Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow used their religious beliefs to justify killing Daybell’s wife and Vallow’s two children, according to the indictment that charges them with the murders.
While the indictment does not reveal how Tammy Daybell, Joshua “JJ” Vallow, and Tylee Ryan died, it does say that Chad and Lori either encouraged or commanded someone else to do the deeds.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Daybell and Vallow face first degree murder and conspiracy counts in the children’s deaths and conspiracy counts in the death of Tammy Daybell. Chad Daybell is charged with first degree murder in his wife’s death.
Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox — who died suddenly in December 2019 — is named as a co-conspirator in all three deaths. Additionally, the indictment says there are other suspected co-conspirators “both known and unknown.”
Indictment, Daybell and Vallow by EKilloran
Tammy Daybell died mysteriously in October 2019, and Chad Daybell and Vallow married shortly afterward. The bodies of the children were discovered on Daybell’s property in Salem, Idaho, in June 2020. Tylee, 16, and JJ, 7, are believed to have been killed on separate dates in September 2019. The date of the conspiracy offenses outlined in the indictment is October 2018, suggesting the defendants had planned the killings nearly a year before.
According to the indictment, text messages between Daybell and Vallow on July 30, 2019, discussed “death percentages” for Tammy Daybell and JJ Vallow. Other text message said that Tammy Daybell was “in Limbo” and that she was “possessed by a spirit named Viola.”
The indictment provides no further details, but the language harkens back to reports last year that Vallow had told her niece Tylee and JJ had become “zombies” and “may need to die.” “The kids’ lives could be forfeited based on the idea that they’re not really Tylee and JJ anymore,” Ian Pawloski reportedly wrote, quoting what his wife and Vallow’s niece, Melani Pawloski, had told him
Chad Daybell also reportedly sent a document to Vallow explaining where several people fall on a “light and dark” scale — Tylee was a 4.1 dark spirit, and JJ a 4.2 light spirit, he wrote, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Read more about this case on CrimeOnline.
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