Charles Vallow worried about his wife Lori's obsession with the apocalypse and her bizarre religious beliefs — and after he planned an intervention, he was shot dead by his brother-in-law in July 2019.
KSLTVCharles and Lori Vallow had a happy marriage until Lori became obsessed with apocalyptic author Chad Daybell.
On July 11, 2019, Charles Vallow was fatally shot by his brother-in-law Alex Cox in Chandler, Arizona. Cox called 911 himself after the shooting and claimed that he was “protecting” his sister Lori Vallow after she and Charles had gotten into a fight. Both Lori and her daughter backed up this claim, and at first glance, the story seemed to check out.
But in reality, there was much more to the story, and this was no ordinary domestic incident. In the months leading up to his death, Charles Vallow had expressed serious concerns about his wife’s obsession with the apocalypse and her bizarre religious beliefs. He had even contacted the police, telling authorities that Lori believed she was a “god” preparing for the end times.
At one point, Charles filed for divorce, claiming that he feared for his life and the lives of the couple’s two children, Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow. However, he eventually decided to work on the couple’s marriage — and fatefully planned an intervention regarding Lori’s increasingly strange behavior.
Meanwhile, Lori was deeply enmeshed in an affair with Chad Daybell, an apocalyptic author who shared many of Lori’s beliefs, including the existence of “zombies,” or people whose souls had been replaced by dark spirits. Lori had begun to see Charles and other people in her life as zombies, and became determined to eliminate every “possessed” person she knew.
Indeed, Charles Vallow was not the only victim of this “doomsday” couple.
Charles Vallow’s Relationship With Lori Vallow
Idaho Cold CasesAfter Lori Vallow began exhibiting bizarre behavior, Charles Vallow worried that she would harm him and their children.
Charles Vallow was born on August 17, 1956 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. By most accounts, he had a relatively ordinary early life. A talented athlete, he was drafted to play semi-professional baseball in 1977. Years later, he made a name for himself as a skillful financial consultant.
He married his first wife Kimberly Stevens (now Friedmutter) in the 1980s, but their relationship didn’t last long. According to Kimberly, they ended their marriage due to Charles’ infidelity. In 1992, Charles married his second wife Cheryl Wheeler, with whom he had two sons. The couple lived in Austin together and stayed married for over a decade but divorced in 2003.
In 2006, Charles married his third wife Lori Vallow in Las Vegas. (Charles was Lori’s fourth husband.) Those who knew the couple said that they appeared to be very happy together. Charles even converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it was important to Lori.
Together, Charles and Lori Vallow raised Tylee Ryan, Lori’s daughter from one of her previous marriages. Later on, the couple also adopted Joshua “J.J.” Vallow, who was the grandson of Charles’ sister, in 2014.
FacebookCharles Vallow was reportedly a loving and supportive father to J.J., who needed special care for his autism.
But three years later, in 2017, things changed. Lori became obsessed with doomsday literature, specifically that written by Chad Daybell. A year later, the two met while working on a religious podcast together. Though Daybell lived in Idaho and Vallow lived in Arizona, they began an affair.
Before long, Lori began exhibiting increasingly worrying behavior, telling Charles that she no longer cared about him or J.J. She also claimed to be the reincarnated wife of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. At one point, she disappeared for 58 days without any explanation.
In early 2019, Charles was concerned enough about Lori to go to the police, telling them that Lori believed she was a deity preparing for the apocalypse and that if Charles got in her way, she would kill him. Disturbingly, she also allegedly told him, “You’re not Charles. I don’t know who you are or what you did with Charles but I could murder you now with my powers.”
By February, Charles had filed for divorce, claiming that he feared for his life and for the children’s lives. However, in March, Charles decided that he wanted to try to work on the marriage and stop Lori’s growing obsession with the apocalypse. But tragically, it was too late.
Inside Charles Vallow’s Sudden Death
Gilbert Police DepartmentPolice body cam footage of Charles Vallow raising concerns about his wife Lori to the authorities.
In June 2019, Charles Vallow learned that Lori was having an affair with Chad Daybell. After discovering romantic emails between the two, Charles decided to reach out to Daybell’s wife Tammy to let her know what was happening.
He then sent her this email: “Tammy my name is Charles Vallow. I have some vital and disturbing information regarding your husband and my wife, Lori. This is your work email so I’ll wait to send you the ‘evidence’ that is very disturbing. You may call or email me from the address where you can receive the information. I apologize to be the one sending this but something has to be done. I feel it’s best if I shed some light on the ‘issue.'”
In the meantime, Charles also sent this message to Lori: “You accused me of infidelity but it’s you who has been having an affair. It keeps killing me but maybe that’s your goal.” But despite his anger over the affair, Charles remained most concerned about his estranged wife’s religious beliefs, and he reached out to one of Lori’s family members to plan an intervention.
Lori apparently learned about the intervention — and ominously told her brother Alex Cox to “stay close to me the next couple of days.”
Kay WoodcockLori Vallow allegedly described Charles Vallow as a “zombie” and claimed that an evil spirit had killed the real Charles.
Then, on July 11, 2019, when Charles Vallow traveled to Lori’s house in Chandler, Arizona, so that he could pick up J.J. and take him to school, an altercation apparently broke out between Charles and Cox.
Cox shot Charles twice in the chest, killing him, and later claimed to police that he had done so only in self-defense. He alleged that he was protecting his sister and the rest of the family members at the house. “It was over my sister,” Cox claimed. “He was getting physical with her, so [Lori’s daughter Tylee] came out with her bat and he took the bat away with her.”
Since both Lori and Tylee backed up the self-defense claim, Cox was not initially charged with a crime. But it was later learned that Cox had taken 43 minutes to call 911, even though he had made it sound like the shooting had just happened when he made the call. Evidence also later showed that Cox did not attempt CPR, despite receiving instructions to do so.
And that was just scraping the surface of the suspicious nature of Charles Vallow’s death. Chillingly, this shooting would not be the only violent case linked to Lori Vallow and her affair partner Chad Daybell.
What Happened After The Tragic Shooting?
FBIJ.J. Vallow and Tylee Ryan with their uncle Alex Cox at Yellowstone, shortly before the children went missing.
After Charles Vallow’s death, Lori moved her family to Rexburg, Idaho, close to where Chad Daybell lived. But in September 2019, Lori’s children Tylee and J.J. vanished. (Lori also has another son from a previous marriage, but he was an adult at the time of the disappearances and did not live with Lori.)
Tylee was just 16 years old at the time, and J.J. was just seven. Chillingly, Lori had been describing both children as “zombies” around the time that they vanished, just like she had described Charles Vallow before his death.
The next month, in October, Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy suddenly died after reportedly falling asleep with a cough. The coroner who examined her body initially stated that she likely died of natural causes, but police still described her quick demise as “suspicious,” especially in light of the disturbing events that followed. (Indeed, Tammy’s real cause of death was later determined to have been asphyxiation at the hands of another person.)
Mere weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell got married in Hawaii on November 5th — as both of their former spouses lay dead and Lori’s minor children remained unaccounted for.
But in late November, J.J.’s grandparents contacted the police, reporting him and Tylee missing and putting pressure on Lori to explain what had happened to the children. In response, Lori and Chad Daybell fled to Hawaii and stayed on the island of Kaua’i until late January 2020, when police tracked them down there. (Meanwhile, bizarrely enough, Alex Cox had been found dead of a pulmonary embolism back in December.)
KTVBLori and Chad Daybell have been convicted in the murders of Tylee Ryan, J.J. Vallow, and Tammy Daybell. Now, Lori is awaiting trial for the killing of Charles Vallow and the attempted killing of one of her relatives.
Lori Vallow Daybell was arrested in February, as her friends began to speak out about the unusual beliefs that she shared with her new husband Chad Daybell, particularly their obsession with zombies, their mission to lead 144,000 people during Jesus Christ’s second coming — and their apparent desire to eliminate anyone who got in their way.
Chad Daybell was arrested in June 2020 — after the remains of 16-year-old Tylee Ryan and seven-year-old J.J. Vallow were found on his Idaho property.
In May 2021, Chad and Lori were charged with murder in the deaths of Tylee and J.J., and they were also charged in connection with the death of Tammy Daybell. In addition, Lori was charged in connection with the killing of her fourth husband Charles Vallow. Police say they would have also charged Alex Cox in a number of these murder cases, had he still been alive.
About two years later, in May 2023, Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted in the murders of Tylee Ryan, J.J. Vallow, and Tammy Daybell. Chad was also found guilty of those murders. Lori was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole, while Chad was sentenced to death.
Meanwhile, Lori is still awaiting trial for the murder of Charles Vallow.
After reading about Charles Vallow, go inside the horrific case of Melanie McGuire, the “Suitcase Killer” who murdered and dismembered her husband. Then, learn about history’s most depraved cult leaders.
