'Cult Mom' Lori Vallow Charged With Conspiracy To Murder Fourth Husband
Lori Vallow has been indicted in connection with the 2019 killing of her fourth husband, after being previously charged for the deaths of her two children.
The 48-year-old was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder with the indictment handed down by a grand jury in Maricopa County, Ariz., on Tuesday, June 29.
Lori's fourth husband Charles Vallow was shot dead by her brother, Alex Cox, in July 2019, amid what was reportedly a custody dispute regarding their seven-year-old son Joshua "JJ" Vallow. Lori allegedly "agreed with Alexander Cox that at least one of them or another would engage in conduct constituting the offense of First Degree Murder." Before Charles died, he had filed for divorce, NBC News reported.
Shortly afterward, Lori married Chad Daybell.
Charles reportedly predicted that Lori or her brother would kill him. He claimed that she had become "infatuated" with doomsday and near-death experiences after joining religious group Preparing a People, the Daily Mail reported.
Charles' lawyer Steven Ellsworth previously told FOX10 that his client told him, "I'm afraid I'm gonna be killed, and I know who's gonna do it. I'm telling you, Steve, so that if something happens to me, I wanna make sure you let everyone know that something happens, I'm killed, that it's my wife Lori and her brother, Alex Cox."
It was also reported that January 2019 body-cam footage showed Charles telling police that Lori needed "serious help" and had asked that she be committed for psychiatric treatment.
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Cox called 911 on July 11, 2019, where he admitted to having fatally shot Charles in what he claimed to be an incident of self-defense. Cox said that Charles struck him in the head with a baseball bat and Cox then got a gun, and shot Charles in the chest twice.
Cox was never charged but the case was reopened when JJ and his sister Tylee Ryan, 16, were reported missing in Idaho in November 2019. Cox died a month later due to what the medical examiner determined to be natural causes involving a blood clot.
In June 2020, JJ and Tylee were reportedly found buried in Daybell's backyard in Salem, Idaho.
Lori faces two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder regarding her children's deaths. She will also face one count of conspiracy to commit murder over the death of Daybell's first wife Tammy Daybell. Chad has been charged with first-degree murder for Tammy's death in Idaho.
Lori and Chad married weeks after Tammy died in October 2019 at the age of 49. Her death was initially ruled as natural but later ruled to be a homicide, NBC noted.
As OK! previously reported, it was ruled earlier this month that Lori was unfit to stand trial. She was committed to a mental health facility in Idaho for evaluation. Chad pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and murder charges regarding the deaths of JJ, Tylee and Tammy earlier this month.
Lori is reportedly undergoing treatment after a psychologist deemed that "at this time the defendant is not competent to proceed, and recommends restorative treatment" following an evaluation.
