Feb 09 2020

Timeline of Events Around the Disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow

Timeline for Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow Disappearance

Using Data to Tell the Story

When the Cox family engaged in a pretty aggressive media campaign in May 2020 with what appeared to be a goal of presenting Lori Vallow Daybell as a caring mother who would never hurt her children and my brother as a real villain, there were so many conflicting statements, what was already a confusing case, with lots of twists and turns, that much more difficult to follow. I worried that their sudden blitzkrieg of information, after months of baffling silence, could have been a strategic attempt at going for a hung jury, especially since Tylee and JJ’s remains hadn’t been found yet. So I organized a GoFundMe to finance an ambitious campaign to start transcribing all these videos so that I could do my analyst thing and transform it into something called structured data. Once I had the first seven videos transcribed and massaged into a database format, I built a dashboard using a tool called Tableau and made it publicly available. And then I started adding various legal and personal documents into a Documents dashboard to cross-check information from the videos against. The video dashboard currently has 19 videos and the documents dashboard has 10 documents, with more in the works, as funds become available. I also have a publicly available spreadsheet where I keep track of the money that’s raised and how every dollar is spent.

“Dashboard

How I’m Using the Dashboard

Originally I built the dashboard for the benefit of reporters, documentary producers, and law enforcement. But then I decided to use it to tell the story from nuts to bolts using the data.

Because the dashboard includes specific minute marks in videos and page numbers and line items in documents, I can quickly research any topic, such as any time someone from the Cox family talked about my brother or cheating. Or any time a member of the group talked about zombies.

I tried to use Twitter to tell the stories, but a lot of people following the case didn’t have Twitter; those who did got tangled up in the threaded tweets; and Twitter is pathetic at protecting users against trolls. People who were opposed to what I was doing (usually because they had something to hide) were throwing all kinds of flying monkeys at me, and it turned into a ? storm.

Moved to Youtube

I have repurposed my Annielytics YouTube channel for this purpose, until I feel like I’ve told the story I need to tell, that hasn’t been told in the media.

When I’m finished, I’ll go back to blogging and blogging about marketing data. You can follow along and even join in YouTube Lives. I’m running my first one tonight:

The Search is Over

The remains of my niece, Tylee Ryan, and her little brother, JJ Vallow, were recovered from the property of Chad Daybell Wed, June 10th. They were positively identified by the Ada County Medical Examiner June 13th. You can read my statement here.

Background

I don’t normally post personal stuff on my site, but I’ve had a difficult time finding a place I can post a curated timeline around the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, so I decided to keep it on my site. You may be wondering why I am following this case so closely. It’s because Tylee Ryan is my niece. Her father, Joe Ryan, was my brother. He was found dead in his home April 3, 2018.

Updates

The page had gotten so cumbersome, WordPress was crashing constantly any time I tried to update the page. So I had to scale back to the bare minimum. I will now show only the past month of updates in the Updates section, and I removed all the extras, like the gallery, Out in the Wild section, etc.

Why?

Good question. I am a former reporter, and I’m really tired of watching Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell walk free while the rest of us agonize over where Tylee and JJ are. One of the toughest aspects to this case is the many moving pieces and twisted storylines. So I thought maybe if I could detangle it a bit, some brilliant reporter, real crime blogger, private investigator, or detective will find a clue that helps to crack this case.

I’ve also seen a number of inaccuracies, and I hope that this timeline will help people grasp the order of events. That said, when I cite a source, it’s not necessarily the original source. It’s just where I found that particular puzzle piece. And when I started curating this timeline, I wasn’t keeping track of any citations, so some elements are missing citations. Use at your own risk. I’ve done my best to track everything down. If you see an error or can pass on a missing citation, feel free to email me at annie@annielytics.com.

Cast of Characters

Tylee Ryan

Who is she: Biological daughter of Lori Vallow and Joseph Ryan
Current location: Unknown
Age: 17
Last seen: 9/8/19

JJ Vallow

Who is he: Adopted son of Charles and Lori Vallow
Current location: Unknown
Age: 7
Last seen: 9/23/19
Last seen: Kennedy Elementary School

Lori Vallow (AKA Lori Daybell)

Who is she: Biological mother of Colby Ryan and Tylee Ryan, adopted mother of JJ Vallow, and person of interest in the disappearance of Tylee and JJ
Current location: Madison County Jail in Rexburg, ID
Married to: Chad Daybell (husband #5)
Notable: Married Chad Daybell less than two weeks after his wife, Tammy, died of suspicious causes

Chad Daybell

Who is he: Influencer with the doomsday prepper group Preparing a People
Current location: Springville, UT
Married to: Lori Vallow
Notable: Chad was a cemetery sexton (grave digger) and wrote a book, One Foot in the Grave, about his experiences and interactions with departed spirits.

Charles Vallow

Who is he: Lori Vallow’s fourth husband and father to a biological son and two adopted sons, one of which is JJ
Date of marriage: 2/24/06
Date of death. 7/11/19
COD: Shot and killed by Lori Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox
Notable: Lori Vallow, Tylee Ryan, and JJ Vallow were home at the time of the shooting.

Tammy Daybell

Who is she: Wife of Chad Daybell who died in her sleep of suspicious causes
Date of death: 10/19/19
COD: Unknown, awaiting autopsy
Date of marriage: 3/9/90
Notable: Tammy was approached by a masked man carrying what she thought was a paintball gun 10 days before her death.

Alex Cox (AKA Alex Pastenes)

Who is he: Lori Vallow’s brother
Date of death: 12/12/19
COD: Unknown (but suspicious)
Married to: Zulema Pastenes
Date of marriage: 11/29/19
Notable: Alex took Zulema’s last name.

Melani Pawlowski (AKA Melani Boudreaux)

Who is she: Lori Vallow’s niece who followed her into the cult Lori joined
Married to: Ian Pawlowski
Date of marriage: 11/30/19
Former spouses: Brandon Boudreaux
Notable: Melani married Ian Pawlowski 4.5 months after Ian Pawlowski was divorced and less than two weeks after she and Brandon Boudreaux were divorced.

Brandon Boudreaux

Who is he: Former husband of Melani Boudreaux and father of four children who was shot at
Married to: N/A
Former spouse: Melani Boudreaux
Notable: Brandon is shot at 10/2/19

Zulema Pastenes

Who is she: An LDS member and self-professed emotion code practitioner (she listed cuddling services in one of her profiles)
Married to: Alex Cox
Date of marriage: 11/29/19
Notables: Zulema married Alex Cox less than two weeks before his death; Cox took Zulema’s last name; and her 25-year-old son, Joseph Lopez, found Cox unresponsive in the bathroom, didn’t know his last name, and referred to Cox as his mom’s boyfriend, not husband.

Colby Ryan

Who is he: Lori Vallow’s adult biological son, Tylee and JJ’s half brother
Married to: Kelsee Ryan
Notable: Colby never knew where his mom and siblings moved to after they left Chandler, AZ.

Larry and Kay Woodcock

Who are they: JJ’s biological grandparents, Kay is Charles Vallow’s sister**
Notable: Larry and Kay have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of JJ and Tylee (source).

Note: Because Charles Vallow is JJ Vallow’s adopted father, Kay Woodcock is technically both JJ’s aunt and grandmother, but she identifies as JJ’s grandmother.

Joseph Ryan

Who is he: Lori Vallow’s third husband and biological father of Tylee Ryan and adopted father of Colby Ryan
Date of death: 4/3/18
Notable: Alex Cox went to jail for assaulting Ryan with a stun gun and allegedly threatened to kill Ryan (source). Also, Lori Vallow was the only next of kin the ME’s office had at the time of Ryan’s death. She never returned any of their calls or notified me of my brother’s passing, even though we had been friends since 2002 and she had my contact info. There was also no funeral for him. Another family member was contacted by a funeral home more than a month after he had died.

Melanie Gibb

Who is she: friend of Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell and the one Lori said Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow were with
Notable:
- She and Lori introduce their new podcast, Time to Warrior Up, 12/5/18.
- Early on someone said Chad was a guest in this kickoff episode, but I can’t confirm since the recordings have been taken down.
- In Feb 2019 Chad wrote the forward of her book, Feel the Fire.
- She is unresponsive to Rexburg Police Department’s attempt(s) to get ahold of her Nov 26th (the day they question Lori and Chad about the whereabouts of JJ Vallow), forcing RPD to reach out to the Gilbert Police Department. She doesn’t speak to them until the next day, giving Chad and Lori significant lead time to flee the state.
- She waits 10 days to inform LE in Rexburg that both Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had contacted her separately on Nov 26th and asked her to lie to detectives and tell them JJ was with her.
- A source close to Gibb originally said she has retained an attorney is cooperating with authorities. She later told Nate Eaton from East Idaho News that she didn’t need a lawyer because God was on her side.
- I have a number of issues with Melanie Gibb’s claims and what I believe to be her role in this tragedy. I addressed them in a YouTube Live. (It’s long.)

Timeline

8/5/07: Alex Cox is arrested in Austin, TX for aggravated assault – second degree against Lori Vallow’s third husband, Joseph Ryan. Cox had used a stun gun against Ryan and threatened to kill him. Ryan had just finished a supervised visit with his four-year-old daughter, Tylee Ryan. Ryan injured his back and sprained his wrist in the fall. Cox spent 90 days in jail (source 1 / source 2).

Aug – Oct 2008: Alex Cox sends a friend a letter asking her to send him Joseph Ryan’s picture, address, and license plate number in jail, stating once that “it would be popular in here” and “some of the guys would like to hangout with him” (source 1 / source 2).

4/3/18: Lori Vallow’s third husband, Joseph Ryan, is found dead in his apartment in Gilbert, AZ. Autopsy lists heart attack as COD (source: me).

May 2018: Lori Vallow expressed fear about the end times during my visit to their home, saying that sometimes she thinks it would be better to put her kids in the car and go over the side of a cliff.

Fall 2018: According to Dateline’s “What Happened to the Children” episode, Lori Vallow and Melani Boudreaux attend a Preparing a People conference where they both meet Chad Daybell for the first time. It was reported that Lori talked with Chad afterwards and soon she was contributing to the End of Days podcast (source, 27:04).

9/23/18: Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell supposedly meet, according to an anonymous email that was allegedly from a close friend of Chad (source). This has never been verified.

Note: When I came across this Reddit post in February I dismissed it as fiction due to its references to things like zombies. Now, after reading Ian Pawlowski’s stunning document of revelations he shared with LE—but accidentally left on a laptop he gave his son—I’ve found the document to be largely credible, especially because there are details in this post that weren’t released to the public until after its publish date. Now I am of the opinion that a source very close to Chad indeed wrote this email.

10/12/18: Approximate date Charles Vallow reaches out to a friend in the insurance business to ask for help getting the payout from Joseph Ryan’s life insurance policy. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

10/12/18: Approximate date Melanie Gibb met Lori Vallow (source, 1:04:29 minute mark).

10/19/18: Lori Vallow shared in a testimony at a group gathering in Melanie Gibb’s home that she wanted to murder her third husband, Joseph Ryan. She stated that she told her bishop at the time he needed to either give her a temple recommend or she would murder Ryan. She also provided justification for her murderous desire from the Book of Mormon (source, 2:12:26 minute mark).

10/26/18: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell meet at a Preparing a People event in St. George, UT (source, 4:39 minute mark).

Oct 2018: Chad Daybell starts emailing Lori Vallow (source, 00:34 minute mark)

10/30/18: Chad emails Lori a bizarre breakdown of light/dark ratings of her family members. Tylee is rated a 4.1D, only to be eclipsed by her father, Joseph Ryan, who weighed in at a 4.3D and was marked as “sealed away” (source).

11/1/18: Approximate date Lori receives life insurance payout, according to a confidential source. The delay and trouble with receiving the payout may be suggestive that Tylee Ryan, who was a minor at the time, was the beneficiary. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

11/16/18 – 11/17/18: Chad Daybell speaks at Preparing a People event in Mesa, AZ, and stays with Charles and Lori Vallow (source 1 / full transcript / source 2, 00:59 minute mark).

Note: You can see a good portion of the letter that references this stay at the 1:11 minute mark in source 2.

12/5/18: Melanie Gibb and Lori Vallow introduce their new podcast, Time to Warrior Up. This is reportedly the first podcast Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow do together (source 1 / source 2). Description of the podcast:

Jason Mow of the very popular www.TheWarChapters.com has been speaking to Youth and their Parents from all over the U.S. about what it means to be a True Modern-Day Warrior for good. “Time to Warrior Up” is a nationwide movement to become all that we were destined to become in a shifting world that needs great leaders. Of course, what would Warriors be without great WOMEN of FAITH and COURAGE? That is why Melanie Gibb and Lori Vallow had the idea to do this podcast, featuring powerful women, mothers, youth and mentors to encourage others along the pathway toward a hopeful future! They will include many unique guests who will inspire all of us to Aspire to the HIGHER within! EACH OF US were born for greatness. NOW, we have the “HOW’s” of implementing the Creeds, Tools, Steps, and Processes of The Warrior Ethos! We are marching toward victory…together! To buy Jason’s Books “A Hero Rises,” and “Teancum: The Ghost Soldier 1 & 2” go to his website: www.TheWarChapters.com These Books are also available at Deseret Book & Amazon. For more free Educational & Inspiring Videos, visit us at: www.PreparingAPeople.com

Jan 2019: JJ Vallow’s autism medication, Risperidone (source), is filled for the last time, according to court documents obtained by East Idaho News in Feb 2020. The affidavit of probable cause also states that the bottle still had 17 pills in it and that his prescription had not been filled in Idaho:

During the search of Lori’s apartment, police found an autism medication prescribed to JJ. It was filled in January 2019 and still had 17 pills in the bottle, according to documents. Police verified that the prescription has not been filled in Idaho (source).

Also, Garna Mejia from KSL TV, interviewed Vallow’s former neighbors in Rexburg, and they reported that JJ was easily angered, out of control, and playing outside unsupervised. You can hear him in a neighbor’s Ring camera video telling another boy to “get the hell out of here” (source, 1:14 minute mark).

According to neighbors, Lori never told them JJ was autistic. And when confronted about JJ’s behavior and lack of supervision, she told two different neighbors that JJ was her niece’s “drug baby” (source).

Notable: If accurate, this means Lori Vallow stopped giving her autistic son his required medication up to eight months before he went missing. You’ll also see in the second of three entries for 1/30/19 Lori allegedly also took JJ’s medication when she disappeared. It’s possible that she kept that bottle that she took, Charles had JJ’s script refilled when he got him back, and they found this partially used bottle she had been holding onto and not giving JJ since January.

1/1/19: Lori and Charles move to Gilbert (source).

1/22/19: Lori receives an email from Chad. Subject: Demon with a name, Nick Schneider. Chad told Lori that’s who took over Charles’ body. Charles texted a friend that this evil spirit had murdered him and was using him to “violate” her and her family (source, 37:39 and 39:01 min marks).

1/28/19: Lori Vallow allegedly transfers $10,000 from Charles Vallow’s business account into their personal account before moving the money into an unknown account (source / ledger). Lori also transfers 2,000 of Charles Vallow’s Enterprise points to a personal account (source), although Charles wouldn’t discover the transfer until approximately Feb 6, 2019 (source).

1/29/19: Lori Vallow allegedly transfers an additional $25,000 from the business account to the joint account, and then from the joint account to the same unknown account at Compass Bank, leaving the account at less than $1,000 (source / ledger).

1/29/19: According to a petition for an Order of Protection filed by Charles Vallow against Lori Vallow, Lori made several disturbing statements and threats to him (source). These include:

She was a god.
She was assigned to “carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming in July 2020.”
She would have to murder him if he got in her way and tried to stop him.

1/30/19: According to a petition for an Order of Protection filed by Charles Vallow against Lori Vallow, Lori made several disturbing statements and threats in a phone call:

She didn’t trust him.
She would need to kill him when he got home.
She would have an “angel” there to help dispose of his body.
She knew his real name was Nick Schneider. Allegedly, when Charles asked Lori who Nick Schneider was, she replied, “Nick is your real name,” Lori said, according to the documents, “Nick killed Charles and has taken his identity” (source).
He’d “have to go and painfully.”
She also threatened to destroy him financially, according to court documents filed by Charles (source).

Note: Lori Vallow’s friend, April Raymond—who Vallow stayed with during part of the 58 days she went missing—also claimed in an interview on Dateline‘s “Where Are the Children?” that Lori said Charles was dead and had a demon living inside of him. According to Raymond, she later changed her story and said he was alive but that any day she (Vallow) was going to get a call that he was dead (source, 15:57 & 21:38 minute marks).

1/30/19: Lori Vallow allegedly cancels Charles Vallow’s flight home, which he found out when he arrived at the airport in Houston, TX. Charles was forced to buy a $600 last-minute ticket to Phoenix. After his plane landed, Charles walked out to the airport parking lot where he had left his truck. Yet he couldn’t find it anywhere. Lori had used her spare key to remove the truck. He came home to a house that had been emptied. Charles also claimed that it took Lori three days to disclose where she’d left the truck. Charles was forced to rent a vehicle during that time (source / order for temporary custody, p 3, para ).

Let’s first take a look at some of the OTHER acts of cruelty Charles reportedly came home to:

She wiped out his business account, withdrawing $35,000. That’s been reported on quite a bit. But one thing I haven’t seen reported on at all is the smaller withdrawals made after the $25,000 the day before. According to the ledger, after the $35,000 in withdrawals, the account had $911.53 remaining. But then there are two more withdrawals made on the 30th: one for $500 and then another for $250, leaving the account with $161.53. And THEN $100 was put toward a credit card payment, leaving the account with $61.53. I don’t know if these were made by Lori. If they were, it demonstrates a chilling level of cruelty.
She hid his truck, and it took him three days to find it.
She hid his clothes and computer in what appears to be an attempt to cripple him in his business. Even his underwear? Really?
She did this right before payroll was due, leaving him vulnerable to lawsuits. She victimized every employee in Charles’ company with this theft.
She took her disabled son’s meds, his iPad, and his service dog’s collar.
She changed the locks to the house.
And then she went MIA and didn’t tell Charles where she was.

1/30/19: Lori Vallow disappears to an unknown location, according to then-husband, Charles Vallow (source 1 / source 2, 1:02 minute mark / source 3, para 3). She was allegedly gone for 58 days.

Notable: At least part of that time was spent in Hawaii with daughter Tylee Ryan, as well as with her brother, Alex Cox who lived nearby in Gilbert, AZ (source).

1/31/19: Lori Vallow is compelled to report to the Gilbert Police Department in regard to a harassment call for service submitted by Charles Vallow (source). Police are also informed about a petition for an involuntary hold at Community Bridges. Police say Lori would be allowed to go to the facility willingly to talk to staff. If she did not, she would be taken involuntarily. Complicating matters, Charles had taken Lori’s purse out of her car when she went into JJ’s school and refused to return it . Only after police inform him that he needed to bring the purse and petition to the station or face theft charges did he say that he found it in the parking lot. The document states, “Charles had many excuses as to why he did not give it back to her.”

2/4/19: Charles Vallow files petition for an Order of Protection against Lori Vallow, citing incidences listed in the entries for 1/29 and 1/30 (source).

Note: Lori was never served the document because process servers were unsuccessful in locating her, as detailed in the entries below.

2/5/19: According to a confidential source, Lori Vallow flew into Salt Lake City and flew back out the next day.

2/5/19: JJ Vallow is absent from school at L.I.F.E. Academy in Gilbert, AZ (source).

2/5/19: Charles Vallow is threatened with legal action because of not being able to meet payroll due to the $35,000 Lori Vallow withdrew from the business account (source). According to the divorce petition, Charles owes $22,500 in commission to a few contracted representatives (source).

2/6/19: Approximate date Charles Vallow realizes Lori Vallow transferred 2,000 Rent-A-Car points out of their joint account. Charles also finds out Lori had called J.J.’s school to ask if he was in class. He was worried she may have been planning to use the rental car points to potentially leave the state and take J.J. with her (source).

2/8/19: Charles Vallow files for divorce from Lori Vallow (source / documents).

Pro Tip: To read the document, right-click on each image and choose Open Image in New Tab. I open each of them and then read them in order. In Chrome, to zoom in on the image click the zoom icon (it should have a + sign) or press Ctrl-+ (Mac: Command-+).

2/8/19: Approximate date Charles Vallow removes Lori Vallow as sole beneficiary from his life insurance policy upon the advice of Charles’ attorney, Taylor Lawson (source, 00:54 minute mark).

Note: I approximate this date because Charles’ attorney allegedly advised him to remove Lori when he filed for divorce. From an Fox 10 article published Feb 13, 2020 (source):

Charles’ former attorney, Taylor Larson, told Lum that it is rare to make changes to life insurance beneficiaries way ahead of a divorce being finalized, but Charles did tell the lawyer that he feared for his life, and did not want Lori to know he planned remove her from the policy.

“Because of the circumstances surrounding it, with him fearing for his life and really stressing to us there’s some credibility here, and so we went ahead and advised him to change it right away,” said Larson.

2/10/19: Lori Vallow flew with Tylee Ryan to Kaua’i, HI, according to then-husband, Charles Vallow (source, 1:02 minute mark). She was allegedly gone for 58 days.

Notable: At least part of that time was spent in Hawaii with daughter Tylee Ryan, as well as with her brother, Alex Cox who lived nearby in Gilbert, AZ. (source).

Note: The date was confirmed by April Raymond, the friend Lori visited in Kaua’i.

2/11/19: Charles Vallow visits L.I.F.E. Academy (source). Charles met with school officials and made a handful of claims:

Lori had “gone crazy.”
Lori was “hearing religious voices.”
Lori had “disappeared to an unknown location.”
He had secured a protection order against Lori.
He was pulling JJ out of school and taking him out of state until he’s safe.

2/15/19: Charles Vallow files a document asking for temporary custody of J.J., exclusive use of the house and vehicle, return of the stolen money and return of his and J.J.’s personal items. Several attempts were made to serve Lori, but process servers were unsuccessful, even though Lori’s car was seen in Alex Cox’s driveway when a server tried to serve her there. She was reportedly living with her brother, Alex Cox, at that time (source).

2/15/19: According to a confidential source, Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb flew into Boise, ID, and returned the 17th. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

2/16/19: Preparing a People holds a one-day conference in Boise, Idaho. Chad Daybell is one of the speakers (conference flyer / PAP statement that includes location of Chad’s last speaking engagement).

Note: It appears Charles believed Lori Vallow was planning to attend this event, which led to an attempt by process servers to serve Lori with papers at the airport.

When Charles learned Lori was going to Boise with a friend, he “made attempts to serve (her) at the airport, a hotel, and a public event.” All attempts were unsuccessful, and Charles came to believe that Lori had changed her travel plans at the last minute (source).

Feb 2019: Lori Vallow, upon landing in Kaua’i with Tylee Ryan, called her friend, April Raymond, to tell her she was leaving Charles and asked if they could stay with her (source, 16:52 minute mark).

Feb 2019: Chad Daybell writes forward for colleague and friend Melanie Gibb’s book Feel the Fire (source / screenshot).

Mid Feb 2019: The Daily Mail reported in January 2020 that Lori Vallow and Alex Cox had a “knock-down, drag-out fight” in the middle of the street fight while she was living with him “around a year ago.” The fight between Vallow and Cox was reportedly so bad that neighbors were close to calling the police on the “warring siblings.” Neighbor Donny Self told the Daily Mail, “She was screaming at him accusing him of bringing disgrace on their family.” After it was over, Vallow left the house she had been sharing with her brother and never came back, Self said.

Note: Until I get further clarification on the timing of this fight, I’m going to drop it here in the timeline because over the overlap in neighbors reporting that the fight had happened about a year prior to January 2020 and the process servers note that both Lori and Alex’s cars were in the driveway. I know that process servers also tried to meet her at the airport because Charles believed she was traveling to Boise, ID, with a friend, and we know from a flyer that Chad Daybell (the man Lori would marry before the year was over) was speaking at a Preparing a People conference in Boise Feb 16. (See entry for 2/16/19.)

2/21/19: Charles Vallow and JJ Vallow return to L.I.F.E. Academy in Gilbert, AZ. Lori is reported to still be MIA (source).

2/21/19: Approximate date staff at L.I.F.E. Academy in Gilbert, AZ, make a report to CPS regarding JJ because Lori Vallow had still not been located (source).

3/1/19: Charles Vallow files to dismiss divorce proceedings (source).

3/6/19: Court approves Charles Vallow’s dismissal of divorce proceedings (source).

3/7/19: Charles Vallow withdraws son, JJ Vallow, from school in AZ and moves to Houston, TX (source).

3/26/19: Charles exchanges text messages with a friend. The friend passed them on to a producer with Dateline (source, 39:01).

Charles: I truly feel there is no good ending for her. Emotionally JJ is about 4. He will remember bits and pieces. But thankfully not the pain she’s put a lot of people thru for her “mission from God”.
Friend: Charles I appreciate you and trusting me with your hearts issue you are safe here. I will continue to pray, for you and your family. You have a friend here that you can truly trust. I have to go now and will keep you updated sleep well my friend. Go with God
C: ❤?❤

—

F: I still can’t believe it!
C: 58 days. Believe it. The beautiful sweet Lori you and I knew is gone. She actually believes I’m not Charles. She says an evil spirit named Nick Schneider murdered me and is using me to “violate” her and her family. Not kidding. Gotta get out of here.
F: Holy camel I can’t even relate.
F: Who the fake is Nick Shhneider [sic]
F: The last time I saw Lori she couldn’t say enough wonderful things about…

—

C: Things have changed so dramatically in the past 6 months. Something snapped. It is so unbelievable and scary. I’m thankful she doesn’t see JJ…She wants him and for me to disappear. Seriously…..It’s the freakiest thing I’ve ever experienced…she’s with a group of people called “woke” and “preparing a people”. She actually believes I’m not Charles. She says an evil spirit named Nick Schneider murdered me and is using me to “violate” her….

3/29/19: Lori Vallow returns home (source). (She had abandoned her husband Charles and 7 year old son JJ Vallow for 58 days.)

Note: I derived this date by adding 58 to Jan 30. (Did you know you can run mathematical functions against dates in Excel. But I digress….)

4/9/19: Chad Daybell’s friend and doomsday podcaster, Julie Rowe, is told she would be excommunicated from the Church of Latter Day Saints “based on the charges of (1) apostasy, (2) teaching false doctrine, (3) priestcraft, and (4) defaming the good name of the Church.” She and her husband have appealed the decision but expect it to be denied (source).

5/31/19: Chad Daybell cancels speaking gig at a Preparing a People conference due to a family emergency (source). The announcement reads:

David Warwick and Shawn Littlebear will be filling in for Chad Daybell, who had a Family Emergency. We regret he won’t be able to attend this PAP Event.

June 2019: Melani Boudreaux asks husband Brandon Boudreaux for a divorce. Brandon said, “I thought I had a happy marriage, so it was pretty overwhelming” (source).

6/20/19: Lori Vallow moves into her rental home in Chandler, AZ (source: Facebook post by landlord that was subsequently deleted).

6/29/19: Charles Vallow sends email to Lori Vallow’s brother, Adam Cox, to say he’s suspicious of Lori and Chad’s relationship and plans to reach out to Tammy about his concerns (source, 1:37 minute mark).

Excerpt of forged letter from Charles to Chad:

I would gladly fly you down here early next week…you could stay in our guest room like before. I hate to take you away from your family, but I would definitely make it worth your time. With Admiration, Charles.

Excerpt of email from Charles to Adam:

I’m not sure of the relationship with her and Chad Daybell but they are up to something…She will not explain it…I am going to send it to Chad Daybell’s wife. Her name is Tammy and I found her email address on their website too…I’ve got her cell number too.

Late Jun 2019: Lori contacts L.I.F.E. Academy to let them know the family was back in Gilbert [sic], and she enrolled JJ in the school summer program (source).

7/10/19: Adam Cox flies into Phoenix. According to a confidential source, he left 7/14/19. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

7/10/19: Charles flew from Houston into Phoenix to pick up JJ the next day and look at apartments in Chandler (source: Charles Vallow’s landlord and Lori’s statement from 7/11/19).

7/11/19: Charles Vallow is shot by Alex Cox (source / source). According to Fox reporter Justin Lum, the shooting occurred around 8:30am (source). Cox claims self-defense (source) and calls 911 (recording). Alex Cox was questioned by LE outside the home, which was recorded on bodycam and can be viewed here and here. An officer goes into the home to look around and sees the body of deceased Charles Vallow. Bodycam video can be viewed here. (Warning: graphic footage.) Lori Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan were interviewed outside the home, which was recorded on bodycam and can be viewed here (starting at the 1:15-minute mark). Lori Vallow (source), Alex Cox and Tylee Ryan (source) are all questioned at the police station, and transcripts of their Lori’s interview can be viewed here and Tylee’s here. Cox’s has not been released as of Feb 9, 2020. There are reportedly contradictions in their stories (source), but no arrests are made.

Notable:

Alex was staying at the house where Charles Vallow was shot, despite living 23 miles away (source, 25:16 minute mark).
Colby Ryan, Lori Vallow’s adult son, later claims that his mother called him the day Charles died and said he died of a heart attack. When he got to the house he discovers his stepdad had actually been shot by his uncle (source, 9:32 minute mark).
Charles was scheduled to look at apartments with the landlord after dropping JJ off at school (source: landlord in a Facebook post that was subsequently deleted).
Alex said Charles attacked him with a baseball but only had trace amounts of blood on a napkin he dabs the back of his head with (source, 25:10 & 28:05 minute marks).
Alex said Lori, Tylee, and JJ left before the shooting (source, 25:23 minute mark); Lori told police she had been at home when Charles was shot but needed to leave to take JJ to school (source, 25:45 minute mark).
Lori was glib and playful when talking to the officer at the scene (source, 26:00 minute marker).
Dateline’s Keith Morrison described Tylee’s demeanor as “somehow apologetic but overly composed.” Chandler detective Nathan Moffat described Tylee as “very well spoken.” He said Tylee told Detective Cassandra Ynclan, “In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have gotten the bat.” Moffat noted that as weird but then walked it back (source, 28:32 minute mark). Author’s note: Moffat’s tone seemed to suggest Tylee had possibly been coached in what to say.
Moffat described the ride in the police with Lori, Alex, and Tylee as “straight-up bizarre.” He added, “It was the weirdest ride I’ve ever had with three strangers.” He described Lori as “happy go lucky,” and said she was smiling and nonchalant. “You would have thought we just recovered their stolen vehicle” (source, 28:48 minute mark).
No one has come forward saying that Charles was given to rages or abusive behavior. Not his ex-wife (source, 31:31 minute mark), not Lori’s adult son Colby (source, 11:26 minute mark), and not Lori and Charles’ mutual friend April Raymond (source, 33:23 minute mark). I also never saw Charles exhibit abusive behavior or rage, but I had far less exposure to Charles than the others referenced here. UPDATE: A group by the name of WTAF FOIA’d thousands of pages of court records from Lori Vallow and Joe Ryan’s divorce, and Charles did have a number of allegations against him, both of domestic violence toward Cheryl, as well as his attorney’s wife. There were also allegations of pretty menacing behavior toward Joe Ryan (my brother). He was still a victim, obviously. I just try to keep this outline as free from sentiment and hyperbole as possible, even when it involves people I cared about.

7/11/19: Neighbors report that the family hosts a pool party at the house where Charles Vallow was shot the day of the shooting. They report there are lots of people and loud music (source).

7/12/19: Lori Vallow texts her stepsons a little after 4:30pm—approximately 20 hours after Charles Vallow was shot—to tell them their father had died. She doesn’t tell them how he had died, and when one of the sons asked, she answered, “We are still waiting for the ME report.” The son asks a series of questions, trying to find out what happens. No response. 6:54pm he asks again, with building frustration/anger. 8:20pm he texts again. Lori replies again that she is still waiting for the ME. She does not tell them he was shot (source).

7/12/19: Cheryl Wheeler, Charles Vallow’s ex-wife and mother of his two grown sons, finds out from the ME’s website that Charles’ death had been classified a homicide. She then searches Google for more information and discovers from news reports out of Chandler, AZ, that Alex Cox had shot him (source).

7/12/19: Approximate date Lori Vallow attempts to file a claim on Charles Vallow’s life insurance policy and discovers she had been removed as sole beneficiary. Charles had made his sister Kay Woodcock beneficiary. (See 2/8/19 entry.)

7/13/19: Lori sends another text to Charles’ son after a couple promptings in the late afternoon. It just says, “I’m still waiting working on arrangements and sorting things out the best I can.” Charles’ son asks why she won’t just tell them what happened (source).

7/14/19: Lori Vallow leaves a voice message for one of Charles’ grown sons inviting him to talk (source).

7/15/19: One of Charles’ adult sons texts Lori Vallow again, saying that it had been three days with still no answers about how their dad died (source). He wrote, “The only information we have is that one text from you saying he passed away. You disappeared after that. We need any information you have. What happened, when did it happen, how did it happen. Where is he now. Are there any funeral plans and can [redacted] and I be a part of it.” He later asks why Colby and Tylee haven’t contacted them at all and why Colby didn’t answer his call. He ends the text with, “This isn’t a nonchalant topic you can just throw a text at and be done with it.”

7/16/19: Ian Pawlowski (future husband to Melani Boudreaux) divorces his wife, according to the date of divorce listed on his Facebook profile page (source).

7/18/19: Melanie Gibb sends an email out to her followers with an invitation to meet in Lori Vallow’s home where Charles had just been shot and killed a week earlier to hear her then-boyfriend (now husband) David Warwick speak (source). It was disclosed at Chad Daybell’s hearing in August 2020 that Chad was also there for this event in Chadler, AZ (source, 1:52 minute mark).

7/22/19: Approximate date Lori Vallow tells an official at L.I.F.E. Academy that Charles Vallow committed suicide (source).

Late Jul 2019: Lori Vallow allegedly texts Charles Vallow’s sister, Kay Woodcock, having just discovered she had been removed as sole beneficiary from Charles Vallow’s $1 million life insurance policy. Kay alleges she wrote”something to the effect of”: “Five kids and no money and his sister gets everything” (source, 00:55 minute mark).

Notable: At this time Lori Vallow had two children living in the home, one adult son, and two adult stepsons.

Jul – Aug 2019: After learning Charles was shot—and not the victim of suicide as Lori had told them—L.I.F.E. Academy files a report with Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (source).

8/5/19: JJ Vallow starts the new school year at L.I.F.E. Academy (source).

8/9/19: Lori Vallow puts JJ Vallow’s service dog Bailey up for sale (source). City: Chandler, AZ. Ad number: 20875. Description:

“Bailey has such a sweet spirit- he has brought so much love to his home, but his owner recently died and he needs a new home. He is fully trained with certification as a service dog. Up to date on vaccinations. Has been trained with children in the home, non-smoking home. Bailey is sweet and friendly around other dogs. Looking for new owners who will appreciate and love him the way he has been loved! Spent 7,000 on service training, he is a full bred golden doodle, has experience on airplanes, has experience with people with autism.”

Notable: Vallow was later told by the organization they got the dog from that she couldn’t sell the dog; she would need to return him. Bailey has since been placed with a new family of a boy with autism. (This was shared in a private Facebook post.)

8/10/19: The last time Kay Vallow Woodcock hears from JJ Vallow via FaceTime. Call was reportedly 35 seconds long (source). They will be edged out of JJ Vallow’s life for a little more three months, with multiple attempts to get ahold of them (source, 46:38 minute mark).

8/10/19: Kay Vallow Woodcock texts Lori Vallow to ask to see JJ. She says, “We’re not up to anything except to see our little boy.” Kay says she never received a response from Lori (source).

8/25/19: Kay Vallow Woodcock sends Lori Vallow another email begging to FaceTime and visit JJ (source).

8/27/19: Date Lori Vallow’s apartment was taken off the market (source).

Note: Melani Boudreaux’s apartment was taken off the market three days before she actually signed the lease. So Lori may have signed the lease a few days later when she rolled into town.

Notable: As of 4/5/20, the apartment still isn’t on the market, according to Zillow’s records. Alex’s was listed for rent the week after Lori, Chad, and Alex fled Rexburg, but Lori’s is still open.

8/28/19: Date Alex Cox’s apartment was taken off the market (source).

Notable: Alex’s apartment was listed for rent 12/2/19; the rent was reduced 1/3/20 (shortly after this case went public); and it was sold 2/10/20.

8/30/19: Lori Vallow stops by the workplace of her oldest son, Colby Ryan, to tell him in the parking lot that she, Tylee, and JJ were moving the next day (source, 22:35 minute mark). Colby says he didn’t ask where they were moving and didn’t find out they had moved to Rexburg, ID, until detectives came to his door Nov 27, 2019, to inquire about the whereabouts of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (24:57 minute mark).

8/30/19: Colby Ryan told Gilbert Police he last spoke with Tylee Ryan over FaceTime. According to court records, Ryan said after that his mother gave him excuses as to why Tylee couldn’t talk to him (source).

Notable: So does this mean Colby had a FaceTime call with Tylee after saying goodbye to her in the parking lot of his workplace? And why FaceTime when they still lived near each other?

8/30/19: Lori Vallow has JJ Vallow’s service dog, Bailey, picked up by Dog Training Elite in Arizona. Vallow had asked the organization to find the Goldendoodle to find another family because she could no longer care for the pet due to a “change in life circumstances” (source).

Author note: Bailey was an adorable and sweet-natured dog that stayed close by JJ’s side and ran more like a bear cub than a dog when I was there in 2018.

8/31/19: Lori Vallow moves with Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow to Rexburg, ID.

Late August: JJ Vallow’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock, call L.I.F.E. Academy to “asking if JJ was okay” (source).

9/3/19: Lori Vallow enrolls JJ Vallow at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg, ID (source).

9/4/19: JJ Vallow’s first day at Kennedy Elementary School in Rexburg, ID (source).

9/5/19: Lori Vallow emails L.I.F.E Academy, JJ’s school in Chandler, AZ, to say she needed to withdraw him. She allegedly told staff over the phone that she accepted a position in California—which was not true—and that his father committed suicide—which was also not true (source).

9/6/19: Neighbors take a pic of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow with an unidentified child through their blinds. When asked why they said it was because they thought it was strange that the children were using stuffed animals to play in a large puddle of water (source 1 / source 2, 00:55 minute mark).

Note: This is the second-to-last time Tylee is seen alive. The last time is two days later in Sep 8, two days later.

9/6/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings at Chad Daybell’s house. He’s there from 12:41 to 12:53 and stays in and around the house. His phone does not ping in the backyard where Tylee and JJ were later buried (source).

9/7/19: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from his old school. (Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19.)

9/7/19: Less than 48 hours before Tylee Ryan was murdered and her remains incinerated, Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb publish a podcast titled “What Is a Baptism of Fire?” source).

Description reads: Following up on their first Feel the Fire Podcast, Melanie and Lori share what their “Baptism of Fire” was like with insightful references that an ancient wiseman Nephi spoke about. How did it help Melanie in her own life with a Special Needs son, with feeling like she didn’t know how to naviagate her challenges, and what it took for her to experience that clean feeling in her heart. Lori is so descriptive with ways that “fire” can feel to all of us, and how that has manifest in her life. She speaks from great conviction and experience that we all can learn from.

9/8/19: Last day Tylee Ryan is seen alive. In a picture obtained from Lori Vallow’s iCloud account, Ryan is seen at the entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Ryan was at the park with Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, and JJ Vallow. “This is the last time we can find any record of [Ryan] being with Lori Vallow,” the affidavit of probable cause says. “We have found no witnesses who can verify they have seen [Ryan] since Sept. 8, 2019” (source).

9/9/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings for the day (source):

02:42am: His phone pings at Lori’s apartment.**
03:37am: He leaves Lori’s apartment.
04:37am: He arrives home. It hasn’t been disclosed where he was during this hour.
08:59am: He leaves his apartment.
09:21am: He arrives at Chad’s. (Note: There’s no mention of him stopping by Lori’s so it’s possible he already had Tylee’s corpse. It’s also possible that in the hour that’s unaccounted for, he was delivering Tylee’s corpse to Chad.)
10:47am: His phone pings in St. Anthony, a neighboring town. It’s unknown if it just pinged off a different tower or if he left Chad’s property and later returned.
10:57am: His phone pings at the Daybell property again.
11:39am: Final time his phone pings at the Daybell property.
11:52am: His phone pings at the Del Taco in Rexburg.
12:02pm: He leaves the Del Taco and spends most of the rest of the day in his apartment.

Note: The affidavit of probable cause for Chad Daybell noted that this was the only time in September Alex appears to go to Lori’s apartment between the hours of 12am and 6am.

9/9/19: Chad Daybell sends his then-wife Tammy Daybell a text about shooting a “large raccoon” and “burning limbs” on the property Tylee Ryan’s charred remains would later be found on (source).

CD (11:53): Well, I’ve had an interesting morning! I felt I should burn all of the limb debris by the fire pit before it got too soaked by the coming storms. While I did so, I spotted a big racoon (sic) along the fence. I hurried and got my gun, and he was still walking along. I got close enough that one shot did the trick. He is now in our pet cemetery. Fun times!

CD (11:56): Gonna shower now and then go write for a while at BYU. Love you!

TD (2:47): Good for you!

CD (2:48): I’m back home now

Note: Chad sent this text only 14 minutes after Alex Cox had left his property.

9/17/19: Lori Vallow’s neighbor in Rexburg, ID, captures last-known footage of JJ Vallow playing outside (source, 00:57 minute mark).

9/17/19: Melanie Gibb publishes a book titled Feel the Fire (source).

Product details:
Publisher: Gibb Publishing (September 17, 2019)
Language: English
Paperback: 100 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0578492629

9/18/19: A nanny Lori Vallow hires through care.com for what she thinks is long-term care comes to the house for the first time to babysit JJ. She tells the nanny her husband died of a heart attack in Arizona and that her daughter was going to school in Rexburg. (She wasn’t.) The nanny describes Tylee’s presence in the home as intermittent visits:

“Occasionally her daughter would come visit for dinner or to do laundry, but she never said that she lived there with them. It appeared that only Lori and JJ lived there, from the look of things and from what she told me” (source).

Read the entire Twitter thread for 9/18 here.

9/18/19: Kay Vallow Woodcock sends Lori Vallow another email begging to be able to call, FaceTime, and visit with JJ (source).

9/19/19: The nanny Lori Vallow hires returns for a second day of caring for JJ. She notes several things from that day:

Vallow joked that sometimes she gives JJ his meds early so he’ll go to sleep earlier to give her a break.
Vallow told her that her brother, Alex Cox, is going to come over and they’re going to the Idaho Falls Airport.
Cox came over, just said “hello,” and left with Lori.
JJ went to play at a neighbor’s house and came home for dinner.
After dinner he wanted to go back to the friend’s house, but the nanny said no.
JJ had a meltdown and threw furniture and told the nanny he he hated her and didn’t want to be her friend.
Nanny went upstairs to find JJ and found him under Lori’s bed.
JJ’s room only had toys, no bed.
JJ slept on a small mattress in the corner in Lori’s room.
Lori, Alex, and Lori’s friend came home.
Lori “babied” JJ to comfort him.
Lori told the nanny the woman did podcasts with her.
Lori gave her $40 cash and then never had her back.

Read the entire Twitter thread for 9/19 here.

9/19/19: Rexburg woman claims to have been on flight with Chad Daybell on a flight from Idaho Falls to Mesa, AZ. The woman said Daybell planned to help a relative in the Valley who needed to remodel her home. “He said I hope we can get this work done in the time that I have before I have to be back,” said the woman who wished to remain anonymous (source, 35:05).

Note: This claim has never been verified, and one confidential source said this claim was false.

9/19/19 – 9/23/19: Melanie Gibb visits Lori Vallow in Rexburg (source).

Notable: Tylee was already missing, and Melanie said Lori never so much as mentioned her, except to say she was at BYU (33:53). You said in this question that it could have been possible, but “it didn’t feel like it” and that there were “question marks” and “didn’t feel like the truth.”

9/20/19 – 9/23/19: David Warwick joins Melanie Gibb in Rexburg and also stays in Lori Vallow’s home (source, 2:22 minute mark). He claims that Lori told him Alex Cox came and took JJ away because he was acting like a zombie and climbing on top of the kitchen cabinets.

Note: Warwick testified that he didn’t believe Lori’s story but left with Melanie Gibb afterwards and didn’t call in a welfare check.

9/21/19: Preparing a People host an event called “Book of Mormon Evidence and a Universal Model of Science” in Rexburg, ID (source).

Notable: It’s not clear who from this group of followers attended this event or who stayed with JJ Vallow. All we know is it wasn’t the nanny had hired a couple days before.

9/22/19: A picture was taken of JJ Vallow sitting on a couch. It was found by law enforcement in Lori Vallow’s iCloud account (source).

9/23/19: Alex Cox’s phone pinged at Chad Daybell’s property at 9:55am near the pond, where JJ Vallow’s remains were discovered nine months later. He was there until 10:12am.

9/23/19: JJ Vallow was originally reported as having attended Kennedy Elementary (source). It was later determined to be a mistake. His last day at the school was the 20th. No requests are made for JJ’s transcripts (source).

9/24/19: Lori Vallow disenrolls JJ Vallow from school, indicating she would homeschool him. JJ is not seen with her (source).

9/24/19: Lori Vallow tells babysitter JJ had gone to stay with his grandma for several weeks, and she was in Hawaii and that the babysitter’s services were no longer needed. According to the affidavit of probable cause obtained by East Idaho News, Police Detective Ron Ball reported, “We contacted this babysitter and she informed us that she watched (JJ) on the 19th of September…The babysitter understood that her employment was to be ongoing” (source 1 / source 2).

9/24/19: Tylee Ryan’s 17th birthday passes with no social media posts.

Correction: I originally thought Colby’s text exchange with Tylee below was on her birthday, 9/24, because he wishes her a happy birthday. According to Dr. Phil it was on 9/28.

9/25/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings at Chad Daybell’s house. He’s only there for 17 minutes and stays in and around the house. His phone does not ping in the backyard where Tylee and JJ were buried (source)

9/28/19: Colby Ryan has a text exchange with Tylee Ryan four days after her birthday and tells Dr. Phil that it didn’t sound like her. He asked her to call him that night, and she didn’t (source).

Transcript:

C: Hey Ty!! Happy birthday I’m so proud of you! I know you have been through [a lot]…Trust god, it’s all gonna be okay…

T: Thanks colbs. I love you

//Colby commented she would normally use emojis here.

C: Hey ty are you okay?

T: I’m good just tired…Call you back later. Love you

C: Okay call me tonight please

T: at the movie. I’ll call you after

//She didn’t call him.

C: Ty please call me after your movie. I’m worried about you.

T: Worried about me? What?

C: …I just wanna hear you talk…

T: Ok this week was just busy. I’ll call you soon.

//Colby commented that he was confused by this, wondering what a busy week had to do with calling him back.

C: Okay. Please call me tonight if you can.

Author’s Note: Colby said in his interview with Justin Lum that he didn’t feel like her texts started getting weird until “later in October” (source, 27:50). One thing I really don’t understand about the Cox family is how this went on so long. It will be almost two months from this date before Kay and Larry Woodcock request a welfare check. But Lori Vallow’s niece, Melani Pawlowski, was in Rexburg 10/28/19 to sign a lease and stayed until 10/31. Then she permanently moved into the apartment right next door to Lori. Yet there have been no accounts of family members calling each other to see if anyone has heard from Tylee or JJ. When I stayed with Lori in 2018 and visited in 2003, family was in and out all the time. Most family members lived within minutes of each other outside the Phoenix area (Chandler, Gilbert, and the San Tan Valley). Yet these kids went missing and undiscovered for 2+ months because of what appears to have been radio silence between family members. By the time they were discovered missing, the Rexburg area was covered in snow, and now we are dealing with a pandemic, so they may have to wait even longer before searches can begin. It’s one of the more crushing aspects of this case.

Late September: Chad Daybell and friend and fellow doomsday author Julie Rowe speak by phone about Tammy’s imminent death. From a Fox 13 post (source):

Three weeks before Tammy’s death, Rowe and Daybell called each other.

“And I asked him, do you still see Tammy dying? And he said yes I do,” said Rowe.

Tammy was in charge of the finances and covers for Daybell’s books. Rowe said Daybell wanted to get out of the business, but Tammy wanted to keep going.

“He said I’m ready to get out now and Tammy doesn’t want to get out. When she passes, I’m done, I can’t keep doing this,” said Rowe.

10/1/19: Lori Vallow opens a 10×10’ storage unit at Self Storage Plus in Rexburg, ID (source).

Notable: This storage unit is 350 yards from the Rexburg Transfer Station—aka the city dump (Google Map).

10/1/19: Last time Janis Cox, Lori Vallow’s mother, speaks to JJ. She alleges that she spoke to him on the phone and provided a copy of their phone bill as proof (source).

Note: It goes without saying (though I’ll say it anyway) that a phone bill only proves a call was made to Lori’s cell phone, not that she spoke to JJ.

10/2/19: Lori Vallow orders the ring later shown in her wedding photos from Amazon using Charles Vallow’s account (source).

Notable: This is 17 days before Chad Daybell’s wife, Tammy Daybell, died.

10/2/19: Lori Vallow and a man who appears to be Chad Daybell are seen on surveillance at the storage unit (source).

From the East Idaho News site:

Timestamps on the video show a blue Rogue arriving at 1:25 p.m. but the owner of the storage facility says clocks were off by one hour, so Lori actually pulled in at 2:25 p.m. She made her way to the door of the building where her unit was, and two minutes later, at 2:27 p.m., got out of the vehicle with the man we believe is Chad.

At 2:29 p.m., he pulled a tire out of the back of the Rogue and rolled it into the storage unit. One minute later, he and Lori carried in what appears to be a removable rear car seat together. They put it in the locker, shut the door and left the facility at 2:32 p.m. The entire visit was seven minutes.

Note: Reporter Nate Eaton offers a plausible explanation for why Lori and [allegedly] Chad would have been moving a tire and removable back seat into the storage unit: Brandon Boudreaux said someone shot at him out of the back window of the Jeep. The back window of that model Jeep doesn’t open if the tire is attached. Ergo, it’s possible they removed the back seat and tire of the Jeep. Then Lori and Chad moved it into the storage unit (source, 2:31 minute mark).

Bonus: Chad Daybell—still married to Tammy Daybell at the time—acts in a manner you might find a bit salacious for a married man whose wife will conveniently die in one week to the day at the 1:41 minute mark.

10/2/19: Brandon Boudreaux is shot at outside his home in Gilbert, AZ around 9:30am (source, 1:44 minute mark). The shooter was driving Tylee Ryan’s 2018 Jeep Wrangler, which is registered in Charles Vallow’s name (source 1 / source 2, 41:25 minute mark). Boudreaux later identifies Alex Cox as the shooter (source 1 / source 2, 42:07 minute mark).

10/3/19: The browser history on the computer from which Lori Vallow’s wedding ring was ordered the day before shows someone searching for wedding dresses (source).

10/3/19: Lori Vallow and a man “who appears to be her brother, Alex Cox,”are seen on surveillance at the storage unit (source). Vallow and Cox retrieve the tire and backseat and put them into Vallow’s car (source, 3:08 minute mark).

10/4/19: Tammy Daybell visits parents in Springville, UT, allegedly at Chad’s urging. Chad Daybell claims divine urging from ancestors (private Facebook post).

10/6/19: Alex Cox visits the storage unit by himself (source, 3:49 minute mark).

10/9/19: Tammy Daybell files a report with the Rexburg Police Department, claiming to be shot at by a masked man carrying a paintball gun (source 1 / source 2, 43:24 minute mark)

10/9/19: Last time Melani Pawlowski has seen her kids (source).

10/10/19: Tylee Ryan’s Venmo account shows a payment to her older half brother, Colby Ryan, with “we love you” in the description field (source).

10/12/19: Allegedly, Chad buys rope and a ski mask at Cabela’s in Idaho Falls (source).

Note: I almost didn’t include this because it’s as unverified as a claim can get. But I decided to just add it with a disclaimer.

10/14/19: Approximate date Melani Boudreaux allegedly texts her estranged husband, Brandon, to let him know she planned to move to Boise (source). Text reads:

The kids could remain with you in Arizona, you would have to arrange for daycare, and I could have the kids for school holidays and summers. Or I could take the kids to Idaho and enroll them in school there and you could have the kids for school holidays and summers. Please let me know what you’d like to do.

10/14/19: Kay Woodcock sends a final email to Lori begging to see JJ. Her email went unanswered (source, 1:25 minute mark).

10/16/19: Tylee Ryan’s Venmo account shows a payment to her older half brother, Colby Ryan, with a heart emoji in the description field (source).

Note: This transaction was removed from Tylee’s feed sometime after March 1.You can see a screenshot of it here.

10/16/19: A man allegedly accesses Lori Vallow’s storage unit and spends what appears to be 6 minutes on premises (source, 1:18:00 minute mark).

10/19/19: Tammy Daybell dies in her sleep, according to husband Chad Daybell. He claims she went to bed with a cough and just didn’t wake up. Her death is believed to be natural and no autopsy is performed (source). An investigator told East Idaho News reporter Nate Eaton that Chad “didn’t seem all that curious about how she died” (source, 42:56 minute mark).

10/19/19: One of Chad Daybell’s daughters allegedly says to Chad Daybell friend and colleague Julie Rowe that she was most afraid of her dad getting remarried (source, 1:25 minute mark).

10/20/19: Approximate Brandon Boudreaux calls Kay Woodcock to let her know Tammy Daybell died. Kay remarked in despair that they were “killing everybody” along the way. Kay expressed suspicion that Tammy was poisoned because she said that Lori had spoken of poisoning people over the years (source).

10/22/19: Tammy Daybell is interred in Spring Creek, ID (source).

10/22/19: A man allegedly accesses Lori Vallow’s storage unit and spends 9 minutes on premises (source, 1:18:00 minute mark).

10/23/19: A memorial service is held for Tammy Daybell in Rexburg, ID. Chad’s younger brother, Matt Daybell, later tells East Idaho News that he and Chad had not “directly spoken to each other” since the service in Rexburg on Oct. 23 (source). “Since that time, I have texted Chad twice. Once, when I heard from a neighbor of his quick marriage to Lori Vallow, expressing to him my shock and dismay at this news,” Matt Daybell says. “Second, just recently, pleading with Chad to cooperate with authorities and reveal the whereabouts of his new stepchildren.”

10/25/19: A friend of Tylee receives a text from Tylee but says it didn’t sound like her (source).

10/25/19: A man allegedly accesses Lori Vallow’s storage unit and spends 10 minutes on premises (source, 1:18:00 minute mark).

10/25/19: Date Melani Boudreaux’s Rexburg apartment was taken off the market (source).

10/26/19: A man allegedly accesses Lori Vallow’s storage unit and spends 11 minutes on premises (source, 1:18:00 minute mark).

10/28/19: Two men who appear to be Alex Cox and Chad Daybell are seen moving bikes and other items into the storage unit Lori Vallow rented Oct 1 in Rexburg, ID (source 1 / source 2, 3:58 minute mark). They allegedly spend 6 minutes on premises (source, 1:18:00 minute mark).

10/28/19: Melani Boudreaux signs a lease on her apartment in the same complex as Lori Vallow and Alex Cox (source).

10/29/19: Unidentified woman seen playfully running through the snow and then approaching Lori Vallow’s apartment (source).

10/31/19: Melani Boudreaux and Alex Cox fly from Idaho Falls to Phoenix and then pack up Melani to move to Rexburg, ID (source).

10/31/19: Approximate date nanny texts Lori one last time about working for her. Lori never responds (source).

10/31/19: Rich Robertson, a private investigator hired by Brandon Boudreaux, sees Melani Boudreaux and Alex Cox outside her home taking her children’s clothes, toys, and beds to the curb (source 1, 42:56 minute mark / source 2).

Late Oct 2019: Colby Ryan says communication with Tylee Ryan started to change. He started calling and FaceTiming her, but she wouldn’t answer and always had a reason for why she couldn’t talk. And they didn’t sound like her, he told Fox reporter Justin Lum.

Lum: “But did it sound like how she would text and how she would talk?”

Ryan: “It [sic] was bouncing back and they just didn’t seem normal…And all these things started piecing together (source, 27:50).

Update: Colby told Dr. Phil that his text exchange with Tylee on 9/28/19 didn’t sound like her (e.g., she would have used an emoji over saying that she loved him) and that he was worried (source).

Late Oct/Early Nov 2019: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell lie about the death and even existence of Lori’s children. Rexburg Police Department publish witness testimony is a press release alleging that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell both lied about the children’s existence:

“We are aware that in the weeks after Tammy Daybell’s death, Lori Vallow/Daybell and Chad Daybell told witnesses that Lori’s daughter had died a year before the death of her father, which is untrue. Around that same time Chad told another witness that Lori had no minor children” (source 1, source 2, 42:56 minute mark)

According to an affidavit obtained by East Idaho News in February 2020, LE also interview Chad Daybell’s parents and Tammy Daybell’s sister. There was no date in the article Daybell’s parents tell detectives Chad and Lori had told them in November that Lori was an “empty nester.” Tammy’s sister reports that Chad told them Lori had no juvenile children (source).

Note: There was no date for the interview of Chad Daybell’s parents and Tammy Daybell’s sister, so I approximated. I have reached out to the reporter to find out if the affidavit listed a date. I also created an account to start requesting court documents myself and am in the verification process…which requires waiting for a letter to be mailed to me with a verification code…because government.

Late Oct/Early Nov 2019: Estimated time Chad Daybell received $430,000 in life insurance proceeds following Tammy Daybell’s death (source).

Note: I will update this entry to a more exact date if it becomes available.

Fall 2019: Chad Daybell is allegedly excommunicated from the LDS church after he declared he was a prophet (source).

Nov 2019: Tylee’s gray Jeep Wrangler—which was seen in CCTV the day Brandon Beaudreux was reportedly shot at in front of his home in Gilbert, AZ—is seized and impounded in accordance with a search warrant in November 2019 in Rexburg, ID. The Jeep is registered to Charles Vallow (source).

First week of Nov 2019: Rexburg PD is contacted by Gilbert and Chandler PDs after the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux for help in obtaining search warrants for the 2018 Jeep Wrangler Tylee Ryan drove but was registered to Charles Vallow and in Lori Vallow’s possession. It was believed to be “related to a possible attempted murder” of Brandon Boudreaux (source 1 / source 2). Police note:

“It is significant that the vehicle (Tylee) regularly drove was still in Rexburg nearly two months after the last known sighting of (Tylee).”

11/1/19: Rich Robertson follows Alex Cox and Melani Boudreaux to Rexburg, ID (source 1, 42:56 minute mark).

11/1/19: Detective Ray Hermosillo starts “intermittent surveillance” on Lori Vallow at the request of the Gilbert Police Department. Hermosillo reports that he never saw JJ Vallow when he was performing surveillance during the month of November, 2019.

11/1/19: Two detectives knock on Melani Boudreaux’s door asking about Lori Vallow. Her account: “I’m foggy on this date but (Rexburg Police) Detective Hermosillo and another gentleman had come to my door while I was moving my stuff in so it had to have been early in November – I’d guess the second week in November” (source).

Note: Since they came to Melani’s door while she was moving her stuff in, that would be Nov 1, not the second week in November.

11/5/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell marry in Kaua’i, Hawaii (source, wedding pics start at the 1:08 minute mark).

Note: This is 17 days after his former wife, Tammy Daybell, died unexpectedly.

11/7/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell meet with Jeani Martin about renting a room from her home in Kaua’i, HI. According to Martin, after claiming to receive a “sign from God” about moving in to her home, she asks about former wife, Tammy Daybell’s recent death. He answers via text, claiming, “She helped me reconnect with Lori so quickly and it helped my children move forward” (source).

11/8/19: Chad Daybell sent an email to a Kauai realtor. Three days after he & Lori Vallow got married. Outside of authorities, this is second source to tell us that Daybell said he had no kids on the island (source).

11/12/19: Melani Boudreaux trespasses onto Brandon’s parents’ property in America Fork, Utah. American Fork Police say Melani’s uncle, Alex Cox drove her to where her children were in a 2020 Kia Telluride (source).

11/14/19: Melani Boudreaux trespasses onto Brandon’s parents’ property a second time, around 10:30pm, claiming to have a court order stating she could take the children. Police cite Melani for criminal trespassing and tell her to leave the property but then decide to take her into custody for criminal trespassing enhanced by domestic violence. Melani turns herself in to AFPD and is booked into Utah County Jail. Melani’s uncle, Alex Cox, posts her bail of $1,950. The day after the arrest, Cox bailed Melani out (source / source).

Mid November: Lori and Chad return to Rexburg from their honeymoon in Kaua’i, HI (source, 46:28 minute mark)

11/19/19: Melani and Brandon Boudreaux’s divorce is finalized. She doesn’t show up, and he is awarded full custody of their children.

11/21/19: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from his old school. (Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19.)

11/24/19: Lori Vallow and an unidentified man visit her storage unit in Rexburg, ID, for the last time. They leave a box of memorabilia for Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, as well as a tote of clothing. They stay for 4 minutes (source 1 / source 2, 4:07 minute mark).

11/25/19: Kay Woodcock discovers by hacking into Charles Vallow’s email—after trying one of three passwords Woodcock says her brother always used—that an Amazon purchase had been sent to Lori Vallow’s address in Rexburg, ID. Woodcock said now that she had an address for them she could order the welfare check (source, 47:25 minute mark).

11/25/19: Investigation begins when Rexburg Police Department is contacted by the Gilbert, Arizona, Police Department in response to a welfare check for JJ requested by JJ’s grandparents, Kay and Larry Woodcock. (source 1 / source 2, 45:40 minute mark).

Note: Tylee Ryan wasn’t included in the welfare check because Detective Nathan Moffat—one of the detectives who was on scene the day Charles Vallow was shot and described his ride with Lori Vallow, Alex Cox, and Tylee as “straight-up bizarre”—thought he didn’t need to include Tylee Ryan in the welfare check:

I got on the phone with Rexburg PD, and I requested they do a welfare check at the residence for JJ. More specifically JJ than Tylee because Tylee’s 16, 17 years old (source, 47:52 minute mark).

11/26/19: LE performs welfare check on JJ Vallow at 565 Pioneer Rd, Rexburg, ID. Lori Vallow tells police JJ is staying with a family friend in AZ. Investigators learn later that day had not been staying with the friend (source).

Other suspicious activity later released in a 14-page affidavit of probable cause document obtained by East Idaho News (source):

“Chad acted as if he didn’t know Lori very well and stated he didn’t know her phone number.” They had married three weeks prior. (See the 11/5/19 entry.)
“Alex [Cox] told the detectives that [Joshua Vallow] was with his grandma, Kay Woodcock, in Louisiana, which was not likely to be true due to the fact that Kay was the individual who first called in a missing child report to the Gilbert Police Department.”
Cox told officers Lori “might be” in apartment 107.
Apartment 107 was vacant.
Police found Lori “later that day” in apartment 175 (source).
Chad Daybell tried to drive away while detectives were at the apartment complex, but a detective stopped him.
Chad told an investigator that the last time he had seen JJ was in apartment 107 in October. He also admitted that he knew his wife’s phone number. Notable: This proves that Chad was aware that Lori had at least one minor child.
Vallow told detectives JJ was with Melanie Gibb—a friend of Lori and Chad who had participated as a co-host with Chad and Lori on a Preparing a People podcast, co-hosted the Time to Warrior Up podcast with Lori, spoke at the Preparing a People conference, and wrote the book Feel the Fire (Chad wrote the forward). Detective Ron Ball stated that this lie “delayed the investigation into the whereabouts and safety of [JJ] by requiring us to take time to investigate a lead that was verified as false.”
Detectives called Gibb but were unable to reach her. Lori claimed that her friend and JJ were at Frozen 2. Officers told Lori to tell her friend to call them.
After not hearing back from Gibb that night (‼️), LE in Rexburg called the Gilbert Police Department. Officers from GPD went to Gibb’s home. She was not there, but they reached her by phone. Gibb told them JJ had not been there for several months (source). Notable: Not getting back to LE in a timely manner gave Lori and Chad significant lead time to flee the jurisdiction.
Gibb waited 10 days before telling RPD that both Lori and Chad asked her to tell them she had JJ (source).
Gibb has reportedly retained a lawyer and is cooperating with authorities (source, 1:57 minute mark).

Author’s note: This is the scene that played out in my head as I recorded the ill-fated antics of this ragtag bunch of misfits.?

11/27/19: LE executes a search warrant for the townhouse Lori Vallow’s was renting and discovers that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell vacated the home. Witnesses say kids weren’t with them. LE also search the townhouses belonging to Vallow’s brother, Alex Cox, and niece, Melani Boudreaux, who reportedly lived within a few doors of Vallow (source).

11/27/19: LE search Lori Vallow’s Self-Storage Plus storage unit, where they find kids’ bikes, toys, photo albums, winter clothes, a backpack with JJ’s initials, a jersey with Colby Ryan’s name on it, photo blankets made from pictures of Tylee and JJ from infancy on (source). Related: Lori Vallow or men associated with her visit the storage unit a total of 10 times between Oct 1 and Nov 24.

11/27/19: Approximate date Alex Cox moves back to Arizona (source, 1:01:39 minute mark).

11/27/19: Detectives come to the house of Lori Vallow’s son, Colby Ryan, to inquire about the whereabouts of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source, 24:57 minute mark). Colby told Fox reporter Justin Lum that he called his mom after they left and said, “Two detectives just came to my door. What is going on?’ She allegedly answered, “‘I got it, I’ll take care of it. Love you.” Colby added, when pressed by Lum, that she also asked what the detectives asked him but that was it (25:47 minute mark).

11/27/19: Approximate date Rexburg Police Department requests the assistance of the FBI in finding Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source).

11/28 – 12/1/19: Chad Daybell spends Thanksgiving weekend on vacation with his family in Southern California, traveling there via the Salt Lake City airport. Photos posted to social media show Chad at the airport and later Knott’s Berry Farm, an amusement park in Buena Park, CA. Lori wasn’t in any of the photos, and her location during this time is unknown (source).

11/29/19: Alex Cox marries Zulema Pastenes in Las Vegas (source). According to the owner of A Chapel of Love in Las Vegas—where the two were married—the minister reflected on the service, commenting that the thing that stuck out to him the most was their “lack of emotional response.” He continued, “They were very cold. It was business. They wanted to get in and get out.” The owner said their service only lasted 8 mins, and their only witness was the chapel security guard (source, 1:21 minute mark).

Notable: Alex Cox took Zulema’s last name (source).

11/29/19: Lori’s friend, Melanie Gibb, receives email from Lori full of beautiful pictures of their wedding on the beach. Gibb claims she didn’t know they had gotten married (source).

11/30/19: Melani Boudreaux marries Ian Pawlowski in Las Vegas (source).

Note: Alex Cox (AKA Alex Pastenes) is their witness.

Early Dec: Ian Pawlowski texts his ex-wife concerns about the attempted shooting of Brandon Boudreaux: “She didn’t know beforehand what was gonna happen. They made the attempt, failed and told her about it after the fact (transcript).”

Dec 2019: Melanie Gibb allegedly says kids are most likely dead and that all were probably killed by Alex. Gibb also says (again, allegedly) that Lori and Chad were frustrated that Tammy had not died yet, and Chad allegedly told Lori, “It’s not that easy to get someone’s spirit out of their body” (source).

Note: I’m assuming “all” means everyone who died in this story: Tylee, JJ, and Tammy.

12/1/19: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell fly from LA to Kaua’i on American Airlines. RPD cannot find any information that confirms they’ve returned to the mainland since this date (source).

12/2/19: Ian Pawlowski’s mother calls him after talking to his ex-wife Natalie. She told him that Melani was in a cult, Chad is a cult leader, and her uncle had shot a man (source).

12/2/19: Alex Cox’s apartment goes back on the market (source).

12/3/19: According to an email from Natalie Pawlowski (ex-wife of Ian Pawlowski) to an associate of Brandon Boudreaux, Melani Pawlowski (current wife of Ian Pawlowski and former wife of Brandon Boudreaux) is interviewed by LE for five hours (source).

12/4/19: FBI agents from Phoenix, AZ, look into Lori Vallow, Melanie Gibb, and Richard “Jason” Mow (source 1). Agent digs into Lori Vallow’s podcasts. FBI agent notes Jason Mow joined them in the podcast. Mow said they had a “special connection” and described her as a “gatherer.” Mow connected Vallow with Gibb (source 2). Vallow mentions how “suffering leads to salvation and that even thought she doesn’t want her kids to suffer she understands they have to so they can see the light.” Agent also describes podcasts as “not soothing by any means” (source 3).

12/4/19: FBI agent digs into Richard “Jason” Mow’s professional background. Agent notes that the Phoenix Police Department’s Homicide Sergeant recalls a time he was “sleeping in the front seat of his car while he was supposed to be doing security for them as they were executing a search warrant.” Agent asks another agent to look into him more (source).

12/4/19: Natalie Pawlowski contacts an associate of Brandon Boudreaux, trying to find him. It’s a pretty desperate cry for help and reveals how scared she and Ian both were (transcript).

12/5/19: Natalie and Ian Pawlowski are interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source).

Notable: One of the items Lori Vallow’s defense attorney requested from Rexburg Police Department was recordings from Ian Pawlowski (source). I wonder what he recorded. It’s worth noting Idaho is a one-party consent state, meaning he wouldn’t have needed to get permission from someone he was recording.

12/6/19: Lori Vallow’s friend and one-time Preparing a People podcast co-host, Melanie Gibb, informs RPD that both Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had contacted her separately on November 26th and asked her to lie to detectives and tell them JJ was with her (source). Notable: This was 10 days after she spoke to GPD detectives and let them know JJ was not with her.

12/6/19: Ian Pawlowski meets with LE again alone and restates what he knows for a few other detectives, Lieutenant Ball, and another FBI agent named Travis (source).

12/6/19: Chandler PD in AZ serve a search warrant for all JJ’s records at L.I.F.E. Academy, where he attended before Lori Vallow moved him to Rexburg, ID, following JJ’s father’s death (source).

12/8/19: Melanie Gibb records a call with Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell and asks for information about JJ’s whereabouts (recording of call).

12/8/19: Approximate date Ian Pawlowski texts his ex-wife Natalie with grave concerns about Melani’s court hearing, her uncles’ advice for her to move to Ammon, ID, his insistence on staying in Rexburg, and concern for Natalie’s safety (source):

Don’t respond.

I need you to encourage Brandon to keep info he gets on the down low until I can get this sorted out.

I want to help, but it will be tough if every[one] starts figuring out what I’m learning.

She didn’t know beforehand what was gonna happen (Note: He’s talking about the attempted murder of Melani’s first husband, Brandon Boudreaux.)

They made the attempt, failed and told her about it after the fact. I understand that he doesn’t want the kids around her because of all of this, but I believe if she can see them, it will put a huge dent in her trust with her uncles. She’s scared and had been told her middle children are dead. She has a family court date on 12/11. I’m trying to get her to go…

I don’t know if I can convince her to go to the family court hearing on Wednesday. I’m trying but she “got an answer” last night from God himself. Her uncles have her so wrapped up. They’re telling her she needs to move to Ammon. That’s not gonna happen because I’m not going to leave Rexburg. They think is (sic) has something to do with jurisdiction. Dumbest thing ever. Don’t respond. Just wanted to update you earlier because I had a quick second to call. Stay safe.

Note: Screenshot is from Brandon Boudreaux’s phone; thus the misspelling of “Pawlowski” and question as to the date the text was actually sent to Natalie.

12/9/19: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from his old school. (Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19.)

12/10/19: Approximate date Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell move into a condo at the Villas on the Prince community in Princeville, HI (source).

Notable: The complex was across the street from the townhouse complex Charles and Lori used to live in.

12/11/19: Melani Pawlowski has a family court hearing scheduled. Ian Pawlowski had told his ex-wife Natalie he was trying to get her to go. He said she “got an answer” last night from God himself (source).

12/11/19: Tammy Daybell’s remains are exhumed by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, with the assistance of the Utah Office of the Medical Examiner, and an autopsy is conducted (source). The warrant states, “There is probable cause to believe that the hereinafter described property or persons, presently located within the hereinafter described location, is connected with the commission of public offense(s), to wit: conspiracy to commit homicide first degree… which occurred on or about July 11, 2019.”

12/12/19: Alex Cox dies of suspicious causes in Gilbert, AZ. Zulema Pastenes’ 25-year-old son, Joseph Lopez, found him unresponsive in the bathroom and reports being unable to turn him over to administer CPR because he had lost control of his bowels. He refers to Cox as his mom’s boyfriend, revealing he seemed to be unaware she had married Cox 12 days prior. He also didn’t know Cox’s last name when the operator asks (source). As part of the autopsy, investigators request an expanded toxicology panel from the medical examiner’s office (source, 1:02:29 minute mark).

Notable: Keith Morrison said detectives wanted to question Cox about the shooting of Charles Vallow (7/11/19), as well as the mysterious shooting attempts at Brandon Boudreax (10/2/19) and Tammy Daybell (10/9/19). But before they could question him, he too died. But more than two months passed. If he wasn’t questioned during those two months, why?

12/18/19: Chad Daybell’s parents, Jack and Sheila Daybell, are interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source 1 / source 2).

12/19/19: RPD executes a second search warrant on Alex Cox’s apartment. They went in with a forensics team and looked for any evidence of JJ having been there (source).

12/19/19: Ian Pawlowski tells Melani he had spoken with LE (source).

12/19/19: Approximate date Ian Pawlowski records his notes of everything he told the FBI (source).

12/20/19: Rexburg PD announces investigation into the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source), as well as their partnership with the FBI in the investigation into the disappearance (source).

12/20/19: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from his old school. (Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19.)

Notable: The announcement of the investigation may have been the trigger for this login. But why?

12/21/19: Rexburg PD calls Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell “persons of interest” in the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow (source).

12/23/19: Sean Bartholick, of Rigby, Andrus & Rigby, issues statement on behalf of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell (source).

12/27/19: A friend of Lori Vallow who spoke under the condition of anonymity said Vallow would say, “It’s gonna be the end of the world and we should all just drive off a cliff and kill us and our kids and die all at the same time” (source, 2:37 minute mark).

12/27/19: Chad Daybell’s friend, Julie Rowe, claims both she and Chad had a vision where angels told them Daybell’s wife, Tammy would die (source). Rowe also claims she knows the kids are safe from her visions: “I do know the kids are safe. I can see them. I can see their energy and that they’re in a bright house. I can see they’re in the living room where they are. I can see they’re comfortable [in their] bed at night.”

12/30/19: Rexburg PD issues press release stating that they know the children are not with Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell and that they have information indicating that Lori “knows either the location of the children or what has happened to them” (source).

Early Jan 2020: Melanie Gibb allegedly records a conversation over phone with Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow, where she confronts them about their false beliefs and cheating on their spouses (source).

1/3/20: Rexburg PD and the FBI search Chad and Tammy Daybell’s former home in Salem, ID. LE collects 43 items (source).

1/3/20: In an act of defiance, Chad Daybell’s adult daughter, Emma Daybell Murray, makes faces at reporters, which was captured by a KIDK3 reporter (source, 1:50 minute mark)

1/4/20: Kay Woodcock reveals in an interview with Fox 13 that Charles Vallow made recordings of Lori. “Charles told me he had recordings of her,” Woodcock said. “He said, ‘Nobody will believe me,’ and he recorded her one night. Even though it’s deleted, nothing is ever deleted electronically or whatever” (source).

Note: From the context, it sounds like he may have made recordings of her bizarre statements and/or threats.

1/6/20: Kay and Larry Woodcock are interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source).

1/6/20: Fremont County and RPD publish press release about issuing search warrant on Chad Daybell’s house. Release mentions 43 items were removed, including electronic devices, journals, documents and medications (source).

1/7/20: Melani Boudreaux’s court date for the trespassing charge.

1/7/20: Larry and Kay Woodcock, JJ Vallow’s grandparents, announce a $20,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of him and Tylee Ryan (source).

1/8/20: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from his old school. (Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19.)

1/10/20: Chad Daybell’s younger brother, Matt Daybell releases a statement expressing dismay at Chad’s sudden marriage to Lori Vallow and urging him to cooperate with authorities regarding Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow’s disappearance (source).

Notable: Matt adds that his statement represents the views of him, his wife and children, not his extended family or parents.

1/13/20: Bodycam footage, 911 call, and police report from the day Charles Vallow was shot is obtained by Fox10 (source).

1/14/20: Melani Boudreaux is interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source).

1/14/20: Surveillance video from Yellowstone National Park is received by Rexburg Police Department (source).

1/25/20: LE in Kaua’i, HI, serves Lori Vallow with a child protection order from Madison County’s prosecutor’s office in Rexburg, ID, requiring her to produce Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare or Rexburg Police Department in Rexburg by Jan 30 (source).

1/26/20: LE in Kaua’i, HI, “serve search warrants on the persons of Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow and on a black Ford Explorer they had rented” in the parking lot of the Kaua’i Beach Resort (source). LE found the following items in their possession:

birth certificates for both Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow
Tylee’s financial transaction card by BBVA
JJ’s iPad
another iPad logged into JJ’s Apple account
JJ’s school registration receipts from Kennedy Elementary in Rexburg, ID

Notable:

Tylee’s card was still active at that time and had been used since she was last seen.
It would be very difficult to prove plausible deniability re: the theory that Chad didn’t know Lori had minor children, when she had their birth certificates and an iPad with JJ’s name on it in her possession.
Between having JJ’s iPad she had in the car, another iPad that was still logged in to JJ’s Apple account, and her login activity with JJ’s previous school’s app, it’s possible she missed JJ. She had logged in five times since withdrawing him from L.I.F.E. Academy.

1/26/20: LE in Kaua’i, HI, serve a search warrant for the condo Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell rent. Officers observe there are no signs children Evidence they cited:

There were two beach/lawn chairs in the garage.
There were two exercise mats in the garage.
There were only two beach towels in the garage.
There were no items in the garage or condo that appeared to belong to a minor child.
There was no evidence of a 7 year old boy—e.g., clothing, toys, books, medication, etc.
There was a second room in the condo that had no signs of being lived in.

Note: Nate Easton from East Idaho News pursues the couple to question them about the whereabouts of the children who have been missing four months at this point (source).

1/29/20: Kay and Larry Woodcock file for emergency guardianship of JJ Vallow in Rexburg, ID (source).

1/29/20: Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow reportedly clear out of the condo they were renting in the Villas on the Prince community (source). They allegedly move to the Kaua’i Beach Resort (source).

1/30/20: Sidney Woodbury Shenk is interviewed by Rexburg Police Department (source).

1/30/20: Lori Vallow defies the court order and does not produce the kids to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare or Rexburg Police Department, risking potential civil and criminal consequences (source).

1/30/20: Lori Vallow retains Daniel Hempey, an attorney in Kuau’i, HI (source).

1/31/20: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from his old school. (Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19.)

Early Feb: Lori Vallow has her church records transferred to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kaua’i, HI. Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow’s names were not included in the record. Chad Daybell hadn’t transferred his records to the new ward yet (source, 00:05 minute mark).

2/1/20: Colby Ryan’s mother-in-law, Carrie O’Neal Benson, launches a GoFundMe to raise $15,000 for Colby and his wife, citing financial burdens resulting from the family crisis (source).

Note: The goal has since been reduced to $7,500.

2/2/20: Lori Vallow and new husband Chad Daybell start attending church at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kaua’i (source).

Related: As of Jan 2, 2020, a spokesperson for the church has not confirmed or denied whether Chad Daybell has been excommunicated or is still a member (source).

2/4/20: Lori Vallow accesses JJ Vallow’s app from his old school. (Lori withdrew JJ 9/5/19.)

2/4/20: Approximate date officials at L.I.F.E. Academy—JJ’s former school school in Chandler, AZ, that Lori Vallow withdrew JJ from 9/5/19—removes Lori’s access to the app after discovering she had continued to access the app to get updates. Dates accessed: 9/7, 11/21, 12/9, 12/20, 1/8, 1/31, 2/4 (source, 00:21 minute mark).

Notable: 12/20 coincides with the date Rexburg PD announced the investigation into the disappearance of Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow.

2/4/20: East Idaho News publishes surveillance footage of the Self Storage Plus storage unit Lori Vallow rented in Rexburg, ID (source).

2/5/20: Rich Robertson, a private investigator hired by Brandon Boudreau comes forward to say Boudreaux identifies Alex Cox was the shooter (source). “The vehicle that was involved in the shooting belonged to Charles Vallow,” Robertson said. “It was a green Jeep Cherokee** with Texas license plates. He recognized that as his former in-law and he suspected Charles Vallow’s killer, Alex Cox, was the one driving that jeep.”

Note: Alex Cox was actually driving a gray 2008 Jeep Wrangler with Texas license plate LWD0997 (source, pg 3 / para 8). This Jeep is also sometimes described as green in court documents because of its hue.

2/10/20: Law enforcement report that they found Tylee Ryan’s cell phone with Lori Vallow in Hawaii (source).

2/11/20: Fremont County’s Office of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office denies Fox 10’s public records request for the “911 call and report taken in the death of Tammy Daybell” and “any 911 calls from the Daybell home…on 10/9/19” (source). The letter cites two justifications for its denial:

Idaho Code 124(1)(a): (1) Notwithstanding any statute or rule of court to the contrary, nothing in this chapter nor chapter 10, title 59, Idaho Code, shall be construed to require disclosure of investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes by a law enforcement agency, but such exemption from disclosure applies only to the extent that the production of such records would: (a) Interfere with enforcement proceedings;
Wade v Taylor 156 Idaho 91, 98, 320 P.3d 1250, 1257 (2014): The legislative intent underlying the section is to prevent the premature disclosure of information that may compromise an investigation, the state’s case in court, or the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

Note: 10/9/19 was the date Tammy Daybell filed a report with the Rexburg Police Department, claiming to be shot at by a masked man carrying a paintball gun.

2/12/20: Keith Morrison of Dateline is tipped off that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had packed their bags and were heading to Mexico (source, 00:22 minute mark).

2/14/20: Dateline airs a two-hour special on the case, “Where Are the Children?” (source).

2/16/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell check out of the Kaua’i Marriot Resort where they had been staying (source).

2/16/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are seen in Kaua’i boarding a plane to Maui (source).

2/16/20: Ian Pawlowski brings his ex-wife his laptop where she found a bizarre note about Melani and the group she was involved with (transcript).

Author’s Note: UPDATE: I now believe this document is credible and was accidentally left on his laptop that he gave to his son.

I’m not buying Ian just happened to journal about his entry into this group…which he left in an unprotected file on his laptop…that he turned over to his ex-wife to ((oops)) find. To me, the note has a very contrived feel to it and puts both him and Melani in a very favorable light. I think the email sent an associate of Brandon Boudreaux 12/4/19 has a more authentic timbre to it. Melani moved to Rexburg away from her four children. Whatever the reason, it must have been compelling enough to motivate her to move away from her kids. I’m not buying that casual interest in this group would be compelling enough. Ymmv.

2/18/20: Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell return to Kaua’i (source).

2/18/20: A search warrant was served at Self-Storage Plus where Lori Vallow rented a storage unit. Police removed all of the items in the unit (source, 1:05 minute mark).

2/18/20: The Madison County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office submits a criminal complaint against Lori Vallow (source). The complaint alleges five crimes:

two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children
resisting or obstructing officers (misdemeanor)
criminal solicitation to commit a crime (misdemeanor)
contempt of court (misdemeanor)

Note: I will start referring to Lori as Lori Vallow Daybell from this point onward since the arrest warrant and court documents affirm she took Chad’s last name. If I refer to Lori by last name only, I’ll include Vallow just to be clear which Daybell I’m referring to.

2/20/20: Lori Vallow Daybell is arrested at and taken into custody at 2:30 pm HST by Kaua’i Police Department. She is held on $5 million bond pending extradition to Idaho.

2/21/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s first court hearing in Kaua’i, HI (recording of hearing). Highlights:

Vallow Daybell’s defense attorney, Daniel Hempey, requested her bail be reduced from $5 million to $10,000. Justification for the reduction by Hempey was, “We are sitting here with a couple felonies and misdemeanors and a half a million dollar bail” (source).
Judge Kathleen Watanabe kept Vallow Daybell’s bail at $5 million.
Vallow Daybell asserts her right to an extradition hearing to fight extradition to Idaho. That hearing is scheduled for March 2.
Prosecuting attorney Justin Kollar requested Vallow Daybell be remanded without bail.
Kollar requested an identification hearing be set for March 5, 2020.
Vallow Daybell exercised her right to demand a governor’s warrant.
Hempey alleged that the police officers from Idaho questioned Vallow Daybell with Kuau’i police while she was in custody even though “they knew she was represented by counsel” (source). Note: Kelly Vaughan from 2KUTV reported on February 21st that the police chief and assistant chief were not in Hawaii (source, 2:09 minute mark). It’s unclear—at least at time of writing—who was there from RPD.
Kollar requested that, if Vallow Daybell posts bail and has a passport, she surrender it to the Kuau’i Police Department.
Vallow Daybell focused her transformation efforts on new husband Chad Daybell’s hair and overlooked training him how to pick a tie (source). I gotchu, Chad. You have a week to shop and practice. We’ll check back on your progress.

2/21/20: Lori Vallow is booked into Kauai Community Correctional Center (source).

2/23/20: Child custody papers reveal Ian Pawlowski provided statements to LE that Melani Pawlowski—Brandon Boudreaux’s ex-wife—told him shortly after they married that she conspired with her uncle, Alex Cox, to kill Brandon. Brandon alleges that Melani was motivated by a $1 million life insurance policy. Melani’s new husband, Ian Pawlowski, told LE Melani once said “something to the effect of ‘sometimes children are full of light and then just like that they go dark.'”

Note: I modified this entry after Melani Boudreaux’s attorney issued a statement refuting that Melanie accepted any responsibility (source). And it appears all news stories covering this release have been taken down.

2/24/20: Chad Daybell cancels lease on condo in Kaua’i, HI (source).

2/25/20: Madison County Prosecutor’s Office subpoenas Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell’s Princeville landlord, the Kauai Beach Resort, and JJ Vallow’s school in Rexburg, ID, Kennedy Elementary School.

For all parties, they have until 3/9/20 and have to produce all documents from 8/1/19 to the present.

2/26/20: Judge denies Lori Vallow Daybell’s second request to lower bond. Vallow Daybell waives right to an extradition hearing. She will return to Idaho to face charges (source).

2/26/20: The attorney for Melani Pawlowski issues press release denying Pawlowski admitted to any wrongdoing with the kids and denies knowing where they are. He also denies she had anything to do with the alleged shooting of former husband Brandon Boudreaux (source).

Author’s note: It does give me pause that a court petition to modify child support released by Brandon Boudreaux’s attorney seemed to be treated with the same credibility in the press as a court document released by law enforcement. Pawlowski has a right to a fair trial, if it comes to that. Also, after reviewing the recording of Boudreaux’s 911 call, he did say at the time he didn’t see who shot at him (source, 00:11 minute mark) but later identified the shooter as Alex Cox through his attorney. So there’s quite a bit for LE to sift through here. I’m not in any way defending Melani. She is knee deep in all of this and has acted erratically with regard to the children (notifying Boudreaux in a text she’s moving to Boise, moving to Rexburg where two children went missing, moving into the same apartment complex as Lori Vallow and Alex Cox, trespassing at the home of Boudreaux’s parents two days in a row, etc.). I hope she did cooperate fully with LE, as she asserted in this press release. And I hope that this family can get to the bottom of these alarming events that threaten the safety and welfare of their children on so many levels.

2/29/20: Chad Daybell returns to Rexburg, ID (source).

3/4/20: Lori Vallow Daybell has a status hearing in Kaua’i, HI, before being extradited to Idaho (source).

3/5/20: Lori Vallow Daybell arrives in Rexburg, ID (source).

3/5/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorneys request a number of documents from the prosecuting attorney’s office (source):

Warrants and related documents
Communications between LE and media
Court orders
Un-redacted police records
Handwritten notes
Dispatch tapes (and a full paragraph of someone riding the caps lock)

3/6/20: Lori Vallow Daybell is scheduled for an arraignment hearing in Rexburg, ID (source / watch live).

3/6/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s bond is reduced from $5 million to $1 million by Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins (source).

3/6/20: Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood reveals in Lori Vallow Daybell’s first court hearing in Idaho that Daybell continued to receive social security benefits for both kids after she left Idaho without them (source).

3/9/20: Deadline Madison County Prosecutor’s Office assigns for all parties to comply with subpoenas served Feb 25 (source).

3/11/20: The FBI, Rexburg Police Department and numerous law enforcement agencies investigating cases related to Lori Vallow and her missing children meet in Salt Lake City, UT, to “coordinate, review, and share information” (source).

3/11/20: Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood and Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorneys request to move preliminary hearing from Mar 18–19 to May 7–8 to allow for more time to exchange and review discovery (source).

3/11/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorney, Mark Means, files a motion to disqualify Magistrate Judge Eddins (the judge who dropped Daybell’s bail from $5 million to $1 million) without cause, pursuant to Idaho Criminal Rule 25 (source).

3/11/20: Approximate date Colby Ryan talked with his mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, while she was in jail (source).

3/12/20: Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood objects to Lori Vallow Daybell’s motion to disqualify Magistrate Judge Eddins from the case (source).

3/12/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorney, Mark Means, responds to Madison County Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood’s objection, stating that a child protection action he’s presiding over could potentially prejudice him against Vallow Daybell (source).

3/13/20: Lori Vallow Daybell has telephonic hearing where three decisions are made (source 1 / source 2):

Magistrate Judge Farren Eddins agrees to reschedule Vallow Daybell’s preliminary hearing for May 7 and May 8.
Eddins disqualifies himself without cause from the case.
Vallow Daybell’s attorney, Brian Webb, announces he plans to file a motion to withdraw from the case. Edwina Elcox, who works with Webb’s law firm, will also withdraw from the case.

3/13/20: Michelle Radford Mallard is made judge over preliminary hearing for May 7–8, 2020 (source).

3/16/20: Two of Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorneys, Brian Webb and Edwina Elcox, withdraw from her case (source).

3/16/20: Prosecution turned over approximately 1,600 pages of documents and 14.6gb of videos, photos, and other electronic media to the defense (source, line item 3).

3/24/20: Detective Nathan Moffat with Chandler PD writes in an email to Fox 10 reporter Justin Lum that he is confident CPD is getting closer to indicting Lori Vallow for her involvement in the shooting death of Charles Vallow (source).

Author’s Note: I don’t care how premature this is…HELL YEAH!!!

3/30/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorney, Mark Means, visits with Lori and is forced to sit in a public area, speak on a recorded phone line, and pass confidential paperwork through employees due to Corona Virus constraints (source).

3/30/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s apartment went back on the market for rent (source / screenshot 1 / screenshot 2).

Note: On 4/5/20 the property was listed as pending.

Notable: As of 4/5/20, the Zillow page for this property wasn’t updated to show it as available. It appears from the date of the Facebook post, it went back on the market 3/30/20. This is interesting to me because Alex’s went back on the market the week after Lori, Chad, and Alex fled Rexburg, while Lori’s apartment was in limbo for four months following their sudden move out.

4/2/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorney, Mark Means, requests all evidence pertaining to the deaths of Charles Vallow, Joe Ryan (??????), Tammy Daybell, and Alex Cox (source).

4/2/20: Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorney, Mark Means, requests all records pertaining to the following witnesses (source):

Adam Cox
Charles Vallow
Alex Cox
Ethel “Kay” Vallow
Larry Woodcock
Brandon Boudreaux
Melani Pawlowski
Melanie Gibb
Christina Atwood
Jack Daybell (Chad Daybell’s father)
Sheila Daybell (Chad Daybell’s mother)
Jason Gwilliam (Tammy Daybell’s brother-in-law)
Samantha Gwilliam (Tammy Daybell’s sister)
Summer Shiflet (Lori’s sister)
Ruth Mortensen
Detective Hope (RPD)
Matt Daybell (Chad’s brother)
Heather Daybell (Chad’s sister-in-law)

4/4/20: Fox 10 reporter Justin Lum tries to set up a meeting with Lori Vallow Daybell in jail via the Telmate app. She accepts him as a contact but denies his call (source).

Note: Truth be told, I just included this “event” to point out homegirl is looking rough.

4/7/20: Madison Co. Prosecuting Attorney Rob Wood argues Lori Vallow Daybell shouldn’t be permitted a bond reduction because she hasn’t complied with the standing court order to produce her children (source).

4/10/20: Idaho Attorney General’s Office assumes full responsibility and authority in the investigation of Chad and Lori Vallow Daybell’s roles in the death of Chad’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. The pair is being investigated for conspiracy, attempted murder, and murder (source).

4/17/20: Tentative date Lori Vallow Daybell’s fourth hearing to request a reduction in her bond is scheduled for, provided COVID-19’s restrictions are lifted Apr 15, as scheduled (source).

Note: This was postponed a third time to May 1.

4/29/20: Attorney Sean Bartholick tells Fox reporter Justin Lum that he no longer represents Chad Daybell. Daybell is now represented by his wife, Lori Vallow Daybell’s attorney, Mark Means (source).

4/30/20: A motion is filed to move the preliminary hearing from 5/7/20 – 5/8/20 to 7/9/20 – 7/10/20 (source).

5/1/20: Tentative date Lori Vallow Daybell’s fourth hearing to request a reduction in her bond is scheduled for (source).

5/7/20: Larry and Kay Vallow Woodcock appeal to members of the Cox family to have a meeting to try to work together to find Tylee and JJ (source).

5/25/20: JJ Vallow turns eight years old.

6/9/20: The Rexburg Police Department, assisted by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI, executes a search warrant on the property of Chad Daybell and discover two sets of human remains. Chad Daybell is arrested, charged with the destruction or concealment of evidence, and booked into the Fremont County Jail (source).

6/10/20: Chad Daybell appears in court for his initial hearing. Judge Faren Eddins agreed with Prosecutor Rob Wood’s recommendation for a $1 million bond. In arguing for the bond amount, Wood confirms that the remains found on Daybell’s property belong to children and that the “concealment of one of the bodies is particularly egregious” (source).

6/13/20: The remains found on Chad Daybell’s property are positively identified as belonging to Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow by the Ada County Medical Examiner. Rexburg Police Department issues press release (source).

6/29/20: Rexburg Police Department returned to Chad Daybell’s property with a search warrant to conduct a search of the shed and red barn close to where Tylee Ryan’s remains were found (source).

Note: Tylee’s remains were found charred, and she had been dismembered post-mortem. It’s feasible that RPD investigators were searching the barn and shed(s) for evidence that Chad Daybell and/or Alex Cox had used these structures to dismember Tylee and then carry her remains over the fire pit to be burned. Also, remember: Alex Cox has one hour where his whereabouts were not accounted for the murder Tylee was murdered (3:37am to 4:37am). And Alex didn’t return to Lori’s apartment before heading over to Chad’s house, so they could have met up in the early morning hours to work under the cloak of night.

7/1/20: Chad Daybell is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing (source)

7/22/20: The anticipated end of the world in Lori Vallow’s mind (source). Vallow Daybell believed she was a god and allegedly warned her late husband, Charles Vallow, not to get in the way:

As a god, her mission was to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ’s second coming. That second coming was imminent. According to Lori, Jesus was headed to Earth in July 2020. And if Charles got in the way of that mission, Lori would murder him.

8/3/20 – 8/4/20: Preliminary hearing for Chad Daybell. After two days of testimony, Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins announces Chad Daybell’s case will be bound over to District Court (source).

Additions to Timeline

As I add new items/details to the timeline, I’ll document them here. I won’t add minor modifications, like typo corrections, to keep this as clean as possible. I will also remove items from the log after a month (give or take) because this post had become the equivalent of 250+ pages. I’ll group them by the date of the add, which might also be the date of the event.

3/7/21

Under Melanie Gibb section in the “Cast of Characters” section of the timeline:

A source close to Gibb originally said she has retained an attorney is cooperating with authorities. She later told Nate Eaton from East Idaho News that she didn’t need a lawyer because God was on her side.
I have a number of issues with Melanie Gibb’s claims and what I believe to be her role in this tragedy. I addressed them in a YouTube Live. (It’s long.)

10/12/18: Approximate date Charles Vallow reaches out to a friend in the insurance business to ask for help getting the payout from Joseph Ryan’s life insurance policy. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

10/12/18: Approximate date Melanie Gibb met Lori Vallow (source, 1:04:29 minute mark).

10/19/18: Lori Vallow shared in a testimony at a group gathering in Melanie Gibb’s home that she wanted to murder her third husband, Joseph Ryan. She stated that she told her bishop at the time he needed to either give her a temple recommend or she would murder Ryan. She also provided justification for her murderous desire from the Book of Mormon (source, 2:12:26 minute mark).

11/1/18: Approximate date Lori receives life insurance payout, according to a confidential source. The delay and trouble with receiving the payout may be suggestive that Tylee Ryan, who was a minor at the time, was the beneficiary. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

2/5/19: According to a confidential source, Lori Vallow flew into Salt Lake City and flew back out the next day. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

2/15/19: According to a confidential source, Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb flew into Boise, ID, and returned the 17th. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

9/7/19: Less than 48 hours before Tylee Ryan was murdered and her remains incinerated, Lori Vallow and Melanie Gibb publish a podcast titled “What Is a Baptism of Fire?” source).

7/10/19: Adam Cox flies into Phoenix. According to a confidential source, he left 7/14/19. This is not verified in any paperwork or court testimonies to date.

7/18/19: Melanie Gibb sends an email out to her followers with an invitation to meet in Lori Vallow’s home where Charles had just been shot and killed a week earlier to hear her then-boyfriend (now husband) David Warwick speak (source). It was disclosed at Chad Daybell’s hearing in August 2020 that Chad was also there for this event in Chadler, AZ (source, 1:52 minute mark).

9/6/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings at Chad Daybell’s house. He’s there from 12:41 to 12:53 and stays in and around the house. His phone does not ping in the backyard where Tylee and JJ were later buried (source)

9/9/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings for the day (source):

Note: The affidavit of probable cause for Chad Daybell noted that this was the only time in September Alex appears to go to Lori’s apartment between the hours of 12am and 6am.

9/9/19: Chad Daybell sends his then-wife Tammy Daybell a text about shooting a “large raccoon” and “burning limbs” on the property Tylee Ryan’s charred remains would later be found on (source, 00:57 minute mark).

CD (11:53): Well, I’ve had an interesting morning! I felt I should burn all of the limb debris by the fire pit before it got too soaked by the coming storms. While I did so, I spotted a big racoon (sic) along the fence. I hurried and got my gun, and he was still walking along. I got close enough that one shot did the trick. He is now in our pet cemetery. Fun times!

CD (11:56): Gonna shower now and then go write for a while at BYU. Love you!

TD (2:47): Good for you!

CD (2:48): I’m back home now

9/17/19: Melanie Gibb publishes a book titled Feel the Fire (source).

Product details:
Publisher: Gibb Publishing (September 17, 2019)
Language: English
Paperback: 100 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0578492629

9/20/19 – 9/23/19: David Warwick joins Melanie Gibb in Rexburg and also stays in Lori Vallow’s home (source, 2:22 minute mark). He claims that Lori told him Alex Cox came and took JJ away because he was acting like a zombie and climbing on top of the kitchen cabinets.

Note: Warwick testified that he didn’t believe Lori’s story but left with Melanie Gibb afterwards and didn’t call in a welfare check.

9/21/19: Preparing a People host an event called “Book of Mormon Evidence and a Universal Model of Science” in Rexburg, ID (source).

Notable: It’s not clear who from this group of followers attended this event or who stayed with JJ Vallow. All we know is it wasn’t the nanny had hired a couple days before.

9/22/19: A picture was taken of JJ Vallow sitting on a couch. It was found by law enforcement in Lori Vallow’s iCloud account (source).

9/23/19: Alex Cox’s phone pinged at Chad Daybell’s property at 9:55am near the pond, where JJ Vallow’s remains were discovered nine months later. He was there until 10:12am.

9/25/19: Alex Cox’s phone pings at Chad Daybell’s house. He’s only there for 17 minutes and stays in and around the house. His phone does not ping in the backyard where Tylee and JJ were buried (source).

10/14/19: Kay Woodcock sends a final email to Lori begging to see JJ. Her email went unanswered (source, 1:25 minute mark).

10/20/19: Approximate Brandon Boudreaux calls Kay Woodcock to let her know Tammy Daybell died. Kay remarked in despair that they were “killing everybody” along the way. Kay expressed suspicion that Tammy was poisoned because she said that Lori had spoken of poisoning people over the years (source).

6/29/20: Rexburg Police Department returned to Chad Daybell’s property with a search warrant to conduct a search of the shed and red barn close to where Tylee Ryan’s remains were found (source).

Note: Tylee’s remains were found charred, and she had been dismembered post-mortem. It’s feasible that RPD investigators were searching the barn and shed(s) for evidence that Chad Daybell and/or Alex Cox had used these structures to dismember Tylee and then carry her remains over the fire pit to be burned.Also, remember: Alex Cox has one hour where his whereabouts were not accounted for the murder Tylee was murdered (3:37am to 4:37am). And Alex didn’t return to Lori’s apartment before heading over to Chad’s house, so they could have met up in the early morning hours to work under the cloak of night.

8/3/20 – 8/4/20: Preliminary hearing for Chad Daybell. After two days of testimony, Magistrate Judge Faren Eddins announces Chad Daybell’s case will be bound over to District Court (source).

What About Data?

Great question! I took 2018 and 2019 off to write my Making Data Sexy books and planned to hit 2020 hard with new content for the blog. And then tragedy struck and followed me into 2020. As you can see from the timeline, the pace of the investigation has been dizzying because of the sheer number of deaths, sudden divorces, shotgun weddings, attempted murders, and disappearances. Hopefully Tylee and JJ will be found super soon (???) and I can get some semblance of normalcy back again. Or, at minimum, this timeline will slow down. I’ve been watching real crime TV for enough years to know that sometimes the wheels of justice move very slowly.

Whichever the case may be, I have a list of topics and guides I plan to start hitting as soon as I can come up for air.** Thank you for your patience and understanding.

**Update: I flew out of the gate with a monster guide to regular expressions for marketers, analysts, and anyone else who’s not a code monkey already rocking them.

Comments

Bonnie Potts says

February 9, 2020 at 6:55 PM

I believe it’s Ian Pawlowski not Pawlows
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 9, 2020 at 8:40 PM
  
  Thanks! I think I must have fat fingered it and deleted the “ki” because it’s spelled correctly in my source file. But then I copied and pasted myself into a nice little hole.
  - Shirley Fillion says
    
    February 22, 2020 at 1:34 PM
    
    Hopefully Lori & Chad aren’t aware all phone calls from jail are recorded. And, when she calls Chad LE may find out a lot more.
Melanie Vallow says

February 9, 2020 at 8:09 PM

Awesome
- Tiffany says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 3:46 AM
  
  Is there anything you would like to say in all of this? Do you have an opinion on where or what could of happen to the children? Do you share the same beliefs as Lori and Chad?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 16, 2020 at 1:22 PM
  
  Because there have been multiple castigating and hateful responses to this comment, let me clarify: Melanie is part of Charles Vallow’s family, not Lori’s. Melani Boudreaux is Lori’s niece and a player in this story.
  - G Ennis says
    
    February 19, 2020 at 5:20 PM
    
    Nothing has been mentioned about Tammy and Chad Daybell’s 5 children. In any news or social media. Are they accounted for?
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 21, 2020 at 9:03 AM
      
      They’re all accounted for. They’re all adults and some have families of their own.
      
      I’m sure they’re as confused as all of us. My one issue is they refused to cooperate with LE in helping to find the children. And there’s video of one of their daughters sticking her tongue out at reporters.
  - Pickles says
    
    February 27, 2020 at 10:11 AM
    
    I only know of Melani Boudreaux (now Pawlowski), and podcaster Melanie Gibb. Who is the Melanie that is related to Charles Vallow?
Carma Skidmore says

February 9, 2020 at 9:07 PM

Very good! Thank you for posting!
Doc Sheldon says

February 9, 2020 at 9:15 PM

I can only imagine how this must be affecting you, Annie. I hope there’s some progress soon.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 9:17 AM
  
  Thanks, Doc. My suspicion is there’s progress we don’t know about. Three police departments are coordinating with the FBI. I suspect they want to make sure they have an airtight case against Lori and her cronies to put them away the maximum amount of time the law will allow. Homicide cases have been won without bodies, but it’s harder building a case on circumstantial evidence.
  - Shelley Sellars-Smith says
    
    February 10, 2020 at 4:48 PM
    
    So no hope that the kids are still alive? Maybe left with someone else in the cult/in a bunker? This has been what I am praying for. This story has me sick to my stomach. I cannot imagine what your family is going through. I am praying for a miracle and that the kids are still alive. Ixoxo
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 10, 2020 at 10:35 PM
      
      The chances of them being alive are remote. I think the use of the word “cult” is misleading in this case. These guys are wifi warriors, not people who would risk federal prison so their fearless leader can go take 700 pics of their wedding.
  - terrence lafferty says
    
    May 7, 2020 at 11:31 AM
    
    On the other hand , if you are watching a house burn down amidst the screams of children within, you don’t simply stand by waiting for the fire department to deliver enough water to put out the fire! You need to take whatever risks and actions are necessary to save the children.
Tatiana Daignault says

February 9, 2020 at 9:27 PM

Dear Annie,
I will start by saying that I’m very sorry for all that you and your family has been going though and that I’m also hoping these kids can be found soon and justice can be served.
Your writing is spotless and this timeline report is the most complete I’ve seen about this case. It definitely help us to understand the motivations that kept driving Chad and Lori’s group though periods time.
Keep sharing your gifts through writing with us!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 9:12 AM
  
  Thank you for the kind words. I hope this timeline–and the documentation that underpins it–helps people in some small way.
- Crystal says
  
  February 14, 2020 at 10:04 PM
  
  I’m truly sorry, that your family, the Vallow family, and the other families have gone through so much pain. I’m diligently praying, for the safe return of the children. I honestly can’t comprehend, how these people are walking around free. I pray that God reveals are the answers.
  - Annie Cushing says
    
    February 15, 2020 at 5:26 AM
    
    Thank you.
    - Bri says
      
      February 15, 2020 at 2:16 PM
      
      This is truly a heartbreaking tragedy that has caused soo much unexplainable pain to all of the families, the LDS community, friends, officers, businesses, states, and the world. I have no words to express my empathy for you all that are in close relation to this story. My hope is that no more deaths occur, and that the truth prevails and the appropriate people are held accountable. My prayers go out to the family and friends and loved ones involved in this mess.
- Alisha says
  
  February 24, 2020 at 2:20 PM
  
  I agree! Phenomenal job! So sorry about what your family is going through. I hope you have the support system that everyone deserves at times like these. Stay strong!!
BW says

February 9, 2020 at 10:25 PM

Julie Rowe changed her visionary tune in a later podcast https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0btMj9DIgnA. She did seem to know Chad was in Hawaii even though it hadn’t been released to news yet. Interesting interview. I am so sorry your family is going through all this.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 9:14 AM
  
  I’ve tried watching this video several times. It’s so disturbing. The fact that she starts off with a brag about all the media requests for interviews is telling as to her motives.
Marilyn says

February 10, 2020 at 12:44 AM

Thanks for all the work you are doing. I am related to Kay and Larry woodcock. Did Lolo take the money that Joseph left Tyler, 75,000 or 85,000
Marilyn says

February 10, 2020 at 12:45 AM

Did Lolo take the money that Joseph left Tyler, 75,000 or 85,000
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 9:04 AM
  
  I’m not aware of this stash of money. If you have information, please reach out to the FBI or Rexburg Police Department.
- Julie says
  
  February 14, 2020 at 2:40 AM
  
  It is all so heartbreaking. If the comment is true, that Tylee’s Dad left a large sum of money to her, therein could lie a motive. The date of removing JJ from school is the day before Tylee’s birthday (an awful coincidence). Sociopaths show no remorse and that’s very clear in this tragic situation. I’m sorry for all the innocent family members who are suffering with this wondering and worry. Praying truth will shine brightly, bringing healing and justice, Ms. Cushing.
  - Annie Cushing says
    
    February 14, 2020 at 8:01 AM
    
    I am also not inclined to believe that the timing of the kids’ disappearance wasn’t coincidental. I have absolutely no question that my brother had a life insurance policy. And he wouldn’t have named Lori as the beneficiary. I imagine he would have put it in a trust fund for Tylee. I’ve wondered if perhaps he made it so she would be eligible for it when she turned 17 instead of 18 because she would have been 17 when she started college. I just don’t know.
    - Pickles says
      
      February 27, 2020 at 10:08 AM
      
      This is something that I’ve wondered too. Interestly enough, someone posted something about Tylee receiving $75,000 that she would automatically receive in her account. IF this is true, I would bet that most of that money is gone, and that is another possible reason for Lori to use Tylee’s bank card and send money to Colby through Venmo (which would be connected to Tylee’s bank account, as you need to attach an account when you sign up for Venmo).
Tiffany says

February 10, 2020 at 3:08 AM

I am so sorry you are having to go through this craziness and the loss of your brother. I have been following it and I pray the children are found safe and soon! It is extremely calming to know that Tylee does have some sane people in her family!!! I hope this is figured out soon!!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 9:03 AM
  
  Thank you. I do too!
Britt says

February 10, 2020 at 9:09 AM

Can you add another person to your timeline. Her name is Ruth or Ruby, starts with an R. She is another author of the books that have bren written. She is the one that allrgedly claim angels told her that chad daybells wife would die before she did.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 10:37 PM
  
  I will add her if law enforcement connects her to the case. Right now her only crime we know of is being insufferably weird and creepy af.
  - Brett says
    
    February 23, 2020 at 9:03 AM
    
    There is a whole lotta creepy af people involved, with Lori being at the very top!
Justin Steele says

February 10, 2020 at 10:21 AM

I’ve been following this case for a while. It’s very sad and very frustrating. I am hoping for the best and very much hoping justice is served properly. Thanks for putting this together and sharing.
Natalie S says

February 10, 2020 at 10:27 AM

What a complete and well researched timeline! You are a good aunt and she is lucky to have you on her team and caring for her. I’m confused by one part, pardon my ignorance, but who is Brad? He’s mentioned in the entry:

“10/4/19: Tammy Daybell visits parents in Springville, UT, allegedly at Brad’s urging. Chad Daybell claims divine urging from ancestors.”

But I don’t see a Brad mentioned in the cast of characters anywhere else and I’m trying to figure out who he is and how he fits into the events.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 2:09 PM
  
  Thank you for the kind words—and the heads-up re: Brad. I corrected it to Chad.
K Jackson says

February 10, 2020 at 10:36 AM

I’m so sorry that your family is going through this. If you don’t mind, could you clear up something that is super confusing for me? How is Kay Woodcock Charles Vallow’s sister but JJ’s grandmother? Isn’t she simply his Aunt biologically? I feel like I must be missing something.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 2:13 PM
  
  Kay Woodcock’s son is JJ’s biological father but couldn’t care for him when he was born. Charles and Lori adopted him. It speaks to his character that he would have adopted his nephew’s special needs son. I saw him with JJ. He adored him–not that it was hard to adore that little guy. He was running through the house once and randomly came in hot for a quick hug. My heart grew three sizes that day.
  - Cynthia S says
    
    February 15, 2020 at 2:56 PM
    
    Thanks for the timeline,I feel more informed. So sorry for these tragic circumstances. I pray for much needed closure. I was also confused about Charles being the adopted father of JJ but Charles was the brother of Kay. You have cleared up my confusion. Prayers for all families involved.
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 15, 2020 at 4:16 PM
      
      I’m glad it helps. I created it primarily for journalists, but if it helps even concerned citizens understand the story, even better.
    - Max says
      
      February 22, 2020 at 3:05 AM
      
      So Kay is not a grand parent but rather an “auntie” to JJ
      - Annie Cushing says
        
        February 22, 2020 at 9:13 PM
        
        Technically she’s both.
Linda P says

February 10, 2020 at 12:44 PM

I have been following this case for a long time, thank you for this very informative blog. Please help me to understand some nagging questions. In news articles, Kay Woodstock is referred to as the grandmother of JJ, but her brother Charles is JJ’s adopted father. Doesn’t that make Kay his aunt? Who are JJ’s biological parents? Is a child of Kay’s his mother, making her the grandmother?
If JJ is part of the Vallow family biologically (not Lori’s child), and Tylee is a Ryan, why do they look so much alike? This couldn’t be a coincidence. They must be related biologically somehow. Is Lori biologically related to JJ? HELP!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 2:15 PM
  
  I just answered this question. ⬆ JJ and Tylee aren’t biologically connected at all.
- Robert S says
  
  March 6, 2020 at 1:38 PM
  
  A point made by well-known genealogists is there are plenty of people who look alike who are not closely related. There’s a Canadian photographer who goes looking for fake twins. He’s photographed a lot of them. There are so many facial features and with so many people on the planet, you will see a lot of duplication by people you think are related, but aren’t. A friend was complimented on how well his son looked like him. He didn’t have a son, but a step-son and his wife and her ancestors lived in a different part of the country than him and his ancestors.
Frez says

February 10, 2020 at 1:57 PM

I hope they’re alive! Seriously hoping that they are somewhere safe or anything but just really hoping they’re alive!!!! so unfair!!
Hannah says

February 10, 2020 at 6:51 PM

Thank you for all the info! A few questions if you don’t mind. Is Tylee Lori’s biological daughter? The interview Colby gave stated he was Lori’s only biological child, however I saw a photo of Lori supposedly pregnant with Tylee. Also, who is Colbys father? Was Lori married before Joseph Ryan?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 10, 2020 at 10:15 PM
  
  Yes, she’s her biological daughter with my brother, Joseph Ryan. Lori was married two times before Joseph. I try to be careful not to share names of family members who aren’t directly connected to this case to protect their privacy amap.
  - Hannah says
    
    February 12, 2020 at 3:49 PM
    
    Thanks! I completely understand. I know this is somewhat irrelevant but did your brother adopt Colby? Because Tylee and Colby obviously have the same last name.
Diane says

February 10, 2020 at 11:01 PM

Thank you, for a very well done timeline.
Are you able to furnish any names of Lori’s immediate family members?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 11, 2020 at 8:32 AM
  
  I don’t want to do that to family members who aren’t directly involved.
Erin says

February 11, 2020 at 1:31 AM

Is it true that Lori’s husband that was shot had a life insurance policy of 1 million dollars? Did she cash in in that? Is this true? Thank you for this timeline!!’
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 11, 2020 at 8:33 AM
  
  It is true. Allegedly she didn’t know he had taken her off of it.
  - Noreen Nellis says
    
    February 12, 2020 at 1:28 PM
    
    whops on her part! I hope they’re found safe, but not confident they will be .What an incredible jumble of facts that you have made very simple to grasp.
Jessica Hartline says

February 11, 2020 at 4:59 AM

So the kids died on September 23, 2019.
- Regina Holcomb says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 6:04 AM
  
  No mam, No one can find the children ,EVERYONE IS LOOKING FOR THEM. this is why she has written the time line. If anyone reads this and may have seen them in a new town or remembers something after reading it , it could help find the children . Excellent job I felt like I was reading some of my old case files. We are praying for Gods Devine Intervention and you will find them Alive . Will continue to follow and share to spread this and hope for new information.
  God Bless You All, Regina Holcomb
Bryce Bowling says

February 11, 2020 at 10:47 AM

So, If I follow correctly, Lori Vallow’s 3rd and 4th husbands are now dead, her brother is dead, her new husband’s former wife is dead, her niece’s husband was shot at by her brother who is now dead and her kids haven’t been seen or heard from since September (and are likely dead). How is this woman still walking the streets?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 11, 2020 at 3:40 PM
  
  And her new husband’s former wife was shot at 10 days before she died. She’s beautiful and charming, and Tylee was so isolated that no one noticed she was missing for two months. That’s one of the things that is most devastating to me. My brother, Tylee’s father, also slipped away unnoticed.
  - Heather says
    
    February 12, 2020 at 8:20 PM
    
    I am also wondering if Alex (and Lori probably) killed their sister, it said Alex was the only one there when she died of diabetic shock, Iis diabetic shock from too high of blood sugar or too low? I am wondering if she was given insulin when she didn’t need it could that cause her to go into diabetic shock and die and seem like it was nothing suspicious? Do you think they had something to do with that? It seems like they just kill off anyone that angers them or tries to get in their way or inconveniences them. There are seriously so many bodies tied to them, and crazy behavior and they are all acting so disturbing. I have been worrying myself sick and trying to find accurate details and as much information as I could find and keep an eye and ear out to help in anyway I can, I am in northern Utah so I am not too far from where some of this is going on. Our prayers are with you all and I will continue doing all I can until the case is closed.
    - Deanne Rapp says
      
      February 16, 2020 at 11:09 PM
      
      Wait who is the sister? When did she die?
    - Wilimina says
      
      February 18, 2020 at 3:18 PM
      
      Heather I have never heard anything about Alex and Lori having a sister that died. I could not even find an obituary for Alex. Odd that we also have never heard anything about their parents. I would think if they are alive, the police would have talked to their parents. Nothing has been mentioned about their parents or if they have any brothers or sisters. At least not in anything, I have read about this case. If you know something about a sister who died, maybe contact the police and tell them what you know. Maybe they got her life insurance. The police could check it out.
      - Dot says
        
        February 21, 2020 at 3:25 PM
        
        They had a sister who died years ago in Texas.
  - Dot says
    
    February 21, 2020 at 3:20 PM
    
    I know theories are not facts, but I find it too coincidental that that your brother’s death was not hastened into a heart attack. This woman has to be a sociopath and she is driven by greed, lust, and attention. She has devised all of these events to fulfill those desires.
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 21, 2020 at 4:38 PM
      
      At this point she gets no benefit of the doubt from me.
      - Rachel says
        
        February 26, 2020 at 10:58 AM
        
        Excuse me for asking but are police not now suspicious of your brother’s apparent heart attack or cardiovascular related death in 2018? Would they not also consider exhuming the body for further tests based upon all of this information that has come to light?
      - Annie Cushing says
        
        February 26, 2020 at 10:57 PM
        
        I don’t know if they are or not, but he was cremated. Since Gilbert Police Department couldn’t (or wouldn’t) track Alex down after being identified by police Oct 2nd, I put little confidence into them taking a second look at Joe’s death.
Carol L says

February 11, 2020 at 12:05 PM

Have you reached out to any true crime podcasters or have any of them contacted you? I think they could help. David Cawley of ‘Cold’ and Jason Moon of ‘Bear Brook’ come to mind, as well as Dennis Cooper of ‘Culpable’ and Neil Strauss of ‘To Live and Die in LA’. I’d be happy to reach out to all of them for you and point them to this website. I’ve been loosely following this story from Northern Utah and my heart breaks for all of you. I cannot understand how a parent cannot be arrested for this! Is there anything you need that would be helpful? Searching of any areas in particular? I have participated in search/recovery efforts on horseback and could point you to an organization that could organize such. Also, one last thought (I apologize if you already addressed it – I obviously missed it) – if Tylee had a Google account and you can get access to it (possibly through a court order?), you may be able to glean some location data from it. (((HUGS))) to you and your family.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 11, 2020 at 3:38 PM
  
  Thanks for the tips. Pretty overwhelmed with media requests right now. It’s good because I want to get Tylee’s story out there more but also tough because I still have a life to try to manage.
  - Regina Holcomb says
    
    February 13, 2020 at 6:16 AM
    
    Along with what she just shared to you, my friends daughter was kidnaped and Crime Watch Daily Ran it . I would also be willing to do a search or help and I have a friend here in Tx , that also like Carol, works with searches for missing children. So if there is any place we could do a search let us know……ANYTHING you need we are here !
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 13, 2020 at 9:54 AM
      
      Thank you! LE has never conducted a search party for the kids. I’m sure they have their reasons. As a family member, that’s been tough.
      - just a person says
        
        February 22, 2020 at 4:28 PM
        
        am so incredibly gobsmacked and appalled and very very sad & sorry about all of this! thank you for doing such an in-depth time line, i am certain its a huge help to investigators as well as dispelling myth and mixed truths among those of us in the general public who are following.
        
        ive one question that maybe was answered but i cant seem to find– were either JJ or Tylee definitively seen at any point AFTER the day spent at Yellowstone? because if not, one must wonder if they never returned from the park.
        
        im sure the possibility must be getting followed up on but wanted to mention just in case it was somehow overlooked among all the rest of the chaos.
      - Annie Cushing says
        
        February 22, 2020 at 9:07 PM
        
        Thank you. I hope it helps.
        
        JJ was in school up until Sep 23rd. Thus far no one has come forward to say they saw Tylee after Sep 8.
Katie says

February 11, 2020 at 12:29 PM

Found this linked on reddit. I am so sorry about your brother and niece. I hope Tylee and JJ are found alive. I had no idea there wasn’t a funeral for your brother and his family wasn’t notified of his death. That is chilling and adds to the suspicion pile in this case. Was he cremated or can an autopsy still be performed?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 11, 2020 at 3:35 PM
  
  Unfortunately, he was cremated.
  - Noreen Nellis says
    
    February 12, 2020 at 1:31 PM
    
    Who gave permission for the cremation?
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 12, 2020 at 2:19 PM
      
      Lori allegedly authorized Charles’ cremation without input from his family.
      - KATHLEEN HERMAN says
        
        February 15, 2020 at 3:06 PM
        
        I’m so sorry to hear that they weren’t allowed to perform an autopsy on your brother. And I’m so sorry for the heartbreak you and your family have and continue to endure. It’s such a tragedy that they won’t be able to charge Lori for your brother’s death. From the first I heard of this it seemed awfully suspicious that a young man in good health and no prior medical conditions dies of a heart attack. Praying for the children, your family, and that justice is served.
      - Annie Cushing says
        
        February 15, 2020 at 4:26 PM
        
        They performed an autopsy, but it was a preliminary autopsy from what others familiar with autopsies have said, based on the length. There were also key details that were wrong, such as his height and body type. But his body was already partially decomposed. So who knows? We’ll never know.
      - Deanne Rapp says
        
        February 16, 2020 at 11:11 PM
        
        Did lori get life insurance from your brothers death?
      - Deanne Rapp says
        
        February 16, 2020 at 11:25 PM
        
        Did Lori pay for the cremation.
      - Annie Cushing says
        
        February 16, 2020 at 11:51 PM
        
        I don’t know, but I’m sure LE is investigating any claims against his life insurance. I have my suspicions, but they are just that for now.
Melyssa says

February 11, 2020 at 2:24 PM

I cann ot believe these people are able to walk free. I really hope the police and FBI are coming close to arresting their asses! I am sorry for you and your family. I hope justice is served soon.
Merriann says

February 11, 2020 at 4:11 PM

It says Alex cox shot at Brandon on October 2 in Arizona. But there’s video of Alex at the storage unit in Idaho on October 2. Just wondering how he could be in two places at once.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 11, 2020 at 8:46 PM
  
  Yeah, it appears someone has probably been misidentified. I’m sure LE are digging into this. To drive from Rexburg to Gilbert, the driver would have had to pass through some checkpoints with surveillance cameras.
  - Deanne Rapp says
    
    February 16, 2020 at 11:13 PM
    
    Aligiant air flies from several of the bigger cities cheap. I made that trip about 25 times. From Billings, Montana through Rexburg to Maricopa, Arizona. An Allegiant flight only takes about An hour and a half from Billings, Montana..
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 16, 2020 at 11:47 PM
      
      I’m sure LE is chasing down flight records. But, if you’re referring to the Brandon shooting, Alex was reportedly driving Tylee’s Jeep.
      - Brett says
        
        February 23, 2020 at 9:13 AM
        
        Does anyone know what Melanie’s (Lori’s niece) new husband looks like? Is there any chance that he may have been involved in either the visits to storage or in the jeep?
      - Annie Cushing says
        
        February 25, 2020 at 3:55 PM
        
        https://www.facebook.com/ian.pawlowski
Michelle Mowery says

February 12, 2020 at 8:43 AM

First of all I would like to say: I am so sorry for your loss. Praying for your family to get answers and justice thru this difficult time.
Thank you for your all that you are doing by sharing all the facts on your website. You are very strong and kind to share all that is happened and happening. It takes a special person to share to the world the truth in first person events.
I have been following the story on the internet news.

God bless you and your family,
Michelle Mowery
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 12, 2020 at 2:20 PM
  
  Thank you for the kind words, Michelle. Digging and researching has emerged as my primary coping mechanism.
  - Regina Holcomb says
    
    February 13, 2020 at 6:25 AM
    
    I just thought about this, maybe with them finding Tylee ‘s phone with her mom they could possibly find some more names to question about Tylees mindset prior to them missing. Praying this phone sheds new positive light for your family ❤️
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 13, 2020 at 8:38 AM
      
      I wondered the same thing.
Chelsea Curtis says

February 12, 2020 at 2:57 PM

Hi Annie — I’m so sorry for what you and your family are going through, I imagine it’s been a difficult road but I’m hopeful Tylee and JJ will be found safe. I found your timeline to be very helpful and was hoping to chat with you in further detail about it. I’ve sent you an email and would appreciate a response at your earliest convenience. My thoughts are with you and your loved ones during this trying time.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 10:08 AM
  
  I’ll take a look. Thank you.
Randy J says

February 12, 2020 at 6:11 PM

Condolences Annie on your loss and situation. This is truly heart rending stuff, even to a complete stranger like me. It is stranger than fiction. I assume LE hasn’t shown it’s entire hand; that they know a lot they’re not saying. I hope they are able to bring this to a speedy conclusion and find cause to take the couple into custody. I’m no detective but the story seems pretty clear to me. Thank you for this timeline. It is the most succinct and complete I’ve seen.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 10:11 AM
  
  Thanks, Randy. I hope this nightmare ends soon, and we can all get some closure.
Joyce Kellinger says

February 12, 2020 at 8:07 PM

Hello Annie, My name is Joyce and I dated your brother Joe many years ago (when he lived in Westville, NJ.) I noticed that you indicate that an autopsy was done on Joe. My understanding (from Austine) was the ME ruled an undiagnosed heart condition and that since heart conditions/disease run in the Ryan family, it was sort of accepted. Can you clarify if there was actually an autopsy or not? I have always felt that Joe’s death was suspicious. My prayers are with Tylee and JJ and will continue until this horrific situation is finally over.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 10:10 AM
  
  There was an autopsy performed, but he was cremated. I too have reason to believe now that he may have been Lori’s first victim. It’s also conceivable though that he died of heart disease. I’ve lost a parent and two other siblings to it.
  - Lara says
    
    March 3, 2020 at 3:58 PM
    
    Are there any other details or suspicions surrounding Joe’s death.
    I’ve read things like, “Lori was listed as his only next if kin”. And that she had him cremated.
    Are these true facts? Was she in fact, listed as his only next of kin with the medical examiner?
    Who authorized his cremation?
    
    And I pray for your family. I hope answers are soon to come
    God Bless.
  - Frodo says
    
    March 12, 2020 at 8:34 PM
    
    I am so sorry for the loss of your brother and the stress of your missing niece and nephew. I read a little bit about your brother and it seemed he was a very loving and concerned father based on how hard he fought to try to get custody of Tylee. I do think that he was not Lori’s first victim but her sister was. People have been posting that Alex was alone with the sister who died but I remember reading both of them were in the room with the sister. How was Lori notified of your brother’s passing ? It seems she was quick to apply for social security benefits for Tylee. I hope that is another charge for her – spending Tylee’s benefits after she went missing. Do you have any idea why Tylee or Lori would send money to her grown son ? That seems odd to me that a teenager would send money to her grown brother. I read your brother was cremated but doesn’t the ME save a blood sample and some tissue ? I am just hoping that everything comes to light and Lori gets the sentence she deserves,
W says

February 12, 2020 at 10:13 PM

Random, but in the last week, I saw a women comment on one of either the Idaho or Utah news’ Facebook pages that her mom had told her the night before that she had sat next to a man on a flight to Phoenix named Chad Daybell on Sept. 19. He told her he was an author and had a son on a mission. Of course, this was a comment on a news article on Facebook, so it could be a complete lie. I just thought it was an interesting comment. I’m sure the FBI is well aware of all of his flights over the last few years.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 9:57 AM
  
  If you remember where that comment is, could you please urge her to send in the tip to the FBI? https://tips.fbi.gov/
  - W says
    
    February 15, 2020 at 3:15 AM
    
    I’m sorry, I tried to find the comment again and I can’t. I’m almost positive it was an eastern idaho news Facebook page, but I don’t know which one. I also follow ksl in Utah, but couldn’t find it there either. Sorry. I know other people were replying to her comment and she was responding,. Hopefully, she or her mom reported it.. I’m sorry that I’m not more help. I hope you and your family find relief from this nightmare quickly.
    - C Taylor says
      
      February 20, 2020 at 11:31 PM
      
      They could look it up. I would mention what you read. I wonder why and if he did travel to Arizona during that time period.
David Blackman says

February 13, 2020 at 10:23 AM

The fact that Charles’s lawyers suspected Lori as a threat to his life and that Alex would be the likely instrument of death is mind-blowing. It probably has to do with the fact that Alex previously served time for his assault on your brother. Can someone explain how anyone with an assault conviction is allowed to legally possess a firearm and then “legally” kill someone in an altercation?!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 11:29 AM
  
  Agreed! The criminal justice system failed these victims at really critical junctures. The power of a femme fatale.
Barbara Call says

February 13, 2020 at 11:00 AM

Annie, something that stuck out in my mind was that once the EMT’s arrived on the day Charles was murdered, Alex never once requested anyone look at his head, the police officer never asks if he needs to be checked out by the EMT’s. I’ve been around many semi-pro baseball players in my lifetime and they ALL knew how to use that bat, I have NO doubt that had it actually been Charles that hit Alex in the head, Alex’ would have required some kind of medical attention the minute that squad pulled up! Prayers for you and all of the family, I sincerely hope you find the kids soon!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 11:27 AM
  
  Absolutely agree. I personally don’t believe a bat was ever introduced to the melee. I think Charles walked into an ambush. The reason I believe this is, when I stayed with Lori and Charles in 2018, one thing I noted was that she hardly wore any makeup when we were just hanging out. When we’d take JJ to school, she would throw on a baseball hat or just have her hair in a pony. We joked about it because I’m much more the tomboy of the two but rarely go without makeup. And on July 11th she wasn’t even taking JJ to school; Charles was. And yet here you see her in the bodycam video with fresh highlights, beach waves, and makeup: https://www.screencast.com/t/EngkL2Qxjs. And just look at that ease and charm. It’s chilling when you consider her husband—-a man who was incredibly generous to her and treated her children as his own——is lying on the floor dead just yards away.
  - Liz L says
    
    February 18, 2020 at 8:39 PM
    
    Even if he was slightly struck, if he defended himself against the bat, he’d be holding his arm/hand or maybe his back area if he turned to deflect the “attack.” And I think if he even had a slight “bop” from a swing if at bat, I would think he would’ve bled more that what was shown in the police cam. Looked like he was barely bleeding. The head bleeds pretty profusely when injured. But I’m no medical expert. Such an overall tragedy. I cannot understand how Lori and Chad have not been arrested. The kids are missing. Isn’t there an amber alert system designed to protect kids ? I cannot figure out why there has been no arrest. I hope I hear otherwise soon.
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 19, 2020 at 10:00 AM
      
      The bat story was bad fiction. Charles played baseball in college. If he had hit Alex with a bat, he would have needed something a bit more than a tissue to blot his boo boo. I believe it was a cover story.
      - Brett says
        
        February 23, 2020 at 10:16 AM
        
        Finding of the children is obviously the highest priority, followed by putting Lori away for life. But I do hope that there is a further investigation into the documents, reports and findings from all of the LE involved in the “purse event” and the “self defense” murder of Charles. Annie, as you mentioned, and in my opinion, the information from LE contained in these reports, definitely impacted the handling and findings of Charles’ death. There were 2 more deaths and a couple of shootings that followed the death of Charles. And let’s not forget a Pool Party.
Marie says

February 13, 2020 at 3:38 PM

Hi, I’m not even sure how I ended up here, I’ve been reading about this for hours, I’m not even sure why I’m commenting, this is a very odd situation, including the official reaction but I’m sure they are working in this. I suppose like anyone who is touched by this I want to say I hope those kids are as well as can be and that I wish you and your family all the luck in making it through this ordeal. Best wishes to you all.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 4:42 PM
  
  I’m not sure how any of us ended up here, tbh. But thank you.
Natalie says

February 13, 2020 at 5:12 PM

Annie,
I can’t imagine investigating and reporting on something so close to home. This is very well written and I will bookmark it to keep up with what’s going on. I found this site from your daughters social media. You are a truly gifted reporter, I hate that you have to show us how talented you are in this way. Justice will be served with your help. Thank you..
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 14, 2020 at 7:49 AM
  
  Thank you, Natalie. I thought my reporter days were pretty far in my rearview mirror.
  - Rainy says
    
    February 22, 2020 at 12:05 PM
    
    This timeline leaves more questions than answers but one thing stood out… the last time the daughter was seen alive was in a photo at the National Forest…? So has anyone searched there for her? I’m genuinely sorry for all that your family is going through. Clearly these people have gone off the deep end. But sadly I have to say that I believe the kids have been murdered. I hope you are able to finally get a resolution to all of this and find peace. Praying for all of you.
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 22, 2020 at 9:13 PM
      
      I never held out hope they were alive. When parents don’t report their children missing it’s extremely rare for them to show up alive.
      
      I’m sure investigators have scoured the area. And they can use facial recognition software to teach AI to spot a face in surveillance footage. I would hope they’ve run it against the surveillance footage for the park that day, as well as doorbell cameras in the area.
      - nyx says
        
        March 3, 2020 at 8:32 PM
        
        Authorities wait for the snow to melt before they search yellowstone park.
Alexa says

February 13, 2020 at 5:36 PM

Hi Annie,

Thanks for writing this up— I am following closely from NC, hoping for justice…

Do you know if police/FBI/etc ever accessed the storage unit to see what was inside? I know it’s complicated to get a search warrant, but it seems like it would be worth looking into for any hints.

Thank you again,
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 7:12 PM
  
  Yeah. According to East Idaho News, “Detectives photographed everything, and in January, when Daybell’s credit card was declined several times, Self Storage Plus notified the police. Workers say officers have not returned since the end of November.” https://www.eastidahonews.com/2020/02/lori-daybell-abandoned-a-storage-unit-in-rexburg-full-of-childrens-items/
  - Ali B says
    
    February 18, 2020 at 9:21 AM
    
    Hi Annie,
    
    First., my condolences for everything you and your family are going through.
    
    My question is related to the storage unit and all the cars caught on camera (Alex, Lori, Chad) going to/from the storage unit. Specifically, do you know if LE ever used cadaver dogs inside the unit or the cars? I would think that if they did and IF they got positive results, that would be enough probable cause to issue a warrant to hold both a Lori and Chad for questioning.
    
    This case is very baffling and I’m not sure I understand LE’s approach….
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 18, 2020 at 9:44 AM
      
      I’m sure they brought in cadaver dogs. LE is playing their cards very close to the vest, which seems prudent. I think they’re also weighing the need to pull together as many incriminating details as possible against the threat of flight risk.
      - Ali B says
        
        February 21, 2020 at 1:25 PM
        
        Thanks for the response. I have a strong hunch that the $5M Bail after she was arrested yesterday, may be due to strong circumstantial evidence- such as a positive from cadaver dogs in storage unit. Also, possibly tox results may have come back for Alex and not Tammy yet-which could explain why Lori was arrested and not Chad. I think they died within days of each other. I fully expect Chad to be arrested as well in next few days.
        
        Stay strong! Karma always wins in the end,
Sharon Holland says

February 13, 2020 at 6:38 PM

I wondered how these two haven’t gotten arrested yet. A detective on TV yesterday said the police are watching them in the hopes they lead them to the children. These people sound like serial killers. Thank you so much to Annie Cushing for posting this.. It’s very clear and understandable. I am sorry for the loss of your brother and I hope and pray these innocent children are found
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 7:09 PM
  
  Thank you. Was this detective working on the case? Because they’re not going to be able to lead LE to the kids from Hawaii.
Mrs, Navarro says

February 13, 2020 at 7:12 PM

Lori and the kids are strangely familiar to me. Though I live in San Tan Valley AZ., two towns over from chandler. Im not even sure why they look so familiar. Did they go door to door in other cities/ counties for their LSD practices? I almost want to say it could have been someone that came to my door. But can’t put my finger on it.
- Mrs, Navarro says
  
  February 13, 2020 at 7:12 PM
  
  Lds, not lsd
  - cat says
    
    February 22, 2020 at 6:22 PM
    
    LDS never goes door to door so i think its unlikely…if you’ve seen them or maybe seen them its due to how often the photos are on tv/ online! Or maybe you’ve seen them before but not door to door
    - Ron says
      
      February 23, 2020 at 3:24 AM
      
      LDS does not go door to door????? That’s exactly what they do. Dressed in white dress shirts, black ties, bicycle helmets, on bicycles. Recruiting. Big time!!
      - Cgoiser says
        
        February 29, 2020 at 12:53 AM
        
        Only the missionaries go door to door.
- Val says
  
  March 5, 2020 at 2:59 PM
  
  Interesting… there is an address for Lori’s & Alex’s father listed in San Tan Valley, AZ. Alex Cox was living in San Tan Valley. Perhaps the deed has the property listed in his father’s name.
  
  I haven’t seen anything in the media about the Cox family except Alex Cox, an email sent to Adam Cox (Lori’s & Alex’s brother) by Charles Vallow, and historical mentions of the Cox family (mostly when Lori was in High School). Is it possible that the Cox grandparents have the kids? I believe their latest address is in San Antonio, TX.
  - Val says
    
    March 6, 2020 at 10:10 AM
    
    I believe I was wrong with the Cox grandparent’s latest address. It looks like their latest address is a PO box in Queen Creek, AZ.
Donna Cavalier says

February 13, 2020 at 7:37 PM

Since they have Tylee’s phone, if it is Android, they should be able to access her Google location history and more or less see where she was before the phone ended up in Lori’s hands.
Amanda says

February 13, 2020 at 8:52 PM

Hi! I’m truly sorry about what your family is going through. I’m curious how hard the relationship was on your brother. Did you see or experience any of the effects of him being with Lori? I’m asking because there may be red flags there that lead us to now.
Thank you for the timeline. I wish for the best in this case, and that the kids turn up safe. Also, Has the spouses of Melanie and Alex been questioned? They may know more about their whereabouts. It’s hard to hide kids especially those with special needs. I’m just curious if any of Daybell’s family members knew of them as well. With the LDS community being so close, it seems as if other Mormons would know something.
Best wishes!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 14, 2020 at 7:51 AM
  
  I don’t know the answers to any of your questions. 🙁
Cheryl says

February 14, 2020 at 12:17 AM

I may have missed something, but Lori Vallow was married to Charles Vallow when your brother passed away. Why was she supposed to tell the family about his death if maybe she didn’t know? Did she authorize your brothers cremation, and if so how if they were divorced,? Thanks!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 14, 2020 at 7:54 AM
  
  It’s odd you would assume she didn’t know. She was the mother of his child. Of course, the ME’s office notified her. She told me that they “kept calling” her but that she didn’t return any of their calls. She could have, at minimum, given them my contact info if she didn’t want to notify me.
  - Carrie Smith says
    
    February 14, 2020 at 11:40 PM
    
    Omg. I just watched the Dateline episode. I pray the children are found safe. Why hasn’t Lori been arrested?? Good God, she’s guilty of so much!
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 15, 2020 at 5:05 AM
      
      I think we have law enforcement from three states coordinating with the FBI to pull together an airtight case with the intent of sending Lori and Chad away the maximum amount of time allowable by law.
  - Keri Rogers says
    
    February 15, 2020 at 4:03 AM
    
    But HOW did she order his cremation if they had been divorced since 2004??
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM
      
      She didn’t. The county did.
Leilani says

February 15, 2020 at 2:16 AM

Could you clear up why Colby was receiving Venmo payments from is younger teen sister? And why did Colby and his wife need a Go Fund Me or why he never bothered to inquire where they were moving to when Lori told him she was taking the kids and moving?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 15, 2020 at 5:03 AM
  
  Unfortunately, I can’t clear up any of these things. Only Colby can do that.
Pam Lancaster says

February 15, 2020 at 4:27 AM

This is such a sad situation involving two missing children. Did the police ever take cadaver dogs to the storage unit? It appeared that a heavy tote was stored there.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 15, 2020 at 4:57 AM
  
  I would imagine they did, but they’re playing their hands very close to the vest in the investigation—and rightly so.
JezMyOpinion says

February 15, 2020 at 5:16 AM

So sorry for what your family is going through. I’ve posted the link to this blog all over the www so that people can get “just the facts, ma’am” as there is no much gossip distracting from Tylee & JJs case. I agree with you that the police are keeping mum so as not to make any mistakes and that they only have one shot at this. Praying for a good outcome, but not naive enough to believe the kids will be coming home. But I do believe justice will be served eventually. Sending hugs from the south.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 15, 2020 at 6:27 AM
  
  Without bodies, it’s tougher to convict but not impossible. I would wager that’s what LE is preparing for. I saw an episode of Forensic Files once where the killer was caught because of the leaves that fell into the bed of his truck.
  - nyx says
    
    March 3, 2020 at 8:30 PM
    
    Yes law enforcement is preparing to build a circumstantial case and they probably have more evidence then they released to the public so far. The maximum sentence for felony desertion of a child is up to 14 years in prison for each child so they have leverage with just the felony charges.
    
    Also for your timeline Chad can’t claim he didn’t know Lori had children because he helped her obstruct law enforcement by calling Melanie Gibb and asking her to lie to them about the whereabouts of the children. So at best he is complicit after the fact by willingly helping Lori with obstructing law enforcement in searching for the missing children.
cinsbythesea says

February 15, 2020 at 12:10 PM

This is a great comprehensive timeline- thank you for sharing it. I just wish you never had to! I hope you and your family finally get some real answers soon. Hugs to you all.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 15, 2020 at 4:01 PM
  
  Thank you.
Haley says

February 15, 2020 at 1:39 PM

Do they have any search parties or dogs out looking for the kids? Or do they need more to believe they are deceased before they do that?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 15, 2020 at 4:09 PM
  
  They’ve never conducted a search party, to my knowledge.
Christina says

February 15, 2020 at 6:10 PM

Absolutely astonished that they think they’ll get away with all of this. That they can just say Lori never had two small children and poof we’ll all believe them, that your family won’t miss them. They have to be psychopaths by their behavior. Only a matter of time before one of them realizes the other may turn them in and there is another body or missing person.
Praying for all of your family and that all the pieces of this crazy puzzle will be found out and put together.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 16, 2020 at 11:45 PM
  
  I couldn’t agree more. You have to be a sociopath to just walk away from so much death and destruction seemingly unaffected.
Lori Hart says

February 15, 2020 at 7:57 PM

This is probably the most in-depth information of red anywhere. So sorry this is happening to your family. I’m praying for you guys every night. I’m praying those kids are found.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 16, 2020 at 11:43 PM
  
  Thank you.
Donna Cavalier says

February 16, 2020 at 1:13 PM

I just saw this: https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/indiana-woman-believes-she-saw-missing-rexburg-teen-tylee-ryan/article_fdb86c78-8d82-5dc9-93ab-278ba05bee8e.html and while I have mixed emotions about it, the end result is that it gives some hope. I would be putting out a call to anyone at the concert to submit photos they may have taken of the people sitting at tables that night.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 16, 2020 at 6:32 PM
  
  This is not credible. She messaged me about it, and I was confident from her descriptions the girl wasn’t Tylee. I also asked if she took a pic of the girl. She said the couple with said no to pics. If you suspect a child is being trafficked you take the shot. You don’t get consent.
  
  I gave her the FBI’s tip line. She said she called Jan 31 and spoke to someone. And then she goes public two weeks later, after the Dateline episode? Get out here.
Randi says

February 16, 2020 at 1:33 PM

Annie, have you seen this yet? Regardless of whether it was Tylee I sure hope FBI is thoroughly following up on it. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/indiana-woman-believes-she-saw-missing-rexburg-teen-tylee-ryan/article_fdb86c78-8d82-5dc9-93ab-278ba05bee8e.amp.html
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 16, 2020 at 10:02 PM
  
  She did this media play BECAUSE the FBI dismissed it. She was already angry when she reached out to me last month that local LE deemed it not credible (because it wasn’t).
  
  For the rest see ☝️.
Nic says

February 16, 2020 at 3:50 PM

Have you seen this article yet? Hoping it leads to good news ….. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/indiana-woman-believes-she-saw-missing-rexburg-teen-tylee-ryan/article_fdb86c78-8d82-5dc9-93ab-278ba05bee8e.html
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 16, 2020 at 10:02 PM
  
  See ☝️.
K says

February 17, 2020 at 7:36 AM

So news out here in Kauai, Hawaii is that they are no longer on Kauai and are possibly on Maui, Hawaii now. but with Maui having more flights, they could be anywhere.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 17, 2020 at 8:38 AM
  
  That is disheartening.
  - Julie says
    
    February 21, 2020 at 1:31 AM
    
    Lori Vallow Daybell has been arrested. “…charged with two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children.” Source: https://mauinow.com/2020/02/20/kauai-police-arrest-lori-vallow-daybell-on-5-million-warrant-from-idaho/
Pickles says

February 17, 2020 at 9:54 AM

Could Alex and Lori’s brother be involved in the attempted shooting of Brandon? Public records show he had lived in the general area here in AZ; do you know if he resembles Alex? That could explain why Brandon thought the man in Tylee’s jeep looked like Alex, who was also seen on the storage unit footage that same day. Just thinking out loud…
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 18, 2020 at 9:49 AM
  
  Brandon Boudreaux identified Alex Cox as the person who shot at him. But there’s surveillance footage of a man who reporter Nate Eaton said appears to be Cox at Lori’s storage unit in Rexburg the same day and the following day.
Natalie says

February 17, 2020 at 11:31 AM

Annie,
I’ve been doing so much research since I’ve been keeping up with this blog. Again I’m so sorry that you are going through this craziness. On Loris Instagram page, I found a realtor from Kaua’i that liked a lot of her old posts. I was wondering if you reached out to her to try to gather any info? There are pictures of her and Lori in Kaua’i under her friends album.
- Natalie says
  
  February 17, 2020 at 11:34 AM
  
  And a picture of Tylee. They are old pictures.
  - Natalie says
    
    February 17, 2020 at 2:06 PM
    
    Also – The realtor I’m referring to above that currently lives in Kaua’i has a picture of her, Lori and Loris mom from Christmas 2016 in Hawaii on her personal Facebook so they have been friends for a few years (if not longer). According to comments on the realtors old Facebook posts – she lived in Arizona prior to moving to Hawaii.
Diana says

February 17, 2020 at 12:22 PM

This story is disturbing is so many ways. I’m so sorry you and your family are going thru this, I can even begin to imagine.
I’m from Hawaii (live on a different island), but hope these people get what’s coming to them. They either know (or are directly involved) with what happened to these children. The people of Hawaii are definitely on the lookout for Lori and Chad and hopefully they’ll be caught doing something that will eventually lead to the children.
Please know that you do have others who want justice and are keeping a lookout for one wrong step.
Prayers to you again ??.
Aloha ❤️
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 18, 2020 at 9:47 AM
  
  Thank you. The residents of Hawaii have been amazing.
Tiffany says

February 17, 2020 at 6:17 PM

Justin.lum@foxnews.com
He has been amazing at keeping this story in the news while being very responsible to ONLY post updates and pictures that he has received through his various verified informants. He is at FoxNew through Arizona. If you haven’t spoke to him before, I think you would really like him and appreciate it how hard he is working and how respectful he has been with not causing speculation. Hopefully this will come to an end soon with a happy ending and you and your family can get things back to normal. Safe travels. You and yours are in my thoughts and prayers.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 18, 2020 at 9:51 AM
  
  Justin has done a great job with this case. I monitor his Facebook for updates almost daily.
  - Michell says
    
    March 8, 2020 at 7:08 PM
    
    I am working on a video can you tell me who is Lori’s first 2 husbands? Chad is the 5th right? Who is Colbys biological father?
Jo Jake says

February 17, 2020 at 7:29 PM

There is a facebook post on Missing Persons Network page of Chad and Lori waiting to rent a car. It looks like there is trouble in Paradise and perhaps one might crack- Chad. This is what the posting was. I cannot post the picture here, but you should take a look at it.

Chad Daybell & Lori Vallow – Parents of Missing JJ and Tylee from Idaho

Thanks to the kind woman in Maui who just sent me these photos and an email. Part of it reads:

“We were on the same shuttle from the Maui airport to the rental car annex as Chad & Lori. They rented a car from Hertz around 1:30pm and had several large bags of luggage with them. I was surprised at how different Lori looks now from recent photos in the news. She had smudged black eyeliner, layers of face makeup and bags under her eyes. Her hair was snarled and it looked like she hadn’t slept in a while. There was obvious tension between Chad and Lori, who didn’t speak to each other either in line for the shuttle or on the way to the car rental.”
Paige says

February 17, 2020 at 10:06 PM

It looks like Julie Rowe is starting to sour on Daybell. In this new interview I just found, she claims Daybell “predicted” his wife would die between October and December, and that Daybell has brainwashed his own children.
https://www.ktvb.com/mobile/article/news/crime/missing-rexburg-kids/chad-daybells-former-friend-says-he-predicted-his-late-wifes-death-and-brainwashed-his-kids/277-5966d4bc-da11-45ad-b011-2a399ada7b94
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 17, 2020 at 10:11 PM
  
  Look who decided to start growing a conscience.
  - Deanne Rapp says
    
    February 18, 2020 at 12:48 AM
    
    I’m not sure. About conscience I was thinking. Media attention
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 18, 2020 at 9:45 AM
      
      Oh, I was being ?sarcastic. Her newfound distance is totally self-serving.
- KATHLEEN HERMAN says
  
  February 21, 2020 at 6:21 PM
  
  Does anyone know where Tammy and Chad’s 5 kids are?
Lindsay says

February 18, 2020 at 5:27 AM

From the timeline, I know Tylee and JJ are reported as missing as of the date Sept. 23, 2020 (I’m not exact on that date and am too lazy right now to confirm), However, I am wondering if there are specific dates for last confirmed sightings or confirmed communications with either?

I am also wondering if there’s anything currently in place to keep Lori and Chad from running to another country and being lost for as long as they wish to be lost for??

I extend all my empathy to you and your family as you’re all dealing with the past tragic circumstances and dealing with current and future tragic circumstances. I can not imagine what you’re all going through.

Thank you for this well detailed timeline and all of this information. I am just now becoming aware of this story, and I am hoping against all hope for as much positive resolution as possible, and that all of yours, and everyone directly affected, questions are soon answered.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 18, 2020 at 9:11 AM
  
  Your first question is at the forefront of my thoughts every day. We have a timestamp for when JJ was last seen. No one can say when they last saw Tylee. Someone told me a neighbor in Rexburg (the one whose son used to play with JJ) said in one of the Facebook groups that he saw Tylee in Rexburg and that she was quiet. But I haven’t seen that. I tried to find him on Facebook to ask him about it, but I couldn’t find him.
  
  Her brother Colby also said they FaceTimed after she moved, but he hasn’t provided dates for any of these FaceTime conversations.
  
  Authorities can’t stop them from leaving the country. My worry is that they’ll bounce on down to Mexico and live off the grid. As a prepper, I imagine Chad would know how to do that. I hope and pray he comes to his senses and tries to right all these wrongs. I hope he sees the role his ideologies played in the unraveling of these lives.
  - Lee says
    
    February 21, 2020 at 11:22 PM
    
    I was going to wait till reading all comments and may add at the end also. I am just giving info I remember from something else in the news recently. The LDS church has a commune? church group in Mexico (probably more than one) I hope they have checked for the children there.
    
    The phone can be checked against other family member phones and patterns checked. There had been some questions about whether messages were from her or not. The police will be able to figure that out.
    
    It doesn’t matter, but was curious if Alex was her brother, half brother, stepbrother?
    Also as mentioned above, very curious to know if there was diabetic sibling? Would be something for the police to check the brother and the wife for (don’t know if it’s standard to check for insulin or blood sugar levels)
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 22, 2020 at 9:16 PM
      
      Alex was Lori’s biological brother, and yes, there was a diabetic sibling who died years ago. She was Melani Boudreaux’s mother.
Stephanie Trillo says

February 18, 2020 at 11:16 AM

25 May 1998 – Stacey Cox Cope, the sister of Lori and Alex Cox, dies supposedly of diabetic shock. Only Alex was at home with her and he had used her credit card while she was dead in the home; Stacey is survived by a young daughter named Melani (family interviews on Grey Hughes and Daily Mail).

From https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/id-joshua-vallow-7-tylee-ryan-17-rexburg-sept-2019-4.494009/

Is this true as well?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 19, 2020 at 9:57 AM
  
  I can’t confirm this. I didn’t meet Lori until 2002.
Amanda says

February 18, 2020 at 1:25 PM

Is it true that You will be on Dr Phil regarding this case, if so do you have a date it will air?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 19, 2020 at 9:57 AM
  
  Yes. They don’t know the air date yet.
joan gordon says

February 18, 2020 at 11:42 PM

I am so sorry you are going thru this. Thoughts and prayers for justice are with you.
Stacy says

February 20, 2020 at 2:23 AM

I am so sorry that you and your family are having to go through this nightmare, and pray for the safety of Tylee and JJ.

I can’t help but think that, had the Gilbert PD actually taken the restraining order more seriously and enforced the mental hold on Lori the end of January 2019 that perhaps none of this would even be happening? The kids would be safe and not missing, Alex wouldn’t have shot Charles, Alex wouldn’t be dead, Tammy might still be alive… I simply fail to understand their lack of concern for her craziness when there were already so many red flags in the air?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 21, 2020 at 9:00 AM
  
  If you search my post for the word ‘rant’ I added my personal thoughts on the role GPD played in this tragedy. It’s the only time I get personal in the timeline.
LB says

February 20, 2020 at 9:22 PM

Thoughts and prayers Annie!! Now that she has been arrested Im praying she reveals the truth about the children and they are safe.
Ce'ana Estrella says

February 20, 2020 at 11:12 PM

Annie, You have an amazing time line. We are happy to hear of Lori’s arrest today, and hopeful that investigators will get information about the children.
Tyger White says

February 21, 2020 at 4:55 AM

Thank you for this timeline. I am so sorry for everything that you are going through. When your brother died, I am surprised that you weren’t contacted. When the Coroner’s Office notified me of my estranged ex-husband’s death, they said that I was the next of kin and it was my job to claim the body, but that if I declined to do that, it would be released to his parents (who were the next next of kin). I know that your brother has heart problems in the family, but my instincts tell me that Lori killed him or Alex. I think that Alex was poisoned to keep him from revealing that Lori is the ringleader in all these deaths. She appears very self-serving, cold, and manipulative…..and greedy….very, very greedy. I have the feeling that her new hubby will break soon. Does he even realize that he could be next on her list?!?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 21, 2020 at 8:56 AM
  
  I don’t know why it took so long for them to contact another family member. By the time they did, five weeks had passed.
  
  My hope is in Chad breaking, although while the rest of the world was horrified by Lori accessing JJ’s old school’s app, I was encouraged by that. To me, it was a sign she missed him, missed her life as a mom.
  - Fee says
    
    February 24, 2020 at 2:39 AM
    
    I was initially wondering why in the world would she be accessing this app … I am not sure how that particular app works but the one my daughter had a t a similar age was basically showing what they did on a daily basis … If JJ wasnt there what was there for her to look at … My initial reaction was was he still at school ? Under another name … is the school LDS and are they involved … I now dont believe that… But still wonder why she was accessing it
Donna Cavalier says

February 21, 2020 at 3:16 PM

Based on the documents charging Lori, at https://www.eastidahonews.com/2020/02/read-the-documents-charging-lori-vallow-daybell/, we now know that Tylee was last seen and photographed on a day trip to Yellowstone National Park, and not seen since. I hope someone is looking for evidence / photo of Lori and Chad leaving Yellowstone without Tylee. That would narrow things down a lot. Although if they handed Tylee off to someone else in the park, then I’d hope someone would find evidence of seeing Tylee leave the park, alone or with someone else. I wonder if we can do a viral shoutout to everyone who visited Yellowstone that day to see if anyone caught a photo of Tylee on their cell phones.
- just a person says
  
  February 22, 2020 at 4:57 PM
  
  possibly cell phone pings too. .. although, probably good chance Lori allready had Tylee’s phone in her own possession. i hope cell records are being analyzed for the last date the two pings diverged locationally. it seems quite clear that “home school” meant keeping the kids, especially Tylee, under house arrest
  - just a person says
    
    February 22, 2020 at 5:04 PM
    
    i do like the idea of public invitation being announced, maybe in an interview or on the Dr Phil appearance etc, asking for people who’d visited Yellowstone on that day and maybe the next to review their vacation photos and footage. it could be marvellously helpful if Tylee turned up in some of the images, particularly if she were with people other than those she arrived at the park with.
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      February 22, 2020 at 8:53 PM
      
      Yeah, I wish we would have known about this when we filmed.
- Donna Cavalier says
  
  March 5, 2020 at 2:05 PM
  
  Yay! The FBI just issued a statement asking people to submit photos and videos from Yellowstone.
Melanie Luedtke says

February 21, 2020 at 4:55 PM

I am so sorry for your loss Annie, Thank you for speaking out and being an advocate for your niece I find it very odd that no one on Lori side of the family has anything to say about this case I find that very tellingg!! This is a great blog and I am so glad you have been keeping such a detailed blog on all of the moving parts of this case. I hope that now that Lori has been arrested she starts talking and that both of the children are found alive and well hopefully Chad will be arrested next and murder charges are filed on both of them ASAP!!!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 22, 2020 at 9:24 PM
  
  Thank you, Melanie. I have found that disheartening as well. They are on the wrong side of history on this one.
  
  I hope this whole stack of cards closes in on itself and we find Tylee and JJ as a result. We need the closure. This pace isn’t sustainable.
Jordan Morey says

February 21, 2020 at 9:30 PM

Wonderful comprehensive write up. This case is one of the crazier ones I’ve researched.

Quick question, I noticed that it says Larry and Kay Woodcock are JJs biological grandparents, but it also says Kay is Charles Vallow’s sister. Is this correct? Biological grandparents, and I’m assuming he was adopted within the family, now making his Grandmother also legally his aunt? Sorry, just trying to piece everything together,

Thank you again for taking the time to do this write up, and I truly hope everyone gets the answers and closure that they’re seeking,
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 22, 2020 at 9:20 PM
  
  Yes, that’s correct.
  - Gray Hughes says
    
    March 11, 2020 at 2:05 PM
    
    my name is Gray Hughes. I would be interested in interviewing you for my youtube channel. Please email me at grayhuze2@gmail.com
Bonnie Potts says

February 21, 2020 at 10:50 PM

I know I read somewhere that Lori had stated concerning the kids that if they ever disappeared no one would find them. Do you have any idea where that came from?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 22, 2020 at 9:20 PM
  
  I read that too early on in a private forum. It could have been rumor because I can’t find where any news outlets picked it up.
Lee says

February 21, 2020 at 11:39 PM

Are Lori’s husband 1 and 2 alive?

Did Lori make wild accusations against your brother when they split/divorced? (trying to see a pattern or lack of pattern) That if NOT, then why accuse Charles? IDK if it would add context or not, Everything is so crazy. Calling him Nick Schneider seems to have a bit of paranoid schizophrenia. (my OPINION ONLY) But so many other things yell Narcissism (IMO ONLY)
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 22, 2020 at 9:14 PM
  
  Yes, she did.
Lisa says

February 22, 2020 at 3:30 PM

Annie, It’s still all a bit confusing to forgive me if I got this wrong and/or this has been explained but your brother Joe: he was cremated, yes? Was there an autopsy performed? If not, why not? He was relatively young. I thought it was a law to find the cause of death in each and every casualty. Even the elders. But maybe I misunderstood that. Also….what is your impression of the storage locker CC video(s)? Pretty ominous if you ask me.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 22, 2020 at 9:09 PM
  
  Yes, my brother was cremated, and there was an autopsy performed. The COD was determined to be heart attack, but there are a number of reasons that Dx might be suspect. It’s not worth writing them all out because it’s moot since he was cremated.
Harrison Wintergreen says

February 22, 2020 at 9:41 PM

This entire situation must be extraordinarily difficult for you (and all the family or friends so closely involved), but I applaud your work on this detailed timeline.
Al says

February 23, 2020 at 12:52 AM

I did a quick Google search for Preparing a People, and unless Chad Daybell started his own group and used their name, it doesn’t really look like it’s an organized group with members, and he certainly isn’t the/a leader of it. It’s just a network for podcasts of similar subjects. Here’s their website: https://www.preparingapeople.com/
Sandra says

February 23, 2020 at 3:28 AM

First and foremost, I would like to say that my prayers are with you and your family in this very difficult time. I’ve been stuck for HOURS, researching this story and trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. This story has me down a rabbit hole!!!
I find it very odd that Lori & Alex have a PO Box address in common. Not sure if this is irrelevant, but something to take in consideration…

(Alexander has lived at this Po Box 415, Sugar City, ID address for about 4 months, after moving in around October of 2019.)

(Currently Lori lives at the address Po Box 415, Sugar City, ID 83448. Lori has lived at this Sugar City, IDaddress for about 5 months, after moving in around September of 2019.)

Wishing for the best outcome and justice to be served for those who have lost their lives❤️
Andi says

February 23, 2020 at 9:05 AM

Wow, thank you. You’ve put the puzzle pieces together for me. Was JJ adopted as a baby? And when did Lori change to this cult? Seems like life was good for everyone till 2019.
Amelia says

February 23, 2020 at 3:37 PM

I saw this was asked on here further up but not answered. Did your brother adopt Colby and that is why he has his last name.?
Andrea says

February 23, 2020 at 10:43 PM

Someone commented on a news article that JJ’s grandparents filing for emergency custody would make it a felony (rather than misdemeanor) for Lori to not produce him. Is that correct? Since there are two felony counts, did someone file for Tylee’s emergency guardianship?
A friend says

February 24, 2020 at 7:13 PM

Thank you so much Annie for all your work in putting this page together, I’ve been following the news and been hoping and praying for the children.. I sincerely hope that at least with this arrest the police & FBI will start showing us what they’ve been working on (which I hope is an airtight case), and that you and your loved ones can learn the truth about what happened and get some closure..
Please know the public is with you! Please ask us if you ever need any support. Will continue to check in regularly for updates as things unfold.. All the way to the courtroom if you need us.
Warm hugs and regards.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 25, 2020 at 2:32 PM
  
  Thank you for the kind words.
Pickles says

February 24, 2020 at 8:47 PM

Do you know why Gilbert PD had a detective monitoring Lori, starting on November 1st, when Kay hadn’t discovered Lori’s current location until approximately November 12th? And wouldn’t that imply that Gilbert PD knew her location prior to Kay asking for a welfare check?
Paige says

February 24, 2020 at 10:20 PM

Perhaps I am missing the obvious, but I am genuinely failing to connect Lori’s repeated loggins to the L.I.F.E. classroom app and the idea that she may have done so, because she was missing JJ. In my mind, it seems more likely that Lori may have been logging in so to observe communications in case JJ was the subject of any classroom communication. Like I said, though, I may be missing the obvious.
Paige says

February 24, 2020 at 10:41 PM

I just saw Emma Daybell Murray’s infantile behavior. Lord, have mercy! She is a third grade teacher; her students aren’t much older than JJ. That Emma is comfortable behaving in such a flamboyant, cavalier manner on television while children are missing is beyond my comprehension. How can she go to work each day and teach children, when it appears that she is able to easily set the welfare of JJ & Tylee out of sight & out of mind (and instead make kissy faces)? Unfathomable!
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 25, 2020 at 2:32 PM
  
  Agree ?!
Missy says

February 25, 2020 at 2:12 AM

I often wonder due to all the kids documents found in the car, and access to his school website: were they creating new identities for the kids? If they are in Mexico with other “cult” members or possibly family of Alex’s new (and not warm and lovey/dovey) new wife? They would take iPads and phones from them to ensure they don’t blow their new identities and locations like any kid would. Also, probably filling his med scripts down there. I’m sure they were planning on going down there once the crap hit the fan. But now that she’s arrested they both are looking disheveled and uncertain. Which is the only time they have not appeared confident up until this time. They were confident and flaunting before because they knew they were alive and well in Mexico until the rapture. Just an idea?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  March 23, 2020 at 12:09 AM
  
  This story was 100% made up. The detective in charge of my brother’s case at PPD said they had no intention of reopening his case. So I followed up with the FBI in Phoenix and was assured by an agent they would look into his death. But the whole story that the FBI instructed PPD to reopen the case was untrue.
Missy says

February 25, 2020 at 2:15 AM

Also, Alex took her last name. And the son who found Alex sounded really off to me in the 911 phone call….
Kristina Wilcoxson says

February 25, 2020 at 1:52 PM

https://www.crimeonline.com/2020/02/25/police-consider-search-of-yellowstone-national-park-missing-idaho-teen-tylee-ryans-last-known-location/

Have u heard this?
A source close to the investigation told CBS News that investigators are considering searching the park for Ryan and are currently waiting for the snow to melt. Park officials reportedly declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 25, 2020 at 2:29 PM
  
  Yeah, I saw that this morning.
Barbara says

February 25, 2020 at 1:58 PM

Thank you Annie for allowing us to be able to read all this info and the timeline.
Hoping you get some answers soon.
Im assuming Tylee being a teenager has several social media accounts. Im sure the most typical, Instagram Facebook and twitter have been looked into. Has anyone checked other accounts? I found her on VSCO. Only one photo there and it is of JJ
Missy says

February 25, 2020 at 2:36 PM

Hi Annie,
I’m part of a fb site that is following the case. We thank you for putting this together. A big question we all have is are there 2 jeeps? 1 grey wrangler belonging to Tylee and 1 green Cherokee belonging to Charles or were they confused as the same vehicle?

Thank you for all you’re going for JJ and Tylee..
- Annie Cushing says
  
  February 25, 2020 at 9:22 PM
  
  The Jeep was a Wrangler. I put the PI’s claim in quotes b/c I had only read Wrangler, but I added a correction. Thanks for circling back on that!
Louise Czupryna says

February 25, 2020 at 2:50 PM

Dear Annie, I am very sorry about your family situation. I have a question about Lori’s background. Are Lori’s parents alive and have they been in touch with her? Louise
Donna Cavalier says

February 27, 2020 at 6:26 PM

I keep thinking that we should be looking more closely at Chad’s religious beliefs. He wrote a bunch of books about the end days as he sees it. In the description on Amazon of one of them, it says “The Rise of Zion- Standing in Holy Places Book 3
Rise of Zion“And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy.” (D&C 45:71) It has been a remarkable year since the Saints arrived in Independence, Missouri to establish New Jerusalem. Now it has become a rapidly growing city as Saints from around the world come to Zion.” What if they have started some kind of “New Jerusalem” in Independence, Missouri, and they’ve got the kids stashed there? Some sort of underground bunker or something that they see as the safe place to store their 144,000 before July. Maybe the kids really are okay but have been stashed away for their crazy end of the world notions.
Paige says

February 28, 2020 at 12:58 AM

Annie,

My husband and I reviewed the storage locker video footage tonight in light of a Dr. Phil clip I viewed this afternoon. My husband is a mechanic and he said, “That’s a seat. It’s the jeep’s seat.” He then pulled up Google & typed in “OEM Wrangler Jeep seats,” and viewed the images. Right away I could tell that he was right.

Based on the video, the man (whoever it is) is carrying a seat that is in the folded down position, cradling the seat with his arms under the fold so that the headrest is facing the ground.

I felt some relief after we reviewed this and realized it was clearly just a seat. I thought it might be a good idea to tell you.

You are all in our prayers.
- Paige says
  
  February 28, 2020 at 1:13 AM
  
  I know I read, somewhere, that you thought it was a jeep seat. I didn’t agree at the time, but do now.
  - Annie Cushing says
    
    March 1, 2020 at 11:49 AM
    
    Yeah, I think we all gasped when that footage was first released. It looked remarkably like a leg. But a friend and I grabbed screenshots and zoomed away in. She was the one who said it looked like a seat, and then I saw it too and now think that’s the most feasible explanation. Lori opened this unit after both kids were last seen, so I doubt bodies were ever in the unit. The kids’ stuff is a chilling insight into how Lori definitely didn’t want to be reminded of her children…except for the pics on her phone, including the one she took of Tylee the day she was last seen. This psychopath needs to go away a very long time. And all her minions need to be held accountable for any role they played in this tragedy.
Jeanna says

February 28, 2020 at 2:05 AM

I just wanted to let you know that I found the episodes for the podcast “Time To Warrior Up” that you were talking about. It’s https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.listennotes.com/podcasts/preparing-a-people/01-time-to-warrior-up-ojt_dPpFgxA/amp/
- Paige says
  
  March 1, 2020 at 7:40 PM
  
  Awesome, Jeanna! So, it looks like they only ever recorded 1 episode. Is that right?
Anna says

February 29, 2020 at 10:14 AM

I’m curious about Alex’s wife Zulema. She went with Melani, Melani’s Aunt Summer, and Melani’s new husband Ian to a custody hearing re Melani & Brandon’s 4 kids. Alex and Melani had their weddings a day or two apart in Vegas yet Melani was not at the quickie unromantic Alex & Zulema wedding. Zulema’s son didn’t know Alex’s last name & didn’t seem to know Alex had married his mom according to his 911 call when Alex died. I just assumed Zulema didn’t know the other players well but I guess she’s inner circle if she was with Melani in court.

Unrelated but kudos to Sharon from Hawaii who saw Chad at a thrift store and managed to get more information out of him than anybody else! He said something like “It’s more complicated than that, she can’t just say” where JJ & Tylee are (Sharon pointed out Lori could just tell cops where kids are if she doesn’t want to stay in jail.) Also told her he’s moving back to Idaho to support Lori once she’s extradited.
Paige says

February 29, 2020 at 4:31 PM

Hi Annie.

Here is a link to the podcast:

https://soundcloud.com/user-868179030/01-time-to-warrior-up-podcast-introduction
Paige says

March 1, 2020 at 7:44 PM

Annie,

This is allegedly a sign posted in Rexburg. It references Larry Woodcock’s message to Chad on the Dr. Phil show.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LoriVallow/comments/fbk80h/heres_a_sign_locals_put_in_chads_yard/
Holly says

March 2, 2020 at 5:28 AM

You did a great job on this time line. I wonder if people who went to that same entrance of Yellowstone that day have looked through their photos to see if they can see that family in the background. Might help with location of the children within the park. Sorry for your loss of your brother. I hope sometime soon there will be closure.
Donna Cavalier says

March 2, 2020 at 12:30 PM

Chad Daybell has now said the kids are safe. I really hope he isn’t lying. https://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/rexburg/chad-daybell-tells-abc-news-tylee-and-j-j-are/article_72d087ad-36e5-592b-a7a9-1c983b1e8c42.html

So now I’d be scouring his connections to the area of Independence Missouri to see if he has any friends or relatives there who might be hiding the kids, and perhaps grooming them to be worthy of the 144k. I have no clue what I’m talking about in that I have zero knowledge of what this belief system is all about, but my hunch is that they’ll need to “justify” who gets in and who doesn’t. So perhaps the kids need special “training” to be able to justify their inclusion in July. So maybe there is a group or a family who has been entrusted to “train” (brainwash) the kids into submission, while Chad and Lori focus on other things.
- JPS says
  
  March 7, 2020 at 2:43 PM
  
  He may have meant “safe in the arms of the Lord in Heaven,” though.
  
  This whole situation is just messed up. Annie, you have my sympathy and hope that all will work out, but I don’t have good feelings about this, either.
Lior says

March 7, 2020 at 8:47 AM

Hi Annie,
I just wanted to say that in the midst of all this tragedy and confusion, I hope you are able to take some time for yourself and relax. This is so much. Thinking positive thoughts and sending hope for your welfare and that of your family.
Ann Kathan says

March 9, 2020 at 8:41 PM

Thank you for putting all of the known facts in chronological order. I am very sorry for you and your family. This is a terrible tragedy that goes on and on. As I read the facts, the one constant is money. Money stolen by Lori from Charles, life insurance policies, expensive HI travel, a note from Lori to Kay about money. Money, money, money. This is rather hard to say, but Tylee has more value to Lori alive than dead. If Tylee is being trafficked she is an income source to her mother. Given all that has happened, Lori seems capable of such utterly sick abuse.
Jordan B says

March 11, 2020 at 1:12 AM

I’m sorry but I couldn’t find anything about the significance of Lori logging in to JJ’s school account for updates. What kind of information was she gaining through this medium? How would it vary from anything that could be found in the news/ online?

If she knows where he went, what would she be checking on all that time while he’s missing and she’s f-cked off to Hawaii?
- L.A.Green says
  
  April 21, 2020 at 9:27 AM
  
  I wondered about her logging into J.J’s school account as well; especially because this was his school account in Arizona and Lori and J.J. were last residing in Idaho. I read that because Charles Vallow was killed as part of a family dispute the school was obligated to report the incident to Arizona’s Dept. Child Safety. But that sounds more like the school was just doing what the state requires whenever a custodial parent dies. Being that Lori and J.J. are now residents of Idaho, I don’t see why she would be concerned. Except she’s paranoid with religious ideation so the constant checking the school account might be her searching for hidden messages or signs.
- Penny says
  
  May 11, 2020 at 6:53 PM
  
  My thought when I read about the app log in was that she was likely just signing into JJs iPad that she had and the app was updated every time she opened the iPad. There is no information stating that she was actually typing in a user name and password to access the app. It could be that the app was on the ipad that belonged to JJ and the app was refreshed every time the iPad was opened leading to a new sign in record on the app.
  - Annie Cushing says
    
    May 11, 2020 at 11:17 PM
    
    No, she actually logged in: https://www.screencast.com/t/GydfMiXlh5p. https://www.12news.com/article/news/crime/mother-of-missing-child-may-have-monitored-sons-class-after-he-disappeared/75-14b9ede1-0a9d-44fd-be67-a1576db7163f
    - Penny says
      
      May 12, 2020 at 2:08 AM
      
      She very well may have logged in manually using a username and password but the reports do not say that specifically. I believe that the administrator of an app usually sees a record of an account holder making a connection to the app. If you bookmark a site and you don’t log out or have remember password option selected or keep the app open on a device depending on how this app is accessed, when you open a browser or “wake up” a device with installed app logged in, the app could feasibly send a log in record to the administrator.
      - Annie Cushing says
        
        May 12, 2020 at 3:55 PM
        
        Yes, they do. That’s the entire point of these reports.
        
        As an analyst, these are types of activities I monitor and report on. When someone logs on to an app, a push notification is sent to the app’s server, along with a token that identifies that user. A timestamp is also sent with the “hit” identifying the date and time of the login.
        
        The school carries some culpability in the logins, as her credentials should have been removed when she withdrew JJ from the school.
David Blackman says

March 11, 2020 at 3:58 PM

Looks like your brother’s death is being investigated by the FBI! Finally!!!
Richard Lewis says

March 14, 2020 at 8:17 AM

An interesting fact I found is that in both Idaho and Arizona, a spouse cannot be compelled to testify against their spouse (in Arizona its while the spouse is living.) So the speedy marriages of Lori and Chad, Lori’s niece and new husband and Alex Cox and his new bride, raises some questions. Were these marriages of convenience in order to prevent law enforcement from investigating deaths and disappearances? Likewise, since Alex is is deceased…it would seem that his widow can be compelled to testify against him, at least in Arizona. Alex seems to be the centerpiece in the physical cause of death and disappearances.
Richard Lewis says

March 14, 2020 at 8:53 AM

I have one more comment, hopefully not bothering you with minutia. When the police officer arrived at the scene of Charles Vallow’s death, and interviewed Alex….Alex told the officer that “he went to “his” room and got his gun.” Wasn’t this Lori’s house? And so, why didn’t the officer ask Alex why his gun was there? Finally, I thought Alex was a convicted felon, and therefore gun ownership for him would have been questionable. Seems like the self defense scenario was not aggressively investigated. Alex’s history seems to have been overlooked.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  March 22, 2020 at 2:23 PM
  
  There are usually exceptions to this privilege, like if the spouse is charged with a crime against a child of either spouse or the spouse is asked to testify about matters pre-dating the marriage.
W says

April 8, 2020 at 1:01 PM

I’m very sorry about the pandemic. This must be very hard on you. You are a loving aunt. One day, Tylee will get to see just how much you loved her.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  April 28, 2020 at 8:01 PM
  
  Thank you for the kind words. I hope so.
Louise C. says

April 10, 2020 at 1:11 PM

Hello Annie
I was wondering what kind of relationship your brother Joe had with Charles, since Charles had stepped into a father-role with his daughter. Did they get along, have mutual respect? Considering Charles was a big part of Colby and Tylee’s lives, what was your impression of him as a step-father? When you had visited them after Joe’s death, was Charles sympathetic? Also, did Joe and Tylee see each other regularly? Joe would have been Colby’s step-father at one time, did they maintain their relationship after Joe and Lori divorced?
Thank you and sorry your family is going through this.
Roberta Murphy says

April 22, 2020 at 1:08 AM

#3 Tylee was to receive her Dads life insurance on her 18th birthday…9/24/19. Lori would never allow that.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  April 28, 2020 at 7:54 PM
  
  To be clear, this is your theory. Not even family knows any details about Joe’s insurance policy yet.
  - terrence lafferty says
    
    May 7, 2020 at 6:53 PM
    
    Lori did tell family member(s) that she had received Joseph’s life insurance benefit. However, the amount and date were never specified and whether or not that was true is unknown.
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      May 7, 2020 at 11:14 PM
      
      How would you be privy to that? Not even the FBI knows yet if there was a life insurance policy. But there is no lack of rumor and misinformation.
      - terrence lafferty says
        
        May 8, 2020 at 10:45 AM
        
        I only stated that was what she remarked to others (via other websites). I also said there was no date, amount, etc. produced by Lori to substantiate her statement. I only claimed to have knowledge of her published remark, not whether there was any truth to Lori’s remark . . . or even any truth to the other sources! :0)
terrence lafferty says

May 7, 2020 at 12:43 PM

I have seen hundreds of updates regarding the Chad and Lori Vallow case regarding the deaths, exhumations, divorces, cult practices, court hearings, life insurance, interviews, etc, etc. However, I’ve only seen one tangible, specific update regarding the search for the missing children . . . the erection of some billboards several weeks ago. In similar cases there have been routine updates regarding the missing person search progress and details! For example, what was the result of the investigation into Tylee’s sighting in Nashville, TN months ago; how many people are involved in the search party; what is the search area involved; have there been any credible sightings, have members of “Prepare the People” been interviewed; is there a limited time that the search will be conducted; have any significant findings been discovered thus far, etc?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  May 7, 2020 at 3:36 PM
  
  The TN claim was suspect from the beginning. The woman reached out to me first and was bizarre. She wouldn’t answer even basic questions about where she reportedly saw Tylee. (I asked for the name and address of the theater.) And her description of Tylee was not in keeping with her personality at all. I gave her the tip line for the FBI, and they ruled it out as a credible lead. THEN she went to the press.
  - terrence lafferty says
    
    May 7, 2020 at 6:16 PM
    
    Yes, I was aware of the issues with the TN sighting. My glaring question still remains . . . why is there no reporting, feedback, status, etc. regarding the search for the missing children?
    - Annie Cushing says
      
      May 8, 2020 at 8:34 AM
      
      We share that question. In the absence of any breaks in the investigation (in part, I would imagine, due to COVID), reporting on this story has gone full-on tabloid.
      - terrence lafferty says
        
        May 8, 2020 at 10:54 AM
        
        Neither Covid-19 nor any other factors have interrupted the news stories and updates of any other aspects of this case?!
      - Annie Cushing says
        
        May 11, 2020 at 11:22 PM
        
        Dude, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Few people are as frustrated by this shit show as I am.
Richard E lewis says

May 7, 2020 at 6:58 PM

Annie, your brother, in my opinion, has had his reputation smeared; up to and including his step-son. Interesting how Colby has made an accusation about Joseph, but not others, such as Lori or Chad. I wonder about him as he somehow got money from Tylee…while suggesting his communication with her was just not right? Obviously, Lori sent him some money from her account…money possibly from your brother’s legacy funds to her. Not sure where Colby really is in this story. Also, I am really curious about Chad’s own children. I would think that as the circle tightens around Chad….they may be turning their blame onto Lori? And maybe, they should be concerned about what really happened to their mother? That is really strange, how Chad appears to be supportive of Lori at their expense….and they make no visible objections.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  May 11, 2020 at 11:29 PM
  
  The court documents around these allegations paint a pic of a mother pressuring her kids to make an outcry. Not included in these pages that a reporter passed on to me is the fact that my brother also passed a polygraph. I’ll let the documents speak for themselves. https://www.dropbox.com/s/u0gh9wtavwtnepw/joe-lori-court-doc-01.png?dl=0 & https://www.dropbox.com/s/rkbod5gvwsth0rr/joe-lori-court-doc-02.png?dl=0. I’ve written extensively about Colby’s lies and “inconsistencies” in a private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tcucultmom/. It’s a rabbit hole.
terrence lafferty says

May 8, 2020 at 11:11 AM

I found the TV/CBS interview with Lori’s mom (Janis Cox) and sister (Summer Shiftlet) odd for two reasons:

1) They professed feelings of mourning and despair for Lori who is currently alive and incarcerated due to her own civil disobedience. However, I don’t recall any mourning or concern mentioned for Alex, their recently deceased son and brother!

2) They claimed threats were made to Lori by Charles Vallow’s family members after his death . . . and that is why Lori put the children into hiding. That makes no sense at all. If it was true, why would Lori continue her life, fully accessible and in public view, but put the CHILDREN in hiding?
- Annie Cushing says
  
  May 11, 2020 at 11:21 PM
  
  Agreed. No mother so afraid of harm to her kids would jet off to Hawaii and live the good live, tell people she was an empty nester or that Tylee died a year before her dad, etc. Also, Kay and Larry had no claims on Tylee. Finally, Kay released screenshots of her emails to Lori, where she begged to be able to see JJ.
Penny says

May 11, 2020 at 6:31 PM

Shouldn’t investigators be able to get the cell phone usage records from the cell phone provider of Tylee’s phone? They should be able to track which cell towers were accessed, particularly on the day she was last seen in Yellowstone. I would be curious what cell towers were accessed and whether that might lead to Tylee’s whereabouts.
- Annie Cushing says
  
  May 11, 2020 at 11:19 PM
  
  Yes, they subpoenaed the cell phone records of all in the car. A good portion of the park is outside the range of cell towers, but LE can usually piece together a journey between cell phone towers and GPS data, if locations services were enabled on any of the devices.