Dateline NBC S30E08 The Doomsday Files H 264

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00:00:09I'm Lester Holt.

00:00:10Tonight on Dateline, she's the woman at the center of so many suspicious deaths.

00:00:16Now, a whole new twist in the case of Lori Vallow, Mommy Doomsday.

00:00:22I know Lori's your first name, right?

00:00:24L-A-U-R-I.

00:00:25L-O-R-I.

00:00:26I think it's her stage.

00:00:27Those interview rooms are Lori Vallow's stage.

00:00:31Tonight, newly released evidence in this notorious web of murder.

00:00:35Two dead children, two dead spouses.

00:00:38Her husband was shot to death.

00:00:41He goes nuts.

00:00:42Goes nuts like yelling and screaming.

00:00:44Yeah, yelling and screaming.

00:00:45She essentially convinces the detective that she's a victim.

00:00:48That's an incredible thing to see.

00:00:50Tell me about Tylee in that interview room.

00:00:53I heard yelling from, like, right outside my door.

00:00:58It's really tragic because we all know how the story ends.

00:01:03There's brand new stuff here that we had not heard.

00:01:08Videotapes.

00:01:08My kids are, I'm worried they're in danger.

00:01:10Interviews.

00:01:11What happened when you came out with a gun?

00:01:12I said, put that bat down.

00:01:13Audio recordings.

00:01:14They could be up to something.

00:01:16It was all for Lori and Chad to be together.

00:01:19Sex, money, and revenge.

00:01:20It's shocking, isn't it?

00:01:22Yes.

00:01:33Here's Keith Morrison with The Doomsday Files.

00:01:42July 11, 2019.

00:01:45Chandler, Arizona Police Department.

00:01:47A 40-something suburban mom sits down to talk with a detective.

00:01:52There's been a shooting.

00:01:54Tell me what happened.

00:01:55Chandler, police department.

00:01:56Anybody inside, make yourself known.

00:01:58The woman's husband of 14 years is dead.

00:02:03Start where you think it makes the most sense.

00:02:05Okay.

00:02:06So, um...

00:02:08The woman describes a marriage in turmoil.

00:02:11It's all these threats on my phone all the time, you know, like, whatever.

00:02:15All these things.

00:02:17He has anger issues, she tells them.

00:02:19My child...

00:02:20There are children caught in the middle.

00:02:24In some ways, the story is all too familiar.

00:02:27Besides, there's her brother.

00:02:28What you might also find familiar for an entirely different reason is the name of the woman telling it.

00:02:34I know Lori's your first name, right?

00:02:37Yes.

00:02:37L-A-U-R-I.

00:02:38L-O-R-I.

00:02:38Okay.

00:02:40And then, what's your last name?

00:02:42Vallow.

00:02:42Yes.

00:02:43It's her.

00:02:44Lori Vallow.

00:02:46Welcome back, Lori.

00:02:47Where are your kids?

00:02:49A name known the world over.

00:02:51Linked forever to the awful things that happened to her children, Tylee and JJ.

00:02:56The police couldn't...

00:02:58We've been reporting on this story for almost two years now.

00:03:01Tonight, there's new evidence.

00:03:03The most complete picture yet.

00:03:06And...

00:03:06Revelations.

00:03:08Interviews with Lori and her daughter, Tylee.

00:03:11He honestly just looked like kind of a crazy person.

00:03:14And Alex, Lori's brother and alleged hitman.

00:03:19What's up, Alex?

00:03:20Yeah.

00:03:20Just keep your hands out where we can see him, all right?

00:03:22We're good.

00:03:23New text messages, recordings, interviews, crime scene photos.

00:03:29No comment.

00:03:30New details about the adulterous affair that set the whole terrible sequence in motion.

00:03:34A crime wave that moved so quickly.

00:03:37Police in three states could not keep up with it.

00:03:41Stand up.

00:03:42Face away from me.

00:03:43Put your hands behind your back.

00:03:46Yeah.

00:03:47Much of the story we're going to tell you tonight comes from files that have only recently been made public.

00:03:52New evidence.

00:03:54The puzzle pieces of this strange tale, wild and deadly, which grew perversely from an occasion devoted to piety.

00:04:05It all began here, about a year and a half before Lori's husband was shot.

00:04:10This is St. George, Utah, where Lori Vallow attended a spiritual conference for a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter

00:04:17-day Saints group called Preparing a People and met a man named Chad Daybell, a speaker and author whose books

00:04:27of fiction were centered on the end times.

00:04:30So I had an idea come for an entire trilogy.

00:04:33This was like an instant fatal attraction.

00:04:36Nate Eaton and Eric Grossarth are reporters for East Idaho News and Dateline contributors.

00:04:41They've been following the case of Lori and Chad from the beginning.

00:04:45It was an instant lust, an instant attraction, an instant, I want you and I will do anything to have

00:04:53you.

00:04:54Lori Vallow was attractive, no question.

00:04:57A former cheerleader.

00:04:58Contestant number 13 is Lori.

00:05:00Fit and blonde, an ex-Mrs. Texas contestant even.

00:05:05She's Mrs. Hayes County.

00:05:08When Lori attended that conference in Utah, she was married, apparently happily, to husband number four, Charles Vallow.

00:05:17Charles had converted to the LDS church when they married.

00:05:21It was Lori that kind of led them into that direction.

00:05:25Charles's brothers, Jerry and Bobby, speaking out here for the first time.

00:05:29Charles, a searching soul as he was, picked it up and thought it was beautiful and ran with it.

00:05:36He would have done anything to make her happy.

00:05:39But Lori's previous marriages had ended badly, bitterly.

00:05:44She'd been subjected to psychiatric assessments more than once, but she'd passed, always.

00:05:51She's very friendly, she's very personable, and it seems as if she used that charm to appear like

00:05:58she may in some cases be the victim.

00:06:01So Lori Vallow was beautiful and charming, and increasingly infatuated with small groups of Mormon extremists

00:06:10who predicted the imminent end of the world.

00:06:13Lori's son, Colby.

00:06:15Growing up, she's definitely mentioned the end of the world.

00:06:19Like, well, you know what?

00:06:20These things won't matter as much because the world's going to end.

00:06:23And Chad Daybell?

00:06:25Chad Daybell was about the nicest guy you could ever meet in your life.

00:06:30Former NFL quarterback Scott Mitchell grew up with Chad, knew him as the guy who did not light up a

00:06:38room.

00:06:39I think Chad grew up very average, and I think Chad found a way for himself to be something.

00:06:46And I kind of like it to, like, Forrest Gump.

00:06:50Forrest Gump was a fictional character who was built around real events.

00:06:55And you watch the movie, and you go, was he really there?

00:06:58For years, Chad Daybell had been writing and self-publishing end-times fiction,

00:07:04fanciful stories about angels and demons.

00:07:07He'd moved his wife Tammy and their five children to Rexburg, Idaho,

00:07:11where he believed the saved would gather at the end of days.

00:07:16Chad's day job had long been sexton in a cemetery.

00:07:20It's actually the favorite book of a lot of people that read my books.

00:07:24He even wrote a book about being a grave digger,

00:07:28who came to imagine he could talk to the dead

00:07:30and pass back and forth through some sort of veil between this world and the next.

00:07:35When she was there on the other side of the veil...

00:07:37So very different, these two, like nitro and glycerin.

00:07:42Chad's childhood friend, Paul Giles...

00:07:45I think she was the 55-gallon drum

00:07:48of high-octane aviation gas into Chad's life.

00:07:55It was apparent almost from the moment the St. George Conference began.

00:08:00The saver showed me a window.

00:08:01She was fascinated by Chad's books and his ideas about the second coming.

00:08:06He looked in her eyes and saw a goddess.

00:08:10And by the end of that Genesis weekend, lust was in full flower.

00:08:15A love affair had begun.

00:08:16And like some demonic version of creation,

00:08:20a plan had begun to form.

00:08:24Complete with a helper, some came to call the angel of death,

00:08:30Lori's faithful brother, Alex Cox.

00:08:34She had some kind of a hold over him.

00:08:36This is Alex's friend, Jill Kimmel.

00:08:39Alex was the one.

00:08:40He's like, I'm in, I'm yours, what do you need?

00:08:43Disciples joined them, among them a seeker named Zulema.

00:08:46I saw Lori and Chad as law-abiding, God-fearing people.

00:08:53And a niece.

00:08:55I loved Lori.

00:08:56Lori used to carry me around as a little baby

00:08:57and pretend that I was hers when she was 16.

00:09:01All joined this crusade for the select

00:09:04to get to a heaven due to arrive very soon.

00:09:07But as investigators sifted through secret recordings,

00:09:10newly revealed texts,

00:09:12all the other fresh evidence,

00:09:15the crusade these lovers were leading

00:09:17began to seem less like a heavenly mission

00:09:19and more like a bloody crime spree.

00:09:23Hey, see, we got one subject down,

00:09:25a parent gunshot wounds in a chest.

00:09:28When we come back,

00:09:29Charles was in her way

00:09:31and she wanted Charles out of the way.

00:09:33The killing begins.

00:09:35I said, be on the lookout or something.

00:09:37They could be up to something.

00:09:39I think he was afraid.

00:09:40And unfortunately, the police,

00:09:41I don't think they took it that seriously.

00:09:59Chad Daybell was smitten,

00:10:01mesmerized by this goddess who'd come his way.

00:10:05And soon the man who imagined he could jump back and forth

00:10:08between this world and the next

00:10:10decided Lori Vallow was a goddess,

00:10:13a woman beyond human,

00:10:15with unearthly spiritual powers.

00:10:18Almost right away,

00:10:19as newly released police evidence reveals,

00:10:22Chad began looking for a way

00:10:23to separate Lori from her husband, Charles.

00:10:26She didn't need much coaxing.

00:10:28None, in fact.

00:10:30Charles was in her way

00:10:31and she wanted Charles out of the way

00:10:34because he was blocking these spiritual gifts.

00:10:37She was not able to accomplish the mission

00:10:38that she needed to do.

00:10:40Oh, yes, the mission.

00:10:42Chad told Lori they'd been married to each other

00:10:46many times over many lives.

00:10:48And in this life,

00:10:50their greatest mission of all

00:10:52was to bring together the 144,000 true believers

00:10:55for the second coming of Jesus.

00:10:58And that they had to fight off evil spirits

00:11:01inhabiting people in their own families.

00:11:05Charles may have looked human, said Chad,

00:11:08but in fact was a zombie named Ned Schneider.

00:11:12I think labeling Charles as a zombie

00:11:17was probably the catalyst

00:11:19that set this whole plot in motion.

00:11:21Dr. John Mathias is a clinical psychologist

00:11:24with more than 25 years' experience

00:11:26as a forensic interviewer

00:11:28and expert witness for the courts.

00:11:30He and his journalist's wife, Lauren,

00:11:32host the Hidden True Crime podcast.

00:11:35They've studied the case from the start,

00:11:38developed their own strong sources,

00:11:39and devoted their podcast exclusively

00:11:42to the case of Chad and Lori.

00:11:44We have some research from the evidence dump

00:11:47that he was Googling Ned Schneider

00:11:50six months before Charles' death.

00:11:52Who he is is still a mystery,

00:11:54but Chad was surely interested in him?

00:11:57Soon after that,

00:11:58a worry Charles told police

00:12:00that Lori was threatening to murder him

00:12:02and have an angel dispose of his body.

00:12:05He says, I'm Nick Schneider.

00:12:08I've taken over Charles' body.

00:12:11And Charles has been killed.

00:12:13I think he was afraid.

00:12:14And unfortunately, the police, you know,

00:12:16they looked at Charles.

00:12:17He's a pretty big guy.

00:12:18And I don't think they took it that seriously.

00:12:21Charles confided in his brothers.

00:12:24She was saying things like she was supernatural

00:12:29and could fly to different planets.

00:12:32At the same time,

00:12:34Lori was texting her brother, Alex.

00:12:37Apparently, it is tied to Ned being gone,

00:12:40hopefully today or tomorrow.

00:12:42Alex responds,

00:12:43Have fun and get rid of Ned already.

00:12:47Meanwhile,

00:12:48Lori and Chad were making plans.

00:12:50Lori went online for wedding rings.

00:12:53Not long after Chad and Lori met,

00:12:55they went to a Latter-day Saint temple

00:12:57and they felt that they had been sealed.

00:13:00It wasn't something that anybody

00:13:03pronounced upon them that,

00:13:05hey, you guys, Chad and Lori, are married.

00:13:08It was some sort of feeling

00:13:10that they felt they had.

00:13:11How would the LDS church look on an act like that?

00:13:15For a couple to come out and say,

00:13:17we've self-sealed ourself,

00:13:18you would look at them like they were crazy.

00:13:20But it wasn't crazy at all to Chad.

00:13:23And Lori?

00:13:25This is Lori's other brother.

00:13:27His name is Adam Cox.

00:13:29And later, Adam told the police

00:13:31what she was like after Chad entered her life.

00:13:35She, you know, talks to Jesus in the temple.

00:13:38She has a higher priesthood than the rest of us.

00:13:41And just some things that were alarming to me.

00:13:44And she goes, you think I'm crazy, don't you?

00:13:46And I was like, I don't know if you're crazy,

00:13:47but none of that makes any sense to me.

00:13:50And then, as this new trove of evidence reveals,

00:13:53events moved at a kind of fever pitch.

00:13:56Adam and Charles discussed an intervention for Lori.

00:13:59Then Charles discovered the affair and confronted Lori

00:14:03and told Chad's wife Tammy, the mother of his five children.

00:14:07So Tammy confronted Chad,

00:14:09who, meanwhile, was telling Lori that Charles was conspiring

00:14:12with her brother Adam to kill her for insurance money.

00:14:17Got all that?

00:14:18Like some amusing soap opera, but not so deadly.

00:14:24On July 10th, the day before the shooting,

00:14:27Lori texted Alex,

00:14:29I'm going to need you to stay close to me the next couple of days.

00:14:33Thank you for standing by me.

00:14:36It's all coming to a head this week.

00:14:39Indeed it was.

00:14:41Alex responded to that text from Lori

00:14:43by spending the night in her house.

00:14:46The time had come.

00:14:48It was the next morning, July 11th, 2019.

00:14:53By then, Charles and Lori had separated,

00:14:55but that morning Charles had arranged

00:14:56to pick up their son J.J. and take him to school.

00:15:00As he arrived at Lori's house,

00:15:02he texted Adam to tell him something odd.

00:15:06Alex's truck was at Lori's house.

00:15:09So when Charles texted me,

00:15:11Alex is here,

00:15:12I said, that sounds weird.

00:15:15Why is he at Lori's house?

00:15:16I said, be on the lookout or something.

00:15:18They could be up to something.

00:15:20And Charles texted me back, absolutely.

00:15:22The crime spree had begun.

00:15:259-1-1, where is your emergency?

00:15:30Coming up.

00:15:31I was worried he was going to come over

00:15:33and cause trouble with me.

00:15:35Lori tells her story.

00:15:37He goes nuts.

00:15:38Goes nuts like yelling and screaming.

00:15:40Yeah, yelling and screaming.

00:15:42She essentially convinces the detective

00:15:44that she's a victim.

00:15:45That's an incredible thing to see.

00:15:47When Dateline continues.

00:16:01That's right.

00:16:02Fire is right up the street.

00:16:03The police in Chandler, Arizona,

00:16:05were wearing body cams

00:16:06when they responded to the 9-1-1 call

00:16:08from Lori Vallow's house.

00:16:10What happened today?

00:16:11And here they encountered 51-year-old Alex Cox

00:16:15He was just yelling at me.

00:16:16Standing in the front yard.

00:16:18Okay.

00:16:19Inside, Alex's brother-in-law,

00:16:21Charles Vallow, age 62,

00:16:23was lying dead on the living room floor.

00:16:26A bit later, Lori arrived

00:16:28with her daughter Tylee in tow.

00:16:30How long have you lived here?

00:16:31Like three weeks.

00:16:32If you've been following the story,

00:16:34you may remember this.

00:16:36That's why the neighbors don't know us.

00:16:38Gotcha.

00:16:39Like, hi neighbor, sorry.

00:16:42But here's what you may not have seen before.

00:16:45The story Lori told police

00:16:47just hours after her husband was shot to death.

00:16:51He doesn't want a divorce,

00:16:53but I don't like him

00:16:54and don't want to tell him, so.

00:16:56Charles had come to her house

00:16:57to pick up their adopted son, J.J., for school.

00:17:01And, according to Lori, he was angry.

00:17:04And he's, like, banging on the door.

00:17:06I'm like, oh, great, here we go, you know.

00:17:08And it was just going to be nice.

00:17:09It was just going to be nice as possible.

00:17:11Cell phone data put Charles' arrival at 7.35.

00:17:15You'll want to remember that.

00:17:16He's, like, acting really weird,

00:17:19like he's plotting something.

00:17:21But anyway, he goes nuts.

00:17:24He's going nuts on us a lot of times.

00:17:25Goes nuts like yelling and screaming.

00:17:27Yeah, yelling and screaming.

00:17:29So that woke up Tylee, she said.

00:17:32Tylee was Lori's 16-year-old daughter

00:17:33from a previous marriage.

00:17:35So Tylee came out of her room upset,

00:17:38and she had a bat,

00:17:40and she told him to leave her mother alone,

00:17:41like, right?

00:17:43So she was really, whatever,

00:17:44and he's screaming at her.

00:17:46And then my brother heard all the commotion.

00:17:48That's Lori's brother, Alex.

00:17:50Remember, she'd invited him over.

00:17:52So he came after you with the bat.

00:17:54And here he is telling police

00:17:56he felt the need to protect Lori.

00:17:59All I heard was her say,

00:18:00don't touch me,

00:18:01and then him coming right after her.

00:18:03And I shoved him back.

00:18:05Okay.

00:18:05And I said, what are you doing?

00:18:08He's not going to hurt my sister.

00:18:09Hi.

00:18:10In another interview room,

00:18:12Tylee was supporting her mother's story.

00:18:14Can you basically tell me what happened today?

00:18:18He honestly just looked like kind of a crazy person.

00:18:22Tylee told police that Charles made a move for the bat.

00:18:26He just grabbed it and tried to take it,

00:18:30so I held on to the end,

00:18:31and then eventually I fell,

00:18:32and he kind of took it into his hands.

00:18:35Technicians would test the bat, of course,

00:18:38for DNA and fingerprints later.

00:18:41But detectives didn't know

00:18:42when they talked to Tylee,

00:18:44they'd turn up nothing conclusive

00:18:46to show that Charles ever laid a hand on that bat.

00:18:49He came at me with the bat again.

00:18:51But Alex claimed there was quite a scrum then

00:18:54in the hallway with Charles.

00:18:57He hit me in the back of the head.

00:18:59I don't know if it was with the bat or not.

00:19:01I assumed it was.

00:19:02Sure enough, police found a laceration

00:19:04on the back of Alex's head,

00:19:06although they didn't think it looked like a wound

00:19:08inflicted by a baseball bat

00:19:09in the hands of a big guy like Charles.

00:19:12What did you do? Did you go?

00:19:14I just went straight to the room.

00:19:15Okay.

00:19:15Because I said, this needs to calm down.

00:19:18Okay.

00:19:18But he didn't just sit in the bedroom and wait, he said.

00:19:21He picked up his .45 caliber handgun instead.

00:19:25What happened when you came out with the gun?

00:19:27I said, put that bat down.

00:19:29How many times would you say you told him

00:19:30to, like, put the bat down?

00:19:32Once.

00:19:32Once? Okay.

00:19:33And then he started advancing towards you.

00:19:36Chandler police detectives,

00:19:38Cassandra Inclan and Nathan Moffat,

00:19:40conducted the interviews of Laurie and Alex.

00:19:44What kind of impression did you get of this guy?

00:19:46He was matter of fact.

00:19:47He was up front.

00:19:48But he also said a very standard line of,

00:19:51I was in fear for my safety.

00:19:52So I shot him.

00:19:54Two shots.

00:19:56Laurie said she heard them from the kitchen,

00:19:58then came around the corner

00:19:59to see Charles on the floor.

00:20:02I just went in to Mama and I'm like,

00:20:05I've got to go to get JJ to school.

00:20:06And Tylee was, like, looking at me with, like, the crazy eyes,

00:20:09like, what just happened?

00:20:11And I told her to get in the car and we're going to take JJ to school.

00:20:14And they did.

00:20:16Cell phone data shows they left the house at 7.49 a.m.

00:20:20And five minutes later at 7.54,

00:20:23surveillance video shows Laurie, JJ, and Tylee

00:20:26at this Burger King drive-thru,

00:20:28grabbing breakfast before school.

00:20:30She was like, we're just going to take JJ to school.

00:20:32And I was like, okay, so I just got in the car.

00:20:34Differences of degree,

00:20:35but all three more or less told the same story.

00:20:39He was just yelling at me.

00:20:41Backing Alex's claim that he shot Charles in self-defense.

00:20:45There were small indiscrepancies,

00:20:46but it wasn't anything that was major,

00:20:49anything that you went, oh, man, this is, you know,

00:20:51this is a big deal or there's a major problem here.

00:20:53So it didn't make it itself obvious at the beginning.

00:20:55It didn't.

00:20:57But in fact, something rather amazing had taken place

00:21:00during Laurie's interview.

00:21:01We do have victim services

00:21:04that work within the police department.

00:21:07They're right over here.

00:21:08A victim's advocate?

00:21:10That's what the detective was offering.

00:21:13There was this incredible transformation

00:21:16that occurs in Laurie's interview.

00:21:19She essentially convinces the detective

00:21:21that she's a victim, right?

00:21:23And that's an incredible thing to see in 30 minutes.

00:21:28But an investigation began

00:21:30and things began to emerge,

00:21:33things that didn't add up.

00:21:35Like, for example,

00:21:36Alex claimed he fired his two shots

00:21:39while Charles was standing, confronting him.

00:21:41But the bullet police found in the floor

00:21:44beneath Charles's body suggested Alex took the second shot

00:21:47when Charles was already down.

00:21:49Then there was this.

00:21:51Remember,

00:21:52Laurie had texted Alex

00:21:54and asked him to stay close

00:21:55with Charles coming over.

00:21:58So why did Alex respond to police questions this way?

00:22:02Is there a reason you spent the night there last night?

00:22:05No, not really.

00:22:06Okay.

00:22:07Just hang out.

00:22:08We were going to hang out today.

00:22:09Okay.

00:22:10Did your sister ever tell you

00:22:11she was concerned for her safety

00:22:13or well-being for Charles coming there?

00:22:15No.

00:22:16Now, compare that to the way

00:22:18Laurie answered the question.

00:22:20Did your brother live there with you?

00:22:22No.

00:22:22Okay.

00:22:23He had stayed with me last night

00:22:24because I was worried

00:22:25he was going to come over

00:22:26and it would cause trouble with me.

00:22:28Okay.

00:22:28And just wanted someone else there,

00:22:31like my brother there

00:22:33because I trust my brother.

00:22:34Then there was the timing of things.

00:22:37Phone records showed Laurie left the house

00:22:39with the kids at 7.49 a.m.

00:22:41Charles had been shot by then.

00:22:43But Alex did not call 911 until 8.36,

00:22:48more than 45 minutes after the shooting

00:22:51and after Laurie left the house.

00:22:53And yet on that call,

00:22:56Alex told the operator.

00:22:57How long ago did this happen?

00:22:59A couple of minutes.

00:23:01Now that was a lie.

00:23:03And Alex knew it.

00:23:04In fact, before he called 911,

00:23:07he phoned Laurie.

00:23:09They had a chat.

00:23:11He didn't mention that.

00:23:13And neither did she.

00:23:15It would be months before detectives

00:23:17could add up all the bits and pieces.

00:23:20What a pity.

00:23:22Given what happens.

00:23:26Coming up.

00:23:28Are you calling in reference to a death claim?

00:23:31Yes.

00:23:32Charles' life insurance policy.

00:23:34A million-dollar motive for murder?

00:23:36Are you aware of who the primary beneficiary of the policy is?

00:23:40It's me.

00:23:44It's me.

00:23:57After their interviews at the Chandler Police Department,

00:24:00the detectives gave Laurie, Alex, and Tylee a ride back home.

00:24:04The van ride was straight-up bizarre for me.

00:24:07It was the weirdest ride I've ever had with, you know, three strangers.

00:24:11Why would you say that?

00:24:13Laurie was just, it was kind of like a happy-go-lucky.

00:24:15Um, she was just kind of smiling.

00:24:18It was just a very, very bizarre ride back.

00:24:20Word of Charles' death spread among his family.

00:24:23What was that like?

00:24:25It was being thumping and hitting the chest with a cannonball or something.

00:24:30They said it was self-defense.

00:24:31That was not self-defense.

00:24:33That was an ambush.

00:24:35There's a lot of inconsistencies about that story.

00:24:39Then again, they'd been worried for a while,

00:24:41given the things Charles had been telling them about Laurie's spiritual 180.

00:24:45He said she had chosen a different path,

00:24:48but maybe he didn't know the extent of the path she chose.

00:24:53Well, as detectives dug into the death of Charles,

00:24:56they began to uncover more about Laurie's path

00:24:59and evidence that her spiritual guru and boyfriend Chad Daybell

00:25:03was deeply involved in, well, in whatever was going on.

00:25:09For example, this newly released phone call.

00:25:12How can I help you today?

00:25:14Um, we just had our death in the family.

00:25:16That's Chad calling a funeral home in Arizona,

00:25:20just hours after Charles' death.

00:25:22We really don't want anything but a cremation

00:25:26and then to send the true names to a family in Louisiana.

00:25:30Is there any way to know a ballpark price on that?

00:25:33Yes.

00:25:34And I'm sorry for, uh...

00:25:36Um, thank you.

00:25:38Chad probably wouldn't have made it as a secret agent.

00:25:43What is your name, please?

00:25:45It is Chad Daybell.

00:25:46At the beginning of the call, he actually uses his name,

00:25:49but then when they ask for his name again,

00:25:51he changes it minutes later.

00:25:53Like, on the spot, like,

00:25:55oh, no, I better come up with something.

00:25:57How do you spell the last name, please?

00:25:59D-A-B-A-L.

00:26:02How are you related to the person of death?

00:26:04I'm his nephew.

00:26:06I live in Iowa.

00:26:08Of course, death often does lead to questions about money.

00:26:12As detectives learned when they heard this call from Lori.

00:26:17Are you calling in reference to a death claim?

00:26:20Yes.

00:26:21This is Lori, five days after Charles' death,

00:26:24inquiring about his life insurance policy of a million dollars.

00:26:29And your relationship to the insured?

00:26:32Um, he's my husband.

00:26:34And what was the cause of his passing?

00:26:37Well, he was shot.

00:26:39Was it a homicide?

00:26:40No, it was an accident.

00:26:42Are you aware of who the primary beneficiary of the policy is?

00:26:45Um, it's me.

00:26:47Hmm, not exactly.

00:26:49Days later, Lori was informed that the beneficiary was, in fact, not her at all.

00:26:55News that Lori had to break to Chad.

00:26:58She texted him, quote,

00:26:59So I talked to the insurance company.

00:27:02He changed it in March.

00:27:04So it was probably Ned before we got rid of him.

00:27:08It's a spear through my heart.

00:27:11And there it was.

00:27:13We got rid of him.

00:27:14Meaning Charles.

00:27:16A text found months later that left no doubt.

00:27:19Lori was upset that the shooting of Charles did not produce an insurance payout.

00:27:24She was not happy.

00:27:26They were counting on that money.

00:27:27They were.

00:27:28They were.

00:27:29Later, detectives found that another member of Lori's circle was thinking about life insurance.

00:27:34Lori's niece, Melanie, texted her a week after Charles' death.

00:27:38You should get a life insurance policy on JJ, Tylee, and you.

00:27:42Because after Charles, we see that anything can always happen if it's in the Lord's will.

00:27:49But even if Lori and Chad couldn't cash in on insurance, the detectives would discover

00:27:53they had plenty of motive to want Charles out of the way.

00:27:57And with Alex and his gun, they also had the means.

00:28:02I told Lori, this is like watching a robot.

00:28:05When somebody ends up dead that happens to be your brother-in-law of 15 years, right?

00:28:11Like, you'd expect some humane response.

00:28:16Right, something.

00:28:18Yeah.

00:28:19Given the stakes, how peculiar was it that Alex, who had a part-time career as a stand-up

00:28:24comic, started cracking jokes while police were taking his photograph?

00:28:29You know what's sad when you're posing for photographs and you don't have a good side?

00:28:32Thanks.

00:28:34Tylee, on the other hand, a bundle of nerves, said Dr. Mathias.

00:28:39She can't sit still, so the anxiety is the most evident part of that interview.

00:28:43Under her breath, Tylee was humming a song from the Disney movie Moana.

00:28:51And the lyrics are heartbreaking.

00:28:53I've been standing at the edge of the water, long as I can remember, never really knowing

00:28:59why I wish I could be the perfect daughter.

00:29:04But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try.

00:29:07Wow.

00:29:09If you want to know how complicated it is to be Lori Vallow's daughter, I think it says

00:29:14it right there.

00:29:15A daughter unaware, as she defended her mother, that her own fate was waiting.

00:29:25Coming up, Chad Daybell's secret romance novel.

00:29:30He's had this fantasy for years of kind of the perfect Mormon partner.

00:29:35Fifty Shades of Chad and Lori.

00:29:38I wouldn't call him madly in love.

00:29:40I'd call him madly in lust.

00:29:41When Dateline continues.

00:29:57Something was happening to Chad Daybell.

00:30:00The once quiet ex-gravedigger had assumed a mantle of godly certainty.

00:30:05And now, for the newly-mitted widow, Lori Vallow, he became a great lover, as he worked the

00:30:11phone like a teenager with FOMO, fear of missing out, that furtive call to the funeral home,

00:30:17and texts to Lori, quote,

00:30:20I am heading to bed so that I can come snuggle tightly against you.

00:30:25I adore you.

00:30:26You are truly my best friend on earth and throughout eternity.

00:30:31Of course, this was fantasy snuggling.

00:30:34A text directed to Lori in Arizona, but Chad, still in Idaho, still very married to his wife

00:30:40of 29 years, Tammy, the mother of his five children.

00:30:45Except, Chad told Lori, their trysts were more than fantasy.

00:30:50That he'd go into his closet at night and cross some otherworldly threshold to be with her.

00:30:57That's Chad Daybell flexing his muscles for Lori.

00:31:01If Chad Daybell is not a prophet, then he's just an average Joe.

00:31:05In fact, more newly-released records show that immediately after Charles was killed,

00:31:11Chad poured out a love story.

00:31:13All in texts and emails to Lori.

00:31:17Two chapters, 12 full pages, hundreds of texts.

00:31:21Never before heard.

00:31:23It was written as if fictional.

00:31:25It was the story of their meeting at that religious conference in St. George, Utah.

00:31:31Friday morning, October 26th, driving south on the freeway, a voice said,

00:31:37you will meet an extraordinary woman today who will change your life forever.

00:31:41He doesn't use the name Chad and Lori.

00:31:43He uses the names James and Elena.

00:31:45Before long, the story continued.

00:31:48James and Elena were introduced at a conference in St. George.

00:31:52A conference just like the one they attended, of course.

00:31:57Their feelings were very strong, as if they had known each other oh so long.

00:32:02They lived at a time when Jesus walked the earth together,

00:32:06and now they're back reunited again.

00:32:09He called Elena, or Lori, an exalted goddess, and was obsessed with her physical beauty.

00:32:17He couldn't deny their connection and his absolute attraction to her.

00:32:22She still seemed way out of his league.

00:32:25He's had this fantasy for years of kind of the perfect Mormon partner,

00:32:30and here it is in front of him, and he doesn't want to lose this opportunity.

00:32:34Chad's romance novel often took turns that would make a harlequin editor blush.

00:32:39Their spirits could not be restrained any longer,

00:32:42and a long-awaited make-out session took place in that lobby.

00:32:46This was manifest in the mortal world to James and Elena

00:32:50through the scientific phenomenon known as loin fire.

00:32:55Loin fire.

00:32:56I'm not sure what science they're referring to there,

00:32:59but maybe like biblical science?

00:33:02It's pretty basic, I think.

00:33:05Yeah, I wouldn't call him madly in love.

00:33:08I'd call him madly in lust.

00:33:10We'll spare you much of the rest of that story,

00:33:13but this is the key point.

00:33:16As James placed his hands on her head,

00:33:18he connected with Elena's true, eternal self.

00:33:22He knew he was in the presence of an exalted goddess

00:33:24who had returned to earth to perform a special mission.

00:33:28She then gave him a tremendous blessing

00:33:30that helped him realize how much she truly loved him

00:33:33and wanted to be with him forever.

00:33:36The love story shows that Chad's grandiosity is increasing.

00:33:42But a month after Charles' death,

00:33:45Laurie was getting impatient.

00:33:47Chad was still married to Tammy.

00:33:50So Laurie opted to play Hard to Get,

00:33:54this text.

00:33:55I'm just a distraction.

00:33:57Go have fun with your family.

00:33:59I really do want you to.

00:34:01I just can't be in the way anymore.

00:34:05If things change, we can talk,

00:34:07but we have nothing until things change anyway.

00:34:11Must have worked.

00:34:12Because two days later,

00:34:15after talking to God,

00:34:17she texted a friend.

00:34:20I got farther saying,

00:34:21things are moving,

00:34:22that I need to get to Idaho by the end of the month.

00:34:26She would have her Chad,

00:34:28and he her.

00:34:30And there would be a sacrifice.

00:34:35Coming up.

00:34:37They talked in code a lot.

00:34:39Any suggestion as to what was being said?

00:34:42Yes, a street name for Valium or Xanax.

00:34:47New information on the darkest chapter of this story,

00:34:51what happened to the children.

00:34:53My guess is they had already plotted out

00:34:55some of these crimes in advance.

00:35:13It was two months after Charles' death

00:35:15when Laurie left the jurisdiction of police in Arizona

00:35:19and moved into a rented townhouse in Rexburg, Idaho,

00:35:23and Alex rented his own space in the same complex.

00:35:28But here, too, there were inconvenient people

00:35:32in the way of Laurie and Chad.

00:35:35That list included Chad's wife, Tammy,

00:35:39and Laurie's children,

00:35:42seven-year-old JJ and 16-year-old Tylee.

00:35:45Here's new information.

00:35:48Hadn't Chad been suggesting for quite some time

00:35:51that Tylee had gone dark?

00:35:53Two days after they met in St. George, Utah,

00:35:56it took two days for him to send Laurie Vallow an email

00:35:59saying that her 16-year-old daughter Tylee is dark.

00:36:04But it didn't deter Laurie from moving forward

00:36:06with the relationship.

00:36:07Yeah, and then she was like, take me now.

00:36:09Sold.

00:36:10Ironic, of course.

00:36:12When Tylee was young, Laurie, with Alex's help,

00:36:16waged a ferocious custody battle

00:36:18to keep Tylee away from her biological father,

00:36:21Laurie's third husband, Joe Ryan.

00:36:24Alex even went to prison for attacking Joe.

00:36:27He said he wanted to kill the man to protect Tylee,

00:36:31to make sure she stayed with her mother.

00:36:34Now, a decade later,

00:36:36when Chad was in charge,

00:36:38Chad so versed in the Bible

00:36:41that it's stories of sacrifice.

00:36:44It's important to keep in mind, I think,

00:36:45with Chad and Laurie,

00:36:46that there's always a religious component.

00:36:47You know, the story of Abraham and Isaac,

00:36:50where God wanted to see

00:36:51if Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son.

00:36:54And I think you see some of that here with Chad.

00:36:57I think Chad is testing Laurie to some degree.

00:37:01This seems like the ultimate test

00:37:02to ask to sacrifice your kids.

00:37:06A few days after Laurie and her kids moved to Idaho,

00:37:09they went to Yellowstone Park,

00:37:11where they posed for these pictures with Uncle Alex.

00:37:15By that evening, September 8th,

00:37:17they were back in their new townhouses in Rexburg,

00:37:20Laurie and the kids in hers,

00:37:21Alex in his.

00:37:23And then, middle of that night,

00:37:26as GPS records show,

00:37:28Alex went to Laurie's place,

00:37:30spent two hours there.

00:37:32Was it common for Alex

00:37:35to spend the night at Laurie's place?

00:37:38No, he was not over at Laurie's house

00:37:40ever at night,

00:37:42except one particular night

00:37:44when they tracked him in the early morning hours,

00:37:47I believe somewhere around 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.

00:37:52Tylee was never seen alive again.

00:37:56As for JJ,

00:37:58less than a week later,

00:37:59on September 14th,

00:38:01Laurie and JJ went on an outing

00:38:03to a wildlife park.

00:38:06Laurie, we are at Bear World.

00:38:08It's such a beautiful day.

00:38:10But that very week,

00:38:12as friends later told us,

00:38:14Laurie said JJ had become a zombie.

00:38:18And now the new evidence spells out events

00:38:21and pictures and texts

00:38:22at Digital Trail.

00:38:25September 22nd,

00:38:26a last photo of JJ,

00:38:28ready for bed,

00:38:30in his red pajamas.

00:38:32That very day,

00:38:33Laurie sent this text to Alex.

00:38:36Laurie, do you have eggs?

00:38:38Alex, do you want me to get eggs

00:38:42and bring them to you?

00:38:43They talked in code a lot.

00:38:45Any suggestion as to what was being said

00:38:49when they talked about eggs?

00:38:50Yes.

00:38:51A street name

00:38:54for Valium or Xanax

00:38:55is eggs.

00:38:57And I've definitely wondered

00:38:59if that's what Laurie was referring to.

00:39:02With that,

00:39:03they could make the children go to sleep

00:39:05and do whatever with them

00:39:06they wanted to.

00:39:07Right.

00:39:08That evening,

00:39:09after the egg conversation,

00:39:12according to investigators,

00:39:13JJ was acting up.

00:39:15A friend who was visiting

00:39:17saw Alex take JJ outside.

00:39:20And then,

00:39:20a couple hours later,

00:39:22Alex brings back JJ.

00:39:24And he walked in,

00:39:25he had JJ on,

00:39:26he was asleep on him.

00:39:28And he carried him up to bed.

00:39:30By morning,

00:39:31JJ was gone.

00:39:32And he was never seen again.

00:39:37And Laurie sent a message

00:39:38to the babysitter

00:39:39she'd hired just days earlier.

00:39:41Here is her newly revealed text.

00:39:44Laurie.

00:39:45JJ's grandparents came this weekend

00:39:47and they took him for a few weeks

00:39:49to give me a break.

00:39:49So he won't be back

00:39:51until probably the end of October.

00:39:53What do you make

00:39:54of the timeline,

00:39:57the death of Tylee,

00:39:58and then just a couple of weeks later,

00:40:00the death of JJ?

00:40:02I think it suggests premeditation.

00:40:04My guess is before

00:40:06Laurie moved to Rexburg,

00:40:08they had already plotted out

00:40:10some of these crimes in advance.

00:40:13And there would be more deaths soon.

00:40:16Yes.

00:40:17But first,

00:40:19another shooting.

00:40:22Coming up.

00:40:24Um,

00:40:25someone just shot my window.

00:40:26A gun,

00:40:27a bullet,

00:40:28a brazen new attack.

00:40:30So why is someone laughing

00:40:32on secret recordings?

00:40:34This is like a crime novel.

00:40:37Yeah.

00:40:38Somebody's recording this.

00:40:40When Dateline continues.

00:40:54What's that saying?

00:40:56Life comes at you fast sometimes.

00:40:58Just a week after JJ was last seen,

00:41:01and three weeks after Tylee disappeared,

00:41:05Laurie was caught here

00:41:06on surveillance video

00:41:08at a storage unit she'd rented

00:41:10in Rexburg, Idaho.

00:41:12The next day,

00:41:14Laurie was joined

00:41:15by the still very married

00:41:16Chad Daybell.

00:41:18They moved items

00:41:19into the unit,

00:41:20a tire,

00:41:21and what looked like

00:41:23a folded back seat

00:41:24from some vehicle,

00:41:26before Chad,

00:41:27on the way out,

00:41:28gave Laurie a hand

00:41:29in a very intimate way.

00:41:32That same day,

00:41:34in the Phoenix suburb

00:41:35of Gilbert, Arizona,

00:41:36a frightened man

00:41:38called 911.

00:41:39Um,

00:41:40someone just shot my window

00:41:41when I was pouring in my house.

00:41:43I drove away,

00:41:43but I can see them driving off

00:41:44as I was trying to pull

00:41:46into my driveway.

00:41:47Sorry.

00:41:48I'm a little lost in breath.

00:41:49The voice on the line

00:41:50belonged to this man,

00:41:52Brandon Boudreau.

00:41:53At the time,

00:41:54he was going through

00:41:55a nasty custody fight

00:41:56with his wife,

00:41:58Melanie.

00:41:59Melanie,

00:42:00the niece

00:42:00of Laurie Vallow,

00:42:01and Alex Cox,

00:42:03the one who'd earlier

00:42:05suggested life insurance

00:42:06for J.J. and Tylee.

00:42:09Brandon told the police

00:42:11that he was arriving home

00:42:12from the gym

00:42:12around 9 a.m.

00:42:14He saw a Jeep

00:42:15parked nearby,

00:42:16and then a gun

00:42:17equipped with a silencer

00:42:19appeared in the Jeep's

00:42:19rear window,

00:42:20and suddenly he set

00:42:21a bullet whizzed

00:42:22by his ear

00:42:23and shattered

00:42:23the window of his car,

00:42:25and then the shooter

00:42:26and the Jeep

00:42:26took off.

00:42:28In court papers,

00:42:29Brandon described

00:42:30the vehicle

00:42:31as a gray Jeep

00:42:32with Texas plates.

00:42:34Police confirmed

00:42:35it was a Jeep

00:42:36Charles had bought

00:42:37for Tylee,

00:42:38one with a removable

00:42:39rear seat.

00:42:41And the guy

00:42:41driving the Jeep?

00:42:43Later,

00:42:44Brandon told

00:42:44a private eye,

00:42:45it looked like

00:42:46Laurie's brother,

00:42:47Alex.

00:42:48Remember,

00:42:49Alex had already

00:42:49killed his sister

00:42:50Laurie's husband.

00:42:51So was he trying

00:42:53to shoot his niece

00:42:54Melanie's husband too?

00:42:56Brandon certainly

00:42:57thought so.

00:42:58In an interview

00:43:00with Melanie

00:43:00and her new husband

00:43:01in March 2020,

00:43:03we asked Melanie

00:43:04about that.

00:43:05Did you ask Alex

00:43:07if he tried

00:43:08to shoot Brandon?

00:43:09I did.

00:43:11And he made

00:43:12some jokes about it,

00:43:13and then we both

00:43:14talked about

00:43:14how insane

00:43:15that would be

00:43:16for him

00:43:16across the street

00:43:18with a rifle

00:43:19in broad daylight

00:43:20in a recognizable car.

00:43:21Did he ever

00:43:22actually deny it?

00:43:23Yeah,

00:43:23he denied it

00:43:24many times.

00:43:26Melanie herself

00:43:27has denied

00:43:28wanting Brandon dead.

00:43:30After all,

00:43:31she said,

00:43:31he was the father

00:43:32of her children.

00:43:34But newly released

00:43:35texts show

00:43:36that Brandon

00:43:36was indeed

00:43:37out of favor

00:43:38with Chad and Laurie.

00:43:40Chad had labeled

00:43:41Brandon a

00:43:41Gadiuntan,

00:43:43which the Book of Mormon

00:43:44calls a secret

00:43:45criminal organization

00:43:47of robbers

00:43:48in ancient America.

00:43:49It's the ancient

00:43:50mafia

00:43:51in the Book of Mormon.

00:43:54Friends said

00:43:55Chad had also

00:43:56labeled Brandon

00:43:57dark.

00:43:58And dark,

00:44:00we know by this time,

00:44:02often meant

00:44:03marked for death.

00:44:05And then there was this.

00:44:07The day after

00:44:08the shooting

00:44:08in Arizona

00:44:09mid-afternoon,

00:44:10Alex appeared

00:44:11at that storage unit

00:44:13in Idaho.

00:44:14As you can see,

00:44:16he carried out

00:44:17the tire Chad

00:44:18put in the day before.

00:44:19And then also

00:44:20carried out

00:44:21the folded back seat.

00:44:22It is 922 miles

00:44:25and takes just

00:44:27over 14 hours

00:44:28to drive

00:44:29from where

00:44:30Brandon Boudreau lived

00:44:31back to that storage

00:44:33unit in Rexburg.

00:44:34It was definitely

00:44:35possible

00:44:35to go both places

00:44:37in that jeep.

00:44:40Soon after that,

00:44:41Alex returned

00:44:42to Arizona

00:44:42to help niece

00:44:43Melanie pack up

00:44:44her belongings

00:44:45and move to Idaho

00:44:48where she would live

00:44:49in an apartment

00:44:50right next door

00:44:51to her Aunt Lori

00:44:52and near her

00:44:53Uncle Alex.

00:44:55Later,

00:44:56in secretly recorded

00:44:57phone calls

00:44:57obtained by Dateline,

00:44:59Melanie offered

00:45:00a friend

00:45:00her thoughts

00:45:01on the attempted

00:45:02murder of Brandon.

00:45:04And I don't know

00:45:05if somebody

00:45:08did shoot

00:45:08out of his car

00:45:09window

00:45:09or if he did

00:45:10it himself.

00:45:11After the attempt

00:45:12on his life,

00:45:13Brandon went

00:45:14into hiding

00:45:14with their four

00:45:15children.

00:45:16Quite convinced,

00:45:17he told us later

00:45:18that Alex and Melanie

00:45:19were trying

00:45:19to hunt them down.

00:45:21But Melanie,

00:45:22on this call

00:45:23with her friend,

00:45:24said Brandon

00:45:25made it all up.

00:45:27I believe

00:45:28it was totally

00:45:29fabricated.

00:45:29The shooting?

00:45:31Yes.

00:45:32He tried to

00:45:34plot it on me.

00:45:35I obviously

00:45:35wasn't even

00:45:36in that area.

00:45:37I know the shooting

00:45:38did happen

00:45:39because he saw

00:45:40the car.

00:45:41No,

00:45:42I saw Brandon's car.

00:45:44Oh, okay.

00:45:45I thought that

00:45:46car window

00:45:46was shot at.

00:45:47But I don't,

00:45:48I think him

00:45:50shooting at his own

00:45:50car is what

00:45:51happened or

00:45:52somebody,

00:45:54somebody he's

00:45:55doing business with.

00:45:56But Brandon

00:45:56totally just spun

00:45:57that to say,

00:45:59well,

00:45:59now I'm hiding

00:45:59with all the kids

00:46:00to protect them.

00:46:03When we spoke

00:46:04with her,

00:46:04Melanie offered

00:46:05us a similar

00:46:05explanation of

00:46:06the shooting.

00:46:07And she denied

00:46:08being part of

00:46:09Lori and Chad's

00:46:10group,

00:46:12denied there

00:46:13even was a group,

00:46:14or as some

00:46:15labeled it,

00:46:16a cult.

00:46:17I'm not,

00:46:18and never have

00:46:19been a member

00:46:19of any cult.

00:46:21But on that

00:46:22recorded call,

00:46:23she certainly

00:46:24seemed to talk

00:46:25like a member

00:46:25of what Chad

00:46:26had come

00:46:27to call

00:46:28the Church

00:46:28of the Firstborn.

00:46:31And yes,

00:46:32she told her

00:46:32friend she was

00:46:33on the hunt

00:46:34for Brandon

00:46:34and the kids.

00:46:36There's like

00:46:37a whole bunch

00:46:37of warrior angels

00:46:39that are like

00:46:39trying to help

00:46:40find the kids

00:46:41right now.

00:46:41This is unreal.

00:46:42Like, this is,

00:46:43this is like,

00:46:44this is like a,

00:46:46this is like a crime novel.

00:46:53Some of what was

00:46:55then very real

00:46:56would be hard

00:46:57to make up.

00:46:58Like a certain

00:46:59text message

00:47:00sent around

00:47:01the same time,

00:47:02recovered later

00:47:03by police,

00:47:04and now,

00:47:05finally,

00:47:06revealed.

00:47:07Chad texting

00:47:08Lori.

00:47:09Big news.

00:47:12His wife Tammy

00:47:13had become a demon

00:47:14named Viola.

00:47:18Something would

00:47:19have to be done.

00:47:22Coming up.

00:47:23Did he ever

00:47:24express frustration

00:47:25to you

00:47:25that Tammy

00:47:26was still alive?

00:47:27Yes.

00:47:28The sudden death

00:47:29of spouse number two.

00:47:31Insiders speak out.

00:47:33I said,

00:47:33oh, wow.

00:47:34What did the coroner

00:47:36say with the autopsy show?

00:47:37And that was it.

00:47:39He knew I knew.

00:47:40I knew.

00:47:53During that first week

00:47:54of October 2019,

00:47:57as investigators

00:47:57in Gilbert, Arizona,

00:47:59looked for whoever

00:48:00fired a shot

00:48:01at Brandon Boudreau,

00:48:04the leaves changed

00:48:06and fall came

00:48:07to eastern Idaho.

00:48:09And Julie Rowe,

00:48:10who writes and speaks

00:48:12about the end times

00:48:13and related matters,

00:48:14picked up the phone

00:48:15to call her publisher,

00:48:17Chad Daybell.

00:48:19For months,

00:48:20Chad had been telling

00:48:21Julie he'd been having

00:48:22visions about his wife,

00:48:23Tammy.

00:48:24Visions of Tammy

00:48:25dying.

00:48:27It was unsettling,

00:48:29said Julie.

00:48:30I asked him,

00:48:31do you still see Tammy

00:48:32dying?

00:48:32Because he had told me

00:48:33he saw her dying

00:48:34in a car accident.

00:48:35And he said, yes.

00:48:36I wouldn't be surprised

00:48:37if she dies in her sleep,

00:48:38though.

00:48:40Even though Julie herself

00:48:41routinely discussed

00:48:42prophetic visions

00:48:43and visiting heaven

00:48:45on the other side

00:48:45of the veil,

00:48:46she was rattled

00:48:47by the things

00:48:48Chad was telling her.

00:48:49Did he ever express

00:48:50frustration to you

00:48:52that Tammy was still alive

00:48:53because he couldn't move on

00:48:55while she was alive?

00:48:56Yes.

00:48:57At least four times

00:48:58that I know of,

00:48:59he said to me,

00:49:00I don't feel like my clan

00:49:01can move on until Tammy dies

00:49:02or until Tammy's dead.

00:49:03I got this ick feeling,

00:49:05but I could never imagine

00:49:07somebody I knew

00:49:08would kill somebody,

00:49:09right?

00:49:10Oh, how many times

00:49:11have we heard that?

00:49:13Anyway,

00:49:14just after that phone call,

00:49:16the newly released

00:49:17records reveal,

00:49:18Chad texted Lori

00:49:19with a real headline.

00:49:22Chad to Lori.

00:49:23Hello, sweet angel.

00:49:24Big news about Tammy.

00:49:26Please let me know

00:49:27if you're awake

00:49:28and can talk.

00:49:29I love you.

00:49:30The short version

00:49:32is that she has been switched.

00:49:33Tammy is in limbo.

00:49:35and a level three

00:49:36demonic entity

00:49:37is in her body.

00:49:39Sound familiar?

00:49:41He says,

00:49:42I'm Nick Snyder.

00:49:44Remember,

00:49:45they said the very same thing

00:49:46about Charles

00:49:47shortly before Alex

00:49:48shot him to death.

00:49:49But Chad seemed to want

00:49:51to press the accelerator

00:49:52regarding Tammy.

00:49:54In this text,

00:49:55Chad wrote,

00:49:56not fully sure

00:49:57of the timing

00:49:57for removal,

00:49:59but I don't want

00:50:00to wait.

00:50:02Four days after that text,

00:50:04Tammy posted

00:50:04on Facebook

00:50:05that someone wearing

00:50:06a mask had approached

00:50:07her as she arrived home

00:50:08from a church event

00:50:09and fired several rounds

00:50:11at her

00:50:11with what she thought

00:50:12was a paintball gun.

00:50:14This is Tammy's sister,

00:50:16Samantha.

00:50:17I think she thought

00:50:18it was a kid.

00:50:19Was she sure

00:50:19it was a paintball gun?

00:50:21I mean,

00:50:21I think in her mind,

00:50:22what else could it be?

00:50:24That it must have been

00:50:24a prank of some kind.

00:50:25Yeah,

00:50:26but who pulls

00:50:26that kind of a prank?

00:50:28A prank?

00:50:29Police don't think so.

00:50:31In fact,

00:50:32newly released phone records

00:50:33show that earlier

00:50:34that evening,

00:50:35Lori's brother,

00:50:36Alex,

00:50:37texted Lori

00:50:38from a burner phone.

00:50:39He was on the move.

00:50:41I'm showing drive time

00:50:43from apartment to Chad's

00:50:44as about 10 minutes,

00:50:46meaning,

00:50:47police think,

00:50:48that Alex

00:50:49was the one

00:50:50who fired those rounds

00:50:51at Tammy.

00:50:52I think that investigators

00:50:54will say

00:50:55this was not

00:50:56a paintball gun.

00:50:57This was a real gun

00:50:58that either misfired

00:51:00or the shooter

00:51:01did not aim correctly.

00:51:04It was just 10 days

00:51:05after that paintball incident

00:51:08that Chad Daybell

00:51:09called 911

00:51:10to report that Tammy

00:51:12had died

00:51:13in her sleep.

00:51:16Phone records show

00:51:17Alex was parked

00:51:19near Chad and Tammy's.

00:51:20that very night

00:51:21and police discovered

00:51:23a text sent

00:51:24to Lori's phone

00:51:25the next morning

00:51:26by a friend.

00:51:27I'm not sure

00:51:28if you heard

00:51:29but Chad's wife

00:51:30died last night.

00:51:31Lori responded,

00:51:32Oh my gosh,

00:51:33I did not hear that.

00:51:34I'm in Hawaii

00:51:35and it's 6 a.m.

00:51:37Do you know

00:51:37what happened?

00:51:38The response,

00:51:40Yes,

00:51:40she awoke in the night

00:51:41coughing,

00:51:42threw up,

00:51:43collapsed,

00:51:43and passed away.

00:51:46Tammy was buried

00:51:47days later

00:51:48in her hometown

00:51:49in Utah.

00:51:50There was no autopsy.

00:51:52Chad's choice,

00:51:53the sheriff said.

00:51:55And law enforcement,

00:51:56without knowing

00:51:57any more of the story

00:51:58from Arizona,

00:51:59had no reason

00:51:59to be suspicious.

00:52:02And two weeks later,

00:52:04November 5th,

00:52:05Chad and Lori's

00:52:06romance novel

00:52:07reached what

00:52:07fantasy fiction

00:52:08might call

00:52:09happily ever after.

00:52:11they were married

00:52:13on the beach

00:52:14in Kauai,

00:52:15much to the surprise

00:52:17of Tammy's family.

00:52:19Obviously,

00:52:20I was really upset.

00:52:21You feel almost

00:52:22betrayed.

00:52:23Yeah.

00:52:23Yeah,

00:52:24because I,

00:52:25because I felt like

00:52:28that was too soon

00:52:30for anybody

00:52:31to get over my sister.

00:52:34after a short honeymoon

00:52:36at the Kauai Beach

00:52:37resort,

00:52:37Chad and Lori

00:52:38approached this woman,

00:52:39Jeannie Martin,

00:52:41who was advertising

00:52:42an apartment for rent.

00:52:44They came in

00:52:45and they said

00:52:45they needed room

00:52:46right away.

00:52:47Chad filled out

00:52:48this rental application,

00:52:49claiming an income

00:52:51of $30,000 a month,

00:52:54claiming he was an author

00:52:55looking for a peaceful

00:52:56place to write.

00:52:58Jeannie said it was obvious

00:52:59Chad and Lori

00:53:00were very much in love.

00:53:02Then as they were

00:53:03getting ready to go,

00:53:04she stopped

00:53:05and she goes,

00:53:06now Chad,

00:53:07you know,

00:53:08is a prophetic guy.

00:53:10He's a healer.

00:53:12He is the person

00:53:13you want to come to

00:53:14if you need anything,

00:53:15any prayer.

00:53:16And I thought,

00:53:18well,

00:53:19if you say so.

00:53:22As a landlord,

00:53:23some developed

00:53:24background checking skills

00:53:26that would make

00:53:26a private eye proud.

00:53:27But Jeannie?

00:53:29All she had to do

00:53:30was Google

00:53:30Chad Daybell's name.

00:53:33And then

00:53:33she texted Chad.

00:53:36I came across

00:53:38an obituary

00:53:39for your real wife,

00:53:40Tammy.

00:53:41I said,

00:53:41I see that's only been

00:53:42a couple weeks ago.

00:53:43I said,

00:53:44that must have been

00:53:45a horrible shock.

00:53:46You know,

00:53:46and I asked him,

00:53:47I'm like,

00:53:47what would have happened

00:53:48to her and whatever,

00:53:49you know.

00:53:51And so he came back

00:53:53with this text.

00:53:54Yes, Jeannie,

00:53:55it was such a shock.

00:53:56When I woke up that morning,

00:53:59I could clearly see

00:54:00that she had been dead

00:54:01for a couple hours.

00:54:03And at the grave,

00:54:05she talked to me

00:54:06and she told me

00:54:06she's happy

00:54:07on the other side

00:54:07of the veil,

00:54:08helping people

00:54:09like she always does.

00:54:11And for me to go on

00:54:12with my life,

00:54:13I'm thinking,

00:54:14this hasn't been

00:54:14been two weeks.

00:54:15And I'm like,

00:54:16are you disconnected?

00:54:17And I texted back

00:54:20and I said,

00:54:21oh, wow,

00:54:22what did the coroner

00:54:23say with the autopsy show?

00:54:25And so you already

00:54:27knew Lori already?

00:54:28He never texted me again.

00:54:30That was it.

00:54:31He knew I knew.

00:54:33Two dead spouses,

00:54:35two missing children.

00:54:37Lori's brother, Alex,

00:54:38linked to all of them.

00:54:40And now the evidence

00:54:41newly revealed

00:54:42that Alex

00:54:43might not have

00:54:44been finished yet.

00:54:48Coming up.

00:54:49What's up, Alex?

00:54:50Yeah.

00:54:51Do you have your ID

00:54:51on your head?

00:54:52Yeah.

00:54:52Just keep your hands

00:54:53out where we can see them,

00:54:53all right?

00:54:54Alex and his niece,

00:54:55Melanie.

00:54:56Was there a new plot

00:54:57afoot out there

00:54:59in the dark?

00:55:00We're actually going

00:55:00to be taking you

00:55:01into custody tonight.

00:55:02Okay.

00:55:03When Dateline continues.

00:55:17As Chad and Lori

00:55:19were honeymooning

00:55:20in Hawaii,

00:55:20back on the mainland,

00:55:22some of those

00:55:23in their inner circle

00:55:24were up to something.

00:55:27This is police video

00:55:29in American Fork, Utah.

00:55:31And this is Lori's niece,

00:55:34Melanie.

00:55:35What was she doing here?

00:55:37You'll remember,

00:55:39Melanie's husband,

00:55:39Brandon,

00:55:40said someone

00:55:41he thought Lori's

00:55:42brother, Alex,

00:55:43had taken a shot

00:55:44at him in Arizona.

00:55:45After which,

00:55:46Brandon took the kids

00:55:47and went into hiding,

00:55:48eventually ending up here

00:55:50at his parents' place

00:55:51just south of Salt Lake City.

00:55:53And now,

00:55:54here was Melanie,

00:55:55right outside,

00:55:56demanding to see

00:55:57her children.

00:55:58Officers,

00:55:59I have a legal

00:56:00mediation agreement.

00:56:01My kids have been

00:56:01held out of state.

00:56:04This was the second time

00:56:05Melanie showed up

00:56:06at the house,

00:56:07so Brandon's dad

00:56:08called the police.

00:56:10I asked an officer

00:56:11to come here

00:56:12last night

00:56:12to do a check-in

00:56:13because I'm worried

00:56:13they're in danger.

00:56:14But you came over here

00:56:16after being told

00:56:17that you were

00:56:18permanently trespassed

00:56:19from this residence,

00:56:21correct?

00:56:22This was not long

00:56:23after Melanie was seen

00:56:24entering the family's

00:56:25garage.

00:56:26My kids are,

00:56:27I'm worried they're

00:56:28in danger

00:56:28because my husband's

00:56:31been doing a lot

00:56:31of things that

00:56:34caused me to worry.

00:56:35He says he was

00:56:37shot at a month ago

00:56:39and then he went

00:56:40into hiding

00:56:40and no one

00:56:41in Arizona

00:56:41has seen him

00:56:42for weeks

00:56:42or my children.

00:56:44Melanie continued

00:56:44to argue

00:56:45with the officers,

00:56:47asking them

00:56:47to let her go

00:56:48inside and check

00:56:49on the kids

00:56:49or remove them

00:56:51and put them

00:56:51in her car.

00:56:53So police went

00:56:54inside and checked

00:56:56and...

00:56:57But they are safe

00:56:58and they're taken care

00:56:59of, so we're not

00:57:00just going to go

00:57:00in there and remove

00:57:01them from the house.

00:57:02Melanie also asked

00:57:03the officer something

00:57:04that, well,

00:57:05it may sound familiar.

00:57:07Do you have

00:57:07a victim's advocate

00:57:09I can speak to

00:57:09in the police department,

00:57:10please?

00:57:11She keeps saying,

00:57:12get me a victim's advocate,

00:57:14get me a victim's advocate.

00:57:15And I can picture

00:57:16Laurie saying this

00:57:17to her because

00:57:18that's what happened

00:57:19to Laurie

00:57:19when Charles was killed.

00:57:21She's trying

00:57:22to override the process.

00:57:23She won't let go of it.

00:57:25Then the officers

00:57:26notice somebody

00:57:27sitting in a car

00:57:28on the street

00:57:29nearby.

00:57:30Who's in the car

00:57:31with you?

00:57:32It's my uncle

00:57:33Alex Cox.

00:57:34Uncle Alex,

00:57:35the very person

00:57:37who Brandon believed

00:57:38had tried to kill him,

00:57:40who already had

00:57:41killed Laurie's husband,

00:57:43possibly others as well.

00:57:46Alex Cox,

00:57:47do you know

00:57:47his date apart?

00:57:48I don't.

00:57:49You don't?

00:57:49I'm sure he'd be happy

00:57:50to give it to you.

00:57:51What's up, Alex?

00:57:52Yeah.

00:57:53Do you have your ID

00:57:53on your head?

00:57:54Yeah.

00:57:54Let me get that

00:57:55for me real quick.

00:57:57Can I open the door?

00:57:58I just got to...

00:57:59Yeah.

00:58:00Yeah, if you need to.

00:58:01Just keep your hands

00:58:02out where we can see him,

00:58:02all right?

00:58:03You're good.

00:58:04Minutes later,

00:58:05another officer

00:58:05approached Alex,

00:58:07who is here,

00:58:09calm,

00:58:10cooperative,

00:58:11unruffled.

00:58:12How's it going?

00:58:13Pretty good, dude.

00:58:14Not bad.

00:58:15You guys came all the way

00:58:15from Arizona?

00:58:17No.

00:58:18Oh.

00:58:18Where were you coming from?

00:58:19Idaho.

00:58:20Oh, Idaho.

00:58:21That's right.

00:58:22Do you live in Idaho?

00:58:23Yeah, I just moved up there.

00:58:26From where?

00:58:26From Arizona.

00:58:27Oh.

00:58:29What the heck?

00:58:31Apparently that was too warm.

00:58:32Here's your ID bag, man.

00:58:33Thanks.

00:58:34Thanks, Alex.

00:58:34Appreciate it, Matt.

00:58:35Nope, no problem.

00:58:36Given Alex's history,

00:58:37it's reasonable to wonder

00:58:39what he and Melanie

00:58:39were up to

00:58:40after investigators

00:58:42heard from a friend

00:58:43of Lori's

00:58:43that Chad

00:58:44had labeled

00:58:45two of Brandon's kids

00:58:47zombies.

00:58:49All right, Melanie,

00:58:50today you're going to be

00:58:51receiving citation

00:58:52for a criminal trespass.

00:58:54Initially, police decided

00:58:55to give Melanie a ticket.

00:58:58Because you're not allowed

00:58:59on that property

00:59:00over the phone.

00:59:01Right, but if my kids

00:59:02were in there...

00:59:03It doesn't matter.

00:59:03We can argue about it all day.

00:59:05The conversation continued

00:59:07at the American Fork

00:59:08Police Department,

00:59:09and before long,

00:59:10officers changed their minds

00:59:12and upgraded the charges.

00:59:15Okay, so things have changed

00:59:17a little bit, okay?

00:59:18Okay.

00:59:19Your criminal trespass

00:59:21is enhanced

00:59:22to domestic violence.

00:59:24How does that work?

00:59:26Because you were

00:59:26in a domestic relationship.

00:59:28You had, you know,

00:59:30in-laws there.

00:59:32You trespassed.

00:59:33You entered the garage

00:59:35unlawfully.

00:59:36So we're actually going to be

00:59:37taking you into custody tonight.

00:59:39Okay.

00:59:40So I'm just going to need you

00:59:41to go ahead and stand up,

00:59:43face away from me,

00:59:44place your hands

00:59:44behind your back.

00:59:47Do you want me to sleep?

00:59:48You can just set that right there.

00:59:50We'll take everything with you.

00:59:52Okay.

00:59:57Are these cuffs too tight?

00:59:59No, sir.

00:59:59Okay, I'm going to go ahead

01:00:00and double lock them

01:00:01so they don't cinch up

01:00:01on the ride over to the jail, okay?

01:00:06Here, just stand right here.

01:00:08All right.

01:00:09Let's go ahead

01:00:10and have a seat in there.

01:00:14We've never been in a cop car before.

01:00:18And still nearby

01:00:20was Melanie's uncle, Alex.

01:00:25Mr. Cox?

01:00:26Yeah.

01:00:27I'm going to leave this with you.

01:00:28Melanie's going to be going

01:00:29to the Utah County Jail tonight.

01:00:31Okay.

01:00:32So where would I bail her out?

01:00:35Yeah, you're going to be able

01:00:36to bail her out.

01:00:38And it doesn't take very long

01:00:39to process her.

01:00:40All right.

01:00:41Thanks, guys.

01:00:43Within hours,

01:00:44Alex Cox posted nearly $2,000 bail

01:00:47and Melanie was freed.

01:00:49She eventually pleaded guilty

01:00:51to a misdemeanor criminal trespass

01:00:53and received a six-month suspended sentence

01:00:55and a year of probation.

01:00:57If those Utah police officers

01:00:59unwittingly foiled a murder plot,

01:01:01we may never know.

01:01:03I see a lot of projection.

01:01:06The kids are in danger.

01:01:08Really, you're going to have

01:01:09their Uncle Alex take them?

01:01:10You think that's better?

01:01:12It's just...

01:01:13That'll make them safer.

01:01:15Melanie had told a friend

01:01:16that warrior angels

01:01:18were looking for her kids.

01:01:20Maybe Alex was one of them.

01:01:22In any case,

01:01:24his loyalty to Lori

01:01:26was about to be rewarded.

01:01:30Coming up,

01:01:31someone new sits down

01:01:33to chat with police,

01:01:36Alex's wife.

01:01:37Do you think Alex truly loved you

01:01:39or was just doing it

01:01:40because Chad and Lori told him to?

01:01:43I have asked that myself many times.

01:02:00Mid-November, 2019,

01:02:03Chad and Lori's

01:02:05Church of the Firstborn

01:02:06was flush with expectations

01:02:09of eternal glory.

01:02:10The happy couple had just returned

01:02:12from their honeymoon in Hawaii.

01:02:15Melanie had returned home

01:02:16after her arrest

01:02:17for trespassing in Utah.

01:02:20She was accompanied by Alex,

01:02:22who was about to be rewarded

01:02:24for his efforts

01:02:25on behalf of their new church

01:02:27and his sister, Lori.

01:02:30A ceremony borrowed from Mormonism,

01:02:32a patriarchal blessing.

01:02:34So a patriarchal blessing

01:02:36is a blessing that

01:02:38baptized members of the church

01:02:40go and get from a patriarch

01:02:42or an official who has been called

01:02:45to give these blessings.

01:02:47You get them once in your lifetime.

01:02:49So how would the LDS church

01:02:52view Chad giving Alex

01:02:53a patriarchal blessing?

01:02:55For Chad to consider himself

01:02:58a patriarch

01:02:59and then to give a blessing

01:03:02to Alex

01:03:04could be blasphemous.

01:03:06But newly released records show

01:03:09Chad's blessing started like this.

01:03:12Alexander Lamar Cox,

01:03:14on this special day

01:03:15I lay my hands upon your head

01:03:17to give you a patriarchal blessing

01:03:19as a member of the Church

01:03:20of the Firstborn,

01:03:21of which you have earned

01:03:23the privilege to be a member.

01:03:25The blessing was full of flattery

01:03:27and references to Alex's service

01:03:29to Lori,

01:03:30who, remember,

01:03:31Chad had repeatedly called

01:03:32a goddess.

01:03:34Powerful goddesses

01:03:35needed to be protected

01:03:36and you were selected

01:03:37to help protect your sister.

01:03:39Oh yes,

01:03:41Alex had helped his sister.

01:03:43Charles was dead,

01:03:45Tammy was dead,

01:03:46Lori's children were missing,

01:03:48and now Alex was to be rewarded

01:03:51with a wife.

01:03:53I bless you with the knowledge

01:03:54that through marriage

01:03:55you will be united

01:03:56with a partner

01:03:57who will match your powers

01:03:59and complement your strengths.

01:04:02One of the things

01:04:03that they started saying

01:04:05to me from the beginning

01:04:07was that putting me

01:04:11in a position

01:04:12of being so special.

01:04:16This is Ulema Pastinas,

01:04:19another charter member

01:04:20of Chad's Church of the Firstborn.

01:04:23Her special gift?

01:04:25She believed she could

01:04:26conjure up storms and fires,

01:04:29call up earthquakes at will,

01:04:31and here she is

01:04:32in newly released video

01:04:34talking to the police

01:04:36about another sudden death

01:04:38connected to the group.

01:04:40Here's how Ulema

01:04:42described Alex.

01:04:43He was the kind of person

01:04:46that I could go deep,

01:04:48deep conversations

01:04:49and deep discussions

01:04:50about the scriptures

01:04:51and I'm like,

01:04:52I've never been able

01:04:53to do anything like that

01:04:54with anybody,

01:04:56much less, you know,

01:04:59someone who was interested

01:05:00in any, you know what I mean?

01:05:02Ulema had already

01:05:04been married at least

01:05:05three times,

01:05:06maybe more,

01:05:07but Chad and Lori told her

01:05:08she needed to marry Alex

01:05:10to complete her mission,

01:05:12whatever that was.

01:05:14They started saying, you know,

01:05:17Alex will be part of that for you,

01:05:19he will be the supporter

01:05:20that you will need.

01:05:21Do you think Alex

01:05:23truly loved you

01:05:24or was just doing it

01:05:25because Chad and Lori

01:05:26told him to?

01:05:27I have asked that myself

01:05:28many times.

01:05:29I just got this feeling

01:05:31that, like, okay,

01:05:35I think that it's time

01:05:36for me to marry him.

01:05:38But before Alex and Ulema

01:05:40could plan a wedding,

01:05:41there was trouble.

01:05:42You may have heard

01:05:43this part of the story,

01:05:44how in late November 2019,

01:05:47days after that blessing ceremony,

01:05:50the grandparents of Lori's son,

01:05:52JJ,

01:05:52alarmed they hadn't heard

01:05:53from him,

01:05:54called police

01:05:55who went to Lori's townhouse

01:05:56in Rexburg.

01:05:58Hi.

01:05:59You, Lori?

01:06:00Lori, I'm Lieutenant Ball,

01:06:01Police Department.

01:06:02How are you?

01:06:03You got a minute?

01:06:04Police body cams

01:06:05recorded the conversation.

01:06:07So, JJ, where are you?

01:06:09He's in Arizona.

01:06:11Who's he with in Arizona?

01:06:13He's with one of my friends

01:06:14in Arizona.

01:06:15But of course,

01:06:16as we now know,

01:06:17JJ was not in Arizona

01:06:19and neither was Tylee.

01:06:21And the next day,

01:06:23when police returned

01:06:23to conduct a more thorough search,

01:06:25Lori was nowhere to be found.

01:06:28And we now know exactly

01:06:29what Lori and Chad did.

01:06:31They hopped a plane

01:06:33to Orange County, California

01:06:34and then flew on

01:06:36to Lihue Airport

01:06:37on the island of Kauai.

01:06:39Two tickets,

01:06:41no kids.

01:06:42Seven-year-old Joshua,

01:06:44JJ Vallow,

01:06:45and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan

01:06:47have been missing since September.

01:06:49A national search

01:06:50for the children

01:06:51was soon underway.

01:06:53And with Chad and Lori

01:06:55on the lam,

01:06:56some members of the group

01:06:57panicked.

01:06:58I remember that

01:07:00we put Mellie on the phone

01:07:04and I remember her,

01:07:06she just started crying

01:07:08and crying

01:07:08because they weren't

01:07:11answering calls.

01:07:13All of a sudden,

01:07:13you feel like,

01:07:14oh my goodness,

01:07:15I have no guidance now.

01:07:17Except perhaps

01:07:18the guidance offered

01:07:19by Chad and Lori's

01:07:20quickie wedding.

01:07:22Zulema and Alex

01:07:23went to Las Vegas

01:07:24and got married

01:07:25that very week.

01:07:27And Melanie did

01:07:28too.

01:07:29Same place,

01:07:30same weekend.

01:07:31She'd met a man

01:07:32named Ian,

01:07:32she told us.

01:07:33They'd known each other

01:07:34a couple of weeks.

01:07:36If you know

01:07:37and feel right about it,

01:07:39there's no sense

01:07:39in dating around

01:07:41with tons of people.

01:07:42But the honeymoon

01:07:43was over

01:07:43for these members

01:07:45of the Church

01:07:45of the Firstborn

01:07:47almost before it began.

01:07:51Coming up...

01:07:52Did you feel drunk?

01:07:54Drownsy.

01:07:55I was kind of like

01:07:56really drunk.

01:07:57I was drunk.

01:07:57A jaw-dropping question.

01:07:59Was Alex's new wife

01:08:01also his new target?

01:08:03In my back of my mind,

01:08:05I keep thinking

01:08:06that that was supposed

01:08:08to be my last thing.

01:08:10And it very well

01:08:11could have been.

01:08:12When Dateline continues.

01:08:27early December 2019,

01:08:30the disappearance of J.J. and Tylee

01:08:33was becoming an international news story.

01:08:35Lori and Chad were losing control.

01:08:39And in a story full of chilling disappearances

01:08:42and odd, inexplicable moments,

01:08:44thanks to the newly released

01:08:46Chandler Police Department records,

01:08:48you can now add another.

01:08:50Las Vegas.

01:08:51The day after Alex and Zulema's wedding

01:08:54at their hotel.

01:08:56Alex, who'd been trained as a massage therapist

01:08:59but lost his license in Texas

01:09:01for sexual misconduct two decades ago,

01:09:04made Zulema an offer.

01:09:06My back was bugging me

01:09:08and after, you know,

01:09:10the trip there in the car

01:09:11and he said,

01:09:12oh, he's like,

01:09:13I'll just give you a massage

01:09:14and, you know,

01:09:15just fix your back.

01:09:16I'm like, okay.

01:09:17So, but for some strange reason,

01:09:21this is really weird.

01:09:22He said that he,

01:09:23we needed to find a Walmart

01:09:25because he wanted to buy

01:09:27this big, huge piece of plastic

01:09:32to put on the bed

01:09:33so the oil didn't get on the bed.

01:09:37A moment reminiscent of that TV show,

01:09:40Dexter.

01:09:42And after the massage?

01:09:44Well, Zulema said things got even stranger.

01:09:48Did you feel drunk?

01:09:50Drowsy.

01:09:51Like, I was kind of like,

01:09:52really drunk.

01:09:53I was drowsy.

01:09:53And then I remember waking up.

01:09:57I was in and out,

01:09:58in and out.

01:09:58I hear him talking.

01:09:59And I'm like, Alex.

01:10:01I'm like,

01:10:03who are you talking to?

01:10:04He's like, nobody.

01:10:07I'm talking to myself.

01:10:08But he said nothing

01:10:10for the rest of the evening.

01:10:12Nothing.

01:10:13A police detective said

01:10:14that Zulema was lucky to be alive.

01:10:17And she seemed to know it.

01:10:19In my back of my mind,

01:10:21I keep thinking

01:10:22that who was on the phone

01:10:25with Chad and Lori

01:10:27and that that was supposed to be my last thing.

01:10:30And he was in one suit.

01:10:32And it very well could have been.

01:10:34It's certainly a bizarre moment.

01:10:36But the question is,

01:10:38if he does intend to kill her,

01:10:41what's the motivation?

01:10:42Sure.

01:10:42Is it that she knows too much?

01:10:44It's time for her

01:10:46to pass on

01:10:47to the next world?

01:10:48Maybe to speed things up

01:10:50since she controls the elements.

01:10:51Go to the other side

01:10:52and cause an earthquake already?

01:10:54I would have to believe

01:10:55that Chad Daybell

01:10:58would have approved of it

01:11:00if that was the case.

01:11:02What would Chad want

01:11:03from having Zulema murdered?

01:11:06That's where it's

01:11:07a little nebulous.

01:11:08And there were cracks forming

01:11:10between the other couple

01:11:11married in Vegas

01:11:11that weekend as well.

01:11:13Melanie's new husband, Ian,

01:11:15had an ex-wife

01:11:16who'd heard about

01:11:17the attempted murder

01:11:18of Brandon in Arizona

01:11:20and was quite concerned

01:11:21about what kind of family

01:11:23Ian was joining.

01:11:24So she called Ian.

01:11:26And then she called Brandon

01:11:28to warn him.

01:11:30This is from a recording

01:11:31of that call.

01:11:32The ex relaying to Brandon

01:11:34what she had heard

01:11:35from Ian about Melanie.

01:11:38Hey, Brandon.

01:11:39It's Natalie.

01:11:40Hey.

01:11:40She admitted to Ian

01:11:43that her and her uncle

01:11:45plotted your murder.

01:11:47I'm so sorry, Brandon.

01:11:49I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

01:11:49I don't know if there was

01:11:50like any question in your mind

01:11:52whether she did it

01:11:53or somebody else,

01:11:54but now you know.

01:11:56We should note,

01:11:57Melanie has never been charged

01:11:58with any crime

01:11:59related to the shooting

01:12:01and when we spoke with her

01:12:02denied being involved.

01:12:04But the investigation

01:12:06remains open

01:12:07and Ian and his ex-wife

01:12:09did go to the police

01:12:11about it

01:12:11as he told us last year.

01:12:13He was wondering

01:12:14who the heck

01:12:15have you hooked up with?

01:12:16She explained, you know,

01:12:17her fears

01:12:18and what she'd heard

01:12:19and she said

01:12:20that she was going to be going

01:12:20in and talk to the police tomorrow.

01:12:22At that point,

01:12:22I didn't know the FBI

01:12:23were going to be there

01:12:24or involved,

01:12:24but I said, okay,

01:12:25yeah, I'll go with you

01:12:26and I'll share what I know.

01:12:27The FBI was at the meeting

01:12:29because of the search

01:12:30for Lori's missing kids,

01:12:31JJ and Tylee.

01:12:33Ian agreed to help the FBI

01:12:35by wearing a wire.

01:12:37What did they want you to record?

01:12:39They wanted the whereabouts

01:12:40of Tylee and JJ

01:12:41if there was anything

01:12:42I could get on that.

01:12:43I did my best for a little bit

01:12:44and, you know,

01:12:45there was nothing there.

01:12:46It wasn't being discussed.

01:12:48Then Ian came clean

01:12:49to his new wife

01:12:50that he'd been

01:12:52secretly recording her.

01:12:53You know,

01:12:54you're shocked.

01:12:55Like, why didn't you come to me?

01:12:57You know,

01:12:57I want to help.

01:12:58The whole point

01:12:59was not to come to you.

01:13:00Sure.

01:13:01Sure.

01:13:02They wanted to know

01:13:03your unguarded thoughts.

01:13:05Yeah,

01:13:05and I didn't have anything to hide

01:13:06and so, okay,

01:13:07record my conversations.

01:13:08I'm okay with that.

01:13:10Melanie and Ian

01:13:11are still married,

01:13:12by the way.

01:13:12We asked them

01:13:13to comment

01:13:14for this report.

01:13:15They did not respond.

01:13:19But things did not go so well

01:13:21for the other newlyweds,

01:13:23Alex and Zulema.

01:13:25Zulema would later

01:13:26tell police

01:13:27that Alex said

01:13:28he was okay

01:13:29with killing Charles

01:13:30because he, quote,

01:13:32killed a zombie.

01:13:34But after Alex found out

01:13:35that the authorities

01:13:36were going to exhume

01:13:37the body of Chad's wife,

01:13:39Tammy,

01:13:40whose death

01:13:40would later be ruled

01:13:41a homicide,

01:13:43Alex seemed

01:13:44to develop doubts

01:13:44about Chad,

01:13:46Lori,

01:13:46and the mission.

01:13:48And that's when he said,

01:13:50I think I am being

01:13:51their fall guy.

01:13:55And I'm like,

01:13:55the fall guy for what?

01:13:57What is it?

01:13:58Tell me.

01:13:59What is it

01:13:59that they're going,

01:14:00they're trying to pin on you?

01:14:02What did they do?

01:14:03And he just

01:14:05wouldn't say anything else.

01:14:06Did you think

01:14:08that Chad and Lori

01:14:09had done something to Tammy?

01:14:10Was that your impression

01:14:11based on that?

01:14:13statement?

01:14:15I didn't know

01:14:16what to think

01:14:17at the time.

01:14:18I still saw

01:14:18Lori and Chad

01:14:19as a very

01:14:22spiritual,

01:14:23kind,

01:14:24loving,

01:14:25charming,

01:14:28law-biting,

01:14:30God-fearing

01:14:31people.

01:14:32So why would Alex

01:14:34tell Zulema

01:14:35about the money?

01:14:36He said to me,

01:14:38Zulema,

01:14:38if anything happens

01:14:39happens to me,

01:14:41I want you to know

01:14:42that there is

01:14:43money in a bag

01:14:45in the closet.

01:14:47He said,

01:14:47it's not much,

01:14:48but it's for you.

01:14:51And how much

01:14:52was in there?

01:14:53Between $5,000 and $7,000

01:14:54or something like that.

01:14:56Did you ask him,

01:14:58like,

01:14:58why would anything

01:14:59ever happen to you?

01:15:00I did.

01:15:01I said,

01:15:02don't say things like that, Alex.

01:15:04I said,

01:15:04why would you say

01:15:05something like that?

01:15:06And then he said,

01:15:08just in case.

01:15:09Just in case.

01:15:11Maybe Chad

01:15:12wasn't the only one

01:15:13with the visions,

01:15:15because what Alex

01:15:16told Zulema

01:15:17could be called

01:15:18prophetic.

01:15:21Coming up.

01:15:23I remember

01:15:24somebody came

01:15:25saying that he was

01:15:27going through

01:15:27our crime scene

01:15:28and that I needed

01:15:29to leave.

01:15:30The man linked

01:15:31to so many deaths.

01:15:32Now,

01:15:33new details

01:15:34about his.

01:15:35It's awfully convenient,

01:15:37isn't it?

01:15:37But it is a little

01:15:38too convenient.

01:15:56early December 2019,

01:15:58a little more

01:15:59than a year

01:16:00after Chad Daybell

01:16:01met Laurie Vallow.

01:16:03Their spouses,

01:16:04Charles and Tammy,

01:16:06were dead.

01:16:07Laurie's children,

01:16:08JJ and Tylee,

01:16:09were missing

01:16:10and presumed dead.

01:16:12Laurie's niece's

01:16:13husband, Brandon,

01:16:15had survived

01:16:15an attempt

01:16:16on his life.

01:16:17It was a tally

01:16:18worthy of

01:16:19La Cosa Nostra

01:16:20or some sort

01:16:20of crime family.

01:16:23All of that

01:16:24in less than

01:16:24six months.

01:16:26And there was

01:16:27one more

01:16:27untimely death

01:16:29to come.

01:16:30Okay,

01:16:31what is the emergency?

01:16:32A few days

01:16:33after Alex

01:16:34told Zulema

01:16:35about the bag

01:16:35of money,

01:16:36if anything

01:16:38happens to me,

01:16:39he was in their

01:16:40bathroom

01:16:41in Gilbert,

01:16:42Arizona.

01:16:43And he collapsed.

01:16:45And I remember

01:16:46them taking us

01:16:47to the hospital.

01:16:48They started

01:16:49working with him

01:16:50and I don't remember

01:16:51much of what

01:16:53happened between

01:16:53that and until

01:16:55the time that

01:16:56they brought me

01:16:57back to the room

01:17:00for me to turn

01:17:01off the machines

01:17:03for him.

01:17:05And I remember

01:17:06somebody came

01:17:07saying that I

01:17:08couldn't touch

01:17:10him anymore,

01:17:11that he was

01:17:12considered a crime

01:17:13scene and that I

01:17:14needed to leave.

01:17:16It will surprise

01:17:18no one that there

01:17:18was considerable

01:17:19suspicion early on

01:17:20of foul play.

01:17:22Until the autopsy

01:17:24came back

01:17:24and concluded

01:17:26that the death

01:17:27of Alex Cox

01:17:28was not a crime

01:17:30at all.

01:17:31It was blood

01:17:32clots in his lungs

01:17:33that killed him,

01:17:34said the M.E.

01:17:36Zulema said

01:17:37he'd been complaining

01:17:38about chest pains

01:17:39for about a week.

01:17:41Killings,

01:17:42a priestly blessing

01:17:42and then an

01:17:44untimely death.

01:17:46Connected somehow?

01:17:48Who knows?

01:17:50Alex was 51.

01:17:52He and Zulema

01:17:53had been married

01:17:54for less than

01:17:55two weeks.

01:17:56It's awfully

01:17:57convenient,

01:17:58isn't it?

01:17:58Yeah, that might

01:17:59be the most

01:18:00convenient thing

01:18:00out of this

01:18:01entire story.

01:18:03But if Zulema

01:18:04mourned,

01:18:05the family of

01:18:06Charles Vallow,

01:18:07shot dead by

01:18:08Alex six months

01:18:09prior, did not.

01:18:10Well, Alex,

01:18:11probably lucky

01:18:12he died because

01:18:13I'm not an angry

01:18:14or violent person,

01:18:16but I tell you what,

01:18:17it probably would

01:18:18have taken me

01:18:19a lot to stop

01:18:19from going to Arizona

01:18:20paying him

01:18:21a little visit.

01:18:23Alex was dead.

01:18:25The police were

01:18:26investigating the deaths

01:18:27of Charles and Tammy.

01:18:28The FBI was trying

01:18:29to find the missing kids.

01:18:31It was all coming

01:18:32down on Chad

01:18:34and Lori.

01:18:36A month later,

01:18:37Hey, Chad and Lori,

01:18:38it's Dateline.

01:18:39How are you?

01:18:40On the island of

01:18:41Kauai.

01:18:42We just had an

01:18:43outside?

01:18:43No, no comment.

01:18:45Where are your kids?

01:18:47Lori refused to

01:18:48produce the children

01:18:49and within weeks,

01:18:50she was arrested

01:18:51and flown back

01:18:52to Idaho in March.

01:18:54And three months

01:18:55later, on June 9,

01:18:562020, investigators

01:18:58found the bodies

01:18:59of J.J. and Tylee

01:19:02buried in the backyard

01:19:03of Chad Daybell's

01:19:04home.

01:19:06This is the last

01:19:07picture ever taken

01:19:08of J.J.

01:19:09in his red pajamas.

01:19:11He was still wearing

01:19:13them when they found

01:19:14his body in the ground.

01:19:16Chad was arrested

01:19:17while driving away.

01:19:20There he is!

01:19:21There he is!

01:19:23He's been charged

01:19:25with three counts

01:19:26of first-degree murder

01:19:27and conspiracy

01:19:28in connection

01:19:29with the deaths

01:19:29of J.J. and Tylee

01:19:31and his wife, Tammy.

01:19:32Not guilty.

01:19:33He has pleaded

01:19:34not guilty.

01:19:35His trial is scheduled

01:19:37for the summer

01:19:37of 2022.

01:19:39Prosecutors are seeking

01:19:40the death penalty.

01:19:42From what I understand,

01:19:43there will be

01:19:44no plea agreement.

01:19:45Chad Daybell

01:19:45does not want

01:19:46a plea agreement

01:19:47unless all the charges

01:19:49were to be dropped,

01:19:50which we know

01:19:50that's not going

01:19:51to happen.

01:19:51So, Chad Daybell

01:19:53will take this

01:19:54all the way

01:19:54to the death chamber

01:19:56if that's what it takes

01:19:57in his eyes.

01:19:58Is there anything

01:19:59to indicate

01:19:59what his defense

01:20:00will be?

01:20:01I think they're going

01:20:02to point the fingers

01:20:03at Alex and Laurie,

01:20:05mainly at Alex.

01:20:07And a lot of this

01:20:08new evidence

01:20:09that's come out

01:20:10from the Chandler

01:20:10Police Department

01:20:11shows that Alex

01:20:12did play a fairly

01:20:14significant role

01:20:15in the happenings.

01:20:16As for Laurie

01:20:17Vallodeville,

01:20:19she has been charged

01:20:20with two counts

01:20:20of first-degree murder

01:20:21and conspiracy

01:20:22in the deaths

01:20:23of J.J. and Tylee.

01:20:26She's also facing

01:20:27conspiracy

01:20:28to commit murder charges

01:20:29in Arizona,

01:20:30where police believe

01:20:32she planned

01:20:33Charles' shooting

01:20:34with Alex.

01:20:36But Laurie's trial

01:20:38is on hold.

01:20:40She's being held

01:20:41in a mental health facility

01:20:43after a judge

01:20:44found her

01:20:45not competent

01:20:46to stand trial.

01:20:48I'm sure you've heard

01:20:49lots of people

01:20:50suggest that

01:20:50she's just faking it.

01:20:52It's a reasonable

01:20:52assumption.

01:20:53I think if you look

01:20:55at Laurie's history

01:20:56of manipulation

01:20:58and deceitfulness,

01:20:59you certainly have

01:21:00to wonder

01:21:01if she is faking it.

01:21:03Wouldn't surprise you

01:21:04to see this go on

01:21:04and on for quite some time.

01:21:06It could.

01:21:07You know,

01:21:07some of this

01:21:08would depend on

01:21:09how well she does

01:21:10in treatment.

01:21:11It's hard not to wonder

01:21:12what might have happened

01:21:14or not happened

01:21:15if Laurie's psychiatric

01:21:16issues had been

01:21:17addressed sooner.

01:21:18like when her husband

01:21:20Charles told the police

01:21:21in Gilbert

01:21:22that she believed

01:21:22he was a demon

01:21:24named Ned Schneider.

01:21:25She needs help.

01:21:27Yeah.

01:21:27She needs some serious help.

01:21:29When he begged the police

01:21:30to get Laurie some help.

01:21:32The Gilbert Police Department

01:21:34declined our interview request

01:21:36but issued a statement

01:21:37saying its officers

01:21:38appropriately followed

01:21:39our policies and procedures

01:21:41involving the service

01:21:43of the mental health detainer.

01:21:44The end of the awful affair

01:21:47driven by lust

01:21:49and apparently money

01:21:50and maybe even

01:21:52their idea of God.

01:21:54And now

01:21:55as they sit alone

01:21:56in their respective

01:21:57confinements

01:21:58Laurie Vallow

01:21:59and Chad Daybell

01:22:01think and believe

01:22:02we know not what.

01:22:04They might still think

01:22:06that none of this

01:22:08really matters

01:22:09in their mind.

01:22:10Okay,

01:22:11give me the death penalty.

01:22:12Give me life in prison.

01:22:13Listen, Jesus is coming.

01:22:14He's going to save us.

01:22:16That may be

01:22:17their train of thought

01:22:18that no matter

01:22:18what happens

01:22:19it's all going to be okay

01:22:20because we're going

01:22:21to be reunited

01:22:22and Jesus will return.

01:22:25Or they could be

01:22:26in for a very big

01:22:27reality check

01:22:28when everything

01:22:28comes crashing down.

01:22:32That's all

01:22:33for this edition

01:22:34of Dateline.

01:22:35We'll see you again

01:22:36next Friday

01:22:37at 9, 8 central

01:22:38and of course

01:22:39I'll see you each weeknight

01:22:40for NBC Nightly News.

01:22:42I'm Lester Holt

01:22:43for all of us

01:22:44at NBC News.

01:22:45Goodnight.

01:22:46Good night.

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