Cult Mom Lori Vallow's Brother Adam Cox Told Detectives He Believes Lori & Their Brother Alex Murdered Her Third Husband Joseph Ryan
Did Lori Vallow play a role in her third husband's death? One of her relatives told police he believes so.
According to court documents obtained by Deseret News, Vallow’s brother Adam Cox told detectives that he believes that Lori and their late brother Alex murdered Ryan.
Ryan died of what was reported to be a heart attack in 2018.
"There’s got to be somewhere where they talked this through because Lori and Alex planned Joe’s death," Adam told detectives. "I’m telling you there is something wrong about Lori and Alex and this belief they have. Lori thinks death is nothing. There are just a lot of red flags for me."
"It’s odd that Joe, her ex-husband, supposedly died of a heart attack when they were desperate for money and he left her $50,000 and Tylee gets $2,000. Then Charles has $2 million … there’s a lot of red flags for me," Adam said.
Alex and Lori "planned out how they were going to kill Joe, and Al was going to taser him, throw him in the trunk and take him out to a field and shoot him and then bury him. Well, Al went to taser him and it didn’t work and Joe called the cops and Al went to jail," Alex explained.
According to Adam, "the family — cousins and uncles — they understand the history with Lori, Alex, and Lori’s ex-husbands. There is a whole pattern of things there."
In November, the Phoenix Police Department said it had "been made aware of the information and is reviewing the 2018 death investigation of Joseph Ryan" after audio of Lori saying she "was going to kill" Ryan was released.
"He [Ryan] was cremated, so there is not going to be any new physical evidence," an OK! insider said at the time. "It is really just looking at what they already have from the autopsy, and what Lori and her brother Alex were doing around that time, where they were doing it."
In 2007, Alex reportedly assaulted Ryan with a taser.
Lori had reportedly told several friends about the incident.
Lori's friend Angeline Law told detectives that the mother-of-three said she had hired her brother to kill Ryan "because of stuff he did to them," Deseret News reported.
Earlier this year, Lori was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder following the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow in 2019. In May, it was determined that she was mentally unfit to stand trial. The proceedings have been postponed while she undergoes treatment.
Authorities first determined that Alex acted in self-defence. The case was reopened when JJ and Tylee were reported missing in November 2019.
In June 2020, the children were discovered buried in Lori's fifth husband Chad Daybell's backyard.
Daybell is accused of conspiring with Lori to murder her children and his estranged wife, Tammy. His trial was scheduled for November but a judge reportedly granted his request to move the trial. The new date was not set yet, KTIV reported.
