Chad and Lori Daybell
Mormon doomsday prophets investigated for the murder of their spouses and children
2009 - 2019
Chad Daybell is a Mormon who believes he has special abilities to receive supernatural visions after surviving two near death experiences. Compelled to share these insights, he launched a publishing venture in 2009, spinning tales of his supernatural encounters into novels. Through this, he was able to gain a small following, but eventually faced financial problems. However, he was able to revitalize his floundering company by focusing on predictions of an imminent apocalypse. From then on, his religious views became increasingly radical.
Around 2015, Lori began reading Chad's writings and became enamored with him. By 2018, their fates intertwined when Lori finally met Chad, sparking a revelation of a profound connection spanning multiple lifetimes. Driven by this cosmic bond, Lori, accompanied by her brother Alex and her two children, uprooted her life to be near Chad, despite the fact that both Chad and Lori were already married to other people.
Their lives soon took a dark and twisted turn as Chad and Lori's love story morphed into a chilling narrative. They reportedly became entangled with the Church of the Firstborn, a fundamentalist Mormon doomsday sect linked to kidnappings and murders. Believing they had the supernatural ability to identify individuals as "light" or "dark," based on their perceived allegiance to Jesus or Satan, they deemed the "dark" ones as "zombies" who needed to be eradicated.
In a rapid succession, loved ones began to disappear or meet untimely deaths: Lori's husband Charles was fatally shot by her brother Alex in July 2019; her children, Tylee and JJ, vanished that September; Chad's wife Tammy was killed in October; and Alex himself died in December that same year.
In the shadow of this turmoil, Chad and Lori, now both widowed and with the children nowhere to be found, hastily married in November 2019. However, their union was soon overshadowed by an investigation into the children's disappearance, leading to a distressing discovery: Tylee and JJ had been tragically killed and buried in Chad's backyard, deemed by the couple as "zombies." Arrested and charged with multiple crimes, Lori faces a lifetime behind bars after a guilty verdict, while Chad awaits his trial.
Religion: Latter-Day Saint Movement
Denomination: Church of the Firstborn
Founder: Chad Daybell
Founded: Around 2009
Ended: Around 2019
Location: Rexburg, Idaho
List of Names:
Brandon Boudreaux: the husband of Melani Pawlowski (Lori's niece). Was shot at while driving home, but survived unharmed.
Melani Boudreaux: Lori's niece and Brandon Boudreaux's wife, who reportedly shared Chad and Lori's beliefs.
Alex Cox: Lori's brother, who moved to Idaho with her. Alex killed Lori's husband Charles and is suspected to have shot at Brandon Boudreaux. He died from natural causes on December 12, 2019.
Chad Daybell: Mormon Clairvoyant and author facing various charges related to the various murders. Married Lori after his wife was murdered.
Lori Daybell: A follower of Chad Daybell, who married him after her husband was murdered and her children went missing. She has been found guilty for various charges relating to the murders and has been sentenced to life in prison.
Tammy Daybell: Chad's former wife. They were still married when Chad began his relationship with Lori, and was killed on October 19, 2019.
Melaine Gibb: Lori's best friend and one of the last people to see JJ. Lori asked Melanie to lie about the whereabouts of the children, but Melanie refused
Tylee Ryan: Lori's 16-year-old daughter, who was murdered in September 2019
Charles Vallow: Lori's previous husband. He had filed for divorce and reported threats to his life, but was later killed by Lori's brother Alex
Joshua "JJ" Vallow: Lori's seven-year-old son with special needs. JJ was murdered in September 2019.
Timeline:
2006: Lori married Charles Vallow
2014: Lori and Charles adopted JJ Vallow
2017: Lori's relationship with her children starts to change as she delves more seriously into the writings of Chad Daybell
2018: Lori meets Chad Daybell, who was married to Tammy and had five children
February 2019: Charles filed for Divorce from Lori, expressing fear for his and his children's safety
July 2019: Charles was killed by Lori's brother Alex
September 2019: Lori and her brother Alex moved closer to Chad
September 8, 2019: Tylee (Lori's 16-year old daughter) disappeared
September 22, 2019: JJ (Lori's seven-year-old son) disappeared
October 2, 2019: Brandon Boudreaux, the husband of Lori's niece, was shot at while driving, but was unharmed
October 19, 2029: Tammy (Chad's wife) was murdered
November 5, 2019: Chad and Lori get married
November 29, 2019: Tylee and JJ are reported missing by police after performing a welfare check requested by their grandmother
December 2019: Alex (Lori's brother) dies
February 20, 2020: Lori is arrested
June 9, 2020: Authorities discovered the remains of Tylee and JJ buried in Chad's backyard. Chad is arrested.
May 25, 2021: Chad and Lori are charged with with first-degree murder for the deaths of JJ and Tylee. Daybell was also charged with murdering his first wife, Tammy Daybell.
June 2021: Lori was charged with conspiring to murder Charles Vallow.
May 12, 2023: Lori is found guilty on all charges. She was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of her children and Tammy, as well as stealing social security payments issued for the children
July 31, 2023: Lori is sentenced to life without parole.
December 7, 2023: Lori is charged with conspiracy to murder Brandon Boudreaux in 2019
Chad has published several books about the end of the world and second-coming of Jesus Christ (source)
Lori believed that she was a god preparing for the end of days (source)
Chad and Lori believed they were the head of the 144,000 chosen people who were to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (source)
Lori predicted a major earthquake would hit Utah by the end of 2019 and that the world would end in 2020 (source)
Chad claimed that he survived two near death experiences, which have allowed him to receive direct messages, visions, revelations, and prophesies from God (source)
Chad believed that five of his children will play a role in the second coming of Christ (source)
Lori reportedly told her ex-husband that she was a "reincarnated God" (source)
Chad claimed that he had lived 31 different lives on different planets and that Lori had lived 21 lives (source)
Chad and Lori believed they could stay in contact through spiritual portals when they were away from each other (source)
Chad said that the veil (between heaven and earth) was open all the time, and he had a way of seeing things that Lori could not (source)
Lori believed she was the reincarnated version of Joseph Smith's wife (source)
Before Charles was killed, Chad told Lori that Charles was possessed and would die in a car crash (source)
Chad and Lori believed that Lori's children had become evil zombies and that it was their commission to get rid of all the zombies before tribulations came (source, source)
Lori has been convicted of first-degree murder charges for the deaths of Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, and sentenced to life in prison. (source, source)
Chad has also been indicted on first-degree murder charges for the deaths of Tammy, Tylee and JJ, and is awaiting trial (source)
Lori has also been charged with conspiracy to commit murder for the death of her husband Charles and has also been indicted for allegedly plotting to kill Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of her niece. She is currently awaiting trial for these charges (source, source)
Tammy and Chad both told a friend that Tammy would die weeks before she passed away (source)