An arrest affidavit connected to new charges against Lori Vallow shows that investigators believe the shooting death of her former husband Charles Vallow was not a spontaneous event, though she and her brother Alex Cox claimed Cox shot Charles in self-defense.
Nate Eaton of East Idaho News first obtained the arrest affidavit for Lori Vallow’s charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her husband Charles Vallow. Lori’s brother Alex Cox fatally shot Charles in July 2019 at an Arizona home where Lori and her children were living following the couple’s separation. Cox claimed self-defense, and was never criminally charged in Charles Vallow’s death. Cox himself died in December 2019. An autopsy determined that his death was the result of natural causes tied to a cardiovascular condition.
The affidavit casts serious doubt on Cox’s claim of self-defense. The Chandler Police Department describes Charles Vallow’s death in the probably cause affidavit as a murder, stating that “evidence shows that Charles’ death was a planned event and necessary to prevent Charles and others from confronting Lori about her extreme religious beliefs.”
The affidavit, which was also obtained by the Daily Beast, details these extreme religious beliefs shared by Lori Vallow and her now-husband Chad Daybell.
“It was discovered that Lori and Chad believed that they had extraordinary abilities. Some of these abilities included the power to teleport and cause harm to others, the ability to call up natural disasters, the ability to pray away demonic spirits attached to others and also visionary capabilities. Because of these abilities provided to them, they felt that they were qualified to tell whether someone had a “light” or “dark” scale associated with them. This scale would indicate whether or not they had demonic spirits attached to them.”
According to the affidavit and previous reports, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell believed Charles Vallow was possessed by a demonic spirit, and that Lori believed, perhaps correctly, that Charles Vallow was planning an intervention to address her religious beliefs.
The heavily redacted affidavit indicates that another person, whose name is redacted, was involved in the plan to kill Charles Vallow. Authorities have not named any additional suspects in Charles Vallow’s death at this time.
The affidavit also shows that investigators believe Alex Cox waited 43 minutes to call 911 after shooting Charles Vallow. It also alleges that Lori Vallow went to Burger King while her husband lay dying.
‘Following the murder of Charles Vallow, Lori took his rental vehicle and cellular phone. The GPS data associated with the phone indicated that the phone left the residence at 0749 hours. Lori then went to Burger King to get food for JJ,Walgreens to get flip flops for her and Tylee and finally returned home at 0848 hours. Alex Cox would not call 911 until 0832 hours to report the shooting. When reporting the incident, Alex indicated that it just happened. He was provided with CPR instructions and he acted as if he was performing life-saving measures on Charles. It was not until emergency personnel began life saving measures that they saw blood coming from Charles’ body. This would indicate that Alex performed no emergency aid. Based on this timeline, Charles would have laid dead or dying for approximately 43 minutes before Alex called 911.’
Read the full affidavit here:
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[Feature image: Lori Vallow appears in court in Lihue, Hawaii on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. (Dennis FujimotoThe Garden Island via AP, Pool)]
