you,
but we will knock.
So if you see police officers knocking,
talk to them through the door,
if you really don't want to go.
[Lori] Okay.
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.
And if you want a free medical evaluation,
psychological evaluation
[Lori] I haven't gotten
any sleep in about three days,
if they have good facilities. [laughs]
[officer] They do actually,
from what I understand.
[Lori] You'll be okay without your mama?
[Tylee] You are
going to get a padded room.
[all laughing]
[Janis] Charles wanted
her to have a psych eval.
The police told her
it'd be better to just go do it,
than to have to pick you up and take you.
So she went to a psych eval.
You know, we all thought,
well, she didn't get committed.
So, what are we gonna say?
They interviewed Lori
and they interviewed Charles,
and the cops at the time
thought Charles was nuttier than Lori.
[Colby] When they broke up,
my mom is living at the house.
Charles is gonna stay
in Houston and do his thing,
and then come and visit weekly,
or whatever it was,
to see JJ and to take care of him.
[Charles] A, B, C ♪
Sing your ABCs, JJ.
[JJ vocalizes]
[Colby] Tylee was very devastated
by the whole situation.
Charles is gone,
the house is completely broken now.
She doesn't know how to feel or think.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Annie] Charles was suspicious
of Lori and Chad's relationship.
Charles found this
fake letter that had been sent out.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Annie] Charles reached out
to Lori's brother, Adam Cox,
to say he was going to reach out to Tammy.
He had found Tammy's
email address on Chad's site.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Adam] I felt bad for Charles,
and so I said
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[Adam] So, he wanted me to fly out there,
and I said,
"All right, I'll go out there and meet,
but don't tell Lori or tell your family
that I'm flying you out,
or Lori will run."
"She won't talk to you."
And I was like, "Okay."
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
So I flew out to Arizona,
and I stayed with my mom and dad.
And I called Alex, and he never answers
the phone or returns any of my calls.
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
[phone dings]
on Thursday morning.
Well, he texts me, like,
at 7:30 in the morning.
[phone dings]
[gun shot]
[gun shot]
[phone ringing]
- [operator] 911, Police or Paramedics?
- [Alex] Yes.
[tense music playing]