Lori Vallow Daybell is described in Netflix’s Sins of Our Mother as a devoted mother of three, a loving wife, and a lady of God — until something went wrong. She is still in jail as of September 2022, awaiting trial for murder conspiracy and first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of her fourth husband, fifth husband’s wife, and her two youngest children. The three-part true-crime documentary series is all about one burning question: “How did a woman who seemed to be a normal mom become America’s most famous mother?”
An unseen woman depicts Lori and her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, as having a “perfect marriage” before her religious convictions as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) became increasingly extreme in the Sins of Our Mother trailer. Friends believe the mother of Colby Ryan, Tylee Ryan, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow changed radically after meeting LDS apocalyptic author Chad Daybell in 2018.
Chad believed that only the pious could survive the impending apocalypse and that he could discriminate between good and evil spirits. According to Chad’s beliefs, the only way to free the spirit of someone who is “extremely dark” is to destroy the body, as revealed in the three-part Netflix documentary.
In February 2019, Charles filed for divorce in Arizona, saying Lori threatened to murder him if he interfered with her “preparations for Christ’s second coming.” According to Sins of Our Mother, Charles wrote that Lori referred to her daughter Tylee as an “evil soul.” He got a restraining order against his ex-wife because he was afraid for his life. She had allegedly stolen money from their joint bank account and sold his truck.
Lori’s brother, Alex Cox, shot and killed Charles in July 2019, claiming self-defense. Cox died of natural causes months later, in December, and he was never charged in connection with Charles’ murder. However, in September 2021, officials deemed Charles’ death a homicide, and Lori was charged with murder conspiracy.
Meanwhile, Chad’s wife, Tammy Daybell, died in October 2019 of what officials called “natural causes.” A few weeks later, Lori married Chad. This caught the attention of the police, who dug up Tammy’s body and did an autopsy.
Furthermore, Tylee, 17, and JJ, 7, went missing in September 2019. Lori and Chad misled police about the children’s whereabouts after family members reported them missing. When the Daybells left the state in November 2019, Idaho police began investigating them. In February 2020, authorities apprehended the pair in Kauai, Hawaii, and arrested Lori on felony counts of desertion and failure to support her dependent children. In the meantime, Lori’s family, especially her son Colby, pushed her to say where Tylee and JJ really were.
The bodies of the children were discovered on Chad’s ranch in rural Idaho in June 2020. Lori and Chad were charged in May 2021 with first-degree murder in connection with the murders of Tylee, JJ, and Tammy. According to NBC News, the couple pled not guilty but could face the death penalty if convicted. In the meantime, Lori’s charges in Arizona for plotting to kill Charles have been put on hold until the Idaho case is decided.
As Sins of Our Mother pointed out, the causes of death for Tylee, JJ, and Tammy have not been made public. Despite an earlier finding to the contrary, Lori was found mentally competent to stand trial in April 2022 by a court. Lori and Chad are slated to stand trial together in Ada County, Idaho, in January 2023, with prosecutors pursuing the death sentence in both instances.